The first 2 of 4

Well as I posted yesterday I have been toiling away. One toile did not work out - I had problems getting the neckband to work - I am going to unpick it and try putting it on again. I think it should have been cut on the bias even though it wasn't instructed to be.

Here is the first one that worked. It is the Simplicity 2336. I haven't hemmed it as it will be a throw away - or I might use it to practice rolled hemming on my overlocker.

I am not in love with it. The neckline is too wide I think but more than that it has a "large" facing on it that ends across the girls and I am not happy with that. If I do sew it up I will either use a band (as in the review from LauraM) or make the facing full length so that it is a "double front" so to speak. The main thing I don't like about it is that the instructions (unless I am reading them wrong) asks you to sew the large front facing onto the front and then the back facing onto the back and then the shoulders together. This makes the shoulders bulky and front and back don't match up exactly after the facing has been sewn on. Much better would be to sew the front and back facings together first IMO. Another weird thing is that the back neckline curves up but the facing was straight - strange - so I made my own back facing.

Curve of neckline shown yet facing is exact rectangle - am I missing something?

I like the length of the top and the fit is okay so I may make it up again with the above mentioned changes.

This next piece is the jacket in this pattern. This I do not like at all. Even picturing it in my mind in a nicer fabric doesn't work for me (the gingham was only a couple of dollars for a complete roll on sale at Spotlight so I thought it would make good practice fabric). I think the shapelessness of the jacket along with my size makes me look real "boxy".

I had intended to make this jacket up in the below lovely chiffon but don't want to waste the chiffon. Mind you - way back in March when I planned this I gelatined the chiffon as per Lena's instructions - it worked fantastically and it has been sitting there stiff ready to be sewed for months now.

I guess that is why we spend the time making up toiles until we get it right or decide it is not for us.


I have great expectations for the top from Simplicity 2344. It looks okay on - once I unpick the neckband and re-attach I will post pictures.

Toiling away

I can't believe that it has been so long since I blogged or sewed. Time had gotten away from me and other things got in the way.

But I am back at it AND in a new sewing room to boot! So today I produced two muslins / toiles (not quite sure what to call them) and tomorrow I plan on producing 2 more. (Pictures tomorrow). So why so many toiles? This ties into the reason I needed a sewing room.

To cut out material I used to have to remove both sewing machine and overlocker, all sewing implements etc from the dining table to be able to put down mats to cut out the fabric then put the machines back to sew then remove machines to cut again etc, so I decided to cut out the fabric for four garments to toile at once and then put the machines back to sew. That was back in March.....

Anyway - I got to thinking - we have a "nothing" room - more like a walkthrough. It has the bathroom, hallway and back sunroom off it and we use it for ironing - hence it was called the ironing room - now re-christened the sewing room. It had a whole lot of old books and a broken futon sofa that collected stuff and an ironing board in it. It had a cupboard in it that was used to store old linen and blankets that haven't been used in years.. so I thought - get rid of the futon and junk and make it a sewing room. Sooo - if I had to get rid of the futon - that entails a council junk day pick up which means I should really clean through the whole house to see what else can be thrown out.. So that takes up a couple of sewing weekends. Then we had visitors come to stay for a while - then I was told by the owner of a training business that I was updating my diploma with that he had sold the business and wanted me to finish my diploma within a a few weeks - which meant weekends creating assessment tools and assessments.... so finally - after making my sewing room I got to start to sew up the toiles I cut.

I purchased a fold up table for my machines - big mistake - huge - once you start sewing it is like sewing on a train on uneven tracks - things were flying everywhere! It was hilarious to start - not so much after a few hours - I feel like I have lost some fillings.

The sewing room:

Easy access to both machines

It is great to have the ironing board within reach

A new home for Babs - which means she has been moved from the lobby where she had many a good time scaring delivery men (my sister made me cover her!!)- and my first full length mirror

Some good storage space

It has been so long since I sewed that Elle had to check that I had threaded the overlocker correctly

And that I had cut the fabric properly

It is great to have a sewing space - Overall I am happy with the space but there are a few things that I will need:

A table that doesn't shake rattle and roll
A chair so that I don't have to steal the one out of my office
A TV / DVD player - not to watch TV (I am so envious of the likes of Carolyn who can put on TV marathons to watch while sewing - I have to concentrate way too much!!) but to put on instructional DVDs

With these additions my sewing space will be complete.

Toiles / Muslins I am doing:



The top from the above pattern - I am thinking of doing this top as the one pattern many looks contest on Pattern Review - still tossing up what pattern to use but this is the forerunner - I need lots of long sleeved tops.

