Tag: SWAP 2013

SWAP 2013 – The Winners are

On By Sharon8 Comments

“Blue Ribbon: Dilliander’s  Falling for Autumn.

2nd place: HawkeMorningstar’s Rustic Forest Safari.

3rd place: Sewruth’s Hepburn collection.

Congratulations!!!

We had a terrific group of collections this year, and everyone received at least one vote from someone.  Honorable mentions to Nancy, for her 2001’s Linear Coordinates collection and Sharon for “Night and Day” as both nearly made it.”

This is directly from the Stitcher’s Guild announcement.

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It was so hard to vote for 3 winners with such a diverse number of collections this year.

I was thrilled to receive an honorable mention alongside Nancy it was truly unexpected.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and vote it is a great competition and I do enjoy taking part in such a great community full of friendly camaraderie and creativity that keep us all going along the way.

Here is my Night and Day collection.

SWAP 2013 photos

On By Sharon6 Comments

have been revealed and you can find them here.  There are an amazing 18 SWAP’s and it is going to be so hard to choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd amongst them all.

The voting rules are up on Stitcher’s Guild and if you are a current member you can vote for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners.  If you aren’t a member don’t let that stop you from having a look at the wonderful inspiration that the 18 SWAPs have to offer.

Now I have to work out who I’m going to vote for!

Sharon’s Night and Day Collection

On By Sharon11 Comments

I have now officially entered the Artisans Square SWAP competition for 2013.

From the 345 photos I took of the various garment combinations I had to reduce this to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12.

Before I went to dinner on Saturday night I had emailed 12 photos, together with a brief description for each photo as well as a short paragraph describing how each collection worked to AnnR.

Here is a sneak peak at the final 11 garments in one place, more detailed photos were emailed to AnnR for the SWAP voting page.

Vogue 8572 brown lace top
Self Draft skirt brown suede
Simplicity 2603 brown mercury jersey cardigan

Kwik.Sew 3740 Bronze sequins
Vogue 7937 black wool skirt

Kwik.Sew 3740 glittery jersey knit
Vogue 7937 black wool skirt

Vogue 8815 yellow peplum
Vogue 1247 brown denim skirt

Sewaholic Alma Tangerine blouse
Jalie 2908 brown denim jeans 

Vogue 8572 orange linen top
Vogue 1247 brown denim skirt
Simplicity 2603 brown mercury jersey cardigan

For more details on any of these items if you click on the SWAP 2013 label it will display all the posts that has had anything to do with the creation of my collection.

There are going to be some amazing SWAP’s this year and I will let you know when voting commences.

Bronze Sequins!

On By Sharon7 Comments

This was one of the last garments I completed for SWAP and sorry it has taken a while to show you more details.

I used Kwik.Sew 3740 as this pattern is a great knit TNT for me.  I found the bronze sequins at Spotlight in July last year and just had to have it as I hadn’t seen that colour before.

It wasn’t until SWAP was announced that I realised this fabric would be perfect for a little evening top.

I checked my copy of  More Fabric Savvy by Sandra Betzina and it was suggested I use a Size 14 Jeans needle and a stitch length of 3 which worked out great even on the knit.  I cut the fabric out with my older Sierra Sharp scissors.  Now this fabric is very scratchy on the wrong side so I purchased some dark brown jersey lining from The Remnant Warehouse.

I stabilised the neckline and armholes on the jersey as I couldn’t fuse on the sequins and then constructed the sequin top and jersey lining separately and joined them together at the neckline, understitching the neckline for added stability and of course to keep the lining on the inside.

For the armholes and hem I turned under a 1.5cm hem allowance and then used a herringbone stitch to attach the sequin hem and then a slip stitch to hand stitch the lining to the hem allowances, I didn’t think I would be doing so much handstitching on a knit garment.

and here it is on

I am really happy how this top has turned out.

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Stash Out:  12.35m
Stash In:  0

SWAP is completed!!

