Bring on the New Year!

I have been a slack blogger!  Never mind I have had good reason.  My sewing room has been out of action since the New Year while it has been emptied, cleaned, painted and then re-organised, re-arranged and now I have a lovely, shiny, bright sewing studio!

The other wall I haven't shown is a wardrobe with mirror doors.  It is better organised than it was, but still needs a little TLC.

So what about 2013?  I am pretty happy with most things I made.  Some things have been moved on (the green hi-lo dress, but I do love the navy one).  I had one top that I loved, shrink on me - a wool jersey ottobre top.  I am used to merino jersey which is obviously a lot more hardy than wool jersey.  It was a shame as I really liked it.  Apart from that everything is still in the wardrobe and I pretty much love them all, some I wear more than others, but I couldn't pick a top 5.

I have also enjoyed sewing with the Tessuti patterns and have made a few Suzy pants and one Chloe pant which have not been blogged about.  These were worn before Christmas but I didn't manage any photos as it was such a hectic time.  Since then we have had a heat wave and I haven't been inclined to wear pants even for a photo!  I hope to still show you these as I do love the patterns, particulary the Suzy pant.

The first garment for 2014 is a muslin of the Fehrtrade XYT top to wear to the gym.   I am loving the top even though I did not have success with the built in bra.  I plan to get some supplex and make some 'real' versions of this top and will show you more then... This is the back of the trial to show you the lovely details...

Well I may not be doing a lot of clothes sewing for the next while as I had a shocker of a year last year and managed to stack some extra kilos on.  I am hoping these new tops will help me with my goal of picking up my exercise plan and getting back to 'normal'.  If I don't I will have to seriously start sewing to get more clothes that fit me!  

Ciao kittens!  I wish you all the best for your 2014 sewing and look forward to sharing more of my sewing and crafting with you this year!

Finally finished...

I have been working on or should I say looking at my unfinished Simplicity 2599  for weeks and now that I have finally had some time to finish it, I am a bit mehhh about it.  I am hoping I will grow to love it as it was a very expensive piece of fabric.  This is my second top from this pattern and I do love the first one I made... in a very cheap fabric!  Ah well, I am sure after a bit of hanging time in the cupboard this one will get used too.

The other thing that is finally finished is our house extension/renovation.  This one I am enjoying immensely and we are slowly settling in to our new surroundings.  We have plenty to do as yet - curtains, gardens and some more furniture, but I am afraid I am going to start boring you with pictures of it now.  

Today I present the kitchen and dining room... ta da!...

I am enjoying the new kitchen very much and last week-end when my DH's family visited we had plenty of room for everyone at the dining table!

Next up Vogue 1224 and probably more house piccies...Ciao

Another pair of pants Burdastyle 04-2011-117 again

I made my first pair of Burda 04-21011-117 in this post.  They were essentially a wearable muslin, and they work so I made another pair.  This time in a wool tweed from Gorgeous Fabrics.    I wear these pants a lot as they are warm and comfortable. 

These photos are taken after a day at work so please excuse wrinkles.

The obligatory back shot.  I do get some wrinkles, but am not sure it means anything.  Anyone better at fitting pants please chime in!

The pocket I forgot to show last time.  This time I used a rayon lining fabric to make the pocket bag and the pocket has no 'line' that shows through.

The petersham waistband.  This is easy to apply and comfortable to wear but it does assume you wear tops over the top (not tucked).

Overall a good pattern, if you like the narrow leg style.  I do believe I need to make one adjustment if I make these again - a front muscular thigh adjustment, which basically splits the front pattern and adds some width at the thigh.  It does feel like it pulls a little here and I will be interested to see how it affects pair no 3. when  (if) I get around to making them.  Review link is here.

Parting shot ... Lulu inspecting the work done in the new kitchen...

Sewing odds & bobs...

My blogging is still intermittent - blame it on the renovation?

Some sewing has happened this week-end. My eldest son is attending Uni studying Contemporary Art. For an art installation he is putting on soon, he needed a flag & asked me. to sew one... no Mum can resist sewing for their boys when they ask. So a flag was made... (flags got legs!)...



This week-end I also finally got around to making up some cami's in Jalie 2564. The fabric is (I think) a merino jersey purchased last year from the Fabric Store (for this purpose). The only changes I made was to leave off the shelf bra and the bra strap sliders (for adjustable strap length). This made it a very quick & easy make and I am very happy with the result.

I made two of these and I am looking forward to having these to wear next week as the weather has turned to Winter before it is officially Winter here! The review is here

On the shopping for sewing front... these fabrics...


The first three came in the mail and were ordered at the Knitwit Roadshow. The first is Bianca - a lovely (expensive...ouch) mercerised cotton knit in a turquoise colour. The second a mesh called Italian Animal Fantasy Mesh and the third, I am not sure of the content (I think cotton, maybe rayon??) Japanese style print. The fourth fabric was purchased the same day - another mesh on a fabulous green/khaki print from the Fabric Collection. (Hi - Vanessa - I will make it up soon!)

And on that subject, some gorgeous jersey bought previously from the Fabric Collection, made up into McCalls 5974.


This is part of my goal to make all ten patterns up from the top 10 on Pattern Review for 2010.
I will get photos modelled by me, so that I can review this great pattern (soon!)

And on the renovation front, my big excitement is that this week-end I got to move my washing machine into the house into my new laundry... bliss!