Long time with no posts

It's been a long while since I posted,  and the reality is that I barely sewed a thing last year.  So my plan is to re-make some sewing habits this year, starting with some basic stuff.  I'm aiming for a garment a month,  excluding January cos we've had heatwave after heatwave.

I've been reminded that linen is a great fibre to wear when it's stinking hot and humid, and it's a gap in my fabric stash.  I found a great print linen in a Queensland shop online and grabbed 4m for a shift dress or a shirt dress.

Admittedly I'm better suited by muted colours,  but I'll feel cool wearing it.

sewing progress

I didn't get any pretty pictures, but I've sewn all the first pass seams on Lost at Sea, and need to do some overlocking before I can attach the front yoke. The yoke is overlayed with an edge-stitch onto the front bodice, rather than seamed right sides together. The yoke seam allowance is pressed under, and I may not need to do more than pink the edge, and overlock the bodice edge so that it doesn't fray like crazy. I remembered to cut the upper collar in two pieces, and it's not easy to see but the swallow is at the same on each side, easily too thanks to the gridded cutting mat. Not a quality photo, but it's the one I have.  The selvedge will be in the seam allowance & trimmed back, so it's not an issue as I carefully measured before I cut. The undercollar is in one piece so that's what counts.

I remembered to cut out the interfacing (found it in stash) for the collar and back neck facing, but completely overlooked cutting out the front facing. I'll get around to that this week.

I couldn't resist buying some fabric, the surprise is that I bought none for two months so it's my first for the year. Almost unprecedented given that I've been to fabric shops for thread/zips.

I got enough for 1970s wrap dress pattern I keep meaning to use. I couldn't resist as it's a viscose, and colours I can wear. I just don't do poly as I overheat in it.

I also have a case of sewing room envy - and my room isn't even close to being organised yet. I keep finding non-sewing stuff to cull and clear out. I saw a newly set up sewing area on a FB sewing group I recently joined, and immediately wanted the long bench for sewing at. My vintage sewing tables were ideal for my old home, as they were on opposite walls, but now I'm better off with a long bench so I can move from sewing to overlocking more easily. I ended up at IKEA today - friend was taking me to pick up a lampshade elsewhere, and we wanted an escape from driving in a deluge. The desk used by the FBer was too long for my space, and I don't want to cut it even if I could iron on new edging myself. Other tables are too wide, but the PS2014 outdoor table is the right width and depth. I'm hoping it's strong enough for my Janome and overlocker, but I can always replace the legs with others. Having this to look forward to may motivate me to keep working on culling and organising.

Other half size patterns in my stash

The lobster fabric arrived so quickly from the east coast of the USA, despite oddly being tracked going to/from Jamaica.  I could afford to let that amuse me as the deadline for needing this fabric isn't until February next year.  I pre-shrank it today, so whenever I'm ready to sew, it is too.  The crays (crayfish/lobster) are more orange and less red than I expected, but shopping online has this risk and it's not going to stop me from using it - though I'll need to be very careful to make sure I wear the right makeup when I wear the dress. I think I'll make this version button through the front rather than just the bodice.

I have other half size mail order patterns in my stash that I had to pick from when planning the next 9 months dresses.  All of these I bought at affordable prices - I find most mail order pattern designs to be great every day styles. Not the cutting edge of fashion from the day, but they suit my sewing purposes well.

These are the ones that haven't been selected so far.



and these aren't half size but over time I added these to the stash because they appealed.


and a couple of larger size petticoat/slip patterns - I need to make one of these soon

an outline for nine months of dress a month

In my mind I've got a loose plan for the order I think I'll use the fabrics, and the pattern I'll use with each.  Except for me plan sounds too close to rules and as said by Captain Barbossa of the Pirate Code these are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.

I do have some self imposed deadlines for a couple of fabrics.  The retro nautical print slated for December has to be used before I go to Canberra in late Dec/Jan to see the Versailles exhibition. That was the actual rule I imposed so that I could buy it (photo below). I don't want it stashed and I promised a bestie that I'd use it by then. This week I ordered a 5 yard piece of large scale red lobsters on black cotton to make a dress that I'll wear to see the B-52s in concert later this summer (can't remember the February date right now).  I'm looking forward to wearing it long before the concert though so I picked November because right now the mermaid, martini and vintage blue/green cotton have an emotional priority.

In brackets after the month, print & pattern are fabric amounts and when I bought them. EG 13Q3 was bought in the 3rd quarter of 2013 (between July-Sept).

