keelysews... sometimes

The order is in and Jalies will be winging their way to me soon I hope. I succumbed to 6 patterns for me and Judy added 2 of her own. We both ordered the Pleated cardigan and the stretch jeans. I added the Stretch Classic trousers, the Empire Crossover Top, the Scarf Top and the Cami/Tank pattern. Now to just wait for them to arrive.

Since I saw the new Jalie patterns, I've wanted the Pleated cardigan , as well as others. Unfortunately, the cost of postage combined with the exchange rate can inflict some serious damage to the wallet. It can also lead to funny looks as you rush out every day when the postie pulls up, but that's probably a whole 'nother story. After all, why would he be at all curious about the contents of large envelopes after a slightly crazed-looking woman rushes out each morning to watch him, then grabs the envelope before he even puts it in the box....? One day I should really open one and show him the Ottobre/patterns just so he knows it's all legit, lol. But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, unfortunately... scary costs etc. That leads us to the ' Fortunately' . Fortunately, Patternreview is having a 20% off sale for FOPR members until the end of January. I knew there was a reason I renewed (apart from not losing the catalogue of all my patterns. Believe me, after the t...

Well, okay.... this post has been sitting, all typed up waiting for photos, for 2 weeks now. So, lets just call it 'Last fortnight....' :) Week 1: What does 15 minutes at a time get you? The sleeves got sewn into the check shirtdress. When DD tried it on I found it was a bit tight across the shoulders so I let the back armscye out a smidgeon to provide a bit more ease. It's still sitting on the desk waiting to be finished... Oops, you can tell this has been sitting 'folded' on my desk for a while. It still needs the hem done, belt loops, belt, and buttonholes. All those buttonholes. I dug out and hemmed a UFO - Jalie 2682, to wear out to dinner on Thursday a week or so ago. (Sorry, the photo quality is a bit rough. That's what happens when my photo helpers are all tucked up in bed.) This top was sewn over a year ago and I blogged about it then. When I looked at it I realised that I'd shaped the sides after I'd taken the original photo. It only took me...

DS is off camping next week. Even though this will technically be the first week of summer the weather doesn't always take notice of what it's supposed to be doing. As DS has activities like tramping on Mt Cook and apparently walking up a glacier planned, some thermals are considered a good idea. Lacking a specific thermal underwear pattern, I decided to see what I could make work. These were very quick and rough sewing. I used Jalie 2805 to recut a puchased (on end-of-season sale) XL polyprop top. Yes, I know the Jalie is a womens t-shirt pattern but DS doesn't (yet). ;) I took the shaping out of the side seams and cut a size smaller than DS chest measurement. The result is a pretty good fit for a thermal top and the benefit is that DD1 can also wear it if necessary. :) DS asked for the topstitching to be in the fluoro yellow cotton which was still on my machine from DD's smiley face jacket. This was one of the projects that suffered from the twinneedle issues - it do...

Last night I was grumbling about net services etc and not being able to post the photo of my Jalie top. Then Hubby made a very good point - why is it I hate having my photo taken because I hate photos of myself, yet I'll happily splash photos of myself over pattern reviews and my blog? Weird, huh? I couldn't come up with a proper answer. The best I could do was that it was perhaps because in those photos the focus will be on the outfit. I hope. :) Talking of photos... Not the smoothest segue but here it is - Jalie 2682: Sorry, it is an absolutely awful photo, taken at night. The biggest problem with poly interlock is the static cling factor. Within a few moments this was sticking to me. Wearable perhaps - under a jacket, lol. Oh, and it still needs hemming. Yesterday I made a quick dress for DD2 to wear for Medieval Feast day at school today. They were told they could just wear their party dresses but my poor deprived child doesn't have one of those that fits either, lol. I...

On the 'Sewing Down Under' thread on Patternreview we're having an unofficial and fairly casual Jalie sew-along which is a good motivator. I had my new Jalies to tempt me, but I decided to try 2682 first - partly because it's winter here and I thought a bit more coverage might be nice, but also because I've liked the look of this top since I saw it. I love the colour of the top the model is wearing. (Of course, I'd love to look like the model too....) I did some size blending. I traced CC for the shoulders, and went out to EE for the sides. I've read that Jalies can be close-fitting so wanted room to play with and it's much easier to cut fabric off than try to put fabric in! I also took the bodices and bottom pieces down to the length of the EE as I like my tops longer. To allow for 'the girls' I also added 2 cm to the length of the front bodice. I've used a cheap poly interlock as a muslin and I think it's wearable. I took in the sides ...

The new Jalies are up on Patternreview . And next week some will be winging their way to me! They should arrive around the time my exams finish - great timing. I couldn't blog about this until I broke the news to Judy that Jalie 2787 was also winging it's way over as a present for her. I think she's happy. ;-) On the way are 2805 - A good basic tee. I can see this getting a lot of use for my 2 DD's. J 2806 - This one's for me. And maybe DD1. J 2795 - I can just see this on my two DD's . I'm intrigued by the 'Hoddie' title. and J 2794 - I really liked the top Debbie made so I've decided to give it a go. And just to make it fun, the stash contest will be running again at Patternreview so I might even get to enter something. :-) Does anyone else do this? You can't sew, but you keep thinking about sewing so you end up buying fabric and patterns instead. I need to sew something and soon - otherwise I really will be keeping the economy going!