Off to Brisvegas with the girls - fabric shops! WHEEEE!
Talk to you when we get back….
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2008.
because I HURT, dammit!
Calling the pain management doc first thing tomorrow and BEGGING him to inject my right hip with whatever it damn well takes to make it STOP HURTING! It could be napalm for all I care, just MAKE IT STOP!
Bed now.
I missed ANOTHER quilters day. Grrr! I am SO SICK OF THIS PAIN!
Went to the gastroenterologist yesterday - he was much nicer than he seemed last year - thank goodness! Agreed that my issues are NOT his department, and also agreed with the course of action that my GP had already planned. Good to know, but not particularly helpful on the day.
Also - he acknowledged that while I don’t have diagnosable coeliac disease, I do have a wheat intolerance. YAY! Why yay? Well, now I feel justified in avoiding gluten most of the time, but can allow myself the occasional piece of toast if I really feel like it.
No sewing happening either - tried a sleeve from the Rio jacket in muslin and Mr Beloved reckoned it looked like something Frankenstein’s monster would have sewn! Also, the whole tricky seam is on the back of the sleeve, where it can’t even be seen - so why bother?? I still like the look and drape of the vest so I might have a go at that. I might even just put a plain sleeve in and make the jacket…
Sorry no posts with pretty pics - all I want to do right now is hunch over a hot water bottle and moan. I realise that isn’t helpful, but you try exercising when your lower abdomen feels like it has a bread knife cutting into it!!
GRRRRRRRRR!
We are total Eurovision tragics in this house. Every year we invent drinking games (Which we don’t actually drink to, it’s symbolic, fewer calories that way!) try to predict The Dress Trend (so far: backup singers in WHITE. Boring!) and get wildly enthused for some obscure country (AZERBAIJAN! You ROCK!!! Devils! Angel boys with an almost castrati soprano voice! Devils transforming into Angels! OMG!!!)
We got to watch the first semi-final tonight (we have been on a Eurovision news BLACKOUT since the actual event on Tuesday) and I must say -I never knew Poland produced so many plastics. I don’t believe there is a single natural element left in their contestant:
(Trust me, those teeth were SCARY when she sang…)
Greece sent their usual Britney-esque bubbly performer (Britney before the drugs and shaved head, obviously); Belgium YET AGAIN sent a group wth an entirely made up language; political voting was in evidence even at this early stage (was there anyone who doubted Boznia Herzogovina would get in ?) and Ireland and Estonia sent joke acts.
Thrillingly - Finland are in the finals again with another hard rock act (minus Lordi’s rubber prosthetics this year) - pure 1980s long-haired bare-chested pleather-panted ROCK GODS!!
Bring on Semi Final TWO!!!
Just watched Trinny and Susannah do their body shape show. I’m more confused than ever - what shape am I??
That’s my silhouette, traced from a photo of me in me undies. (no WAY would I post that!!) You might need to click to see it bigger. The line across my boobs is because that’s the widest part.
I’m on the list to get their book from the library but that’s months away yet - and I’m not buying another book where I’ll only use half a dozen pages! Maybe I’m this shape?? OR maybe this one (if I had more of a waist)
Opinions? What shape are YOU?
*sigh*
My knees are buggered after my very short session working with only SIX different exercises int eh gym. How pathetic! However, I have allowed to three entire squares of Lindt 80% chocolate in my calorie count today, and that has lifted my mood considerably.
And so to bed.
Interesting idea, but would it work on a curvy women - especially in a plus size? Course I wouldn’t pay 298 POUNDS for something that’s going to be knocked off in every high street shop anyway. (Unless perhaps it was silk jersey,in aubergine. Then I tend to lose any sense of reason.)
[Found on The Thoughtful Dresser, which is a very cool blog.]
(Mr Beloved does not like having his picture taken!)
The tears were worth it - this turned out to be an almost wearable prototype! (I’ve said he’s allowed to wear it at home only, he can wear the next ones in public, LOL!) You can see my review on Pattern Review here.
After a good nights sleep:
Mr Beloved explained why the screw for the overlocker needle wouldn’t go back in: As ex IT support sysadmin, he insists that there is a “Frustration Field” 
generated around equipment that has somehow misbehaved or otherwise not met the expectations of the user.
The fields are quite powerful, and have a half life of anywhere up to 12 hours. Any attempt to rectify the fault before then will be nullified by the force of the Frustration Field .
Thanks for your help, though, I am greatly appreciative that there is someone more experienced with this beastie that is so generous!
