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Last year I had a very unofficial goal to sew enough that I could participate in Me Made May this year. And would you look at that? It’s MAY. How the heck did that happen?
I don’t know how we’ll go, I have not magically become a prolific sewer recently. But I do have a lot of skirts. And I do also wear skirts almost every day, anyway. It’s getting cooler but I’ve just been adding tights in. So…
’I, Kate of Craftastrophies , sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2013′.
I can already identify some gaps in my wardrobe. Dresses. I only have two handmade ones and frankly, I don’t wear them that much. I DO wear dresses a fair bit, and there are a couple I’ll miss in my wardrobe rotation. Oh well, I’ll be pleased to see them again in April, or maybe I can sneak them in with a knitted jumper. Perfect transitional weather for a bit of this and that from the wardrobe.
Jumpers are my other gap! I have a fair few but about half are op shopped or knitted by my grandma – usually for herself and then she doesn’t like it and someone else gets it. Of my own hand knits, the only ones I wear regularly are my cinnabar, which is looking the worse for wear, and Cobblestone, although I haven’t been reaching for that much, either. I must get on dying that so it’s not blah brown. I’ve been wearing featherweight a bit but it’s awkward under a jacket, and not enough by itself. So, I think there might have to be some frantic knitting and some repair of older knits, like my rogue which I need to either frog and start again or attempt to fix without frogging.
If only I knitted socks. I could get away with a lot, then. Do me-altered or mended items count?
So I forgot to sign up for this until today, but I am wearing a me-made item. I sewed this skirt a while ago, but the red ran and it looked blah. But I found a leftover packet of dye-run saver stuff over the weekend, and so there we have it!
Expect not many, or poor quality pics, since it’s dark when I leave and dark when I get home. But it’d be nice to get an overview of how I actually dress myself for real life.
So, on Craft Camp I made a Tiramisu dress.
Technically it was/is a muslin. I bought the fabric from the Alannah Hill outlet in Melbourne, but then I wasn’t sure I liked it because it’s sort of a bit muddy. But in the process of making this dress, and taken as a whole in a garment rather than as a fabric, I have come around to the colour. But come to hate the actual fabric, which is pretty thin and doesn’t have much recovery, which made the making process a bit fraught.
I cut a straight side 40D, with no adjustments at all. But then when I went to make it, the midriff section was huge. I don’t know if this was a cutting error or not, I was doing some funky mistakes with the cutting all weekend. Anyway I basically just hacked it back to an approximate size. Then when I went to cut the skirt, I tried to adjust that. I should have just cut it as was and gathered it more. Instead I cut it a bit smaller and it ended up basically the same size as the midriff, which is fine but I do get these kinda saddlebag things where the sideseams are, since it lays flat everywhere else but the bias is different at the edges (I think that’s why). It’s not noticeable to anyone who’s not me, I think.
You can see what I mean in the side view, though, how it folds in.
When I got home I tried to reset the bodice seam, since it was lying all ripply and puckering. Again you can’t see it so much in these photos because I’m reaching up with the camera, but with my arms flat it was more noticeable. However, the thinness and lack of recovery in the fabric meant it started to stretch out, and I basically just made it worse. I ended up just sewing it back up again and it’s wearable but also looks like a Frankenstien’s Monster scar.
(Sorry for the nipples)
The resetting also meant I lost a bit of coverage in the front. I don’t mind the cleavage as such, although I prefer the amount of coverage I got before I mucked with it, but it does show my bra a bit. It really is a wearable muslin – I’ll wear it around the house, which is fine cos it’s super comfortable and I could do with a ;chuck it on and don’t worry about it’ dress for hot days. But it won’t be leaving the house. It’s not hemmed or top stitched now (I ran out of the right thread, from all the ripping) and I probably won’t bother.
I will definitely be making it again, in a more stable fabric. I apologise for calling it a Bastard Dress. Turns out, it was a Bastard Fabric.
I also inherited a Tira from Sue, who made a lovely one from a ponti knit, but which didn’t fit her. She did a FBA and probably didn’t need to.
I was debating resetting the bodice seam, and had decided not to, but this photo is making me rethink that:
Side boob pooch. Do I care enough? Probably not. It passes the modesty test, either way:
Bewbs.
