V8648 – The Finished Couture Dress

On By Sharon9 Comments

At last the couture dress is finished, well I should say it was pretty much finished when I last posted during MMMay 2017 as it was worn to Government House on the 5th of May for an Investiture Ceremony as my husband was part of a group reciving a Group Bravery Citation for a resuce they assisted with in Japan in 2007. 

I realised that my in my haste to finalise the dress to wear to Government House, the zip was not as nice as I would have liked it and when your husband says he can see the zip you know it must be obvious.

So unpicking of the pick stitching of the zip happened as well as the lining being undone so it felt like it was going a long way back to get the zip back in,


and the lining, which is sewn in sections e.g. skirt, bodice and midriff.

The final step was to do a rolled hem for the silk lining,

adding some lace to finish it off.

With the wide neckline I also decided to add some thread bars to attach the dress to my bra to stop any chance of it slipping off my shoulders.

I found it interesting that once the dress was finished I wasn’t keen to wear it, it didn’t feel right.  So I took it along to one of my ASG Groups and asked my sewing friends what was wrong, the length, the sleeves or what?  The unamious decision was that the sleeves were too long so they were shortened by 2.5″ (nearly 6cm).

Since then the dress has been worn a number of times and I love the new coral/red accessories I now have to wear with it.

So here are some more photos of the dress after being worn all day at the office.

Unfortunately the jacket hasn’t progessed much further as my sewing time at present is on curtains for the house now that we have a new colour scheme and is also why there is a lot more knitting appearing.

Coral Orange tube necklace

On By Sharon2 Comments

I just couldn’t help myself, I needed a new necklace for another semi formal dinner I was attending.

The same day that I made the Coral Red necklace set, I also made the above Coral Orange 5 strand necklace and earrings.

Julie was very helpful again in working out the colours for me and this class was a stringing workshop held by Bead Them Up.

For this necklace we chose:

  • 9mm Coral Orange tubes
  • 1.8mm black Spineless faceted round
  • Jewellery wire 19 strand 0.35mm

It was then a matter of choosing the length and making 5 separate strands, 

and then they are captured in a cone that is attached to the clasp.
and of course there had to be earrings.
Here we are at the formal dinner.
I am also thrilled thgat this necklace goes so well with this top.

Coral red necklace

On By Sharon8 Comments

I’ve got a new necklace set.

Back in June at the Craft & Quilt Fair I got chatting to Julie from Bead Them Up about how I found it difficult to work out the bead colours for my jewellery.  Also my Couture dress needed some new jewellery as I had worked out that I was going to wear it to the Gala Dinner at the Australian Sewing Guild Convention in Melbourne in August.

Julie suggested I bring my dress and shoes to the shop and do a workshop which I was very happy to do.

I had fallen in love with these Supersoft Marnee Red Patent Leather shoes so they winged their way to me from style tread and we used these as the colour base for my beading class.

Julie and I wandered around the shop looking for a design and Julie showed me one that I really liked which was with pearls so Julie went about and found the coral/red beads for my necklace and earrings.

We used:

  • Coral red coin nugget 17mm
  • Coral red S/drill cube 9mm
  • 14kGold filled 1.7 x 2mm chain cable
  • 14k gold filled bead Rondel corrugated 6mm
  • 14k gold filled bead round corrugated 5mm
  • Wire wrapping with 14k gold filled wire 0.6mm

This is a closer look at the two different beads and gold chain

and the earrings

This is how it all came together with the Couture dress for the Gala Dinner.

I am thrilled with my new necklace and earring set.

Industry Shawl

On By Sharon2 Comments

I can’t remember how I found Libby from Truly Myrtle but I am so glad I did.

Libby is from New Zealand and I really do like the way she encompasses knitting, sewing and jewellery making in her life and the fact that she designs knitting patterns is a plus.

There is an active Truly Myrtle group on Raverly and I have just finished listening to all her podcasts, up to the last few in the car whilst driving to and from work.  Back in March Libby went back to video podcasts and I found that watching/listening to the video podcast make the filing at work quite enjoyable for a change and as I am in the office alone a lot of the time, this is not a problem.

Libby held a Knit Along! Spring Shawl, Wrap up KAL and I had this gorgeous SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock Yarn purchased from Skein Sisters back in October 2017.

