keelysews... sometimes

Well I spoke too soon. Warm spell, hah! Cold, rain and there's hail supposedly on the way. Still, I guess they had a 50% chance of being right (snort!). I worked on the black top last night but it needs more. The fabric grew a bit and it seems I was a bit over-enthusiastic in adding extra for the 'girls'. You can see, there's just too much fabric in the bodice piece, especially around the sides. It's the whole batwing thing. I could do a flying squirrel impersonation with this! And it's very low cut! As I see it, there are several options available to me: 1) I can throw this on the wadder pile, 2) I could have plastic surgery to fill up the bodice but that seems a bit extreme and then I'd have to learn to make even bigger FBA's. I don't think so! 3) I could take it apart (including that overlocked bodice seam, sob) and cut it down or cut new bodice pieces 4) I could leave the nicely finished seam and just put in a horizontal bust dart to take up the ...

The past weekend passed in a blur with errands and attempting to whip the house into some semblance of order (ha!). By the time that was done and I'd finished playing psycho mum nagging the kids over the state of their bedrooms, I more than resembled the proverbial dish rag. I recovered by flicking through Sandra Betzina's "Power Sewing Step-by-Step" which I found at the library. This is a great book with a lot of tips and techniques. For instance, on page 128 I found a slightly different way of doing an FBA. SB has you merely add 1.3cm length at the bust point and then curve the side seam out by 6mm, which you will ease into the seam. It seems to have a similar result to the Ottobre tees. Hmmm. Something to think about. Sunday evening, kids and their rooms tamed, minimum housework level achieved, it was time for some more tracing. Ottobre again, naturally. I made another copy of the plain tee 02-2007-3 unsullied by fba's and sellotape. I also finished off un-mat...

Remember that little problem I mentioned with the tank top neck binding? Ummm, I thought I knew what had happened...... I had put a 1 cm seam allowance on the neckline which, of course, is bound so doesn't need seam allowances. Where's that icon for embarrassed blushing? I don't know why I did that. It must have been the shock of having the house to myself when I was tracing. :) Anyway, the long sleeve tee neckband does have the seam allowance cut off and the bound edge is still rolling out a bit. I think I'm going to be un-sewing this and shortening the band again. On a good note - at least I didn't overlock the edges this time. I did a small FBA on the tee front and used the same fabric so that I can judge the difference the fba makes. This one is a long sleeve tee and more for autumn/winter, ( although I could have got away with it on Monday). The fba gave me the needed room but I've ended up with a bit of bubbling on the side seam. It's almost like I nee...

After a night's sleep I finished the jacket/cardy today. In the end, I kept the easing in the side seam. I also left the neckline shape as drafted. The velvet tends to fold back quite softly so I think this will be fine. Instead of a 1.5cm hem, I overlocked the raw edges and decided to leave them as is. While this jacket doesn't wow me, I think it's wearable as a casual throw on cardy. Better still, it means I can wear the teal Tee I had in the wardrobe. I had made this T-shirt from a lightweight poly knit (Manhattan knit from Spotlight) and unfortunately it was just a bit clingier than I liked. This jacket hides that. :) I played around with the ribbon placement and then decided to leave it off. A waist placement was not a good look. DH did think it looked nice with ribbon under the bustline but there's a limit to how much emphasis I want to put on that area! Instead I've settled for a pin to hold it closed. (What a terrible photo - I look like I'm falling ove...

After debating this for awhile, I've decided to take the plunge and start a blog as a way of keeping track of my sewing. Hopefully this will also motivate me to sew a bit more as well. That, or I'll spend so much time reading about other peoples sewing on PatternReview that this blog will dry up. Really the title should probably read "Keelysews.....sometimes" In the spirit of starting off as I mean to go on, I'll talk about my latest sewing attempt. I have decided I really need to start tackling my own wardrobe issues. Perhaps, that should be more my lack-of-wardrobe issues. :) Anyway, a few weeks ago I decided I needed a cardigan for throwing on over T's. After the success I've had with the Ottobre gathered-neck Tee, I thought I'd try another Ottobre pattern, the knit jacket from Ottobre 2/2006. This is shown on the cover of the magazine and had caught my eye. There were a few obvious changes needed. Firstly, the pattern only went to a size 48. While...