I am also considering doing a teeny FBA in my next version, since the D is pretty good but I suspect some of the pulling and bagging in my muslin (before I stretched it) is from the shape being just slightly off without it. I’m a DDD or an E depending on the bra, so it seems likely to be appropriate. It’s hard to tell with the difference in fabrics, though, so we’ll see how I feel when I get to that, I guess!
I highly recommend this pattern, despite the swearing I did while making it, mostly due to user error and fabric choice. It’s well written, does a lot of the adjustment thinking for you, and the finished dress is flattering and so, so comfortable. I can’t wait to get my grubby paws on the Pavlova pattern, either!
I wrote the draft for this right after I got back from camp. I didn’t publish it because I needed to hem and photograph some stuff. Obviously it took me until the Easter long weekend to get around to that. Whoops. So please excuse the jumping back and forth between then and now, if I try to make it more consistent I’ll procrastinate and then it’s never going to get published. Please also excuse angry face. I just cannot work the self timer AND manage a facial expression at the same time.
Like a bee on a cactus flower
I got back from another craft camp on Monday evening. It’s Thursday morning and it already feels so far away, like a dream. I think it was my favourite camp yet. Not the most exciting or thrilling but the one that I have most constantly, solidly enjoyed. And probably my most productive. Not the one with the biggest highs from that feeling where you make a new friend or cross some border of intimacy. But more comfortable and sweet in that way where you don’t have to think about it because spending time with these people is just so easy and as effort-free as being in a space with other people will ever be, for an introvert. And the food, oh my lord.
I don’t know that I have much to say about it. It was just really really lovely. I continue to be so grateful for these people and these pauses in my year. Chances to reflect and take time and really get into the making. Such a refreshing thing. This weekend I flew in on Monday and out on Friday so I had most of those days as well as the whole day on Saturday and Sunday, and it was just blissful. I need to figure out ways to make my normal life just a little bit more like camp.
It was also the camp where I went through the most thread. I think I sewed almost every seam in every garment twice, and I came home with a couple of things unhemmed because I was out of matching thread.
I flew in with a suitcase that was 100g over the weight limit. Then I bought stuff at the op shop. With some rearranging of my carry-on I managed to fly home with a suitcase that was only 200g over. Phew.
Here are the things that I made:
A Tiramisu dress, which will get its own post shortly.
I also half-made a blank canvas tee out of this same fabric.
I will discuss the fabric in further detail when I post about my Tira, but basically, it’s a bastard. It’s super stretchy with not much recovery. So the shirt is fine, if a bit… fine (read: nipply) but the binding was droopy. I was going to redo it but I ended up just folding it under and zig zag stitching it. I think this will just be an around the house shirt, sadly, and I won’t bother hemming it. But as a wearable muslin I’d call it very successful.
Another one of those Ottobre skirts that I like to churn out. This one in camel coloured sateen from Spotters. Crinkly stuff, curse it. I did back pockets on this one which turned out a bit dodgy but oh well. I neglected this one in my photoshoot so this is the only photo of it. If I can find some camel-coloured drill I might remake it in that, but all the brownish stuff I could find was muddyish colours which I didn’t like.
A red Kasia.I wear my blue Kasia all the time because it’s comfy and simple but not boring and also it has pockets.
The spots in the pockets are a Robert Kauffman quilting cotton that I bought ages ago for a project that I now cannot remember anything about. You need so little of the contrast fabric for this, it’s great. The main fabric is stretch drill from Spotters.
The last time I made Kasia I graded it up and then ended up taking out all the extra width. This time I just cut out the biggest size, which was then too small so I spent ages taking it apart and putting side panels in, and then it was too big. So I took the panels out and sewed it with just a 1cm seam allowance and it’s perfect. It was initially a teeny bit tight on the hips but it’s stretched out enough that it’s just spot on. I omitted the front fly shenanigans, and put in a back zip, as well as borrowing a pattern piece from a Lisette pattern that Sue had brought, and making a little kick pleat at the back.
