Croquis

Here's a little project completed this weekend. Inspired by the new Colette Sewing Handbook and some favourite dressmaking blogs, I thought it might be fun to draw a personalised "croquis". A sort of virtual "paper doll" I can dress-up in my sewing projects.

Now, by definition a croquis is a quick and sketchy drawing of a live model. If truth be told though, there was nothing even remotely quick about creating my croquis. And there was a distinct lack of a model. I mean, have you ever seen Kate Moss looking like this in her undies? Didn't think so.

Anyway, following the Colette instructions, I created the croquis from a photo. Mr HB was appointed photographer. He took a one photo. Then another photo. And another one. And another. Apparently if you are lardy and have a double-chin, no matter how many photos are snapped, you will still look lardy with a double-chin. Darn.

Following the ill-fated photography session, I did some tracing and then scanned the outline from my photo. Then due to complete ineptitude, I ended up finalising the basic croquis using three different graphics editing applications. The result, as you can see, looks much like I used three completely different graphics editing applications.

Finally, I thought it might be amusing to "try on" some of the 78 garments that I have cut out and then not finished sewing. This one is from the top of the pile - Burda skirt 7531 View A in sand-coloured bengaline.



Please don't ask what happened to my hands. They've been left behind somewhere in one of three graphics editing applications. It appears one of my toes has also vanished.

If only it was that easy to lose the double-chin.

Shiny

When I spied this thread at Open Drawer, I knew resistance was useless.



I quote from the packaging ...

This thread appears matt grey in ordinary diffuse light but flashes a luminous silver when viewed from the same direction as a light source. It is spectacular in low light or at night.



I wasn't sure why I needed it. Or what I would use it for.

All I knew was: Must. Have. Shiny. Object.

Sometime after the purchase of aforementioned thread, I remembered: I was about to make a coat (Jalie 2680 - Women's City Coat). And as you can see, this baby has a shedload of top-stitching.



Although the pattern instructions don't specifically recommend that said top-stitching should look spectacular in low light or at night ....



... I am sure that top-stitched seams flashing a luminous silver when viewed from the same direction as a light source will be a great asset.



Once I have finished the coat I will be able to go walking at night, secure in the knowledge that I will be visible from miles away.

Look out dear ... what's that in the headlights?
Why I do believe its a princess-seamed coat with wobbly top stitching.

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Here's one I prepared earlier

Here is a little girl's skirt that I sewed a while ago*



I love this cute pattern - the "Insa skirt" - by Farbenmix. The design, with layering and ruching, reminds me of a princess skirt. It makes an excellent twirly party skirt.



The pattern is available individually or as part of the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" [Langdon & Pollehn, 2010 Creative Publishing International].



I've made this skirt once before using a dreamy pink fairy print, called the Sprites of Tillbrook. Regretably due to a lack of forethought about print placement, I decapitated some of said sprites.



I'm not sure about the wearer, but personally I still haven't recovered.



For this version I stuck with less risky Japanese sashiko stars in indigo and taupe. There's only just so much of a mess you can make with a bunch of stars.

* "A little while ago" may mean "10 months ago"

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

The one in which I mentioned the thread once, but I think I got away with it

Oooh ... lookee over here at all the pretty threads.

No, on second thought - if you don't live in Melbourne don't look at the overlocker threads. Quick ... avert your eyes. Pretend you never saw them.

And I'll be sure not to tell you that this little shop also has a wall ... yes a whole wall ... of zippers of every description. And beautiful interfacing for just $6 a metre.

Yep, I'm awfully glad you didn't see all that.


Anh Accessories Supply
407 Victoria Street
Richmond, Victoria
Open Monday - Saturday 9:00am - 5:30pm


This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

A bolt of fabric

Earlier this year, when I made this bed cover as a gift, I learned a number of important things about fabric and bolts.

For example: I learned that you can't waltz into your local purveyor of fine fabrics and request 11 metres of their best. No siree.

Apparently your standard bolt in a patchwork store is liable to hold far less. And you will need to buy shorter pieces of different prints and do something called sewing to join them into a bed cover.

