I've gone back to school. Well for three hours a week at least. I'm studying pattern drafting.

In the first half of the year, wait, hold on, we are in the SECOND half of this year already!!!!! Anyway, in the first half of the year I did a 10 week course in pattern making (at RMIT if you want to know). It was great, I learnt all about how to take a basic pattern block and turn it into anything I wanted. The only problem is that the basic pattern block just ain't anywhere near the same shape as me. The only solution was to learn how to make pattern blocks to fit me perfectly. So I am now completing the second instalment at RMIT.

If I can get the bodice block right I may never need an FBA again!!

I have to sew up my first bodice block this weekend. Hopefully it's close to a good fit, but it might take a few goes to get right.





There are all kinds of Maths and measurements required to get the first shape.





I've pulled out my old rulers and tools from a previous life (I'll tell you about it one day). This crazy spiky thing, AKA a tracing wheel, is my favourite. I think the name crazy spiky thing is much better than tracing wheel.





Apparently I am too poor (of the time variety mostly) to spend $3 on an awl. Here is my improvised version - a nail taped to a pencil. I think it is actually really convenient. One less thing to worry about losing.



In other news of the educational variety, I am trying to actually learn something about photography and I have signed up for a few craftsy courses. I think I am heading towards brain explosion from all the great new things to learn. Not to mention all the new things I am learning at work. I have put knitting aside for now. It's too slow going for me. I'm happy just knowing that I have the knit, purl thing sorted out.



It's a big weekend for me. Not much time for crafting. I don't get to go to the Sew Melbourne meet up for this month either. I'm sad about that but we are celebrating other exciting things instead so it's ok.

Have a good weekend everyone!

I made this a little big around the waist. Rather than run in the seams, I put a little pleat in the back. I also gave it a bit of a peplum effect by having it longer in the back. Not at all because I made a mistake along the way. Haha. Either way, I like the look.







What I ddon't like at the moment is blogsy. This is the app iI am using to write my posts. IIt's so close to being amazing but the weird typos, missing images, missing links and my wwasted 2 hours rewriting this post 3 times are courtesy of this app not wworking. Does anyone out there have any recommendations for another app? I dont have a computer at home so iI need an iiPad version. II'm a little fed up tonight. II'll give their support team a chance to see if they can fix it... Fingers crossed.

Bonus round: I am missing a photo off my last post. II've had some requests to put it up. LLet's see if this works.





II'm out of time for sewing tonight but another bright and bold print awaits. I also have some fun craft projects to post soon. hmmm and I need to decide if I can get up early enough (5am) on a Monday morning for Tilly's sewing social. I think it will be great fun. Is anyone else from aAustralia joining in?

I went home to Perth this weekend for my Grandmothers 80th birthday. I was great to go home, see the family, spend time with my grandmas and catch a little bit of sun.



I thought it would be appropriate to wear a vintage dress to the party. I was planning on finishing the red and black roses dress in time to wear it but didn't get it done before I left. Luckily with such a full house at my parents I had to sleep in the sewing room. Perfect for getting up early and finishing the dress! It was fun to get back to the very same sewing machine on which I learnt to sew. My Mum's old Elna is great. It felt so strong, but I did miss all the features that my much newer machine has. I had to thread the needle on this one myself!

I just downloaded a new app called photo toaster. I am playing with it to give my photos a vintage look. (really its to hide the fact that I take terrible photos). I think it makes this picture look like it is from the 70's which I think is the same era as my Mum's machine.



My Nanna (on the other side - not the bday girl) was pretty happy to see me so into my sewing and sat with me in the warm wnter sun outside while I handstitched the hem and other finishing touches. It was such a nice way to spen some quiet time together. Here is a photo of my Nan and me with the finished dress.

It's hard to see the details of the dress, I didn't really get any good pics as I was too busy catching up with family. I have a huge family of cousins and second cousins etc. I didn't even get a pic with the birthday girl. It was hard to get to her with all the guests. I did manage one with some of my cousins and my little brother (the one in the middle)... FYI I'm 5 8 and they are giants.

Hooray we had some sunshine over the weekend! Followed by more miserable rain. But while the sun was shining I managed to get some photos of my Minoru jacket made with another fabulous Sewaholic pattern.

 

I made this a while ago and I am really happy with how it turned out. It's made from navy twill that for some reason I could only find in the decorating fabrics section. I lined the jacket with rayon that I got on clearance for about $2 a metre. The twill was easy to use, the rayon not so much. It was stretchy etc but I learnt a lot about sewing with slippery, stretchy fabrics.

I made the version with the hood because it's just really cool. I added lining in the collar so that the rough seams weren't exposed. I also made an FBA adjustment which went a little wrong (apparently I thought I was Pamela Anderson). But it came out alright in the end. The zip was a little short, possibly from something I did with all the adjustments. I just tweaked it a bit at the bottom and a bit at the collar to make it work.

 

After all that I forgot to make all of my adjustments to the lining so it is a little loose. But who can tell.

Once the bulk of the jacket was made up I realised there was a fault in the fabric. Right at the front! It was too late to do much about it except create some super cute pockets to cover it up. Stephanie, who hosts our sewing meet ups at Can Do Books, taught me a sneaky trick to make the band on the top of the pockets. I also used some pattern making techniques to make the gathers and ensure the shape still came out right. I will try and post a tutorial about them soon.

All in all this jacket was pretty easy to make but I still learnt a heap of new tricks. It's super fun and was perfect to wear while riding my bike to the local shopping strip. The collar at the front was great to protect me from the wind and rain when the sun disappeared and I had to ride home. oh yeah and the navy matches my bike - of course (But I didn't get any pictures - I'll save it for another sunny day)