tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32784389700987200132023-11-16T03:51:39.363-08:00The Tropical SewistSewing, thrifting, and DIY in a throw-away culture.deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-78809418623616470222012-08-25T15:50:00.001-07:002012-08-25T15:59:51.479-07:00Fatty top FAIL!I have been horrible in keeping up with this blog - my excuse, as always, is that real life is being positively overwhelming, and is crowding out my virtual life. Bleh. The day job demands absolute commitment just so I can make it out the door at a decent-ish time (though admittedly I still like it), and I return home to two little girls who, obviously, eat up whatever I have left of the night. Plus, I have the awful grey EXAM cloud looming over my head - bleh, what a life.<br />
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Not that my needle hasn't been busy. A girl needs to stay sane, right? Friday and Saturday nights after midnight is my me-time, for however long I can stay awake (shamefully late, most days!). Though it's been mostly alterations and repairs, the fastest way to get a dress back into circulation again. Not a lot of fancy sewing for myself.<br />
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What I did get around to making (and photographing, and posting) was this top. Tunika 115B from the Burda magazine May 2009.<br />
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I found the pattern from Burdastyle.de, though for some reason it is no longer there now. You see how long it took for me to make it up! It was free, and it looked easy, so easy I thought I'd be able to wing it, in case I wasn't able to make out the translated German instructions. As it turned out, I still don't speak German (in spite of 2.5 years of weekly classes in secondary school), Burdastyle still does lousy instructions, and Google Translate still doesn't work.<br />
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I used a gorgeously light cotton lawn from the neighbourhood fabric store - completely fell for the robots! and envisioned a deliciously lightweight, floaty top.<br />
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It didn't take very long to make, the only trouble I had was with the neckline facing. Many bad decisions are made at 3 in the morning when my brain shuts down without my knowing it.<br />
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I started with a full neck facing, but found that the fabric was so sheer the pattern from the facing piece showed through on the front. Of course I didn't have any plain white light cotton on hand, and of course (at that point) I had to sew NOW! NOW! and couldn't wait for when I was next free to visit the fabric shops. So I cut the facing off, leaving only a thin band around the edge - much like a curved seam binding. Brilliant idea, no?<br />
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Not for this fabric, which, as it turns out, was too light to withstand even that teensy weight of extra fabric. Look at how it gapes at the neck!<br />
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I also forgot how horribly PREGNANT these floaty tops make me look. Short, not-very-thin people shouldn't wear floaty tops. Simple rule, right? Bleh. I forgot.<br />
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I have since worn this top out twice, and both times:<br />
1.Couldn't help looking in every mirror I passed by and thinking how frumpy I looked in it<br />
2. My underwear peeked out of the neck hang when I had the girls in my arms<br />
3. I kept tugging on the back hem so the neck wouldn't gape so much.<br />
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The back is the only decent looking bit, though it's a little long. Probably I should walk around backwards more when I wear this.<br />
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Summary - it's off to the cutting bin with this one. At least I like the fabric enough to even want to save it.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Adjustments:</span> I cut my usual size 38, omitted the neck closure since it was wide enough to pull over my head. That explains the strange un-utilized back seam. In future (if I ever make this again) I will shorten the hem 7cm (about 3 in) and perhaps change the front pleats to a single inverted box pleat.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
A $10/yard lightly slubby cotton lawn. I wonder if this style might look better in a thicker fabric, say a jacquard?<br />
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<br />deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-15665792496972833442012-05-15T14:54:00.000-07:002012-08-25T16:00:23.252-07:00The Pseudo-Complicated Front Knot DressAnd here I am popping my face into Blogland again...hi there!<br />
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I've been awful about keeping up with this blog - excuses excuses, yes I know, but it's just gotten so BUSY around here. In the last three months I've submitted and defended my thesis (yay! glad to have gotten that behind me!), gone back to 'real' work yet again, and taken another postgraduate exam (it so doesn't end there), the results of which are still unknown. And of course there are always my two little munchkins at home whom I can never spend too much time with!<br />
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I wish I didn't need to sleep.<br />
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As far as sewing goes, it's not been too difficult snatching bits of sewing time here and there. The babies sleep occasionally, and since my left brain often shuts down some time before my eyes shut down, I'm rather partial to little bursts of late-night sewing. It's blogging that's the issue - it takes a surprising amount of effort to actually get a post up! *whine whine whine*<br />
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First things first.<br />
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Many thanks to <a href="http://cationdesigns.blogspot.com/">Cation Designs</a> for the Liebster Blog Award! You are too kind :)
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The origins of the Award are murky but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany ('Liebster' means favorite or dearest) to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. According to award rules I'm to pass it on to five more blogs of note. But because I'm a brat, and a busy one at that, I don't follow too many blogs. And eh, most of those on my reader have way more than 200 followers. So I'm only passing this on to:<br />
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1. Far at <a href="http://farsland.blogspot.com/">Memoryseed</a> - she was my very first friend at Burdastyle when the virtual sewing community was still new and strange to me (ok while no longer 'new', it's still 'strange' in many ways).<br />
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2. J at <a href="http://makingmum.blogspot.com/">Making Mum</a> - my favourite non-sewing blog. She's a mama extraordinaire who cooks up a storm, scraps, and photographs.<br />
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And with the housekeeping done I can talk about my new dress.<br />
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Behold the pseudo-complicated wonder of <a href="http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/dress-with-knot-front-032012">Burda 03/2012 #108B!</a>
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I was totally cheapskate and waited for the pdf pattern rather than buying the mag, since it was the only thing I wanted to make from that issue. I realise that I actually prefer pdf patterns to the traditional tissue ones - sure, you have to cut and stick the printed ones up, but since my vintage patterns always need grading, and I'm loathe to cut into the multi-size modern ones, I always end up tracing the traditional ones out onto more tissue. No time saved there. And I enjoy the heft of printed-out patterns - they keep better and sit better on the fabric.<br />
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Is that just me?<br />
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The dress was really quite simple to make. I wanted the border of the voile to form the neckline, so I chopped the front piece into two right in the middle at the knot. After that it was easy to lay the neckline of the bodice and the hemline of the skirt on the border.<br />
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And since the pattern was originally for tall girls, I chopped 5 inches off the hem (yes I'm THAT short, stop rubbing it in!), and also made the armhole shorter? smaller? how do you say it? by 3/8 inch. Because I don't like armholes that show the top bits of my underwear. But that last alteration turned out to be unnecessary.
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I didn't like the way the fabric slides up and down the knot hole in the middle. Ordinarily that wouldn't be an issue with this pattern, but because I'd made the bodice and skirt from two pieces, the midline seam didn't look too pretty peeping out of the hole. So I sewed the gap and the fabric shut. Unfortunately I must have done it weirdly, because the fabric does this strange bunching-up thing that makes me look unnecessarily pregnant. I'll have to rip and repeat.<br />
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Of course I was also a total boob-head and forgot that the Burda patterns have NO SEAM ALLOWANCES, and of course I forgot to add any on my fabric. So after I did the yell-and-stamp-around-the-room-and-tug-at-my-hair thing, I sewed the thinnest 0.5cm hem I dared - two rows of stitching for strength and thank you SO much Mum for my serger!<br />
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It turned out not too badly, although just the <i>weensiest</i> bit tight around the chest. Maybe I'll re-sew the gap in the front and give the dress to my sister. Then I'll have an excuse to make another for myself muahahaha!
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Question. </span><br />
While the embroidered border is certainly very sweet and all, do you think it's a little too girly? I'm not much of a girly-girl, and a picture like this just looks a little wrong, somehow (yes that's my bra-strap - stop lookin'! don't you wear one too):
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I have the option of folding the scallopy bits in, to tone down the Girl Effect. Though that also ups the Cleavage Effect (rather obvious in this pic), and I do work in a conservative environment. Which is the two evils is lesser - the Girl Effect, or the Cleavage Effect?