August - Inky Martini, frankenpattern B9796 bodice with AA4571 (8m of 150cm, 14Q2)


September - Mermaids, AA4571 (4.5m of 112cm, 16Q1)


October - vintage green/blue abstract, AA4843 collar on AA4571 (5.5m of  90cm, 16Q2)


November - red lobsters on black, AA4571 (4.5m of 112cm, 16Q3)


December  - retro nautical, bodice 4803+skirt4571 (4.5m of 112cm, 16Q3)


January - brown with mint, NY 1930s wrap dress (4.0m of 150cm, 14Q4)


February - vintage maroon floral, AA2163 (5.5m of 90cm, 16Q2)


March - grape/purple splodges, AA4483 (4.0m of 112cm, 13Q3)


April - teal flowers on black, MO 9030 (5.5m of 112cm, 13Q4)


Most of my dress lengths are more recent purchases - recent compared to the bulk of my stash. Partly because when I first thought about making a couple of dresses I realised that I didn't have much in the way of dress lengths in the stash. In fact at the time, I literally had hundreds of metres of fabric but only two pieces long enough for a non-costume dress. Plus the long in progress before being tossed Lilly Rose dress. I'm sad about having to toss that but it didn't fit and was a series of one mistake after another. I think that even if it had fit, wearing it would only be a reminder of them.

Back on topic, I gave myself the option to buy a couple more pieces and the impulse to buy was under pretty good control until I got my Dress a Month idea. Of course I  then had a couple more purchases to replace those I'd cut out and *boom*. My job uncertainty hit and the mojo did a runner.

If I include (and I should) this year's January dress that is barely started, then I have 10 dresses to make from fabrics I already own.  No more buying dress lengths until I've 3 more dresses in my wardrobe.

wanting to prioritise a casual wear dress over work clothes

Several months ago - possibly even late last year - I saw a mermaid print fabric online, that I thought would be wonderful in a casual wear dress.  I googled it and found it came in 3 different colour ways, and loved the darkest version.

Finding yardage (not a half yard piece) was trickier than I expected, but I found it at Never Enough Fabric in California.  I got great customer service & communication from them too.

The only glitch in my plan - is entirely my error. Despite knowing that the States use imperial not metric measures I didn't realise the scale of the print because I saw the ruler on the website image (which isn't the one above) and thought it was centimetres not inches hence the print is 2.5 times the size I anticipated. I thought it was hawaiian shirt size, not this scale:

Not quite as subtle as I'd thought, but I'm still going to use it, and carefully place the bodice pieces on the yardage.

I found this blogger who's made a dress using a similarly scaled Alexander Henry pin up print

Prioritising work clothing over costumes for a while

Due to a massive restructure (dividing the division that I work in a government department into 3 separate entities with a new reporting line for each) I have employment uncertainty as my unit doesn't exist in the new order that starts on 1 July.  I'll find out around the end of this month if I'm being made redundant or redeployed and if redundant if it's 1 months notice or not much more than that with an end date of 30 June.  So I'm proatively job hunting as well as aiming for redeployment.

However I'm facing the reality that my work clothing has deteriorated ... I barely have things I'd wear to a new job. Some but not a weeks worth.  I'm working with files which are grubby etc so not having quality hasn't been a major problem until now.

At least 2 of my planned dresses were in prints that aren't work appropriate - martini glasses or mermaids.  So I've bought 2 vintage fabrics that I can use without facing an awkward conversation.  A dark maroon/brown print and a blue/green sateen with zero stretch. Like pockets I don't do stretch wovens.

a second cloak added to my sewing list

The beginning of last year I was drooling over a plaid wool cloak in the Met and a similar plaid fabric for sale at FFC. It's true I may have spent a lot of time in museum websites, and looking at FFC fabrics.  I would even have been tempted to buy the orange plaid except that yellow and orange make me look severely jaundiced. Not just a little, but deathly and nobody wants to look their worst. Well no reasonable person. I'm not that crazy.

Well early in June this year I came across some plaid wool fabric being sold on ebay AU during a sewing studio clean up.  And there was 5 metres, at under $10 pm. I bagsed it in a heartbeat because there's enough for a regency cloak, and it's lightweight which suits me in the Sydney climate. Most importantly the colours suit me ... muted green, mauve/grey and black. I've hugged it a couple of times since it arrived in the mail


See how lightweight it is:


On pinterest I've tagged 5-6 extant plaid/tartal cloaks from the early 1800s including a fashion plate.  They all seem to have a collar and capelet/s and no hood. Which is a bit sadmaking as there are definitely plain and print cloaks with hoods in this time, but I haven't found a plaid cloak with hood until mid 19th century.

The fashion plate is appealing, found on Robin's Plaid Regency page though in my fabric it'd be less vibrand and more muted like the cloak in the Killerton collection fo the National Trust UK (item number 1360836, c1820-30, lady's travelling cloak).



Part of me - the heart part - wants to make this for the regency weekend at the end of October, but my head is telling me to make the hooded scarlet wool cloak/cape first. Partly cos I've had the fabric longer.  Also I know that I tend to plan more than I can achieve, so a plain hooded cloak is easier and more likely.

A rant and a solution - my new black fabric

Not only did I have infected sinus with headache from Tuesday til yesterday but my ebay fabric order was a disaster. I paid for it two Wednesdays ago and they were a bit slow (5 days) sending it on Monday. The dealbreaker for me is that unlike every ebay notification which said AustPost 3kg satchel they used Fastway. Which aren't fast! I wouldn't even use them within my own city let alone another state.

It's a brick & mortar store, so not a random potentially flakey solo seller. They're just flakey, because apparently their using Fastway without checking with me (and their mentioning aust post everywhere) is Ebay's fault for not automating the choices on offer. Could they have used the 5 days to message me for a preferance ... well I certainly think so.

