A blast of excitement and inspiration

So because sewing myself a tailored jacket is one of my big sewing goals this year (and my sewlution) I got the new Kenneth D King Craftsy course when I got a good deal. It's on tailoring a Fly Front Jacket. I'm not so keen on the project in the course (it comes with Vogue 8841 which I doubt will ever come out of the envelope in my house!) but I thought the information on tailoring and the construction would be useful.

I started watching it today, and wasn't paying too much attention. He was showing some pattern changes that he was making to the jacket to add in a pocket and some princess seams and HANG ON... I've been wondering how to do that with my Anise for AGES. And stressing about it, because I was worried about converting the dart that I added with my FBA into the princess seam.

The thing is, though, that since the coat didn't have any darts or shaping in the front, he just drew the princess seam on. And then it hit me, the Anise doesn't have any darts or shaping in the front. I added the dart with the FBA. If I go back to the original piece, I can just draw the princess seam on where I need it! I use the stitching line as my reference, not the cutting line, anyway, so I don't even have to worry about remembering to add seam allowances!

It's so simple and so easy and I can't believe I've spent the last 5 months stressing about how to do it and too scared to try. I've got things on the next three nights but Saturday is Social Sewing day, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be doing some work on my next muslin of the Anise there!!

(and hopefully finishing off the last few steps of my current WIP)

Just Sew June

I feel like I begin every post with "I've been so busy, I haven't had time to do much sewing". I write myself some sewing goals for the week, and then I have something on every night and spend the weekend out and about or cleaning or just sleeping in and reading or watching television and over a week has passed and I haven't done any sewing at all. I'm not happy about this, and I'm doing something about it.

I want to make sewing an every day part of my life. I love to do it, so I want to prioritise it. I find time to play time-wasting iPhone games (Farm Frenzy anyone?) so I know I have a spare few minutes a day to set aside to do at least one sewing related task a day.

They say it takes 28 days to make a habit, so I'm challenging myself for the month of June to do one sewing related task a day for the entire month of June and I thought I'd open this challenge up to you, as well.

It doesn't have to be big, or long, or fast or slow or whatever. Tracing a pattern, pre-washing some fabric, blogging, knitting even (if that's your thing). Just as long as making something is prioritised and time is set aside to create on a regular basis.

I'm aiming for every day, but if that's too optimistic for you, what about 3 times a week? once a week? The aim is to challenge yourself, not to kill yourself, so make it something that will require a *bit* of work but that will be achievable for you.

Who's with me?

Pink-a-licious

I finished this skirt (yet another Simplicity 2152) at approximately 3am the night before we flew to the US. I was trying to stay up all night - and there was plenty of cleaning to be done to justify this - and so I thought I'd add in some hand-sewing of the hem and lining to the cause. I'm pretty happy with this skirt. It has a few flaws - my stitching in the ditch wasn't as perfect as I wanted, I think one of the layers stretched (I forgot stay stitching) so the layers didn't match up perfectly. I'm also still not happy with my top-stitching of my centered zip and I think I should have interfaced the waistband a bit more heavily as it's a bit wrinkly. But that's really nitpicking. I'm really happy with the finish of everything else.

Thanks to Rachel from MyMessings for the photos!

I finished the seams nicely - all bound Hong Kong seams. I used white bias binding for a bit of pretty contrast, then decided to line the skirt anyway!

 

The lining (which is white) was sewn with French seams. Ohh la la! I followed Sewaholic's tutorials for attaching the facing and zip to the skirt (parts 1, 2 and 3), which worked really well (except for the top-stitching, which was my fault).

I knew the fit was good, but made a point to have a smaller hem on this skirt, as my last version, the olive green polka dot one, is a leeeeetle too short for comfort. This is a better length.

After a long eat at Sewcie Tea, so looking a little crumpled!

I picked up the pink corduroy on the Social Sewing road trip day. The skirt doesn't use much fabric - I got just over a metre and had a little bit of leftovers. I started off with a cornflower blue contrast waistband and pocket bands but just wasn't happy with them. I had initially imagined pink contrast fabric, but wasn't happy with the selection on offer at Cleggs.

I just couldn't get excited about this blue, for some reason.