Just between you and I, I've heard that some people do this kind of thing just for fun. Sheesh, it takes all kinds, huh?


Prints by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit - Delilah collection

But more importantly, I learned that a bolt is actually something your 4-year-old is liable to do whilst you are puzzling (in the aforementioned fabric store) over which prints go together and in what combination and quantity.

Yes, this sort of bolt compels you to run up and down the aisles, with eyes wide and bellowing your child's name like a fishwife.

The sort where other customers are liable to look and think ... Sheesh, it takes all kinds, huh?


This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Simplicity 2506 mouse ears

Recently it was "dress as your favourite book character" day at school. For the uninitiated this occassion is also known as send-your-mother-to-the-edge-of-madness-with-some-completely-outlandish-costume-request.

So when Argy announced he wanted to go as "The Gruffalo" with his terrible tusks and terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws, I had to do some quick thinking.



"Er yes, wow, that's a great choice" I said, all the while trying to fathom how to construct terrible tusks and teeth. But then a brainwave: "How about the Mouse?" I suggested, hopefully. "Isn't the Mouse the hero of the story?" Argy looked a little uncertain, but agreed.

I swung into action (before he could change his mind) and started rifling through my pattern collection. Mouse, mouse, mouse ... surely there must be something here. Sure enough, I found a pristine Simplicity 2506 - view D included a sort of hood with mouse ears. Excellent.

But my moment of triumph dissipated when I saw the words "Costumes for Toddlers".



Yes, there was no denying it: the pattern envelope clearly showed a bunch of smiling babies modelling the costumes. Bother. I looked back and forth between the pattern and 6-year-old Argy's well-above-average crown circumference. This was going to call for a little ingenuity.

I traced off the hood pattern pieces and then after taking a few flat pattern measurements, decided to employ an alteration technique called the LNA ("Large Noggin Adjustment"). The LNA (which is sometimes also referred in the trade as the "Big Head Spread"), involved slashing and adding extra real estate to all the pattern pieces making up the hood.

With the addition of a couple of darts, the fit was good and I was able to make up a snug mousy hood in brown fleece and beige tricot. I was quite pleased with the result. That is, except for a lingering doubt: when I changed the size of the hood, should I have graded up the mouse ears?

I soon knew the answer. On the morning of "dress as your favourite book character" Argy proudly wore his costume to school. "Hey ... look its a koala" yelled someone.

With my costume-making pride just a little dented, I tried to see the bight side. At least that's next year's costume sorted: Argy can go as Blinky Bill.



This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Nanna

There's been a bit of a craft and writing hiatus in these here parts. Whoops. Something tells me its time to reorganise my priorities. Can you help? Let's close our eyes and repeat together: a tidy house is a sign of a wasted life; a tidy house is a sign of a wasted life.

Eyes open again? Good.

Last week (as the ironing accumulated, floor gathered dust and children went hungry) I managed to complete a small project. This is my entry for the "Hottie Cover Challenge Exhibition", which is a charitable initiative being run by retail gallery, Open Drawer. All money raised will be going to the Margaret Pratt Foundation.

Now to clarify, a hottie cover is something you put a hot water bottle into ... and not a handsome bloke from the front of a magazine. The latter was guessed by a hopeful family member. (Yes, I'm looking at you Argy and Bargy's auntie!)



My hot water bottle cover has been submitted as part of a large group entry, organised by the lovely Cam from Curlypops.

I jokingly told Cam I was going to do something a bit nanna. Sadly the only nanna-ish thing I could think to make was er, an actual nanna.

Anyway, here is Nanna sitting in a chair with a knee rug and her own hottie.



The front of the cover is osnaburg and the back is made up mystery blue and pink florals that caught my eye in Spotlight.



Nanna is a combination of dimensional applique, beading and free-motion machine stitching.

It was the first time I had tried "drawing" with a machine. This will come as no surprise to those of you who had already noticed that nanna has an unusually square nose and weirdly shaped feet. (Goodness gracious, lucky I wasn't trying to stitch that handsome bloke from the front of the magazine cover. Can you imagine what I might have done to a six pack?)

