SWAP 2014 at Stitchers Guild

The SWAP (Sewing With A Plan) rules are up at Stitchers Guild and are really flexible this year.
I have been having a think about what I would do, and my first thoughts are around a fairly classic skirts suits for work type approach.

I have a lovely tweed jacket I made in sewing class some time back. I don't wear it much because I just made the jacket which is a green/black/cream tweed and didn't make anything to wear with it. So my thoughts are as follows:-

green/black/cream tweed jacket (already made)
green/black/cream tweed skirt
cream tie necked blouse
green/black/cream tweed waistcoat (vest)
1L + 1B +  1T, 1W

then spin off into a co-ordinating plain green
green twill jacket
green twill skirt
cream knit top
1L + 1B +  1T

then some more classic black pieces
black wool jacket
black wool skirt
cream frill front jacket
1L + 1B +  1T

and then a wildcard of either some wide legged black trousers or a simple black ponte dress.

I'm pretty sure I have the tweed and the green twill and the cream, but not sure what I have in the black fabric department.
This would all be great and could be mostly mixed and matched with each other, and worn with either flat black leather tall boots or green suede kitten heeled boots.
If the colours got a bit boring, one of the cream tops could be replaced with something in a copper/burnt orange type shade.

I do however have a navy boiled wool jacket already cut out but not yet sewn up, and a spin off wardrobe of navy items which could come from this.

How much actually gets sewn will depend on the new job, which seems to involve travel at least one day a week, and may have some seriously busy periods. I'm also away for a week towards the end of SWAP and will also be looking to buy a house.

I had better get the sewing room cleaned up ready hadn't I!

SWAP 2014 Official Rules
No purchase necessary anywhere; this contest is open to anyone with a needle and thread, regardless of budget or availability of items.  Just jump in and join the fun.

We'll be following Blue Mooney's "Algebra SWAP" formula:

3 "3 packs" + 2 "wild cards" = 11 garments.

Each three pack will be:

2 tops + 1 bottom
or
1 top + 1 bottom + 1 outer layer
or
1 dress + 1 top + 1 bottom

The "wild card" options can be just about anything you like, but they must be "garments" not accessories (hats, bags, blankets, etc.)

A "top" will be any shirt or blouse worn on the upper half; a "bottom" will be any garment worn on the lower half, and it shouldn't be obscene to wear either without another layer.
A "dress" will be any garment that covers both upper and lower halves, and again, it shouldn't be obscene to wear it without an additional layer.
An "outer layer" will any jacket or sweater that is intended to be a second layer, over a top or a dress. If it can also be worn alone, that is fine.
A "bib" garment will considered a bottom, unless it can be worn alone without a top under or over it.

One garment may be previously sewn; another may be purchased. 
If you have an item you're working on now, you may include it, OR you may stitch up one item from scratch before the official sewing date of December 26.

There's no requirement that every garment match or every top match every bottom.  However, all the individual pieces must form a cohesive collection -they should all look like they belong together in the closet.

"Sewing" is a blanket term; you may sew, knit, crochet, weave...whatever works.  If you can make 11 garments with a 3D printer, that's fine.

Sewing will begin December 26th, and all garments must be finished by April 30th, 2014.  Muslins, pattern fitting and cutting may be started whenever you are ready.

You'll need to take a minimum of six photos, maximum 12 will be accepted. Please keep a copy of all images you upload on your hard drive in case SG's server fails or something is accidentally deleted.

The photos may be on you, on a dress form or any other way which shows them well.

You should show how you plan to combine tops and bottoms, and together should show everything. You’ll probably need to photograph some bottoms more than once.

Composites will be allowed, but only if they show details of the same outfit, e.g. a back view, a close up or the “before” photo if you are recycling. You may not show two different outfits on the same photo; such photos won’t be posted!

A single photo showing all the items together will be allowed but not required.

Amazing sewing goodies

My lovely sewing friend J was getting rid of a 'big pile' of sewing magazines, mostly Burda and asked me if I would like them. I greedily said 'yes please' and she was able to visit today bringing them with her - wow - what an amazing richness to work through!

After she'd gone home I went out to the local discount fabric store and bought myself some more fabric and notions.

Serger cones in peach and chocolate, plus 2 metres of pink and white striped stretch shirting.
And a rummage through the remnant bin produced these wonderful knit fabrics.

