SarahLizSewStyle

Three months have passed since I last posted a monthly review.  There have been lots of things going on and some changes happening in my life.  But that is not going to be the subject of this blog post - it might be in another one though. Just quickly, I have made these trousers over the weekend.  I have an old pair of saggy, baggy RTW corduroy pants, but they are threadbare and not very warm.  So I quickly made a pair of pull on, elastic waist pants from my favourite pattern for this style of trouser, Kwik Sew 2960.  I have made this pattern up six times before, and unfortunately today I don't have time to do a full set of photos.  Nothing really shows up in black in any case.  If  you want to find out more about this pattern or want to see other versions that have been photographed front, back and side, please check all my posts which you can find  here.    I'm also not sure if this is still in print or an OOP pattern.  The fabric I used is a stretch cotton corduroy

 Black is such a useful colour to wear (even if it doesn't suit you - it's easy to deal with that) but a  terrible colour to photograph and blog about.   Some of my later pictures show the top a little better. Anyway, my challenge was to make two tops out of 2 metres of 112 cotton knit (purchased from Spotlight) with wide selvidges. I made one last week, and yes, I did manage to squeeze this out - with a bit of help from a piece of poly/cotton rib knitting that was in my stash.  And using a strip down the middle to cut the sleeves - I marked the grainlines on this strip prior to cutting.  A bit tedious having to do this, but I won my little challenge :) The pattern I used was Vogue 9026, version B(so the rib band was perfect for this): I made version C, slightly modified, in a fleecy knit. That was a  nice snug fit - I used the same size, even though I knew this lighter material would not take up so much ease in the seams,  because I wanted the softer look show

 I had two metres of black combed cotton jersey in my stash, already washed.  Now most knits are 150 cm wide, and I  can easily make two t-shirts or tops from 2 metres.  This knit though is only 112 wide, with large selvedges - each is about 10 cm wide.  This amount is not really enough for two t- shirts without a bit of juggling. (For my U.S friends, I have about 2.1 yards of 45 inch knit, and lose about 2 inches width in the selvedge). I purchased the knit from Spotlight - while I do not like Spotlight, occasionally they do have nice fabrics.  This retails for about $13.99 per metre. but I think I bought it in a sale.  For the first t-shirt I chose Vogue  8536.  As you can see from the line drawing, it has little gathers or easing at the bust.  I have never had this sort of ease in a t-shirt before and wanted to try it.  In my photos, I am wearing one of my padded bras that I hate, because I don't like the round shape - I'm not round in the bust, so it

A few months ago I found a piece of fleece in a lovely blue colour at an Op Shop.  So I bought it, even though it was only an 85 cm length (150 width).  Silly purchase of course, because what can you make out of 85 cm?  So I was a bit cross with myself, and decided I had to make something nice out of this fabric. I played around with some ideas and decided that with some modification of V 9026  and the help of a small pieces of leftover fleece from my fleece blaze r, I could eek out a top.  Vogue 9026 is pictured below:   I chose Style c, the version with the cowl collar.  Ambitious, given my limited fabric.   But as you can see from above, I made it work.  The first thing I did was lay out the pattern pieces on my blue 85 cm piece.  I chose size Small which looked about right. I did not make a muslin for this top, not my usual practice I know, but I thought the fit would be near enough to being about right.  I could get out the back/SF piece (it is in one

I didn't have much enthusiasm for starting new projects this week - sometimes the first blast of winter winds and chills tends to but a damper on my sewing spirits for a few days.  So I decided to tackle those little things that annoyed me  with some of my garments. Firstly, I revisited the Tilton Tee that I made earlier this year.  The ribbed knit I was using was ex--tre--me--ly stretch (like about 100%) and I used a  tape that was just a glue thing when stuck on and the paper removed.  But it made the knit very heavy at the hem, and it also rippled.  I decided that the ripple was sort of quite okay, a bit like a peplum. Trouble is, I'm a more classic sort of  dresser. and don't really like peplums or ruffles:  So I found a piece of leftover knit in a ivory colour - it's a slightly different colour from the knit I used for the cuffs and collar, but it really doesn't show.  I removed the offending rippled hem, and added a band.  Problem solved and I am