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Adjustments:</span> I cut size 38 and chopped up the front dress piece into two at the slit so I had separate bodice and skirt pieces. Shortened hem by 5in and took up armholes by 3/8in (last was unnecessary).<br />
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I ended up doing strange things with the lining. The front bodice had to be lined, obviously, since the embroidery had little holes in it and I didn't want to put my boob-skin on public display. Since the lawn is a little sheer, I also started out by lining the skirt. But the extra layer of fabric wreaks havoc with the knot front - bunches and poufs out crazily, and generally makes me look ultra-pregnant. I cut away the lining at the front skirt, but was loathe to not line the back. So I ended up with a weird contralateral half slip - front bodice and back skirt lining! <br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
A $12/yard cotton-blend lawn with a lovely embroidered hem. It has just the right amount of body to keep its shape while still flowing nicely enough to cover up all my horrid lumps. I managed to squeeze this dress out of 1.5 yards of it - there was really nothing left over!deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-34342983270434449042012-03-16T14:13:00.001-07:002012-05-15T14:31:50.692-07:00A naughty little bingeSo I needed notions for my VintageModern Challenge dress, and found myself with a relatively free lunch hour.<br />
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And off I went to People's Park, our local fabric haunt.<br />
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I have a love-hate relationship with this place.<br />
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It's a little old 3-storey building housing a decent array of dinky little natural-ventilation shops selling fabric bolts, that tend to be staffed by friendly (but slick!) old men and ladies. For the likes of me, underprivileged in the fabric-major-deal-warehouse and fabric-in-thrift-shops arenas, this is as close to fabric paradise as you get. I always get that buzzy high and permanent smile in this place. But the size of my fabric stash dictates that I should resist coming here often. Difficult, considering it's only a 10-minute walk from my workplace!<br />
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Anyway, like I said, I actually had a good reason for this visit.<br />
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And as usual, I emerged within the hour with a little more than what was on my shopping list.<br />
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At least each of these has a Planned Destiny.<br />
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The one on the left is a cotton blend with a nice silky touch. I'm planning to make it into this, when it become available online -<br />
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It's #108 from the 3/2012 Burda issue that I'm too cheap to buy, since this pattern is all I want from it. I'm hoping Burda will upload it for sale, failing which I will have to dig out my Pattern Magic book and draft the pattern for myself. Save me the work, Burda!<br />
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The one in the middle is a nice spotty cotton drill that I envision as a pair of straight-cut, flat front trousers or capris. Trousers probably, since I wear those to work occasionally (I might wear them more often if they were polka dotted!). Of course I forgot that sewing trousers scares the heck out of me!<br />
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And the one on the right is a very pretty light cotton voile. I bought 4 yards of it with the dreamy image of matching dresses/playsuits for myself and my girls. That might actually become a reality, since I think matchy-matchy mother-daughter things can be cute if done properly! Maybe a playsuit for me, a sundress for the big girl, and a summery top for the little one who hasn't much hair yet?deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-89267372167525199972012-03-14T03:31:00.002-07:002012-08-25T15:50:05.387-07:00My VintageModern Design Challenge Entry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4liJY-EoswMhpLNfkYD2w4312gmyZNwxxzaxChyTszng5LvxM0qYwy58qHJlU2Tch1N-_gyZF8fbrkzYuJ24fkTCAQkqkoV2WhP-FME58T6_Cyx3-DsFl2Y-nx6Lw24UnuO095NTx4A/s1600/IMG_7014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4liJY-EoswMhpLNfkYD2w4312gmyZNwxxzaxChyTszng5LvxM0qYwy58qHJlU2Tch1N-_gyZF8fbrkzYuJ24fkTCAQkqkoV2WhP-FME58T6_Cyx3-DsFl2Y-nx6Lw24UnuO095NTx4A/s400/IMG_7014.JPG" width="351" /></a></div>
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I toyed around a bit with the idea of entering the Indygo Junction x Burda's VintageModern Design Challenge. On one hand I'd wanted to join a contest of some sort this year just for the fun of it - it was even down on my Sewing Resolution List. Plus this one was actually feasible sounding - no entry barrier to internationals, and the potential to result in something I might see myself actually using. With my super-limited sewing time, I'm fiercely stuck on the admittedly narrow idea that I only sew directly useable things. After all, I got into this sewing thing because I: (1) need clothes, and (2) can't buy useable RTW. Not because I have lots of time to make corsets, costumes and frills to sit pretty in my wardrobe. Although my naive mind at the time failed to consider UFOs.<br />
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So anyway, I was a huge cheapskate and downloaded all the free e-patterns from Indygo Junction, and just sat on them for a couple of weeks.<br />
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I finally bit the bullet in mid-Feb, and told myself I'd make up that nice looking little Sateen Blouse, so that even if I didn't end up in the contest, I'd still have a template for some nice basics.<br />
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Was I so wrong.<br />
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Muslin #1 was made directly by following the directions on the printout, and showed me that either my measuring-my-own-body techniques are way off, or that women of the time wore REALLY, REALLY loose clothing. The thing was slipping off my shoulders - bleah! I had to hide that hideous thing at the bottom of my scrap pile to stop myself feeling guilty about wasting fabric. Yes, I know...it's a muslin, right? Made of 'scrap' fabric, right? Well mine was. But I can't make peace with the idea of wasting any sort of fabric, which explains why I'm being slowly overrun by tiny fabric scraps for that crazy quilt I'll never make. And so far, I've been able to use all my muslins for casual wear, or least for lounging about at home!<br />
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I made some major modifications to the blouse, took in the width by ~3 inches on each side, reduced the bat-winginess of the sleeves, and put in some darts. There. Muslin #2 wasn't bad at all.<br />
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And then I decided to kill myself by adding a little puffy skirt to the bodice, to make a dress.<br />
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I will admit that I was originally inspired by the great Mary Katrantzou's lampshade silhouette.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxMqh9kXov9YF0LVH6ks7apCnQL3nrk8TbTqtWwoYG7ajeIIdhXRl1GGFJJCsK4szW8m9OejC8g-CDpDmqkEDQb8BaYBsm33zwWeqpICIrSCss81LEC4Xe7CwlmgntiTbfuMfJPhyphenhyphenBxks/s1600/katrantzou_topshop_2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxMqh9kXov9YF0LVH6ks7apCnQL3nrk8TbTqtWwoYG7ajeIIdhXRl1GGFJJCsK4szW8m9OejC8g-CDpDmqkEDQb8BaYBsm33zwWeqpICIrSCss81LEC4Xe7CwlmgntiTbfuMfJPhyphenhyphenBxks/s400/katrantzou_topshop_2012.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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Why would anyone want to add inches to their hips, you ask? <br />
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I thought the same way at first, though the prints! the prints! how gorgeous art thou, oh prints! And in a bit the lampshade shape grew on me too. I found myself thinking about how I could bring the skirt up just above the umbilicus (that's bellybutton in normal-speak) to cover my yummy mummy tummy - of course I'd try to turn it into a way to cover up bits of myself I don't like, wouldn't I?<br />
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That lampshade thing was HELL. I started drafting one from scratch and of course it didn't work. THREE muslins and I was ready to tear my hair out (and also worship even more abjectly at Ms Katrantzou's pedestal)! <br />
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TWO WEEKS into the thing, I finally gave up the fight and decided on a skirt based loosely on Burda's <a href="http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/marie" target="_blank">Marie pattern</a>, modified to look like one on a lady I saw on the train.<br />
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This is the final product. I used 1.7 metres of a mid-weight green quilting cotton that was on sale for $7/yard at Spotlight (yes, these are the sorts of 'sale prices' people in my parts are used to paying), one package of blue piping, and an 18inch invisible zipper for the centre back closure.<br />
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It doesn't look like awfully much of a dress, actually, does it? <br />
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I'm a little upset that the bodice creases and doesn't even fit me perfectly - I'm going to make excuses for myself and say that it's just difficult pinning fabric on yourself, as opposed to a dressform. But considering the time+blood+sweat+tears that went into drafting it, I'll still wear my dress out.<br />
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This is what it actually looks like all naked and beltless.<br />
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And this is the back. The print is a little busy to see, but I divided each back dart into two, and matched up the skirt and bodice darts. That took quite a lot of fiddling with too, since I'd already sewn up the bodice and had to fold and match the darts on my body.<br />
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Here's a close-up. The double darts really made the fit very good, though I couldn't line them up perfectly. <br />
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And here's a shot of the details on the sleeve and collar. The piping went in surprisingly quickly (or maybe I thought so because I'd already spent so much time on the other stuff!).<br />
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This is my favourite shot of the nude dress and I'm a little sad it's blurry. Mr Tropical was out on a run so it was just lil ol' me with the self-timer rushing for the deadline, and I just couldn't replicate the shot. Like my green Westwood x Melissas? :)<br />
