A bit of animal print

This is the T-shirt from Jalie 2566 which I had cut out before I went to the ASG Convention, so it has all the same pattern changes as the Cardigan, except the FBA.

This fabric jumped out at me when we were leaving Pitt Trading back in May of this year and  I have been wanting to make it up ever since and thought I only had enough for a cardigan, but with some fussy cutting managed to get this t-shirt out as well.

I didn't add the neckband as this fabric is a sweater knit and I couldn't get it to sit flat enough for my liking, so I simply overlocked (serged) the neck edge and turned it under and used my coverstitch to stitch it down.

I will do the FBA on this pattern as well as adding a bit of width to the sleeve hem as they are very snug.

The cardigan only needs the buttons sewn on and Alison did show me yesterday how do this by machine, but I like a thread shank on my buttons and also like to use a waxed thread, so by hand they will be sewn on.

Trench coat sewing

This is something Maria, Renata and I have been chatting about for some time now so Maria  has set up a sew-along on her blog here.

I have a RTW trench that I purchased in Melbourne back in 1985 which has seen better days and I really like the style and want to copy some of its details for my new trench.

Looking through my Burda Style magazines there are a lot of trench coat  patterns but the one that is closest to the RTW is this one from November 2008 - No. 123 which they have made up in wool.

and then I have the January 1975 Burda Magazine that I won which has another great trench coat pattern and this will come in handy as well for the details.

Back in February 2010 I purchased this wonderful dark brown Designer Raincoat Fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics and have been waiting for the time when I felt confident to use it,

and then of course the lovely lining material that I received with the 1975 Burda Magazine works perfectly with this fabric.

My plan for moving forward is to:

• Trace the pattern from the magazine.
• Make a toile to ensure all is right.
• Decide if I want it to be double breasted as my RTW isn't? 
• Decide on what zips I want to use and place my order with Zipperstop.
• Gather my bedtime reading from a number of Threads magazines to figure what else I need to do.

So is anyone else going to join the sew-along?

Fractured Knit Cardi - Convention 2012

This was the other 2 day workshopI attended at the ASG Convention, the Fractured Knits Cardi and after Suzanne described the workshop on Sunday night I did wonder why I had challenged myself to be arty, when that is so far from my usual style.

The workshop started with us getting our cardigan pattern to fit our individual shapes.  Most of the ladies worked with Kwik.Sew patterns 2759 or 2948 and I used Jalie 2566.

The weekend before the Convention I traced off Size S (6) and then did my standard adjustments to this pattern, as it was quite clear to me from the Burda cardigan that they were necessary no matter what pattern I use.

My standard adjustments are:

• Round shoulder
• High round back
• Sway back
• Gaposis on the front neckline

I then pinned together my pattern for Suzanne to do a tissue fit, thankfully the adjustments I had done were correct and we then did:

• 1cm FBA
• Removed 4cm from the length of the sleeve
• Added 1cm to the sleeve from the elbow to the hem as the sleeves are very tight.

Front - FBA, gaposis and round shoulder

Back - Round Shoulder, high round back and sway back

Sleeve -  4cm taken off length and width added 

Our requirement list for this workshop asked us to take to Convention:

• Approximately 1-2mts of a two way stretch knit fabric in a base colour that you like.
• A selection of coordinating knit fabric scraps (again two way stretch) from your stash e.g. 60cm will give you a sleeve, 30cm a yoke etc.

Luckily when I was in Puyallup I purchased a bundle of fabrics from Marcy Tilton that all coordinated so I had these as well as some brown Mercury Jersey and this is where the challenge really started for me.

Once Suzanne determined that I was going to have an arty cardigan (instead of classic) she so kindly worked out my fabric placings and suggested a design, which I was very happy with.

At this point, Suzanne suggests you trace off your pattern using your new style lines and we had chosen to add a princess seam to my design so the FBA I did gave me the perfect line to add this once I smoothed out the curve, added seam allowances to each piece, so I have a full set of pattern pieces for this version of Jalie 2566 which I have called "Marcy".

