How Did We Get Here?

In May 2014 my Husbie visited China for work. In July we decided he should take the new job, by September we were on the plane to Shanghai.

We packed up and ordered things, and moved things and sold things. We gave things away and we put things in storage. We laughed a lot, and hurried a lot, we stressed a lot and cried a bit. Sometimes (and even a bit now) we wished that other people helped us decide things. Made choices for us. Mapped our lives out and just did the things that were hard to do. But, after lots of talks & debate & discussions (and still that now), we are the makers. We make our lives, we decide and do and enjoy it.

It's thrilling and fucking scary moving countries. I still cannot believe we have done it. We did it.

So! Yes, I brought both my sewing machines to Shanghai, but hardly any supplies!

Here's what sewing supplies did come with me, and currently hang out in my Shanghai Sewing Studio (AKA the spare room for my parents to stay in - or any friend who cares to stop over!):

- Straight Stitch Sewing Machine
- Overlocker - DUR - I would die without this machine
- A Handmade for Kids Vintage book my friend Cat gave me
- A By Hand London Anna Pattern
- A McCalls Pattern Dress, for some reason, as I've never sewn it
- Oliver + S patterns for children - same reason as above
- A Sew Liberated book
- My pins because they remind me of my Grandmother
- A half knitted cowl-scarf
- A half knitted baby cardigan
- Some crochet hooks that are the same size I thing - oops!
- My computer, so I can podcast & blog (well try to - I've been fixing up the site these last few days - oops, I can't remember as much html anymore! I tried a few new templates, but the code just kept stuffing up!)
- An unstitcher - of course!

And I think that's about it!

Have you moved countries? What did you take? I forgot fabric scissors! OOPS, I bought some here instead, snippy snip!



Photos: Sewing Room packed up in Melbourne, and freshly cut flowers from Shanghai flower shop on our first day in town.

What's Your Best Side?

Just mucking around today while my baby has an usual naptime of 4pm - 5.30pm (he's got 2 molars on the way - ouch) and remembering the time (yes, I'm old) when digital photography first came in, so we all started taking a million photos to finally find out our 'best side', and which poses suited our face sizes. Of course it took several years to finally get it right! Whatever did we do before digital photography (I always had my eyes closed, or I was looking around at everyone else in the photo instead of the camera)

Yes, this was before the selfies of instagram and probably around 2005 was my peak as I discovered 'Up and To the Side' (BELOW) instead of just 'To The Side' (ABOVE). You see I have a R-O-U-N-D face, and it was advised to me (LOL - we were drunk at the time, so can't remember who) that Up & To The Side was best for round faces... check out the angles:

The other best 'look' at the time (oh maybe it was 2006?) was 'Cooling The Soup' (BELOW) where you pretend you are blowing a bowl of soup cool... (see I'm holding an imaginary bowl of soup below, so you can see!) (LOL) and this was quite a good look too for me... as you can see, RIGHT? BUT, I actually prefer 'Up & To The Side' the best (so that's why you see that all the time in my Outfit Poses, yeh?). I've also heard 'Cooling The Soup' described as 'The Trout Pout' ala the Olsen Twins.

Ha ha!

Anyways, hi to you from me, the ever time poor blogger! This is my sewing room though, and it'll be spruced up soon (well, as soon as those little sewing room cleaning fairies swing by!) and as the electrician came this week to fix the lighting... I might even sew something soon. How awful does bad lighting make for sewing? I have had trouble sewing in this room since we've moved in (too dark for nighttime sewing) so hooray for finally getting better lights in here.

Hope you're having a great week!

Love Veronica "Up & To The Side" Darling.

xoxo

Sewing Room Action Plan #1

We all know I'm trying to kick my sewing mojo into gear around here! I'm slowly plodding through my 100 Things (self imposed challenge!) and I really really really want to sew at least ONE Laurel before we go to the USA!

So, my Action Plan #1 post: REVEAL THE MESS.

