Busy with Nina

In the midst of all this reading, I have actually been doing some sewing! For anyone playing along at home, you can follow Jacqueline Leigh Creations on Instagram and Facebook, and my Art has it's own page on Facebook (I may combine them at a later stage).

My Bernina got her name - Nina! And we have been busy working our way through countless projects that have been collecting dust for... well, some of them, a couple of years... and getting orders knocked over as quickly as possible too!

Here's a little selection from my Instagram feed of what's been going on!

Hello baby! #Nina welcome to the family! 30 years younger than her sister #Stella there are some exciting times ahead! #bernina330 #StellaAirElectronic #sew #jlcreations #JacquelineLeighCreations

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Jan 25, 2016 at 7:29pm PST

Three gorgeous #frizzleinspired dresses are NEARLY ready to wing their way across the country to the wonderful @kit_cath93

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:39am PDT

Since I make bags, I thought I had better make myself one to carry around! #emmalinebagspattern - the #emmalinebag #sew #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:44am PDT

A #WIP shot of a McCalls 6649 dress #chiffon #jacquelineleighcreations #jlcreations #sewing #dressmaking #sew #dancingdress

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 28, 2016 at 4:35am PDT

⛵️sailing away on the magical school bus with @kit_cath93 #missfrizzle #magicalschoolbus #sew #seamstress #sewing

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 30, 2016 at 7:40pm PDT

Not-paper towels fresh off the sewing machine! #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations #saturdaysewday

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Apr 2, 2016 at 12:29am PDT

Love watching projects come together! #bunting #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations #saturdaysewday

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Apr 5, 2016 at 4:22am PDT

52 in 52 - Book 6 - The Dressmaker - Rosalie Ham

The second book I managed to read (on one domestic flight- Australia, you're a mighty country!) was The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham. This is an Aussie book, set in Victoria, and recently has been released as a movie. I heard about the movie before I knew it was a book, but still haven't seen the movie. 

Just under 300 pages, another great read. 

Small towns are often full of drama and gossip, and Dungatar is no exception. Myrtle "Tilly" was forced to leave town as a young child, ostracised because her mother was unwed, abused by her school mates, and blamed for the death of one of her bullies, she was sent away to school in Melbourne, against the will of her mother, who was kept in the dark about her whereabouts and slowly lost her sanity whilst missing her daughter. 

Leaving school in Melbourne to study dressmaking across the globe, she became an exceptional seamstress and designer. Personal tragedy left her feeling alone and defeated, prompting a decision to go back to find and look after her mother. When she couldn't make letter or phone contact, she knew there was no option but to go back to Dungatar. Finding her mother neglected and mad, she fed and nursed her, cleaned and aired the house, and slowly her mother's sanity was restored- though her acid wit was still a constant companion. Though the majority held on to their pre conceived opinion of Tilly, a few were her allies. Tilly's exceptional skills gained her work from the villagers, though not respect or payment - it seems there were cash flow problems due greed and "priorities" 

Vicious and hateful, the village seems doomed from the start, Tilly gets her revenge in the end, leaving the town in her wake with her beloved Singer after the death of both her mother and the man she loved. 

I can't wait to see the movie! It is always good to see someone else's interpretation! 

Happy Australia Day!! 

How many sleeps until Christmas??

The count down is on! And more so because I want to make most of my gifts this year! I've made my list, I'm checking it twice... Hopefully I'll have the right bits and pieces for everything I want to make. I've got a few trips away over the next couple of months, and then my family is celebrating Christmas in the second week of December... Which is even sooner! 

The to do list involves:

Sewing purses and bags

Sewing a blanket

Sewing scarves 

Sewing table linen

Painting

 And working out what else I need to get for the remaining friends and family! It's not easy! 

But all that is really important is that the Saviour was born. And as long as we remember that, none of the rest of it matters! 

Table and chairs...

An orange square and a yellow square- table cloths! 

Rectangles for couch cushions! 

6 pink linen squares - cloth serviettes! 

Four "floral" polyester rectangles - cushions for the outdoor setting! 

With a few 1/2 days coming up at work, I can see a lot of projects being finished very soon! 

Packing day

Tomorrow is road trip day! It's been a stressful afternoon attempting to cram all of my worldly possessions into my tiny car, but my super hero, rock star boyfriend managed to make the majority of it fit (yay) some things didn't make the cut- such as my rose cuttings. I'm hoping that mum will be able to keep them alive for me. My paintings in progress didn't fit either, but my paints have, so I'll just have to start fresh. 

Before packing we had a wonderful morning at church, c3 joondalup were incredibly hospitable and both the worship and fellowship were heartwarming and inspiring. From there we took a lovely stroll around bunnings, picking up a piece of MDF for a project we have planned (stick around, all will be revealed) and then in to the city to pick up a router for my Rockstar's new sound desk, and get the battery replaced in my phone (exciting!) 

Since my last post I have actually managed to do some crafting, I finished off this dress FINALLY! 

Sorry about the blurry photo. This is before I finished the hem I think. As soon as it was done I had to rush out, proper "complete" photos to come! 

And I have 3/4 finished a little roll for my sewing supplies. I think there may be a tutorial for this one day- keep watching this space! 