Both the V-necked top from this one (without the gather) and the jacket

And finally this top. Don't know if this one will suit me - it will be a wait and see.

I entered the Natural Fabric contest but didn't get time to do anything with it. There is still time - but the natural fabric I have is so lovely that I want to take time with it so I don't want to rush.

I have been lurking around other sewing blogs and enjoying reading but been so busy that I haven't been able to take the time to comment much. I now look forward to having the time to really enjoy my sewing again and enjoy other sewers projects more. I even joined the Australian Sewing Guild so it is all full steam ahead now.

Until later...

The Evolution of Babs (and other things)

Before we get onto the subject of Babs I would like to say a huge thanks to those who voted for my red dress. I was surprised and thrilled to received 13 votes - I wasn't expecting one vote seeing as how there were so many beautiful dresses. I entered to challenge myself and am humbled to receive votes.

I have taken some photos of the evolution of Babs to show my family so I thought I would post the pics to show you as well. I haven't finished but she has already proved to be so helpful in pattern fitting, seeing how things go together and in showing how things will look.

This is her fresh out of the box.

As posted earlier I split her ribs to make her the largest size. On that topic let me say that I came across a comment when researching what dress form to go for. One person had said to buy a dress form where the smallest size of the form is closest to your size as you can not pin in the cracks at centre back and centre front once open. I ordered my dress form from "For Frocks Sake" and the lovely lady there told me to go for one smaller than my size as you can always pad up but if you lose weight the form would be useless.. So I took her advice and am very pleased I did. As for pinning in the cracks - even if you don't pad the form you can easily put a cheap t-shirt on it and that will allow you to put in pins.

I used both Wadding (2 packs - eek) purchased at Spotlight and padding I purchased in the Fabulous Fit System (FFS) and I am sorry to say - she is "starting to look a lot like....... me" :-(
Good for fitting - bad for self esteem - well at least I can't lie to myself!!

The first step I took was to wrap one layer of wadding around her and pull on the first of 2 covers that came with the FFS. Can I say that was a TIGHT fit. The XXL FFS goes to size 20 "up" but they couldn't tell me how far up the up went.... Anyway it went on and I smoothed out the wadding underneath then pulled the front up to replicate my tummy ....hmmmmm ... Phew - first layer..

I then rolled on the second cover (with the princess seams) and carefully put pads in all the right places.. even able to replicate the hump on the top of my back :-) :-( Happy I could do it - sad that I had to..... I added yet more wadding - more padding under arms, on sides, and top of stomach and then put on one of my old bras... ALL of the remaining padding and yet more wadding went into the bra and voila...

Here she is helping me with the lay of  Butterick Connie Crawford's 5430 . She was invaluable in helping me to work out how to put the yoke on the dress and seeing the fit.

By the way - you can see that I pinned one seam on the outside and one on the inside... didn't think much of it as I was only pinning to see the fit ....... but ....... I thought - hey it's pinned - I may as well sew - and of course sewed one side in and one side out - using the overlocker at that - spent quite some time with the unpicker!

There are big ripples showing on the back...

I don't know whether this needs to be adjusted on the pattern or on Babs - maybe she needs padding on the back. I have tried it on myself and the ripples are there on one side but not as bad. I ask myself - and anyone out there who knows - does Babs need more padding in the back or is it because I have arms that hold the dress up more? Any advice?.

The almost twins - I can see Babs is a bit taller than me and will adjust accordingly - this will bring her bust line down too.. Although the measurements are correct - it also looks like she may need a bit more padding too!

I still want to add another feature. I purchased some stretchy silky material used to make slips (not sure what it is called) I want to make another cover that shows the princess seams (the FFS seams are so tightly stretched they are not in the right place - and are covered by the industrial strength bra...) This will also enable the garments to slip on and off easier. I will also put where arm holes and necklines should be on this cover. I also purchased some ribbon tape with cm increments that I am going to sew onto the front and back centre seams and around the middle so that any pattern adjustments needed will be easy to measure... That is all for another day.

This weekend I am hoping to finish the Butterick 5430, hem another version of the Pamela's Patterns Magic not so pencil skirt to see how that goes and maybe even finish another skirt that I have cut - A Simplicity Khalia Ali pattern.

BTW - can anyone tell me why I am having problems with my blind hemming? The foot seems to work okay but leaves this pulling - the stitches seem to be a little too far into the hem?? Any advice? I am going to have to unpick and do by hand.

Next time I will have pics of the finished dress and skirt.

Until next time.....