Top left - 2.5m gold lurex
Top centre - 0.8m snakeskin print
Top right - 1.2 m mint polka dots
Bottom left - 1.5m pink leopard print
Bottom centre - 2.5m of black/grey/cream stripe
Bottom right - 2m of plain white jersey

The polkadots will be nightwear, the snakeskin a little knit top for work. The stripe will hopefully be a cool dress with the stripes in different directions.
The white, gold and leopard will probably all be tops, though they could all be dresses, I just think they'd get more wear as tops.
As ever they will get washed before going in the stash to avoid future shrinkage problems.
The lurex is a little sheer, so may need to line with skintone jersey or use a pattern with lots of layers/ruching.

New work shoes

I am thinking of getting these Clark's shoes (Hallo Star) to wear for work. I'll have to walk quite a distance from where I can park the car, and need supportive shoes which will take an insert due to knee issues. I will see if I can find them in the local store tomorrow.

And to ease you in to the photographs from the trip, here is Cape Town from Table Mountain.

You can see Robben Island in the sea!

The cable cars take people up and down.

And here's me enjoying the view. I loved it :-)

Back from my travels

In case you wondered why the blog has been so quiet, its because I have been travelling for 4 weeks, but am now back. The trip took us from Cape Town along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth, then a few days in Istanbul before coming back home. Wow what an amazing experience it has been.

I may post a few of our 6000+ photos, particularly of wild life. Not a lot sewing related happened, though I did use my little travel sewing kit twice, and would definitely take it again.

I start a new job next Monday and have a week in between to do some alterations to my suits, visit family and see friends, get a haircut, do the laundry and etc. A big change after 13 years at the previous firm, but it was a career opportunity which came at just the right time. I am very excited about all the great things coming up, but you may not see much sewing!

Animal print Buff style scarf

Again a home sewn copy of a purchased item, this is an attempt to copy a Buff, which is a sort of tubular scarf which can be worn in many different ways.

It is simply a tube of a size which fits snugly over your head and can be worn as a neck scarf, beany hat, hairband and various other ways. Very handy for travelling.

Leopard print shoe bag

Latest quick make is this leopard print shoe bag.

The shoe bag is similar to the previous drawstring bag, except it is squarer and the drawstrings just go across the top (so it can't be carried rucksack style). It also has a line of stitching up the middle to separate the shoes from each other. This stitching doesn't go across the casing for the drawstring though.
I copied an M&S shoe bag my sweetheart had got with some shoes he bought as I thought it was a great idea and a bit nicer than plastic bags when travelling.
My walking shoes are in the bag in the photo and I think it'll be very practical as well as a whole lot more fun in leopard print!

Purchased mini wardrobe

Perhaps cheating a bit but I decided to augment my work wardrobe with a 4 part set of black jacket, trousers, skirt and dress plus two blouses, a bag and some nice wooden hangers.

I can't find the two blouses - one is white with embellished detailing, the other is a t shirt blouse style in ivory with an animal print.
I also bought some tights which suck you in, and have boots/shoes which I can wear to complete the outfits.

I shall then mix in my loud necklaces, bright blouses, boots, interesting scarves and etc to create more of a Ruthie style.

Elastic strapped ballet flats

I need to wear an insert inside my shoes, and found the lack of a strap across the instep in ballet flats made them unwearable.
Then I saw some RTW ones with an elastic strap across, and decided today to do something similar to mine to make them more wearable.

Here they are with beige elastic added to the shoe. I must admit it was quite fiddly to stitch on and doesn't look great if you look too closely, but with some brute force and a zipper foot I now have 3 wearable pairs of shoes which is fabulous.
I may also dye some plain white cotton socks with Dylon's Pebble Beige to wear with them, as this works quite well as a 'close to nude' colour for me.

I have two black pairs and a red pair which will get black elastic and be worn with black socks, but not today as i have some other projects to complete first.
These look quite good with pants which come down over the foot which is how I plan to wear them.
The animal print ones in particularly look good with my tan wool pants, and since both of these have previously been hard to style this is great!

Drawstring leopard print bag

Another quick, but useful project. I copied one of sweetheart's drawstring sportsbags to make a different version for myself. The fabric is cut from an unused shower curtain bought from a discount store. It's 100% polyester and frays rather, but is great for these sorts of bags. I am planning a shoe bags and a smaller drawstring bag as well.

I really like how this came out. It is worth keeping an eye out for reduced shower curtains. The plain plastic ones I use as drop cloths when painting walls or as a table cover for other projects. And ones with an interesting print are good for laundry bags, shoe bags etc.

