Not only have I been working on making nice curtains for our apartment (which make a huge difference by-the-way), I am also revamping my blog. Actually I should say I am "vamping" my blog as it was never really "vamped" to begin with. Luckily there are heaps of free templates out there to get me started and I also know enough HTML to get me around the code*. So what has taken me so long... What design to choose?  I just don't know

Do I want clean and simple, or fun and quirky? Should I make some background and header graphics or keep it plain. Oh dilemma! But a fun dilemma. Please excuse this blog over the next few days while I work it out. I am sure it will look like a multiple personality blog while I chop and change templates and elements until I get it right. I will also be stalking a lot of blogs to determine what blog elements I like the most.

If you have a blog I would love to know what you think about templates and design. Or what design elements do you appreciate in a blog. I am assuming that bright yellow backgrounds with red text are not a favoured option?? One thing that gets to me is blog features that do not work on mobile devices.

I promise not to burn your eyes like this

*I won an award in my first year of uni for best website design in an IT multimedia class. HILARIOUS experience. All the lovely nerds in my class wanted to help me (because I'm female means that I shouldn't be good at something like HTML right? Actually I think I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were just excited to have a girl to talk to). Where they all made black background, green text websites for things like Xbox I made a website for a fashion store... 

Only days after making it home from our honeymoon I chained myself to the couch with my iPad and a cup of tea and caught up on months of blog posts. Unfortunately there were a lot of things I missed out on including the Colette Laurel competition and the international sewing swap on Kestrel Makes. But I was just in time for a wonderful Melbourne sewing bloggers excursion to the Hollywood costumes exhibition at ACMI.

It was great to meet some new Melbourne sewists and see the amazing work at the exhibition. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the group and we weren't allowed to take photos of the exhibition. So I got nuthing to show ya! But I can describe my impression of the exhibition. Firstly, it was busy! In the end I missed a little section because I couldn't handle all the people and the traffic jams in front of the costumes. That section wasn't of that much interest to me anyway as the costumes were from movies like Brokeback Mountain where the items were sourced instead of sewn. Secondly, it was a little creepy. The mannequins had tv screens as heads with very slow moving head shots of the actors who wore them, complete with eye twitches and blinks. Yep - creepy! Thirdly, it was dark and the walls were black. I couldn't see anything of the famous little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's. sigh

But, the costumes were lovely and they were what we were there to see! I was very surprised by how raunchy and revealing some of the costumes from the 20's were. It turns out things got a little crazy for a while there before some strict codes came in and made movies all conservative again (until recent times). It was also interesting to see the colourful garments that were destined for black and white movies. Overall there was some amazing, intricate and imaginative work, oh to have a Hollywood budget for my sewing projects. The sequins, the beads, the pleats, the complicated patterns and pieces, the head pieces, the period features, the fabrics! Just stunning.

So if you haven't been yet I definitely recommend it. I would also recommend trying to pick a quiet day.
Huge thanks to the lovely and super organised TJ at the Perfect Nose for organising and everyone else who attended (including Jenny & Emily) I look forward to seeing you again soon, especially if it includes another meal at Cookie.

Hello my patient blog following friends. Good news! I'm back. Please forgive my absence, it's been a crazy few months. But rest assured, although I haven't been blogging I have certainly been sewing.
So what kind of things have I been sewing? Lets start with metres and metres and then even more metres of table runners in hessian and lace, I've stitched about 100m of bunting, I made a stylish bow tie and pocket square as well as a pretty blue waist sash. I also made a white dress....

Have you guessed?

Let's see if you were right

A sneaky little picture in the outdoor photobooth

Yep, I've gone and got myself married. Some of you might be thinking well how can this be, there was no mention of an engagement last time this lazy one bothered to post. Well that's because I decided to pop the question to my lovely man in January. And with a magical and slightly stressful mix of circumstances (that do not include pregnancy thank you very much) we ended up pulling together the wedding of our dreams in less than four months just in time to catch the last of the magical April weather in Melbourne.

Once I have the professional photos I will do a wedding post and show of all the sewing and DIY touches we managed to include. I tell you what I was sewing like a demon before the wedding. (And enlisted my Mum and MIL to help me too)
Before I mislead you too far the white dress doesn't actually refer to my wedding dress. In the end I decided to leave that to the amazing Colette Dinnigan haha. But I did sew up a fab little white number for my hens party. More on that soon.

The little white dress for my Hens, and my lovely waiter. (Dress is Simplicity 2053)

So thanks for sticking with me, hopefully I can catch up on some posts and keep you entertained... Until the next crazy adventure.

It's Spring! Hooray. I'm moving to a new apartment with a courtyard which gets the northern sun yay! This means time for gardening yay! We are moving in two weeks so I am madly propagating plants to be ready for my new garden.

My thrifted succulent garden from other gardens

But even though it is Spring we are still getting a little frost and I don't want my precious tomato and basil babies getting hurt. So just as my mum sews "booties" for the dog, I decided to sew some protective gear for my plants.

You can see the humidity!

I made this greenhouse to fit over an unused shoe rack. It's clear tablecloth plastic with a big zip to allow access. Now my little seeds are nice and toasty. I was really happy with how this turned out and so pleased that earlier in the day I had mastered stupid little pivoty corner thingoes with my attempts at Vogue 1227. Thanks to Stephanie from the Sew Melbourne Meet Up for teaching me her trick. The greenhouse came together in just a few hours.

The zip goes all the way to the back to allow easy access for watering

Now to wait for the delicious tomatoes... Oh yes and the strawberries from our strawberry plants we rescued from the neighbours skip when they re-landscaped





Is anyone else getting into spring (or autumn) gardening? Would anyone like a greenhouse tutorial?

Good morning blogland! I wish I could say it was a lovely morning here in Melbourne. Unfortunately the sunshine from yesterday has turned to clouds and misery. I'm sure it's because I am going to a footy game this afternoon. Always the way!

Busy with birthdays, weekends away and phd submissions!

Anyway. Things have been a little crazy here in the land of DeBeaux. In between work and pattern making classes we've had apartments flooding, birthdays and anniversaries occurring, PhDs getting submitted, visitors visiting and, and, and. It's set to get a little crazier still with moving apartments, going to weddings oh yeah and going on a HOLIDAY!

My blocks. I'm not sure they are a huge improvement on the original draft... But they are a place to start

My pattern making class has finished and I now have a skirt, bodice, sleeve and pants block. It really came down to the wire. I was on such a roll with my blocks and doing lots of work at home. And then I decided to be fussy about the fit. The thing with adjusting the fit is changing one little thing can put EVERYTHING else out. It was a bit like going around in circles. But in the end I made it. I need to trace them onto card and I will be able to share my blocks with the world. Oh and then all the amazing and perfectly fitted things I plan to make from them.



I now have a truckload of things to blog about... Here are a few tasters of posts already underway:

• A weekend away with some great vintage sewing purchases
• My first self drafted skirt
• Spring dress weather and some me makes from last year
• A seminar on interfacing with the Sew Melbourne group
• More vintage patterns...

So watch this space!



FYI: the apartment flooding was not our fault. I'll spare you the disgusting details (unless you want to know, just say so in the comments, it is a bit funny, now). What it did prove is that my boyfriend and I know we can get through all kinds of SH1T together. Yep.



Is anyone else suffering from life getting in the way of sewing? I am afraid it will be like this all Summer.



PS go Stonecats for winners in today's grand final!