On By Sharon8 Comments

Yes I know on Sunday I said I still had 3 pieces to make, welllll

  • I only had to finish the hand stitching on this sequin top for my Evening collection (9th piece) and that has been done.
  • I had already decided to bring in a previously sewn garment as per the rules, this black wool skirt  for my Evening collection (10th piece).
  • then the only piece left was the all important cross-over piece, the Trench.

    After a semi frustrating day sewing the Trench at my Guild meeting last Saturday where I did more unpicking than sewing, I sat down on Sunday night and listed what was left to do on the Trench. 

    There are still 18 steps left to do and one of these is working out how am I going to install a metal zip into the curved collar for the hood.

    I really want to finish this Trench with care and attention to detail and I realised I was not doing this by trying to finish it for SWAP.

  • Therefore I needed a new cross-over piece, so I have gone to the other extreme in difficulty and made another version of Simplicity 2603 the waterfall cardigan as my previous version needs to be retired.

I will be back shortly with more details for the sequin top and the cardi wrap, but thought I’d leave you with this:

Sorry, got to investigate that noise!

Brown Jeans

On By Sharon10 Comments

This is the same brown denim that I used for the Rachel Comey Skirt and I have used Jalie 2908 my jeans pattern that I am very pleased with the fit.

This time the only change I made was to reduce the size of the back pockets by 1cm all the way around.

The back pocket design is the same one as I used on my blue denim jeans for last year’s SWAP but this time I used Gutterman 697 Upholstery Thread and Stitch 47 in Mode 2 on my Janome MemoryCraft 5200 which I think is a triple straight stitch.  You also saw here how I had initially sewed them on, this looks much better.

You may have noticed I have added a small design feature a second rivet at the top of  the back pockets, well I got a bit carried away with putting the rivets on and accidently caught extra fabric in the Prym Tool and had this hole to cover.

The fabric I used for the pocket lining is left over from this bag.

Now for the rest of the details:

Jeans button and zip

Coin pocket and rivets

This completes my Everyday collection for SWAP and is my 8th piece.

Ann who has been one of the contestants for the Great British Sewing Bee, is also our co-ordinator for all our photos for the SWAP so luckily for me the SWAP deadline has been moved to 10 May as I still have 3 garments to complete.

Episode 3
Episode 4

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Stash Out:  8.85m
Stash In:  0

Rachel Comey Skirt – V1247

On By Sharon20 Comments

This is another pattern that has been extensively reviewed at Pattern Review for both the top and the skirt and I have fallen in love with the simplicity of the skirt with its interesting pockets.

I have used a chocolate brown denim that I purchased from Kerryn’s Fabric World in March 2012 and made the following changes to the pattern:

  • added 15 cm (6″) to the length as this skirt is very short
  • checked that the hip/waist shape was the same as my self drafted skirt
  • since this was stretch denim, I took 0.5cm (1/8″) extra in at the waist.
This skirt is very quick to make, well with my limited time anyway, it was less than a week from when I cut it out to when it was completed, although I didn’t add the bias binding to the seams as I was lining this skirt.
Lining and twill tape waistband.
Invisible zip and seam matching
Quilting cotton for the pocket lining.

The pockets are wonderful, they don’t gape and it is so easy to slide your hands into them.

This skirt is my for my Everyday Collection of my SWAP and is my 7th piece.

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For those interested, I have added some additional photos for my lace top.
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Stash Out:  7.45m
Stash In:  0

A lacey top

On By Sharon24 Comments

The last month has been absolutely crazy due to work however I have been able to get 10 – 15 minutes most mornings in my sewing room and this is the result.

This fabric has been in my stash since 2009 when my sewing buddies and I  headed to Melbourne for 4 days of fabric shopping.

Then when I decided to do an “Evening Collection” for my SWAP this fabric just had to have its day.

I took me a while to work out what design I wanted to use and it was during one of my Pinterest sessions I found this wonderful top by Lover and realised that the lines were very much the same as my TNT blouse pattern.

