Hot Pink

I am not a pink person, I never have been and I Love this dress. But this fabric drew me in, also it’s price was crazy good ($3 a metre at a Fabric Warehouse pop up sale) and I had …

It’s been 7 hours and 15 days…

​Ok it is 567 days since this Floss last posted.  Why so long?  Ummmm, I got busy, I was tired, I felt fat, I was depressed, my body got covered in spots, I got obsessed with shows on Netflix, I …

Come together

I like a good plan and Mel and I have cooked up a big one – a mega sewing meet in the central North Island!

So do you love to sew?  Do you want to meet new people who also love to sew? Maybe you want to come hang out with us for a weekend?

Introducing:

  
We know the name isn’t sexy but it gives you the idea. There are still some details to work through but the general idea is that we’ll hire a suitable venue in Rotorua to meet up on the first weekend in August 2015 – that’s Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd.

We’ll sew, gossip, swap fabric/patterns/knowledge, go fabric shopping, eat food and have a fun weekend making lots of new sewing friends…and hopefully some clothes too 😉

We’ve created a form to aid us in our planning, please follow this link for more details and to register your interest.

Hopefully you are as excited as us and maybe we could even make this an annual event.

Been sewing and stuff

I’m back!  In my mind I have always said I will not apologise if I take a break from blogging, whether intentional or not, as this is supposed to be fun and not a burden.  So in the last few …

A remake of a comfy knit and some crazy cats

A friend gave me an asymetric back knit top a few years ago.  I have always intended to take a pattern off it as it is quite unique and late last year I finally got around to it.   I basically …

How to hide from the Lilliputians or 32/52 the Playtime Dress

This is another curtains to dress creation. I finished it earlier this year, and got photos at Halloween when I used it as part of my costume. After I made the lego play mat I still had 1 ½ curtains left which I couldn’t let it go to waste… so I made a dress! Surprise, surprise. I used the bodice of Butterick B5748 and the same skirt without the pockets as the Deer doe ish dress.

I was feeling pretty confident making it and so managed to attach the skirt to the bodice before I had turned the bodice in the right way with the lining. I had over locked it and only realised as I went to top stitch it down. So I unpicked and unpicked some more. Then I re-sewed but again got slightly distracted and managed to do a Mobius loop of a shoulder strap… also after I had overlocked the seam. This time I unpicked just the shoulder seam and paying close attention I re-sewed them correctly and hand stitched the lining back to the dress. To finish it off I hand sewed the zip in during my lunch break.

I wore this as my haloween dress with a road cone headband and a car necklace.

I love the shape of this dress and might make it again in a more subdued fabric and it is not just for dress ups…this old elevator photo shows I even wear it to work.

and check out these little guys… Robin and the Arrow

and this guy!

Dolores by So Zo

I was really lucky to win a copy of So Zo’s Dolores batwing top.  This is one of first blogs I followed and I have always liked her style.  I also love batwing tops so I got onto it right away.

I found some knits that I got from op-shopping that I had obviously been saving for this very top.  I cut out and raced to the overlocker.

Joy from a Charm of Magpies also won a copy so we buddied up for some pics but I think we managed to goof off more that have photos taken…or maybe that was just me.

What we discovered is that my top is less batwing than Joys. Mostly because I cut the largest size and just assumed it would be close enough and Joy properly graded for her size. Lesson learnt for me.

Also I did the short sleeve and the band barely fits around my bicep.

I know I have guns but it is a little snug.

I do like this top and intend to make another just a little bit bigger.

My Sewing List

…or how I keep all my crazy projects under control…

Amanda at Bimble and Pimble has been running a Sewvember sewing photo a day challenge on instagram and the topic for November 17 is Planning so I thought I would share in more detail one of the ways I plan for my sewing.  My day job is working with project plans and helping people keep things on track so I have tried several tools and versions to corral my sewing and blogging.  My current way is a version of a kanban board, except it is portable and I have made it work for me.

I used to have lots of to do lists with sew this, pictures of this, post that etc, except I had to keep writing them and things changed through stages. So I decided to write the item on the list once and them just mark what stage it is up to.

Top L – R Cut, Sew, Photgraph Bottom L – R Write/draft, Publish, blank options

I cross off the tasks I have done and circle the one i need to do next.  I can use the blank square to write if it doesn’t fit any of the five options.  It is one A4 page and it folds small enough to go in my wallet or phone case.  I have tried digital lists but I found I like the old fashioned pen and paper.

 

If you would like to try this method yourself then I have the file available here

 

It prints on A4 page.

You fold on the dotted lines.  When it is folded in half cut on the bold line.

When cut and un folded it will look like this

Fold in half length ways, then make a star shape like above to make it into a booklet like below.

I have inserted a fashion croquis on the outside – it is a slightly curvy girl, but you could print the other side as another list or leave blank for your own sketches.

Finally one last in use picture…

 

Jenna – a Muse test

I was lucky to be asked to test the Jenna cardigan by Muse.  I used from random stash knit in cream.  I made the waist length, long sleeve option with front yoke.  I loved all the options given and went with the one I thought I would wear the most – as it can go over all my pretty dresses.

The sleeves are quite long and in the larger sizes can be quite wide.  Once I had finished testing  I took mine in from the elbow to the wrist in a wedge to give a slimmer look I prefer.  I also unintentionally shortened them by adding my cuffs on inside a out and needing to cut them off – I wasn’t going to unpick all that overlocking.

The yoke was easy to put together – I gathered it on my normal sewing maching but them sewing the remaining of the cardi on the overlocker.

The buttons were from a christmas swap from Juliet.  I love how they are big and bold on a simple little cream cardi.

This cardi helped me get over my fear of buttonholes and they all turned out great.  I will be making another Jenna Cardi in the future – I just need to do the other twenty-something projects in the queue.

 

Going Out Cake

I first posted this in the Monthly Stitch …way back in June… but for completeness wanted to have it here on my blog as well.

Ever since I made my first Pavlova top by Cake patterns last year I’ve had plans to make another and when deciding what to make for Indie Pattern month’s fangirl competition I decided to go for it as it was once of the few patterns that I had more than one piece by the one brand.

I used a grey light/lacy knit that I got for $3 a metre at the Fabric Warehouse sale last year. I wanted this top to be more versatile than my first version so I lengthened the bodice so it could wear with more of my skirts or jeans as I find it hits my waist and can leave a gap across my stomach with some clothes. I made the ties as long as I could fit on my fabric and I also lenthened the sleeves so they are wrist length instead of 3/4 length and put a cuff on them to finish it off.

The skirt is the Pavlova Skirt from Cake. I have made this before – most recently here  – and my lesson learnt on this pattern is that I have to cut two sizes smaller than my measurements for it to work for me. I don’t know why Cake patterns cannot do basic maths to make a circle work, but after making three I am adamant it is not correct.  You are better of using a circumference calculator and doing some simple maths yourself.

I used a fabulous brocade that I found on the sale table at spotlight for $8/m. I love the colour and the balance between the soft grey and the stiff brocade. A used a button from my stash for on the waistband.

This outfit came together exactly as I wanted and I feel very glamorous in it.  I have worn it out many times now and it is a firm favourite in my wardrobe