If you would like to see some absolutely beautiful examples of hottie covers - with not a square nose in sight - do try and pop into Open Drawer between now and 24 July. If you are out-of-town you can take a virtual tour of a selection of covers right here.


Hottie Cover Exhibition
1 - 24 July 2011
Open Draw
1156 Toorak Road
Camberwell

Exhibition opening
6 - 8pm Friday 1 July
All hotties are for sale with proceeds to the Margaret Pratt Foundation

Today, I wish ...

... I was a cat*

* Except for the bit about not having opposable thumbs, because I would quite like to do some sewing too

Snowing in Paris?

Its a little bit old fashioned, I know. Maybe a bit nanna. Do you wear one?

I decided I needed a new half-slip after experiencing a mishap in a public place. (By mishap I essentially mean static build-up between my jersey skirt and undies.) When faced with the choice between being a bit nanna and experiencing a wardrobe malfunction that draws attention to my ...er, drawers ... I'll choose nanna any day.



So this is what I sewed this weekend.

I used a piece of slinky tricot. I have to confess that there is nary a natural fibre to be found. The tricot has nylon written all over it ... and I suspect it would go woof if I stood too near a naked flame. But it seems to do the trick - despite high fire danger, there is no more electrical charge.

The construction was very basic. Essentially two rectangles seamed together with a circle of elastic applied at the waist.



There is of course the unwritten rule when sewing Nanna Lingerie that dictates the addition of a lacy trim.



So I used a tight zigzag stitch to attach lace trim (nylon of course) to the right side of the slip ...



... then trimmed close to the stitching to remove the excess fabric from the wrong side.



But what of my reference to it snowing in Paris?

Well, in my childhood I learned that this was the discreet way of pointing out another sort of wardrobe malfunction - a half-slip dropped below one's hemline.

I love this expression. I doubt its heard much these days. Certainly not as often as "Your whale tale* is showing" or "Is that the strap of your over-the-shoulder boulder holder?**".

Or "Hey lady, your skirt is stuck to your bloomers".


* back of a g-string/thong
** brassiere


I have a custom showercap and bathing goodies giveaway in aid of the Premier's Flood Relief Fund that is open until midday this Wednesday 24 January (one entry for every $5 donation to the fund). Do also check out an amazing array of auctions, proceed sales and raffles over at Make It Perfect.

Crossing my eyes and dotting my tees

Stupid is, as stupid does [Forrest Gump, 1994]

I seem to be suffering an afflication of the BFs at the moment. If you are not sure of what BF stands for then please refer to the Wikipedia entry for ... ahem ... brain fart. Of course we try not to use that kind of language here at Chez Hoppo Bumpo. The word fart is is never uttered in front of Argy and Bargy, lest they misuse it in an important social situation).

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes. I've been on a bit of a t-shirt making spree. The three pictured above are based on a favourite Jalie pattern. Its #2005 - ladies t-shirts with scoop, boat and V neckline variations and short or 3/4 length sleeves.

Now given that I've already made a couple of these t-shirts, one might suppose that the third, fourth and fifth would have been a breeze. I've tried hard, I promise; to do all the right things. But, as I mentioned I have been hampered by a touch of the BFs.

Let's see ...



Exhibit A (red)
I attached the neck binding the wrong way round. Although it looks OK, I felt a little annoyed at myself as I did the same thing on t-shirt no.1. Oh well, better luck next time.



Exhibit B (stone)
Apparently luck has nothing to do with sewing. Despite paying careful attention, I attached the neck binding the wrong way round ... again. Seriously. I also appear to have transposed the sleeves, so that the wrong side of the fabric shows to the right side. Ooops. Perhaps not obvious to the passer-by .... but I know ... and now, if you happen to bump into me, you will know too.



Exhibit C (stripe)
Hoorah, the neck binding is the right way round. And my first foray into matching stripes was mostly successful. Sadly I set both sleeves in backwards. Yes, backwards. Luckily this oddity is virtually indistinguishable if I adopt a Mick Jagger-like strut, with my arms sort of bent at an odd angle. And my chest sort of stuck out. Which trust me, would almost ensure that you'd be likely to bump into me ... ahem ... if you know what I mean (but of course, I don't think I should be going down that path today ... as I have already blotted my copy book by mentioning farts.)

