Lucky dip.

A few weeks ago I looked at all my patterns and all my fabric and couldn't decide what to sew next. I always have trouble deciding which pattern would be the best match with that particular piece of fabric and if I went with that one maybe I would be sorry and wish I had gone with the other one. So I started to match up some of the fabric with patterns I thought would go nicely together and ended up with twelve pairings. A couple of these had an alternate pattern or fabric. These I wrote down on a Project Planner sheet that I printed off from the Craftsy website. I can't supply a link as I can't find it anymore. Luckily I downloaded the pdf.

Next step was to decide which project to make first so I wrote them all down on bits of paper, put them in a basket and drew one out. The winner was...

A striped top made from a Japanese premium knit jersey using New Look 6779 OOP, my sort-of-TNT top. I have made this top 4 or 5 times before and I like how it fits but the neckline has been changed a few times. I cut a size 12 but should have added a little extra ease around the tummy.It's a bit snug but not tight and it clings to the knit fabric of my skirt.

I had a few problems while making this top. First, jersey curls (and curls and curls). Second the pattern has 5/8" seams so in the interests of accuracy I had to pin the seams every 1/2" to make the fabric lie flat enough to sew. Finally I wanted to overlock the seams and trim them back to 1/4". While doing the back seam and concentrating on keeping those pesky curls under control, suddenly disaster struck. Ohh nooo! I'd caught a fold of the back under the knife and cut a half inch slice in my top.

I cut a scrap of material and a piece of fusible webbing and patched the cut from the wrong side matching the stripes. Can you see the repair?

I'm so relieved that I was able to save this top.I think I will give jersey a miss for a while.
                                        


Next one out of the hat is Style Arc's Slip on Suzie a faux wrap dress in a Retro Printed Knit Polyester, another Spotlight special from a few years ago. The minute I saw this pattern I knew it had to be made in this fabric. Wish me luck!

August stashbusting

The theme for August was stashbusting, so I took the opportunity to scrounge among those pesky remnants that we all manage to collect and came up with a couple of "colour blocked garments".
Naturally I couldn't find any pieces that were big enough to make something that looked reasonable so I just hacked a bit off here and there and came up with this for my granddaughter.

Kwik Sew 3234

The pattern is a girl's pyjama top but I figured a top is a top and it was the only kids pattern I have anyway.

Kwik Sew 2965

Next I salvaged a few pieces in 3 colours and cobbled together this top for myself. Suitable for around the house in summer.What else can I say.

While I was in salvage mode I lopped the bodice off the house dress I made last year. I only wore it twice. It had an acute case of gaposis at the back neckline and the long back zipper was more than my bad shoulder could cope with.

It will be much more useful as a summer skirt. I finished the waist with some pale blue bias tape from my collection.

Let's hope September will be more inspiring.