I did it !!!

On By Sharon18 Comments

I’ve completed my SWAP and I am absolutely thrilled about it.

So here are the last 2 pieces, the Minoru Jacket and BWOF 02-2009-108 Bateau Neck Top which I have made before here

These are some photos of the Minoru Jacket that were taken yesterday, showing the hood, lining etc.

Lining and internal pocket
Zippered up and ready for action

Hood lining

Lining and I used sun silky for the lining sleeves

For this version of BWOF 02-2009-108 I compared the shoulder and arm holes with my Kwik.Sew 3740 pattern that I really love the fit of and adjusted this pattern to reflect those.

The fabric is a brown/green/cream abstract print from Fabulous Fabrics (sorry girls I thought it was from Knitwit) that I purchased when we went to Perth last September.

Now for the photos, 7 minimum and 12 maximum which we have to lodge by 8 May.  Why is the weather forecast for Sydney looking like it could be wet all week and I’ve got 2 short sleeve tops, 1 sleeveless dress and shorts to photograph Skype Emoticons

New accessories

On By Sharon18 Comments

Over the last few weeks I have been working on some new accessories, namely necklaces and have learnt a few new techniques as well.

The first is a bead spiral with the netting stitch for the smaller beads.

Here is a closer look at the beads in the spiral.

Next was something to go with the greens in my wardrobe, so to take a break from needlework and get back to using the tools, I worked with jump rings and created Byzantine chains and then added beads in between.

This is better shot of the colours and you can see the Byzantine chain a bit better.

Sewing news is that the Minoru is very close to be being finished, only the elastic at the waist and hem are left to do!!

Unfortunately, I have to pack up my sewing room for guests to stay, but do plan on cutting out my knit top for the SWAP and setting up my machines to sew on Anzac Day at the dining table, I will just pretend I am at a Guild Meeting Skype Emoticons

An extra layer

On By Sharon11 Comments

I’ve finished the Jalie Vest and I am rather pleased at how it looks.

I only did the one adjustment for this pattern, and it was to shape the centre back seam to accommodate my round shoulders.  This is not the way that I do my round shoulder adjustment for garments with sleeves, but this worked for this vest.

However after looking at the pictures above and wearing it today, the back neckline might be a bit high.  I will get my sewing buddies to have a look at it when I see them next.

I cut this vest out of the left overs from this skirt and blouse and this dress.

There are a few things that I did with this pattern, that aren’t in the instructions, but then they aren’t in a lot of instructions either.

  1. Pressed all the seams open, using a June Taylor Board which lets me get into all the tight spaces and then pinked all the seams.

  2. Understitched all the seam edges, even understitching the hem seam by hand as I couldn’t get my sewing machine into the small opening in the lining.  

There is also a mistake in the diagram for (step 43) which says, “pin bottom edge of vest and stitch”.  Then the diagram for View C looks like this:

 

But in fact this is what it should look like, you can’t see the armholes or neat topstitched seams, it is all tucked inside.

You then pull it out through the gap in the lining (step 44) and finish off with some handstitching, topstitching, buttonholes and buttons.

Here you can see the lining, it is only on the centre back panel.

This is item 10 for my SWAP, and it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, so the 2nd pair of shorts are out and the vest is in.

So I only have to finish the Minoru and a knit top before end of April, Facebook smileys

Signing up for

On By Sharon4 Comments
Photobucket

I, Sharon of Petite and Sewing, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’12. I endeavor to wear at least two me made pieces for the duration of May 2012.

Yes, I have signed up again for this years ONLY me made month.

During the last two challenges in 2011 – September and June, I have managed to wear at least one me made garment a day , so this time I have upped the ante for myself to wear two me made pieces (sewn, knitted or jewellery) for the duration of May 2012. 

My thinking is that with the garments from my SWAP which finishes on 30 April, I will have 11 new me-made pieces for this challenge, and there is always the garments I could add between now and the end of May, as the girls on PR are doing their best to get me focused on sewing for the colder months.

Plenty of sewing, but

On By Sharon8 Comments

nothing is quite finished.

First up is the Minoru, which is now at the point where the lining needs to be attached to the main fabric, elastic at the waist, hems and a lot of topstitching.

Then there is Jalie 3129 Women’s Vest, View C that I traced off and cut out on Friday which needs some hand sewing, more topstitching, buttonholes and buttons.

I am very happy with both of these garments and will share more details when they are wearable 🙂

AND, my wonderful Easter gifts,

  •  My Mum and Sister visited on Good Friday for a lot of catching up, and
  •  I was 1 of the winners of the five Simplicity/New Look Patterns that Tilly and the Buttons had to give away from the OWOP Challenge. How good is that!

Now to check out the Simplicity website and choose 5 Simplicity/New Look Patterns.

SWAP Stripes

On By Sharon13 Comments

I’ve decided to make 2 knit tops for my SWAP, so here is the first which is another version of KS 3740 with the higher neckline.

This is the first time I have worked with stripes and it did take some serious pining to get those stripes to line up so I could cut out this fabric as well as to sew the seams.

I saw on the Vivienne Files a great t-shirt in this wardrobe (In the bag picture) which I rather liked and was thrilled that I had a very similar fabric which I had purchased from Knitwit’s Winter 2010 collection.

I also used Carolyn’s Metalicus finish for the neck binding for this top and am very happy with the way it has turned out.