That’s why I could NOT get the darn thing back in last night - but this morning when the FF had dissipated, it took Mr Beloved under a minute.
Same thing happened with converting the machine to coverstitch and back - although I did also take the precaution of giving it new needles.
(They took FOUR SHOPS to find - arrggggh! I must find a source to order them online.)
Now I’m off to watch “grumpy doctor” (House. Even when he’s being a total jerk, Hugh Laurie is still gorgeous!) More later.
WAAAAAH! Just when I thought my overlocker and I were going to be friends:
Lat night I got the coverstitch set up and stitching beautifully. Tonight? ARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!! NOTHING would work! Needles coming unthreaded, tensions that would not reset - I unthreaded and rethreaded the whole shebang. Read through all the instructions ticking them off as I went. Adjusted each tension a lot of times. Tried the ultimate computer nerd trick: “Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?” all the way down to the power point.
THEN - one of the little grub screws that holds the needles in place CAME ALL THE WAY OUT and I can’t get in back in again and I’m terrified I might have stripped the start of the thread in the hole it goes into. At least I have the teeny weeny thang, but - ARRGGGH!
Poor Mr Beloved has just spent the past half hour rubbing my back as I sobbed, full on SOBBED - with only being able to *sob* get*sob* a *sob* single *sob* word*sob* out* sob*each*sob* breath *sob*!!
I’ve packed the machine up ready to see if Dale the (wonderful) Sewing Machine man can see me as an EMERGENCY tomorrow…. meantime, I think I’d better go to bed, don’t you?
OMG, I did it! I worked out how to make the overlocker do a really nice coverstitch! WOOOOOT!
Right now am sooo tired - and have lost a VITAL piece of paper for a job I needed to do…ummmm… yesterday-ish?
Meantime, STOP! DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL!! EXCITING *yawn* PICTURES OF A COVERSTITCHED HEM WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW!!!
(Well, I was excited!)
After what feels like aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages of reading other peoples reviews on PatternReview.com, at long last the NEW BURDAS ARE HERE!!!
Even better - THE BURDA PLUS IS HERE!!
[Mum, I'll be popping yours in the post tomorrow. Along with the January one which I really really liked a lot of things from.]
Some months I want to make EVERYTHING in the Burda magazine - some months - meh, not so much. I love every pattern except one in the Burda Plus - so that’s 29 out of the thirty illustrated. Not bad for $20, eh?!
The March issue of Burda WOF - well, not so impressed with the plus size selections, but there are some very pretty patterns in the regular sizes. For now I have enough alterations to make on a plus size, there’s nothing that would realllly tempt me to grade up a smaller pattern.
Now if you’ll excuse me, that lining fabric has just finished going through the washer; it’s still so windy here (but not as cold, thank goodness!) that by the time I make a cuppa tea the lining will be dry and ready to cut out.
Off to SEW!!
With the windchill this morning, that’s what the weatherman told us it was. MINUS BLOODY FOUR!!! I coulda stayed in Canberra for weather like that!
No cutting out fabric tonight, I am too cold. Our house was not built for such temperatures - I’m off to hide under the blankets!
Well, Sue is was being very good today and sewing up a skirt. She had to stop to go get lining, so we popped over to Lincraft - only to find them shut. BUGGER!! One of the few stores in Toowoomba actually open on a Sunday , but we missed it! Never mind, we went and had a coffee, then I loaded her up with even MORE books and magazines once we got back to my place. (Yes, Canberra folks, Caity’s Library is still going strong!)
I have been looking through the stash, finding a lot of bigger dressmaking pieces of fabric from way back when there was a big fabric shop in Canberra down around where the Casino is now - the name has gone from my head. (”Fabric something-or-other” - anyone remember?) ETA: Annie reminded me: Home Yardage! Thanks, Annie!
Discovered I have SCARLET wool/poly crepe - 8 yards of 60″ - perfect for one day making this suit. Not now while I’m still shrinking, though. Damn - just realised I have this pattern in sizes 18-20-22 - now I’ll have to go looking for it in the smaller range… arrgh! Of course it’s OOP…(Out Of Print)
Isn’t it DIVINE? Of course, I need the mink wrap too, dontcher know - and the hat, and gloves, of course. Just the thing for popping up to Woollies for the bread, yes?
(I know one thing about glove making - the fourchette is a BUGGER! “What’s a fourchette, Caity?” A fourchette is the gusset in between the fingers. Not found on el cheapo gloves. And I am NOT talking about the female genital piercing of the same name, owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Although I bet that makes your eyes water, too.)
