19 -20 March 2011: Wet, Grey and Blue

I'll try to keep the me made outfit info brief today.



Today: raining on and off. My son had a friend over in the afternoon, then my daughter helped me bake biscuits for her childcare. I wore a me made dress - Vogue 8486 with a bias-cut lining added, with my bright orange flats, footless tights and thin cardigan bought in a shop at Wynyard station (ie very cheap).

The fabric for the dress was from Tessuti - one of those back of the rack finds - a partially sheer stripey knit, and it needed lining due to those sheer areas.   More details are here.

My son wore a me made long sleeve jersey top that's good for this in-between weather - and if you're wondering, yes, all the stripes do match up, and my daughter wore my WORST surviving me-made outfit - a jersey dress and leggings.  It's survived because she loves it.  The dress was made straight from the envelope from an op shop pattern, and I was disappointed with the width and boxiness as well as with the fabric, which fades a bit more with every wash. The leggings were made without a pattern and don't fit well either.

 










Here she is after doing a comprehensive clean of the bathroom mirror - with toothpaste.  I know she was trying to be helpful but I did have to remove the toothpaste from the mirror...

I really hate this dress and I hate this fabric, but this is what she chose to wear!

 

Yesterday was a rainy day at home too. I tried to take the kids to the library but we found it had closed at lunchtime - what stupid hours - so we went to the bookshop and then out to lunch. The bookshop was fun but obviously you have to limit yourself there in a way that isn't necessary at the library...

This is a picture of the top I was wearing from back when I made it. It's pattern 108A from Burda magazine issue 2/2009 - obviously I added a ruffle, but I also added a wide band at the wrists and as I didn't have the full sleeve width I made the sleeves each in 2 pieces, with the extra seam running down the inner arm parallel to the original seam. 

Then here's my son's me made book bag, useful when you're returning lots of books to the library, and here's me as I was dressed today (Kmart gumboots, Witchery stretch cord jeans).

And my daughter was wearing me-made jersey shorts that you've seen before - they were obscured by her raincoat when we went out (yes, she looks to be doing a haka but I think she was trying a Strong Girl pose), but you can see them later in the afternoon when she was helping her dad make pizzas:

Will this cool me down? The winter version of V8486

Apologies for the quiet period - I think I got a bit run down and didn't have energy for much sewing for a few weeks. I'm at home today with a very irritating flu, and it has been so disgustingly humid and hot here (35 - 40 C, which is to say 95 - 106 F) that just about the only thing that's fun is cold water: beach or pool, sprinkler or hose. Or someone else's air conditioned home :-).

Maybe this sticky heat can be better endured if I think of winter.  I mentioned in that post about my intended Christmas Day dress that I'd also made the pattern up earlier in the year as a winter knit. There are no pics of me wearing this dress, and there is absolutely no way I will put it in this stinking heat, so maybe this is the right time to unveil my new assistant:

front view

inside out front view

 

how I'd wear it in winter - layered, perhaps also with a long-sleeve black t underneath

This stripey knit is a rather transparent material that I found lurking behind more recent rolls of fabric in Tessuti Fabric's York St, Sydney store.  The dress turned out to be too see-through so after the fact I cut a slip from grey lining fabric, on the bias, to line up with the facings I'd already sewn.  It took a bit of hand basting to get the bias-cut lining and and straight-cut facings matched up and hanging properly, but thankfully I'd given myself generous seam allowances.

My new assistant is this helpful figure:

 

My mum went to a friend's house for lunch recently and spied the Sew Easy box outside her friend's front door. Her friend said she was chucking it out! Amazingly it's the right size for me (well, as good as I could have hoped for, although my partner Stu noted that it doesn't have a stomach paunch - compliments, compliments, that's what I'm hearing). I'm finding it such a treat to be able to hang a muslin in the dress form and play with the fit - so much easier than sticking pins into myself.  Unfortunately the stick had been separated from box but it's been found and will be coming in a few weeks.

BRRRRRRRRRR am I cold yet? I can't wait for this heat to break!

Vogue 8486: Intended Christmas Dress (belatedly)

I hope you all had a lovely and relaxing Christmas - if you have small kids it probably wasn't that relaxing but hopefully was really fun!  We celebrated Christmas over two weeks: pre-Christmas celebrations with my younger brother and his family and my mum who was going o/s for Christmas with my middle brother and his family; Christmas Eve with my dad and his partner, her daughter and boyfriend and some close friends of my dad's and their family; and Christmas Day lunch with my partner's extended family.  On Christmas Day we were woken early as you'd expect, but it was because the cat had woken my son (she's a very naughty cat who delights in finding breakables to push off high surfaces in the night).   My kids were really chuffed that Santa and his reindeers had eaten their food and the reindeers made their customary mess with it; they were really excited that Santa gave them each the toy they'd asked for, and seemed to enjoy all the other things they were lucky enough to receive.  We adults enjoyed a delicious summery lunch that everyone had contributed to - oysters, antipasti, whole baked salmon, a glazed half ham, a gazillion salads (including the Thai-style prawn salad we made), .... summer pudding AND Christmas pudding!  The weather was also lovely for us and not too hot - unlike Perth.

Anyway, back to the real subject.  For a few days before Christmas I worked fast in small pieces of late-night free time to make a Christmas dress, as so many of you did.  But at the "finishing" stage (hems etc) on Christmas Eve, I realised that our Christmas Day lunch is more casual than the dress I'd been making.  I ended up wearing my linen ikat version of V1175, blogged here.  The intended Christmas Day dress, shown above in unfinished form, may end up as... a work dress?  I'm not sure.  Some of the people at my work dress pretty formally so it would be acceptable work attire.

The dress is the non-sleeved version of V8486, which is supposed to be made in a knit.  The changes I made were: no interfacing; fully lined with a second dress made out of turquoise lining; back slit omitted; and a floppy belt added. And of course woven fabric - a delicious silk satin bought only shortly before Christmas from Tessuti fabrics.   I am sure this would still be in stock - and they have a sale on now.


Below are some "details" pictures.  The grumpy looking pictures by the window show the fabric colours properly.






 

PS I made this dress earlier this year in a stripey loose knit for winter - but I will have to blog about this separately as I'm being called to play my part in a very involved prince and princess rescue game.