My Gorgeous Pattern & Notions Swap!

I haven't had much time in my sewing/blogging career to do a sewing swap, and there are always lots going on here... but as The Sew Weekly Reunion has stirred a lot of passion around online, so I was keen to be involved in the swap that Kat set up!

For my side of the swap, I was assigned Toni from Sew Let It Be Done who lives in Salt Lake City in the USA and I had a big hunt through my patterns & (not many notions) for some special things... I found my handmade bias tape & included a little teenage vintage pattern for her daughter and Toni is over the moon happy with the stash! YAY I was nervous!

And in my postbox, I found this DARLING collection from Denise at Dottie Doodle that made me smile all over... perfect patterns, and perfectly coloured notions! Check out those big buttons! ARGH:

Thank you SO much Denise, you are a total sweetheart! She mentioned the blue braid is original 50s/60s as she bought it from a vintage fair, directly from the original owner! Amazing.

As I haven't started my Sew Weekly Reunion creation yet (but have ummed and ahhed about ideas) I'm thinking I'll switch to use that Style 3109 pattern instead... as I like the waistline... I'll see how I go this week, as there's not much time left! ARGH!

Thank you Denise & thank you Kat for organising! And Thanks Toni for all your swap love. How great are swaps? Why haven't I done one sooner?!

Love to you! (It's been a busy time for us, birthdays - MINE - and family stuff and just crazy house stuff and more... I'll try and fill you in, but we'll see!)

xoxo

Sew Weekly: TV Week

Hey darling! I'm back!

And with another Sew Weekly dress of course! It's been a whirlwind month, so I'm pleased you've had some patience with my postings (or lack of!) and I'll be back with you and visiting your blog and missing the heck outta you for the rest of April now!

Only the Sewing Gods know how I managed to get my Sew Weekly garment ready in time this week! I am baffled and amazed with myself for sewing up this darling shirt dress, as looking at it (and the photos) now ... it looks REALLY tricky!

First up, the theme for the Sew Weekly challenge (You know Mena's blog by now right? I love 'resetting' what I'm up to all the time, but if you're a regular reader you might be like - I *know* the Sew Weekly by now, hurry up and get with the program!) is Women from Television... and I settled on Lucy from the I Love Lucy show, circa 1950... this pattern is a shirt dress from 1948 that I have NO idea where I got it from... perhaps an op shop... it's in pretty bad shape (a few moth holes!) so I don't think it's from an etsy seller or anything nice.

Planning out my sewing was really important for me, as I was totally slammed with my day job and with the comedy festival commitments I have. It was just super busy, and each day I had about 30 minutes of sewing, so had to sew in bursts. Or Sewing Spurts as Cathe over at Mena's blog suggested!

THEN, when I'd finished up the dress, I had about 15 minutes one afternoon to take the photos, and as Husbie was at work, I found the little tripod. I have tried to take self portraits before, but could never get the focus right. For these ones (I'm sorry I look so tired, I took a nap straight after!) I pointed the autofocus to the spot where I aimed to stand... and then the photos came out kinda in focus. Self timer photos are just weird when you don't have anything to focus on.

But it IS a nice shirt dress, do you think?

This week has been KUH-razy! Totally crazy! I'm utterly relieved how great the dress is, how awesome these photos came out and that the week's finally over! One more comedy thing tonight, and then I'll sleep for 4 years. If you wanna hear a little more about the I Love Lucy idea for this week's theme, I wrote a bit more about the dress in my post.

I hope you've been well, and watch out, because come Sunday I'll be flicking through your blog and catching up on all your news! YAY for the super long weekend (it's Anzac Day here on Monday, so no work til Wednesday!)!!!

xoxo

Sew Weekly: Colette & Colour

YAY! Introducing my most recent Sew Weekly creation! I teased you through the week, and you may have seen my post yesterday on Mena's blog, but here's some darling photos just for you!

The pattern is a Colette Rooibos, and the fabric an old tablecloth, with some MAGNIFICENT flowers. If you can imagine a large square (as the tablecloth's original form), with a white line edging/border, the large clusters of flowers were in the corners and some other smaller flowers along the border. And now it's a beautiful little mini dress!