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Oh, and in case you're wondering, my bangs are assymetrical ON PURPOSE. My nice hairdresser likes having fun with my hair whenever I visit, and this time I told her, 'I want a shave and assymetric bangs', envisioning Rihanna. But this sinusoidal fringe was what she came up with. It looks kinda like a pudding bowl, but I kinda like it. I think.deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-6832926780026608852012-02-26T09:03:00.006-08:002012-02-26T18:08:14.008-08:00The Valentines' SetIt's kinda sad, but there hasn't been much to write about of late. It's not that my machine hasn't been busy - it has, but alterations and home stuff, while completely necessary, just aren't awfully blog-worthy.<br />
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I did have fun with my ironing board covers, though! I was <i>sick</i> of buying cheapo ones that died within a couple of sessions (ironed through 3 in the last 6 months! o_O and I'm not even <i>that</i> hardworking), and since I do iron a fair bit, decided to make myself some nice cushy ones. I used batting and some light Ikea canvas leftover from one of my dresses, and it turned out so well I made one for my mum too. It's quite a boring print, at least when made into an ironing board cover, which explains the lack of pictures. But I'm sure it'll take me a while to iron through that!<br />
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What I did manage to sew (and photograph) was a little something risque/tacky/cute for Valentines' - lingerie!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>This!</i></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYM6WJ36XOLGQls4XnV2IDNDcLuka7D-0OAHI3s3GiwQdlnPRV3CulgyinHtrwCpD3ZXGSpSALeyMO_K4SOQqnn6rnBTSEQEpEhM5iAp9O5OakR26TOdbI66BzQ9mA-E6pOh6Vt9KPAQ/s1600/IMG_6935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYM6WJ36XOLGQls4XnV2IDNDcLuka7D-0OAHI3s3GiwQdlnPRV3CulgyinHtrwCpD3ZXGSpSALeyMO_K4SOQqnn6rnBTSEQEpEhM5iAp9O5OakR26TOdbI66BzQ9mA-E6pOh6Vt9KPAQ/s640/IMG_6935.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Since neither of us will pose in these things, this is the only shot there'll be of them.</span></i></div><br />
I picked up the fabric from the remnant bin at my local Spotlight - it's an extra-wide slumber satin and there was a generous metre of it. It was extra-cheap for being 'damaged', read: tiny white streaks where the printing went a little wonky. For $2, <i>of course</i> I could work around those!<br />
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For me, I chose the <a href="http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/062011-bikini">Bikini #108B pattern</a> from the 06/2011 issue of Burda mag, which looked cute in the pics. The whole set came together in one evening, which is pretty quick for me! <br />
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The bottoms were exactly what I wanted - tiny and bloomer/court-jester-like, and so cuuute! Though I can't imagine wearing anything like that in public even in a different fabric, which is what the mag photographed their models doing. <br />
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The bra top was a different story. Either that, or my anatomy is completely wonky. Since this was a novelty-type project (ie. would likely not see many wears), I decided to use snaps for the back closure instead of fiddling about with hooks. Which turned out to be a good decision, because the fit was horrible. I cut a size 36 like I usually do, but the cups came out spaced so terribly far apart that I had trouble keeping the straps from falling off my shoulders. I used to swim semi-competitively until a few years ago, and look like an infantry tank in halter tops, so I know I do NOT have narrow shoulders! Needless to say my boobs came peeping out every few minutes, which is not what I want in a bikini, even if my husband begs to differ. FAIL!<br />
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Of course the thought crossed my mind that all this trouble might be attributed to the slipperiness of the fabric, and how it seems to repel skin in general. However, I will not be making this in cotton just to test the hypothesis any time soon, as my dainty busts require padded covers in public at all times.<br />
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For him, I traced off the boxers from an existing pair, and since boxers are pretty forgiving anyway these fitted pretty well. Interesting note: these fit me too! So I have a free lounge-around-the-house shorts pattern :)<br />
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What I'm pretty proud of is that I managed to try new techniques even with this quick little project. <br />
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Apart from this being my first time sewing with satin (this must have been a special sort of satin, because it wasn't slippery to handle at all despite its shininess), it was also my first time sewing in an elastic waistband. I know, I know, where have I been all this while, right? I've known theoretically how I should install one for yonks, only I've never had the need prior to this. That wasn't too difficult, only I didn't bother with changing the colour of my thread!.<br />
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And also, ta-dah! I finally tried out my new serger! Behold the beauty of the serged seam! It really works like a dream, and I agree with the Selfosh Seamstress, it almost feels like cheating to not have to French seam/Hong Kong seam/overlock/pink/etc, to manage those ravelly seams. The serger serges and cuts all together, and it's all done <i>perfectly</i> in a wink. I'm so pleased! So that's one thing I can tick off my <a href="http://tropicalsewist.blogspot.com/2012/01/super-belated-2011-wrap-up.html">New Year Resolution list</a>. Or do I also have to learn to thread it before it's counted?<br />
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I'm also quite chuffed about the double-hems. I was worried, and had envisioned the satin stuff slipping about in my fingers and in my machine. Turned out it was for naught - not that I'm particularly skilled, but that this satin handles almost like cotton sateen, not silk!<br />
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After I was done with the sewing there was still a half metre of fabric left over. I haven't the foggiest idea what else I could do with lipstick-print black satin - any ideas?<br />
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And Mr Tropical's response to my painstakingly-sewn set? <br />
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<i>'Hey, what's all this?'</i> And he promptly took all of it off.<br />
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Grumph.deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-55916347855228363452012-01-31T21:52:00.000-08:002012-08-25T15:50:24.664-07:00Darth Vader Prosperous Audacity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I wanted a dress to do the traditional visiting rounds in, for Chinese New Year. The traditional female dress for such occasions is the cheongsam. Well, this isn't a true cheongsam in that it isn't super tailored to my curves (I don't much want to show off the front curve anyway). Though I did make it a little oriental-inspired with the high collar and chinese knot (which I learnt how to do following multiple YouTube vids). <br />
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It's in auspicious red and orange colours, so it's very New Years-y indeed, never mind the Darth!! It was great, because all the non-traditional younger folk recognized him, and all the traditional old folk just thought it was a nice red auspicious dress. Hah!<br />
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I've never enjoyed New Year visiting - it's basically just going from house to house smiling stiffly, making small talk, and generally being respectful to seniors. It's not a meet-up at all, oh no. It's probably the modern equivalent of the victorian habit of 'making house calls'. But <i>this</i> year, I was giggling all the way - watching my kids receive their red packets from genial old people, while I strutted around the houses in my Darth dress, past all the open-mouthed youths who were too polite to comment (it's an asian thing). What ho!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fs7ZRwSg4c7rmg7arif4HEt2FuViiMlikfgt7J3AiSEwgWQ7aywdFpwC1vwZhBBNB9_J64isuMkg35stAeoz72LK2BjQFvhW4Aix1GLmwn386wM_YtK_C8xVdBZ3-QyIeO0a1vmp5gc/s1600/_DSC1104c.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fs7ZRwSg4c7rmg7arif4HEt2FuViiMlikfgt7J3AiSEwgWQ7aywdFpwC1vwZhBBNB9_J64isuMkg35stAeoz72LK2BjQFvhW4Aix1GLmwn386wM_YtK_C8xVdBZ3-QyIeO0a1vmp5gc/s640/_DSC1104c.JPG" width="406" /></a></div>
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This is made from an old bedsheet off Ebay which wasn't cheap. I loved the Darth and the colour though. It's very well used, so it's all washed and a little faded, though super comfy. Darth was all up the lower right corner of the sheet, with flames across the lower left corner, and his name splashed across the upper left corner. I had to cut off his saber to fit him on my dress (boohoo!). I used bits of his name across the collar, and the flames for the back. The button was a leftover yellow bit, and I used leather cording inside to make the button puffy and stiff.<br />
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The cut-out was just for fun. I'm on a run with the cut-outs!<br />
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There wasn't nearly enough to make the whole of the back, so I covered up with a bit of orange chiffon. It was my first attempt with chiffon - the slipperyness was scary, and not being able to rip the seams also bothered me somewhat. But I'm glad to say it turned out ok. Just ok, not great. I need more practice with the curves. And now I feel a little sad that I didn't make a bigger, sexier see-through panel! Grumph.<br />
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I used my trusty shift dress pattern for this again. I really like the way this fits on me, now that I've got it exactly the way I like. It hides many a flaw and is quick to sew, to boot. I'm in quite a dilemma now, actually - should I go for the 'signature style' thing, and make a wardrobe fill of shifts? I can think of literally a hundred different ways to sew this up. Or should I be brave, and challenge myself with another pattern, another material (KNITs! *shiver*)?<br />
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Here is the dress in action at First Aunt's house. I'm brandishing two mandarin oranges - the dialect word for them, 'kum', sounds like gold in the language. Yes, the Chinese are only concerned about money. Haha.<br />
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deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-70583370429704349972012-01-26T18:48:00.000-08:002012-01-26T18:49:14.785-08:00A mini-tutorial for making a faux-knot cut-outAs promised, here is a very tiny tute on how to make the knotty cut-out on <a href="http://tropicalsewist.blogspot.com/2012/01/little-knot-top.html" target="_blank">this top</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcU332azLDtMW9Rv66A7KbQa5-ELSk-WkwwUF3b1KPqgNonHx-PYIHtb9i0H4tZmm5c9ghCXFugZvSrer7JIgqdIFNKXfdMz6dPcHeOHOTAh6GdwgEaF7m2EgWjwPtqIznskF2SUsYybk/s1600/IMG_0599b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcU332azLDtMW9Rv66A7KbQa5-ELSk-WkwwUF3b1KPqgNonHx-PYIHtb9i0H4tZmm5c9ghCXFugZvSrer7JIgqdIFNKXfdMz6dPcHeOHOTAh6GdwgEaF7m2EgWjwPtqIznskF2SUsYybk/s400/IMG_0599b.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
