Thursday, October 23, 2008

Australian Stitches - Volume 13

Here is the Index for Volumne 13

I have also sent a copy to Lynn Cook, Editor of Australian Stitches.

Enjoy

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Planning

Okay the stash has been spread around the sewing room and as most of my sewing buddies will tell you there is a lot of brown in there LOL.

Working on the twist of “Real Life Week” I can say that my week is working in an office full-time (although not corporate) and then on the weekends I sew with my sewing buddies or go to the Australian Sewing Guild Meetings as well as shopping. We enjoy going to the Sydney Theatre Company’s Plays on a regular basis so I have included this as well as this area is lacking in my wardrobe.

On that basis, I have chosen the following fabrics:



Now to go through the pattern stash and work out if I have any TNT patterns for these fabrics or whether I need to get moving on some toiles.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Sewing with a Plan

A Challenge to make 11 Garments in 5 months!

I’ve been reading about the Timmel SWAP over the years (first saw it in the Australian Stitches magazine Volume 14, Issue No. 7) and have often thought I would like to do this as it was based on the article by Lynn Cook in the Australian Stitches magazine Volume 5, Issue No.3 titled the "Perfect Wardrobe".

Just as I was getting caught up in the internet world of sewing buddies, I found out that Julie from Timmel was resigning and that she wouldn’t be running the SWAP contest again.

In stepped the lovely moderators from Stitchers Guild who posted last week the Rules for the 2009 SWAP and here they are:

Each SWAP must consist of 11 garments, which all work together to form a basic wardrobe. All garments must be handmade. You may knit, crochet or weave if you please, but they must be your own creations.

The garments are:

4 bottoms - jeans, pants, shorts, skirts or kilts.
6 tops - t-shirts, shirts, blouses, or camisoles.
1 jacket - a tailored blazer, jeans-style jacket, sweater or shawl will do, as long as it looks right with everything else.

* A dress will qualify as a top, if it can be worn with all the bottoms (tucked in or worn as a tunic) *

* Recycled garments are fine, as long as the new item is entirely different than the original, such as old jeans made into a jacket, or a wool coat made into a skirt. Before and after pictures are required, if you do this. *

All the tops must work with all the bottoms; and the jacket must work with everything. Dressier clothes require a dressier jacket, and vice-versa. Traditional clothing such as salwar kameez qualify, too.

2009 Twist: A wardrobe which reflects a week in your REAL LIFE. If you're a stay-at-home mom who lives in jeans and tees, that's what you'll be sewing. If you're a rock star who lives in zebra stripes and pink hot pants, that's what you'll be making. The finished wardrobe should consist of the pieces you'll be grabbing to wear for the rest of the year. Whether you work in an office, or spend your days eating bon-bons, your SWAP should reflect your current lifestyle and weight.

All garments must be made between November 1/08 and April 30/09.


The fact that we have been given an 2 extra months to complete this and the fact that I completed 3 garments in the month of June, (so at that rate I should be able to complete 15 garments) I am going to do it!!

The mind is going overtime trying to work out what I’m going to do so:

1. The notebook has been purchased
2. I plan to pull out the fabric stash (not so large) tonight and see what I can come up with.

Australian Stitches Magazine Indexes

I have been MIA recently, not sure where the time has gone, and thought I had better let you know that the Index for Volume 13 is at present being proof read and the Index for Volume 14 has been started, so they are on their way and haven't been forgotten.