Do I even remotely DRESS like this? No. But I’d like to. And pattern buying is nothing if not aspirational! I mean, I can’t be the only one who lies in bed and reads pattern instructions, can I? (Ok, I also read dictionaries, I may be just weird.)
Also excavated enough fabric to really have a good fang at some shirts for me AND for Mr Beloved: two shades of blue tshirt material, one of bottle green (it looks browner in the pic) - and quite a lot of a scarlet stretch velvety thing (think I’ll keep that one for mine, not sure it’s Mr B’s colour!)
Now that my overlocker (serger) and I have declared a truce (and may even become friends) I can consider sewing this sort of thing.
Don’t worry, the sewing obsession will lessen and I WILL get back to quilting eventually. The prospect of actually fitting (with alterations) into even the largest size of patterns is just so thrilling!
And as the lovely Rooruu commented on my coat patterns post:
I notice, however, that many of them are what you could call afashional, not specific to a year or season, based on interesting shapes, so they don’t date.
Yep, that’s me - although I adore reading the fashmags, (”Aby-bloody-synnian Vogue!” chimes in Mr Beloved, channelling the AbFab fashmagslags themselves) drooling over the impossibly expensive designer gear at Net-A-Porter, and checking into Style.com every day, I’m not a slave to fashion. For one thing, I’m not rich. (ha! We actually live so far below the poverty line that we ASPIRE to being poor!) For another, I am not 6ft 2 tall and I weigh a LOT more than 40 kgs.
But I know what I like, even if I don’t wear it a lot of the time.
I have no memory of buying this either, but isn’t it yummy?
Inspired by Marji of Fiber Arts Afloat I have been starting to go through my pattern stash, to see what I have in the way of warm outer layers that might be worth sewing up (hopefully without a gazillion tricky alterations). And I discovered that I really like to buy coat and jacket patterns (I haven’t even looked at ones that come as part of suits here…).
In reality I have actually made and worn exactly ONE of these patterns.
ONE!!
Most of these have only ever been out of the pattern envelope for a read, not even had the tissue unfolded, let alone cut:
Now, even bearing in mind that this represents *mumblety* years of pattern acquisition, that’s a lot of coats and jackets. Obviously I feel I NEED something warm, but just haven’t got around to MAKING it yet! Some of them I wonder WHAT I was thinking. Me, in a classic Chanel style? Ummmmm……
The one that I’ve made and worn so often that the hem and cuffs have abraded and the lining is about to disintegrate is the Burda 4385 here, in the longer style. Not in white, obviously - I don’t really do white, not even for shirts, let alone COATS! Mine was a red loose woven wool thing. I don’t think I even have it any more.
The one I’d most like to try next is the V8399 Marcy Tilton jacket - but the only review on PR says there are dreadful problems with the draft and the instructions - I find this odd, because normally Marcy’s patterns are really good. But as it “broadens shoulders” and I’m pretty sure my shoulders are somewhat broad anyway, it might not be a wise choice. (even if that WOULD make my waist look smaller…)
Anyone have a favourite out of those posted here? Anything you think look especially “Caity-esque”? I’d love some input!
I’m off to get Mr Beloved to help with the next step: Retrieving fabric tubs from the back of the shed so I can see if there’s a fabric I love that I can use for whichever pattern.
*Swwooooooooons and has to go lie down with a nice cuppa tea.*
I have ONE piece of Marimekko in my stash, that I got as a trade many years ago. It’s lime green with orange flowers and I love it too much to cut it up!
In other news: Today I bought a new book. Which is very helpful, so I’m off to read some more. I have got a photo to trace off to see my body silhouette (so very confronting!) like these women did.
The author, Annabelle van Tongeren, is an Aussie who has dressed a lot of our celebrities, 
and the book is beautiful. (And looking at her gallery, I remember seeing one of her gorgeous dresses ages ago in Australian Stitches magazine - but that’s not one I keep, so I can’t tell you which issue.)
You know, when I finally get down to my goal weight, I’m going to find a way to have one of those makeovers. In the meantime, I’m going to try and learn and sew as much as I can to keep me motivated. Only another 47 kilos to go!
Not much happening here. Went to the GP today, to discuss ultrasound results and further treatment. Still trying to track down why my Ferritin (stored iron) levels are continuing to fall - ulcer, girly problems, bowel, WHERE?!?! Did solve one issue and will hopefully be having surgery later in the year/early next year (need to lose some more weight first, mainly.)
Boring, huh?
