Black Lace Ava

It would seem that I am in love with Victory Patterns at the moment ... first it was Lola, then Chloe 1 and Chloe 2 and now Ava.

My daughter loves wearing dresses (yay!) and had worn the death out of a dress we had bought for Christmas last year.   Ava is a very similar style and suits her hourglass figure like a glove.  However, teenagers are so fickle that choosing the right fabric was real marathon but after a trip to The Fabric Warehouse we walked out with a medium weight polytester which had a really nice drape to it.  The lace we had left over from a top I'd made for her back in May and that had already got the tick of approval.

Cotton Chloe

Cotton Chloe comes very hot on the heals of my first make

I wasn't intending to make another Chloe so quickly but .... I was in the Fabric Warehouse getting some cotton lining for my super cool geek fabric and spotted this cotton black/purple/cream fabric and just couldn't put it down.  I had very good intentions of only walking out with what I had come for - but my will power just wasn't that great.

Before I even got out of the shop I knew that this fabric would be sewn up into another Chloe.  I didn't make any changes to the dress itself.  The sleeves on the other hand I thought I would remove the excess fabric from the underarm seam.  On the first dress I took out 5/8" from the front side panel and back side panel but didn't remove the equivalent from the sleeve seam.

But that was a complete fail and the sleeves were too tight.  This was a real shit because I had already hand sewn the lining to the dress around the sleeve seam.  On the bright side I hadn't overlocked the raw edge of the sleeve seam, because I had tucked it into the dress before attaching the lining.  Just as well I had plenty of the black cotton fabric in my stash, although I hate having to redo things!  I should so have learnt my lesson with sleeves by now - obviously Not!

Oh I just about forgot, I also lengthen the hem of the dress 2" more than the pattern.   Two reasons:
1.  I wanted a deeper hem on this dress than my first which was only 1"
2.  I wanted the dress to be about 1" longer than my first.

Yay for a deeper hem but I'm not sure that I really like the length, perhaps just a bit too long for the style?  OR maybe it just seem like a lot of print?

Too finish I put wee studs on the pocket tabs.  I didn't put any up near the neckline as the pattern suggests as I think they are too small and will get lost against the pattern and I think a nice necklace will be better.

I'm sure this won't be the last Chloe I make either.  With summer coming on I think a sleeveless version in a nice light fabric might be in order!

More photos on my Flickr -->

Geektastic marries Vogue

I have been hanging out to make this dress for what seems like ages.  I purchased the pattern early this year but put it away thinking that when summer arrives I will get it out again.  Then I discovered Spoonflower!

I can't remember what month but this fabric was the winner of the geek contest on Spoonflower.  The colour was amazing and it just spoke to me.  Now ...  I don't usually go for novelty prints but this, well I just had to have it.

My Little Black Jacket

I am super excited about my next sew-along.  This is being hosted by A Sewing Challenge and thewallinna with mentor Susan Khalje.  The Chanel inspired little french jacket!


This wee 2 minute video was produced by Chanel in 2012 and shows an overview of the making a "Little Black Jacket".  It is so inspiring.

Taller than average

I can't described how super stoked I am to know how to make jeans.  I no longer have to put up with RTW that aren't quite long enough!

Back in June I made my first pair of jeans with the much loved Jalie pattern.  After wearing those jeans for a wee while I was keen to make small adjustments and try different styles.