Sprite skirt

Its the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And me sewing lots of girls frilly gear
It's the most wonderful time of the year
It's the hap-happiest season of all
Making holiday dresses and pink ruffled messes
Oh I have a ball
It's the hap- happiest season of all

[With apologies to Mr Andy Williams]

How I love December and all it brings. Most particularly the chance to sew gifts for little girls. Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink.

(Permission to slap me: granted).

This is a little party skirt I made for one of my nieces. Its a two-layered, gored skirt with a yoke and elasticised waist. The over-skirt gores have nice vertical gathers, using elastic. I had so much fun making this.



The over-skirt seams are embellished with a bit of pink ribbon.



The underskirt seams are top-stitched with the fanciest stitch I have on my machine. (I call it the cardiogram stitch, but you might know it by something else. Something, ahem, eminently more sensible.)



The prints I used are from Alexander Henry's beautiful Sprites of Tillbrook range. I adore the fairy and toadstool prints. Regrettably, after labouring over positioning of said fairies on the skirt panels ...



... I must admit the yoke cutting was a bit slipshod. Headless sprites, anyone? Hopefully my 5 year old niece hasn't noticed the decapitation situation.



The pattern I used for this little skirt is by Farbenmix. The Insa skirt pattern is available individually or as part of the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" [Langdon & Pollehn, 2010 Creative Publishing International].



If you a fan of the whimsical Farbenmix childrens' patterns, the book is a great way to purchase a selection of patterns. There are 10 patterns all sized from babies 18 months through to kids size 12. And the designs are gorgeous.



Skirts, dresses, leggings, shrugs. Frills, flounces, ruffles. So much pretty eye candy. Hmmm ... Clothes Kids Love, you say?

It might not be the sort of book you'd invest in if you had say, eight or nine sons. None of the designs are specifically for those of the more Y-chromosonal-persuasion and only a couple of the 10 are unisex (that is, unless your boy child is open to wearing something twirly called the Feliz Party Dress).

Never-the-less, its a delightful book with beautiful patterns and excellent instructions. My only qualm is with the title. (Though I should think that my alternate title - Sewing Clothes That Boys May Object To - would be knocked back by a marketing focus group.)


My review of the Insa Skirt pattern can be found over here at PatternReview.com

If you would like to enter my 2011 Sewing Calendar giveaway, click here.

Excuses, excuses (or: "How to use a sewing-related giveaway to gloss over a 50 day absence")

Alibi, clearance, confession, cop-out, cover-up, excuse, defence, extenuation, facade, gloss, immunity, guise, indemnity, justification, lie, mitigation, pardon, pretense, pretext, rationalisation, reason, sham, story, subterfuge.

Goodness gracious; its been a while. What reason could there possibly be for not writing one's blog for so long? If you could think up a suitable excuse, I would be very much obliged.

If you leave a suggestion here, I will also pop you in the running to win a copy of the "2011 Sewing Calendar" released by Accord Publishing. Entries are open until 9am Thursday 30 December (Australian Eastern Standard time) and anyone is welcome to enter. A winner will be drawn at random and - being as 2011 is almost upon us - the calendar sent post haste.

(Remember: Outlandish is good. Mirth is encouraged.)

In the meantime, here is a little more about this lovely calendar.

2011 Sewing Calendar
Page-a-Day Calendar, 430 pages
Megan Smith (editor)
ISBN 0740797077
RRP AUD$27.99

The year-round sewing enthusiast will love this calendar. There are over 100 terrific projects for everyday home use, as well as lovely gifts for giving. If you enjoy reading sewing blogs, you will recognise many of the contributors, including these talented ladies. There's a new project every three days, presented as a handy fold-out page. Step-by-step instructions are accompanied by illustrations and pattern pieces.

Thank you to Megan Smith, for including a project from me too. Coincidentally it falls exactly one year from today - 26 December. Maybe I'll see you this time next year for a spot of sewing?