Honestly, between that and a couple of other little tasks, the day just disappeared. Unless you want to hear about the ongoing grossness that is Mis KitTerns abcesses?
No, didn’t think so.
… indeed, FIGHTING! the urge to go out. *sigh* I cannot justify taking the car out just on a whim, especially when we HAVE to go out tomorrow for medical appointments.
I need (? Hmm, not sure what Maslow would say about that!) to replace the Butterick 5001 pattern I was working on yesterday with a bigger size while they’re still at half price. I really really want to check the mailbox to see if Ottobre is here yet.. and check the one newsagents in town to see if the new Burda has come! ARRRRRRRRRRGH!
The Butterick pattern: so far I have added 2 inches (TWO INCHES! ) across the back; I know I need to add nearly as much in the arms; the length will need to be adjusted, the waist too - and I need to work out how to do a Full Bust Adjustment on the wrap over bodice.
See why I was thinking going up a pattern size or two might be easier? I’ll still have to do a FBA but the rest of the pattern shouldn’t require as many alterations. I’m tempted to just wait until I’m fitting better into the smaller size but I am so sick of having nothing nice to wear.
Thing is, once I DO get all the alterations done? This could end up being a TNT (Tried and True) pattern for me. IF I EVER GET THE !@#&!@(*& ALTERATIONS all done!
Mr Beloved has never helped tissue fit a pattern before, but is doing a fabulous job.
Meantime, How delicious is this outfit?
It’s from Burda - Spring/Summer, 1966. “An asymmetrically buttoned dress for afternoon or evening, with a spiralling decorative seam. Angled buttonholes mirror the line of the decorative seam.”
There are another 30 pictures of the same season’s lines on the Burda site right now.
And 24 images from Autumn 56/Winter 57… droooool! Although this dress owes rather more to curtains in the living room than I’d like. Eeeeeee!
And except for the fact that a) even with “shapewear” my waist could never be that small and b) it just doesn’t get cold enough in Toowoomba for such an extravagant coat, I’d make this. And I’d need the hat and gloves, of course. Can’t you see this in a stunning periwinkle blue wool? Or perhaps this rich purple… or since this is pure flight-of-fancy shopping, unrestricted by such mundane things as price and fabric weight - how about THIS?! *swooooons*
I have to go have a wee lie down now….
And a very happy mothers day to everyone!
Most especially to my Mum, who let me sew on her brand new Elna SU sewing machine when I was only young (Under 10 - what trust!). And who made the BEST clothes for me (she reckons I was not grateful at the time… Looking back, they were really AWESOME clothes, Thanks, Mum!)
Here’s the only recent photo I have of Mum - Chips (the retrofitted Scottish fold cat - it’s a long story) is assessing Mum’s work on the cushion she made - “it looked so fast and easy until I counted the pattern pieces for the applique!”
…and not getting terribly much done. I’ve been mostly in bed since Wednesday - arrrgh! Twenty minutes of a fairly fast walk without any preparation, followed up by a fast-ish 10 minute walk down town on Thursday and I am BUGGERED! Hate hate hate hate that. It’s not just the hip and knee pain and muscle tiredness, its the overwhelming fatigue that gets me.
We did have time to pop into the Salvos thrift store on Friday on the way to the greengrocers, where I scored about a metre of green knit fabric - which solves the “What do I use for a muslin?” issue for at least B5001. It won’t have quite the same properties as the nice jersey I’m planning on using, but it was $1 - and that’s the right price!
Probably only just enough to check the bodice, but that’s the main worry - that, and the arms, which I have to make sure are large enough - nothing worse than heavy arms looking like sausages bursting out of their casings, yuk.
I’d love to make it in this jersey from Kerryn’s Fabric World - exactly the colours I keep coming back to this winter, browns, caffe latte, teal, and blue. Yum.
Instead the first iteration of this dress will be in a black jersey overprinted with a beige and coffee swirly, as modelled here by the faithful Dolly Bustenschneider. (That ‘u’ should have an umlaut, never mind.) The main shot was taken with flash, the detail shot without flash. I don’t know which is the more accurate. In some lights the beige print almost looks gold.
This fabric (like most others in my stash ) has “gunna be” a whole heap of different patterns - I originally bought it for the Wong-Singh-Jones Kimono Wrap Dress from Hot Patterns, but that will have to wait for another time.
I have recently decided that black is NOT a colour I should wear, since it makes every zit, wrinkle, and dark circle look a hundred times worse than any other colour. I’m hoping that this will ‘read” ok with all the beige, but even if it doesn’t - hey, I’m sewing it up anyway!