It sticks out some, but oh well. It makes the skirt much more functional. Another time I would make the whole pleat from a thinner fabric, which would also give it a seam to fold along. I hemmed the red one a bit shorter at the pleat than the rest of the skirt, and it sits flatter vertically, because of that. As in, the pleat doesn’t stick out the bottom of the hem, although it does stick out horizontally still.
I wish I’d remembered to take out the pouchy bit at the back, though – the pocket panels are mirrored on the back and it’s puffy in the thick drill. I should have made the facings out of a lighter fabric, too, cos it’s bulky. But it’s perfectly wearable and I love it. I brought it home unhemmed because I ran out of thread. I also wish I’d done an invisible zip – it is actually an invisible zip, but I don’t have an invisible zip foot at camp so I just set it in like a normal zip. Oh, well.
Another Kasia, in black stretch drill, also from spotlight. Back zip for this one too and no pockets, I couldn’t be bothered mucking around and I just need something real simple to be a wardrobe standard. I just laid the pocket pattern pieces on top and cut it out like one piece, nothing complicated. I used a scrap from Jenny’s intimidating pile to make a sneaky kick pleat, though. (Which sticks out, too. Sigh.)
I might need another black pencil skirt with more interesting pockets. This one probably took me 2 hours ish, without hemming. When I did hem it this weekend I just sewed with a straight stitch because clearly I wasn’t getting around to the blind hem that I had intended, and I couldn’t find my blind hem foot anyways, or figure out how to deal with the kick pleat when blind hemming. So that took me all of ten minutes, plus I had to re-top-stitch the yoke because the poplin I’d lined it with isn’t as stretchy as the drill and it had gotten all wonky when I sewed it the first time, and I had puckers.
And I finished my blanket! Which has been to several craft camps now. I blogged the finished product here.
Such a lovely time. Thank you all for your company, and your food, and your stories.
I finished Sunbreak.
Ravelry tells me that I started it on July 19, 2011. I remember starting it at a Craft Camp. I used one of Kate‘s stitch markers for the centre and ended up taking it home with me. I returned it on the next camp, don’t worry. I think I finished the centre bit that camp, because I remember frantically making up little bobbins to do the rays, as everyone was packing up to leave.
For a while after that it looked like this
I couldn’t really knit it on public transport, so I watched a lot of Qi and That Mitchell and Webb Look while knitting this part of it. This part was sometimes hair-pullingly complex, but I can genuinely say (at this remove) that it was fun. I would do it again, no matter how lacking in calm wisdom I sound in this other post.
The reason it was so tangly was that I didn’t want a lot of floats behind the rays. Because the yarn is crepe ply, not wooly, they showed through and it was hard to keep them neat. So I basically did intarsia. Each little section of colour was its own bobbin. I remember getting very frustrated at how lumpy and imperfect it was looking, but I decided that a bit of bumpiness was ok. Eventually I got to the end of the short rays and it did get a lot easier then.
And then you knit each corner to square off the shape. It’s been long enough that I can’t remember the details of this, but I remember thinking that it was very elegantly designed. I remember a few head scratching moments of confusion, but I trusted in the pattern and it worked out lovely.
Then you block the middle bit like lace. It’s knit on fairly large needles, so it spreads out a lot. I didn’t get exactly the recommended size, so I just blocked it till it was even, and a nice proportion.
The centre is 76cm x 110cm. Flickr tells me that I blocked it in early February 2012. I started knitting the border, although after a whole blanket I wasn’t super excited about that. I decided to knit the longest sides first.
Then, on March 30, disaster struck. I know it was then because that’s the date of the email from me to the Clean Person at the hairpin, saying ‘HALP! I have ink on my knitting!’ A pen leaked on my bag and there was a splodge of ink, right at the beginning of the longest border edge that I’d almost finished. Clean Person Jolie was very helpful but although the ink was reduced, it was still present and I knew it would always bother me. So I ripped it out.
Then I didn’t knit anything at all for almost a year. I picked it up again in January this year. Because a summer of repeated 40 degree heatwaves is clearly the best time to knit. But also, I started it when I found out that my best friend was pregnant. It’s not for her kid, it’s for her. But he’s about to turn one and I thought it would be nice to have it for her by then. Not to mention that I intended to knit something for her 30th which was in February but obviously I am working on a year’s delay here.
