Thursday, March 27, 2008

New clothes

Top & SkirtOutfit
Teal wool jersey top and skirt from Simplicity 4095 and the same outfit on me in a silly pose. I was trying to make my hips look slimmer.
My husband came home while I was trying these on and ended up photographing me, then taking me out for lunch. I think I need new clothes more often!
Outfit with jacketPhotobucket
Since the camera was out and I already had the lipstick on I made him take more pictures of me. I am usually behind the camera, so this doesn't happen very often. Here is the same outfit with a jacket I made last year and again with my ten year coat and a handbag I made.

Tops done!

I now have eight tops done for SWAP, so I can eliminate the two worst ones. I have been wearing two of them so much that one has stretched out of shape and one has pilled.
Now onto the trousers!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter Dress

Easter Dress
The dress

Picture time
The dress on while a two year old shouts "No light! No light!".

SWAP Garments

Darn- this won't keep the format it was made in.
Here is my SWAP. I included a purchased garment at the beginning that I hope to replace.
So far there are five tops sewn, one skirt, one pair of trousers and others started.
I might just do this!

Fabricland Boiled wool cardigan or
Textile Centre Teal Blue denim jacket

EOS Striped wool trousers- Completed
Wazoodle wool knit skirt-Simplicity 4095-Completed
Timmel Brown RPL -Simplicity 4095-Cut
EOS Soft Teal Cotton trousersS

Talbot's Teal top -Purchased
FabricMart Teal leaf print-Completed
Wazoodle Marine knit t-neck,self drafted-Completed
Fabricland Beige/teal floral cotton,NL Completed
Gorgeous Brown knit-Simplicity 4095B-Completed
Gorgeous Teal/beige Print, NL-Completed
Timmel Teal knit-Simplicity 4095A-Completed

Wazoodle Marine Wool knit top-Simplicity 4095B-cut out
Fabricland aqua/brown poly

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Last One!

I am finally finishing up the last dress. I plan to take a full day to work on my SWAP after this and then do a bit each day. Not having December to work was hard for me with the SWAP. I always have a lot of free time in December.
All along I have been working on winter-able pieces/outfits and wearing them as they were completed. I have nearly worn out one pair of trousers. Now when I look at them I am tired of all of them. I want Spring to be here now. I realize that officially it is Spring on Friday, but I want the real deal with birds singing, flowers blooming and NO MORE SNOW! I guess I will have to move on to more Spring like clothes, maybe make a new jacket. This is why I never post a storyboard. Too many changes.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Worlds

I got one more dress shipped out today. Three down, two more to go.
Also, I finally managed to get the new roll of paper in the Visa machine.
Big day.

Memories

Today I was digging though a plastic bin of trims, looking for something appropriate for the dress I was working on. At the very bottom of the bin was a small sachet of soft unbleached cotton with a ribbon drawstring. I crushed it and thought I could still make out a slight scent. It was a sachet I held in my hand next to the roses of my wedding bouquet. Inside is a bit of heather from one of my father's funeral arrangements from 1984. His birthday is March 28th. He would have been 79 this year. I still miss him.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Karen's Purse

My friend Karen requested a purse. Well, she mentioned that she liked a style and I said I would make her one. Unfortunately, I couldn't really picture what she wanted and could not find a pattern of what I thought she wanted. I ended up making a pattern. Well, two actually. The first was a flop. Her description of long and narrow with buckles diagonally on the bottom did not fit the first one I tried. It just didn't end up long and narrow.
The bloody buckles took forever, so I took that one apart and started on another bag. This one might be a little too long for my taste, but my trendy babysitter OK'd it, so I proceeded with it. Karen is a very sensitive person, who wouldn't want to hurt my feelings if it wasn't what she wanted. She says she likes it though. I hope she means it.
Photobucket

Maisie's Birthday/Valentine's dress.

With Pink Baby
Hearts on yellow
Maisie's Birthday/St. Valentines day dress. Maisie turned two on February 8. Since the date is close to Valentine's Day, I made one dress to do double duty.

I must get it back on her and get some better photos. These were from a try on over her leggings when she had just gotten home from daycare.

Not ready for her closeupHad enough
She didn't like the flash.

Long time

Wow, it has been a while since I have written.
I have been ill with something ever since sometime in mid November. A cold/cough became a sinus infection. Antibiotics and a Prednisone inhaler took care of that, but gave me a yeast infection around my eyes, which I still have. Nothing from the MD seemed to help, so I have been following a Naturopath's suggestions for trying to rid the Candida from my system. No starches or yeast in my diet, so no sugars, breads, pasta, rice, potato etc. Nothing fermented, so no vinegars, soya sauce, etc. Basically lots of veggies with lean meat, lemons, limes, almonds and olive oil. Sounds like a great salad. Sounds like a lot of great salads. Gets a bit old after a while, especially when my eyes water and flake and burn still.
Also taking Oregano Oil, ground flax seed and Super 8 Probiotics.
I am ready to switch to Tequila shortly. At least if it doesn't work I will be more relaxed and maybe not even care.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Christmas Dress

This was a very quick little dress made from some silk my mother gave me. The bodice is self lined and instead of seaming it at the back, each back section was cut with the edge on the fold. All four sections are sewn together at the shoulders.
Bodice with self lining

Just needed hemming at this point. I never did get a picture of her in it.
Christmas dress

The Boy

I don't sew much for my son any longer, but this is just to prove I have one.
Watch Out
Army Boy
Army is everything to him right now.

Bassinet-Maisie's Christmas Present

I made this using a Vogue pattern. She seems to like the handles tied together, so it a bit of effort to get her babies out sometimes. They all pile in for "Night Night" and again before daycare.
Bassinet side viewSide View
Bassinet with quilt With quilt
Bassinet fully loadedFully loaded
Notice the stickers on the biggest baby's forehead.
Sticker Jail bigger Sticker Jail.
Apparently foreheads were made for stickers

Boiled Wool Jacket

Boiled wool detail
Showing the grosgrain facing to stablize the buttonholes.
Boiled wool
The fabrics for this jacket were nearly free from Fabricland. The store sells memberships which offer discounts on purchases. They also give you a stamp card and stamp with every purchase. Every $500 worth of stamps gives $20 off of a purchase. I buy a lot of basics for the business there, but I keep the stamp cards for my personal purchases.
The wool was purchased while on sale, then with a members' additional discount, then $20 off. The ribbons had been purchased with a stamp card for another project.
The leather buttons were from a sweater of my dad's. After he died, my mother and I went through his work wordrobe and kept a few things to use as materials (and reminders) before the rest went to Goodwill. I have used the buttons on numerous garments since then.

Maisie is a character

Some of her Self Decoration

cupcake
This was from the food colouring in the icing on her brother's birthday cake. Gross! I made Dh take her clothes off before she ate so nothing but the bib would be stained.
stickers! Stickers!
Ketchup Ketchup- this is what happens when you lick the plate.