Home Sewn

I went to the Home Sewn exhibition, a pop-up exhibition celebrating New Zealand home sewing.  It was pretty well done, but small.  There were about 30 odd dresses, from the 1930's to now.  Here are a couple of my favorites

 This one was so cute, and impeccably sewn.  I love the green contrast on the bodice and pockets. 

 I liked the cut-on sleeves on this one, and the belt is homemade as well.  Very cute. 

 This was a very simple sheath dress, but I thought the shaping on the side was genius.  It had two panels curved in to add shape to the bodice.  I haven't seen anything like it. 

 Finally, they had a few cases of 'treasures' most of it I had seen before, but this trouser presser was new to me.  My husband can't even get me to iron his shirts, never mind press creases in his pants.  I don't really get how this can make life easier though, wouldn't an iron be almost as good?

The main reason I went to the exhibit though was to buy the book.  They published a book with the history of home-sewing and fashion in New Zealand.  As an added bonus, there are 10 patterns from 10 different designers in NZ.  Papercut Patterns has a great skirt pattern in it that I'm dying to try.  After the exhibit I went to a little coffee shop around the corner, in Queen's Arcade, they have the best coffee and coconut rough slices in Auckland.  The book is great, well worth the money.

The Seamless Pledge

I'm the featured pledger today on Len's awesome blog Seamless.  As I said there I'm still committed to the pledge, with the occasional slip. I work full-time and try to spend as much time as possible with my little one, so I do the best I can.  It's carried over to other aspects of our life.  We moved to New Zealand to try to become less consumption focused, and we try to avoid buying things, except what we really need.  I'm sure as the little one grows he'll become more demanding, but for now he doesn't care.

I have been sewing (slowly)  I attended a great sewing retreat yesterday, organized by Ange and Anissa.  I spent most of my time basting organza to wool for my upcoming peplum top, but I also cut out stencils to make my son some new t-shirts/singlets.  I bought him a Spiderman t-shirt a week ago, and he's been wearing it non-stop.  Instead of buying him more expensive (and gaudy) superhero t-shirts I decided to make some myself with plain shirts.  Here he is in his Superman t-shirt.

And his best superman impression:

He loves it.  I also made his pants, elephant pants v.2.0 (the first pair was pants, became high-waders and then shorts as he grew).  I also need to stop cutting his hair myself . . .

(Edited to add additional photo and expand text)

My sewing space - before picture

I was so excited to come home today to a little package in the mailbox, my new sewing fabric!  I know the keep calm thing has been done to death, but I love it :)  . 
I have decided to do a mini-sewing area makeover to make it a bit prettier.  Here is what my sewing corner looks like now:

My current sewing space is a corner of our kitchen, so I share my storage space with plates and bowls.  When we moved in I took over the closed-in porch as a sewing space, but it was too cold, and small, so now it's just fabric storage.  I have a very understanding husband. 

It's a little cramped.  The desk is on sliders, so I can slide it out a bit.  The frame on the wall has a 4"x4" (10cmx10cm) cross-stitch of my face, my husband has a matching one.  When he was living in NZ and I was in the States I used to fly on points to visit him, 30 hours each way.  I did most of the cross stitches on the journey.  

 I keep my current projects in two bins in the buffet.  The other two doors hold our dishes. 


My plans are pretty basic, as we're moving into a new place in 3-4 months.  I am going to paint and recover the stool with the awesome keep calm fabric. 

I'm also going to paint the desk white, with two metallic stripes that cross on the top.  I'll get new handles as well.   It's finally starting to warm up here, so I'm hoping that I'll get the painting done by October.

Burdastyle Dress 08/2012 #115

I needed a casual, comfortable dress for weekends, and I have been dying to make a peplum top, so I made Burdastyle 08/2012 #115 as a 'wearable muslin' (well, I first made an unwearable muslin, then made the dress).  It was quick and dirty.  Serged edges inside, machine stitched hem.  The only thing I hand-stitched was the zipper and the hook and eye.  The pattern includes lines to cut off the skirt into a peplum, so that's what I'll be undertaking in the next couple of weeks.

I was too cheap/lazy to get an invisible zipper, so I did a hand picked zipper instead.  I quite like the look.

I wore it today to Wynyard Quarter, a newly re-vamped industrial area of Auckland.  It's Auckland fashion week and unbeknownst to us they were having a big fashion event (sale?) in the building behind me.  The fashionistas were out in full force, and I can say that not a one was wearing a floral dress with bare legs.  I guess I'm ahead of the curve, or something . .  .

