Christmas Top?

we're moving the day after tomorrow so no more sewing :-( for a bit but have been reading some Burda mags, and found this top in June 2008 which I thought would be great in a stretch knit with some sparkle for Christmas.

New Look 6735 Print Knit Top

New Look 6735 Print Knit Top

SWAP Stage 1: update

Modifications to original plan

My original plan was drawn up without consulting with fabric reality, as such I have been unable to find suitable fabrics for a few of the garments, but found other fabrics which could be used in the SWAP instead.

Original plan - staying the same
Pinstripe jacket
Pinstripe pants
Pinstripe skirt
Plain dark pants
Ivory satin wrap blouse
Turquoise wrapover top
White/teal print scoop neck tee

Additions
Turquoise crinkle skirt
Turquoise floral print blouse.
Turquoise knit top
Teal/charcoal scoop neck top

Move into Stage 2
Plain dark skirt moves into Stage2
Cowl neck sweater in sweater knit moves to Stage 2 (difficult to fit under jacket)

Deletions
Ivory knit shell is removed as no suitable fabric
Dark plain blouse removed as no suitable fabric

I will draw up a new plan over the weekend and post it when its ready.

Teal crinkle Multisnit skirt completed

Teal crinkle Multisnit skirt completed and being worn (less good :-( )

Skirt Inspiration

I was inspired last year by these skirts from 'Per Una' (a line at Marks and Spencer).

16 panel skirt

I am going to start my SWAP sewing with this 16 panel skirt from Danish independent pattern company Multisnit - this is taken from Multisnit 3.35.
At the moment I have just traced off the pieces, lengthened the skirt panel and added seam allowances.
Tomorrow I shall cut out the teal crinkle fabric. I think even lengthened I should be able to cut it out from 2m of fabric.
I plan to have exposed serged seams showing on the outside, but I suppose I'll see what they look like when they are done.

3 cool patterns swapped plus one purchased

On the PR weekend we did a swap of patterns, buttons and fabric, I got some great stuff, but it was all pretty amicable, each of us choosing whatever appealed to us.

These 3 patterns came home with me from the swap

McCall's 4161 panelled skirt



Today's Fit V7903 shirt



Hot patterns Classix Nouveaux Great White Shirt

And I purchased New Look 6735 at full price!!!!

Preston weekend

In addition to the fabrics I already picked out of my stash to use for the SWAP, some of which are only OK rather then fabulous, I bought quite a few matching fabrics at the sewing weekend in Preston. Plus thread, buttons, ribbon lace trim etc etc at some great Haby stalls on Preston market.

Abakhan fabrics, Preston
- Brown lace knit (maybe)
- teal ribbon for trim

Washable fabrics, Preston
- teal/grey/turq print - bought this same print/colourway in knit and woven poly as could not decide which to get!

Fabrix, Lancaster (a real treasure trove)
- New look 6735 pattern
- Charcoal brown wool for pants and skirt (matches base of stripe fabric)
- Gorgeous turquoise knit (lovely top)
- Teal stretch velvet (dressy Christmas top)
- Teal wool knit (cardigan jacket)

weekend away

I have just got back from our little sewing weekend in Preston. Very spendy, but grrrrrrreat fun.
I took the SWAP fabrics from my stash stapled onto a card and purchased some fabrics which would co-ordinate with them.
I was very pleased to eventually be able to match the browned charcoal grey which is the background in my pinstripe suiting, with a lovely wool trouser fabric - so I can now make plain trousers to wear with the stripe jacket if I want to. This was exceedingly hard to match, but I was pleased with myself holding out for a perfect match and buying quality fabric.

We also swapped patterns, buttons and fabric with each other which was great fun. I have a few cool patterns to try out.
I also wore clothes each day which I had made myself from various previous SWAPs and wardrobe contests.
It was apparent when I wore my home-made jeans on Saturday that I really need to improve my trouser fitting skills. Jenni had a GREAT book on fitting which we had a look through and I might need to buy but maybe I'll try a simple burda pants pattern first to see if they work for me as so many people have good results.

And when I got home I found that Effortless style by June Ambrose has arrived and so has Ottobre design Woman 5/2008. I also brought home 1 purchased and several swapped patterns, plus fabric and notions so I am well set up.

Next week we should be exchanging contracts on our new house and then moving about 2 weeks after that, so I may not get to sew too much before my new sewing space has got set up in the new house.

seam allowance for Multisnit

I used the option on the Fjoelner website for them to email you a translation, and even though it is late on a Sunday evening, got a reply back already!

[quote]All patterns parts should be cut with ca. one half inch seam (i.e. one half inch should be added). At the end of sleaves and pant legs one should add ca. 1 inch so adjustments can be made later.
If side seams are to be pressed together and finished off with a slit, it is recommended to add ca. 1 inch (2-3 cm) of seam when cutting.[/quote]

So the ends of the sleeves and pant legs sounds like hems. So I guess I add 1/2" on normal edges, 1" on hems, and 1" if I want to have a side slit.

I will say that the customer service from Fjoelner has been excellent.

Multisnit

A little while back I ordered 2 Multisnit patterns from Fjoelner in Denmark

http://www.fjoelner.dk/varegrp.asp?la=uk&uart=50

They have instructions only in Danish, which I know nothing of and there are no pictures. I haven't had a go yet because of this, although Fjoelner provide a basic list of terms and their translations I can't seem to work out simple things like whether seam allowances are included or not, and if so what they are. Fjoelner do offer to translate sections from Danish to English on request, so I have emailed the bit which talks about seam allowances for assistance!
The styles seem pretty simple, so I am sure once I get going I can work it out.

Ideas, ideas, ideas

Well it looks like its going to be workable to do this SWAP entirely from stash if I want to.
Here are the current suggestions of pieces.

Jacket
Short fitted jacket in stripe suiting fabric
Bottoms
Pants in stripe suiting fabric
Skirt in stripe suiting fabric
Pants in plain dark colour (brown/grey)
Long skirt in teal crinkle fabric (quite boho)
Tops
Sweater knit top in ivory with dark flecks
Teal and white print knit top
Turquoise knit top
Ivory satin blouse
Turq print blouse
Stretch choc lace top

Extra Pieces
Teal jacket
Aqua stripe blouse
Stripe suiting waistcoat

Trying to match the fabric

Grrrrrrr. I've just come back from going through all the clothing fabric that was in the offsite storage unit and have brought a few pieces back with me and have more options for tops as well as several different linings for the jacket.
Annoyingly the charcoal colour in my 'key' fabric is neither black, grey or dark brown instead being a browned dark grey and as such nothing much in my bottom weights matched with it as they were all too grey, too brown, too blue or too green. I have some fabric still stored in the house so will look at that next in hope.

Interestingly the leftover fabric from this blouse (which was part of my 2007 SWAP and the only piece which still fits) matches beautifully.

So on the PR weekend I will concentrate on finding some matching bottomweight fabrics and something for the dark blouse (the idea of this is a shirt which can be worn as shirt or soft jacket)

SWAP 2009 Storyboard - rough sketch v1

SWAP 2009 Storyboard - rough sketch v1

Wardrobe sewing over the last few years

The posts below show the wardrobes I've managed to complete in the last few years.
(also see mini pics in sidebar)
I suppose you can see that my taste has changed (improved?) as the years have passed.
I have learnt about the sort of clothes I like to wear and how I combine them.

There were a couple of earlier partial wardrobes which are not shown because they never got completed and had wadders etc.