New Look 6013

Sorry about the no-posting-for-yonks. We had a house guest for ages, so the sewing room was packed up. Bonus of no sewing - I taught myself to crochet so I can make amigurumi. I am compelled to make this!
I am partway through crocheting a robot right now. If all goes well, I will have a little luchador on the hook next.




Spotlight have had some fab ponte de roma lately, including this grey and black leopard print.
I made the New Look 6013 raglan sleeve dress today. I omitted the zip, and cut the back on the fold, placing the centre back over the edge of the fold to remove the seam allowances due to the no zip thing.
Very quick, everything went together smoothly, and I have yet another grey and black knit frock for winter.

I might be in a rut.

Maxi refashion

It occurred to me the other day that all those maxi dresses you see around - on sale of course! - would be the ideal candidate for refashioning. I've been finding leopard knit rather hard to find for a while, so when I saw this I thought it would be a good candidate at a mere $20 on sale up the road:

The neckline is way too blingy - it looks even worse in person I think.

So I cut the bling off (interestingly, it came off as one piece which might actually make quite a nice necklace - as you can see in the Afters).

I cut it fairly straight (the back was slightly elasticated and straight so I left it as is), put some pleats at the centre front to dip the neckline, and made the Butterick 8149 gathered straps.

Here is the after. This might even end up being a tripfit, since it packs up small and doesn't wrinkle.

I might need to sauce it up a bit, but I will wear it a few times first.

It's raining...

I feel like I haven't sewn for yonks. Last weekend I had a cold so I did the old sitting about doing nothing thing. This week I had a spare few hours, so while a batch of Chipotle en Adobo simmers on the stove I finished off the dressing gown I started weeks ago:


It is made of a light sateen cotton from Darn Cheap using New Look 6443 . I needed a nice light dressing gown... which is of course coinciding with the cooler weather. (But, yay for cooler weather!)

I also finished off the stretch cotton sateen-ish leopard pinafore I cut out when I cut out the dressing gown. I bound the neck and armholes with bias binding, and did an invisible zip in the middle of the back seam. I think this must be the fourth time I've made this pinafore.

Not related at all to the trip...

... unless you count 'refreshed wish to sew from exposure to new places' that is.

Here is a nice skirt, made from a thin fur from my stash (I reckon I have had this fabric for a good ten years) and the tried and trusted mid eighties Vogue 7074 (50c from an opshop in Preston).

This fabric is very similar to what one of my sofas is upholstered in - different colour but same fabric.

I added a few inches to the bottom of the skirt and sewed the back all the way down (no split) - one should wiggle in this skirt, methinks.

Hmm, I have some leopard left over. I'm thinking of a collar or suchlike on a little black top... time to review the pattern 'n fabric stash.