I need to take a leaf from Sue’s book and just get in and SEW THE BLOODY THING! I have so many books, back issues of Threads, and other advice running through my head that I’m almost afraid to cut ing out, cos I know I’ll do something wrong. *sigh* My recovery from being a rigid perfectionist goes better some days than others…
In any case, not much will happen in sewing today - first we get to watch the Red Bull Air Race (vrooooooooooooom!) then the V8 Supercars at Barbagello (Vrooom! Vrooooom!) and then tonight the F1 from Turkey (Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeroooooooooooom!) Not often we get a decent run of motorsport like that!
At least I’ll get the paper pattern cut out, that’s a start.
[Later Edited To Add: I did get the pattern cut out. But once I started tissue fitting and reading the finished garment measurements printed on the tissue pieces, I decided that I needed to go buy the bigger pattern size after all - BUGGER! Back to the drawing board, eh?)
Vogue 2017, copyright date 1997.
“Fitted, interfaced, lined, above hip jacket has raised neckline, shoulder pads, side panels, no side seams and long, two-piece sleeves with button vent. Semi-fitted, interfaced, line, straight skirt above mid-knee or above ankle, has waistband, side front seams, no side seams and side front button closing.”
I could happily and make and wear this RIGHT NOW - except that I couldn’t be bothered altering that pattern UP so many sizes. When I have lost more weight, though, look out!
I was feeling guilty about my pattern stash - so many patterns that are still in factory folds - but now I look on them as inspiration. As in - I want to wear that!
Just watched Trinny and Susannah’s show where they fit 1000 women in the right size bra. I cried. Seeing someone transformed by something so simple as actually being fitted properly - wow.
This ties in with my new sig line over on PatternReview.com (and something I have expressed previously on this blog) NO MORE FRUMPY CLOTHES! I’m getting closer to feeling able to try some new things for example - I really really REALLY want to make this dress.
The new things are: I haven’t made anything in knits for a really long time; and - I haven’t ever made anything that looks quite this glamorous. But I’m so sick of frumping around in baggy mens size t-shirts and jeans… I bought a size 24, even though my current measurements are closer to the 26 - but that’s where the pattern range split, and I can see myself using the smaller sizes soooooon.
(Ummmm - at the moment ANYTHING that’s not superfrump = glamorous. I’ll work up to actual evening gowns if I ever have a life that needs them, yes?!)
My excuses for not starting this dress right away, even though I have some lovely stretch fabric that I could use:
- I’m waiting on some thread for my overlocker (woolly polyester) although I could just use the plain thread that I already have, it just would make a slightly less nice seam finish…
- I should buy something cheaper to make up as a muslin first (cheaper than $20 per metre for knit that drapes the same way? Dream on!)
- I don’t have room to cut the dress out (unless I actually - *gasp* made the effort to shift the lounge room furniture and vacuum the floor)
- I can’t sew when I’m tired (well, in that case maybe I should just lie down in bed and never get up again, eh? LIVE WITH IT!)
Hmm. I may have just run out of excuses.
* Must be read in ABFab Eddy voice, dahhhling!
Well, I TOTALLY score at the town library today - one of the books I have been COVETING but had no $$ to buy (since I spent up big on patterns and had to renew my domain hosting - life’s tough, innit?)
Christian Lacroix On Fashion (ISBN-13: 978-0500513910) is a book to LUST after if you have even the tiniest interest in fashion and the history of dress. After several introductory essays, we get down to the business at hand, as described by CL himself:
“This is not a retrospective, but my own look at the costume collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, from which I chose pieces from all eras, some never before exhibited. I chose those that were most inspiring, those that best told the story of fashion that I would have wanted to tell if I were the museum curator that I intended to be when I was a student.”
And of course being a Thames and Hudson book, everything about it is superb. (long time readers of my blog have probably already picked up on my obsession with books that are well constructed and well designed. I find it really difficult to read badly designed and poorly made books, ugh.)
The photography is brilliant, with the garmetns showcased amongst ( what I assume must be) the warehouse of the museum. Of course, I would have loved more detail shots, but we can’t have everything (and there is always the wonderful Fashion In Detail series - I only own the 17th and 18th Century one, but I would love to own the 19th C, Around the World, and Modern Fashion all from the V & A Museum ).
