Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

But I did make this dress. It's BWOF 08-2007-106. It's a red swirl jersey with a touch of gold in it, which I bought from Fashionista Fabrics at least two years ago. It's butter soft, with an almost sueded finish. It feels lovely to wear and my poor photography does not do this justice. I decided not to put the bow on the front and you can't really see the ruching, but it's there. The dress is OK. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, so it will be good for work wear with a pair of black high heeled boots to help un-frump it. I have a friend who is close to having her first baby, so I've been knitting in front of television at night. First up is a plain old jumper (sweater to you Americans) made from a self striping yarn. Again, my camera doesn't do the yarn justice as the blues are soft and fluffy and the greens are quite citrusy, in fact they would not look out of place in Carolyn's Gelati collection. I love the way that the self striping yarn

I finished a few items that had been cut out and waiting in my sewing room for a while. This top is another version of Kwik Sew 3338 with the added cowl collar from Stitches magazine. I made this a while ago and it's proven to be a great wardrobe staple. This is from a very soft jersey from Georgeous Fabrics and is actually darker than this picture suggests. I also cut the XS this time and the fit is much better. Remember the purple animal print I bought a while ago? As soon as I had it in my hand it screamed at me to become this dress. It's Vogue 1020 . I just noticed that the dress on the pattern envelope is in animal print, too, so I guess that's where I got my inspiration. The wind picked up when I took Vera outside to take the picture, so the sleeves are waving away. I can't wait to wear this dress! If DH thought the brown version was loud, he's really going to hate this one! Next up I made another version of the BWOF 09-2007-117 dress that I've mad

I've had a rough time computer wise. My desktop at home has just stopped (it is 8 years old, so it's done well). My laptop screen is dying a slow death and will currently only work in very bright colours. At work I've just had a new server installed and that failed after two days, which meant I had the computer tech in my office for a day and a half trying to fix it (not to mention that my staff have been in a panic all week because none of them understand how computers work). To give you an indication of the intelligence of some of them; recently a young woman appeared in my office to tell me that the photocopier didn't work so I went to help her. From across the room I could tell it was out of paper. So I told her it was out of paper. She asked what she should do. I told her to put paper in it. Then my work computer started freezing as well. The server is back up, my work computer has been cleaned and defragged and I've ordered a new computer for home. This weeke

This dress came to light when I was pawing through my wardrobe looking for things to use for a JCC2 orphan. I knew I had made a jacket in green wool, but I had totally forgotten I had made this dress. It was actually finished, complete and hanging there waiting to be worn. It's the Zoe dress from Burda, I think you can still download this free. I must have made this about three years ago now. I even managed a pretty good lapped zipper. I partially lined it with a remnant of some pale green lining that I remember now was left over from making a pair of lined pants out of this same wool about 7 years ago. I parted with those some years ago because they were way too big and guess what, I had nothing to wear with them! The lemony green paisley blouse from my JCC2 looks good with the dress, but the crinkled chiffon I bought last week will look even better. What I love most about this outfit is that the beret (Vogue 8440) is a perfect accessory with the dress, at least in my opinion. I a

I found this fabric, which is EXACTLY what I was looking for with my JJC2. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the background of this fabric is the same chartreuse colour as my jacket (and another as yet undisclosed garment I found lurking in the back of the cupboard and forgot I had made). I have always envisaged a blouse with large floaty sleeves and a long cuff, with a high neck and a long floaty tie. I even had a vintage pattern pulled out and ready to go. All the chiffons I could find (either in stores or in my stash) were in prints and colours that did not match. So I made two blouses in cottons. I love the blouses I've made and they both go well with the jacket, skirt and pants I made for the JCC2. In fact, I have worn both of them already this week. But this almost exactly what I imagined. It's not nearly as girly and frou frou as the picture suggests and the purples have the right level of 'dirtiness' that I like in these colours. This weeke

Here's my very bad late night shot from Tuesday night of the final blouse with jacket. I'm still not sure about this fabric, but here it is ... I forgot to photograph the cap. You'll just have to wait for the weekend when I do the final photos. Oh, and I need to press the crap out of this jacket!