January 2013 – THORNBERRY

family

first and last

It’s Stella’s first day at school. You were expecting this blog post, weren’t you?

She was incredibly happy this morning. Up bright and early, into school clothes, hair combed, ate breakfast, lunch packed, teeth cleaned. I think it’s the fastest we’ve ever been ready for school.

She sang the whole way there. “I’m a schoolgirl now”.

Very happily posed for photos.

Then as soon as her classroom door was opened, she dashed in, put her bag away, and settled down to an activity. She had to be interrupted for a last photograph and final cuddles. I think that we were the first parents to leave the classroom.

So that’s it. Her first day, and my last child at school. It’s the end of one era, and the beginning of a new one. It’s been a day of mixed emotions. I’ve had a lump in my throat at times and the occasional tear in my eye, but she is SO happy to be at school and she is so ready for it. And so are we. Time keeps moving on, and things continue to change. They grow up. As they should.

Thursday, 31 January, 2013 by thornberry

family

Buchan

What a wonderful Australia Day long weekend – we went to Buchan!

The girls were very excited about visiting the caves – both the Royal and Fairy Caves. Clare pronounced them “cool” and “awesome” and Stella said that they were “freaky” and “scary”. We stayed at Buchan Valley Log Cabins, and I suspect that the highlight of the weekend for the girls was roasting marshmallows with the family staying in the cabin next door. A perfect way to round off the January school holidays.

And thanks so much for all the Vogue 8552 love – I’m definitely making at least one more!

Monday, 28 January, 2013 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing

Vogue 8552

Now, Vogue 8552 is one of those that I saw on other bloggers and simply HAD to make.

Check out those cute details! Neckline tucks!

Cap sleeves! Incredible huge drapey pockets!

Topstitched back waist tucks! And not fitted around the mid-section!

Oh, how I love this pattern. This is my first version, a wearable muslin really. The fabric is from June’s stash, and says Cranston Print Works along the selvedge. It’s tightly woven, almost a taffeta, and when I make it next I will be using linen (probably the linen originally destined to become a pair of pants). It will be better with the ease of linen. But in the meantime, I’m pretty happy with the muslin! I cut this out at size 14, and took small seam allowances. I completely eliminated the back zipper, and took a wedge out of the neck edge of the centre back seam to eliminate gaping. I also made petite adjustments in two places to shorten the torso. So, from the back:

And the front!

Many thanks to the inspiration that came from Katherine here and here and here, Bernice here and here, Leith here, and Christy here. All fellow Australians – maybe this is a perfect pattern for our climate! I notice that it’s now out of print, but I think that it’s still easily locatable online.

Saturday, 26 January, 2013 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing

Vogue 1306 view B

Often it’s another blogger who draws my attention to a pattern that I had previously overlooked. I usually try to focus on the line drawings when I’m looking at patterns, because those models wearing the garments – whether photographs or illustrations – don’t look anything like me! But this pattern hunting technique means that I don’t always spot patterns that might work for me. So I always appreciate seeing patterns made up on “everyday” people. I’ve just had success with a Vogue dress pattern that I might not have otherwise considered if I hadn’t seen it made up so beautifully on a number of bloggers – a blog post coming up on that one soon. However, Vogue 1306 is a pattern that I bought for the line drawing.

The fabric is a slub cotton/lycra jersey that I think I found at Darn Cheap, although I can no longer remember with certainty. It is very thin and light. I really love the colour, but it tends to stick to whatever clothing is underneath a little too much for my liking. The pattern has underbust gathers – which is great when you are waistless – and an interesting front placket. I accidentally made the front placket more interesting by attaching it with raw edges to the centre. Whoops. Although a friend complimented that “design feature” when I wore it yesterday, so it’s probably alright after all. The hem is a “mullet” hem – higher in the front, lower in the back. I secured it and the sleeve hems with Lite Steam’a’Seam before twin needling them in place. (I’m out of my preferred Vliesofix tape at the moment – sob! Need to find a good online supplier).