My apologies in advance if anything isn't clear - this is my first tute-writing attempt, though I sure do read a lot of them! If you have questions, leave me a comment and I'll try to answer you. <br />
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Right then, here goes. <br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 1: Pin cut-out template onto shirt front</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheL0SbZcuq4K_iVsHTtsy4Ar8BMfpzi28F15Tmp0v_mBp-0H0xLa4oZIQIHi4M1hqcEjpLnlkQQxRK1o-TFQGGrTsxMt5YoWIi__DrjdfBqAgPAwzvB_LPYxWrHaORSpZeVn5GUeQ6PYU/s1600/IMG_6510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheL0SbZcuq4K_iVsHTtsy4Ar8BMfpzi28F15Tmp0v_mBp-0H0xLa4oZIQIHi4M1hqcEjpLnlkQQxRK1o-TFQGGrTsxMt5YoWIi__DrjdfBqAgPAwzvB_LPYxWrHaORSpZeVn5GUeQ6PYU/s320/IMG_6510.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>On a piece of paper, draw the shape and size of cut-out you want. To have it symmetrical, you might find it helpful to fold over the paper and mark just one half. <br />
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Cut out the shape and pin it to the front of your shirt. I chose to atttach the neck facing and sew up the shoulder seams of my shirt before doing the cut-out. This is useful because, 1. you don't have to fiddle with the facing in a very small sewing space later; and 2. you'll have two layers of fabric to strengthen the cut-out with.<br />
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<i style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Step 2: Mark cut-out on shirt front</u></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNY3mYdtfehCLHzNAXFetxTkEvmIZkwG4wn0AJokyA12VTPfUVSYqWz6RxD4NHyLbyOg0UHxNXuYvRVl_yCoAAyv7M56vx2PV6Unzte8R3U7t_mkFL1of2f05TCM5hmNy_1RzMlb5oW28/s1600/IMG_6516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNY3mYdtfehCLHzNAXFetxTkEvmIZkwG4wn0AJokyA12VTPfUVSYqWz6RxD4NHyLbyOg0UHxNXuYvRVl_yCoAAyv7M56vx2PV6Unzte8R3U7t_mkFL1of2f05TCM5hmNy_1RzMlb5oW28/s320/IMG_6516.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Draw around your template with tailor's chalk or soluble marker. You can use anything that washes off your fabric (test it first!).<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 3: Cut out centre and snip until edges.</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivooyxfyojGk8xuA1ObXTIZ2zCCUUTjq-q_VEhMLB1fQ4U56mbXlPNsTK_PaFrX-nwq9bd2Dc9OwMsiTsNCP37O2mtVGm2W1YZDBQ81228FPc60c36hMWSt8C3d503_orl8q5Jg29v5KU/s1600/IMG_6523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivooyxfyojGk8xuA1ObXTIZ2zCCUUTjq-q_VEhMLB1fQ4U56mbXlPNsTK_PaFrX-nwq9bd2Dc9OwMsiTsNCP37O2mtVGm2W1YZDBQ81228FPc60c36hMWSt8C3d503_orl8q5Jg29v5KU/s320/IMG_6523.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Draw a mini-cutout-shape in the centre of the marked area, leaving about 1.5cm (1/2 in) all around the sides. The point here is not to be dead-accurate. Just to make sure you leave a good seam allowance to work with. <br />
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Cut out the shape you've drawn. <br />
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Take some sharp pointy scissors or shears and make small snips, about 1cm apart, all around the edges of your cut circle. Make sure you cut right up to the template line (I have that marked in blue). This is where you can be as hardworking as you like. More snips = more work, but also = a nicer, curvier circle. Too few snips, and your circle will end up looking like a polygon. But too many snips, and you'll go crazy in the next step!<br />
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<i style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Step 4: Turn in the snipped bits</u></i><br />
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Turn in a couple of bits at a time, and crease against the marked (blue) line with your thumbnail as you go. If it helps, pin down the folded edges. And if you're using a fabric that doesn't hold a crease well, er...my best wishes! <br />
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Done with the fashion fabric layer? Now do the same with the facing layer, turning those bits up into the inside of the shirt. If you want to be precise, try turning the bits on this layer slightly deeper than those on the top (fashion) layer, so you won't have ugly facing bit poking out into your top.<br />
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<i style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Step 5: Cut out some interfacing</u></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2MImlO9G2armp_eYm-ndd-Nzo3VV07GHxiJ04x90zR3Tzvqb545rNaON7JbYc-6oF1bEet2myis2ja4tSkP4e7FvO2TjXYQ8Ilh481Ta7Tbnw9pNj-HlQlEEdXKcvumQQApIBTK-fCg/s1600/IMG_6535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2MImlO9G2armp_eYm-ndd-Nzo3VV07GHxiJ04x90zR3Tzvqb545rNaON7JbYc-6oF1bEet2myis2ja4tSkP4e7FvO2TjXYQ8Ilh481Ta7Tbnw9pNj-HlQlEEdXKcvumQQApIBTK-fCg/s320/IMG_6535.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Phew! That's done! This next step is optional. You're going to use interfacing to back the folded snippy bits you've just made. I like to do this because it stabilizes my work and makes stitching easier, though you can skip it if it's too much trouble. <br />
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Put your old paper template (the one that you drew around on the shirt front) on some interfacing, mark and cut out the circle. Since you don't want this to peek out on the front of the shirt, it's a good idea to cut the circle a very little bit bigger (say 2-3mm) than the marking. <br />
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Leave a good amount of interfacing around the cut circle, say 3-5cm all around. The less you leave, the fiddlier the interfacing piece will be, and the more your circle will warp. Don't worry about excess, you can trim it off later. <br />
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Cut out another piece for the facing.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 6: Iron interfacing onto fabric</u></i></span><br />
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Tuck in the snippy bits under the facing. <br />
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When you're ready, PRESS. And voila! The snippy bits are all nice and neat, and you have a piece of fabric with a cut-out in it. YAY! <br />
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Do the same for the interfacing on the facing.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 7: Flip fabric right side out and finish cut-out.</u></i></span><br />
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Press a little. <br />
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There's the cut-out. Isn't it gorgeous? Aren't you proud of yourself?<br />
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There are a couple of ways you can finish the cutout. The easiest would be to topstitch, in a matching or contrasting thread. If you want a subtle, invisible finish, you could pin and slipstitch the edges closed. Me? I chose to line and close it with a contrasting trim. Which was a BAD idea, because the trim ruckled enormously despite it being cut on the bias. A good press made it look slightly better (the ruckle took on the appearance of a quasi-gather), though not perfect. Bummer! I'm not about to do this again.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 8: Cut out fabric for knot tie</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6QIIMiQooLlNGtetTLwE7DWsvLXhkQX7U02yJhwxqeyZZLRenuya0f0jp2hMLrn4a3eN0zWLf8dk0V5wYXjiOmTq7xeYkmKB35kdHKmoNH-TmGP9QzmQmt57vgcjJXHeJuvlM1zKUBk/s1600/IMG_6534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6QIIMiQooLlNGtetTLwE7DWsvLXhkQX7U02yJhwxqeyZZLRenuya0f0jp2hMLrn4a3eN0zWLf8dk0V5wYXjiOmTq7xeYkmKB35kdHKmoNH-TmGP9QzmQmt57vgcjJXHeJuvlM1zKUBk/s320/IMG_6534.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Now, cut out some fabric bits for a the knot tie. Use contrasting or matching fabric as you like. I was indecisive and cut out both! <br />
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Also remember to cut out a small strip for the middle part of the bow. A 5 x 2cm (2 x 3/4in) bit will do.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 9: Stitch knot tie fabric</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr32rdewiJD4B_1iu9j_zRzLgjXISS2AFsjAv-a_QKu456SziO6p3gXz12oORuGSUMnH7Xg5sJUfOxE0Izeb4d1fLwyapo4ANGS7kJiUG62hFOzXDLnIUwUDjc1BG4_KLNRKHQFKWgcgY/s1600/IMG_6552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr32rdewiJD4B_1iu9j_zRzLgjXISS2AFsjAv-a_QKu456SziO6p3gXz12oORuGSUMnH7Xg5sJUfOxE0Izeb4d1fLwyapo4ANGS7kJiUG62hFOzXDLnIUwUDjc1BG4_KLNRKHQFKWgcgY/s320/IMG_6552.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Lay the pieces for the knot tie fabric right sides facing. Stitch all around using a 0.5cm seam allowance.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 10: Turn inside out.</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuoczedJYyUtLPsx0Yf5SNrLzwd8NvGm0pzeAl0PMdEde9KtPDpZ-LeauR65WO5pOO-c-s0cFdPURzYR_B4iNomlhSEMnjkPqhKmz7xd8ym-ZQZlvqt6hQwQcf1b0EZjvZvHFvlnJECY/s1600/IMG_6558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuoczedJYyUtLPsx0Yf5SNrLzwd8NvGm0pzeAl0PMdEde9KtPDpZ-LeauR65WO5pOO-c-s0cFdPURzYR_B4iNomlhSEMnjkPqhKmz7xd8ym-ZQZlvqt6hQwQcf1b0EZjvZvHFvlnJECY/s320/IMG_6558.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Leave 4cm (1.5in) space unstitched for turning. <br />
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Clip corners and turn inside out. I've shown the underside of my knot tie for contrast.<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u>Step 11: Topstitch knot tie piece</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsOorSq4ax97I7AbFDIoV4-kg3IlH5aGMl8J_aYGPysn2ustA5lN5wobjA8L3ZpwZaDKNad2IH-OkWfMH3NM-hnb_PnSE501yV6avzgNIib0pskLvuc1z5bBF_LUR-JaH4HADwMSCqvk/s1600/IMG_6559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsOorSq4ax97I7AbFDIoV4-kg3IlH5aGMl8J_aYGPysn2ustA5lN5wobjA8L3ZpwZaDKNad2IH-OkWfMH3NM-hnb_PnSE501yV6avzgNIib0pskLvuc1z5bBF_LUR-JaH4HADwMSCqvk/s320/IMG_6559.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Again, this is optional. A good press will allow this piece to lie flat. I like to topstitch, because: 1. these small bits often get mangled in the wash, and it's impossible to ever get back the original shape without topstitching; and 2. I just like the pretty finish. (as you can see my top-stitching skill isn't tops)<br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><u style="background-color: white;">Step 12: Twist knot piece and tack on.</u></i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBM1xgImCU0kHHk1SVuJ7R_ZXSxTADmvVs65M7c5TO5Du-kdUiuFY5exPeI_dfWGsn3j65dTFjTUBkb9StOcUyZrh35DIp-0PIeHk36FLbKK_pocuc1wrKpVRKnautwHq2fRDZEZjjq8/s1600/IMG_6567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBM1xgImCU0kHHk1SVuJ7R_ZXSxTADmvVs65M7c5TO5Du-kdUiuFY5exPeI_dfWGsn3j65dTFjTUBkb9StOcUyZrh35DIp-0PIeHk36FLbKK_pocuc1wrKpVRKnautwHq2fRDZEZjjq8/s320/IMG_6567.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This will be fun - give the knot piece a twist, and baste it onto the shirt. Use a half-twist if you want a bi-coloured tie like I have here, or a full twist if you want both ends the same colour. I used a contrast thread so you can see how the basting goes. <br />