Yep, this is my sewing room in it's 'storage mode'. We recently had the house cleaned and painted, and the little sewing room became repurposed. It's an old 'add on' or sunroom so it's long and skinny and has original 60s carpet. (NOT THAT YOU CAN SEE THE CARPET) And there was a lot more shit in here, but it all got put back after the painters left, so this is actually LESS CLUTTERED than before.

Yep. A Mess! You can't even see my dress forms - yes Joanie is up the back there, you can just see her black 'head' sticking up there behind Diana. Yes the girls are LONELY and sad.

THESE GIRLS too:

So lonely. Sometimes I just go in and turn the straight stitch machine on (the light is then left on for days) before I realise that I have no time for sewing (and no space) so leave. (I did make Baby Darling's blanket in this mess, so cruel!).

But, to reveal the mess means I have to take action and clean it up. We have a couple of 'storage solutions' for the sewing stuff, and also Husbie's computer will go back to his office and mine will be here (it's smaller), but we'll also change the tables around, so here's hoping there's room and it'll all fit and be gorgeous soon.

YAY!

A Sew Weekly Surprise

OMG, over the weekend, I pulled out a pattern and cut up some fabric that isn't stretch knit... can you believe it?

This week I'm planning something for Sew Weekly, so I had a deadline, WHICH does make you sew and complete things BTW.

I'm hoping the post will be up there sometime this week, so I'll let you know! (or you could just keep refreshing Mena's site, awestruck that I actually made something in 6 hours, AND photographed it)

Now, how do I get Husbie to take more photos of me and my daggy stretch knit dresses (that are SO comfy just super casual)??? ... (still haven't mastered the tripod and autotimer here in the new house... but I did *find* the tripod within some unpacked boxes).

Hope you're having a lovely week so far! xoxo

And so it's 2012

I've been saying Twenty Twelve since October. We've all been ready for the new year to start for over 2 months, and now that it's here... I feel like crashing into a pile and resting for at least 12 months!

Thank you SO much for your lovely notes and your support through 2011, and I'm SO looking forward to blogging with you (either as a writer yourself, or a reader) through this year. What a year ahead too. It's going to be great!

Oh yes, you'll get some recaps of my Sew Weekly 2011 adventures, from my favourites to the weirdest ones. And you'll soon see what my plans for 2012 are too... they're not big plans, mind you. So don't sweat it! I seem to go HUGE year, small year, HUGE year, small year... here in blog land... so my challenges will hopefully be small and cute.

My little sewing room is 'getting there'... after the move, and a moderate unpack (thanks to Husbie) to keep me in the Sew Weekly swing, it's now very used! I just need to get a system going with threads, fabrics I wanna use first, books, and notions. I like things to look cute but mostly to be accessible, so if they live in drawers and cupboards it means I usually forget about them!

But here's my sewing room floor! (In a photo I forgot to turn right way up)

The carpet is amazing! The yellow pieces are leftovers from my Bike Apron... which I'll forever call a Riding Dress! (One of my plans this year is to see if I can draft my own pattern for it!)

And the best thing is that the computer fits in too! YAY!

Sew Weekly: Unfinished Business!

My week:

1. Dig around in the old Sewing Room for that UFO (AKA Unfinished Object) for the Sew Weekly Theme Week.

 2. Find the dress and material all tidily cut out, and folded up into little pieces around a bodice that is almost finished! Thank you old me!

3. Discover ANOTHER UFO, cut out by Old Me (she now has a sentence case status) because Old Me thought that New Me needed an extra project... but it's a really simple project, so Old Me knew that New Me is kinda time poor. But needed to use up that extra fabric of the Fruit Salad Tablecloth!

4. Old Me forgot to set aside a zipper though, so luckily New Me found one in the stash that totally matches and is the right size!

Confused? Old Me would be, but not New Me.

ARGH!

Do you have UFOs? This is probably my only one, so I'm very glad for it this week. I tend to complete a garment all the way through, but cut corners on the buttons or hems, so they could be considered UFO, but are kinda wearable, so who knows.

Misadventure in the Sewing Room

Here's a little tale I started to write you, at the START of my sewing day, with photos from my sewing room:

"Yep, it's another sewing adventure for me! I'm sewing with a ribbed knit fabric! Woo!