Luckily the lace has a two way pattern, so I could use the scallop edge effectively for all the pieces.

Again there is not much to tell on this blouse, except I have used French Seams, a purchased satin bias tape for the neckline, Hong Kong finish for the armholes using sun silky, with an invisible zipper in the left hand side seam.

And here it is:

Nearly the same pose!

Satin bias tape binding on the neckline
Satin bias tape handstitched to the wrong side and french seams
Hong Kong finish on invisible zip and armholes

This is my 6th piece for SWAP, I really need to find some more time to sew, especially as the Trench has only been cut out!

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BTW, due the amount of spam comments I have been receiving I have changed my comments to be moderated and may have to stop allowing Anonymous comments. Deleting the spam comments is not a fun part of blogging.  
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Stash Out:  6.65m
Stash In:  0

Glittery Jersey

On By Sharon13 Comments

I mentioned in this post that I have started working on my Evening Collection for the 2nd half of my SWAP.

My wardrobe has very little evening styled garments in it, and during the year I do have a number of dressy occasions to attend and this hopefully will reduce the mad sewing for an event for a while.

When Ann from Gorgeous Fabrics posted her Gala Top I quickly popped over to her online shop and found some fabric named Disco Glam Jersey – Bronze and just had to have it.  Luckily my boss was in the USA at the time and he so kindly agreed to be my courier. 
When this arrived, I knew exactly what it would be, it has such a wonderful drape! 
Another KS 3740 the wonderful cowl top, but this time I have made it sleeveless.
For this version I have:
  • taken out 1cm (3/8″) from the underarm to tapering back to nothing 4cm (1 1/2″) lower
  • as the fabric has a bit of weight to it, I have added a ribbon across the back neck to keep it from falling off my shoulders.
So here is my first top for the Evening Collection of my SWAP.

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Stash Out:  4.95m
Stash In:  0

Lemon Peplum and Suede Skirt

On By Sharon22 Comments

I have joined the large number of people at Pattern Review to make the peplum blouse Vogue 8815.

After reading the pattern information and checking out all the reviews, I noticed that the peplum starts 1″ above your waist and I wanted mine to start on my waist.

I decided to make up a quick muslin of this top and found the following:

  • The waist/peplum seam does sit on my waist, no adjustment!
  • It needed a square shoulder adjustment of 8mm (1/2″)
  • Took out 1cm (3/8″) from the underarm tapering too nothing at the waist
  • Changed the neckline to that of my Vogue 8572 blouse

This lemon fabric is Vienna, 100% polyester purchased From Kerryn’s Fabric World in 2010 and this colour works so well in my wardrobe and you have seen it before here.

The pattern instructions have you finish the armholes, neckline and hem with purchased bias binding, so I have cut bias strips and used my Clover 18mm bias tape maker to make them as there was no way I was going to get bias to match this colour.

As this fabrics frays madly, I have used French Seams and added a Hong Kong finish on the zip seams.

The hem is on the bias so I have finished this the way that the Vogue instructions advise.

This is my 3rd top and final top for the Everyday Collection of my SWAP, so I now need to focus on the 2 bottoms for the Everyday Collection.

The skirt I am wearing is my Self Drafted Skirt pattern and I have used a brown suede like poly spandex fabric from Kerryn’s Fabric World purchased June 2012.

The lovely thing about this pattern is that I managed to cut it out (fabric and lining) before heading off to one of my ASG Groups and had it completed (including attaching the lining) ready for the hem to be levelled by my DH so I could finish of the hems.

What I forgot was that this skirt used to sit on my hips and seeing I had adjusted this pattern the same way I did this skirt  my hem allowance ended up being a mere 1.5cm oops.  I prefer a hem allowance of at least 3cm, so off to Spotlight to purchase some 25mm brown bias tape.

I finished the hems for both the skirt and lining as I have for all my skirts.

This skirt is my first piece for the Evening Collection of my SWAP.

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Stash Out:  Skirt and Top = 1.6m (not including lining)
Stash In:  0