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In general, you don't have to be too neat about this as long as you keep the basting within the area that will be covered up by the middle bit. But to be safe, I'd recommend using matching thread, and just putting in 3 or 4 firm, well-placed stitches. <br />
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Sew up a tube with the little 5 x 2cm scrap, and wrap it over the middle of the knot. Stitch in place, and you're done!deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-26524240569568967832012-01-25T17:18:00.000-08:002012-02-26T09:02:19.251-08:00Birthday Hippo Dress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOF0nAmDFz6dWubiiUihyMpR87ePJLJ-wrNEWdm3gFPZQWdw4W7hySpssBXizRyyS6yoVT9yNeWSPBY-rk1fqfjzYV1BQdVPVzpS1M9b7DluF_Qr1jWBqKN-QtoWRqJK3vX21ho1LVVnw/s1600/IMG_0497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOF0nAmDFz6dWubiiUihyMpR87ePJLJ-wrNEWdm3gFPZQWdw4W7hySpssBXizRyyS6yoVT9yNeWSPBY-rk1fqfjzYV1BQdVPVzpS1M9b7DluF_Qr1jWBqKN-QtoWRqJK3vX21ho1LVVnw/s400/IMG_0497.JPG" width="319" /></a></div><br />
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I'm a little belated in posting this, since I made this dress for the Big Bub's birthday in December! Eh eh, tardy as usual.<br />
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The Big Bub has been completely head-over-heels crazy about hippos since she was given a security blanket in the shape of one, when she was a wee thing. They're inseparable now, Hippo and she. He's even more precious to her than Mummy or Papa are!<br />
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I looked for ages for cute hippo fabric for the dress until I came across this Japanese linen. Not knowing what colour she would like, I bought half yards of pink, yellow <i>and</i> blue. Only the blue has been made up so far, though :)<br />
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I traced this off one of her existing dresses, adding a bit of ease to the sides because I was lazy to sew in a zipper. Come on, it's a lined dress (since I was afraid the linen would be scratchy) and I didn't want to deal with zipping up two layers! I think it was rather too much ease though, since quite baggy around the sides. But oh well, I guess she'll just be able to wear it for longer. <br />
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I made it in a drop-waist style, just because I thought it'd be cute. She wore it on her birthday weekend and was pleased as pleased. So I'm happy my efforts were appreciated! One little step to getting my girls to appreciate handmade (an uphill task considering the pervasive consumerist culture and easy availability of cheap stuff in these parts!).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6kuOmZCbLrED_PzfuQqYP0XiF0TIUeWe0RY3wtepb64vnczlAOilY89CIbX_LFa3j7R841D-WgtlFz8-nqYcxe1qw5gW0fxi0OIisfQndYR31vu1kbPJX4pa7KFnQoyKPKLf1YigmA4/s1600/IMG_5545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6kuOmZCbLrED_PzfuQqYP0XiF0TIUeWe0RY3wtepb64vnczlAOilY89CIbX_LFa3j7R841D-WgtlFz8-nqYcxe1qw5gW0fxi0OIisfQndYR31vu1kbPJX4pa7KFnQoyKPKLf1YigmA4/s400/IMG_5545.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/2 yard of hippo print japanese linen. 1/2 yard of fine-wale corduroy, 3/4 metre of velvet ribbon, 2 vintage red buttons, 1/2 yard acetate lining, all from the stash. I have a serious problem with the size of my stash.</div>deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-35445028732111753642012-01-16T16:51:00.000-08:002012-02-10T11:39:13.115-08:00Little knot top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjggpgiCDa8q0ske6AEDtlhjD-XHwy8RsAjuOSqPlKxnGY1QjfhTYAXbLj1Du7pHrgwrVPkc4wzJ785TJwod67NH_XG3Uy8rLxJwi166YOSE5D5ZliX4vrEY1Petz6Dr63MbqTg70VmGjI/s1600/IMG_0595b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjggpgiCDa8q0ske6AEDtlhjD-XHwy8RsAjuOSqPlKxnGY1QjfhTYAXbLj1Du7pHrgwrVPkc4wzJ785TJwod67NH_XG3Uy8rLxJwi166YOSE5D5ZliX4vrEY1Petz6Dr63MbqTg70VmGjI/s640/IMG_0595b.jpg" width="441" /></a></div><br />
I fell in love with this fabric while poking around at Spotlight (my fave big-store haunt) for grommets. For some reason it was on the quilting clearance table for $6/metre. I can't imagine why such PRETTY fabric should have to go on clearance. Anyway, all the better for me :):) I snatched it up and out came the credit card. In my haste, I forgot about the grommets. Bleah. <br />
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This fabric takes honours as one of the few pieces I actually cut into within a week after purchase. It certainly wasn't a hasty decision - oh no! I thought about what I wanted to make a fair bit (a week's worth of travel time, shower time and dream time surely counts) but couldn't come up with anything better than a very simple top, because of the gorgeous pattern I wanted to showcase, and because there was only a metre of it.<br />
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Or maybe there's just a problem with my imagination.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsB3yL4zKYSrTr2tGswwa-SBMxgTmPy0XZ1-NfPugVckWjtJBPFZz5316RjHUh30AP0rdfL2J3PTC_xKGd-wtSPm-HMKAG85VhnQqSEWBXZ0PINtzx1RA3wG6-UciUzS6nEaDDRpLJD8I/s1600/IMG_0599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsB3yL4zKYSrTr2tGswwa-SBMxgTmPy0XZ1-NfPugVckWjtJBPFZz5316RjHUh30AP0rdfL2J3PTC_xKGd-wtSPm-HMKAG85VhnQqSEWBXZ0PINtzx1RA3wG6-UciUzS6nEaDDRpLJD8I/s400/IMG_0599.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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The pattern was loosely on the top half of a shift dress pattern I already use. I had a grand time fitting and fitting the back darts to give it a bit of shape. I have quite a swayback, but I managed to make it fit quite well at the back (even Mr Tropical agreed!) so I'm proud of myself.<br />
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I also had to fit the back straps (on myself, since I haven't a dressform) with my bra on, to make sure they covered up the bra straps. That wasn't very difficult though.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwuuJ5wZTAa0045q8Xy7KJ7XfXFvNHjARKaADUMUhcJnAb-qZB_VrHu6zlHf-ddeATxPsuB9o1CLv0HMBM1yv4a401ZZFxpp3Z5P-JA2RiUNrfQE0LmvAipx7dgTkNREAX_OeceybAcg/s1600/IMG_0598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwuuJ5wZTAa0045q8Xy7KJ7XfXFvNHjARKaADUMUhcJnAb-qZB_VrHu6zlHf-ddeATxPsuB9o1CLv0HMBM1yv4a401ZZFxpp3Z5P-JA2RiUNrfQE0LmvAipx7dgTkNREAX_OeceybAcg/s400/IMG_0598.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
I had to figure out the knotted-neck-hole thing myself. I was ambitious and wanted to line it and all with contrasting melon fabric, which turned out to be a bit too much for my low skillz - it doesn't sit flat, though it was a thin cotton fabric strip that I cut on the bias. But oh well, I think it looks okay.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIebV0onfPNMWvhWr-44cppqGQWyc-LQuwyGvPRyaXCcOg2EnvEgj3RGO-6RFHMIlzd5jUHGh8G02m4gfpIoxDznOHAcdxWoaER2v3vCi4u9UuNIBchxBCzSA-8Q5dmhrtD1R9KGztIk0/s1600/IMG_6568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIebV0onfPNMWvhWr-44cppqGQWyc-LQuwyGvPRyaXCcOg2EnvEgj3RGO-6RFHMIlzd5jUHGh8G02m4gfpIoxDznOHAcdxWoaER2v3vCi4u9UuNIBchxBCzSA-8Q5dmhrtD1R9KGztIk0/s400/IMG_6568.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
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I did take pics of the whole process so if anyone is interested in making a similar one (less the contrast strip, since mine turned out sucky) and wants to see my clunky inelegant method, let me know and I'll post.<br />
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I've worn this on a few casual outings already and really like it very much. My little bub loves pulling at the ribbon too :)<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 metre of mid-weight quilting cotton 'Happy Owl Petals' in melon from Spotlight. Originally $14.95/m, I got this at 30% off = $10.50. This is actually an ok-ish price to pay for cotton in these parts. Very slightly pricey, but I made an exception because I couldn't resist its cuteness! </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmc3W8HuJ5N53JydZHjZ6bgWwQM5sl2l-NEev4qrtI8ZpVpbd9GtiBVxe69B-rSsQ_ERMFhi-mxRkg_LsBNw-MDzyn_9qoe6ujx1MYmg3EjwmWabaJTGq0Q_upeIERQ6ITa3in4oY7MZc/s1600/IMG_0596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmc3W8HuJ5N53JydZHjZ6bgWwQM5sl2l-NEev4qrtI8ZpVpbd9GtiBVxe69B-rSsQ_ERMFhi-mxRkg_LsBNw-MDzyn_9qoe6ujx1MYmg3EjwmWabaJTGq0Q_upeIERQ6ITa3in4oY7MZc/s400/IMG_0596.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-15481744072835919772012-01-12T17:11:00.000-08:002012-05-15T14:27:55.589-07:00On a run with the shorts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xjbPzkJ5-JWrhrjOq-b5oG3Hd7EU0UuW2vKRWK4lYUtDTCNbvBlAQGz4txygwRWpbUjWMA3pALPwDlHlGr19lckNRcmG01KLE_1AFxbiL6ezBJP2wDT_CAB4Q1juwOtRFuR4QdLXG_A/s1600/IMG_6151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xjbPzkJ5-JWrhrjOq-b5oG3Hd7EU0UuW2vKRWK4lYUtDTCNbvBlAQGz4txygwRWpbUjWMA3pALPwDlHlGr19lckNRcmG01KLE_1AFxbiL6ezBJP2wDT_CAB4Q1juwOtRFuR4QdLXG_A/s640/IMG_6151.JPG" width="457px" /></a></div><br />
Since the <a href="http://tropicalsewist.blogspot.com/2011/12/oh-yah-i-have-legs.html">first pair </a>fit pretty well and went together so fast, I was greedy and sewed up another pair :)<br />
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Really, I was completely powerless to resist the pull of that fabric. I mean, look at all those HORSES! I'm a huge sucker for 'subtle' prints. I love it whenthe garment is a solid colour or nondescript print from a distance, but when you get up close, ooh look! pink umbrellas in a storm! little men with hats! eyeballs!<br />
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It <em>really</em> makes my day when the person I've been talking to all of the last 20 minutes suddenly stops mid-sentence and goes, "Oh my! *gape* Are those <em>small grenades</em> you've got on your dress?"<br />
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Ha. I'm such a nerd.<br />
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Or maybe I should just stop living around blind people.<br />
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I was looking through my scrap bag for a contrasting-yet-matching piece to make the back pocket and button trim, and came across this nice scallop-y piece that reminded me of grassy plains.Just for the challenge, I made it puffy - this is my first try at a bit of quilting. The batting looked kinda thick at the start though, so I ripped it in two and only used a half thickness. I kinda regret being chicken now - I think that pocket could do with a leetle more puff!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKvGr13q29d88xIAYNPUGz2E_LtQFsHXhFm-8iX1_v7B6lFTuBvxDHfvQxuH1Ifm06HGfXTucZyt6bn3wIEomkZ1Y_YSOXVmF2J2PqxGoV0oqNxLdXVTkcswbdT64WNabKsaag-bmz_Q/s1600/IMG_6126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKvGr13q29d88xIAYNPUGz2E_LtQFsHXhFm-8iX1_v7B6lFTuBvxDHfvQxuH1Ifm06HGfXTucZyt6bn3wIEomkZ1Y_YSOXVmF2J2PqxGoV0oqNxLdXVTkcswbdT64WNabKsaag-bmz_Q/s400/IMG_6126.JPG" width="318px" /></a></div><br />