It's 2-3 days from Melbourne via parcel post, and though I was irked that they'd waited til Monday it should still have arrived by Thursday. Easily. Except it didn't, and only on Thursday night when I checked the tracking number did I discover that it was Fastway. F%^&#*s. Yes I still feel that strongly about it. And either the tracking number I was given has a typo or the fabric was delivered (as in to recipient) in Brisbane - another state again.

So I may have had a tanty, and am still crankstipated. But solution oriented I went shopping yesterday and found a black cotton with metallic thread, in a subtle weave. Here's a macro photo of it on the clothesline, where it's drying after a soak in hot hot water.

The run off was brown, like cold black tea , but there was exactly the amount I need on the roll, so it's a winner.

Another fabric for a vintage summer dress

OK, not the only thing.  At the end of December I bought this piece of brown cotton satin with a duckegg & cream print.  I needed to get fabric for the collar cos I realised it's perfect for the wrap 1930s New York dress pattern.  The olive foliate print I had been planning to use was impossible to find a matching plain, except in white. I looked for a few years and not only does white not suit me, I figured it shows marks to easily for someone as clumsy as myself.

The choices of plain duck-egg or mint were un-inspiring. They looked flat and dull, and not right for this lightweight fluid cotton satin, and then one of the shop assistants suggested the quilting micro dot fabric. It works really well and is a lovely soft and spendy cotton.  This metre of fabric cost 75% what my 4 metres of brown print cost - ok that was ridiculously cheap for Australia, but still. meeep



I also got some black for contrast collar on my red/black print cotton. Red was meh, white a no-go-zone.

moth nibbles on stash wool yardage (and a jumper)

I'm going to order some jumbo size ziplock bags to put each piece of wool yardage into for my winter fabric cupboard, as something has nibbled at a jumper - I hadn't worn it for about 10 years and I got it out of my winter clothing tub (not kept with yardage) to cut up & remodel.  Lots of tiny little holes. :(  One piece of yardage I got at The Fabric Cave also has a few tiny holes in it but as I don't remember holding it up tot he light I don't know if that had them before or not. And a piece I gave to Sharon also had some moth holes (which I didn't realise). Once they're ziplocked I can freeze each piece - my freezer is small so I can only do 1 at a time so I need to separate out each piece to prevent any further damage while I do them all.

In other stash news I've cut up & sewn pieces of cotton or rayon lycra knits that I bought for fitted Tees, but realise the colours no longer suit me. I used them for KS2529 - prevention of thigh chafing seeing as 99.9% of the time I wear skirts or dresses.  I cut the legs longer because I find that more comfortable and don't even finish the hem .. in a knit they've never frayed or run and these wear out before the hem is ever an issue.  So underwear or underpinnings but NOT underpants!  I'm very quick to correct that idea. The last batch of yardage I bought for these was skin colour and I realised that I do not like that. A bit nanna-boring if you know what I mean (as in my-nanna not modern nannas).


Of course, I'm not immune to the lure of more fabric. I tossed out a loved but worn burgundy rayon skirt and bought a piece of burgundy pinstripe wool ... more of a flannel than a worsted but I'm looking forward to making it up next autumn.  It's a colour I love, and that suits me but is fairly hard to find. So although I'm trying to reduce the stash, a hard to find fabric made it home. It's not going downstairs until it's safely bagged up.


Editing to clarify: It's freezing that kills moth eggs, not the plastic bag. But to quarantine each piece (I have about 30) and stop it sticking to anything in the freezer I'm putting each in an individual ziplock bag.

contrast fabric for the next nightie neckline

I like to do a contrast neck facing, not as a fabric efficiency measure, as there aren't enough scraps left over to cut one out.  The first time I had to buy extra fabric it had sold out, so I went for a contrast. And realised that I liked it so continue the theme.  I probably should have bought the robots contrast on Saturday but foolishly I didn't.  So after work today I ventured to the store I now call Lincrap (I remember the days when it had a higher quality fabric stock) only to be disappointed.  Their plain colour flannelette's were of such poor quality I don't understand how they sell at any price.

I was left with an assorted and small choice of patterns, and none of them had a siren song but I want to sew this quickly, and it's already cut out saying "robots are awesome".  So i went with a grey & white stripe, that will kinda blend into the grey of the robots. I don't want the blue as royal blue isn't so flattering for me, and it wouldn't make me happy even if it was a great contrast for the fabric.

It's hanging on my shower rail, already pre-shrunk. Hopefully start stitching on Wednesday night.

finished my nightie for June MAGAM

Thankfully I made few mistakes sewing this as it's a pattern I've used a lot before, however the external facing is uneven. Though I can't be too upset as it's sleepwear, not something I'll be seen wearing on the street. Flat fell seams make it comfy, modelled with socks on my feet as I forgot to pack my slippers (pet minding for friends).

 

I'm glad to have got another MAGAM challenge complete (missed one or 2 this year).

I have to admit that my stashbusting hasn't been helped by this garment, as I came home with another length for a winter nightie. This time it's robots!