The SWAP winners are up on Stitcher's Guild

and the winners are:    

3rd Prize: Robin’s City Separates

2nd Prize: ahearta’s Mix and Match Minoru

Grand Prize: Sharon loves her new blue collection

Thank you so much everyone, did you hear my squeal of joy as I never expected anything like this to happen!  Thank you to everyone whose vote contributed to my collection receiving this amazing award.

It was so hard to vote as all the SWAPs are amazing and each one of them has added something to my wish list.

A huge thank you to the folks at Stitcher's Guild for all your wonderful work in planning, coordinating this SWAP and inspiring so many of us to participate.  A special thank you to the sponsors, your generosity is very much appreciated.

 

The SWAP photos

have been revealed and you can find them here.  There are an amazing 13 SWAP's and it is going to be so hard to choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd amongst them all.

The voting rules are up on Stitcher's Guild and if you are a current member you can vote for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners.  If you aren't a member don't let that stop you from having a look at the wonderful inspiration that the 13 SWAPs have to offer.

Now I have to work out who I'm going to vote for

Sharon loves her new Blue Collection

It is now official, I have completed my SWAP as it is not only sewing, but:

•  taking photos of all your outfits in various combinations (165 photos),
• selecting the ones you like, cropping  them to show the garment, as this SWAP is all about TNT Patterns and fit,
• Finalising your photos to end up with 6 minimum and 12 maximum,
• Adding detail to each photo of the garment type, fabric, pattern,
• Finally emailing it all to the AnnR for it to be included on the overall SWAP page.

So last night, the email was sent and I have received confirmation that it has been received.

I did have an original idea of what I was going to do for this years SWAP and had written it down and you will see that I made a few changes along the way, so how did it all turn out?

Here are my 11 completed garments, more detailed photos have been sent to AnnR for the SWAP page.

Simplicity 2648 - Navy linen dress with pickstitching.

BWOF 02-2009-108 Knit top with Bateau Neckline with Jalie 2908 Jeans in white denim.

Vogue 8570 Burnt orange blouse with Sure Fit shorts in navy twill.

Vogue 8570 Navy/gold silk blouse with Vogue 7937 skirt in navy linen.

KS 3740 Green/navy stripe t-shirt, Jalie 3120 Vest in navy linen and Jalie 2908 blue jeans.

Sewaholic Minoru jacket

If you want to see more details of any of these garments, if you click on the SWAP 2012 label it will list all blog posts to do with the SWAP.

I did it !!!

I've completed my SWAP and I am absolutely thrilled about it.

So here are the last 2 pieces, the Minoru Jacket and BWOF 02-2009-108 Bateau Neck Top which I have made before here

These are some photos of the Minoru Jacket that were taken yesterday, showing the hood, lining etc.

Lining and internal pocket

Zippered up and ready for action

Hood lining

Lining and I used sun silky for the lining sleeves

For this version of BWOF 02-2009-108 I compared the shoulder and arm holes with my Kwik.Sew 3740 pattern that I really love the fit of and adjusted this pattern to reflect those.

The fabric is a brown/green/cream abstract print from Fabulous Fabrics (sorry girls I thought it was from Knitwit) that I purchased when we went to Perth last September.

Now for the photos, 7 minimum and 12 maximum which we have to lodge by 8 May.  Why is the weather forecast for Sydney looking like it could be wet all week and I've got 2 short sleeve tops, 1 sleeveless dress and shorts to photograph

An extra layer

I've finished the Jalie Vest and I am rather pleased at how it looks.

I only did the one adjustment for this pattern, and it was to shape the centre back seam to accommodate my round shoulders.  This is not the way that I do my round shoulder adjustment for garments with sleeves, but this worked for this vest.

However after looking at the pictures above and wearing it today, the back neckline might be a bit high.  I will get my sewing buddies to have a look at it when I see them next.

I cut this vest out of the left overs from this skirt and blouse and this dress.

There are a few things that I did with this pattern, that aren't in the instructions, but then they aren't in a lot of instructions either.

1. Pressed all the seams open, using a June Taylor Board which lets me get into all the tight spaces and then pinked all the seams.
   
   
2. Understitched all the seam edges, even understitching the hem seam by hand as I couldn't get my sewing machine into the small opening in the lining.  

There is also a mistake in the diagram for (step 43) which says, "pin bottom edge of vest and stitch".  Then the diagram for View C looks like this:

 

But in fact this is what it should look like, you can't see the armholes or neat topstitched seams, it is all tucked inside.

You then pull it out through the gap in the lining (step 44) and finish off with some handstitching, topstitching, buttonholes and buttons.

Here you can see the lining, it is only on the centre back panel.

This is item 10 for my SWAP, and it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, so the 2nd pair of shorts are out and the vest is in.

So I only have to finish the Minoru and a knit top before end of April,

SWAP Stripes

I've decided to make 2 knit tops for my SWAP, so here is the first which is another version of KS 3740 with the higher neckline.

This is the first time I have worked with stripes and it did take some serious pining to get those stripes to line up so I could cut out this fabric as well as to sew the seams.