All the seams have been sewn on my new baby, the Elna Lotus so I could see how she would handle the knits and I am very pleased with the results.  I did use my Coverstitch for the hems.

and look at the matched stripes

all those pins worked perfectly.

So this is Item 8 for my SWAP, the Minoru (which has advanced a bit more) is Item 9, so another knit top and another pair of shorts and I’m finished.

One Week, One Pattern

On By Sharon7 Comments

This is the last day of OWOP that Tilly and the buttons organised and I chose to work with Vogue 8572 (OOP), my go to blouse .  Luckily this year I have made two more blouses so I had 4  to work with over the 7 days – 3 x  short sleeves and 1 x 3/4 sleeve.

Here are the 7 days of wearing blouse Vogue 8572.

Even though I have said this after each Me Made month, I still don’t have enough necklaces or scarves to help make my outfits look different, this is something I really do need to work harder on getting organised.

On Monday I couldn’t help but notice these guys,

two Rainbow Lorikeets, aren’t they beautiful.  Thankfully Roscoe doesn’t mind these birds, but chases the Indian Miners that invade the yard.

Not sure why my sewing assistant was so determined to get in the photos this week, maybe he has been checking out Sienna.

Isn’t she cute

On By Sharon16 Comments

She is an Elna Lotus ZZ and they were made between 1968 and 1977.  My darling Mum found her for me and has given it to me as an early birthday present.

The reason I am now a proud owner of this cute sewing machine is that I like to go to the Australian Sewing Guild Conventions when I can and I do like to use a sewing machine that I am familiar with.as the classes I do take tend to be a challenge and to use a sewing machine that you are familiar with makes it so much easier.  This year the Convention is being held in Adelaide so the search was on for a small machine that would fit in my carry on bag and still be within the limits.

There is plenty of room for packing around her and she only weighs 5 kgs, perfect.

Here she is all set up ready to sew (well the power plug isn’t plugged in).

and look at the accessories that are stored in the top section of the machine.

  • Pack of Schmetz 130/705H 60/8 Needles with Elna on the back of the pack.
  • Two Elna bobbins (1 is in the rotary hook and there is a cute way to get the bobbins out).
  • Missing the needle threader.
  • At the top is the quick unpick.
  • I think the Oiler is supposed to be in the empty spot.
  • Lint Brush.
  • Screwdriver, it looks so brittle I’m not sure if I will use it.
  • Cording Foot
  • Zipper Foot

One of the things that really surprised me is that this machine not only lets you move the needle to the left and right of centre, but you can set the needle anywhere between the left and right symbols as well which, “this is very practical for sewing the rims of collars, cuffs, zip fasteners etc.”  This is one of the reasons I went from my mechanical Janome to the computerised version for the needle to move more than one position left or right of the centre needle.

Look how she looks next to my Janome MC5200.

Now to cut out a garment or two and sew them on the Elna to get a real feel for what she can do.

I’m thrilled 🙂

Charity Sewing and more Minoru

On By Sharon7 Comments

Yesterday my ASG Group at Rhodes had a day of sewing for the local hospital.  Our focus is mainly on breast cancer, making chemo caps and berets and this year we also made some Comfort Packs which contain a Comfort Cushion, Drainage Bag and X-Ray bag.  I made this set.

The Group made a wonderful collection of goodies for the hospital and these will be delivered during April.

Minoru Update

During the week I was able to test sew a buttonhole on the rip-stop and used a piece of organza behind the buttonhole and it worked perfectly.

The next challenge was trying to find some Cord Clips that weren’t black or white, and found some at Lincraft at Alexandria, not navy but a mushroom colour.  Rocket Sews did point me in the direction of M.Recht in Melbourne but the cost of postage was a bit excessive for 1 item (pack of 10 cord clips) so I will check with my sewing buddies and see if they want anything so we can do a combined order. 

Getting into the sewing room this afternoon I have:

  •   sewn the buttonholes on the hood and used my buttonhole chisel to cut them open

  • Joined the hood and lining together, under-stitching the lining so it will stay nice and flat and out of sight, topstitched a channel around the edge of the hood and then threaded my cord through this adding the Cord Clips.
  • Sewed the hood to the zipper tape (another idea from Rocket Sews) and then sewed the zipper to the collar.
  •  Pulled up the gathers on the jacket body, attached this to the collar and then topstitched this seam.
  • The side seams and sleeves are now pinned ready to sew.

I’ve had a very satisfying weekend of sewing and if I want to sew after work this week I need to purchase a light bulb for my sewing room  🙂

Minoru sewing

On By Sharon7 Comments

I’ve had visitors for the last week, so no access to my sewing room, but that all changed yesterday afternoon.

The main fabric which is rip-stop has been cut out for a few weeks now and last weekend at the ASG Alexandria group meeting I thread marked the elastic casing marks on all the pieces and started to add zippered welt pockets to the front, after viewing Maria’s Minoru at the same meeting. 

I cut out the lining yesterday, you can see a peak of it in the pocket.

The sleeves are stitched to the front and back and have been topstitched.

I have decided to line the hood, both are stitched but not joined together.  After reading so many other Minoru constructions, I’m trying to decide if I will add an elastic draw string to the hood like Rocket Sews did with hers.  Think I need to do a test buttonhole to see how it works on the rip-stop, my decision might be made for me.