Orange cardi wrap

The orange cardiwrap is now completed. Its identical to all the others so not a lot to say really :-) (This is the 5th one I have made and I love having them in my wardrobe)
I think I shall wear it a lot as this colour of red-orange is very flattering to my skintone.

Pulled in different directions

Having two possible plans for the SWAP has now left me pulled in opposite directions. Am I my one worst enemy? I feel like my head might explode.
On the one side the 'Botanical Gardens' SWAP leapt almost fully formed into being only the other day, and I have all the fabrics for it and it would work in with other pieces in my wardrobe. BUT, but, but that's not what I had planned at all. This week between Christmas and New Year was for making a start on the brown/orange/ivory SWAP not completely changing my mind and starting something else.

Something about the 'Botanical Gardens' SWAP makes it new and fresh, and since I do have all the fabrics already I could just get sewing on that.

Sewing is a hobby, as well as a way to fill my wardrobe. So it should be fun right? And therefore I should sew the thing that piques my interest now, as that will give me max sewing fun. And yet the whole point of SWAP is the discipline of making co-ordinating pieces and not just sewing whatever you fancy willy-nilly.

I shall list out my options here and then go have some lunch....

1 - add cuffs to ivory cowl neck as the turnover finish is not working and there is a bit of spare fabric - a definite as this was bugging me yesterday when wearing, and better to fix it now.

then its time to change thread on the machines for the next grouping. I have 3 ways I could go for this
a) - orange for the top and cosy for SWAP #1
b) - olive for the trousers for SWAP #2
c) - pink for the tops for SWAP #2

None of the garments are cut out yet. The plus for option a) is that I know the patterns and can just cut and sew. The plus for b) is that I actually need some of the trousers to work with other things and if made would start wearing them straight away. However I have not finalised the patterns for them all yet, or found the lining for the wool trousers. Also one of the fabrics has a subtle self check and will need pattern matching which has to be done in good light and with my brain available.
c) Although the pink would be FUN, I don't urgently need pink things in the wardrobe at the moment, and they are to give pep to the olive items, which are not yet sewn.

Back after lunch with a decision.
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Well I decided to go with the orange, so after putting cuffs on the ivory top I cut out the orange cardi-wrap, a HotPatterns cowl neck top and most of the scoop neck top for the cardi-wrap pattern all from the orange. I have mislaid the neckband pattern pieces for the scoop neck top though so hope I can find them and then get them out of the scraps of the orange fabric. I have already made a wrap top (SWAP 2008 - needs altering as too large) and a knot front top in this fabric. I thought it was OK though as long as I kept all the necklines different. Though 5 tops out of the exact same fabric is perhaps slightly over the top, so I guess I won't go back and see if the shop has any left still.

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Facings found! Also cut out all the fabric facing pieces, so a bit of fusing, thread up the machines with orange and I shall be good to go this evening.

Wearing the ivory cowl neck

Here I am wearing the ivory cowl neck with the recently purchased green and white cardi and some RTW navy trousers.

RuthieK's 'Botanical Gardens' SWAP 2010 Plan #2

I have been thinking about this plan for a little while, but it crystallised for me last night. I pulled this RTW top out of my box of plus size stuff to alter and the whole SWAP is based around this.

The neutrals here are olive, sage etc - greyed greens which range from quite dark through to lighter shades.

Contrasted with the brights of the hot pink, coral pink, turquoise and lime.

I will do a 'classic' SWAP of 4 bottoms (all trousers in shades of sage and olive), 6 tops (1 print, 1 sage, 2 pink, 2 lime), and an olive jacket fabric stash permitting.

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I have spent a happy half an hour pulling everything out of my fabric cupboard and putting it in 'maybe piles' if it could work for this plan. I will have to drag it all over to the window later to look at it in daylight and see which fabrics work with each other and the existing RTW items as the depths and colours vary quite a bit, some greener, browner, bluer or greyer all within broadly similar 'damp forest' theme.

I had a habit a few years back of buying 5 metres of fabric when I saw it in case I wanted to make a 3 piece suit or something. ( Kate Mathews' book 'Sewing a Travel Wardrobe' has a lot to answer for here, in particular the wardrobes from designer Joyce E Cusick who has a penchant for something known as a '6 yard wardrobe', 5 metres is about 5 1/2 yards)

So some of these pieces are enough for a whole SWAP on their own, however I AM trying to move to a co-ordinated separates look (which IMHO is harder to do well).

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Fabric has all been auditioned and indeed I can create an olive, pink, lime swap out of the stash without too much trouble.

Only got one lime top though as the 'lime' fabrics vary widely in colour and most were not suitable. I only bought lime for the first time last year so have not built up much stash in it so far.

4 pairs of olive trousers all in different fabrics. One is a 'dirty' denim which will have embroidery in lime and pink on the pockets and maybe some other locations too. The other trousers will be more classic, and two pairs will use patterns I have used before.

The jacket was already cut out and is a long princess seamed style from Burda. I shall shorten it though as the longer length looks dated to me now. The fabric is a sage, pink and coral weave - an unholstery fabric I think which works with everything OK I think.

Tops will be all knits except for one blouse, 1 cream, 2 pink, 1 olive, 1 lime and the blouse out of a wild print fabric which has all the colours in it. The blouse will be the print matching, and I think will be something unstructured with a tie neck from Burda.

The jacket will have an interesting button which will be the unusual closure unless something else strikes me first.

HotPatterns Cowl neck top

Here's another version of my modified HotPatterns Cowl neck top. This is made froma remnant of ivory slinky and I am pleased with how it has come out. I have modified the fit through the body and the lnegth, as well as altering the back neck and the sleeve length. The cowl is all original though!

