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!