I'm so super happy with it, hence all these photos! Every part of the dress was planned out, to suit the flower placement, and this little vertical white line (on the back waistband, above) was the only small mistake with putting it all together, and it's not actually that bad!

So I just was looking at some of the comments on my Sew Weekly post, and noticed SARAI who MAKES Colette Patterns left a comment! I'm over the moon!

Wish I could stick around and gush a bit more, but I've got to go and work (and hopefully survive!) at SOUNDWAVE, which is a punk, hardcore & metal festival in Melbourne today. Thank you for your feedback as well, darlings! This has been such a fun week of sewing for me, and I get all dizzy when it works out so well! Best dress all year! *gush*

Sew Weekly Theme: Colette Patterns!

This week, I've been working on my Sew Weekly creation, and if you look at Mena's blog, you'd have seen it's a Colette Pattern: Spring Palette themed week. Because I'm a nerd, I love that Colette and Palette have equal letters, sharing the 'lette' in the final bit and it looks really nice and balanced written out. Also, because I'm also in the Southern Hemisphere, my chosen 'colour' palette will be more autumnal and about a fading summer.

Here's my collection of initial ideas of a fading summer, early autumnal in some of my stash fabrics. And it's my first 'disclosure' alert on my blog: as I'm a contributor to the Sew Weekly, and this week Colette Patterns is the first official sponsor of a theme, I was SENT this pattern for free to make up! OMG! It's probably also my first 'modern' pattern as well (for a long time at least, I did print up a Burda Style one a few years back), so it's very exciting.

If you're super keen on Colette Patterns, they've also offered Sew Weekly lovers a discount code, so you can sew along with us this week too!

I did want a red dress with some print features in the pockets and collar (I'm making the Rooibos pattern btw!) but I just couldn't shake this tablecloth with the big flowers! The tan/brown seemed a great base for the colour palette (not to mention those awesome flowers!), and then with this grey lawn (that I'd use for the pockets and collar instead) matched nicely.

Of course, after I 'locked in' my fabric choices, I discovered some challenges with the pattern placement. Cause the flowers are so large, and the skirt of the dress is gored (which means a lot of sections perhaps?) I wanted to make sure not all the red flowers were on one side, and the flowers looked the right way up etc. You know these old tableclothes, they have the best flowers in the corners and spaced evenly around the borders, and none in the middle of the fabric.

But guess what other 'bonus' challenges appeared on this second hand tablecloth:

Foodstains! 40 year old grease stains all over! So it was like a HUGE puzzle to make sure I got the best pieces of the fabric (the darling flowers) but avoided all these little stains. The saddest part was I when I realised the middle of the tablecloth (the bit I was saving for the waistband) had a terror of a coffee stain with some other yuk marks, that was faint, but still noticable. ICK. I'll show you soon how it all panned out and how I put it together!

The old Razzle Dazzle!

Hi darlings! This week's theme for the Sew Weekly Challenge is 'And the Winner is: OSCAR COSTUMES', so of course there was an abundance of choice... for best costume nominations and winners are vast! AND all very historical!

What do you think I pulled out here?

YES, it's 1920s (kinda a modern wearable version?) dress!

YES, I am attempting dancing via photographs. Doggie Darling just doesn't know what's happening!

YES, it's Chicago! The Musical! I first saw the film at the drive in (!) with my besties in my old hatchback (awesome for lying back in!) and I didn't really know anything about it. Of course I got a bit gushy over it as everything was just so well done! The acting, dancing, performances and casting, but how good was the costumes!?

I posted this today via Mena's Sew Weekly blog, if you'd like more info. But the dress is really quite straightforward, and didn't really take very long. I think I've got to 'step up' a little in these weekly challenges? I'm a little limited because I'm only choosing stash fabric (of course I have to make it harder on myself) and often go for the easier or quicker option pattern wise. Hmmmmm, I'm not too sure, but I want to make some more riskier things this year, and so far things I haven't really stretched out too much.

Are you enjoying the Sew Weekly challenges you see here on my blog? It's certainly meant consistent blogging, hey? Let me know what you do or don't like about my outfits so far, you can be honest! I save all my 'goofier' photos just for you to see here, so we can be honest for sure!