After losing all interest in the skirt I decided it was better to unpick and be happy than sit and mope any longer, so I went back and bought the pink contrast fabric instead. It looks MUCH better and I'm really happy with how it has turned out... though unpicking the side seams AND the Hong Kong binding to replace them was a PITA and almost made me cry. It was definitely worth the effort though!

Mindy, Oan, Anna, Sarah and Me!

I wore this to the Sewcie Tea. I had hoped to have sewn an Elisalex, but I'm the worlds best procrastinator and have been ridiculously busy, so it didn't happen. It's on my list of goals for this year, though, so it will happen!!

Long time no speak

So things have been fairly frantic around Chez Bellacollectanea. I know I always say that, but this past year has been one of the busiest and most challenging that I've had in a while. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to take up an engrossing and awesome new hobby and open a restaurant at the same time?! To be fair, though, I didn't know that we'd be opening Rockwell and Sons this time last year!

The first anniversary of me getting my sewing machine came and went a little while ago. I can't believe how quickly that time has passed or how much my life has changed in that time.  I'm so glad that I took up sewing, it's definitely been one of the best decisions of my life, and going to the sewing meetup last August is up there too. Over the last year I've made several garments - and a couple that I'm really happy with - and made some of the best friends a girl could wish for.

I have so much news but don't quite know where to start. I have enough to tell you for about 10 blog posts - I mean, I haven't even shared the haul that I got from the Social Sewing on the Road day! and BOY did I come home with a haul!! I've even sewn one piece up into a garment, with another cut out and half sewn up. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend!

My haul from the social sewing day!

The beautiful lace that I couldn't stop touching

A sneek preview of my WIP 

 I went to the US, too, and got to visit The Little General, which happens to be in my husband's home town!

I met the super lovely Gina and bought a pattern and some fabric to make up.

How cute is this fabric?

The Clara dress by Sew Liberated

We went on a mini honeymoon to Charleston - and while I didn't buy anything sewing related there, I DID have lots of amazing food and an incredible time.

The chef and I looking dopey

We spent pretty much the whole time eating.

How cute was our hotel room?!

 I also got several other patterns, four of the Simplicity Amazing Fit series and a couple of New Look ones. My awesome grandma-in-law gave me some really cool paper piecing patterns for some quilts, too, so I'm excited to start getting into some quilting more.

 

  

On that note - did you see the quilt that I, Rachel, Sarah and Melanie made for the lovely Kat and her little Ginger? I had such a good time working on it, and think this quilting lark might become a thing I do semi-regularly.

The quilt for Ginger!

There was also the Sewcie Tea, which was organised by Melanie too. So much fun!!
I had hoped to make an Elisalex dress for it, but what with the crazy hours I've been doing at work, the weekend stuff I've been doing at the restaurant and general life craziness, not to mention a holiday to the US the week before the tea, I didn't get my muslin completed, let alone the dress. I've been working on it, now that I'm back, and am pretty happy with it, so far, so hopefully I can get started on my wearable muslin version soon! I did an FBA and it WORKED!! it looks perfect, apart from the waist line, which I need to lower by two inches on the front and an inch on the back. Easy fix - just need time to do it!! :) I'm pretty proud of myself for making progress, it's the first time I've been pretty happy with getting a good fit from my adjustments.

The fabric and lining for my wearable muslin version of the Elisalex. I'm still working in muslin, but hope to start cutting this out soon!

 I also have made the decision to stop work on the Anise. It just doesn't work on my figure, which is such a shame because I love the pattern so much. I've bought the Abbey Coat pattern by Jamie Christina from SewSquirrel and will make two versions - one the long one with a flounce in a gorgeous coating fabric that I got in the fabric swap at Social Sewing in January and a shorter version. I'm going to alter that pattern to add in welt pockets and make it double breasted. So pretty much a frankenpattern of Anise and the Abbey coat! I'm excited to give it a whirl.

My final bit of news - and part of the reason that I've been so quiet here - is that I've got a new job! I gave notice at my old job on Monday and finish up on the 31st of May. Sadly, there's no break and I start the new job on the 3rd of June. It's going to be sad leaving - I'm saying goodbye to Publishing. But I'm excited to start my new career and think there will be way more opportunities for growth in the new field, so am excited and happy for the future. I've been with this company for four years now (my anniversary was yesterday) so it's going to be a big change saying goodbye.

