A new "Me"

My DM and DS gave me this wonderful gift as part of my Christmas present



So yesterday they arrived at my home all ready to wrap me in a dry cleaners bag and then proceeded to stick framers tape from my neck to my hips (widest part) to create my body form.

After an hour this is what I looked like from the back, the whole body is done but the front is TMI for public viewing, with very sore legs from standing still for so long (please excuse my messy cupboard, DH didn't think to close the door before he took the photo.)



At this stage DS took a measurement of my hip area for reference further on.

This is then cut up the back and you carefully step out of it and then stick the cut back together. This is your opportunity to check that there aren't any thin spots and if so you can put more tape on the inside of the form so as not to distort the outside widths. You then use your hair dryer to dry it is as much as you can.

We then stood the form on a piece of paper and traced around the bottom edge, then took a tape measure on its side and measured around it to make sure that we hadn't added/subtracted any width from the measurement taken above. The template was then cut out and checked to make sure that it fit in the bottom of the form and then a cardboard base was cut out with a hole in the centre for it to be placed on a stand, and then you carefully tape the base to the body form.

Now DM and DD did this for me about 9 years ago and with putting on weight (yes it was intended) and gym work the body has changed a bit so my old "me" wasn't a usable sewing aid for fitting garments.

When I first started sewing I purchased one of the adjustable manequins which just wasn't shaped the way I am, so we discarded the top and this is where my "old" me was hanging around. So we cut off the "old" me (on the floor) and put the "new" me in her place.



My shoulders are sitting on a wooden coat hanger which is attached to the pole. You then roll up newspaper and drop this into the cavity to stop it from collapsing (don't worry the tape drys as hard as a rock, it is more for when you press on it).

My new dress form will come in very handy for the top I am currently making so I had better get back to the sewing room.

Frustration and Smiles !!

The LBD has been challenging my sewing skills and knowledge of late and after much deliberation I have decided to make it sleeveless. My fabric after closer scrutiny is a Ronaldo Wool Touch Brazil Suiting. Now I really didn't know what this meant, but I know now this is a fabric that does not like to be eased, has very little if any give to the fabric, and with the tight sleeves of this dress the two were not a suitable mix.

I spent last Saturday at the Alexandria Achievers ASG Group doing a lot of frog stitching and managed to work out how to change this dress to a sleeveless version. It is still not 100% to my liking and instead of rushing it and "just getting it done", I have put it aside this week to restore my sense of achievement.

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This is BWOF 05-2008-104 which is the longer version of this top I made in January. My inspiration came from a dress by Phase Eight I saw in a magazine and my fabric is from KnitWit.

As I had already done the pattern alterations for the orange top, I only had to extend the pattern to a dress and trace off the new band to incoporate the buckle that I purchased when we visited Victoria Island in Canada earlier this year.



I cut this fabric out on Friday night and then on Saturday with my sewing buddies I got it up to the hem stage, and then today after DH levelled the hem for me, I hemmed it with my Janome CP 1000 (I had also used this for the hems on the band) and wore it to the Rhodes Fashion Sewers ASG group for their Christmas Lunch. (You read correclty I attended two ASG Groups and sewed with my regular sewing buddies this month.)

This knit has more stretch than the top I made so the neckline is a bit lower than I normally wear and it did take me quite a few tries to find a necklace that worked, and I can see that I need to find one similar to the one they have pictured with the inspiration dress.

Here is the view from back once I got home.

Cheeky Cross Stitch

One of my other passions is Cross Stitch, however I don't get a lot of time to do this.

I have had my eye on this Dolly Mamas pattern for quite some time as it is my DDS all over. I finally bit the bullet and stitched it for her for her birthday this year.



My local framer did a fantastic job of framing it for me. He used the hot pink in her skirt as the first mat and then black as the larger one with a black frame. Unfortunately the photos that I took had too much reflection and I had to get it in the post to reach DDS for her birthday.

I got a very excited phone call the day of her birthday to say that she loved it and it was so correct, then I had to admit it was supposed to be for last year's birthday LOL.

When the cat's away ...

I've been working some incredible hours over the past month, so today, as the boss was heading to the airport to fly overseas for 5 days, I took the opportunity to have a massage and then go to The Fabric Store as they had a 30% off Sale for today only.

This is one of my favourite fabric shops in Sydney and there is always something there to tempt me.

Whilst wandering around I heard a "Sharon" and turned around and Sandra (who was also signed up for the "Go Chanel Go Home Sewalong") introdued herself. We had been emailing each other about our Chanel jackets as we had both purchased the exact same fabric for our jackets at The Fabric Store. Needless to say Sandra's Chanel jacket is a lot further progessed than mine.