I know that this is a book I will want to go back to over and over again- every page is inspiring - the details, the colours, the cut! And the photos are arranged in sensible categories such as “”Flowers”, “Back to Front” and “Cobwebs”. Part of the joy of this book is looking at a double spread of clothes then flicking to the catalogue details, only to find that an outfit that looked like one era is in fact from another period entirely. The first photos in any category showcase some of Lacroix’s (how does one add the possessive there? that doesn’t look quite right) own designs - which emphasizes his mastery of historical material and genius for re-invention.
The last section of the book features computer generated sketches (apparently now his favourite way of working) for both his history of fashion and the Fall-Winter 2007-8 haute couture collection. I had never seen these drawings before - and yet they are in the loose flowing “ink and colour” style of several of my favourite illustrators (Ralph Steadman, Ronald Searle, Gerald Scarfe immediately come to mind)
I’m off to watch Grand Designs (it was a beautifully transformed church in Ireland - sigh!); then I think my notebooks and I will be spending a few happy hours with this book.
I’ve been looking at this “Gypsy Gripper” tool and saw on live at the Stitches and Craft show last week. It’ s the same tool that glass repair people use to lift panes of glass - a really good lock on suction handle. Someone had the wonderful idea of using them to hold your big (and little!) patchwork rulers steady while you use a rotary cutter.
So - did I pay approx $36 for the “official” patchwork version? NOPE!
I went to Aldi who had them on special this week 
for $10.
And it works BRILLIANTLY!!
If you’re only using a small ruler, you just flip one of the little levers down to hold onto that.
So - locals - they were at the Clifford Garden store, right down the back.
I bought an overlocker (serger for those Norte Americanos who might be reading!) in (mumble mumble does a quick count back on fingers) 2004. And have hardly used it all. Not least because I kept meaning to go in for classes, and then the dealer closed…
Then the other week we happened on this book for ONE DOLLAR. I can’t pass up just about ANY book for that price (it’s a sickness, and it’s hereditary - I come from a long line of bibliophiles) and this one - well, I think I might have even paid *gasp* full retail price for! (ooh, grammar. Never mind…)
Okay, it’s from 1992; but the basic info is all good, even if the illustrations look terribly dated now (Aww. come on - you KNOW we all wanted to look so glamorous with those big bows on our butts! I can remember coveting exactly that dress on my best friend’s sister…)
Anyway, with the help of the clear and well labelled diagrams, today I managed to:
- Clean and oil the beastie (hmm the only one of my machines not to have a name, I think, which tells you how very slight our relationship has been ’til now)
- Work out the hieroglyphics on the program card: squiggle glob glob 1/1 triangle triangle square actually means: rolled-hem-stitch-width-adjuster-thingummy DOWN! Ahhh!!!
- Re-learned how to change threads without having the re-thread the beastie (cool!)
- Have a go at actually doing a rolled hem (with view to using it on the skirt that I posted as “almost finished” this week - just need the hem, and a hook and eye at the waist- arrrgh!) AND refined it to get a better look AND now I know which thread to change so I get the right colour on top.
- Have dug out the extra feet that were a bonus with the machine and actually worked out what they are - next step, using them!
Mr Beloved reminds me that we went to a Stitches and Craft show in 2005 where the rather enthusiastic speaker was extolling the virutes of the serger - and made an unfortunate series of hand gestures which triggered this cartoon:
So now I know - it has a name - Die (Der? Das? Just what gender IS a serger, anyway?) Uberlocker.
I’m off to play with some more samples.
Yep, that’s right: ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN POINT FOUR kilograms is what I just weighed in at! (that’s 245.6 lbs.) I am seriously HAPPY about that! My heaviest was 125 kg, last year.
No other news - just had to share the excitement!
NOT!!!!
As Sue mentioned, there was SUCH A DEAL on Simplicity patterns over at Pattern Review (25% off!, May 5 to May 12)
So I finally after drooling over this design for EVAH (well, not really , just since it was released on the Simplicity site) ordered 2981. No reviews yet on Pattern Review, though, so I’ll be flying solo! I was still hesitant about it since the long sleeved version needs - wait for it - 7 and a half yards of 45″ wide or 5 and three quarter yards of 60″ wide!
But then Sue said “Buy something cheap and we’ll stamp it!” DUH! Of course! That’s brilliant! I mean, what’s the point of having those dyes and fabric paints if I can’t use them to dress up some plain fabric, right?! Clever Sue.
And then, cos I was REALLY ANNOYED when I went into *chain sewing store* that the patterns I wanted were $Au 25 EACH, I ordered Vogue 8120 which looked utterly FABULOUS made up when we saw it recently at the Stitches and Craft Show but is just - blah! - in the illustration:
This doesn’t show you the way the funnel neck hides the fat pad at the base of the neck (yeah, you know what I mean, anyone over about a size - hmmm - 14?)