The other thing I love about this pair is the vintage zip :) I got a bunch of them from some good-hearted eco soul who was ripping them out of old garments destined for the landfill. There, my good deed for the day :)<br />
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A curious thing I noticed is how my two pairs of shorts sit differently. The first pair is a really fine, soft corduroy, so it falls straight down. This pair is a mid-weight quilting cotton, a little stiffer and crisper than the corduroy, which make my bot look way perkier. I don't know if I like the look or not. And I haven't any idea what sort of sewing thing to do about it! Take in the sides? It'll become too tight. Taper the legs? I wouldn't be able to walk. Right? <br />
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Any ideas?<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 1/2 yard of mid-weight quilting cotton from Etsy, courtesy of a really nice Canadian lady. The pattern actually gets by fine with just 1 yard, but of course I needed that extra 1/2 yard just so I could be stupid and cut out a piece or two with the horses facing upside down.</div><br />
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Oh and if you would excuse the graffiti on my left arm. It's not a tattoo. I just couldn't find any paper when I was writing out my grocery list.deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-74010178074690864252012-01-10T23:51:00.000-08:002012-01-10T23:57:45.944-08:00Super belated 2011 wrap-upLate to the party as usual, but here is the wrapup of my very first year in sewing.<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><strong>16 garments</strong></span> to my name... (and look how Mr Tropical's photographing-people-skill has improved over the year :D )<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRG6_odPTQGNugzxk0ZMuQTvdUuwg7LRyBVhCzn2oSYgUY6qCy3jsjKDRDXs_FiG34WSo7kvsupyWR9yJGGmv_nhGw2BP2mFYUj0cenCfLJ-VHL2z5sWpBcMHfzr02lz56_qLATqIZc2c/s1600/2011+summary+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRG6_odPTQGNugzxk0ZMuQTvdUuwg7LRyBVhCzn2oSYgUY6qCy3jsjKDRDXs_FiG34WSo7kvsupyWR9yJGGmv_nhGw2BP2mFYUj0cenCfLJ-VHL2z5sWpBcMHfzr02lz56_qLATqIZc2c/s400/2011+summary+copy.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
Also some other little craft-type things (not shown). <br />
<br />
Oh, and <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><strong>one UFO</strong></span>. A huge orange blousey thing that I made two months post-baby - what a bad idea. It's sack-like and totally unwearable at present. And way too embarassing for a picture!<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><strong>Two</strong></span> dresses made it to the Burdastyle.com <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-large;"><strong>front page</strong></span>, and <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">one</span> to their <strong><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-large;">Best of 201</span> <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: x-large;">1</span></strong> (woo-hoo!). <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">One doll</span> made it on <span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><strong>Craftgawker</strong></span>.<br />
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<br />
<br />
And my sewing resolutions for 2012? A rather long list, though perhaps not particularly embitious:<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">1. Break out my new serger.</span> <br />
<br />
My sweet parents gave it to me on my birthday (I'm a Halloween baby) after I asked for one. I really do want to see myself using it, but at the moment all those needles and wheels scare the hell out of me!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">2. Sew one thing from knit or stretchy fabric.</span><br />
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I'm SCARED of the things. All that stretch, all that movement. How will I cut it? Hem it? Won't it get swallowed up by my machine. Maybe if I get my serger figured out, it'll fall into place.<br />
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<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">3. Join a sewing contest.</span><br />
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Just for the kicks :) because it looks like it'll be so much fun!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">4. Join a sew-along.</span><br />
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Caveats: It must be something I want to make, and it must happen at a time when the other bits of my life aren't crazy. Hmm, that's a hard one...<br />
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<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">5. Not take my sewing too seriously,</span> or spend <i>toooo</i> much time at the machine.<br />
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Because sewing is my hobby, and that means I should have a ball of a time doing it. That means no sewing anything that isn't fun (unless it's a favour for family). No crying, no pulled hair, and no zombie nights over sewing. And because this is supposed to make me a happier person, no point in driving Mr Tropical up the wall with it - he's already telling me he doesn't see much more than the back of my head some nights!deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-42703744572850219552012-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:002012-01-02T21:26:25.776-08:002011 - my sewing yearThese are truly tumultuous times. There’ve been some pretty major changes in the last few years – becoming a Mrs. and starting graduate studies in 2007, and having two little girls in 2008 and 2010.<br />
<br />
And I'll always remember 2011 as the year I started sewing properly. The year I made the leap from crafty/homey-type projects to <i>real</i> garments. That I wore out of the house! to work! to outings! <br />
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And people told me they loved them. This possibly means more to me out here, living in a shy Asian culture where you don't make social/personal comments unless you know the guy pretty well, than if I were living in a nice open stranger-friendly culture like the US or UK has.<br />
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So here's me thinking to myself, I am DA BOMB! I make clothes that fit! I can wear clothes again!<br />
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I. AM. SO. HOOKED.<br />
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It wasn't so long ago when I didn't care which grubby T-shirt I wore with which grubby pair of baggy jeans (hello, uni days!). And my boring, mass-market days are not long left behind (this went with the whole scientific-academia environment I grew up and eventually worked in). I've always been around people who give you the suspicious eye if you're in any colour other than black, grey or brown, and if you wear a Dress, will ask if you've got a wedding to attend!<br />
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Starting graduate studies meant I worked in a lab, and fashion-wise, that meant freedom from the monochromatic trousers/skirt stereotype. Lab rats can be as weird and wild as they come. Not me though - I just went back to T-shirts/jeans (though admittedly I'd learnt a thing or two about fit by then).<br />
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Then I got married, and needed to look a bit better so as to accompany Mr Tropical out in the evenings.<br />
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Cue babies.<br />
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Cue loss of awesome hourglass figure.<br />
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*ouch*<br />
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And you have the real reason why I thought about getting into this sewing thing. Because with the likes of MNG, Zara, Topshop and H&M, why'd anyone even bother to sew these days?<br />
<br />
Except that those mountains of clothing no longer fit either my body or my budget. I can't carry off a mini-skirt these days. Or skinny jeans. Or thin jersey anything. And I can't plonk down all my spare cash on beautifully tailored separates, however much I want to!<br />
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It was a bad time. For a year or so after the first baby, shopping actually made me depressed. I'd try on oodles of things and the only ones I was happy to wear were the ones I couldn't buy. I was surviving on five nice leftover early-maternity outfits, and improvisations with maxi skirts and men's shirts!<br />
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I found Burdastyle in late 2010 while preggers again (I think I was referred from Etsy, on which I ran two crafty shops), and as they say, the rest is history.<br />
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I dug out my dusty old sewing machine and made my first garment, a cheery but awfully shapeless cotton smock that I still wear around the house (the bright orange armhole binding is its only saving grace). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwpdr4CLd482fOuAtanSJcTv1s6_4bSy-HnKippSp1tFuOxm_9ylSyasb2I0J3kaBwghWdlamUk_0iQB7eE54pKIt7-JcxLcpB-y_KKIxkUUqa7VQd4HNnrtaEBp7Fdmox9SLvErTEC0/s1600/IMG_3167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwpdr4CLd482fOuAtanSJcTv1s6_4bSy-HnKippSp1tFuOxm_9ylSyasb2I0J3kaBwghWdlamUk_0iQB7eE54pKIt7-JcxLcpB-y_KKIxkUUqa7VQd4HNnrtaEBp7Fdmox9SLvErTEC0/s400/IMG_3167.jpg" width="321px" /></a></div><br />
It was a moderate success, so I invested in some more fabric and patterns. And waited breathlessly for the return of some semblance of a figure so I could start sewing dresses.<br />
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I made my <a href="http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/enormous-turnip-dress">first very shapeless shift</a> in early 2011, and have come a little way since. So far, I have 16 garments to my name, mostly very simple shift dresses, tops and shorts. But some of them have been very well received (see Press), which is absolutely gratifying :)<br />
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I've accumulated quite a stash of patterns, about half of which are vintage (and cost pennies! woo!). I'm also quite the fan of downloadable patterns. And I'm just starting to learn how to customize patterns by changing or adding things, or by using features from a few different patterns in one garment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCvIBX-5CXrHhSwmriSS8Z6ZXzLdBNDbxEAoY4Fpy2rEqIDdHCuXi9Q5MBngfy-Yx5fo6j8u7YCKyEHG-JDBhPH9ovsuUtHdGj2BZ15fY9iJF6l2Kb0pzyYA8_Tk8OtgSwZEyPDq0KxQ/s1600/IMG_6664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCvIBX-5CXrHhSwmriSS8Z6ZXzLdBNDbxEAoY4Fpy2rEqIDdHCuXi9Q5MBngfy-Yx5fo6j8u7YCKyEHG-JDBhPH9ovsuUtHdGj2BZ15fY9iJF6l2Kb0pzyYA8_Tk8OtgSwZEyPDq0KxQ/s400/IMG_6664.JPG" width="298px" /></a></div><br />
