Multi muted V8572

I thought this blouse was finished a while ago but it was one of those that wasn’t quite right.

The fabric was in my stash and I can't remember where I purchased it from but the colours in it means I can wear it with navy, brown and olive skirts.

I ended up doing a burn test to work out what it might be and it is pure polyester although I find it quite comfortable to wear in the heat we have been having recently and it drapes well.

I have:

-  put an invisible zip in the left hand side seam

-  a tiny bias neckband, stitched on by machine and then handstitched in place

I wore it a couple of times and it just didn't look right and finally realised it was too long, only by 1cm but that perfect length was not there. 

So I took the hem up and I thought I had a new top to wear.  Not so!

On my pattern I had noted to shorten the back darts after seeing the pictures of this top, however I also did the same to the front darts (my blog post did say back only) which was a mistake as the top was falling away from my body, not a look that I like.

The top sat around for a few more weeks before I lengthened the front darts into the hem.  I am glad I persisted in getting this right as it has been a great addition to my wardrobe.

*****************
2019 Stash Out: 1.5 m
2019 Stash In: 0 m

2018 in review

was a year of sewing for me, but unfortunately not garment sewing.

As I highlighted last year the renovations we did, meant that the curtains were not going to work with the new colour scheme so I decided to make them for the whole house, 5 windows and 2 very large french doors.

Don't get me wrong I did manage to do a bit of garment sewing and that is probably why the curtains took 9 months to complete. 

Knitting and jewellery making ended up being my sanity savers.

Hits

• changing the sleeve length on V8648 made this dress very wearable.
• another DVF Wrap Dress, has been worn a number of times and I can see it being worn a lot more.

Highlights

• another 3 classes with Susan Khalje in Sydney
  
• winning viewers choice at the Australian Sewing Guild Convention Dinner held in Melbourne in August for my V8648 dress.

Liz Haywood presenting me with her book, "The Dressmakers Companion".

• In November I toured Tasmania with 12 other yarn crazy ladies and had a fabulous time.
  
• completed the curtains and I'm very happy with them.

Lounge room curtains

Reflections

I've realised that I get caught up in too many shiny things and in 2019 I need to be a lot more aware of this and take stock before I jump in.

That is why I still have 2 Little French Jackets, 1 Couture Skirt and 1 Couture Silk Blouse to complete, time is something I struggle with.

I didn't manage to be effective with my  #MakeNine plans with only 1 garment completed even though I did sew 3 garments (one of them was was V1247 for "#MakeNine), knitted 2 scarfs and made 3 pieces of jewelry.

My stash in and out this year is 6.4 metres out and 18.6 metres added and this includes fabric for the classes with Susan Khalje as well as lycra for the swimwear course I attended earlier this month which are close to being finished and some Dintex for a jacket for Mark and I which if you follow me on IG you would have already seen.

Goals

As mad as it sounds after reading my comments above, I plan on doing SWAP again in 2019 as it will fill my wardrobe with necessary garments in a quick time frame which have either worn out or been stained beyond recovery.

*************************

I'm not sure if blogging is alive or dead these days, but I do like to blog simply for the added information that you can't share via IG.

I would like to thank everyone who visits and those that comment, I know life is hectic and I myself have been remiss in commenting but plan to get back into reading and commenting on the blogs that I enjoy.

Here is the collage of my makes for 2018.

I do have a few pieces to blog about, so hope to see you soon.

Turbulent Sea DVF Wrap Dress

You know when you purchase your ticket for Frocktails and then it dawns on you, "what am I going to wear".

Of course I left it to the last minute but with a sewing weekend coming up I decided to make another DVF Wrap Dress with this dry knit that was in the stash.

Thank you James Broadway

Just before all this happened the ladies over at Artisan Square had a Pre-2019 SWAP Dress Challenge that had to include a new fabric or new technique.

As this knit is heavier than my previous DVF dress, I decided to add a waist-stay which is a technique I have never used and I found this very detailed post over at Stitch N Smile.

The next thing I did was to do a gaposis adjustment in the front neckline of 1cm, this has made the front neckline sit much better.

So armed with all my sewing goodies I headed off for a weekend of sewing.

To make the waist-stay I used some navy petersham ribbon I had purchased from Torb and Reiner and a trouser hook and bar.

Then I realised I had to add a buttonhole to the waist-stay as one of the ties for dress has to pass through the side seam,

where I attached the waist-stay to the dress and I had positioned the hook and bar to be offset to be on the other side away from the tie on the outside. 

By the end of the 2nd day of sewing the dress just needed hemming and thankfully Mark was on hand that evening to level off the hem so I could use my coverstich to finish the hems that night.