So anyway. I turned up to craft camp this time with the blanket, two long edges, and half of a short edge. I finished the first short edge that first Friday there, and sewed on everything I had, so I only had one short edge to go. I was DETERMINED to finish it.
On the Sunday night I had the edge about five rows from completion when I gave up and went to bed. On Monday morning I steam blocked it and sewed it on. And then we had a little photoshoot.
I am SO pleased with it. I love it. The border gives it a nice heft, and it’s as snuggly as you could not-want in the heat we’ve been having. I am so pleased to finally be finished, and I’m really pleased with it as a piece of work, and proud of my own skill.
With the border it is 93cm x 120cm. I lost track of the amount of yarn I used, because of the shenanigans with the bobbins, but it weighs just over 900g, so I’d say I used 4 and a bit balls of blue (Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic in Tasman), and maybe a quarter of a ball of the yellow, which is an unknown yellow in Classic that I bought at their mill. Which is a shame because it’s a lovely colour, unlike all the standard yellows they offer which are palid and sad.
I’ll be giving it to its owner this evening and I hope she likes it.
I made some things.
I saw the idea for a fabric sensory play box here. My bff’s kid is really into everything but still not mobile, so he’s easily frustrated. Plus, like any kid and also Eeyore, he likes trashing things taking things out of things and putting them back in.
I bought a cheapo gift box (this was the only one without flowers) and cut a hole in the top with a stanley knife, on my self-healing mat. I was going to stick the lid on with double-sided tape but it didn’t work very well so I used some electric tape I had lying around, which worked excellently. Then I went through my scraps and stash and cut out reasonable sizes of fabric. I tried for a range of colours but obviously, since they were scraps, they’re stuff I tend to buy. Lots of different textures, though, from satin to velvet to drill to flannel.
Almost all of this is scraps and leftovers. A couple of the whispy things are deep stash that I cut a corner off of. I tried to keep them about the same size, but wasn’t too fussy. I cut most of them with a rotary cutter because it’s easier, and then I edged them with a rolled hem, on my overlocker. I would have pinked them if I had pinking shears, but I was working with what I had.
And then I unceremoniously shoved them in there. Took me about an hour, all up, I think. It would be quicker with pinking shears.
And it’s a hit!
I also made this cake from Posy Gets Cosy, because Bek said the icing was great, and I wanted to try it.
I didn’t double layer it because I was too impatient to get it out of the pan and one of the layers crumbled. So I stuck it back together and that one’s mine, and I took this one to my friend’s house while I hijacked her baby and took him to the park for a couple hours so she could have a break.
It is as delicious as advertised. Not too sickly sweet, and a lovely texture, both cake and icing. Yum!
Ironing is not my favourite thing. Of all the household tasks, I would say it’s my least favourite except that I can at least opt out of ironing. Dishes, not so.
However, ironing is less optional when sewing. My ironing board is fine but it just had the dodgy cover it came with, which kept slipping off, and the foam pad was so thin that I would occasionally get a waffle pattern on whatever I was ironing, from the frame.
It was sad.
I also had to replace my old mattress protector because it had shrunk a bit in the wash, and had generally seen better days. I doubled it over, laid the foam on top as a pattern, and cut it out about an inch wider than the foam. Then I overlocked the edges. Just happened to have blue thread in there and couldn’t be bothered changing it.
The end bit with the iron rest doesn’t have anyway to fold it under, so I kept the fabric even with the board there. I read some tutes where people quilted their mattress pad fabric together but I didn’t bother. The back of the mattress protector was a bit sticky and I made sure I pulled it together when I overlocked it, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
I considered folding it over and using cord to cinch it in but I didn’t want more bulk. Instead, I just got some knitting cotton and did a big running stitch around it. Then I pulled it tight, did some fiddling to get it to sit evenly, and tied it off.
Couldn’t get a decent close up of the stitching since it’s beige, but it’s not really photo-worthy anyway. Here’s what it looks like with just the pad. I made sure to pull the cotton nice and tight so that the pad doesn’t slip or pull. I am really pleased with how firm it came out.
That’s my drawer of half-finished projects and my toolbox notions storage behind it, plus a washing basket full of fabric that I am determined not to let become stash. I WILL sew with it soon.
