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!

The red roses dress came out again the other week for my birthday. I didn't get a chance for detailed pics last time I wore it so here they are now. I used Butterick 6582 which is a reprinted vintage pattern. The fabric was cotton with just a little bit of stretch.

Using flowers in an attempt to hide my pattern making mess!

We caught the last of the light for some quick pics right as we were heading out. We met up with friends at a monthly event called Soul-a-Go-Go where they play old soul 45s. It was like an old disco with all kinds of vintage attire (not specific to any decade or genre that's for sure) and a very eclectic mix of people. It was really fun to get dressed up and dance away. Even Mr Scientist got in on the act.



Here are some close ups of the front of he dress. It has a mock cross over and gathered shoulders.





The dress came together really easily but I did have to take in all of the darts to get the fit right and to compensate for the stretch.



I added a bow belt, it was my birthday and I felt like being a present haha. I'm a straight up and down kind of person so anything to help with waist definition is a plus.



The vintage style stockings went with it really well. I wanted to be comfortable for all the dancing so I went out in flats. So comfy! So easy to dance! Why have I tortured myself in heels for so long?



Unfortunately I wasn't as practical with my choice of jacket. And when we couldn't get into any of our first 3 choices of restaurant I started to get a little cold (FYI Melbourne restaurants are going through a big no reservations phase). Add to that the epic journey to find an ATM with money and then standing in the line for a while to get to the party plus lots of bubbles to drink and loud yelling to converse over music, I ended up one sick sore and sorry birthday girl. I was out for well over a week and had no energy for sewing or celebrating on my actual birthday.

What was I thinking wearing such a poor excuse for a jacket in the middle of a Melbourne winter?

I've also been really busy with my new job and my pattern making course so I haven't had time for sewing or blogging. But I can't wait to start putting my new skills to the test with some designs I have in mind. I also drafted and sewed up my first test pair of pants last night. They aren't perfect but they are actually pretty good. More to come on that later.



I hope everyone else is staying well. Has anyone else been as silly as me and made yourselves sick from not wearing enough layers? I have done it so many times. You can take the girl out of warm and sunny Perth but you will struggle to make her remember to wear a warm coat.



Here's one more cute pic for the family at home. Aww... We do alright! Nanna will love this one. (yep my Nanna is cool and can use the Internet!)



PS these pics make me a little sad because they are reminding me of all my hair that I have since chopped off!

In an earlier post I talked about my Nan. Well this very same Nan was very happy to see me back into sewing and decided to spoil me with some treats from her very own pattern stash...

Aren't these patterns awesome? My Nanna would have used them to make clothes for herself as well as my mum and aunties.





I think these are the ones I want to make first. They are a little big but I should be able to grade them down. They are from a company called Weigels. I hadn't heard of them before, they were an Aussie company. The patterns are not printed. Just the ones that are already cut out. I have never used a pattern like this before. It should be fun.





This top would be really cute in this Japanese lawn. I would love to make the peter pan collar, except I will have to draft it for myself as it appears to have gone missing. This fabric is really, really cute. Here is why...







It has BUNNIES!!! Aren't they cute!







My Nan also sent me some pinking shears and an embroidered needle case. Unfortunately the shears are blunt. Does anyone know if you can get them sharpened? I didn't know what the case was at first, a cute little book maybe. Thanks to my bboyfriend for pointing it out. I think it will be really useful. I wonder who in the family made it.





Anyway, it's going to be another non sewing weekend for me. It's my birthday so I'll be doing fun things like dancing and eating out instead. Oh yeah and watching the Olympics. Is anyone else completely distracted by the Olympics? Our coverage here is terrible. We are spending more time laughing at the terrible commentators and presenters than watching the sport. But it's still fun. The Australian media is obsessed with medals. Is this the same in other countries as well?





Happy weekend everyone. Have a dance and a cocktail for me. I'll be dancing to Jazz and Soul in a retro dress (made by me of course). I recommend you do the same!

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!