Library books galore

I'm still a bit sore after the operation so no sewing for me for awhile unfortunately! But I can look at books instead. Auckland has recently become what it (rather pompously) likes to call a "super-city" by amalgamating all the different councils into one. I won't go into all the politics of it (which are more than a little appalling) or how much it'll cost (WAY more than they promised natch) or whether it'll be successful or not (no idea, suspect not) but the one thing I've been gleefully taking advantage of is the new library system. Previously, Waitakere Library was incredibly deficient in the craft book line. I think they had a couple Amy Butler books and that was about it. But now, oh now there are LOTS of books and I'm requesting them by the handful.

These are the ones I've got at the moment:

The Perfect Fit: The Classic Guide to Altering Patterns This is the one that Google Books has a portion of online and it's a useful book.

I also bought Fit For Real People and it's marvellous - the two books compliment each other really well, explaining techniques slightly differently and more clearly in some cases. Fit for real people is slightly more comprehensive and it explains the reasoning behind a lot of the alterations well, including what order to do them in. I can't wait to get stuck into doing some on my patterns. After reading through both of them it's no wonder I've never been hugely happy with my results in making clothes for myself and find it much easier to make kids' clothes!

Hazel got a lovely American Girl doll for her birthday this year from my brother in NY, and she really needs some more clothes for her. American Doll don't make it very easy to buy internationally and Hazel is determined to get the charms that come with the real deal (hello fabulous marketing!) so I wanted to make some clothes to stand in for awhile.  I like this book All Dolled Up, even though I still rebel internally at the idea of girls and dolls dressed alike. Hazel thinks its a fabulous idea though!  The patterns are easy and done in fabrics more to my taste would actually be pretty nice - both for girls and dolls!

I picked up Sew Scandinavian this morning and all I can say is Huge. Disappointment.  Perhaps I have a very limited view of what the term "Scandinavian" implies style-wise, but is it naf frilly pink stuff? Ruffles? Twee dolls and teddies?  Seriously, stay away from this one. It's going back to the library tomorrow.

Joel Dewberry's Sewn Spaces, on the other hand, is nice so the trip to the library wasn't entirely wasted. There are a few of projects I really like and I'll be tracing out patterns and copying instructions for sure. It's nothing out of the ordinary (another pair of bog-standard pyjama pants or an apron for goodness' sake? Booooring! I was surprised there weren't any matryoshka dolls in there as well) but the fabrics are lovely and there's some nice basic patterns and ideas. I doubt I'll be upholstering any chairs on the strength of three pages of text though! Though if they wanted to give me the finished chair I wouldn't mind (the one on the cover there).

Home!

There's really no place like it, even if you've been in a rather nice private hospital overnight (note: must investigate private health insurance!).  The surgery went well and despite being rather sore when I move and a numb foot again (which should disappear in a few days) I'm feeling pretty good. I still need to sleep off the dregs of the anaesthesia, but much nicer to do it in my own bed!

It's great to get this over and done with, I feel like one big hurdle has been cleared and I just have the marking to do and then I can relax and think about Christmas and other lovely things like that! Oh, and going to Nelson in 10 days to see my Aunt and cousins. I love Nelson and I hope Hazel will too! So there are good things coming my way soon.

The 60s

A friend had a party last night and the invitation said to dress 60s and bring a plate of 60s food. Ok, devilled eggs it was then (and two other people had the same idea!) but what about the 60s dress? When you think about it the decade spanned some pretty diverse looks, from the quasi-50s clothes of the early years, through the Jackie O styles to the hippy finale.  I decided to go for the glam side of things bought myself some false eyelashes and did a bit of back-combing, and raided my wardrobe for the sexiest Joan Holloway outfit I could muster.



I have to say that before I started getting ready I REALLY didn't want to go, I was feeling a bit negative about my personal appearance and how much weight I've gained recently but I tell you what, slather on pale makeup, apply some ridiculously full false eyelashes and squeeze into a very tight dress with stilettos and baby, your mental outlook is all changed!