The other benefit of Wynyard Quarter is that the Auckland fish market is there, so we stopped for fish and chips before heading home.  Here's Mr. RP, wearing a homemade merino t.  The little one did not appreciate the pause for a picture.  

Here are some more shots of the dress.

I'm not a huge fan of the proportions.  I don't own any full skirt dresses, and I think they just aren't very flattering for my shape.  I added the belt to break up the pattern a bit, it's quite overpowering.  I also chopped the sleeves off at 3/4 length.  Initially I had them at full length and they were awful.  I don't own any dresses with full length sleeves, and I think it's the same thing, just not a flattering look on my figure. 

The back hem is a bit longer than the front.  I'm not sure if that's what the pattern intended, but the waistline has the same shape.  I like the mini high-low look that's going on, so I'm not going to fix it.  I do need to lower the waistline about an inch all around though.  I did lower it 3/4" from the original, but I think it's still too high. 

McCalls 5927 - 6PAC continued

I finished my blue work dress, McCalls 5927.  I've been working on it for over a month.  First I couldn't find the lining fabric, then once I found the lining fabric I couldn't find the fashion fabric I had cut out.  It finally all came together last weekend, and I managed to get it sewn up and lined over the last few evenings. 

 Here you can see more of the details, there are four pleats in the front and two darts in the back.  There are also pockets in the front, I did the pocket bags in a polka dot silk/cotton blend that I had in my stash, and it wasn't the best idea because when I sit you can see it. 
I like the dress, the fit's not perfect, I did a muslin, but I didn't pick up on the fact I needed a small FBA and the armholes are too big.  I'll leave this version alone, but when I make it again I'll fix it. 

 The back has a slit, which I think seems kind of cheap.  I'll definitely either remove it or put a vent in my next version.  I guess it's kind of lazy sewing.  I put the zipper in by hand.  I think I'll be wearing this alot, and I didn't want to deal with an invisible zip breaking.  Next time I may try a lapped zip, or move the zip to the side. 

Here's the side, you can see that the armhole pulls a bit in the front.  Definitely better than RTW though. 
Overall I'm pretty happy with the dress.  My sewing skills are getting better.  I still have a long way to go, but I don't think this screams 'homemade' (except the pockets, oh well). 
The lining is really comfortable, it's not sticky or crinkly like most of the linings that I use (I don't think it's actually a lining fabric, it was expensive, and is quite pretty)

This was item #2 of my Spring 6PAC, At two a month I might actually get through the set before Spring is over.

Craftsy Couture Dress - wedding outfits

My brother got married in June, I've been waiting (not so patiently) for some photos from the wedding, but as none seem to be forthcoming I thought I'd put this post together anyway. 

In February I decided to make my dress for the wedding, following Susan Khalje's couture dress course.  I thought it would be a good way to pick up new skills, and it far exceeded my expectations.  As a novice, I learned so much from the course. 

I had picked up a gorgeous medium weight silk-cotton blend last year, and I knew it would be perfect for the dress.  I underlined with silk organza, and lined with china silk (both ordered from Dharma trading).  The dress itself is nothing special, I used the pattern that came with the course, Vogue 8648, the sleeveless, slim skirt version. 


I think I did a pretty good job fitting the front, but the back was not as good.  I have lost some weight since the wedding, so I think it fit me better back then.

I used swarovski seed beads in pewter to accent the hand picked zipper.  The dress was fairly plain and I wanted a little extra oomph.
The dress took a _really_ long time to sew.  Most of the techniques were new to me, and I estimate that I spent 60-70 hours on the dress.  At the same time I was making vests and pants for the three ring-bearers / junior ushers.  Two of them live across the ocean from me so I had to mail trial versions (yes multiple versions) to get the fit right.  I got a great deal on a British super 100s lightweight wool suiting.  It was a dream to sew.  The vests were fully lined and had real welt pockets (my first time doing welt pockets), but for the pants I ran out of time, and did fake fly fronts for the two littlest boys. 
I left my son's outfit behind, so all I have is this iphone picture from my sister:

This was well into the wedding, he's working on a chocolate sucker.  I made his backpack as well - but not specifically for the wedding :)

W.I.P. and more Macaron pics

I'm sewing!  I've been working on this for two weeks, I have about three days of hand sewing left, and I'll be done!  A day for me is about 1.5 hours of sewing, generally in the evenings after my son's asleep and laundry has been folded.  Here's a quick pic:

 In the meantime, I got Mr. RP (reluctant photographer) to take some shots as we were out and about today.  With a two-year old, we generally spend our days at some playground or another, so I expect there will be lots of playground shots in the future.  My Macaron is very comfortable, but it's not ideal for playground play.  My son was quite disappointed that I could not see-saw in it.