keelysews... sometimes

Why is it that the day before uni starts back the mojo also comes back? Today I was thrown back into the insanity that is full-time study ( this time post-grad. Gosh I love saying that. Post-grad, , post-grad, post-grad.... ) so, of course, Saturday I had a " what am I going to wear " attack, which of course led to emptying out the wardrobe.... That took care of Saturday. Along the way my linen cupboard also got reorganised which had nothing to do with my wardrobe, but did desperately need doing. And I wonder why I have nothing to wear. Sheesh. Anyway, yesterday I felt I really should do some sewing. I fell back on the trusty Ottobre gathered neck tee ( Ottobre 02-2007-04 ) which seems to be the backbone of my wardrobe. Well, the stuff that gets worn. Because we've had hot weather lately, I made short-sleeved tees, thus guaranteeing the rain and cool temperatures today. Both came from stash and snuck in at being sewn before the fabric reached the 2 year mark. The first ...

Help! I read one measly reference to Immanuel Kant and now I can't get the Philosopher's Song out of my head. (Warning - some language may offend) " “Scientists call songs that get stuck in your head “earworms,” after the German Ohrwurm. " ( The Situationist ). Really? They couldn't come up with a better name than that?

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...

Recently my DD1 bought Dolly magazine, despite, or perhaps because of, my insistence that it was a total waste of money. (Amusingly, 2 weeks later she agrees, lol.) As she was leafing through it on the sofa, one page jumped out at me. The details are hard to see from the scanned image, but apparently the "quirky accessories" now involve pins. Snigger. And you can't see it here, but they didn't even bother putting the pin on the RHS on the back of the fabric. What gets me is that they picked this as the best photo and let it go to print?

Finally I have stopped procrastinating and finished DD2's red Ottobre jeans. This is another pair using Ottobre 06-2007 #32. (The first pair I blogged about here .) I think I cut these out about 5 or 6 months ago and in the meantime DD has grown. These are a size 140 width lengthened to 146 and DD is now 144cm (she's grown 2.5 cm in the last 5 weeks!). The length is perfect, the width... let's just say thank goodness it's stretch denim. I think I've finished these just in time if I want DD to get any wear out of them. Strangely, this pair gapes at the centre back. This can be easily fixed with a small dart in the waistband (or a belt), but it is not an issue I noticed with the first pair. I'd also forgotten that I meant to skim in the legs below the knee to make them more 'skinnified'. I used a lightweight stretch denim from Spotlight and topstitched in red. I had huge problems with the topstitching tensions about halfway through the jeans. I changed ne...

With all the kerfuffle of getting DS off on his holiday cricket trip sorted, I was going to tackle another UFO, specifically red Ottobre jeans for DD2. So I made 2 tote bags naturally. :) I figured that, for once, I should be nice to DH and clean up after one project before starting another. This meant packing away the half-dozen boxes I'd pulled out in the hunt for white fabric and thus freeing up some space in the rumpus room. As I relocated items, I came across a piece of denim. I don't know why, but this denim just screamed to be a tote bag. A really impractical tote bag, considering the denim is very, very pale, but hey, it's been there so long I can't remember when and why I bought it, or how much it cost. I'm sure in stash rules that makes it free fabric, right? Lo and behold, there was enough to make 2 bags. No official pattern used - I just used the measurements from an old and decrepit tote bag that has seen many better days. DD's red jeans-to-be are ...