A few of my favourite things

Although I have a sewing kit that has gradually grown over the years, there are a few items that I really love to have.  These are the little things that just make the sewing that wee bit more delightful, especially when you are hand sewing.  I thought I would share my current top five items.

My little embroidery scissors, which I have had for years - purchased when I went through a cross-stitch craze.  It was only in January that it dawned on me that they were sitting in the cupboard and I should reallocate them to my sewing kit!  They are truly delightful to use.

Preparation for the year ahead

In January I wrote a blog post on reallocation of resources - well I revisited our event resource room on Friday to gather yet more calico (muslin) in preparation for my year ahead, knowing that before too long things will get busy with work and kids.

Saturday afternoon I got the iron out and neatly ironed each piece in half and folded them up all nicely ready for the projects ahead.  I swear this lot will probably last me a year or two or more!

Morphing patterns together

This was one of those projects that I began in 2012 but didn't finish until just recently.  Actually by recently I mean 3 weeks ago! It's a top that I morphed together from two patterns, and made some tweaks here and there to get exactly what I was looking for.

The base pattern is New Look 6713   The pattern provided for an a-symmetrical or cow-neck front, neither of which was what I wanted, so I took the a-symmetrical pattern piece and cut it on the fold at the centre front so both sides were the same.

Ready to Wear Fasting

I have joined a group of dedicated sewers who have made a pledge not to buy Ready-to-Wear  (RTW) clothing for one year in favor of making their clothes!  (with the exception of our underwear, shoes and accessories).

 

This is the brain child of Sarah at Goodbye Valentino, whose story many of us can relate to.

Re-allocation of Resources: what an idea!

Isn't it funny how sometimes it never occurs to reallocate resources from one part of life to another.  I own an event management company and sitting in my resource room was metres and metres of calico (or otherwise referred to by sewers as muslin), which we had purchased and used for an event a few years ago.  After the event we took it off the walls, folded it up and stored it for the next event where we might need it.

In the mean time, I am searching the internet for where I could purchase some cheap muslin for my sewing projects.   I figured that if I purchased in bulk it should be cheaper and I would get a few projects.

An then it dawned on me - I have metres of the fabric in the event resource room doing nothing, and even if I just got 1% of what is there that will last me at least a year of sewing projects.  So to the resource room and vol-la, just what I was looking for. 

The model here is our new little puppy "Jayjay", at just 3 months old he is a tiny maltese chihuahua cross, who thought it would be great fun to play in my fabric as I was ironing it.

All pressed and folded ready for my next sewing project - which by the way is a Cambie dress - I know, I'm all about the dress at the moment.

Note to self:  what other resource can I find and re-allocate to my sewing box?
Another thought:  wonder if I could sell this stuff and turn resource into cash for more dress fabric?

Smart Casual Mila

Yesterday I finished sewing the hooks & eyes, as the finishing touch, to my Mila dress.  After a wash 'n dry I was able to wear it to work today.  What do you think?

(excuse the no shoes - I couldn't wait to get them off my feet after a day at the office!)

Discovery of JKnit

I have found yet another use for my iPad! (Oh and I love using my iPad for everything from meeting notes to reading the paper). While reading www.ravelry.com this morning doing research of the Emelie pattern one of the knitters referred to the JKnit. Having never heard of that term before I immediately needed to know more ...

A few hours later ... I had purchased and download the Pro version of JKnit, linked my Emelie PDF pattern and have spent the day setting up the pattern row by row. I can now officially ditch the pen & paper and the handy stitch counter.

Just after a day I am a fan. The tools of the modern knitter!

Open source sewing: The Mila Dress

For my next project I have chosen an independent pattern from Mila Fashion on the Burda website.  This is the first time I have downloaded a pattern from the website, printed and assembled it.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy this exercise was; something I would definitely do again.

Changed to a Knitting Stitch

I've changed my sewing stitches for knitting stitches just for a moment.  In December I packed away my sewing machine, and transformed our dinning room back into a place to eat rather than my personal sewing space!

The Bean Bag Mission

I've deviated from my garment sewing for a short moment to fulfil a personal request.  No, not by the cat but she wasn't slow in making herself comfortable in the finished product.