This dress is getting a lot of wear besides Frocktails and I can see it getting a lot more with summer finally arriving.

This will also be  my first garment for SWAP 2019 as "One garment may be completed by today (28 October 2018) US Time Zone.  

******************
2018 Stash Out: 6.3 m
2018 Stash In: 5.0 m

Copilot cowl

Last year I went to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Festival and purchased a skein of Dyed By Hand Yarns wool in a colour called  Gorgon's Head Coral and then found a pattern in Ravelry by Dominique Trad called Copilot.

I started this soon after and not long after I realised I had twisted the stitches when I joined it in the round.  I decided to leave it this way and so far it hasn't bothered me at all.

It was a good travelling project.

I enjoy wearing it and it is a great pop of colour in this dull winter weather,

and I find it quite comfortable worn doubled-up for extra warmth, particularly when I have my coat on.

One of the things I was hoping to improve with this pattern was my speed with YO, K2TOG in Continental Knitting (there is quite a lot of it) but so far I am still not quite there so will keep working on it.

The best thing about this pattern is that you can keep knitting until you no longer want to play "yarn chicken", and this is the small amount of yarn I had left, very happy.

V8648 - The Finished Couture Dress

At last the couture dress is finished, well I should say it was pretty much finished when I last posted during MMMay 2017 as it was worn to Government House on the 5th of May for an Investiture Ceremony as my husband was part of a group reciving a Group Bravery Citation for a resuce they assisted with in Japan in 2007. 

I realised that my in my haste to finalise the dress to wear to Government House, the zip was not as nice as I would have liked it and when your husband says he can see the zip you know it must be obvious.

So unpicking of the pick stitching of the zip happened as well as the lining being undone so it felt like it was going a long way back to get the zip back in,

and the lining, which is sewn in sections e.g. skirt, bodice and midriff.

The final step was to do a rolled hem for the silk lining,

adding some lace to finish it off.

With the wide neckline I also decided to add some thread bars to attach the dress to my bra to stop any chance of it slipping off my shoulders.

I found it interesting that once the dress was finished I wasn't keen to wear it, it didn't feel right.  So I took it along to one of my ASG Groups and asked my sewing friends what was wrong, the length, the sleeves or what?  The unamious decision was that the sleeves were too long so they were shortened by 2.5" (nearly 6cm).

Since then the dress has been worn a number of times and I love the new coral/red accessories I now have to wear with it.

So here are some more photos of the dress after being worn all day at the office.

Unfortunately the jacket hasn't progessed much further as my sewing time at present is on curtains for the house now that we have a new colour scheme and is also why there is a lot more knitting appearing.

Coral Orange tube necklace

I just couldn't help myself, I needed a new necklace for another semi formal dinner I was attending.

The same day that I made the Coral Red necklace set, I also made the above Coral Orange 5 strand necklace and earrings.

Julie was very helpful again in working out the colours for me and this class was a stringing workshop held by Bead Them Up.

For this necklace we chose:

• 9mm Coral Orange tubes
• 1.8mm black Spineless faceted round
• Jewellery wire 19 strand 0.35mm

It was then a matter of choosing the length and making 5 separate strands, 

and then they are captured in a cone that is attached to the clasp.

and of course there had to be earrings.

Here we are at the formal dinner.

I am also thrilled thgat this necklace goes so well with this top.

Coral red necklace

I've got a new necklace set.

Back in June at the Craft & Quilt Fair I got chatting to Julie from Bead Them Up about how I found it difficult to work out the bead colours for my jewellery.  Also my Couture dress needed some new jewellery as I had worked out that I was going to wear it to the Gala Dinner at the Australian Sewing Guild Convention in Melbourne in August.

Julie suggested I bring my dress and shoes to the shop and do a workshop which I was very happy to do.

I had fallen in love with these Supersoft Marnee Red Patent Leather shoes so they winged their way to me from style tread and we used these as the colour base for my beading class.

Julie and I wandered around the shop looking for a design and Julie showed me one that I really liked which was with pearls so Julie went about and found the coral/red beads for my necklace and earrings.

We used:

• Coral red coin nugget 17mm
• Coral red S/drill cube 9mm
• 14kGold filled 1.7 x 2mm chain cable
• 14k gold filled bead Rondel corrugated 6mm
• 14k gold filled bead round corrugated 5mm
• Wire wrapping with 14k gold filled wire 0.6mm

This is a closer look at the two different beads and gold chain

and the earrings

This is how it all came together with the Couture dress for the Gala Dinner.

I am thrilled with my new necklace and earring set.