I used size Medium for this, which I did need through the bust, but I think that the shoulders are too large. And as much as I love the colour, and as comfortable as it was to wear, I’m not feeling the love for this top. Although I might give one of the other views a try. It is difficult to put my finger on what is wrong with it, but I think that it just isn’t “me”. My husband didn’t like it much on me either.

Looks as though this one might go to the friend who complimented the “design feature”!

Thursday, 24 January, 2013 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing

gorgeous gore skirt

Since I own more than a few StyleARC patterns, I’d better use them! I bought the Gorgeous Gore Skirt pattern because I thought that it would be a versatile basic. It’s designed for stretch fabric, has an elasticised waist in a casing formed at the top of a shaped yoke, and the skirt is made from six identical gores.

This is such a busy fabric that you can’t see the design lines at all! It was some leftovers from another project, a poly/lycra jersey of the sort that stretches out fairly quickly. But not bad for a wearable muslin. Almost all the construction was on the overlocker. I folded about an inch from the length of the gore pieces because I thought that the skirt might end up at a frumpy (on me) mid-calf length. But it did anyway. I think that on me it needed to be quite a bit shorter, right on the knee, or quite a bit longer!

I’ve definitely met my objective with this pattern though – it will make up into a comfortable skirt in a variety of knits. The yoke sits nice and flat against the body – I don’t like bulk around my waist. I might also slash and spread the gores to get a skirt with a larger circumference. I used the rolled hem feature on the overlocker to finish the edge, and estimate that this skirt took around an hour to make, including cutting out.

By the way, wordpress is doing weird stuff with stretching out my photos in the last few posts! They all look fine and correctly proportioned when I write the blog post, but when I look at it once it is published everything is stretched. With the result that I look much slimmer. Which is not all bad. But I want to fix this! Any suggestions? Is it only on my computer that they look this way? They’re still fine in flickr. And it doesn’t seem to be all the photos. I especially noticed it in the mosaic from my last post.

Wednesday, 23 January, 2013 by thornberry

family

school holidays

Yes, I’m loving these school holidays.

Just one more week for the kids. This time next week we’ll be making sure that Clare is all sorted ready for school, and Stella the following day. Wow. Where did that time go?

Tuesday, 22 January, 2013 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing, tessuti patterns

Valerie and Tori

I’ve talked before about sewing pants. They’re not difficult to construct. But they are SO difficult to fit well – especially if you are trying to fit something a little more formal, like work trousers, or something like jeans. Thank goodness for modern wovens with lycra, and for my casual lifestyle that allows me to wear loose drawstring pants. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s also a thank you to StyleARC for making pants patterns that do pretty much fit me as is. Although thus far I’ve only tried their patterns of the stretch woven or loose and unstructured variety. Still a little nervous to branch out further (and very envious of the likes of Christy who makes herself such beautifully fitted trousers and jeans). Which is a little silly of me really – after all, it’s only fabric!

Enter the StyleARC Tori Crop pant – paired with the Tessuti Valerie top. I made up the pants in a spongy stretch cotton woven that I picked up at a bargain price from The Cloth Shop because it has a water stain running along one selvedge. I was easily able to cut out the pants around this. This pair was intended to be a wearable muslin, as I have some wonderful bright bright orange stretch cotton from The Fabric Store that is begging to be turned into a “real” pair. Overall, I am very happy with how these have turned out.

From the front, I think they’re great. I cut out size 10, and shortened the legs (at that handy shorten/lengthen here line) since they are meant to be cropped and I am only 158 cm tall. The side vents are a lovely touch, although the picture in the line drawing on the front of the pattern isn’t correct as far as the vents are concerned – they don’t overlap the side seam and come to a point at the top; they are more like a walking vent in the back of a pencil skirt. However, the instructions and construction illustrations are accurate, and they were not difficult to assemble. The pants have an elasticised waist and simply pull on. There are front and back darts, and combined with the stretch woven there are no waist gathers. I measured the elastic to fit the waist opening rather than my actual waist measurement – because my actual waist measurement was larger – and this worked out well. Thank goodness for quality fabrics!

