My Sewing Blog

I need to figure out what is wrong with this. It feels too small. The body fits ok, but not the bust. Maybe I need to make a bigger size. Or do a FBA, or even a LBA. This is the buttercup size. I used a nice stretchy knit I bought on ebay. It turned out to be more purple than it looked on the picture. My photo of this project is REALLY bad. Batteries in camera went flat. It looks really nice in real life though. I haven't hemmed it yet. Think I will do a lettuce edge, because the knit is too stretchy, it'll end up going lettucey anyway. I think I will trim the under bust seam next time I make it because it ended up really thick. You had to sew through 3 layers the front, then fold it up so you were sewing through 4 and the elastic. I think i will grade the seam down to just one layer of fabric. I think I'll top stitch the arm and neck elastic a little bit further in next time. I think I've done it too close to the edge and its trying to roll out a bit. I don't usual...

Me and my lovely boy. Look at his red cheeks! He'd just woke up from a cosy nap on my knee. He's only 4 months, but he's into Nintendo already. My cake :) AKA "The most bestest chocolate cake in the world" It doesn't look quite as neat and lovely as the one in the magazine. It has two layers of white choc sponge and two layers of dark choc sponge, sandwiched together and topped with chocolate ganache (think thats what its called!) There is white choc and maltesers on the top. Mmmmm. Only about 1,000 calories per slice. The aftermath. The cake was REALLY rich. If i made it again I'd use milk chocolate. We had whipped cream with it - just to quadruple the calories. I ate too much. Back to sewing.....

I have two finished projects! Both of them are made from the Elizabeth Lee 307 pattern. Hmm, I look a bit odd in this picture. This top has been in my sewing box for about 3 years. Maybe even longer! It's not exactly the ELD pattern. As I cut the pieces I thought they looked a bit square, and I wanted a more fitted look, so I'd cut pieces from a different top pattern and used the ELD instructions. At some point I decided it looked a bit odd so I threw it in the UFO box. I found it again and I finished it off. It only really needed hemming and the button sewn on. It seems to fit well, although I have a bit of trouble keeping the neckline nice and straight while I'm wearing it. It's made from black cotton velour and the mock t.shirt underneath is made from a cotton jersey knit. This one follows the pattern exactly. It turned out quite nicely. It has optional ties at the back, which I decided to put on to give it a more fitted look. The black fabric is a ribbed velour kn...

Thought I'd update this with this months totals. I've actually done quite a lot of sewing during January - just nothing is quite finished! I made some pj bottoms with a pattern from a Burda sewing mag. I used flannel from my stash. One pair for S and one pair for E. We want to get some plain t.shirts and use the flannel scraps to applique something on to them to make a matching set. I used some of E's left over flannel to make a nightdress by sewing it into a skirt and attatching it to a vest. I used some black ribbed velour fabric to make myself a breastfeeding top using the Elizabeth Lee mother cover pattern. The rest of the ribbed velour I made into Elizabeth Lee 307, which is a mock twinset. I squeezed the two tops out of 2 yards of fabric! Both of them together should have used 3 yards. And lastly, I am half way through making a smocked shepherd suit for my delicious boy. He will look sooooooo cute in it. He will probably complain about me making him wear a ...

My sewing goals for 2008 are: Sew more! and Sew better! I'd like to try and use up a lot of my stash. If my kids need something new I'll see what I have in my stash before I buy anything. I'd like to try and improve my sewing techniques, and make things that look more professional, rather than home made. I also want to finish 3 quilts. The tops are done,they just need layered and quilted. One of them is a Christmas quilt I started in 2004! I'd really like to have that done for this Christmas!!! I also have fabric bought for a quilt I wanted to make for my parents about two Christmases ago. Its not even been started yet! It is quite complex, but if I work on it a little bit every so often surely I can finish it for Christmas. I'd like to declutter my sewing area and organise everything so sewing is faster and easier. Not having to spend 20 minutes looking for something would be nice! I want to go through my UFOs and finish as much as I can, or get rid of th...

I have been sewing!!! I made this nightgown a few weeks ago. I have some alterations to make on it. Its a nursing nightgown. The pattern is very frilly and dated, and not really me. But I thought I'd give it a go any way. I used a light blue knit fabric I bought on ebay. The fabric was a really nice quality knit, but really a bit too heavy and stretchy for this project. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. Scissors were blunt, sewing machine kept skipping, overlocker unthreaded several times, a needle broke, I accidently pulled out the gathering threads! I could go on... I REALLY detest the elastic gathered sleeves. They feel horrible. I'm going to chop it off and just hem the edges. If I made this again I'd take some of the pouf out of the sleeves. And I'd make the nursing openings a bit larger. They seemed fine when I held it against myself, but once it was sewn up they didn't seem big enough. They're still useable though. I...

Ok, its not sewing, but its creative. I baked two things yesterday. 1) A chocolate brownie cake. Doesn't it look delicious? Unfortunately it tastes gross! It was too crunchy on the outside and not cooked properly in the middle. My oven really doesn't like baking cakes. What a waste of organic chocolate. 2) A kind of spur of the moment banana loaf. It was supposed to be a banana and chocolate chip loaf, but I'd used all the chocolate chips in the brownie cake. E chopped up some white chocolate and we used that instead. At least it cooked properly. On the sewing front, I had some mini piping arrive from Australia just recently. Some pink to finish off a dress for E and some light blue satin mini piping for a Christmas outfit for R. I also bought the cream coloured fabric for R's outfit, but I don't really like it. It feels all rough and itchy. Might get a chance to start it on Wednesday. I've also been looking at some German patterns. I might buy one to mak...