Cabley babely

Cabled baby hat, from a knitting pattern a day calendar I received as a secret santa gift at work last year.

Baby E seems to be always wearing the last hat I knit for him when I see him; I think it's about time he had some variety in his accessory drawer.

The hat is a darker purple than it appears in the photo; not that I buy into the boys can't wear pink argument. Society's to blame.

Say hello to my little friend

I now have a dressform! I don't have room for one, but I have one anyway! Mr M and I saw her at an auction place on the weekend, but I didn't have my tapemeasure with me. (I know! But I'd switched handbags that morning, so I'm lucky I remembered my purse, which has been left behind before when I've switched handbags.) Mr M helpfully encircled the waist with his hands, and said, yep...your size.
I went back yesterday before work, tapemeasure in hand, and he was right, so I put in an absentee bid. And today I got her! For $70! Enough exclamation marks for ya?(!)

Bonus -( I didn't notice until Mr M pointed it out), she has tags, so she may be 'new old stock'. There's a bit of rusty pitting on the chrome neck plug thing, but she is in perfect condition otherwise.

Mr M wants to call her Jane, as she is an Ese-Jane model, but Moggy has an Ese-Jane named, well, Jane. I'm thinking Betty.

One day, two frocks

Well, I didn't make them both today. I made this today though so two posts! I had the happy experience of this turning out just as I imagined it would. Yay!

It's Vogue 3013, a pattern which includes pattern pieces for short, average and tall figure heights. I made view D, average. (average is 5'4" to 5'8" it says. I'm right in the middle there)

Also it has instructions to make it in muslin and in fabric, and you refer back to the muslin instructions some of the time to make it in fabric. This means a lot of jumping around the instruction sheets, substituting basting for stitching, but fortunately view D was pretty simple so I didn't use the instructions much. I didn't have to alter anything, so this will be a good sloper pattern for me once I trace all the bodice views.

It also says to wear with 'novelty belt'. Moggy suggested a belt with chickens on it.
I tried it on with a black belt, which wasn't a good look. I think a self fabric belt would just get lost in the busy print. I'll leave her beltless I think.

Excuse bra straps here. I tried it on with the bra I had on, and I have since discovered I have another bra which hides under the frock straps really well. (I also haven't put a hook and eye above the zip yet, but the light was fading so I had to get my photos in a hurry)

I love the fact that the fabric (vintage, from Surry Hills market) is like the fabric illustrated for view A (average, top left). That's what decided me on this pattern for this fabric.

Oh and I did a machine blind hem on this one, and kept it. Much better than trying to choose a colour for a machine hem.

Should I wear this one, or this one to the fifties fair later this month?

The stepfrock

Here is another version of this frock, and it's also a remake of the frock made for S in Melbourne in June, and it's named for her. Still no photo of that frock, but this is a pretty good repeat.
I did a blind hem on this frock, first time ever! It looked great! Then I decided I needed it to be a little bit shorter, so I just did the usual machine hem because, well, I got lazy.

Good thing I'm not a perfectionist. I still love this frock.

Tripfits probable and possible

In order to make up for my terrible sewing neglect lately, today I made two things:

#1 - the much-sewed on PR New Look 6429 Surplice Dress (otherwise known as the Fauxwrap)

I've had this cut out and sitting on my cutting table for WEEKS. As someone said on PR, it feels like it takes longer to cut than to sew...
I finished the neckline with fold over elastic - makes it sit nicely methinks. It is very comfy and a little bit dressy. I'm going to Paris and Rome, so I felt I should make some effort...


#2 - fishtail skirt. My convertible skirt (Kitty's version there) was meant to be going on holiday with me, but it's gone all funny and wants to slip down while walking (hello, Victoria Markets potential knicker-exposing incident!) so I decided I would need to rethink the black skirts. And then I found my wool jersey fishtail skirt has some little holes in it... anyway... so I decided to make another fishtail skirt.