The last time I used some knit fabric, I chose the wrong type for the pattern, and had to really WIGGLE myself in and out of the dress! LOLZ

This time, I've gone to find some black material for a dress, but all that's kinda suitable in my stash is this ribbed knit material (maybe for a sports tshirt or something) that's in a gigantic tube! Easy for cutting on the fold, I guess! It's from the op shop and I have NO idea where I got it, but it seemed like a good idea to use it. Also, considering I'm trying a pattern that should be for normal cottons, why not be adventurous and try a knit rib.

As I'm quick to use the old google, here's my learning curve (or Sewing Curve, form the photo above!) for today (I've moved the computer into the sewing room, can you tell?):

1. Google up, "sewing darts in knit fabric", find these helpful ladies chatting about zig zag stitch. No overlocker required. Bodice is looking A-OK with darts in front and back, but looks a LITTLE BIG."

And that's it! No step 2, nothing more to add. My *darling* draft of a pattern (top photo) was from a printed off the internet kinda one, and I did notice that it had printed out 1cm too big, so I resized: TWICE. Because of the petite factor I have, I was also using a pattern that was supposed to be a size 31 bust, so I *did* kinda think all the resizing issues were under control.

Nup. I don't even think it was the knit rib's fault! I feel the numbers didn't add up somewhere, and where that was, I'm not sure. Because of the cut, I can't fix the bodice now.

At least I know how to make a dart in knit fabric now!

Oh well, now I'm onto the red wine (in an effort to feel better) and making pasta full on Italian style. Well, I'll try!

Hope you've had a great weekend! xoxo

Finding the next challenge

There are so many highs and lows of emotions when sewing your own stuff. I get so excited when it all comes together (like last week) and super happy that my sewing skillz are improving!

Then, it comes time to begin again. And I don't often know where to start. Do you get like this sometimes? Flip flopping, back and forth on ideas and designs and dreaming?

In an effort to stop procrastinating about what pattern goes with what fabric (and other dreaming & scheming sewing room things!), this week I've had a very quick idea about what I want to make. And I will make it.

I've BOUGHT some fabric (I didn't have the right colour in my stash) first and then found a random weird pattern set (it looks like it is part of a collection, with those ring binder holes on the side!) from the stash, all without thinking too much. This 'Sew Stylish' pattern (above) is totally secondhand, but I can't remember if mum gave it to me, or I bought it myself from the op shop, as I do have a few of these. They are A4 in size, and super early 90s weird.

This week's Sew Weekly Theme is Some Local Colour, and I've got a few ideas about where in Melbourne to showcase. But I really am trying to stop thinking about stuff, and just DO IT. One area of Melbourne just makes me laugh, in a good way, and I'm just gonna act quickly and stop umming and ahhing about it.

(as I typed this, I second guessed myself at every other sentence. But I am DETERMINED to just do it, and show you and then talk about it.)

xoxo

First try at French Seams

With this week's 'Chicago' dress, I didn't want to change my overlocker threads (they were reds, and I'm planning on some orange and red creations coming up) so I ho hummed, and then remembered I'd seen some French Seams somewhere on one of your blogs, and thought I'd try that.

The fabric was quite keen to fray, so that's why I did want the overlocker or the 'contained' seams somehow, and I have no patience for the pinking scissors with longer edges of things.

I couldn't remember where I'd seen it, but when I googled just now for you, I found Colette Patterns have done a tutorial that looks easy to follow. I certainly didn't iron all the way through like these instructions tell you to, so I'd probably do that and sew a bit closer to the edges, as my French Seams are a little fat in width.

Also, if you have material (like I had) that looks similar right side and wrong side, perhaps best to remember which is which. I think I stuffed that up... OH WELL. Only I can tell, an ordinary lovely friend is none the wiser!

Works in Progress

Do you have those feelings in the opshop/charity shop/thrift store where you just GRAB something and you're not sure why but you know you'll need it one day? I am like that a bit like that all the time, and so have to limit my visits, but I grabbed a bagful of shoulder pads one day just like that.

