Melbourne Sewers Meet

Sewer, sewist, dressmaker, seamstress, what term to use?  I tend to stick with sew-er – obviously not the sanitation type of sewer – but I know that many people are now leaning toward sewist.  Anyway, a group of nineteen sewers/sewists/seamstresses/dressmakers met up in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.  And it was fun!  I started blogging over five years ago, and at that stage met a whole lot of bloggers who quilted, made toys, sewed bags, made clothes for their kids, crocheted, knitted, embroidered and crafted in general.  Now I am meeting a whole other wave of (mostly younger than me) bloggers who love to make their own clothes.  I have mostly stumbled across their blogs via PatternReview and then the way that one blog leads to another, and I am SO pleased that I have!

(photo courtesy of  The Perfect Nose)

We met up at Tessuti. Oh, what beautiful fabrics!  I was rather overcome with choice paralysis.  It was interesting to watch us all wander in and try to work out who was there for the meet. Often we recognised the clothes, and then the faces from their blogs. I’d met a few before – Christy and Rachel, who joined us from Sydney, and Leith, who I run into on the tram sometimes – and had corresponded via email with others, but most were new to me.

(photo courtesy of Kat at All The Whimsical Things)

Attendees were (list stolen from Kat’s blog):

Kat: All the whimsical things
Robyn: Sew love red
Rachel: Boo dog and me
Rachel: My messings
Kirsty: Rocket Sews
Leith: Sew Brunswick
Lara: Thornberry
Melanie: PoppyKettle
Helen: Funkbunnys kitchen garden
Christy Little Betty
Rachel: The two windmills
Sarah: Sew squirrell
Kirsty: Rocketsews
Tj: The perfect nose
Belle: Bella’s Collectanea of Sewing

As well as four blogless ladies who love to sew and love to read other people’s blogs but don’t actually blog themselves! I was so glad that you all came along too :
Anna
Catherine
Heather
Sue A

(photo courtesy of The Perfect Nose)

We debated the merits of particular patterns and pattern sales, fabric shops, pattern alterations for particular figure types, and generally talked all about sewing. Well, until we went out for drinks and nibbles afterwards and the conversation turned to all kinds of topics!  And I have to admit that I was among the last to leave.

(photo courtesy of The Perfect Nose)

I did make one purchase – some ponte from the remnant table. It’s destined for some colour-blocking with other fabrics in my stash.

I was also the lucky recipient of this interesting light, floaty, silky large-scale print from Kat. Not sure yet what I’ll do with it, although I am considering Vogue 1103 (now out of print) .

Thanks so much to Rachel for organising the meet – everyone obviously had a ball, and I think that we’re all looking forward to meeting up again one day!

Melbourne sewer meet up

Rachel from Boo Dogg and Me has organised a meet up for Melbourne sewers (and those from further afield)!  Hooray!  Details and RSVPs are all over here on her blog, but in summary they are:

When – Saturday 18th August at 1.00 1.30pm

Where – meeting at Tessuti, then on to Hells Kitchen upstairs in Centre Place, the lane across from Degraves Street Time Out Cafe in Federation Square at 2.30  3.00pm.

I’m going – what about you?  Pop over to Rachel’s blog and let her know if you’re coming along!  I’m SO looking forward to it!  And worrying about what me-made outfit I should wear….

what a combination

Cotton/lycra knit fabric, printed with crocheted granny squares!

Mine, mine, all mine!  Purchased from Crafty Mamas (currently out of stock).

And no, it’s not going to become another Renfrew.

those tempting coupons

Quilthome recently had 20% off the prices of all their Anna Maria Horner fabrics.  I was tempted.  I succumbed.  I bought yardage.

These are all voile – the red and the blue prints are from the recent LouLouThi range, and the smaller floral from the Innocent Crush range. 3 yards of each. Clare wants to claim them but I bought them for me!

Velveteen from the Innocent Crush range, also for me. It’s a rather large scale print, and the colours are beautiful. But wait, there’s more!

Folksy Flannels, already cut out and waiting to become snuggly winter pyjama pants. Yes, for me. I have been fairly restrained recently in terms of adding to the stash, but I really love AMH fabrics, especially her voiles. Spring and summer are still a little while away, but in the meantime I can enjoy the flannelette and velveteen.

My computer is on its last legs – it works for around 30 seconds, then freezes for around another 30 seconds, then works again. Repeat ad nauseum. We are hopefully going to upgrade to a mini-mac this week, so I may be offline for a little while. Hopefully the switch from PC to Mac will go smoothly! The current situation is driving me INSANE.

And on another note, should I get an iphone or android? Or just stick with my ancient Nokia that is simply a phone?  I spend enough time on the computer as it is….

Can you please help me to decide?

