Me-Made-June 2011

At last, Zoe has organised a made-by-me month when I will be home instead of travelling for part of it.

My pledge is:

I, Sharon of http://petiteandsewing.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-June '11. I endeavour to wear at least one self made garment each day for the duration of June 2011.

To help me achieve this I really need to make some blouses/tops. Skirts and trousers I have enough but tops/blouses are scarce so at least I know where my focus will be for a while.

Is anyone else going to join me?

Holiday Sewing

For my trip to the USA, I needed to organise a few extra layers as the temperatures where going to be around 6 degree Celsius, little did we know that we were going to be snowed on :)

First up was to change the neckline on 2 purchased thermal tops that I have for skiing (I still have a couple crew necks left).


With the assistance of my sewing buddies, I put on the thermal and then this top that I was going to take away and they then drew around the neckline with a chalk pen. I also checked that this neckline would work with my cross over top as well.


When I took the thermal off, I rounded off the chalk neckline and cut out the excess fabric, and then used fold over elastic to finish of the necklines. I also took the sleeves up as the original length was far too long for my tops.


The thermals worked a treat as they were worn just about every day we were away.

The next item was another Simplicity 2603 cardi and top with long sleeves.

This time I made the set up in a chocolate brown Merino Wool from The Fabric Store and cut the cardi front drape halfway between the short and long versions.

This length enabled me to take one of the fronts and tuck in into the back waistband of either my jeans or skirt

and then flick the other front side up over my shoulder.

giving me an extra layer across my upper body when the temperatures were very low.

Here is the top by itself and Roscoe being directed to stay out of the picture :)


The cardi went with all my tops and was worn every day. The merino wool washed and dried very well

Now to continue with my winter sewing.

Vogue 8572 - Versatile pattern

I did manage to get some sewing done earlier this year (not just the UFO skirt and pants fitting session) however the time to tell you about it just wasn't available.

I made another version of Vogue 8572 (OOP). I first made it here with long sleeves and then here with 3/4 sleeves and this time with short sleeves.

This time the fabric is the chartreuse crinkled fabric that is at the bottom of the bundle that I purchased from Kerryn's Fabric World in July of last year.



For some reason I thought chartreuse and burnt orange (above the patterned knit) zips would be everywhere, so I didn't think about getting them when I was at Kerryn's.

After checking out the many fabric shops in Sydney and having no luck, I remembered the comment the lovely ladies at The Cloth Shop said when we visited them in March 2009, "we can get you any coloured invisible zip you want".

So I cut a swatch of the both fabrics and posted them to The Cloth Shop. This is what I received back from Kim.

Chartreuse



Burnt Orange



The fabric was interesting to work with as you do your best not to take out any of the crinkles when laying out the pattern, pressing and sewing. The advantage of the made garment is that you scrunch it up and put in in a panty hose leg to wash, dry and then I just press the small facing I have at the neckline and I'm all set to wear it another day.

Front



Back



This top has been fun to wear during summer and I can now wear it with a number of jackets and cardigans to take me through autumn and winter.

(PS: The large piece of fabric on the top of the bundles was the linen for my Shirtmaker.)

Australian Stitches - Volume 17 Index

Here is the latest Index for Volume 17 for Australian Stitches, please take a copy if you want.

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

Enjoy