Still Here

I am back into work full-time, which has been cutting into my sewing time. The kids all went back to school and it has been non-stop the last few weeks.

I have ordered some Style Arc patterns to try. I am getting the Lexley blouse, the Sissy Blouse and Sacha Shirt. Pants – the Jasmine and Peta Pants. I like the Cruise Club Kim dress, if the weather ever warms up around here. We have had nothing but rain. I digress. I also ordered the Mary Ann Skirt. Along with the freebie, the Abby Cardi and the Stella Coat that I got from joining the club, I think I will be good for patterns for a while.

The Style Arc patterns have had such good reviews that I can’t wait to give them a go. I have the fabric ready for the Lexley Blouse. Seeing as I have loved it from the time it was released, it will be the first thing I make.

Hurry up, postie…

Been Knitting

I have almost finished my Chic Knits Cerisara Cardigan. Just need to sew in all the ends and block it. We have had a wintery summer here and I think this cardi will come in handy sooner rather than later…

I have also worn my minoru jacket a few times already. I love it and want to make more for winter. I think I shortened the sleeves too much. I also need to size the next one up if I want to wear more than a t-shirt underneath. Or lose weight. Whatever.

 

Gira Rosa Quilt

My new quilt! I just finished quilting it yesterday and bound it this morning. This is one of several that I have finished and have been waiting for me to quilt whilst taking a break from quilting the quilts of my clients.

I have finished and bound my Gira Rosa quilt. It was designed by Michelle Marvig and published in Australian Patchwork and Quilting. I was lucky to grab a kit from Michelle so a)I didn’t have to think too hard to match my fabrics and b) mine looked like hers  - which I loved.

Anyhow, here are the pictures.

On the grass – this shows the whole quilt – it is 60×60 inches.

Gratuitous shot over the chook pen. Please understand this is MY quilt and I would NEVER do this with a client quilt.

Flung over the clothesline for a better detail shot.

More detail. My quilting is indeed freehanded. Those feathers come out of my head, through my hands guiding the quilting machine and on to the quilt.

I love my new quilt and as quick as the quilting seems to be, I started making this in, I think, 2009. Maybe even 2008.

Sorbetto with Frills

As I mentioned in Minoru- Part 3, I have traced off the Colette freebie, Sorbetto. Inspired by my new book, Modern Sewing,  I wanted to make it with the frilled neckline.

Last night, I cut it out, put it together and bound the neckline. When I got up the morning, I bound the arms and hem instead of folding it over – I had cut enough binding, so why not? It adds some weight to the hem. I cut 1 inch strips of bias with my rotary cutter and patchwork ruler for the bindings.

 

To make the neckline frill, I cut strips 1.5″ and 2″ wide.

I stitched the strips together. Just one on top of the other. I overlapped the ends of the bias strips and just kept sewing to join them. They are bias and won’t fray.

I broke out my ruffler food that I bought with my Bernina and used it to gather the strips. A tuck every 6 stitches on stitch length 2.5mm.

The ruffler is quite the contraption!

Oooh pretty!!!

I ended up with a lovely long strip…

Here is my finished Sorbetto. I inverted the front pleat and left it open after about 10cm as I wanted a loose flowy cool top for summer.

I pinned, making sure the stitching line of the ruffle was on the stitching line of the binding. Yes, I left the raw edge of the binding on the inside. This top is a) experimental and b) the binding won’t fray anyway, so why fuss turning it under…

When I got to the end, I unpicked a ruffle or two, and folded the left side back underneath, overlapping them.

You can’t really see it, especially after trimming that triangle end back.

I stitched it on with a 25.mm x 2.5mm zig zag.

And here’s my ugly mug in a pretty top.

Minoru Jacket – Part 4

Done and dusted. Here are the pictures.

I love the pockets!

An inside shot showing the lining and pockets.

From behind.

The ‘flasher’ shot.

Close ups of the finished jacket. I early like how neat it finishes up, and only a teeny bit of hand sewing to be done. Yay!

My welt pocket. Now I can see the sleeve needs a quick press.

I love my new jacket and it will be a hard worker in my wardrobe come winter.

Minoru Jacket – Part 3

I spent yesterday and today grabbing bits of time to sew my Minoru Jacket. It has gone together really well. It was not difficult just time consuming.

The pattern was very well written. I thought I’d made a mistake with the zipper when it didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the front band. The drawing on the pattern from indicated that the zip went all the way to the hem edge but in the pattern instructions the zip is shown at the actual way it turns out, about 6ish centimetres from the hem edge. Not a biggie but I did have to double check to be sure.

I am really happy with my jacket. It will be a few more months before I will be wearing it as it is quite heavy to wear. I hope I have enough ease to wear it over a thin jumper in the winter. It will be perfect for throwing on when I need to run out the door and need an extra layer when the weather is cool. I am very happy with my welt pockets. They are a great addition.

I like it so much I might make another unlined version for a throw on jacket for warmer weather. But not yet.

It has been quite warm lately and I really need some summer tops pronto. I printed out traced and cut out a Colette Sorbetto this evening. Inspired by the Japanese ‘Simple Modern Sewing’ book I am making it with the double ruffle neckline like one in the book.

Pictures of everything tomorrow.

Minoru Jacket – Part 2

I felt more like sewing today, so I worked on my Minoru Jacket. I traced the pattern off the tissue in my size as I have a daughter who may like one in her size one day. I did a Fat Arm Adjustment (FAA) on the sleeve as I have large upper arms – not huge, but bigger than normal, LOL.

I also took about 7cm from the length of the sleeve – I don’t love my sleeves too long.

I like my pockets, so decided to add a welt pocket to the fronts. I used the very scientific method of holding the pattern up to myself and guesstimating where I would like the top of the pocket. I then held a welt-sized piece of pattern tissue up to the front of the pattern to see where I would like it.

I placed the pocket bag pattern underneath (pattern and instructions courtesy of Ottobre Woman 2.2007) To check if it would fit. I could see the pattern piece would not fit within the lining, so I stuck some more tissue under it and drew another shape.

Double checking that my hand would fit in. I also copied the assembly instructions from the magazine to keep with my Minoru pattern.

I marked the position of the pocket slash on the pattern.

Now I am good to go, so I cut out my fabric.

Note to self – I used a smidge under 2m of this 150cm wide fabric.

Now that it is cut out, I don’t think I will be playing nice and sewing along. Tasia wrote that she is aiming to finish the sew along mid to late February. I am just going to work along at my own pace, seeing as I am still on holidays (vacation) I would rather finish sooner than later…