I saw on the Vivienne Files a great t-shirt in this wardrobe (In the bag picture) which I rather liked and was thrilled that I had a very similar fabric which I had purchased from Knitwit's Winter 2010 collection.

I also used Carolyn's Metalicus finish for the neck binding for this top and am very happy with the way it has turned out.

All the seams have been sewn on my new baby, the Elna Lotus so I could see how she would handle the knits and I am very pleased with the results.  I did use my Coverstitch for the hems.

and look at the matched stripes

all those pins worked perfectly.


So this is Item 8 for my SWAP, the Minoru (which has advanced a bit more) is Item 9, so another knit top and another pair of shorts and I'm finished.

Presenting SWAP Item No. 7

Shorts!

I live in shorts in the summer around the house and dog walking and the shorts I do have need replacing but with my sway back I do not find this easy to do with RTW.

At Christmas my DDS wanted to give me a gift of the Sure Fit pants pattern,but first she needed to take my measurements. So in January I received a pants pattern and a pair of pants (excluding the waistband) made up in this very loud fabric.



At the Angie fitting weekend where I sorted out the Minoru Jacket, Angie also tweaked this pants pattern.

• reduced the waist height by 2.5cm (1").
•  centre back gaposis (you can see the excess above) 1.5cm (6/8") back to nothing 9cm (3 1/2") below. 

• added 1cm to the back crotch length. 

•  and dropped the back crotch curve by 5mm.
• added extra width to the centre front.

I then traced off a new pattern (fixing that centre back seam line) for some shorts and proceeded to cut out the navy twill that I had with me for a wearable toile of the pattern.  The fly front was sewn and all the other seams were basted together for a quick review by Angie, where we took another scoop out of the back crotch curve by 0.5cm (1/4").

When I got home I dug through my patterns to find one that had pockets (essential for dog walking) that I could use and found KS3614 fit the bill.

So after all that, here they are:






Not sure about the front wrinkles, it looks like I have more than the colourful toile, but I do know I was a bit slapdash with the pockets and associated seams.

The back looks better, only has a slight break and wondering if I need to do the flat seat adjustment?

Even with those I am very happy with this version and will definitely make some more, maybe next time add cargo pockets so I don't mess with the side/waist seams.

SWAP Item No. 6

The navy jeans are finished.

I finally found out how to do a buttonhole on my Janome 5200 without using the buttonhole foot, it was so easy.

The next challenge was the rivets, but then Marg from Pattern Review posted about this Prym Tool and luckily one of my very good sewing buddies was in Europe and was able to find me a set, a very happy dance as this little bit of plastic makes putting the rivets in so easy. To make it even better I have found that the 624 rivets and burrs I purchased from M.Recht in Melbourne a few years ago.

The only changes this time to the white jeans I posted here is the two items above.

So here they are:

Front

 

Back view and pocket design

 

Rivets and coin pocket

Now to work on the Minoru jacket.

Vogue 7937 navy linen skirt

is finished.

Even though I have made this skirt a number of times before, although not blogged about, I have been trying to get the skirt to sit at my waist with no luck, it keeps sitting on my hips which isn't what I wanted.

Saran Wrap to my rescue!  Even though I have Isabel (my body double) my hip shape has been elusive when fitting my skirts. So I placed the Right Front lower half of my Saran Wrap on my pattern and look at the difference, no wonder my skirts kept sliding down to my hips.

I pinned this amount out for this skirt to make sure I hadn't gone too far, and it worked, my skirt sat on my waist all day long, so my pattern will be adjusted permanently by this amount.

Here is the finished skirt:

Front view

See the Back Vent

Back view

A few extra details for this skirt:

• Topstitched both sides of the front and back panels with Gutterman 310 Topstitch thread,
• Finished the back vents with Hong Kong finishes.
• Added black lace to the lining.
• Added 15mm bias tape to the hem edge (now the skirt is on my waist I need to add some length to the pattern).
• Fused a 4cm wide strip of Textureweft (pinked along the top edge) along the hem fold line to give the hem some body and a great base for doing Herringbone stitch for the hem.

This is my 5th garment for the SWAP and the 6th is giving me some challenges with the buttonhole, but soon ...

New Blouses and a change of plan.

The blouses that I referred to in my last post about the SWAP, are now finished. I met up with my sewing buddies yesterday and they levelled the hem on the Navy/Gold/Brown blouse for me and I stitched and pressed it last night.

Burnt Orange Blouse

This is the burnt orange blouse and by the looks of it I need to lower all the darts however that is an easy fix for any future versions. I took off an additional 1.5 cm on the neckline for this version and now need to work out more jewellery to wear with this top.

Navy/Gold/Brown Blouse

This remnant of silk was purchased during our trip to Paris in 2009 and I have been working up the courage to cut into it. I really don't know why it took me so long, it was lovely to sew with, just a nightmare to match the pattern :(

I used a bias strip of the silk to bind the neck edge and I'm very pleased at how this has turned out.

Both blouses have an invisible zip in the left side seam.

