Wednesday 30 April 2014

Star Wars

I LOVE the fabrics from http://www.makeithobbyncraft.com.au/

This is one of a few fabrics I bought at Supanova and
the Stitches and Craft show recently. 
The shirt (for my son) was inspired by one on display at Supanova.

The pattern is Burda 9524.
I widened the shoulders, and added about 10cm to the length.
I also reduced the seam allowances to 6mm as I had just made
a Kwik Sew shirt and found them much easier to work with
especially around the collar and stand. Try it sometime.

I used 1m of each fabric. The collar and pocket are
fussy cut to show off the print.

I love using Steam a Seam - to position the pocket
so it won't move while sewing around it, and also
on the front hems (because they are narrow and edge to edge).
If the collar gave me any grief, I was planning 
on using it there too, but didn't need to.
Very pleased with the results.

Tuesday 29 April 2014

3 Fat Quarters and a Skirt



At the Boonah Guides Quilt & Craft Show recently,
I bought 3 fat quarters from http://www.apatchyquilting.com.au/ 
and set myself the challenge of making a skirt from them.

I kept it simple - a 6 gore straight self drafted skirt.
The right front and back panels are contrast to the other 4 panels.
I made sure I planned the pattern layout carefully before cutting out, because I wanted the right front & right back panels to be yellow.
Remember to measure twice and cut once.
 
Sigh, vanity makes you unpick.
The master pattern was drafted a couple of years ago, and
it seems a centimetre or two as well. The skirt was a bit snug with
15mm seams so I restitched them using a 4-thread overlock
and unpicked the machine stitching. Much better.
Of course then the facings didn't fit, so I lined the skirt
without a facing and under stitched it at the waistline.
I love under stitching - it's the perfect finish for linings and facings.

I pressed the seams away from the centre panels and
topstitched using a yellow/gold rayon embroidery thread
and my ditch stitch foot.

Hems are so easy on straight skirts.
I overlocked the raw edges and turned up a 1" hem, and also tucked
under the overlocking (just because I felt like it) making it a 3/4" finished hem.
If you are going to finish the hem this way (no visible raw edges) it is not necessary to overlock first. It was a last minute decision.
The easiest way to measure a straight hem is to place the
skirt wrong sides up over the end of the ironing board.
Then measure 2" (twice the finished hem width) from the
overlocked/raw edge and poke a pin into the ironing board.
Fold the raw edge up to the pin, move the pin to secure hem,
and press before sewing.

I used an invisible zipper in the side seam.

The sewing up was relatively quick and easy. It just takes a little
time to plan something not straight out of the box.

A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Friday 4 April 2014

Soap & Candle Making

Making candles and Goat's milk soap in class
Easy to make, just needs lots of stirring
The top row of photos are paraffin wax candles in silicon moulds
The pot that looks like pumpkin soup is actually soap in the making.
It's still curing so no photos yet.

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Minions and Purple People Eater Cushions


Australian Sewing Guild - Scenic Sewers meeting today

For today's meeting we had Louise Sparrow as our guest tutor.
Louise gave an excellent workshop on dealing with sheer fabrics.
She talked about fabrics, seams, hems, bindings and finishes.
I'll be making a formal dress this year so it was very interesting.
Pauline was busy working on her Happiness quilt which has
lovely fresh colours and combinations.
Can't wait to see it finished.
As of our next meeting (May 7)we will meet on the
first Wednesday of each month.
We will be working on our own projects.