Part of the Knit Along was to use one of Libby’s patterns and as I only had 1 Skein of yarn and I wanted an easy public travel knitting project I chose the Industry Shawl and carried it around in my knitting bag I made back in April 2016.

Libby uses a very catchy song on her podcast by Mr Roberelli “Casting On”  and one of the lines is “Cause you can do it standing and you can do it sitting” so I’ve been having some fun knitting standing when waiting for my bus to arrive.

The weekend before the knitalong finished I managed to block the shawl, and it was one of the rare weekends of rain, I set it up in the office with the heater blowing gently across it.

Tomba wants to know why I am up a ladder!

I’m not sure if I will wear the shawl as a shawl

as the front is a bit more difficult to get looking right

so I prefer to wear it more bandana like

which I can then position to fill the gap in the front of my cardigans, as my back is already covered,

the wrap around at the back keeps my neck warm.

I am thoroughly enjoying wearing this shawl and the pop of colour is perfect for the grey days.

#2018MakeNine and Olive Linen Skirt – Vogue 1247

On By Sharon6 Comments

Back in January I found Lucky Lucille and her great idea of 2018 Make Nine .

I’ve tried Make A Garment a month but that just doesn’t seem to work for me with with all the other commitments I have.

So this year I’ve decided to have a go at #2018MakeNine and have chosen a variety of sewn and knitted garments,

and they are:

  1. Vogue 1247 skirt
  2. Amy Herzog Verglass Jumper (knitted)
  3. Kwik.Sew 3740 top
  4. Amy Herzog scoop neck top (knitted)
  5. Jalie Jeans
  6. Tessuti Kate Top
  7. Susan Khalje Couture Skirt (yes I did the class this year, more to follow)
  8. Jalie 2566 Cardigan
  9. This will be a top/blouse I’m still working out which pattern

It has taken a few months but at last Vogue 1247 skirt has been finished and my first #2018Makenine garment is completed.

This skirt was started back in January and has been ready for the hem to be done for many months except life has got in the way (Susan Khalje courses and curtain making).

Back in April I attended a sewing weekend organised by the Bernina Chatswood Sewing Centre and by my very good friend Rhona at St Joseph’s Spiruality and Education Centre, Kincumber South.

So I took this opportunity to get this skirt and also a top which only needed hemming finally completed.

The linen for this skirt was purchased from Pitt Trading back in 2016 during their January Sale and I must admit 4 metres of it followed me home.  It is a funny colour as I originally thought it was taupe but it does have an olive tone to it.

I’ve ended up using the same quilting cotton for the pockets as I did for my Navy Linen skirt

One of the hardest things I found with this fabric was finding a lining to match.  Finally I gave up and used this pale coloured Sun Silky and added some cotton lace to the hem.

I wore it today to a knitting workshop to learn more about the KnitCompanion app that I use for my knitting on my iPhone and iPad and here is Tomba very happy to see me home determined to get my attention with “fox” his stuffed toy.

I still really like this pattern and can see more appearing in my wardrobe but first I need to get some other garments finished.

So my first garment for #2018MakeNine is completed.

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2018 Stash Out: 3.1 m
2018 Stash In: 0 m

Taupe knit top – V8572

On By Sharon4 Comments

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this back in October 2017, it had just been finished but as it was a winter top, it went straight into the wardrobe to wait for the weather to get cool enough to wear.

Fast forward to last weekend, the weather had turned nice and chilly and my top had it’s first outing at the Annual Australian Sewing Guild Rhodes Fashion Sewers Sewing Retreat at The Tops Conference Centre at Stanwell Tops.

This fabric was purchased in the USA in 2011 from the same shop the fabric for my Skewed Cowl Collared Top but this one was a very stable knit.

Working with my V8572 my TNT Woven top I:

*  Bound the neckline with the A Binder on my Coverstitch

* split the side seam 12cm above the pattern hem, also offsetting the front and back hems by 1.5cm.

* used my Coverstitch again to do the hems, and when I came to the corners I raised the needles, keeping the longer needle just in the fabric, pulling some thread forward, turning the fabric and started sewing again, this kept it all very even.

Now to work out what other garments this top goes with in my wardrobe.

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2018 Stash Out: 1.5m
2018 Stash In: 0m

Filigree necklace

On By Sharon6 Comments

This is another workshop I did with Etelage,  it’s called Earring Duo & Stylists Secrets and is it is the simplest set to make.