The back view is pretty good too. Fits nicely through the bottom (although I can see where my undies leg elastic is in this photo) and it has an appropriate width at the bottom to balance out the crop. I figure that those wrinkles from bottom to knee are fairly normal for a non-fitted pant in a stretch woven. Your thoughts? You can just see the leg vents in the next photo. I should have taken a close up shot!

This was yesterday’s outfit, and the pants definitely passed the comfort and wear test. I’ll be making these again in the bright orange! So, onto the Tessuti Valerie top.

Well I must have been keen, as this pattern was only released a couple of days ago, and I actually went to the trouble of taping the pieces together rather than wait for the plan printing shop to re-open after their extended summer holiday break. After having such success with the Lily dress, I jumped right in with this top. The fabric is Rayon leftover from another project, and it has the right drape for this top. You definitely don’t want to use anything stiff or with much body. I cut it with the border running along the hemline, so did alter the front and back hem pieces slightly to straighten them to accommodate this.

The print makes it a little difficult to see that there are front and back darts that the lower bodice gathers into. They line up perfectly with one another and create a nice angle from front to back. The neckline and sleeves are finished with bias strips, and all the openings sit nicely against the body. Great drafting! Once again, I didn’t use any Vilene shields around the neckline or armholes but fused Vliesofix Bias tape around them instead. A lovely casual top that would be beautiful made up in a solid washed silk or similar.

So that was yesterday’s outfit! I’m still working my way through that already-cut-out box. There’s not too many layers left in it now! I’m also trying to plan a coordinated approach to my next makes. Clare is busily going through old Ottobre magazines to plan her winter wardrobe. I wonder what she’ll come up with…

Tuesday, 22 January, 2013Saturday, 11 February, 2023 by thornberry

adult's clothing, family, sewing, underwear

New Look 6071 (again)

Somehow I always feel a little bit smug when I use patterns for a second time. I’ve suddenly halved the “cost per make” factor – well, the cost per pattern factor, really. And when I use them more than twice – why, bliss! I often theorise that the first time that I make something it is really a “wearable muslin”, and so I keep plenty of blog notes about what I’d do differently or what I would adjust the next time that I made it. And then I forget to check my blog before diving in a second time, so repeat the same issues.

Interestingly, I forgot to read my original blog post on New Look 6071, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the fit in any adverse way. I forgot to make the centre back and side seam allowances 1/4″ instead of 5/8″, but the dress still fits nicely – and doesn’t have many of the pull/drag lines across the back that were evident in the first version! Or maybe you just can’t see them with this fabric. Poor stripe matching across that centre back seam – but it was the best that I could do in this already mis-matched stripe!

It’s a great reminder about what difference the fabric choice makes in the finished garment. Not merely in terms of the colour or print/pattern, but the qualities of the fabric such as drape, degree of stretch, the clingy factor, and so on. This is a textured knit jersey with minimal lycra content (you’ve seen it before in this dress) and I was originally quite hesitant about using it for New Look 6071. Looks like I was wrong! Interesting effects too with the wobbly stripes and the twist front.

So considering that the fabric was leftovers and the pattern had been used before, maybe this does count as a “free” garment! The neckline is low, so it’s best with a camisole. The weather cooled off enough on Saturday for me to need another layer over it – I was quite happy with this styling. Although it would have been vastly improved with some lipstick.