Culotte half slip

A slight detour from the navy boiled wool because I decided I wanted a soft cotton culotte half slip to wear under dresses when I don't want to wear hosiery.
I adapted an elastic waist Burda magazine pants pattern to get this.

Seems comfortable, so will try it under a dress tomorrow.
--------------------------
The culotte slip worked very well so I made another identical one.
For those who'd like to see how I created the pattern, hopefully this picture will help.

The elastic waist pants pattern has been folded to knee length, and the pieces cut out as one. The extra fabric making it more skirt like and avoiding a side seam. I've used the selvedge for the hem, so just sewed front and back leg seams together, then crotch seams together, made an elastic casing, inserted elastic, added a back tag - done!

Boiled wool jacket - cut out at least

I finally got brave and cut into one of my pieces of boiled wool.

I bought this on a stall in Preston market about 2 years ago with YorkshireLass, so as well as being the least expensive boiled wool in my stash it is also the newest.

This is the jacket part of my 6-piece-Autumn-Collection, though it may have more than 6 pieces in it.

I'm making view B without the belt. When we fitted it we adjusted it so the front overlaps and can have buttons/buttonholes.

I only bought 1.5 mentres so there wasn't enough for a whole skirt, but I did manage to squeeze out the outer yoke and centre front and back panels of a shortened view F.
There isn't actually a centre back panel but I created one by cutting down through the back dart and adding on a seam allowance.

The rest of the skirt will later be cut from some dark navy tweed flecked with a lighter navy and white. This same fabric is planned to also be another jacket from the same pattern and then the skirt can then be worn with either jacket.
There may be extra tweed fabric left, but I suspect it is too nubbly for trousers, so a plain skirt, a waistcoat or even a sleeveless dress?

Anyway for now I am going to be working on the jacket though I am in work all day, have an evening haircut booked tomorrow etc etc so we shall have to see how much I manage to do in the evenings.

Lace tee

The same pattern (Santa monica Tee) as the little striped tee from a couple of posts ago, this is a lace version.

I've used the scalloped edge as the hem, added a neckband and a little self fabric tag to identify the back.

The soft green background to the knit was very hard to match, so I used this taupe coloured almost invisible specialist Guttermann thread in the overlocker. It was tricky to thread but looks wonderful.

Dark Denim finished

These dark denim trousers (pants), were in the unfinished projects box, I think because they didn't fit at the time.
I've since got a bit fatter so they fit quite well now.
All I did was sort out the bottom of the invisible zipper in the back, and hand sew the facing to the zipper tape and all the seams and darts.

They are a dark indigo stretch denim with no pockets or topstitching, but should sit nicely under tees without added bulk round the waist and tummy area.
They look great with yesterday's tee.

 I used New Look 6415, taking deeper darts and moving the zipper to the back. The were originally constructed in April 2008.

I also mended the Flag Pocket jeans, as the seam beneath the invisible zipper had come apart.

So I now have two more pairs of jeans like trousers back in circulation!

Navy stripe Textile Studio Santa Monica tee

Here's a little top, cut out and sewn up today.

The top is sewn from the Santa Monica tee pattern (Textile Studio 1211).
I used the short sleeves cut from a plain navy scrap whilst the body is made from leftovers from another top.

I've added a neckband, and used a size L, lengthened by one inch in the body and half an inch on the short sleeve. I also flared out the body from the waist down by about a quarter of an inch. I also added a mock label at the back neck so I know which is the back. We had trouble when we muslined this and I couldn't tell the front from the back.

It is interesting that the stripes/contrast/neckband all work together to give a sporty look rather than the dressier look in the pattern photos.

I am rather pleased with it and can see it being worn a lot with jeans at the weekend.

Next up, the same pattern, only in a light green/white/pink floral lace. Should look very different and hopefully dry quickly making it an option for travel.

T shirt alterations completed

The four side panelled tees

And the the four with a changed hemline

I must admit I am NOT super happy with these tee alterations.
The panelled tees worked out OK, but the pale pink tee is quite bobbly and the white tee has a stain which won't come out. So I think those are going to be 'painting' tees, ie tops for dirty/messy jobs like painting, gardening, car washing etc.

The large tees are as you can see kinda boxy, so even with the shaped hem are a little wide across the shoulders and a little snug on the high hip, so will still need to be worn tucked in, as these are new though they are as yet unstained.