The next 2 days will be driving, then back to work and it'll take time to get myself sorted out and back into the swing of things. I haven't deserted you, I'll just be temporarily offline! 

God bless! 

Tuesday

Another creative day! Loving it!

One of my friends is having a baby later this year, I'm seeing her today (Wednesday) before I go back to Hedland for several months, so I thought I'd make her a little gift. This is a nappy wallet (for the handbag) from this tutorial by Melissa Esplin. She has many variations, I chose the one most in my comfort zone - the sewn one! My friend doesn't know the gender of her baby, so I thought orange would work. And orange is awesome!

 Then, work continued on the sprocket cushions. They got gussets and backs and they even got stuffed! I enlisted the help of my wonderful Mother, who seemed to be looking for something to do! She took it as a great opportunity to pull out her old Bernina which had been out of service for about 18 months, after visiting the sewing doctor, it got a new capacitor and is now a pleasure to sew on once again!

I have no really exciting photos of my dress progress, I sewed and pinned and sewed and pinned and ironed and sewed. I (think I) have 4 constructed bodices and 3 constructed skirts, just waiting to be joined together, zippered and have the lining attached!

"Neat" piles for each dress

Finally, I have another friend who I am catching up with before I go away, and it's her birthday this month (Agh! July already!!) So I used this tutorial from Sweet Verbena to make her a bag. It's not quite the same, I was limited by the fabric I had in my stash. My bag is a couple of inches smaller, has shorter handles and drawstrings, and a different method of attaching the lining. This bag made me think of my friend when I first saw it and I'm so happy I made it, I think she will really love it!

Cinched up tight!

about 19" square, plenty of space!

Musical fabric to line it

Monday! (UPDATED)

Happy Monday everyone!

Update: I'm on my computer now, so I can add in some photos!!

Sailor Shorts

I spent my day sewing, got an bit done, and I have managed to slice my hands with the pins... Clever me!
 I started sewing together a pair of shorts that I'd cut previously. I've overlocked around the edges of all the pieces. HOW did I live before having an overlocker! Seriously makes everything SO much easier!
I was working on these because I'd told myself I was going to make 5 dresses and 5 purses, and that seemed hard, so I did some housework and then started on these guys. I need to make some bias binding to go around the front before I can do any more on them. Not really a tricky task, just time consuming (and my brain needs to be functioning!)

Pinning requires chocolate and tea

Pinning....

Pinning...

Pinning....

I spent a long while pinning the darts in the bodice, skirt and lining pieces of the 4 dresses I'm making from the same pattern (McCalls M6699). I've been working on one of the dresses, a white one. 

It's not bad so far, I've since taken out the skirt seams a smidgen for a bit more space, the lining is ready once the seams are acceptable, and that will finish it off nicely. I have lining for the skirt of this dress too, even though it's not a requirement, as I didn't want to rely on the white being opaque under all lights. 

The sewing machine and I were had our differences for a couple of hours, so I decided to play with some other fabric to make couch cushions. I followed this tutorial and I used the overlocker to put them together.

At some point in the future I'll make backings and stuff them, and they will have a pretty button in the middle.

Let's hope tomorrow is even more productive! 

Late night sewing

After inspiration struck late last night, I rummaged through my fabric collection and this was the result: 

Hopefully this will make a beautiful 2 year old very happy for her birthday! 

Another busy 24 hours

So with very little sleep I have finished 4 NCW purses, 4 teardrop bags, and 2 messenger/laptop bags of my own design- stay tuned for a tutorial when I make the next one- and 4 more purses that are waiting for zipper pockets and then they will be complete too. (I have zippers now, it's just a matter of time!) 

I met my amazing man yesterday at the airport while he had a brief stop over on the way to a conference in frosty Hobart. After that, I had a nap, back to the sewing today! 

My Star Wars lined laptop bag! I got the Star Wars fabric from etsy well over a year ago, all this time it's been waiting to be made into a bag! I bought batman fabric at the same time, which was made into a bag for my man almost straight away, after being used every day since, it's looking a bit worse for wear, so I managed to find some Power Rangers fabric, also from etsy. 

I finished making it with just enough time to shower and meet him at the airport for lunch between flights. When he returns from the conference I'll make sure I get better photos than just this one! 

Yellow, green, purple and pink matching bag/purse sets! Plus 4 (mostly pink) purses waiting for their zipper pockets. 

I was getting a bit fancy with my top stitching... 

And then realized I had failed to put the magnetic snap in the flap before attaching it. 

Major frustration. 

So, I unpicked the top of the flap in hope that I could just top stitch it back, good as new... 

Weeelllll.... It isn't quite good as new, back to the drawing board... 

I slept in the kitchen last night, little foam mattress on the floor, because my poor puppy (13 1/2 years old is still a puppy) isn't well, and needed help getting up to go out every hour or so- he would do the same for me if I was sick. 

He seems to be feeling a bit better this morning. 

Beautiful puppy last night <3 

Sweat shop!

I've been putting in a few hours behind the sewing machine, here's a few progress pictures

Friday sewday

Well, the water was out for most of the day, my morning shower was at 6pm... But it was a productive day none the less and I really enjoyed it! My pile of garments requiring zippers is growing...