Now, you’re all wondering about the bra-making progress, aren’t you? Well, I’ve assembled most of the “ingredients”. And my first lesson is that bra components are expensive to buy from Spotlight. And that no-one has a clue in store about what “powernet” and “tricot” etc are. Let alone knowing if they stock them, and where. I’ve quickly determined that the way to go when wanting to make pretty matching sets will be to buy fabric/fittings kits via the internet. In the meantime – I plan on cutting out my first bra today! I was planning on sewing up some lovely loose yarn-dyed linen trousers today – but when I went to cut them out last night discovered that I hadn’t bought enough fabric. I tried really hard, but there was no possible layout that would allow me to squeeze out the trousers. Aaaargh! So it looks like a jacket from one piece of linen, and a skirt from the other (yes, I bought two lengths of different colours). But not today.

So, it’s the last full week of school holidays! I’m still not back to work for another two weeks, which is wonderful. I really did need this extended break. I’m loving spending time at home, doing some sewing, some organising, some planning, and some of those jobs that you always put off until you are on holidays. We have had numerous kids over to play, been out to lots of activities, had dinner and lunches with friends, and are generally enjoying our time together. Well, my husband is at work, so I’m enjoying my time together with the girls! For some reason, Clare turning 10 and Stella about to start school feels quite momentous to me. I can see that my babies are no longer babies – they have developed into such wonderful people and the world is their oyster. 2013 is going to be a huge year of change – but it’s good change. Fingers crossed!

Monday, 21 January, 2013 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing, underwear

sewing challenge #1 for 2013

A few sewing challenges/goals for 2013 have been starting to coalesce within the whirlpool that is the “to-do-one-day” section of my brain. Here is sewing challenge #1.

Completely inspired by the likes of my fellow Southern Hemisphere sewists Kazz, Carolyn, Katherine, Andrea, and the plethora of international sewists currently taking part in the Cloth Habit Bra Sew-making Along, I’ve decided to join in and make a bra! After all, I’ve made my own undies and bathers before. Time to try a bra – surely it won’t be too complex? I’ve used a few different measurement calculators to work out what size to make, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s the size that I usually wear at this weight! So I’ve bought a copy of Kwik Sew 3300 on half-price sale, have cut out a photocopy of the pattern (in case it’s not the right size, I didn’t want to chop into the original pattern straight away), will ferret out some suitable fabric scraps from stash, will buy some underwires and casing, and will make a start this weekend.

Saturday, 19 January, 2013 by thornberry

2012 BAMCAL, crochet

six more BAMCAL blocks

Had anyone noticed that there haven’t been any BAMCAL squares on the blog for a while? I somehow let the last three months slip, but have finished them in a burst over the last couple of weeks. As usual, they are all worked in various shades of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply wool, with a 4.5 mm hook.

The first October square is called Winterslace:

and the October filler square is In Treble.

The first November square is Shining Star.

I wasn’t terribly enamoured of the November filler square, so worked the Impossible Hexagon instead.

Cherries Jubilee was the main December square.

And my alternative to the December filler square was the non-bullion version of the April Whimsical Wonderland CAL block by Donna Kay Lacey, Spring Rolls. This square still needs blocking, and will probably need another row worked to bring it up to size.

So that is it – 30 squares worked for a blanket for my bed! The next tasks are:

count the number of stitches on each side of the square, and work another row if needed to keep them of a similar number. From experience, I can fudge a variation of about four stitches along each side at the most, but no more.
work out the final placement of squares and photograph it
decide on a joining colour
join the squares
decide on a border design and colours (the colours are most likely to be the three largest balls of yarn I have left)
work the border
weave in ends.

Let’s take a guess as to when this will be finished! In the meantime, a little mosaic so that you can see all the finished squares and get some idea as to how the finished blanket may look.

The BAMCALs are a lovely way to pace yourself and end up with a useful result. I find it much simpler to crochet a blanket in this modular way than to just start at one end and work to the other. Which is why I still haven’t started a ripple blanket, or finished Clare’s Wool-Eater (although I have started working on that one again). I won’t take part in the 2013 BAMCAL – I’ll still be finishing this one – but maybe in the future I might be tempted to do another!

Thursday, 17 January, 2013 by thornberry

Month: January 2013