I didn't know any pattern I owned had shoulder pads, and didn't really think I'd ever wear something with shoulder pads, but now I've made 2 things this year with shoulder pads! That's my current project above, based on these gorgeous instructions:

Happy Valentines Day (or two weeks in our household, everything is celebrated in 2 weeks at LEAST, but considering we've had our wedding anniversary AND my parents came to stay and we went on a fancy dinner, I think we're lying low for this next two weeks!) to you!


*** Update! ***

Mena's announced this week theme, which is SEEING RED for Val Day and so the above is a little sneaky peak of what I'm making! You should see Mena's fabulous red floral number right now!

The odds and ends of Blue Floral

Happy Holiday yesterday for you fun Australians, and happy midweek to you other cool peeps!

My pattern for the Floral & Blue Dress this week is an old Simplicity Miss Petites pattern, and had one of those 'Bonus Charts' included. I've used this same one (probably a few years back when I first tried the pattern) before and did find the dress was more suited to my shape, so this time I read it again for a refresher.

It's good to make up clothes really quickly and give no thought to the fit, but if you're like me (and probably 99 % of you are) and are a unique shape (compared to the pattern!) then looking at a chart like this (or googling one similar) will help those 'unique' shapes be more suited when you make the garment up. It'll be different for all of us, but see those horizontal darts on that white dress? They were the ones I had to shave more off, but at the same time be careful I didn't shave off at the bust area just the waist area. It's tricky, and trying the garment on inside out (or on your dress form girl) helps you isolate those areas and you can pin them closer to you. LOLZ I'm trying to talk like a professional seamstress - 'isolate' LOLZIE!

All professional seamstresses have pincushions RIGHT!?

I've got a few funny 'ring pull' zippers, and thought I'd have to use them for a front jacket thing, but I thought 'fuck that' and have made a feature of the back zipper but sticking it there. I'm pretty sure these ones came from good old Marrickville (It's the major Salvos on Marrickville Road Sydney-siders, always heaps of zippers and threads there) and I cannot believe I can remember where I bought a zipper and not the freaking material!

Next post I'll show you how I lay out the pattern pieces to incorporate the right parts of the fabric patterns. I said 'incorporate' LOLZ AGAIN for trying professional talk!

My first Sew Weekly Theme!

Yay! Remember how I am a new contributor to the Sew Weekly? The first weekly theme has been announced on the blog, and it's a fashion icon (or so I have found out!): Coco Chanel. One of the things that attracted me to the Sew Weekly blog in the first place is the idea that I need to extend my sewing skills, and whilst I can put in a zipper easy peasy these days, I actually don't know much about fashion or design or how a lot of our modern clothing came about.

So yay for themes and ideas, I wouldn't have thought of myself... it really makes you think outside of your comfort zone. Cliched, but so true!

So, I was thrilled about the first theme, as I'd heard of Chanel (dur!) but didn't really know anything about the woman, or the clothes she designed! And what a first theme to extend my sewing skills but swotting up on google images and reading about the style she created.

So, not only did the Little Black Dress idea stem from Chanel, a lot of black and white horizontal stripes (that I'm SURE some of you will see as a hipster/scenster staple) is her signature as well, AND the tailored women's suit is part of her design too. So kinda modern women's clothing has a lot to do with Coco! One day I'll get around to see the film with Audrey Tautou in it, but I feel like I've had a little history lesson this week!

Can you see where I'm going with my garment already?

I had so many initial ideas, but browsing through heaps of google images, I began to sense the ordinary Chanel silhouette wasn't really going to suit a fully curvy figure. There was a lot of high necklines (not good for bosoms like mine) and drapey loose bows around the neck and chest. Also not good for the bosoms. So I've started something that will hopefully be a bit me, and a bit Chanel!

Also, Mena's Chanel creation has been blogged too... she looks cute to boot!

Talk soon!

More sewing room gush!

Well it's totally clean, so I have to show off just a little right? I'm actually amazed at how good looking it looks! Here's to tidy sewing rooms across the world this week... let's hope after the weekend it'll be the same.