I may have ordered another one. Or two. Perhaps.
And now I am anxiously eagerly awaiting the arrival of the March Burda World Of Fashion magazine, and Burda Plus (surely THIS must be the month it gets here?) and the latest Ottobre woman mag - and then I will be on a “NO MORE PATTERNS til I have sewn up this lot” regime! (Well, except for the monthly Burda WOF, but I do send most of those on to Mum -right, Mum?!)
And now - to bed. I have an appointment with the exercise physiologist at 9 am for a “Heart Rate Monitored Walk” complete with multiple blood tests for lactic acid production. After which I am meant to know exactly what heart rate I need to walk at to burn fat best. Wish me luck!
ARRRRRRRGH!!
I though I’d make a simple little skirt, nothing flash. I chose this pattern:
Dead simple, innit?
Bought cheap fabric which I thought would do for a knock-around sort of skirt.
BUT - first I cut it out in the wrong size. And blithely sewed it up without fitting cos well - I’m ALWAYS the biggest size, aren’t I.
Except I completely failed to take into account the recent weight loss. La la la, try it on to see hem length - and watch it fall straight to my ankles, since the waist is the only fitted place on the skirt. Oops.
Unpick the whole thing and start again. (And leave it for a few more days.)
Re-cut, sewed next size down. (Leave it for another few days.)
Decided to use invisible zip.
Put it in back to front.
Unpick.
Try another method of inserting invisible zip - hmm, right way this time, but not really invisible!
Mr Beloved (quite rightly) insists I have a cuppa tea.
Get out The Book (so glad I found it - safely filed under my sewing machine. D’OH!). When Ms Betzina says “Idiot Proof invisible zipper” - she means it’s even CAITY proof! (Although for a moment due to my complete directional dyslexia I thought I’d sewn it back to front again - but then I zipped it up. Ahem.)
But then - the waistband treatment on the pattern was STUPID. Using narrow (half inch wide) twill tape to finish the waistband as though you were using petersham? DOESN’T WORK. It just doesn’t. There isn’t enough width to turn the top of the waistband down.
No worries, I’ll buy petersham (it’s a ribbon, with unlocked edges so you can make it curve - see here for an illustration.) Eventually found some at Lincr*p today - in only one size, one colour, and well hidden away from any other ribbon. (Yeah, that makes sense… NOT!) And at $4.99 per metre!! When I know (thanks to the girls on Pattern Review) That I can buy the same width from the USA in a gazillion different colours , for $US 2.89 per yard… and the postage isn’t much.
But - I wanted to wear the skirt tomorrow, perhaps. So I lashed out ($2.99!) on a packet of pre-made bias binding. All was going FINE With that until… I notice I had sewn the invisible zipper in about a quarter of an inch HIGHER on one side than the other.
FLIPPIN’ HECK! I can’t believe all the hassles that have come up with one little skirt!! All stupid little mistakes that I shouldn’t be making - although, it HAS been a while since I’ve sewn clothes. Mostly because at my current size and shape it’s pretty much like sewing circus tents.
No progress photos - they’d mostly be of me TEARING MY HAIR OUT. But here’s a photo of the almost finished skirt:
Which is now TOO BIG again!
I don’t care. I’m going to hem the damn thing and take it in at the waist with a safety pin on each side for a couple of weeks.
(Actually, I might make it again next week- with the petersham waist band - and another size smaller.)
Well we did go down the hill to the Stitches and Craft Show, and I must say Sue and I were both quite restrained in our spending! It was wonderful to go with another sewing type, really changed the focus. We watched most of the fashion parades and found them really worthwhile - proving again that the illustrations on some patterns do NOT do them justice.
For example this jacket - a bit *meh* on the pattern, but STUNNING made up - a really versatile little jacket. Stephanie (Perpetual Patterns & Can Do Books) had sold out at the show, so I might have to mail order it.
There was one model in the show that was a size 14, D cup - and admittedly she was nearly 6 foot tall, but she was NOT a lightweight skinny minny - so wonderful to see a REAL size model looking great in the clothes on parade.
There were no photos allowed in the show (pity, since some of the clothes made up from commercial patterns really were scrummy) and the art garments by Ruth Osborne, Kirry Toose and Trudy Billingsley were full of interesting ideas for lesser mortals to borrow. Sue Neall (of Stitches, the Australian Sewing Guild and now Sew Inspirational) did a great job hosting and explaining the parades, and also managed a quick change for each parade - the woman never stops!