The eyelashes were great, I'm a total convert! Well probably not those particular ones very often because they were pretty OTT and I kept thinking I had something stuck in my own eyelashes, but they definitely have their uses. And I'm sure I'd get better at putting them on, it took me like half an hour and even then they weren't quite right at the inner corners. I do love the pale skin, pale lips and dark eyes look and I think I may attempt to wear it as a slightly toned-down look on a more regular basis. Or would that be too Amy Winehouse?  The one thing I do need is some padding under the bouff of the bouffant because despite all my backcombing and hairspraying it deflated somewhat by the end of the evening. I know you can get little constructions to do that so I'll get one from Avon and see how it goes. 

Alrighty, fun's over!

Well for me anyways. I've had my few days of freedom and sewing in-between classes ending and final exam marking starting and it's over as of Sunday. And then on Monday I have a wee spot of back surgery scheduled. Like in they are going to put me under, cut a small hole in my back and remove the bit of disk that is pushing on my sciatic nerve and I spend the night in hospital (and hopefully no more than that). That kind of surgery. Sigh. I know I'll be pleased when it's all over but at the moment I'm feeling a bit stressed over it and the marking and sewing has been helping with my mental well being. I'm part way through finishing an Ottobre tunic I started yonks ago but suddenly felt like finishing today! Hopefully I can get a bit done on that tomorrow. And of course I can't mark all day so perhaps can squeeze in a bit of sewing here and there. But I'm sure I'll get a couple of things done by the end of challenge! I feel a bit like I didn't time it very well because I did know I'd have to stop for awhile in the middle, I suppose I thought I'd get more done in the days I had available! Typical underestimation of how long it takes to sew grown up clothes.

I'm hoping to pop back in and get another post in before Monday, but if I don't I'll see you all mid-next week sometime!

Pincushions!

In return for my apple and pear pincushions for Petalplum's pincushion swap I had these little beauties land in my mailbox!

The linen and red one is from Sandrine and the cake is from Bec. Thanks ladies, they're both gorgeous and I hardly know what to do with myself with three pincushions after only having one for so long! And thanks so much to Ellie for organising it, it was so much fun!

1st Anniversary Congratulations

Lyndy over at Stitchbird is celebrating her 1st Anniversary with a fabulous giveaway. Now despite the fact that sending any of you lot over there will lessen my chances of winning I think it's probably worth it (and not just for the extra entry!) Stitchbird is one of my favourite online fabric shops and I always find things that I love there. You know how you can browse around some online shops and find a few things that you like but the owner obviously has different tastes than you and it just doesn't gel? Well Stitchbird isn't like that. She made me go and choose my favourite fabrics for this giveaway and it was hard! Always the sign of good taste in my book :)  I chose these ones - can you do better?

Clothes for Mum Challenge: Basic tshirt pattern

I went very quiet there for a few days because I was busy trying to sort out a tshirt pattern. The first bit was fun, taking measurements (ok so maybe not so fun!) and drafting out the pattern.  Then fitting it and adjusting  it was less fun and more fiddly and I had no idea what I was doing.

This is the tshirt from the initial pattern

As you can see the armhole seams are way too far over and I've got a nasty gape along the shoulder line there.  I drew all over the shirt inside out to indicate where the seam needed to shift to, and and found this very useful video on tissue-fitting a tshirt which suggests that most tshirts need a dart from the armhole. I would never have thought of that because in my experience tshirts don't come with darts! But I put one in and voila! A lovely fit along that seam.

It's an appallingly executed dart and on the pattern I've shifted the position slightly as well, but even like this it makes a big difference. So does bringing that arm seam in.  Of course now it needs a FBA big time as it's too tight across the bust, but fits so nicely along the shoulder I'm pretty pleased.  I have a feeling based on something I read somewhere at some point that you can pin up a dart and cut the fabric from the pinned pattern and incorporate a dart that way but I can't visualise how you'd accommodate the fullness over the bust that way.  Perhaps if I use the seamline as it is when the dart is pinned and then do a FBA on the rest that might do it.  Google Books has an excerpt from The Perfect Fit that has some very useful information on fitting over the bust, including alterations that you could use on a dartless tshirt. The instructions run across two pages horizontally, so you need to look at the top or bottom set of images on successive pages to get the full section - that confused me at first!