*** My heart goes to you and yours in Christchurch, NZ, so sad. Once again I just can' watch the telly for I flipped on today and just welled up instantly. Thinking of you guys and hope everyone is found ***

Sew Weekly: Seeing Red

See what I'm doing there? I made a loveheart with my fingers and I'm looking at you cause I love you. LOLZ!

You may have seen my post go up yesterday at The Sew Weekly, but if you're just a casual visitor to my blog, I've been contributing to Mena's blog for just this year, and every week we settle on a theme and make up a garment in that theme. It's really fun and there's a bit of a fun sew a long following too. Go along and check it out if you're keen!

I'm really enjoying the challenge of a slower paced sewing environment. My sewing in previous years would be to list 5 things I wanted to finish by the weekend, sew like crazy, make them a bit half arsed in the process, and then get stressed when I didn't finish them. So with The Sew Weekly, I'm pacing out the deciding what to make, the fabric/pattern connections, the cutting, the joining and then the details all over a week, and it's really relaxing!

This dress is one of my faves of the year so far, it's a heavy synthetic shiny fabric (from Lincraft, but I used it for my friend's Music Award Dress, and had HEAPS leftover, just checked this archives and it is a gabardine fabric.) and kinda floaty but full in the gathered skirt.

I gotta run to work now, but I'll talk more about it and the AMAZING bolero tomorrow! I just wanted to show you some extra photos now! Husbie took the photos, using light from a street lamp, and his own camera flash, but the sun had *just* gone down and we're hanging at DOCKLANDS. It looks mysterious like it's somewhere AMAZING in the background, but it's just shipping yards!

Talk soon, have a great Thursday! xoxo

Sew Weekly: Stash Busting #1

Hi friends! Oh boy, this week's Sew Weekly challenge has been 'fun' and 'interesting'! The theme is 'Stash Busting: A pattern and fabric you've had for a while and not used', and I got a little fixated on the 'how long it's been in my stash' part of this challenge. I've posted a bit of 'frustrated' info during my blog post over at Mena's blog but pretty much it's a fun looking dress, but not a fun practical dress.

FUNNY! It's now the fifth or sixth theme week, so I'm pretty happy I haven't fucked up anything too badly, but it isn't a dress I'd like to put on all the time. I might give it a wash and see if it softens up a bit (it's kinda floaty and electric in the skirt).

 

It's entirely vintage, the material is from the op shop, the pattern (that you saw earlier in the week) was a second hand one, and even the cutie little buttons are vintage, and from my darling friend's Grandmother's stash. It's so nice to reuse all these things, and it totally inspires me to make this dress work somehow!

OMG what a shapely bot! ANYWAYS, like I said, I got fixated on using the things I've had for the longest time, instead of perhaps pairing things that really work together. There's certainly some things I need to learn about fabric, perhaps there's so Spotlight or Lincraft 'Know Your Fabric' kinda courses?

Best, Veronica xoxo

Sew Weekly: Floral & Blue

Hey guys! My Sew Weekly Dress is up already! I forgot that I got it ready early this week, so planned on showing you the work in progress photos today, but instead I'll just go "VOILA":

The Theme is 'Something Floral, Something Blue' and this is a huge ISSUE with me because I don't like blue (you've heard this before, I know I'm a rerun of a dag) yet I seem to have huge stupid piles of blue floral fabric in my stash.

This blue floral stuff is a linen tablecloth, that I've probably had forever since can't remember buying it. I really like the flowers, as they kinda look handdrawn and wonky here and there. I'll tell you a little more in the coming days about the pattern I used.

Nevertheless, I've loved doing the theme this week with the Sew Weekly, cause as much as I THOUGHT I'd use this fabric, by having a challenge and a 'joining in' theme, I have actually USED the fabric. And maybe I don't look too bad in blue.