This one is from some nice drapey knit crepe. I left out the zip and put a smooth wide elastic waistband in, as well as lengthening by 10cm (although I may reduce that a bit, it is just overlocked for now).

Edited to add: the pattern is Butterick 4859
Did I mention it is a really bad picture?


I think I will make a pencil skirt from the leftovers of the doubleknit coat (which I have worn a bit and am loving).

Next: red poplin wrap shirt from Vogue 2863. And before you ask, I'm not intending to make the capris...

Rapt in fabric

I picked up these two fabrics at Remnant Warehouse the other day. The black is a rayon/poly jersey with built in ruffles and the stripe is a rayon woven. I'm thinking of making a pussy-bow blouse with the stripey black and white, and a wrap cardigan with the ruffly jersey.

Jumper jumper

I did end up wearing tweedy last night. I put a thin jumper under it, (it was chilly) and I was happy.

Tweedy

So I made this frock. It's the middle view from Simplicity 6445, in a tweedy looking suiting. I bound the neck and armholes with bias tape, and hand-sewed some flat braid under the yoke to look like piping. And then I took a ton of photos, inside and outdoors, trying to decide if I like it or not. I find it easier to be objective when looking at photos.
I took it in a lot, because as expected from the pattern illustration, it was a little sack-like. I didn't cut off the seam allowances before binding the neck and armholes, and I think it would sit better if I had. Normally I can't wait to wear something I've just made, but this one is a little 'meh' so far. Maybe if I leave it for a while, it'll grow on me.

A-line experiment

Crazy, I know, but I realised recently that I don't have a black A-line skirt in my wardrobe! I think I got rid of the two I had in my last wardrobe cleanup.
I made this today, a plain pull-on A-line in cotton thierry knit, a scrap from this frock. I put faux pocket flaps on the front to make it less boring. I based it on the pattern from the high waisted tripfit skirts, but with a narrower waistband due to lack of fabric.
This wasn't the right fabric for this project; I think a less 'floppy' fabric would work better, but it will do for about the house, shopping etc.
I'm standing in that bizarre manner to show the A-line, as it flops down into a straight looking skirt unless I do an awkward 1960s style modelling pose.

Citrine, with pockets internal and external

I finished my coat. I am very happy with her - took her out for a road test to the theatre (highly recommended) this evening - the internal ticket pockets worked a treat!



The buttons aren't actually crooked, and there are four of them (bought at the Great Buttonmania Sale of '08). Lovely big grey carved deco looking numbers.

And here is her lining, which earnt her the name Citrine:

Pocket frock-it

It's almost that time of year again. The fifties fair is on again next month at Rose Seidler house in Sydney.

I made this frock yesterday, with the idea I would wear it to the fifties fair, weather permitting. Even weather not permitting really; I have cardigans. And many tiny umbrellas from Japan.
It's New Look 6699, view G bodice. Love you New Look! Call me! We'll have cake!

I lined the bodice with white stretch poplin, as the main fabric is stretch cotton sateen. Since I had a bit of the white poplin left over, I put side seam pockets in the skirt. I like them, it gives the dress a more casual feel.

I had a vintage pattern picked out for this fabric, but I thought the print might be too much in a full coverage bodice with cap sleeves. And so a sundress was born.

$5 knockoff

A couple of years ago, when shopping with Kitty in Sydney, I bought this $5 top. I really like the shape of it, and have been looking for a pattern to make myself another in plain black. The closest was a Jalie 2794 but those patterns are only available overseas and are quite spensy and it's not quite the same and so on.

So I decided to get the Kwik Sew 3338 that I've used before to make a plain long-sleeved t-shirt (I have decided that plain t-shirts, while practical, don't do much for me). I put the traced off pattern up against the $5 top and finangle it about to get the same shape. The front is one piece from the neck down and two side bits that go up to the shoulder seams.

Great explanation, isn't it?

Here's the result - I am rather pleased. One more tripfit done!
I
Note it didn't cost $5 - I used leftovers from something else and a pattern I already had.