My niece’s wedding is less than a month away.  Originally I thought that I’d wear something I already had hanging in my wardrobe – after all, I don’t often have the chance to dress up, and some of those clothes are hardly worn – but then I realised that my dressy frocks are all sleeveless or short sleeved.  And it’s October.  And I’ll freeze.  So now I’ve decided to make myself a dress.  I’m planning on making a long sleeved version of the Atlantis dress - I know it fits and looks good, and will be comfortable to wear.  But the dilemma now is what fabric to choose?  Can you help me to decide?  It’s an afternoon wedding with an evening reception.

Or maybe one of these?

Please leave me a comment letting me know which one (or two) you think would be best!  I need your input!

My creative space…

Other than the ironing pile and the mending pile and the cut-out-but-needs-assembling pile, my creative space contains piles of fabric, yarn, and patterns.  Fabric to make a Feliz dress for Clare:

Yarn bought for no particular reason than it looks great in the ball (and it was half price). I suspect that it is going to be difficult to choose an appropriate pattern for this yarn.

Fabric to make bags – I’m doing a little more pattern testing and haven’t quite decided which ones to use.

What is in your creative space this week? Visit Kirsty to see what others are up to.

My creative space…

My usual creative space is still overflowing with partly unpacked items from last weekend at Sewjourn.  There are piles of fabric waiting to be put away…

…because I took about two months worth of fabric and patterns with me rather than just enough for two days! I’ve been going through my copies of Ottobre and some old copies of Burda WOF and dreaming of what else I could make.

I particularly like this jacket from Burda – the collar is gathered, which gives it that little bit of extra style (in my opinion)! It’s from 2008, but I was never a trend-setter.

I do like the way that Burda and Ottobre have a two-page spread with line drawings of the patterns that are in that issue. I originally bought this copy to make the coat that is in the centre (above the word “waistcoats”). That hasn’t eventuated, but never say never!

I had a little visit to The Fabric Store today for some wool jersey at 30% off.  After Sewjourning I’m extremely keen to sew more for myself.  What are you dreaming about making? For more creative spaces visit Kirsty - it’s great to see what everyone is up to!

Vintage crochet Friday #63 (and a bit about Stitches)

Well now, you didn’t know that this was crochet, did you?  There is SO much about this photo that I like – I’m looking forward to your captions!

I had a great morning at Stitches today – I think that it was almost more of a blogmeet than a craft fair, at least for the morning!  I think I encountered about 15 bloggers that I knew or knew of (I’m glad that some of them have photos on their blogs!) let alone the ones I know in the Incubator.  Stella behaved herself amirably aided by a plentiful supply of chupa-chups and speculaas.  I just wish that I’d had more time to stop and chat properly!  At least I’ll catch up with many of the gals at Sew It Together.  And I surprised myself by actually shopping!  Remember, I usually get overwhelmed by “too-much-choice-itis” at such events and go home empty handed.  But this year I bought some lovely (late) mother’s day gifts and some fabric at yardage design, a skein of gorgeous hand-dyed sock wool from Kate at Two Little Banshees/One Fat Slug (destined to become a crocheted shawlette for me, me, me) and some divine felt from Winterwood.  I also got a beautiful Ooshka babushka pattern/kit from The Red Thread which I plan on making up before Stella’s birthday in early June.  It was a good thing that I took a packed lunch and a thermos of coffee with me in order to save my dollars for spending on more important items…

So if you’re there tomorrow (Saturday) don’t forget to drop by and say hi to me on Nikki’s stand!  I’ll be the one getting distracted by the gorgeous Ink & Spindle fabrics directly across the aisle (and the Pippijoe ones up the aisle, and the Kristen Doran ones around the corner and the Aunty Cookie ones on the Kelani stand) – oooh, wouldn’t they make a great feature panel in a bag?

Sunday Stash #52

Is fabric part of “stash” if it is destined for a particular project?  I suppose that until I actually cut into it the fabric is still part of stash.  This week’s fabric does have a destiny – charm square skirts and matching tops each for Clare and Stella.

The Santorini fabric is for Clare; the Hushabye for Stella.

For more stashers visit Tamara.

Sunday Stash #51

Fabrics from top to bottom: from Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks; Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden; Heather Ross’s Mendocino; Kaffe Fassett.  Bought here.  The Pop Garden fabric is destined for children’s clothing, and the others for quilts.

The scale of the floral motifs in this fabric is huge!  I’ve included a charm pack in the photo to give you an idea of scale.

For more Sunday Stashers pop over and visit Tamara.

I’m sure that all the Melbournites and Victorians are loving the rain.  At our house it is also raining inside the kitchen - the skylight is leaking and there is water all over the floor and the benches.  I think that almost every towel we own is laid out over every flat surface.  I had better things to do today than wash towels and clean up the kitchen.