Front with princess seam and seam allowances added

Back with princess seam and seam allowances added

I then proceeded to cut out all my fabric pieces which concluded Day 1 and Day 2 was for construction and checking the fit as the day progressed.

Suzanne also very generously provided us as part of the workshop a set of extensive notes as well as patterns for the various collars, pockets and frills that she has used on her own cardigans and it was one of the collars that I used for this cardigan.

Unfortunately I didn't finish the Cardi at Convention, it still needed the zip, collar and cuffs to be done and this was done during this week and at my ASG Group at The Remnant Warehouse last Saturday.

And finally ....

This was an excellent workshop, I have a cardigan pattern that fits and I am loving my new cardigan.

 

ASG Convention 2012

I really like looking at people's travel wardrobes, it gives me ideas and after reading Carolyn's travel wardrobe and the interest that was shown in the comments about looking at other people's travel wardrobes, I thought I would share what I took with me to Adelaide for the ASG Convention.

Time away:
7 days

Where to:
Adelaide

Season:
Spring one month in and looking at the weather forecasts it was still going to be cool with 24c being the warmest during the day.  The weather really turned it on for us, some nights as low as 6c and most of the days ended up being around 18c except for Wednesday and Thursday when temperatures reached 26c.


Activities:
Attending the Australian Sewing Guild Annual Convention, so there is a lot of walking to/from accommodation, classrooms, dining hall as well as a lot of stationery activity during the workshops.

On Wednesday we either had a tour of the fabric shops in Adelaide or a tour of the Adelaide Hills.

Colour scheme:
black, pale brown, chartreuse, grey and navy.

What I packed:  (each garment is linked to its original construction post - left to right; top to bottom)

brown/grey/black top;
Minoru jacket; worn every day
cream boat neck top;
chartreuse/grey/ink navy knit top
Shona vest;
black jeans;
salt and pepper skirt;
navy jeans;
grey cardigan;
black loafers;
taupe flats;
brown/green/cream abstract print top

Verdict

This wardrobe worked very well, I didn't feel as if I was in the same outfit as everything got worn at least two days each, except for the jeans they were worn for a total of 3 days each and the skirt for 2 days.

I mixed and matched the four tops with the jeans and skirt and the Shona vest went with both green mixed tops as well as the cream boat neck top and the grey cardigan went with all the tops and was a very handy layer under the Minoru jacket for the cold mornings and evenings. I also had a collection of jewellery that changed the look of the tops.  I'm glad I took two pairs of shoes as this let my feet wear a different pair/style each day.

I decided to go on the Fabric Tour to check out some of the fabric shops in the suburbs of Adelaide, however only one piece followed me home for a cardigan and two pieces of quilting cotton for another version of this bag for a very close friend who requested one for Christmas (who luckily doesn't read my blog).

Blue, caramel, cream, rust, brown sweater knit

Floral print for the exterior, dots for the interior - Spice of Life bag

Now to find time to take a photo of the finished Fractured Knit Cardi.

Leather Workshop - Convention 2012

Well I'm home again and what a fantastic week I had at the ASG Convention in Adelaide.

In my previous post I did tell you about the Fractured Knit Cardi workshop I was going to be doing, however I didn't mention the Luscious Leather Handbag 2 day workshop with Yvonne Twining.

My kit for this workshop was $48 for the small bag and that was for the leather and pigskin for the lining.

The class started with us choosing 3 or 4 types/colours of leather and Yvonne had so much gorgeous leather to choose from and what colour pigskin lining we wanted to use.  This is my leather choice, safe but perfect for me to use every day.

This is during construction showing the 3 leathers

By the end of the first day we had cut out the leather pieces, pigskin lining and had completed the sewing of the pigskin lining.

2 side zip pockets and an iPhone pocket

At the end of the 2nd day, all 9 of the workshop attendees had a finished bag and here is mine:

The 3 leathers on the front and the back is the plain leather

Not sure how I'm going to fix that wayward stitch :(

Internal view

I am thrilled with my new bag and it was an excellent learning experience for working with leather.

The Fractured Knit Cardi just needs a few more finishing touches.