Next, I lay the board down on the fabric I wanted to cover it with – I could have used the original pad again but I wanted to be sure it was right, and the foam was actually slightly the wrong shape. I used some drill I had bought from Spotlight because I loved the print and wanted to make a skirt out of it, but I decided it had too much white in it to be safe. I catch the bus to work and I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about my clothes and what I might be sitting on – not to mention the things I smear on myself while eating, etc. I am not to be trusted with white things.
I left a good length away from the board, I think maybe 5″, but I could have done with a little less. 4″ would be about right, I think.
I turned the edge twice – once as a baby hem, and then a a 1″ hem to be the elastic casing. I just turned and stitched the bit at the end with the iron rest.
Then I threaded the elastic.
This is what I mean when I said I probably left too much overhang. I wanted to be sure it covered the pad underneath but because it’s so far away from the edge it doesn’t cinch in as tightly as I’d like. I might take it off later and fold it over again if I can be bothered. It’s a little bit loose but it’s only really annoying when you fold and unfold the board, it’s tight enough not to affect the ironing. I just tied the elastic in a double knot and trimmed the ends a bit shorter.
Tada! New ironing board cover that actually makes me happy to look at, and a use for some would-be stash fabric. It was a nice, quick project that took me about an hour and a half all up, including thinking about how I was going to do it.
I read a bunch of tutes for this before deciding it was simple enough that I could just wing it – it really is a pretty simple process. But if anyone wants to ask me for clarification on anything I did, just leave a comment and I’m happy to help you out.
I have a couple of long sleeved jersey shirts from Kmart, one black and one white, and I’ve worn one or the other almost every day this winter. I’m going to try to copy them and make some extras, but in the meantime the white one was looking a bit… dingy. So I soaked it in some sard stain remover stuff. Unfortunately I put it in the same bucket as a teal dress that I’d dropped some lunch on (I’m classy like that) and the teal bled. I’ve never had blue things bleed before! Especially not ones that have been washed multiple times. But there you go, it did, and it left a blue streak on one of the arms.
So I dyed it. I had this other top that I bought ages ago that was a minty green colour, with ivory lace. I loved it but didn’t wear it lots because it was too close to pastel for my tastes, and then the fabric got a bit sun damaged and faded, patchily. I’d bought some blue dye for something else, so I bunged them in together. It was Dylon hand dye, ocean blue. I’ve only dyed stuff in the washing machine before, so I expected this to be tricky for some reason. It totally wasn’t, but I think I’ll stick to the ones you can bung in the machine, in future, if I have a choice – I’m not neat enough, I’d rather have it all contained in a machine. I neglected to get a before, which makes this whole thing less interesting.
Dunno how well it’s showing up but the lace is still quite contrasty – it’s the same colour as the long sleeved shirt but the top is more like a light petrol blue.
Pretty pleased with my adventures. Don’t know how much I’ll wear the lace top, since lace is not really my style these days, but at least it has a chance. And if it doesn’t get worn, I can donate it to the op shop without it becoming rags. And I will get a whole lot more wear out of that long sleeved top.
And here is a photo of my living room, just because it’s neat, and looks like I want it to. This is rare enough that I took a picture. Feeling really pleased at how I completely accidentally lined it up so you can see the babushkas on my mantel, in the mirror.
Colour theme: consistent. Also notable:
- I won’t be seeing S for a while, which means I can buy flowers. He’s allergic, and considering that he puts up with my cat to which he is also allergic, it seems only fair to forgo them. But I do miss having flowers around.
- Pile of presents, for S, not only ON TIME but actually well before his birthday. He is so hard to buy for it’s ridiculous. Hopefully they are a sucess.
- I found Blue (oooh, also consistent with the theme! It’s the book propped in front of the dollhouse), after months of looking. It is excellent and you should read it all online for free here and then buy it (Dymocks has it).
- That sparkly blue Mary is a money box.
- The empty cubby hole is for my cat to hide in and ambush me from.
- I feel like I am having trouble ending these posts. I guess most things don’t have neat, narrative endings. So I guess this post will just finish when it stops.