MAYBE it's my new colour? I have no idea what colour shoes it goes with though. That's why I had to choose my Melissa Troupes! HOW GOOD IS MY NEW HANDBAG TOO? It's a makeup case of some sort, and will probably only last a few wears, but it was $4 from one of the Sydney Road, Brunswick, op shops. I think it's Don Bosco (I always call it Donnie Brasco). They are still incredibly cheap for an inner city op shop. Go there now!

 So there's my Sew Weekly garment for another week! If you have a blue floral in your stash, make something this week and go to Mena's blog to find out how you can post your contribution, as there's a community page now! I'm just sussing that part out now, cause we all know I like online communities and social media!

I'll post a few WIP photos tomorrow, since I wanted to show you a few techniques I employed during the making of this dress. And I will even try to explain myself properly this time. Maybe not 100 per cent well, but I will try.

*** And don't forget darling! Tomorrow is Australia Day, which means it's triple j's Hottest 100 Countdown! It's my first day NOT working in a few years, so even though I worked really late tonight, I will have tomorrow off and listen to my friends on the radio instead! If you are so inclined, I might be looking at you Kat, you may be able to hear my 'LIVE across the country, triple j's Hottest 100' voice overs through the day.

If you're not Australian, triple j hosts the Hottest 100 countdown, the best songs of the year as voted by you, each Australia Day... and it's grown so much... internationally in some music circles, it's considered the most democratic music list in the world. I voted for Mark Ronson, The Drums, Yeasayer, Best Coast and a few others that I've forgotten now... hope they get in there! You can also stream it internationally, if you like music of course!!

Sew Weekly: Unrequited Love

Hooray, I finished another dress for the Sew Weekly, and this week I'd given you a bit of a clue about the film I was chose, shot in 1999 but set in the 1970s, Khriste Be of Stitch It Up Stella got it right!

It's was the Virgin Suicides, a Sophia Coppolla film based on this book by Jeffrey Eugenides:

I just read his more recent book 'Middlesex' which was amazing. This cover of The Virgin Suicides also helped my styling (note my fave OK OK knee high socks!) but I mostly chose this film for the theme because it's such a great looking film and very mysterious. I love mystery: I wrote my thesis on David Lynch, the filmmaker, and it was ALL about mystery... what's NOT shown in the film is sometimes as great as the film itself. Anyways, my dress is very simple, but highly comfortable as our temperatures in Melbourne go up and down! Be warned, there are a lot of photographs today!

 

I give the garment a bit of an explanation on my Sew Weekly post , but it's a very quick and easy dress to make, and the material is op shopped and I've lost track when I got it. It is from the stash however, as I'm trying to use all second hand materials for the Sew Weekly (it'll be up to 50 dresses this year, and I don't have that kind of disposable income!).

 

It's a synthetic fabric, and we (thanks for your discussion too!) think it could be crape or crepe. I have no idea, and wish I could send you all a swab so you can feel it, as it's really soft! 

I wore it to work and didn't find it hot or itchy like some synthetics, so oh well! Now, for the photos: Husbie and I went to the local river with Doggie Darling, we often go for 'power walks' with her down there, but this time I dolled up and trotted down in my darling Melissa shoes at 7am instead of sneakers!

 

I'm still not super cool at having my photo taken like this and I move around a lot and feel a little awkward that I'm not really being natural. I think over the past year, I've become a little more confident but it's still kinda funny! The photos have come out looking really natural, so I'm really surprised!

Anyways, there's another theme for next week, and I'm determined to use Amanda's vintage patterns so I can finish up that challenge at the same time as the Sew Weekly challenge, so expect a little more vintage! FYI this is the McCalls pattern I used for this one:

It's a bit different maybe because of the light flowy fabric I used, but it was seriously a really quick dress to make, probably just under 2 hours to finish? So next week, I'll get out of the 1990s and find some nice 1960s or 1950s for you. This year, and hopefully through the Sew Weekly, I'll extend myself in the sewing room, and tackle some patterns I've put aside because they look too tricky.

Happy Friday to you! I better rush off cause this post is way too long now!

Sew Weekly Theme: Unrequited Love WIP

So it's another WIP moment at my house, with Theme #2 of The Sew Weekly challenge, where I'm making alongside four other darling peeps a garment a week and if you have a look at Mena's website you'll find that you can too!

