adventures in the land of sewing
My dream box already contains a skirt waiting to be made up. I have two other projects I need to finish for my dress making course. Did this stop me? of course not….what can I say. This was just way too pretty to resist. I would bitterly regret passing it by. Need I say any more….here is my latest fabric purchase. A ready made full print of a circle skirt. Two halves just waiting for me to cut them out (already done this evening) join them up, and add a waist band.
Last Sunday I got to enjoy a day in London, and try out for the first time an outfit that has been in the making for some time. It has had a few stops and starts, due to other sewing commitments, but my little jacket (Vogue 8465) with dress (Simplicity 3673) is now finally finished.
I’m not a big accessories person, but I have to say I love these tights. They have drawn a number of comments from work colleagues and family, and I think they are a bid mad hatter in style.
I don’t usually wear the next item in May, but it was so chilly it spent the whole day perched on my head. In my favorite pillar box red….
In the world of sewing, I have started to copy a jersey dressing gown for a neighbour. It has turned in to a bit of a nightmare, as only after carefully ripping apart all the seams did I discover it had stretched out (and was no longer symmetrical). I can’t say sewing with stretchy stripy material has been a joy easier. The zip (yes, it has one of those) has had to be unpicked as it was wavy. It has been shoved to the back of the sewing pile, with a reminder to NOT attempt something like this again for a long, long time.
Another project I will be happy to see the back of (but only ON me) is my Vogue trousers. This has been a very long and time consuming progress. For such simple lines I have spent an awful long time unpicking. The last sewing class consisted of 2 hours of just that, undoing all the work of Saturday afternoon after my tutor said I should take out the stitch in the ditch I had used to so carefully attach the lining and add another line of stitching within the seam allowance. If you didn’t know this already, black thread on black fabric = unpicking murder.
Today has been spent commencing a hopefully less frustrating project, a blouse from Simplicity 2758. It’s going to be made from a lovely blue cotton and I really like the bell sleeves. The usually waist widening and sleeve lengthening has been added, all has been carefully pinned, measured and cut out. Wish me luck, as I have 6 weeks left on my course to finish the trousers, complete the blouse AND sort out my folder. Oh, did I mention 3 designers are left to do too?
I have bought a new overlocker! I have now unpacked, set up and tweaked it to full working order. My lovely new Bernina 800DL weighs a bit more than expected, it’s like the little sister of my beloved sewing machine, which is all metal.
Threading an overlocker is an interesting experience. It looked like 4 sets of spiders had run around a small cave of metal gadgetry. Thank goodness for my sewing friend Odile, who came to my rescue and helped me thread it properly the first time. She had the good foresight to already have the same model!
My new addition arrived just in time to help me finish off the seams and happily raveling fabric on my trousers. I am really excited to see how neatly acetate obediently settles down devoid of all fluff under the tender care of an overlocker. They should be called defluffers.
All my work is now lit by a new Ottlight and it is doing a fabulous job. I’ve always found it hard to see my work properly at night. No more – I have seen the light (and bought it).
sewwherenext 