Hoppo Bumpo and the Pants of Misfortune

A few months ago I decided I was rather fed up with making toiles. All those calico practice-runs were slowly sapping my sewing spirit. Darn it, I wanted to take a pattern out of the envelope and just make something. No re-drawing this, that and the other; no taking a bit in here and letting some out there; nothing. So I started looking for a short cut.

I started my quest with Kwik Sew 3716. The blurb on the envelope said it was a semi-fitted jacket. Perfect. As we all know, semi is the Latin for not really.

So after a few cursory measurements, I cut the pattern and fabric and got sewing with some nice grey Ponte di Roma. It was so much fun just to sew something without labouring over all the alterations. Liberating even.

But as I got closer and closer to the finish (and started trying on 3716) I could see things were going a little awry. The shoulders were droopy. The back looked awfully wide. The jacket was going to be swimming on me. The sewing started to become slower and slower as I tried to put off the inevitable - completing the ill-fitting Jacket of Doom.

To this day, Doom sits waiting for its sleeves to be set in and a hem to be stitched.

But not to be defeated (read: not having learned my lesson) I decided to look at smaller pattern companies for my magic-no-alteration-needed pattern. Then I found it: an independent pattern line promising that it had been drafted for people with big stomach bones. My eyes lit up. This was my ticket to alteration emancipation. I snapped up a pattern for yoga pants*.

I raced home with the pattern and cut and sewed the yoga pants.

Everything was great. Well, except for the fact that the pants were a bit short. And the top was all puffy and the legs too narrow at the bottom. In fact I looked a little bit like MC Hammer.

Never mind. I went back to the pattern and cut a smaller front and a longer, wider leg. Then I cut and sewed the yoga pants.

Everything was great. Well, except for the fact that the top of the pants was still too puffy. And the crotch was a bit short and I had to speak with quite a high voice.

Never mind. I went back to the pattern and redrafted the crotch curve and took a tuck out of the front of the pattern. Then I cut and sewed the yoga pants.

Everything was great. Well, except the back of the pants looked saggy and there was a funny protrusion at the centre front seam. And I looked a bit like Harry High Pants.

Never mind. I went back to the pattern and added two darts at the back and reshaped the centre front seam. I lowered the waist at the back to account for my sway back. Then I cut and sewed the yoga pants.

Now as you can see above, everything is great. Well almost. OK ... not quite.

Lesson learned.


* For British readers I mean "pants" in the sense of "trousers" and not "pants" as in "undies". Because frankly it would a little bit wrong to do an exercise class in your undies. Unless its that really weird Bikram Yoga where the room is heated like a furnace. I've never been to one of those, but I should imagine that everyone would need to be in their undies.

And the production line starts ....

This week - following a few pattern tweaks - I started on my Jalie #2005 t-shirt production line. As the old saying goes "when you're on to a good thing ... make at least 50 of it". Or was that "too many knits are never enough"?

Anyway, the first cab off the rank was this plain black tee in a cotton-lycra blend.

For this version of the t-shirt, I replaced the fabric neck band with fold-over elastic (below). I'd never tried fold-over elastic before, so had a few little practice runs on scraps.

It was fairly easy to apply and I quite like the finish it gives. My pattern had a V-neck, so I cut it a little rounder. (I'm deeply suspicious that stitching elastic into a point could end up in all kinds of ugly).



I finished the hems on both the sleeves and at the bottom of the t-shirt using a twin needle. The sleeves are passable but not my finest work. A channel appeared between the two lines of stitching and harsh words were said (most of them naughty, unrepeatable ones).

Luckily when I got to the main hem, I remembered to fuse Vliesofix tape inside the fold for a bit of stability. The stitching sits quite nicely and I think I have a finished garment that looks vaguely store-bought. (Or maybe just vague. Oh, no, that would be me, the wearer.)



Now I am looking forward to getting started on some more tees using nice colours from my collection of knit fabrics. (The floral print is a stretchy Liberty Print, which I am working up the courage to hack into cut.)



Now a little footnote to my previous Jalie t-shirt post. This is for those readers who left unsolicited comments regarding ... ahem ... my rack.

Yes, you know who you are. This is just for you.

Its a close-up of my big pear.