You Sew, Girl

I have just added a groovy new sewing book - You Sew, Girl  to my sewing library.  I found it in a fabulous bookshop in Manuka (Canberra).  This book has just hit the streets and is written by Nicole Mallalieu, a fashion designer and bag maker from Melbourne.  The book is full of great sewing tips, projects and patterns suitable for the beginner sewer through to those with more advanced skills (I'm somewhere in between).  There are some funky pattern-free projects for tops and skirts which I am keen to try out.

Panel skirt featured on page 163 of You Sew, Girl

It is great to see a sewing book by an Australian designer - it is lots of fun, check it out!

Holidays

We have spent the last 10 days holidaying in Canberra, with a quick trip to visit my old home town of Nimmitabel and surrounding area.  We have had a lovely time, visiting some of the sights:

*New & Old Parliament House  *The Mint  *The War Memorial  *Questacon  *The National Art Gallery  * The National Library  *peddling and walking around Lake Burley Griffin  *visiting friends  *making new friends  *and a little shopping.

Parliament House





View from Parliament House, over Old Parliament House and the War Memorial in the distance



Peddle boating on Lake Burley Griffin

We took a drive down to Cooma (where I went to high school), on to Jindabyne, Charlotte Pass (the highest ski resort in Australia), Dalgety (on the Snowy River) and then on to Nimmitabel.  My family moved to Nimmitabel when I was 8, so this is my home town!  I have no family left in the area now, but it will always be home.  It was fun taking the girls to see my old school and to show them around the town - which takes no time at all (population of Nimmitabel is about 250).

Historic Mill - Nimmitabel

I love gum leaves

Mt Kosciusko National Park, Charlotte Pass

Lake Jindabyne

Poplars on the Snowy River, Dalgety


We all enjoyed the beautiful autumn colours of the trees, something we don't see in Brisbane (being sub tropical).  The girls loved looking for acrons and collecting leaves of different colours.  Seeing the yellow leaves of the poplar trees, which are everywhere down there, took me straight back to my childhood. 

Just kidding around

This week at Sew Weekly the theme was "Just kidding around", we had to use a photo from our childhood as inspiration for an outfit. There aren't many photos of me as a child that don't include a school uniform, or wearing a particularly ugly yellow safari style suit (ughh), so this photo is what I decided to use ...




I am 10 and my sister is 2. Shirred top dresses always make me think of my childhood. I grew up in the Snowy Mountains, where summer usually lasted about ohhhh a week! So summer dresses were not plentiful in my wardrobe. My aunt (who lives in Queensland) sent me a summer dress every christmas, and this is one she made for me - I loved this dress!

The shirred dress idea fitted in perfectly this week, as I had about one hour spare to sew (between school cross country events, getting organised to go away, hairdresser etc,etc). I found this piece of fabric which had all the work done, all I had to do is one seam! Not much of a contribution I know, but some weeks have got to be easy!





Terrible photo as well, taken very early on Thursday morning in between running around the house doing last minute stuff - sorry!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Canberra

Holidays in Canberra

I am in Canberra, the capital city of this wonderful country (Australia for those who don't know). I am holidaying with my lovely family here for 10 days. This is a bit like visiting memory lane for me, as Canberra was the closest city to the town where I grew up - the lovely little village of Nimmitabel. Nimmitabel is about 160 km from Canberra in the beautiful Monaro region of the Snowy Mountains.

There is heaps to do here. We only arrived on Thursday afternoon & so far we have visited Parliament House, peddled around Lake Burley Griffin in the peddle boats, visited the War Memorial, had a good drive around and do some shopping! (I'm pooped already!). Still to go is the National Gallery (tomorrow), Questacon, the Mint, the National Museum and a heap of other stuff I can't remember. Plus I'm going to catch up with an old school friend that I haven't seen for nearly 20 years!

I am using an Ipad & can't work out how to add photos, so need to do some research (or ask Mr R when he's finished his kip). Stay tuned .....