Wearing the stripe pants

Here I am wearing the stripe wide leg trousers and the orange poloneck (rollneck/turtleneck) sweater.
I think it demos why I should not wear poloneck sweaters as I just don't have enough neck for them.
I have the front neck pulled down a little with the leaf brooch so the seam did not cut across the soft flesh of my neck. I think if the sweater had a deep scoop neck with a soft cowl type collar it would be better.

I now have to decide if I am going to alter this or not. I can't return it as I have worn it all day now.
I do like the colour a lot though.

'Inspired by the Sea' Extra - Scoop neck print top

This was an extra intended for the 'Inspired By the Sea' Collection in November but lost under a pile of fabric ready cut out, and only found when I started to put the leftover fabrics from that collection away to make a start on the Christmas Collection.
Anyway in a new mood of not allowing UFOs any more I have sewn this up rather than leaving it to languish for another time. It came out quite cute and I am pleased with it.
Its made from the famous Simplicity 4076 scoop neck top with gathers, though mine has a centre back seam and elbow length sleeves with cuffs, in part to fit onto the remnant of fabric left from a previous project.

SWAP 2010 progress

My animal print top does not play with the newly completed stripe trousers so it is out of the SWAP. I'm sure Jenni did warn me it did not really go and I seem to have ignored her, but in fact I am happy to have it in my wider wardrobe and will wear it with other things.

I am now threaded up with ivory and finishing a UFO left from the 'Inspired by the Sea' collection (it got stuff put on top of it and was missed!) before moving on to an ivory cowl neck top from the HotPatterns top pattern. Then I think its over to orange and the Simplicity cosy with matching top.

I have a Janome MyLock 134D which I got about 15 years ago and have used almost continuously since. It works fine but recently the fact that its a pain to rethread when it comes unthreaded and the fact that it is VERY noisy (DH compared it to a pneumatic drill when he was watching TV in the rooom below) has caused me to start looking elsewhere.
I am very tempted by a Bernina 800DL from Jaycotts, but will need to save up for a few more months before I can buy it, so perhaps it can be my SWAP prize to myself as I should have enough money by April.

Bernina 800DL at Jaycotts

SWAP 2010 #2 - Stripe Trousers

These trousers are made in my key SWAP fabric and the fit is lovely. The fabric has a bit of stretch which is very forgiving, and the weight means they hang nicely in a wide leg trouser like this. I've used my favourite Burda magazine pattern -  10-2008-132.
These trousers are definitely going to be in the final SWAP. There are a few reasons for this
1- I wear the stripe trousers from the 2009 SWAP and my 'Inspired by the Sea' Collection an awful lot and can see these being as useful.
2- they are in my 'key' fabric which has the dark chocolate background but also has orange, white and gold variegated stitching which I will use for my various tops.
3 - becuase of the colours they are slightly more interesting than basic pinstripe trousers without being crazy!

A little bit of sale shopping

'Soon' at Matalan (a budget retailer) has some styles I liked so I went down whilst the sales were on and purchased these items. Plus two printed long sleeved tees (one orange, one green) and a plain sage cardigan.
I didn't bother with any bottoms becuase I know from the past that they don't cut their garments for my hip to waist ratio. The red bag is to replace my current red bag which has split on the handles.

I don't normally wear roll neck tops like this, but its a soft cotton and I thought was worth a try for the very cold days, or for days when your throat is sore. Of course I shall wear it with a massive necklace!

Christmas Collection cardiwrap

A late entry for the Christmas Collection, this cardiwrap is made up in a black mesh fabric with copper shimmer.
When the light catches this just right the copper sparkle really shows. The rest of the time its a sheer black mesh.
This is ideal for a light sparkly cover up for the holiday period - perhaps New Year's Eve.
I cut the sleeves extra long and ruched the last 9 inches with elastic in a similar way to the neckline treatment.

SWAP 2010 #1

SWAP 2010 - first possible item (not all items sewn will necessarily be included in the final SWAP submission, it depends how the items in the collection play together).

Knit top in animal print poly mesh. The body is double layer, the sleeves single layer, left with raw edges. This has components from 3 different patterns, like the black and gold knit top made before Christmas.

Edited to add this is not going in the SWAP as it fights with the stripe trousers (see post further up) and the trousers definitely are going in, so this top is not. However it will work with other things in my wardrobe so I am OK with that.

Onion Patterns

I ordered this pattern from Shop Onion today. (http://www.shoponion.com/)
Fitted jacket with shawl collar #1026


and then when I was browsing the other patterns I also chose
Jacket with flounce collar #1035

SWAP 2010 has started

Well SWAP 2010 has started. My Christmas guests have left, and actually I need to do some mending of things which use the black thread currently on the machines. So I shall get on with that this evening and start on the SWAP properly in the morning.

I have not done any prep for SWAP, other than thinking and buying, but have not cut anything out at all. So I could start with anything though really I wanted to make 4 things during this next week to have a little mini wardrobe as a kick start to the process. I am also not entirely sure what my work load will be like when I go back into work after the Christmas break, and having a few pieces made at the start will really help.

Christmas Day Outfit

Christmas Day Outfit.
The top is the square necked top in black with tiny gold flecks, and the skirt is black cord with red and gold embroidery and a few red sequins. Its looks blingier in the hanger shot becuase its all being caught by the flash, but the full length shot is more realistic as to how it looks being worn.
The skirt is lined with an orinetal print lining fabric I got in a fabric swap and never knew where to use.