I also have a small-but-growing library. Next on the wish-list: Pattern Magic 1 and 2, and a nice McQueen picture-book.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZ3sfsFUhWr3Pi67WiOQ-Jbxp4Z3RqW4V4cwqfcldfsZgaFQmqsVntNCaHv_RBuO0lm_XwDjGyGspK-VqsMYdmsdZQctsP0vL0rG1KJrZN7gNKlst0zmLshPBsREG_emSwdv8JFMgHyw/s1600/IMG_6667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZ3sfsFUhWr3Pi67WiOQ-Jbxp4Z3RqW4V4cwqfcldfsZgaFQmqsVntNCaHv_RBuO0lm_XwDjGyGspK-VqsMYdmsdZQctsP0vL0rG1KJrZN7gNKlst0zmLshPBsREG_emSwdv8JFMgHyw/s400/IMG_6667.JPG" width="400px" /></a></div><br />
I'm too embarrassed to photograph my fabric stash, because the pile I've acquired in one year is HUMUNGOUS. It fills up 50% of one floor-to-ceiling unit of shelving. Oops! <br />
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I'm having such a ball of a time here, I even have half a mind to make 2012 the year I forego conventional clothes shopping. What do you think? Will I make it?deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-8287172482716077392011-12-20T22:36:00.000-08:002012-01-16T16:58:02.095-08:00Oh yah, I have legs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBBwT3pVlsfDHr1vNyf1_MPj62Lz-otOucNzbvpzWP3myA3Hc-R0rrXltPjFs8GIFkUPrV32lyFPVBBbqlT4NVNRb65MMs8EVL7onnVaR5Ll5dNVNrp1biZ-qbvugTAd41ExM8N3kDrU/s1600/IMG_6360b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBBwT3pVlsfDHr1vNyf1_MPj62Lz-otOucNzbvpzWP3myA3Hc-R0rrXltPjFs8GIFkUPrV32lyFPVBBbqlT4NVNRb65MMs8EVL7onnVaR5Ll5dNVNrp1biZ-qbvugTAd41ExM8N3kDrU/s400/IMG_6360b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I am <i>so</i> past the whole short-shorts-and-high-heels thing. No-one can pull <i>that</i> look off without looking skanky (yes, I'm in a catty mood).<br />
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I really want some shorts, though. My bubs are at the zoo-and-outdoor-walks age and I'm tramping around outside way too often. That's always a hot and moist exercise in these parts, and my mood isn't made better by my usual denim knee-length bermudas.<br />
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I need shorts.<br />
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As usual my rushed shopping jaunts left me severely depressed. Enough already with all those crack-y, cheek-y shorts! You fast-fashion bosses too cheap to give me an extra couple of inches of fabric for my 39.99?<br />
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So off I went in search for a pattern. And found this, #111 in my copy of the Burda mag 6/2011.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPt1wxpeffwU8qoJlP6In7Zb5L23Uko9OPnnbQ-rkMUoZsGmWcG7sfeAY6BUtPK8MGu_lHE4EFlww5XaLTCxnpCKcyicQ9d8n22XaifXY26j0XKqw0f-tpOyZBSpBQgCHFg8C7GTKGlL4/s1600/111B_tech_dwg_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPt1wxpeffwU8qoJlP6In7Zb5L23Uko9OPnnbQ-rkMUoZsGmWcG7sfeAY6BUtPK8MGu_lHE4EFlww5XaLTCxnpCKcyicQ9d8n22XaifXY26j0XKqw0f-tpOyZBSpBQgCHFg8C7GTKGlL4/s400/111B_tech_dwg_large.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>Yes, it's really basic. Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. It did fit perfectly, though! And it went together like a dream. A week of free time, including drafting and sewing the scallops, and appliqueing the flower on - which for me is lightning speed. Here are the results:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypiXDQYTde2qVyzBlFD_HM1_KG70nBN8FbjrulG9HwOweM9wXN_phyphenhyphenmags4RpNSvNLTC7e0xpgpOQTAAYnJwaRzccLeZoy1D-Dqfg7_txiZYR2tjpGopBDS-Iu5jgz-DnCwPCArTak_Y/s1600/IMG_6353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypiXDQYTde2qVyzBlFD_HM1_KG70nBN8FbjrulG9HwOweM9wXN_phyphenhyphenmags4RpNSvNLTC7e0xpgpOQTAAYnJwaRzccLeZoy1D-Dqfg7_txiZYR2tjpGopBDS-Iu5jgz-DnCwPCArTak_Y/s640/IMG_6353.JPG" width="451" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdolMWHHnmgEvkT3ja4nT_CdyjoKnvPAO4Nr5BXc1E76eNtssWOqTInwTYXw6x02_4EuS6HVu-Hsoxah2oPocqjElvDCfFBNBqySxjJe3_53PVI_loCYHYfX6kxyseAvITcIYFFyPeLE/s1600/IMG_6356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdolMWHHnmgEvkT3ja4nT_CdyjoKnvPAO4Nr5BXc1E76eNtssWOqTInwTYXw6x02_4EuS6HVu-Hsoxah2oPocqjElvDCfFBNBqySxjJe3_53PVI_loCYHYfX6kxyseAvITcIYFFyPeLE/s640/IMG_6356.JPG" width="419" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">I love the skirty-ness! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The scalloped hem! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">The high waist! (I'm surprised it even works on my tum!)</div><br />
The scalloping went ok, except I cut too close to the seams in some parts, before flipping out. There are a couple of frays at scallop-points already, so these shorts mightn't last too long *cries*<br />
And because the fabric is thin, and I folded in the hem, you can see this ugly 'layer' on the front side, where the hem comes up to.<br />
I also made a huge bunched-up mess in the scalloping on one of the inside leg seams. It doesn't show of course, but boy does it ever chafe my thigh. Bleh. <br />
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More close-ups, just because I'm happy:<br />
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The back pocket is a piece of sari silk I bought off Etsy a long time ago. The colours matched almost perfectly. Decided against two back pockets, so as not to look too busy around the derriere.<br />
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And I used the remaining bit of silk for an applique. I was anal as usual, so I both slip-stitched as well as top-stitched. Behold my abysmal top-stitching skills!<br />
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Oh yah, this was my first attempt at inserting an invisible zipper, and thanks to three or four Youtube vids and print tutorials, it turned out perfect. The first time! I'm so not afraid of invisible zippers anymore.<br />
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Overall, I'm really quite pleased with them. Although it's been so long since I wore going-out shorts as short as these, that I have to get used to showing my legs again!<br />
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Interesting fact: Ironically for Hubs and I labouring in the sunny garden shooting and shooting pics, the older bub got the best shot of all. She picked up the camera to play with, and I was racing across the grass to 'rescue' it when she clicked the button.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Adjustments:</span> <br />
I cut out a 38 (to make sure it fitted over my abnormally large tum), and instead of tapering it to a 36 at the bottom like I usually do, decided to go for the 'skirty' look instead. And I shortened the hem by an inch.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
1 yard of really soft wine-coloured fine-wale corduroy. I snatched it up from the remnant table at Spotlight - only $3!deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-4395324193893383512011-12-06T16:44:00.000-08:002011-12-19T18:40:33.218-08:00My dolly on Craftgawker!Oh my oh my!<br />
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Woke up this morning to find my little dolly featured on Craftgawker.com, together with all the other cool kids!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJb7_B2ZLfhXdiHrzx0G6jr_CjjzelYFT1PxIJDhuuxsajcyGhLC0T602y5OtOH8U-co5nm6mwzbj5QlSblwUXOE8PXmgfj9CE-wfzi4iMAxxAqCEpn1hG6odA91rq9OnZhJ2xjLH_8c/s1600/press_doll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJb7_B2ZLfhXdiHrzx0G6jr_CjjzelYFT1PxIJDhuuxsajcyGhLC0T602y5OtOH8U-co5nm6mwzbj5QlSblwUXOE8PXmgfj9CE-wfzi4iMAxxAqCEpn1hG6odA91rq9OnZhJ2xjLH_8c/s640/press_doll.jpg" width="640px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://craftgawker.com/post/2011/12/06/26965/" target="_blank"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">#26965</span></b></a></div><br />
Score one for The Tropical Sewist! <br />
(as you've guessed, I'm still new enough to this whole she-bang for stuff like this to be really exciting)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Old post </span><a href="http://tropicalsewist.blogspot.com/2011/11/matching-birthday-dresses.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and pattern from </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/alisonberry" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alison Berry</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span>deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-6384020398783541512011-11-30T16:21:00.000-08:002011-12-06T17:11:04.955-08:00The Tropical DilemmaIt always happens around this time of the year.<br />
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Northern hemisphere winter = coats, coats, coats! <br />
Every magazine and every style/shopping website is stuffed to the gills with delicious wools! nubbly tweeds! fluffy cashmeres! ooh!<br />
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iwantiwantiwantiwant!<br />
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But living in Singapore = no need for coats. Permanent summer, 'winter' temperature (Nov-Jan, around now) of 26 degC (80 degF)!<br />
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Augh. What is a girl to do?<br />
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Improvise, that’s what :)<br />
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I tried sewing up this coat pattern in summer-weight fabric. It was by far the most complicated garment I’ve tried. The ‘Easy’ label on the package is completely misleading - such a lot of pattern pieces, and a completely un-skippable lining! Hello Vogue patternists! What on earth were you thinking?? <br />
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I originally intended for this chocolate broadcloth to be a muslin, but was <strike>too lazy to sew it up again</strike> so happy with how it turned out, that I thought this would be IT. Since I was hardworking and lined my muslin and all.<br />
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So I added blue top-stitching and rick-rack. I adore rick-rack! Although I've found precious few occasions to use it without looking juvenile. <br />
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Plus I dug out my precious baby-blue vintage buttons...which mysteriously faded in the sun/washing machine, after just one wash. Grr.<br />
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I could do with the brown being just a touch darker, and swingier, and drapier (i.e. generally a lot woollier), but eh... it didn’t turn out all that bad. I do rather like that back pleat :)<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Adjustments:</span> <br />
Shortened the sleeves and hem by an inch, as usual. No round-tummy adjustment needed on this one.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
Brown broadcloth and some thickish black acetate/polyesterish thing for the lining (it was $1.50/metre from a garment boutique, and the shop girl gave me a giant blank look when I asked her about the composition).deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-32048662236324926832011-11-28T20:46:00.000-08:002011-12-06T16:38:45.069-08:00Matching birthday dresses!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcmxUEn0yfJcTrmT6on5q5TjdGeMiFvm4mOR3t0FIOTaZRvYgn0Ajdw1ss7n5pbtsVcBEofZPSJ9VGK1NjHzIIICczzD_UL_vrmgKKYBCeTBOhi2riFLAod1aD0SISMZcnOJ0YCUalxs/s1600/_DSC0835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="564px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcmxUEn0yfJcTrmT6on5q5TjdGeMiFvm4mOR3t0FIOTaZRvYgn0Ajdw1ss7n5pbtsVcBEofZPSJ9VGK1NjHzIIICczzD_UL_vrmgKKYBCeTBOhi2riFLAod1aD0SISMZcnOJ0YCUalxs/s640/_DSC0835.JPG" width="640px" /></a></div><br />
