Saturday, April 14, 2012

Spinning Plates, or What’s Happening In the Sewing Room

Yeah, spinning plates. That’s how I’ve been feeling for the last month… actually since the beginning of March when we decided to take Henry out of afternoon daycare (he’s only in school now in the morning.) So now I’ve only got 3 hours from when the boys get on the school bus to when I have to meet H at the bus stop before lunch. Sigh.

Well, just got to deal with it! And in that vein, I’ve been literally frantic trying to get some projects done or at least moved further along. Here is a list of projects on the go:

  1. Pants block with StephC @ 3hourspast.com
  2. Pyjamas Sewalong with Karen @ Did You Make That?
  3. Skirt - Burda 10-2011-119
  4. Colette Sorbetto top
  5. Bodice block, using the book Patternmaking in Fashion by Lucia Mors De Castro

The pants block is in the initial stages right now, but I think it’ll be great. I’ve got several pieces of suiting fabrics with spandex in basic colours (black, navy, dark brown) that will be the beginnings of the basic wardrobe I’ve been wanting to assemble.


Pyjamas Sewalong! Can’t wait to start! I found some frivolous cotton at Fabricland the other day, and have already washed/dried it twice. Unfortunately the colours faded a bit, but it’ll still work. The colour of the cupcake fabric is best seen in the pic with the red tank top. It’s quite thin and see-through, but I hope this doesn’t matter too much!

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I’m pairing the PJs with the tank that’s been a UFO for 2 years! It’s too wide at the neck so I might add a pleat or gathers on the front, and I’ll have to see how the back fits. When I googled PJ pics I found some with appliques on the top, and thought it might be neat to add some cupcakes to the top!


The Burda skirt is waiting for the hem to be done. It would have been done last week but it was a bit too wide an A-line for me; the fabric is a bit on the firm side, even though it’s rather lightweight. I compared the pattern pieces from another Burda skirt I made 2 years ago with this skirt, and chalked in the new line for the side seams. It looks much better now. (I’ll blog about this some more when it’s finally done.)

line drawing  2012-04-13 012


After seeing sooo many Sorbetto tops out there, I finally decided to give it a go. I really need a summer tank that’s easy to make, and from what everyone says, this is it. I found two fabrics that I want to make it up in, but only got 1 metre of each since I didn’t have the pattern with me, oops! I’m hoping I’ll be able to piece them out of that little bit!

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And finally something I’ve been wanting to make: basic pattern blocks, in particular the bodice block (because the muslin I did 2 weeks ago for the new
Jalie 3130 shirt didn’t go too well, in fact it’s painfully AWFUL. Thus the *need* for a fitted bodice block.) The skirts I’ve been making are pretty straightforward now so I might just tackle this later. I’m going to be using the books that I just bought:

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The book on the right, Patternmaking in Fashion, was reviewed favourably by Kathleen @ Fashion-Incubator, despite some issues with translations. I love her blog, and am intensely intimidated/awed by it, but it’s fascinating to read about that part of the industry. The Perfect Fitting book has also been reviewed very well, and the time I’ve spent flipping through it makes me glad to have it on my own shelves. These two should be great references for making up the pattern blocks.


Right, I’ve got my arms full with these projects. And then I decided this afternoon that I should adjust the fit of a skirt I made 2 years ago; when I compared the measurement of the waistband on the paper and the skirt, it was off by 2 inches!! How the he** did I do that!! Anyway, simple alteration, at least it’s not lined!

Parting shot: Henry!

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I couldn’t resist adding this! He just *had* to try on his friend’s tutu at school one day! Ran around like a little twirling dervish!

Have a great weekend!

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