This week's theme is Unrequited Love in Films, and since I'm not a huge lovey dovey fan, but I love films, I looked quickly through some films that have that as a theme and simply chose one based on the look and style of the film. It's set in the 1970s, but was released in 1999...

Any ideas? It's kinda obscure, so I may have to reveal tomorrow! Here's my 'drawings' and I'm undecided how I'll use the pattern pieces. I want to try the more modern McCalls, because I've made the other one a few times now, and it's kinda annoying to do all those pleatings. I do want to have puffy or half cap sleeves to give it a 1970s flouncey look... but I don't know.

The fabric is thrifted, has a synthetic feel that's almost but not quite flannel... it's really soft, but the right side is slightly bubbled... Again, apols about my explanation, I'm not so good with terminology and I certainly don't know my fabric. It's not cotton, that's for sure. It's an op shop purchase, I think it's quite cheap and here's a rather expensive zipper from the op shop too! I love old zippers still in the packaging (I also save it for something 'useful' later on, but still don't know what!) but longer ones often pop out with hard to iron out creases from being wrapped up for 40 years!

What's happening with your week? I keep feeling it's Thursday because I've got a lot of planning ahead at work, and it's making me mixed up! At this stage it's our biggest and funnest work day of the year on Wednesday, so we're all thinking about that!

xoxo

Something for the 'Gift Box'

Do you have a little corner where you put gifts and presents for people? So when their birthday or other spesh occasions come around you can go to your 'Gift Box' and grab out something for them? I am not usually very good at being so organised, but after my clean up over the past week, I've discovered HEAPS of things I've made and never got around to giving people.

Like crochet scarfs. And loads of baby things. And quirky things I've bought on a whim at the shops. I'm not good at shopping appropriately.

Because it's summertime here, I can't really give someone a scarf now, but I've put it into my 'Gift Box' (I wish I had a better name for it... it's only new, I bet a funny name will evolve eventually) and as it gets colder through the year, maybe someone will need it. I made this crochet scarf (from secondhand wool) by making a long chain, and then going around and around with 2 double/treble crochets in any spaces I could find... around the end (above) I scooped it a little bit, adding a few extra stitches to make it curved. I am determined to show you how I learned crochet, but am REALLY bad at explaining it. For example, I just had to think what 'stitches' were called, because in my head I call them 'friends' or 'guys', "I've got 2 little guys together, then I do one, and then make two more little guys in the next space"....  Not good with crochet lingo.

We might be waiting a while for me to get a tutorial together... so that you and I can understand it!

My first week back at work has been eventful: lunches, phones calls, catch ups, and employing people. YAY. But tonight I've been invited out to the THEATRE by my darling friend Amy and we're going to see Mary Poppins The Musical! ARGH! So excited! Actually, I'm wearing a purple dress (made late last year) that I haven't photographed yet to show you, so I'll make sure I get a few happy snaps at the theatre!

xoxo

Glimpses of my party dresses!

This time of year it's always parties, events and things to do, and being back in Melbourne is no different to Sydney life. I mentioned to you yesterday that I've been sewing up a storm with any spare time I've had, making party dresses!

For some reason, even though I am ARMED with my gorgeous camera at every event, now that *I* am taking the photos, I rarely get photos *of* myself. I'll have to start taking a photo before I leave the house (and not rushing out the door putting lippy on in the car like above!)!!! This dress (that you totally can't see properly, sorry) is what I'm also wearing to work today, it's made of awesome material and it was for a Christmas house party last Friday night. I took a quick photo in the car to see if my lipstick was ok!

This photo (above) shows another vintage pattern from Amanda in Adelaide, who has kindly lent me some of her stash to make up. The material is a bedsheet, the zipper is thrifted, and I thought this could be my Christmas Day dress (the Red slimmer skirt/shorter sleever version) but I have to resize the pattern since it's a 36, and I'm still trying to work that out.

Sewing a half an hour here and there is hard for concentrating on big things like drafting patterns. HMPF!

And here's a purple dress I made over a week for a work function, based on the pattern below that came up quite nice, and I'll show you the full details soon. WHEN I get a full photo of it!

See you soon!