Zippy news

Am working on a big post filling you in on all my news (hint: there's a lot) but that's taking awhile so in the meantime here's a quick little finished object or two. I whipped these zippered pouches up this morning. Was all done by 11 am!
I'm happy with how they've turned out.

I used the freebie class on bag making basics as the pattern and made them mostly because I loved the fabric and wanted a quick item to make using it! They are lined with a striped green fabric. I used two fat quarters to make it and 2 10inch zips, which I cut short. Cutting out the pieces was a breeze: I have a huge new cutting mat and a new rotary cutter! Also some rulers. So great to sew with. Not sure how I lived without them before.

Anyway. I'll try to be more regular with updates. Life is beginning to settle down and I'm hoping to have lots more sewing time than I have in the past six months soon.

In the meantime, this was a fun little project to get me back into my sewjo.

Revisiting the past

I'm wearing my Little Grey skirt today, the first thing I ever made. It's definitely not perfect, in fact it's totally flawed, but I wear it anyway.

I'm also in the process of making another version of the skirt. It's my fourth of the pattern, and it's coming along nicely. I'm going to do a post with lots of construction pictures, showing you the progression of them all, because you can clearly see how much progress I've made with each skirt. I wear them all, too. I'm proud of them, even with their terrible finishes and wonky zippers and quirkiness.

The latest one is coming along really nicely. I used Hong Kong binding on the seams, then decided to line it anyway, but they look pretty, so I don't mind the extra work. The lining is finished with french seams, which makes me happy. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

This is an older photo - it's a closeup of the pocket detailing. I originally wanted a contrasting pink, but bought this blue instead. And I didn't like it with the pink, even though the sample looked fine. I just didn't like it. It's not like it wasn't a good match, it would have looked fine, but I think because I had pictured the pink so strongly. In the end, I decided I couldn't live with it and have unpicked it all (which meant unpicking part of the bias binding too) and have remade it in light pink. I feel MUCH better about it. I'll save the photos, since it's pretty close to being done and I hope to finish it this weekend.

I'll also include the photos so you can see the progress in the different versions. I'm certainly a long way from being a truly accomplished seamstress, but I'm pretty happy with the progress that I've made in the last year.

It's all happening at the zoo

I've been quiet on the blog for the last couple of weeks, but I've been sewing and buying fabric, and planning and cutting and so forth. I just haven't been writing.

I have quite a few projects on the go at the moment. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. On my ironing board in various stages of completion are:

-a muslin of a Cambie, but out, but markings to be traced on and the bodice to be sewn up.
- my anise muslin - I still haven't changed the darts to princess seams. It's on the back burner
- a grey and green hoodie that I'm loosely basing on the Renfrew. This has been a brat to cut out and the stripes are misbehaving like crazy on it. I'm close to throwing in the towel on this, because I've had enough of fiddling with it. Grr
- A pink Simplicity 2152 skirt made out of dusky pink. This would have been finished already except for two spanners in the works: I ran out of bias bindings for the hong kong seam finishes halfway through and I decided that the blue contrast waist and pockets (which was a compromise) just wasn't cutting it for me. I need to find some pink fabric to use instead, since the blue just wasn't making me happy. I had something in mind, and it just wasn't right. Hopefully I'll find some fabric that works tonight.
- a cream and blue Tiramisu. I was going to make this in a solid royal blue since I love the colour so much, but when I bought it at the Fabric store on the Social Sewing Fabric Shopping day there wasn't enough on the bolt. I compromised and cut the bodice out in cream, and haven't cut the blue skirt / waist bands / bindings yet. I'm lining the cream with itself for the bodice as the cream was a bit sheer and am hand basting the two together.
- some small sewing projects - these are gifts and non-clothing, so I can't say more about them, yet! IT WILL ALL BE REVEALED - assuming that I finish them.

Note that my Sewcie Tea dress isn't even on the list yet! I'm making an Elisalex, but will wait for the sew-a-long by By Hand London to start. I'm going to the USA somewhere in there, too, so HOW I'll get all this sewn up is beyond me, but oh well. I think the Anise and the Cambie will wait awhile, though I might do the Cambie instead if I run out of time - the Elisalex is QUITE ambitious of me.

Next post will have pictures to show you these projects, and I'm going to try to have at least one finished object this weekend, if I don't die of this cold that I'm pretty sure that The Chef has given me. Argh.