Not so glamourous apron

Over at Sew Weekly last week the challenge was to make an apron and this Burda dress in black to show off the apron.  I decided to push the rule a little, and use black with white polka dots (as I DO love dots).  I did have great plans for this vintage glamour apron,

but, "Alice" got in the way.  Alice took up so much time that I found myself on Sunday morning with no dress or apron!  So it was flat-strap sewing yesterday, in between spending quality time with the family.  At 10.30 pm, when I finally finished my dress, I had no energy left for the gorgeous glamourous apron, so I quickly threw one together of my own design - design inspiration coming from a piece of gathered broderie angelaise I found in my stash.  This is what I finished up with

The dress went together very nicely - I do like burda patterns, and this one had a neat way of doing the lining.  I will make this dress again, but with some changes - the neckline is a little too big and as I'm not really very fond of gathered waists, I will do pleats instead, or make the skirt more a-line.

Alice triumphs

The hours invested in "Alice" was worth it as I watched Miss A dance as Alice in a contemporary routine "Mad Hatter" on Saturday afternoon - she was amazing! (yes - I am very biased, but she is good) - oh and the dress looked great as well.  Here are some photos taken on Sunday in our garden...

Miss A takes her dancing very serious, it was wonderful to watch her perform and do well, I am so proud of her.

Liebster Award

A huge thank you to Charlotte at Sew Far Sew Good - the first person to be a "follower" of my blog for passing on the

Award to me.  I am so flattered that Charlotte enjoys my blog, as I feel it is very much a "work in progress" - but I guess that's the whole point.

I have just had a quick search to find out a little more about what it means to be given a Liebster blog award, and it appears "spreading the word" is the objective.  The award is given to bloggers you enjoy and who have less than 300 followers (I just scrape in with 3!).

As part of accepting this award, you are required to:

1.   Create a post on my blog and add the Liebster blog image

2.   Link back to the person who gave me the award - done, see link above.

3.   Choose 3-5 of my favourite blogs, link to these in my post and then tell them that you are passing on the award to them.

Here are are the blogs I'm passing the award on to:

Modern Vintage Cupcakes

Marguerite Designs

The Consummate Amateur

And a big thanks again to Charlotte.

Stylish Blogger Award

I still can't quite believe that I have been given a Stylish Blogger Award.  As part of this award I get to share 7 things about me that you probably don't know.

1.  I was born in Sydney (in the 60's - arhhh), spent my childhood in the beautiful Monaro region of New South Wales (gateway to the Snowy Mountains).  I moved to Brisbane when I was 21.

2.  I would love to be good at gardening - but I'm not.

3.  I must be very dull - I can't think of anything interesting to tell! Thinking, thinking ....

4.  If I could do anything in the world - I'd do what I'm doing ...... being a full time mother to my gorgeous girls - Miss A (who's 11) and Miss E (who's 7) - still figuring out what I will do when they don't need me.

5.  My favourite colour is red

6.  I'm going to Vietnam in May - with friends ....... I'm leaving my family at home (this is a VERY big challenge for me).

7.  I don't like playing board games - which is a problem as my partner loves them (he has a huge collection of them)

Ok - there is my list of seven (probably uninteresting) things about me.  Now here are seven blogs I enjoy reading:

Sew far sew good

Lower your presser foot

Hearts Cottage

Rhinestones and Telephones

Make it Smirk

pattern~scissors`cloth

Dragonfly Lifestyle

Nice Surprises

I just logged on to have a quick peek at my blog - just to see if anyone had dropped in to say "hi" (I like to do this as it is still a novelty that anyone would find my ramblings remotely interesting).  What do I find? I've been nominated for not one, but two blog awards!  I'm so excited!!  The lovely Kat at Modern Vintage Cupcakes has nominated my blog for the Stylish Blogger Award!

Charlotte at Sew far Sew good has nominated my blog for the Liebster Award!

I am so excited about these awards - I'm new to blogging and it is so encouraging to get some recognition from readers.  Thanks so much Kat and Charlotte xx

Alice - this is your last chance!

Not being one who likes to give up, I decided to give Alice one more chance.  I cut the skirt off the bodice, removed quite a few cm's off the skirt and decided to add a Peter Pan collar, which I had to draft. I have never done that before - so a little research was in order.  I typed "drafting a peter pan collar" into google (got to love google!) and I found this great link at Learning to Fly showing you how to draft a peter pan collar.  It was super easy to follow and I think I did an ok job at my first attempt.  It has made a HUGE difference to the dress.