Another pattern that was definitely a “flick past” in the pattern book but absolutely stunning made up - this little crossover top , Vogue 8120. We saw this made up in knits and in several colours - it looked smashing.
As did the tunic and flat front (but elastic waisted - very nice, not your granny’s elastic waist!)pants in Vogue 8335. Again - not a stunning illustration, but wow, terrific sewn up.
I mentioned that I was reading Pattern Review before heading down - I only ended up buying one pattern - the Sewing Workshop Mimosa Top and Pant
.
(I know, a bit summery - but I’m planning on wearing long sleeves under it. And the pant looks very flattering.)
Kerryn (of the astonishing makeovers in Stitches magazine) was at the Australian Sewing Guild stand at the show, and I showed her the pattern for the top - she suggested that on my figure, extending the bottom edge to a diagonal would be more flattering that having a strong horizontal line just above my hips. I’m definitely making a muslin first one this one.
And this is the fabric I bought (from here - they don’t have fabrics on their website, but will very soon) to make the top. Now that I look at it draped on me I’m wondering if the print is a bit blocky… what do you think? It’s more rust/brown/tan than the orange-y flash photo shows, really - but I think it’s ok with my colouring?
Wait ’til you see the fabulously wearable fabric Sue bought - oh my, just swoooony!
I would have loved to go to some of the workshops that the Australian Sewing Guild was running - but there just wasn’t time. Maybe next year…
A sad day - John Cargher has gone. I loved listening to Singers of Reknown - and he recorded his last program (after 42 years!) only last week.
He was so generous with his knowledge, the program was a joy to listen to, and opened my ears and mind to a lot of music I otherwise wouldn’t have known about.
(If you’ve never heard his voice, do pop over to the site and download a program - it’s lovely.)
Thanks to everyone who cheered me on in my weight loss. IT REALLY HELPS! And we are soooo enjoying life without the neighbour Weasel. Oooh, he was a horrid little man. We have 10 neighbours (we own a long narrow block that runs along a lot of backyards) and only ever have real problems with 2 of the houses. Here’s hoping the next lot of renters are quiet people.
Ever been in the situation where you KNOW you’ve got a book, but just can’t find it? I’m not even sure if I’ve seen it since the move to Toowoomba, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have (deliberately!) got rid of it - arrgggh! I’ve been looking for this book for DAYS now. I don’t think I’ve lent it to anyone… if I did, please let me know, eh? It’s one of those really handy reference books, and I’m missing it!
I’m definitely headed down the hill tomorrow for the Stitches and Craft Show. I’m really looking forward to going with Sue - at last, another sewing chick! Tonight I’m digging through patterns and reading reviews (PatternReview.com - awesome value!) to see what I should spend my limited $$ on.
In all the digging around, I did re-find (is that even a word? UNEARTHED, perhaps - I swear, the Time Team would have their work cut out for them amongst all my stuff!)
[click to see bigger images]
This is Vogue 1407, and has someones name and 4/4/66 written on the front. New in Factory Folds! Of course, nowhere near my size - but it’s very close to the size I will be at my goal weight, I hope. “Narrow, sleeveless dress with a two-piece look at front has a deep V Surplice neckline. Wrapped coat swings wide, three quarter length set in sleeves.” It’s so NOW I’m almost tempted to grade it up and make it… almost! The front wrap over is actually an overlay on an otherwise plain sheath dress, but doesn’t it look good? (and why are the instructions on a 1966 pattern SO MUCH BETTER than instructions on current patterns, hmm?) Although this is one of those vintage patterns where the only markings you get are perforated dots. And this is the little blurb about the designer:”JO MATTLI (Mattly) - Swiss charm and Parisian taste combine in the designs of this member of London’s couture group. Mr Mattli has designed the clothes for many English films.”
I think I paid 20cents for this pattern at an op shop. Whereas tomorrow I’ll probably be paying $30 for this pattern - if I can get it! Or this one….or maybe this one?
And now I’d better go turn up the hem on my other pair of jeans - don’t think it would be cool to wander around a Stitches and Craft Show and watch the fashion parades with my jeans rolled - ugh!
[later ETA: But first, I have to go sort through all the art materials that were previously stashed under the kitchen table, as Mr Beloved just had to pull them all out to retrieve a mrrrrrrrooooooouuuuuuusssse! that Miss Kitty Bing brought in as part of her "catch and release" program - she's still looking for it, but it's dead and gone into the bin - ewwwwwwwww!]
