Sunday, August 26, 2012

At last ...

I managed to spend some quality time with my sewing machines on Saturday at my ASG Group, working on 2 UFO's that have been staring at me for a while now.

The first is another version of KS 3740, I love this pattern and when I purchased this fabric this was the pattern I had in mind for it.

This top was cut out and sewn back in May, but when I tried it on to find the hem length, I noticed the sleeves were twisted, so it has been languishing on my sewing table waiting for me to unpick the 4-thread overlocking I had used to sew the sleeves in.

So on Saturday the sleeves were re-sewn, and the hems levelled and coverstitched in place.


Now to add the finishing touches to my cardigan, back soon!


Sunday, August 19, 2012

More Spice of Life

Over at PatternReview they have just held a 2 week contest challenge to make a handbag between 1 and 15 August.

Now when I showed Mum my version of this bag, I had a request for a black and white one for Christmas, but seeing it is Mum's birthday this month the opportunity to make her bag earlier was perfect timing.

Thankfully I had been on the lookout for black and white fabric ever since Mum had said she would like this bag and had purchased 2 fat quarters at the Craft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour in June.  I already had the Ghee's Tubular Frame from a joint order that I placed with Maria.

My main challenge was then to source some black fabric for the contrast for the bag and then remembered I had some black denim left over from the jeans I made.

This bag uses Matilda's Own Bag Batting which makes the bag quite stable by itself, however one of the requirements of the competition was that interfacing had to be used.

So I fused interfacing to the Sun Silky that I wanted to use for the lining to make it more durable,


As you can see I don't like a dark interior in bags, you just can't find anything.

This bag pattern goes together really well and surprisingly quickly.

I did use a Jeans 110 needle for all the denim sewing and it all went very smoothly as when you sew on the tubes for the frame you are sewing through some very thick layers.

This is the finished bag,


The zippered pocket with my label on it,


and for the other pocket I divided this for Mum's phone and a space for her to carry a  pen.


The bag was wrapped and posted to Mum last Wednesday and I was very surprised when I got a phone call on Thursday night from a very excited Mum to say that my parcel had arrived and she was absolutely thrilled with her bag.

I have entered this bag in the PatternReview challenge and my review is here for those interested.


Monday, August 6, 2012

My HotPatterns have arrived!!

I'm pretty sure that in all the excitement of Winning this years Stitcher's Guild 2012 SWAP I forgot to mention that the first prize was $100 worth of HotPatterns.

It did take me a while to select these and I have just received them (well after 3 weeks holiday) and here they are:

  • Denim Diva Biker Babe Jacket
  • Artful Dodger Virtue Dress
  • Weekender Chilled-Out Sweat Suit
  • Weekend It's a Wrap Top and Dress
  • HP 1033 Plain & Simple Fitted T Redux
  • Classix Nouveau Sportive Skirt Suit
  • HP 1137 Riveria Summer Breeze Sleeveless Tops
This pattern line is completely new to me so I will be interested to see what changes I need to do for the fit I like.

With all the Spring/Summer fashions that are appearing at present, what will I make first the:
  • Weekend It's A Wrap Dress, or
  • Riveria Summer Breeze Sleeve Top with the tie front?
But first I need to finish up a couple of UFO's Facebook smileys