Word Verification

A huge shout out THANK YOU to Sew-4-Fun for alerting me to the fact that you can have word verification on your blog and not know that it is turned on. I thought mine was turned off until I read sew-4-fun's post that you have to log out of google to test it.

So.... hopefully it is off now - please let me know if it turns back on. It is such a pain in the ....

On other news I have received the fabulous fit system and have spent some time padding up Babs to be my not sew evil twin. It is looking good - actually not really looking good - even more confronting than looking in the mirror! I still need to purchase a bit of wadding for the girls (sad that the girls were too big for the fabulous fit system!!) and will post a picture when finished.

I am looking forward to Bab's assistance in sewing many a garment!

Pamela's Patterns "not so" magic skirt

To be fair - the skirt is magic in the way it goes together and the ease and simplicity of it... however being so top heavy - I need a bit of balance below and think I will stick to A-line or slightly straighter (ie - not tapering) skirt / dresses.

Now - before I embarrass myself by posting these pictures let me preface it by saying I used a fabric I was not wild about as a trial (and I am glad I did) and one that I had no tops to match so I have just thrown on any top.

I just wanted to post the pictures to show that top heavy people like me may need to think about this pattern. I am glad I have it and have sewn it as I can modify it now that it fits.

I really need to stop having photos taken in wind

Bring on the fake tan!!!!

With a cardi jacket to see how that looks

Now these pictures don't look too bad - that because I cut out the really bad bit - the girls! Unfair I know to doctor the pictures so much - but believe me - it wasn't pretty! It looked like I was going to topple over at any moment!

I thought about making the skirt a little longer (I already added an inch and half) - but I really don't think the style works for me. Thanks Pamela for a great simple and easy skirt - but the magic didn't work for me.

I am not going to post a review - I think it is a great skirt with lots of different great reviews so I will just put it aside and ponder.

What I learnt :

1. How to do a really easy elastic waist - Thanks Pamela - YEAH!
2. I need balance in my life (or at least my top to bottom wardrobe choices) - DOH!
3. That my blind hem foot works a treat when the hem is straight and not A-lined - YEAH!
4. That the blades in the overlocker (serger) cuts into fabric when you stop it and turn the fabric for a corner - gonna have to be careful - DOH
5. That although I wasn't in love with the pattern on the fabric I have found that I do like moleskin fabric - YEAH!

and finally - and this is a biggie

6. Trust the math. In my previous post about planning for this I mentioned that I had to add 5 inches to the pattern and did the whole 5 inches on the one pattern piece - which meant that I had actually added 20 inches as the pattern piece is one quarter of the skirt. Before I adjusted the pattern and cut the fabric I held the traced pattern piece up against me and lo and behold - it fit - from my middle front to side - perfect fit - couldn't work out why that would be but trusted the pattern fitting instead of the math. Cut the fabric (thinking - wow I knew I was big BUT...) and then sewed it up and tried it on - and guess what - about 15inches too big... What the ...???

Now let me tell you - I come from a mathematical family - my Grandfather was an inventor, my mother a tax consultant, my niece an accountant and my sister has been a financial controller of an organisation and now runs her own office management / bookkeeping and financial training business... I DID NOT get the math brain. I can do math (simple) run my business (business training NOT finance) and do my own tax - but that is where it ends.

It took a member of my mathematical family to point out that I am not only top heavy but front heavy too (in the kindest possible way!!) Hence my back is MUCH MUCH smaller than my front so while the pattern piece fit at front - not so much the back - DOH!

You live and learn (or sew and learn). I am enjoying the journey.

Until next time.

Alison - you are my new bestest friend!

THANK YOU Alison for your comment left on my last blog... I made me search and learn more and find out that I can add blogs that don't have "join" feature to my list of blogs to read. Sooo much better. I just have to work out how to get Google Reader to preview them like my blog reader.

To join OR to subscribe - that is the question - A Begging Plea

This is a short begging plea to all bloggers out there... it would be really great if you give options to join (and hence get updates from blogs in your blogger reader) or subscribe (and get your updates through email).

I have a love / hate relationship with email. I have 12 email addresses! That is because I run 2 businesses and on top of that one of the business is a sub-contracting business and they give me email addresses to communicate with their clients.

Most days I have an avalanche of emails from students emailing me assignments and evidence for recognition of skills and I don't want any more emails than I need - HOWEVER - I LOVE reading blogs with my morning cup of tea and find out what has been happening in the sewing world whilst I've slept. I have found some wonderful blogs recently that only allow you to subscribe via email and therefore I am missing out on all of their wonderful info.

Just a small favour - PLEASE put an option to JOIN on your site.

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