As I mentioned, after Craft Camp was over I had another day and a bit in Melbourne. Gill was lovely enough to drive me to my cousin’s house in South Yarra – and it sounds strange to say that I really enjoyed the drive, but I did. A last little bit of Craft Camp, we nattered the whole way. It was such a lovely day, too. Sun was out, and so were all the people: parks were filled with pasty white legs in search of some vitamin D.
It was really lovely to spend some time with my cousin, too. I’m fairly close to all my cousins, but Z and I were the only ones who grew up in the Adelaide region, so we saw quite a bit of each other, and we’re fairly close in age. Of all the cousins I’d say she’s the one who knows the most of my own story, if that’s not being too grand – although we’re a weird private lot, our family. Lots going on under the surface, I think. But, for instance, she’s one of the few cousins I can talk frankly about my mother to. Anyhow, she and her husband spent a year or so overseas, and then settled in Melbourne, so I haven’t seen a lot of her the past few years. It was nice to reconnect a bit.
On the Monday, though, I went fabric shopping. I gave myself a budget, and a list. I wanted some knits. Ssome specifically for tiramisu, and some to make some tops etc. I have a pretty casual office, and I don’t really wear tailored shirts and the like, pretty much ever. But I am trying to lift my game a bit in the ‘outfit’ category, rather than just wearing clothes. So I want to make some comfy jersey tops that aren’t too boring. I was having a lot of trouble finding nice knits, although I discovered after I got back that Spotlight is doing pretty well on that at the moment – some nice ponte in plain colours and stripes, and some spotty cotton jersey. Might have to do a knits run before they hide it all again (they’re bound to. Have I mentioned my constant Spotlight Rage?) I also wanted to get some basic fabrics for skirts. I have given up on pants so I need some more boring skirts that go with everything and again, I was having trouble finding plain fabric in decent fibres.
The number 8 tram goes straight past my cousin’s house, and then up past Rathdown Remnants. How convenient. I got a couple of jersey remnants (top right, teal and black) some black wool and some stretch demin, for skirts (on the left).
Nope, no colour theme going on here. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I seriously only just noticed this in the photo. Well, at least I’m consistent.
Then I headed to the Fabric Store where I got some Marc Jacobs double knit, which is GLORIOUS and I wish that I’d gotten twice the amount so I could make something with both sides. I also wish that I’d written down the fabric content – I think it’s a wool/cotton blend. I could probably call and ask.
Mmmmmmmmmmm. It’s lovely and thick and soft.
I also got wool jersey remnants, grey and black, at the bottom there, and some stripey silk/cotton which I have no plan for but couldn’t resist. It’s the only thing I bought with no plan, I think I did pretty well. (Note to self, this bled quite a bit when washed, make sure to wash it separately in future.) You can see it a bit on the bottom right here:
Front and centre is some jersey from the Allanah Hill outlet next door. I wanted something stripey for tiramisu, but it’s a bit flimsy and was cheap (I think $6 a metre, but might have been $5) so I bought twice as much to double it over. But now I’m not sure I like it. It’s my colours, but slightly lighter than I’d usually go for a whole dress. I feel like it might read a bit pastelly? Which I’m not a fan of, on me, in large swathes. And the marl is a bit… muddy. Or something. In retrospect I should have left it and gone back to the Fabric Store and just bought some of the plain coloured jersey that was hard resist. I definitely liked it in there. AND they were friendly, AND knew what they were talking about. Fabric store heaven.
I might make something else out of it – maybe a maxi skirt? – and go get some spotters ponti for Tiramisu, instead. But not until S is down so I can get him to drive me to the Spotlight near me (but not on any bus routes, thanks Adelaide Metro!) because that one generally doesn’t make me want to die, after setting everything else on fire. Unlike the one in town, which I Rage Quit this week, leaving a pile of discarded notions in the middle of the scrapbooking aisle, like a small offering to a vengeful god. I STILL don’t know where they’ve moved their g#Y*(#@ zips to, and I couldn’t find anyone to ask apart from one girl who didn’t know, and also didn’t know where the interfacing was or, in fact, what interfacing IS.
ANYWAY.