I just love the colours and the delicate nature of this necklace.

The main piece is a large diamond filigree brass stamping and then you can add the colour beads of your choice to the points of the diamond.

I then chose a round bead to mimic the centre of the diamond to make a pair of earrings.

The set is getting a lot of wear with my T-Shirt with a Twist and also my Navy Linen T-Shirt during summer and I expect it will work well with my Cream Top for winter.

Como Trunks

On By Sharon3 Comments

Still catching up with my sewing backlog, here is a gift I made for Mark back in September last year.

I have read a lot of reviews of the Thread Theory Como Trunks and purchaed a kit back in 2016 to check out the fabric quality as well as the elastic that they suggest you use.

These were made for our 16th Wedding Anniversary in 2017, and the gemstone colour is Peridot which by my thinking is green therefore this olive fabric in the Como Trunks kit was perfect and thankfully quite quick to make up.

For some reason last year Mark decided to wear trunks and went on a bit of a purchasing spree.  At this time he did make the comment that he didn’t want any for his Birthday or Christmas so I felt that I could still give him a pair for our Wedding Anniversary.

As usual the Thread Theory instructions are very clear and you end up with a very professional looking pair of trunks.

The only change I made was the way I sewed on the elastic for the waist, I followed how Mark’s RTW trunks were sewn which meant I had to trim the excess fabric away using my Duckbill scissors.

The Coverstitch was perfect for stitching the elastic in place as well as for the two leg hems.

There are no modeled photos but they are in high rotation which is great, but so far there hasn’t been a request for any more so I will see if that changes as the year progresses.

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2017 Stash Out: 21.9
2017 Stash In: 14.6 m

A striped top

On By Sharon7 Comments

This is the 3rd top that I made during our weekend away along with the skewed cowl and cream top back in May.

I originally purchased this fabric from The Remnant Warehouse for a shingle dress, Vogue 8904 and no matter how I tried I just couldn’t get it to sit right at my swayback even taking notice of all the very helpful blog reviews.

So this fabric has been marinating in my stash since then, still in pieces, so after seeing so many striped tops this year I decided it was the year to finally do something with the fabric.

Once again I have used KS 3740 as my base.

Michelle showed me a great trip for matching the stripes, using Steam-A-Seam you finger press this onto the right side of your fabric at the seam line and then slowly remove the tape and finger press your stripes together,

it worked a treat

The back has a seam as this works better for my sway back

I also used my A Binder on the Coverstitch to finish the neckline

This top also got a lot of wear during Winter and I have found more striped fabric in my stash so there could be another one appearing at some time.

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2017 Stash Out: 21.9 m
2017 Stash In: 14.6 m

Garnet Finlayson

On By Sharon7 Comments

I’ve been sewing for Mark again for our 15th Wedding Anniversary back in 2016 and it has taken me quite a while to get some photos of this garment even though it is worn quite a lot.

Some of the choices from Traditional and Modern Anniversary Gifts suggested Glass, Watches, Ruby, Alexandrite and Rhodite Garnet.

I then remembered I had been given some Sweater Knit from Knitwit by Alison’s mother about 10 years ago that I had earmarked for a smarter sweatshirt style that Mark had been wearing for years that were starting to show their age.

So I headed to Thread Theory and purchased the Finlayson Sweater PDF as I planned to sew this during our Sewing Weekend in Brisbane as Mark was going to be away for our wedding anniversary. However his plans changed so I suddenly had to get this made.

Working from his much loved sweater I cut a large and added 7.5cm in length as I wasn’t going to add the bands.

From my bag stash fabric I found some black twill that I used for the back neck facing.

and used my Duckbill scissors to trim the bulk from the collar which I also understitched.

This pattern went together very well and when I had the sleeves in I decided to compare it to his much loved sweater and realised it was going to be too large in the sleeves and also thought I’d take some extra width from the side seams as well.

The solid line is my stitching line and the dashed is the cutting line.

The final steps were to add some black twill tape to the neckline and to do the hems on my Coverstitch.

Mark has said that it is a different neckline but he seems to be quite comfortable with it as it got a lot of wear during Winter.

This is the only photo I have got of the back view, which shows how much fullness there is in the body,

mucking around with Roscoe

so I will compare this to the Medium to see how much difference there is for the next version.

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2017 Stash Out: 21.9 m
2017 Stash In:  14.6 m