There's my fave sections of fabric, above! I love the reds so much! Especially that red/green floral shizz; it's kinda soft flannel cotton stuff (totally winter) so we'll see if I finally get that to a dress this year during the Sew Weekly Challenge! I also love the yellows and oranges, and a few of the pinks there. The pink with the aqua lettering is totally going to be a tshirt soon, I'm just trying to get the right pattern. Me? In a tshirt? Yep, the lettering spells out SPORT and I'm so going to do more sport this year! Just you wait til I make this tshirt!

Here's a close up of those naughty blues. ICK what are you doing there! Notice how my purples are dwindling too. I adore purple at the moment! Wish that was as large as the blue pile!

Here's a close up of my cheap as chips Sewing Dresser! Buttons in bottles, books and patterns galore (you know those A4 1980s ones? I've got heaps of these weird knit ones!) and then my current crochet project (while I watch Season 6 of Sopranos, I'm making Husbie and I a massive bed spread! Should be ACE and warm!) with real life store bought wool from Morris and Sons in the city. I stocked up because there was a sale on. THRIFTY! Also, please note those are hand weights down the bottom right corner. See, SPORTY!

I noticed some of you liked my 'trunks'! I love you Northern Hemisphere peeps! These are collected suitcases from over the years, the top two are my childhood ones, the top one being a Holly Hobbie one. The red one is filled with figurines from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (a gift from my adorably funny friend) and the brown one has all my wool in it, and the bottom two big ones have heaps more patterns. *eep*

And there's old Joanie from 1960s! She's a little outta shape, but I'm going to restore her soon.

Here's all the things you need ASAP, so hence them being very close to my sewing desk!

And now, I wonder, what to make first...?

xoxo

Whose sewing room is this?

HOME INVASION! Someone has robbed me of my messy lair of a sewing room and replaced it with this:

WHAT?! A floor in my sewing room?! I've never seen that since I've moved in! Yes LOL-stars, I've spent a *little* while cleaning up and ordering my darling room, so that everything has a home. It's how Husbie and I can have a peaceful mind: when things have a home. Like how the wrapping paper lives in the 'stationary' drawers, and when zippers (still in cardboard) are with the knitting needles in the two old bakelite container things.

I've had the table in the middle of the room for a bit now, and it's great for holding fabric out and cutting pattern pieces, but I don't like walking around to the ironing board all the time. I might 'box' myself in when I sew next time, and have the ironing section in at the end of it all, so I can just 'roll' on the chair over there. Saves time and energy Lazy Seamstresses!

Ohhhh, here's the fabric shelf:

I ran outta space for total colour coordination, and it's hard sometimes with prints! Not that I've counted but 95% of this stash is probably op shopped/thrifted. Note how I hardly wear any blue things, but have shitloads of the stuff. I'm not fond of any of the brown piles either, not much of it goes with my platinum hair colour. Dilemmas!

And here's my dresser, originally a kitchen one, but now a sewing dresser! I've cleaned it up as best I can, but it must have been stored in a garage or somewhere heaps dusty and not weatherproof, as there are permanent marks and the counter top is lifting on the far corner. I might repaint it one day.

It was $30! On sale from this awesome second hand store in Yarraville! ARGH!

I'll show you some detail shots, and what I'm working on at the moment, tomorrow! I'm back at work in the morning! What about you?

Fabric Sorting Au Go Go

I got some tidying done in the sewing room! Hooray!

Sadly just a bit of it, and not even half. I love having some extra space in the sewing room, as I have a bench in the middle of the room for folding the fabric into these neat piles, but it just takes ages to do. I'd say 95 % of my fabric these days is thrifted, second hand and op shopped.

I'm in love with this dreamy green pile though!

I'm just giddy over what to make from some of those top green cottons. Sadly the black flecked fabric (second from the top) used to be white and black, and I had another malfunction in the washing machine that somehow turned it green.

Always wash your fabric as soon as you get it back from the oppie, but I guess it's best to wash it separately as well. Oops!

(Luckily these photos don't show you the piles of fabric on the floor that's left to be sorted. Mess!)