SWAP Plans

So much for the Navy Jacket.  When I laid out the material I couldn't fit both the jacket and skirt on the piece I had left. Even though I really wanted the jacket (and I spent hours trying to get it to fit) I realised that a skirt would get a lot more wear as I have another 2 tops in my wardrobe that are orphans at present. So Vogue 7937 Skirt View A has been cut out and I'm now searching my patterns for a vest pattern.

Now back to sewing jeans.

Sewing with a Plan

I am once more attempting the SWAP Contest at Stitcher's Guild and this year the SWAP focuses on fitting, and making tried-and-true patterns: testing and fitting paper patterns, muslins, and fashion garments that will help lower the overall sewing failure rates,  result in fabulous clothing to be proud of, and (hopefully) give every contestant a pattern or two that works every time it is used.

You choose any seven garments from this list:

Button Down Shirt w/Collar         
Blouse or shirt   (collar is optional)               
T-Shirt         
Vest                               
Overshirt               
Dress           
Jeans
Trousers     
Shorts or Capri Pants     
Skirt 
Jacket (jean jacket, windbreaker, hoodie, etc.)                   
Coat  (suit or sport coat)
Overcoat or Raincoat   
Bathing Suit Coverup  

From those seven, you can choose four to make twice for a total of 11 garments that will work together.   Those four may either be repeated garments from the same pattern, or one each from two different patterns.

The contest runs from 26 December 2011 until 30 April 2012 and you can have 2 previously sewn garments amongst the total 11.

Now I'm planning on using my last 2 garments as the pre-sewn items, so it looks like Navy will feature quite strongly in my SWAP.

The garments I have chosen so far are:

2 x Blouse or Shirt - Vogue 8572  (OOP)
- Burnt Orange - completed 
- Navy/Gold/Brown - completed

1 x Dress - Simplicity 2648 
- Navy linen with pickstitching - completed

2 x Jeans - Jalie 2908 
- White Jeans completed
- Navy Jeans completed.

1 x Jacket - Vogue 7975 
- Navy with some seam details added

1 x Skirt - Vogue 7937
- Navy linen, View A - completed

1 x Raincoat - Minoru 1103 
- Navy ripstop - pattern adjustments done and fabric cut out and nearly finished.

1 x Shorts - Sure Fit Pants
- Navy twill - completed

1 x Vest - Jalie 3129
- Navy linen - completed
   
2 x Knit Tops 
- Navy/Green striped using Kwik.Sew 3740 - completed
- Brown/Navy/Cream abstract print from Fabulous Fabrics using BWOF 02-2009-108

The remaining 4 garments are still a question mark:

• Do I make 2 knits tops, but
• I really need shorts, which can be a test for the fit for pants :) 1 pair now in the plan
• I will need a navy skirt to go with the jacket (fingers crossed I have enough fabric) Now in the plan
• I really want to fit the Connie Crawford B5300 shirt, but not sure if I have a shirt fabric that will go with the Navy as I'm tyring to work from my stash.

 Now I need to make some final decisions and that includes a name for my SWAP.

As I don't like having a pictureless post, I thought I would share with you one of Roscoe's favourite things to do:

It takes days to get the sand out of his fur :)

22/1/2012 - Plan edited - Jacket out and Skirt in.
17/4/2012 - Plan edited - Shorts, Vest and 2 knits tops are in.

Perfect for a summer's day

Happy New Year, everyone.

I was surprised the other month when sorting out my stash, that I have quite a collection of blues.  They are in my colours and three pieces have materialised in my wardrobe - the cargo pants and then the navy pants and top during last year.

I then found some navy linen in my stash, Simplicity 2648 and inspiration from DrienPA on Pattern Review, I have completed the 2nd version of this dress.

I remembered seeing an article in Australian Stitches (Vol 19, Issue 7) that Alison, The Sewing Lady had written where she had constructed a Marfy jacket and then hand stitched around the jacket and pockets that looked like pickstitch.  Luckily for me Alison had adjusted this pattern for me, so I was able to contact her to find out a bit more detail on how to do the pickstitch on my dress.

The dress was cut out and the front (princess seams and waist) and back (darts and waist) pieces where sewn together (but not at the shoulders or side seams).   Then I,

• Set up my Janome sewing machine with the G foot and a 4.0 twin needle.
• Threaded the machine with a cream Gutterman thread, reduced the tension to 1.5 and the stitch length to 3.5 and needle position at 2.4.
• Stitched from the armhole, lining the G foot guide along the princess seam and stitched all the way down both front princess seams, making sure that the stitches crossed the waist seam at the same point.  This gave me a good reference point for the pickstitch.
• Then on Boxing Day, I threaded up a Size 24 Tapestry needle with Gutterman Topstitch thread 722 and proceeded to pickstitch using every 2nd stitch as my guide to bring the needle back up.
• Carefully removed the Gutterman thread and gave the seams a good press.

The rest of the dress went together pretty quickly.

The dress is lined and has a lace hem and the back vent has a hong-kong finish to the edge.


Then I found this necklace that needed to be reworked.

After sitting all day

Here is a close up of the pickstitch after the guide threads have been removed.

I can see this dress will get a lot of wear.