Here is my little Lancefield opshop haul:
Some patterns, some mesh fabric that I’m idly thinking about sewing produce bags from, some ribbing and some plum coloured wool felt. Plus the lining fabric you saw when I showed you the yellow skirt, which is maybe not actually lining – it’s a herringbone sort of pattern – but is a weird apricotty yellow, and is slippery, so it can be lining. I’ve got enough to line another skirt, at least.
I took very few photos this craft camp. Janet articulated something I’ve felt for a while – that all the sewjourn photos have been taken. I feel that way about blogging it, too. How many times can I tell you that it’s wonderful, food for the soul, like bathing in ambrosia. See, now I sound hyperbolic, but I haven’t even come close to being able to capture how incredibly lucky I feel to be able to spend time with such lovely people, in such wonderful surrounds, doing such marvelous things.
It was good.
Because my inclusion was a little last minute – I’d opted out because it seems a bit silly to fly in for a regular length weekend – I came in a bit earlier and later, to defray the cost of flights by not flying on a weekend. I flew in on Thursday evening, and Janet was kind enough to put me up for the night. It was a nice callback to my very first craft camp, when I did exactly that. Except that this time I had met Janet, and she had met me, and we weren’t just strangers from the internet. Much more comforting. On Friday, Gill very kindly picked up me and Janet, and we all drove down to Sewjourn.
These are all of the photos I took
A face, for an absent friend.
I started the weekend with another ottobre skirt, in some drill from Spotlight. This line of drill/cotton is really hitting it out of the park. I will continue to loathe Spotlight, but at least they can do one thing right. I was in there tonight and there are some really nice, mostly cotton, ponte and jersey knits. I didn’t buy any because I got The Rage and had to leave, but not before I snapped a photo of the pear version of this drill, which is also fantastic:
Anyway. I made the ottobre skirt, with lining that I’d bought in the Lancefield opshop on Friday. I had a decent little haul in there. Nothing fancy, but some lining stuff and a few patterns.
I lined it because I always wear wither tights or bike shorts, and obviously skirts stick to either. Modesty is not a problem but then I do flash lacy shorts at people, which is not exactly the look I’m going for most days. I made my usual adjustments to the skirt – no seam allowance for this one because I just serged it (on Sue’s overlocker. I owe her lots of overlocker thread/karma) and three centimetres to the edge, because I traced the pattern a bit too small and can’t be arsed fixing it.
However, like the last two times I’ve made this pattern, it somehow came out to big. WAY too big. I’ve already knocked a centimetre of each side and this weekend I’ll probably take it back down again because it’s still big enough that it slips around. I could have just traced the pattern as is, no allowances at all. Yet the old ones I’ve made are still the right size. So what gives?
I wouldn’t wear it with this top, it’s just what I had on.
I also fixed the bodice of a red polka dot dress I’d made last summer and adjusted so many times that it was too tight and too poorly sewn. I just chopped the bodice apart and used it as a pattern. I’d show you photos of it but I just sewed up the bodice as a muslin and the rest isn’t done. I was going to try to finish it off on the day I got home, but I came down with a terrible headache and spent most of the day lolling about, and there has just been no time since to commune with my sewing machine. I also sewed a black work dress from an Ottobre pattern, but it is as yet unhemmed. Again, I meant to do that when I got home, but…
So those two will have to get their own FO posts. I am determined to at least have them done by next craft camp!
That was the sum total of my crafting achievements – one skirt, and two half dresses. Plus a whole lot of eating, laughing and talking, a bath a nap and generally relaxing. I’m a bit spoiled by having long weekends there – I felt like I was only just getting into the swing of it and then it was time to go.
I have no idea what was so transfixing here. Something on the iPad.
Under the table scraps. The big pile is Jenny’s.
And a hasty, wonky photo of the view. I don’t really need a photo. At the risk of being too cheesy and over the top, this place is stored crystal clear, in my heart. Along with all the people I am lucky enough to experience it with.
It really was over too quick. Luckily, I had some holiday left so I didn’t feel too bereft. I went and stayed with my cousin who lives in Melbourne now. It was lovely to be able to catch up with her, and I also spent the Monday traipsing around in unexpectedly warm sunlight and getting sunburn (hence, I think, the headache on my return) and fabric shopping.
It really was a lovely holiday. Thanks to Suse and Janet for herding us cats, yet again.
