A Finished Project!

Hooray! I have finally finished a project, despite my over locker issues, cutting this skirt the wrong way and sewing a section of it upside down (don't judge me, I was very tired that night)!

I only have two photos because Trev took a quite a few photos and somehow he managed to make me look like a dwarf. All skirt, torso and no legs or really blurry. The man has a talent for taking terrible photos. This was the best of about 25 photos ( I kid you not). The photo below is the skirt on the dress form. There really wasn't two good photos.

Anyway, I mostly completed this skirt in my sewing class on Monday nights. I am quite happy with how it has turned out, in the end, although it seems to have taken me quite a few hours. I would like to think its because I took my time and did a really good job (fixing up all my errors). Of course, my sewing teacher, Maree, would never let someone leave her class with a project that that looks shoddy! It is allowed to have a little 'character' (read small mistakes that can be covered so that they are not too noticeable), but no shoddiness allowed.

I was all ready to wear my skirt on Saturday, with some warm black tights, and  when I put it on realised that the underskirt was marginally, but noticeably, longer than the over skirt. As tempted as I was to leave it and pretend that no one would notice or simply fold it up and re machine over the top, I decided that this would be lazy and I unpicked it all and re hemmed it. I told my sewing classmates and teacher about the hem and much to my disappointment, the general consensus was to fold it up and  machine. All that blasted unpicking (that took me longer to do than the actual hemming) for nothing! At least I can say that the hem was done properly I suppose. Will try and wear my first finished creation to my next work casual day.

New Skills

Skills learnt included gathering, pinning and sewing even gathers. Putting in an invisible zipper, which was easier than I thought it would be, and hand sewing the inside of the bottom of the yoke!

The hardest part was definitely the gathering and pining it so the gathers were even. I think it's going to take a few skirts to master that particular skill.

The Facts

Fabric: Blue dots with flowers on a white background $10 from Spotlight, white cotton poplin for the underskirt $1 from Joy's Fabric Warehouse
Pattern: Kwik Sew- not sure which one
Notions: 7″ zip $1.40, hook and eye 20 cents
Time to complete: 4 sewing classes (with lots of chatting time)
First worn: Just for pictures so far.
Wear again? At first opportunity!
Total Price:  $12.60

Not bad! I would definitely spend $15 on a skirt, especially one as cute as this!

Next sewing project has been started and is even more technical! Pattern matching, fitting a bodice, lining a bodice... Fun times ahead!

Another obsession...Hats!!

For people who know me quite well, they will know that I have another obsession. One that makes my husband drive 20 kms in another direction to avoid a particular shop.

Whenever I go into a shop, it is essential that I try on every decent looking hat in the store (and usually the weird ones as well just for fun)! This tends to frustrate Trev, and as mentioned, he always tries to avoid going through Highton so that there is no excuse to go into one of my favourite shops in Geelong, Ruby and Leo. Ruby and Leo is a store that sells mostly hats and other vintage pieces, including gloves, bags, walking sticks/canes and jewelry among other things.

Generally, my excuse to go into Ruby and Leo is to see if they have new stock. Now, a normal person would think that it would be ok to go in and just look at the new stock. Trev has learnt the hard way that even if there is new stock, it is still essential that I try on every hat in the store so that I can accurately determine which is the best one. Normally I manage to restrain myself from buying anything. So even though I probably won't buy anything, I still consider the 20-30 minutes well spent. Trev on the other hand does not. In fact, not only does he not find it enjoyable, but I am quite sure he is bored by the whole process. Unfortunately for him, I value his opinion and require an opinion on every item tried on. Now I know that he will probably say 'that looks good' to everything, but I can hear if he actually likes something by the change in the tone of his voice. Sometimes, I even manage to get him excited about an item.

Last night, I came across a website that sold cloche hats. I adore cloche hats. They are just so freaking cute! So after spending the night googling cloche hats and surfing eBay, I thought this morning would be a good time for a visit to Ruby and Leo on my way back from Spotlight. Trev gave me permission and even came in with me! It was exciting for three reasons:

1. They had lots of new stock, including adorable gloves
2. It was the Ruby and Leo's first birthday and

3. I bought a hat! How cute is it?!

When I first tried it on it was a big to big to justify buying it. When I asked about another size, the sales girl (whose mum owns the shop and makes various some of the hats and the fascinators) showed me the inside and it's adjustable! How clever is that?

During my googling, I also found a tutorial on Youtube for a wire headband. I really loved the idea of it so I got some fun prints (with the intention of making some for my sisters, as we all have long hair and are constantly stealing each other headbands) and raided the garden shed for the wire. Below was my first effort.

I am happy with it, although I think that I will make it slightly narrower on the next try. 

The Victoria and Albert Museam

Clicking through websites today (during my lunch-break of course!) and I came across this site Fashion -Victoria and Albert Museum, which is so interesting that I really wanted to share it! It is a museum in  Cromwell road in London that has some truly amazing content on its website, some (if not all) of which were actual exhibitions at some stage in the museum.

This particular part of the V&A site is all about fashion and it has everything from a history of fashion through the centuries (19th century, 20th century) to ethical fashion and fashion drawings. If you are interested in having a look around the site, I recommend either doing it when you have time (a single lunch break is not enough time!) or adding it to your favourites so you can keep coming back to it to read all the amazing articles.

Would love to visit the V&A if ever given the chance!!

Melbourne Antique Show!

I got free tickets to the Melbourne Antiques show in Carlton Gardens for this weekend, and  while I know this isn't directly related to sewing, I do love vintage clothing!

My mum and I went to the Ballarat Antique in March and they had the most amazing array of clothes there. In fact, there were a lot more clothes this year than any other year we had previously been. I bought a beautiful lambs wool cardigan circa 1950s, which is lined and hand beaded. I also got the business card for a warehouse that sells directly to the retailers, although I haven't managed to save up enough and find time to go out there. I am guessing that I will need at least a whole Saturday to spend looking at all the amazing clothes. Poor Trev! A whole day of 'What do you think of this?'!

There was a lot of other beautiful clothes at the Ballarat Antique Show and I left with full intentions of going on a diet so I had more chance of fitting into the clothes. Unfortunately, with Easter less than a month after, that was not very realistic! Especially with the ridiculous amount of chocolate that we received (see below)! We are literally still eating it! 
                               

I am still looking forward to the show as some of the same vendors will be at this show as the Ballarat Antique Fair, in particular Online Antiques, whom I bought my gorgeous cardi off! They have some super cute dresses for sale at the moment, which are VERY reasonably priced given the price of dresses that are crappy material and just plain badly made that are being sold at the moment.

Above is one of the items I would love! It's an 1940s/1950s Cotton Pique Sundress. Really regretting my decision to eat all that chocolate, those hot cross buns and mum's awesome homemade biscuits!! If only it was possible to drop a dress size in the next two days! Sigh.