I'm still not finished, but I'm feeling a whole lot better about it tonight than I did last night.

I'm not feeling the love - Alice

I have spent the best part of the last 2 days making an "Alice in Wonderland" costume for Miss A - who has the part of Alice in a dance routine her dance studio is doing for this coming eisteddfod season.  This should be a simple task, and I do have a dress - but not one I like.  I think the problem is the colour of the fabric.  I couldn't get the baby blue satin I wanted, so I got this other satiny stuff, which has sewn up quite nicely, but it just doesn't look right.  Miss A is very petite, and I have miscalculated and made it too big, so that doesn't help either.  Although you can't see the top of the skirt in this piccie, I think it is too gathered for her size.

So tomorrow it's Plan B - off to another fabric store to find baby blue satin, redesign the bodice to have a lower neckline and use an A-line style skirt 2 sizes smaller - and all before Saturday afternoon - arghhhhh!!

No Sew Hat Pincushion Tutorial

Over at Sew Weekly this month, Mena is hosting 30 days of pincushions giveaway.  Every day during the month of April Mena is giving away beautiful pincushions that have been made by Etsy sellers.  So inspired by pincushions, Mena has written the No Sew Hat Pincushion tutorial. 

This is the sweetest little pincushion, one I will be making lots of for the school craft stall.  Head on over and check it out!

Shabby Apple Amalfi Coast Swimsuit Giveaway

Head over to Grosgrain and check out these: Shabby Apple Amalfi Coast Swimsuit Giveaway. They are absolutely stunning, the backdrop isn't bad either!

Colette Spring Palette Challenge - completed

This week is the end of the Colette Spring Palette Challenge.  I was lucky enough to tie in the garments I wanted to make with the Sew Weekly challenges.  Just to recap, here was my inspiration palette (images courtesy of Polyvore) ...

This is what I made ......

2 tops, 2 dresses and a pair of pants.  I had intended to make the Oolong Dress from Colette Patterns (although it is very similar to the pattern I used for my Summer Storms dress and a white top - I will get those done sometime in the future.  You can see each item that I made in a little more detail in previous posts.

Following the Sew Weekly and Spring Palette Challenges has been a fantastic way for me to stay focused and to actually get sewing.  I'm looking forward to other challenges that Colette Patterns may host, as well as continuing the weekly challenges that Mena throws at us.  Have you followed any challenges?  I would love to hear about them.

Unfinished business

This week over at Sew Weekly the challenge was to finish some of the UFO's - unfinished objects laying around in your sewing basket.  I am happy to say that I really only had one UFO, a top that I started in December to give a friend as a christmas gift.  Things didn't go to plan, and it was tossed into the sewing basket - until this week.  I'm not very happy with the end result - but it is finished!

(not sure what happened to my hair in this piccie!).  Hopefully "H" won't be too embarassed to wear it when I give it to her - and it's only 3 months late!!

I also had a top cut out and waiting in line - so I'm not sure if it classifys as a UFO as I hadn't started sewing, but as it has been cut out for a few weeks now, I thought this week's challenge was it's calling.  This is the first Burda Magazine pattern I have used for a very long time, and I'm happy to say that it went together very well.  I do love the detail that is in Burda patterns, shame the detail isn't in the instructions!  This pattern came from Burda Magazine 6/2009 .....

I have used a lightweight cotton, which feels very nice.  The neckline - I love the way it sits on my shoulders.  This is going to be a favourite!

Fabric - finally!

I'm running a little behind schedule - the RTW Tailoring sew-a-long started yesterday and I have only just got my fabric.  I originally thought I would get red fabric, but I found this lightweight wool type fabric and decided to use that and have red lining - I'm hoping it is going to look great! (as it has cost me about $100 already).

Things to do this weekend to catch up:

1.  Trace out the pattern and make the changes that Sherry has requested (RTW Tailoring sew-a-long)
2.  Make up a calico

Have you ever done a tailored jacket?  How did it turn out?  I would love to hear about your adventures with tailoring.  Follow the sew-a-long via the above link.