The Anniversario Top

It was our six year wedding anniversary yesterday and Steven and my first 'date' night since July.  Being such a heady, thrilling occasion I decided it was high time than I sewed something for myself.  I've been thinking a lot about Sunni's new blog series on an 'Everyday Wardrobe'.  The challenge is to sew things that you might wear all the time, functional items that fit in with your normal attire.   Seeing as the majority of me-mades are special occasion dresses (worn once) or casual dresses (only worn in cold winter or high summer), it was time to make something that I could throw on with my everyday jeans.

Sometime within the last year I got struck with skinny jean fever.  I currently have blue, black, turquoise, red, jade, royal blue, and purple.  And polka-dot.  But precisely zero tops that I'm happy to wear with them; I don't want to wear tight tops with tight bottoms, and my tunic length things are generally too a-line.  So I returned to the pattern that I drafted for the Green Eyed Monster top to make a simple shell top.  The fabric is of mysterious content but fairly evil slinky and satiny.  It's not quite as clingy or wavy in real life, it was so windy when I was getting photographed and that blew it in under bust.  It has Dolman sleeves, scooped neckline, side-bust darts (which I moved a bit from the last one) and binding along the hem edges for a tiny bit more length.  But my favourite bit?

The vents!  I love how it gives you a bit more ease around the hips and also allows for a longer back so you can sit down without paranoia.

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The Mission Impossible Missoni Frock

After much procrastination and angsting, I finally cut into the Missoni fabric on Thursday to make my dress. For Friday.  I am nothing if not predictable in my last-minute ways.  Unfortunately the cutting was disastrous.  I thought it would be easier to cut on the fold so I painstakely matched all the zig-zags up the side seam, but when I unfolded it must have been off grain as the curves on the left side bared little resemblence to the curves on the right.  So I had to true up the sides, which inevitablely threw off the zig-zag matching.

And never the twain shall meet.  The loose-weave sweater knit was also so unlike any fabric I've ever sewn (or ever will again to be honest) that it needed mahoosive fitting adjustments. Three times I had to take it in and all the curves that followed my measurements turned out to be unneccessary.  That'll teach me to make my muslin out of basically a polar opposite fabric*.  In all seriousness, though, 97% of party-goers would not have noticed the abysmmal pattern matching.  I must learn to accept compliments graciously rather than saying things like 'But just look at how the zig-zags are so unmatched!'**.

I kept the natural zig-zag edging at the bottom after tidying up all of the dangling yarn tails. 

And here is my supremely handsome husband.  The End.


*It probably won't.
** I probably won't.

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The Communal Trapper Hat

The wayward faux fur I ordered before the snowfall finally arrived today, as did the replacement faux fur I ordered while being impatient. Too much faux fur going on here, especially as we're sharing this hat.

Did I say sharing? I meant to say fighting over, using a stop clock to monitor fair usage, and crying over. It also fits my possibly-terminally-ill-but-at-the-very-least-medically-anomalous small head.

Although I'm very happy with the end result, I'm hoping we can work out a Trapper Hat Rota as this faux fur is heinous to sew with, disintegrating once cut and shedding its hair all over (and by all over I mean into my lungs). Is this normal for all fake fur, or is there magical membrane-sealed non-shedders?

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Super Maia, Scourge of the Universe

Although technically I should have had an additional two sleeps to complete Halloween costumes, Maia's nursery party was this morning so I had to rush, rush, rush to get this done. Did I mention that the silver foil lycra only arrived yesterday afternoon? Before you scroll down, take a moment to appreciate the majesty of the Buddha belly.

If Satan ran a haberdashery shop, all of these fabrics would be on special offer because not even the Devil himself would like to sew with them. The silver foil was at least sturdy, but it came wrapped with paper between every fold because it sticks to itself, and pins leave permanent puncture marks.

The pink silk touch lycra feels beautiful and has such a lovely drape but is so slinky and stretchy it's less stable than my mental health. And that's saying something.

The mask is backed with felt, stitched close to the edge and trimmed. There was nothing else I could do with that pesky lycra.

The 'M' to the chest it's tightly zig-zagged with lime green stitching because I didn't have any pink thread for extra pop.

She was ten times ecstatic to be wearing it on the school run and told countless random people variations of 'I am Super Maia. I am here to save the day. I have so much work to do. There's somebody in trouble.' And our childminder almost died laughing at her 'toddler fetish wear'. My work here is done.

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The perils of online fabric shopping

Has anyone ever bought fleece online only to find when it arrives that it's actually weirdo fleece? Those of you unlucky enough to suffer this fate will know what I'm talking about, but for the rest I will explain what weirdo fleece is. It has a a thicker pile almost like fake fur but still stretches. It unravels if you so much as look as it (which is the opposite of non-weirdo fleece), even after you have sewn it. The only way to find the secret pins you used to hold it together is to scrunch with your hands and wait to be stabbed.

This is what it looks like to cut:

This is what it does to your trousers:

This is what it does to your respiratory system:

Basically, it is made in the Devil's workshop by pulling feathers through pantyhose. And most likely possessed because I tripped on the sewing machine cable and almost fell over died.

My friend Cathy is due a baby very shortly and she asked me if I could recover her Boppy pillow. 'Sure, no problem!' I said. Who knew how hard I would find this? (For, the record, these people). First attempt with non-weirdo fleece and a zipper, and the zipper was too bobbly. Second attempt with jersey and an envelope closure, the envelope was too far to the centre to get on easily. Third attempt with weirdo fleece and an envelope, just right. But the fabric made me so nervous about demonic possession that I was compelled to make a back up:


Anyone else got a spooky tale of weirdo fleece? Or other unexpected online fabric surprises?

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