I live in a country with a vibrant throw-away culture. To the Chinese, handmade objects are not valued, and vintage is a foreign concept to all but a few. The old is deemed useless, second-hand is for beggars. If I showed a local something I made yourself, ten times out of eleven he would sneer, tell me it won't last, and ask why I didn't do something more 'productive' with my time.<br />
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Here, art is a hobby - never a profession, and never to be taken seriously. People would choose a mass-produced product over a similar handmade one every time, even if the two were the same price.<br />
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It's a lifestyle I unthinkingly imbibed until my university days, when Internet usage became prevalent. My online eyes were opened to the beautiful, quirky world of handmade objects - where imperfection was appreciated, variation was a boon, patina was valued. These were hugely foreign concepts to me!<br />
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It took me some years to fully embrace the ideals of handmade. But when I understood the kind of control one could have over things they made with their hands, I was inspired to do the same. One jewellery line and one felt doll line later, here I am at the doors of the sewing world. <br />
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Since I befriended my machine, I've had a strong compulsion to sew special objects for my special people on their special days. I'm extremely introverted in real life, so it isn't a tall order at all - my immediate family, children, and less than a handful of really special friends. I'm lucky that these few people are able to appreciate the effort that goes into handmade gifts, and how important that is to me!<br />
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This is what I made for my little bub's first birthday. I wanted something age appropriate and really special, so I settled on a dress-and-doll set.<br />
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I drafted the dress pattern from one of her existing dresses, adding 1cm all around so she could 'grow into it'. Not really the way you grade patterns, right? Though it did work...sorta!<br />
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The doll pattern is from the lovely Alison Berry (<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/alisonberry" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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This was my first children's garment, and I'm so glad I did the bub's dress before the doll's! There were so many tiny turns and corners on her dress that I couldn't handle on my machine. It was much worse with the teeny-tiny doll's! I ended up completing much of that by hand.<br />
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She did look nice in the dress, if I say so myself :)<br />
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Unfortunately, apart from strong de-frocking and de-shoeing urges, the little bub hasn't taken to the new doll. It's been sitting shoeless at a corner of her cot looking balefully at us since.<br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
Bub's and doll's dress are quilting cotton - Hideaway glade in Berry, by Lauren and Jessi Jung. 1 yard was enough for both :)<br />
Dress trim and shoes were mustard polka-dotted quilting cotton.<br />
Doll's body was made from a silky cotton blend, stuffed with polyester fill.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZzeRGATYICcff7Wa3lRbSRkcSapVBQL_WqVqO2irkmP4ORg1jyugMcIFbuITa15AwEB11NwD18o3Tm7Dw208K8XCka1XMx-mv9jvkrAOSwPAoUP6yyK7n_mBbl9LSOIKGeP7kWnCv9k/s1600/IMG_6095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZzeRGATYICcff7Wa3lRbSRkcSapVBQL_WqVqO2irkmP4ORg1jyugMcIFbuITa15AwEB11NwD18o3Tm7Dw208K8XCka1XMx-mv9jvkrAOSwPAoUP6yyK7n_mBbl9LSOIKGeP7kWnCv9k/s640/IMG_6095.JPG" width="508px" /></a></div>deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-26094811570259683552011-11-26T08:40:00.000-08:002012-05-15T14:31:40.761-07:00burdastyle.de 191 Shirtbluse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmQ1dqvMOKU0-UG8bBWIRIoR9CLDEddSgKO25j1HH0_ZNvyTFG_zxn6e-SIG9Be3t08seRR4Q2nmGudjiC-97RjyMnq-vNZk2G811vBhoVDGtdPKz9LIephICDP9Zilkx4pY2M7M9omw/s1600/IMG_6257+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmQ1dqvMOKU0-UG8bBWIRIoR9CLDEddSgKO25j1HH0_ZNvyTFG_zxn6e-SIG9Be3t08seRR4Q2nmGudjiC-97RjyMnq-vNZk2G811vBhoVDGtdPKz9LIephICDP9Zilkx4pY2M7M9omw/s640/IMG_6257+copy.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Blouse: DIY. Trousers: Victoria's Secret (eBay). Heels: Forni (Payless Shoes). Handbag: vintage (eBay)</strong></span></div><br />
I was glancing through the burdastyle.de website and, in a fit of madness, downloaded some of their patterns.<br />
<br />
Why not? They were FREE.<br />
<br />
Of course I happily glossed over one small detail. The instructions were in GERMAN. And to all intents and purposes I don't read German, in spite of 2 years of German foreign-language class during my secondary school days.<br />
<br />
Well. Google translate should make things better.<br />
<br />
So not. Look at this:<br />
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"At the corner section the front part 1cm long cut. Einfassstreifen for half lengthwise Fold and iron the fabric right side out. strip again lay flat apart. One longitudinal edge of the strip to the bracket break iron and strike. The other edge of the strip from the inside stuck to the cut edge and 1cm wide to stitch, thereby spread the incision."<br />
<br />
What?<br />
<br />
I basically ended up winging the whole thing. Thankfully it was an easy pattern. <br />
<br />
I did have a ton of trouble with the V-dip at the neckline. Mangled the first piece I cut, mangled the second try too, looked at the fraying edge of the front body piece with a sinking heart, and gave up. I am such a novice. Hooray for bias tape.<br />
<br />
I only realised AFTER everything was over, that a very similar pattern is available on the english Burdastyle site. It's free, too. Aargh.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fEmN3ALucq-8L4HDWVv5ds94qDAdi6xCGT7Hl1MmXHhAEV3mpFWkEReQ-PZ2akCd0evyTbJeAgBvd4twVhnIPf8hCdRGACcWXTNoXHuX-P4FxpJ8PUb7UWSux64yUijHzDUZuQrsxwY/s1600/IMG_6169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fEmN3ALucq-8L4HDWVv5ds94qDAdi6xCGT7Hl1MmXHhAEV3mpFWkEReQ-PZ2akCd0evyTbJeAgBvd4twVhnIPf8hCdRGACcWXTNoXHuX-P4FxpJ8PUb7UWSux64yUijHzDUZuQrsxwY/s640/IMG_6169.JPG" width="628" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPy-XLdQajiS_kWJt5yEeYHmYBlbWktMw1vrLbDpznEpcmbt47N89SnLII_VIqsCTBD4_xD5lDXQry2p0dPf9ZWlO-bse9u5-zngrGix2Kx3wEA5nTVse5yzQhmA6MEYHHXy0lxuCegY/s1600/IMG_6175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPy-XLdQajiS_kWJt5yEeYHmYBlbWktMw1vrLbDpznEpcmbt47N89SnLII_VIqsCTBD4_xD5lDXQry2p0dPf9ZWlO-bse9u5-zngrGix2Kx3wEA5nTVse5yzQhmA6MEYHHXy0lxuCegY/s640/IMG_6175.JPG" width="633px" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPv0N9m7tqSKxp34VuW-r7idmGetlKH_JR4iuu84tTbHfIoo-3Be6FXv1z3vwzoo0hvCG1xTTN4GrR_uPgw73FDrTXPcG8dO54VnNrphqwZhB4vwdnmGdEoOAiRvq02dTGelBk0iPMVE/s1600/IMG_6263+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPv0N9m7tqSKxp34VuW-r7idmGetlKH_JR4iuu84tTbHfIoo-3Be6FXv1z3vwzoo0hvCG1xTTN4GrR_uPgw73FDrTXPcG8dO54VnNrphqwZhB4vwdnmGdEoOAiRvq02dTGelBk0iPMVE/s640/IMG_6263+copy.jpg" width="502px" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Adjustments:</span> <br />
I cut size 36 on top, blending to 38 at the bottom to accomodate my huge belly. Brought up the neckline 1 inch for modesty (not that you can tell), and was over-enthusiastic about shortening the hem and sleeve length. It'll be better next time.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-size: large;">Fabric:</span><br />
Rayon georgette in houndstooth! <3<3<3 :) <br />
It's a little crisp and the batwing part doesn't drape nearly as well as I would like. But it does flow nicely over my tummy without clinging, as long as I don't stuff my face at lunch.<br />
Dotted quilting cotton for the cuffs.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUZLWXE-U1PYrmiZRpz8WOCDXw68UpjdbmEBZ2QR32RZd2xlsSF-MXIJ5lEo0RlChpyH-ZNDRTlyZh58AXD-llW1S62H7gLrlDPPySTWflb6Go-rd9k6SrBYON0lPIb2voZSfmfapoF4/s1600/IMG_6116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUZLWXE-U1PYrmiZRpz8WOCDXw68UpjdbmEBZ2QR32RZd2xlsSF-MXIJ5lEo0RlChpyH-ZNDRTlyZh58AXD-llW1S62H7gLrlDPPySTWflb6Go-rd9k6SrBYON0lPIb2voZSfmfapoF4/s400/IMG_6116.JPG" width="306px" /></a></div><br />
(download pattern at your own peril <a href="http://www.burdastyle.de/burda-style/heft-katalog/shirt-weit-elegant-perwoll_pid_389_4267.html" target="_blank">here</a>)deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278438970098720013.post-19823616240394311422011-11-25T10:25:00.000-08:002011-11-25T12:05:44.797-08:00Yes, I SewSo I thought, since this sewing thing looks like it's more or less here to stay, that I might as well blog about it.<br />
<br />
Just to scratch that Look-At-Meeee! itch that comes up once in a while, you know.<br />
<br />
No, seriously.<br />
<br />
I started keeping my portfolio at Burdastyle.com (<a href="http://www.burdastyle.com/profiles/alasmydear/my_studio" target="_blank">here</a>) and discovered that while it's a great community to be on, it's a little bit lacking in the friend-making department. I made a couple of friends on there and it's mighty difficult to be communicating just through comments.<br />
<br />
So this blog gives me the freedom to interact with people, and to ask for much-needed advice.<br />
<br />
First things first.<br />
<br />
Here is my machine. It's an old Brother work-horse that my mum bought about 10 years ago, for my 21st birthday, after so! much! pleading (she thought it was another of my 'fads'). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Ib1Uba3RBMtcbHEDTis4FE0ewJnrXSFKx4PDmrxKghJnzM35RJy1RT3CMfsK_AWH2fW-cstV5J4Pdn_tVXtb2RUIOamLL90r6UJzSWk_3UJnyazuYOAw85BbU26aYda_gkSVEazcw54/s1600/IMG_6192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="301" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Ib1Uba3RBMtcbHEDTis4FE0ewJnrXSFKx4PDmrxKghJnzM35RJy1RT3CMfsK_AWH2fW-cstV5J4Pdn_tVXtb2RUIOamLL90r6UJzSWk_3UJnyazuYOAw85BbU26aYda_gkSVEazcw54/s400/IMG_6192.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Like most other sewists I started out with simple garment alterations, and the occasional tote/pouch. Along the way I hated my machine a great deal, and got intimately acquainted with my seam ripper.<br />
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I suppose I haven't progressed all that much these 10 years, since this rather basic machine still serves me pretty well!<br />
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Hopefully that'll change soon :)deborahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435729230637920784noreply@blogger.com1