Darn you, Darn Cheap!

I went on an expedition to Darn Cheap Fabrics in Heidelburg with Livebird this morning.

I breezily stated that I probably wouldn't buy anything.

I knew it was a lie when I said it...

So we have:
(L) 4m of voile-ish cotton @ $3.95/m. A full skirted dress?
(R) 4m of cotton sateen @ $3.95/m.This one might end up as a dressing gown. Good for swanning.

(L) 2m Flocked knit @ $6.95/m (I think this will become a fauxlero top)
(M) 4m silk twill @ $5/m (I bought this for lining as it looked a bit camo on the roll, but it is actually rather nice when unrolled
(R) 3m printed cotton 'n' lycra @ $6.95/m (maybe a version of vintage Butterick 8149 with a matching bolero?

And here are some of the 1/3kg of Depression Era Brazilian buttons bought at the Buttonmania sale yesterday (mm, lots of GREEN).

Woollen tops

Well, one top finished and one abandoned.
I was making the top on the bottom right of this vintage vogue pattern (from the Moggy shop; ie: pilfered from her sewing room) in some black wool-blend jersey from the stash. The pattern is intended for wovens, and it was turning out ok in the jersey until I got to the collar. I underlined the collar piece in stretch poplin for stability, but it looked a bit yuck when I put it on. So into the magic waiting box it goes! I will go back to it when I feel like a challenge.

Instant gratification top project needed. As I had a fair bit of the jersey, I made the quick vogue top again, gathering the sleeve attachments this time instead of pleating them. The side bewb gathers are more apparent in this plain fabric. I like it, and I'll wear it.

JAPAN!

It is almost a year since Kitty and I went to JAPAN! Since then, the Yen has jumped against the li'l aussie dollar (in fact every currency has, I don't know why since we are apparently in 'better shape' than other western countries hit by the financial crisis, but I am not an economist or an accountant or anything like that so I don't know why that should be, but I digress...) Short story is, no going to JAPAN! this year.

So instead I made a vaguely JAPAN! inspired frock from the vaguely JAPAN!ese print I bought today (yes, I was going to make something from the stash, but since that was going to be a spotty frock and I used it to make the reversible doiley bolero the other day [or should I say 'the other year'] I didn't have enough).
So I made this instead
The top is the lovely vintage Butterick 8149 and the skirt is the straight 'un from Vogue 9668 (I like that one because it is a has hip room).

It is such a quick make. Would have been quicker if I wasn't faffing around repotting Mrs Butt the Bouganvillia and harvesting tomatoes and defrosting prawns.

Today's purchases

Moggy here.
Since I do tend to use this blog as a bit of a 'what pattern did I use for that frock?' memory jog, I thought it might be useful to post about fabric purchases too, so I can remember where and when I bought things. And do lazy stash-shopping too!

Spotlight had a special members-only sale for the last few days - spend over $100 and get $40 off. So I went in and bought STUFF. Note I haven't included pictures of the three packs of Schmetz needles, 1000m of black Guterman thread, box of glass-headed pins six cones of overlocking thread, 10m of cheap non-iron interfacing for tracing and 3.5m of iron on Whisperweft (yes, dear readers, I did reach the magic $100...).

They had a pretty good specials table, where everything had an extra 50% off, so I bought myself a bunch of fabric. As I am what could accurately described as a lazy sewer, I only buy muslining fabric that I wouldn't mind wearing out of the house, since it might turn out nicely and then I will wear it. If all else fails, it will work as a housedress, and I have vowed only to wear things I like, no matter who sees me.
Some of this may also be used to line frocks.

Clockwise above you see:
6m of "Printed Poplin Old Rose" cotton @ $1m (might muslin one of those ginormous-skirted fifties frocks)
2.5m of japanese inspired quilting cotton @ $2.50/m (that's all they had left. I think this will be a slim-skirted frock, probably a tried and true rather than a muslin)
5m of green wallpaper print quilting cotton @ $2.50/ m (so I can practice some chevroning)
3m of poppy print voile @ $1/m (not sure with this one, might make a yukata depending on how see-through it turns out to be)

And from the non-sale side of things, I bought 2.5m of stretch cotton sateen leopard print ($14.95/m! how pricey!) which I think will become a pinafore as I can then wear it in summer as a frock and with a shirt underneath when it is cooler (IF THAT DAY EVER COMES).

On the right is 2m (it is 148cm wide) of cotton voile @ $7.95/m. I don't know what this will be yet - a blouse? - but for some reason I couldn't resist it.

I'm trying to be a bit more vigorous about pre-shrinking since I make so much out of cotton, so all of this is now on the line drying (it's a warm day, so it should be dry soon). My method is to overlock the ends of the fabric to a) stop it fraying and b) remind me I have preshrunk it when I come to use it whenever that might be. Then I either soak it in water in the sink for 20 minutes or stick it on the shortest cycle in the washing machine without any detergent. I only ever wash in cold water and line dry, so I wash it in cold water and line dry it when I preshrink it.

Having said that, I think I will go and make a frock out of something I didn't buy today.