Put a bird on it - Simplicity 1336

Firstly, are you as gobsmacked as I am that I found this beautiful fabric at Lincraft? I mean, they do have some nice fabrics from time to time but it's a bit hit and miss. This coupled with how messy they fabric section of their stores can get means I don't go in as often as I used to. I popped into my local store a few weeks ago when I was having my car fixed next door and...jackpot! This fabric is SO pretty and reminds of a Leona Edmiston print.

At first I thought I might make this fabric into another Ebony Tee or even a McCall's 6886 dress but in the end I went with my trusty Simplicity 1366 top lengthened into a dress. The fabric is fairly draprey so I think this is most successful top to dress hack so far. The sleeve heads sit nicely - up until now they've been a bit lumpy bumpy and I guess that is due to fabric choice. 

I'm just not *quite* sure about the length of the dress - it feels like it should be an inch shorter as I think it looks a bit dowdy in this length. I'm thinking about unpicking the hem and lopping of an inch and re-hemming but I just know it won't be as nice and straight as it is nice. Whilst I say I'd like to do this I'm pretty lazy so I really doubt I'll go through with it.

And, the back view! There's less pooling above my butt than normal but again I'm guessing this is down to the fabrics drape.

Attaching the neckline is still the moment in sewing where I hold my breath and hope like hell it all turns out OK. This time it did - phew! I've been using the "jewel neckband" from the Closet Casefiles Ebony Tee (size 20 neckband) as I like that it's wide, ergo, somewhat less fiddly to fold over and attach.

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Pattern: Simplicity 1366
Size: 18
Modifications Dress:  added 17.5" to the length of the top, added 1cm to both the side of the front and back neckline and dropped the front neckline a bit. Shortened the sleeves by 5cm. Took 1cm off the CB fold. 
Fabric: Printed Mercury Jersey Fabric from Lincraft (95% Polyester, 5% Spandex)
Changes for next time: nada 

Ceramic Jewellery Class - Sew Make Create

Another weekend means another class! This time I'm learning how to make ceramic jewellery at Sew Make Create in Chippendale. I won a $50 voucher with them via an Instagram competition so that helped fund this class.

I did have an idea of what I wanted to make in the class but I'm not quite sure I got there in the end. I think I tried to make too many pieces in the class to try and safeguard against pieces potentially breaking in the kiln and this didn't give me enough time to really finish any of the pieces nicely. I also think a bit more time spent pre-planning exactly what I wanted to do would've served me well.

I thought I might make my ceramic balls for studs but they didn't fare well when I got to the pre-glazing stage so were written off. The beads I made broke in the kiln but I'm OK with that. All of the pendants I made survived and some of them are good - some are too big and heavy for me to wear (I have a bad neck so can only wear light pendants). The smaller round pieces were intended for earrings but I think they are a bit too thick and heavy so I need to think about what I would do with them. I also put the holes too far down in all of my pieces so using jump rings isn't working. There's a reason they say hindsight is 20:20...

I picked up my fired pieces from Sew Make Create yesterday...and here they are!

I have to confess - this piece of ceramic was an example by the teacher. I snaffled it, sanded it and then pre-glazed it. I quite like it - but I'm trying to think of how I can incorporate one of the smaller, similarly decorated pieces in to it.

I had really wanted to make a semi-circular pendant and have ended up with three. It's funny that the blue one is, aesthetically speaking (to me), the best looking piece as I actually ran out time to pre-glaze it hence the sightly washed out look.

I have a lot more pieces to play around with at home - I suspect I'll string up a few more and then cut my losses with the others.
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