It was so nice to meet up with someone that you have blogged/emailed with and the fact that we fell right into chatting about fabric and what we were going to do, was such a treat and reinforces even more to me that the friendships that are created in the internet world are wonderful.

Now do you want to guess what colour I purchased?

This is a Japanese cotton that I plan to make a top out off and it will go brilliantly with the burgundy wool pants I made in August. I also have enough of the burgundy wool fabric left over for a skirt.




Yes, you guessed right, here is the brown linen and I couldn't pass up this cream linen either.



I've seen a Chanel Inspired jacket and I am really keen to try and get the same sort of look. I ended up with what was left on the roll of the brown linen 4.5m (paid for 4.3) and 1.5 metres of the cream linen.

The plan for the linen is the Jacket (cream with a brown band or brown with a cream band), a simple sleeveless shift dress, pants and a skirt and with careful cutting out maybe a sleeveless shell top.

Now I'm not saying when this will be done, however I am in desparate need of summer clothes so I had better get back to finishing the LBD.

What a weekend!

Well I'm home again after spending two whole days with 10 other wonderful real life sewing buddies.

I arrived around 8am to make sure all was set up and the others slowly followed me. By morning tea we were all there and getting stuck into our various projects.



The Mercure at Parramatta did a fantastic job in feeding us at regular intervals and were happy to assist with some very unusual conference requests e.g. a power board for each table and two irons and ironing boards please.

I chose to start on Vogue 8280 LBD and after doing the toile thought it would be finished that afternoon. How wrong can a girl be!

This is where I am up to after 2 full days of sewing. The wool I used gave me some challenges with easing the back onto to the flange (tighter weave) and there are just so many seams and darts that need pressing and clipping it just didn't seem to stop.



Left to do is:

• insert the sleeves, how come one always goes in with no pain and the other one just wants to fight you every step of the way,
• Finish off the back neckline,
• Hem both the fashion fabric and lining.

I'm extremely pleased with how this dress is fitting me (my body double needs to be updated) so I am keen to get this finished.

Needless to say the blouse didn't even get a look in.

Sewing Weekend

For a number of years now my real life sewing buddies have been organising a sewing weekend away each year for us to attend. This year it is my turn.

So far we have been to Panthers at Penrith, Ferndale on the Hawkesbury River and The Mecure Hotel at Pararmatta.

This year we are going back to the Mercure Hotel at Parramatta (right across the road from the Rosehill Races which hosts the Craft Show in August).

We arrive on Saturday morning and sew to our hearts content until Sunday afternoon with food being delivered to us on a regular basis.

I really like to achieve as much as I can at these weekends so today's job was to check that all the bits for my two projects are all there.

First up is the LDB which I cut out last week and now have made sure that all the pieces are together in a zip-lock bag including zip, wound bobbins and organza bias strips for inserting the sleeves.

I then plan to work on a lemon blouse that I started to make a while ago and made sure that I had interfaced all the pieces, wound bobbins, found some buttons so it is also ready to go.

Here they both are in their bags ready to be put into my sewing case.



I think I will purchase one of those collapsable crates to hopefully hold:

• Table ironing board and iron
• Table lamp
  
• Pressing tools e.g. sleeve roll and ham

If I have time this week after work I would like to trace off Burda 5-2008-104, which is the dress version of the top I made in January this year. I have already done the adjustments to the bodice, so only need to add the skirt to the pattern. Then use this fabric to make it up.



There is a lot of "fingers crossed" going on to get this last dress achieved, so wish me luck.

So at the end of next weekend I will at have at least two garments to show.

Little Black Dress Workshop

I am a member of the Australian Sewing Guild at Rhodes and for the months of July and September we had a LDB Workshop, with Angie Zimmerman. Angie writes a lot of articles for Sewing with Stitches Australia (formerly Australian Stitches) and also has her own sewing workshops.

During July Angie helped us adjust our patterns to fit our various versions of the LBD and then in September I had my toile made up in gorgeous calico for the final tweaking of the fit.

I chose to use Vogue 8280 View F (top right picture, cream long sleeved dress) without the little cap sleeves and shortened the sleeves to 3/4.



We started with a size 6 using my High Bust measurement and a lot of adjustments had to be made from there LOL.

Here are the pattern pieces and I will try and remember what we did to each piece.

Front Bodice




Back Bodice



Flange



Skirt Front



Skirt Back - same as front except the addition at the waist is at the side seams.

Sleeve




Now Black is not a colour I wear near my face, so I have decided to make my dress in the Burgundy Wool that I purchased in Melbourne.

I'm not sure why but Vogue hasn't lined the skirt of this dress but has lined the bodice. I will be lining the skirt as well.

Back soon.