The Unintended Tote

I've cut out a Moss mini, I've measured up for Burda pants, and I've crafted some extremely simple Christmas ornaments for Kelli's Christmas ornament exchange (I'm not much chop as a crafter, I'm afraid, so don't get your hopes up for something gorgeous or original). 

But that's about it - pretty disappointing. 

I'm supposed to be sewing up a document bag for my daughter as a practise run for the scientific instrument bag my sister-in-law ordered, but I'm just hating the process. I knew I didn't like sewing bags, but I'd assumed that if I gave myself the rule of "no selfish sewing till the bags are done" I'd get them whipped up in a trice.

Apparently not.

Surprisingly though, a third bag* crept in - a simple tote.

* I originally wrote "bad", then corrected it with "nag" - hello Freud!

Totally illogical!



I can explain...

It was my dad's partner's birthday last week, and I had a lovely hardback Middle Eastern cookbook for her.  I sat down to wrap it late the night before and then remembered how much she hates the wastefulness of wrapping paper. The right thing to do as a conscientious sewist was to make a quick, reusable tote.  Oh no!   

And that's how it happened.

Front view, with an unattractive crease

There were a couple of reasons to prefer this tote to the much-delayed zippered, pocketed bags:

Back view, with seam in centre back

1) self-drafted - even for something as simple as this tote bag, that was a pleasant little bit of exercise for the left side of the brain. I had just enough of a scrap of Corben & Blair canvas for the body of the bag, and I had some bright orange webbing bought for a Cooper (hmmm don't know if that's ever going to happen); and

2) simple - right side of the brain could just take a nap


I rather like the combination of prisoner-orange with muted black and taupe. Like a crazy hairdo on top of a severe business suit :).


The stitching is rather imperfect, but I'm very happy to say that my dad's partner loved this simple tote. I am not a convert to bag sewing, but hopefully this small success will help with the other two bags so that I can get back to the fun stuff soon!


See you soon - I hope

- Gabrielle x

Starry, Starry Gabby

Another dress - arghhh! Summer is upon us, and a loose cotton dress feels perfect in the heat...

Especially when the fabric is so pretty :) and so mathematical-looking! Triangles, tesselations, networks, constellations - take your pick!

Yes, the fabric is amazing (embroidered cotton from Tessuti Fabrics, Sydney Sewists meet-up, and originally intended for a skirt), but let's talk about the dress.  Do you recognise the shape? I made this same dress in a stretch fabric not so long ago - it's the Gabby Dress.

This time around I was again limited by my fabric metrage, but I decided I didn't want any piecing - I wanted as straightforward a dress as could be. I re-measured myself at the bust level and re-measured my size S pattern pieces, and found I could remove 1cm on the fold at centre front and centre back - that's 4cm in total! This makes for a good fit at the high bust and shoulders, and it meant I had enough width in the fabric for the full flare of the dress. The fit is probably helped by the fact that the fabric has a bit of that springiness you find in a seersucker.

I sewed the sleeve and dress lengths as drafted in the pattern, as I didn't have the fabric to do any lengthening. They felt just a tad short on my limbs (must be getting old - I'm going off minis) so I sewed bias binding close to the length, and turned and pressed the binding into hems. Actually I used bias binding on the neckline too - as you can see in this next photo. The crazy white overlocking and stitching were intentional - I was so taken with the white embroidery that I wanted even more white stitches, even though I had coordinating thread - I've managed more subtlety in the top stitching though.

When I wore this dress for the photos I wasn't sure about it - I thought it might be too flared and too short (note to self: photos with the camera placed less than 2 metres away on the ground make everything look too short!). I gave it another go this weekend and it felt perfect - really comfortable and a good length, plus I'm happy to have more blue in my wardrobe.

So - an easy dress, but a cute and comfortable one!

I have so, so many interesting dress patterns stored away, but a simple pattern like this that can let the fabric shine is probably one that I'll come back to again and again. I think it'd be really nice in a silk twill... or as a couple of layers; maybe organza on top of silk?

Next up? Well I'm planning pants, conceiving Christmas ornaments, and working on some bags - but it's going slowly. I seem to hate making bags for some reason! However, my sister-in-law desperately needs a made-to-measure bag, so I'm making a garish muslin before I start tweaking the pattern to fit the dimensions needed. Maybe the muslin can be a Christmas present for a little someone - yes, that's something else I'm running behind with!

See you soon

- Gabrielle x