Pink Polkadot #tinyPocketTank

I know, I know...it's another Grainline Tiny Pocket(less) Tank. I think I was at a loose end as to what to sew next so I grabbed this cheap, spotty cotton (?) from my stash cupboard and started another tank top just so I'd have something to sew whilst I contemplated "what's next".

I had no issues in the construction of this version. I think I've mastered the basics of bust darts, using bias binding to finish the neck/arms as well as doing french seams. I've finally found a method of hemming that does not involve bias binding so that's some good progress for me. 

All of that aside, there was something very wrong happening in the bust/dart area of this tank. It's probably difficult to see from the photos but the bust darts/front bodice just weren't sitting quite right and the top has some crazy wrinkles above my bust. I'm not sure what the problem is? Whilst there is a similar "issue" with my floral #tinyPocketTank it's not quite as noticeable as the fabric is softer and the busier pattern hides it.

I've decided to pop this tank into the charity bag. I'm not loving the feel of the fabric and the crazy bust fitting issue drives me bonkers whenever I put the top on. I'm constantly adjusting it and driving myself nuts. It was all good practice, but sadly this top is not a keeper.

If you've got any ideas what my fit issue is here please drop me a note in the comments. I'm seriously stumped. Is the top too big or too small? Are the darts in the wrong spot or perhaps too long...or too short? Have I perhaps lost my mind?

Grainline "tiny pocket tank" #2 - we have a winner!

After a somewhat successful (but not really wearable) first attempt at the Grainline Tiny Pocket Tank I think we finally have a winner with my second attempt *happy dance*.

As my first Tank was WAY too low at the front I added a piece to the pattern to make it much less...indecent. I'm so pleased that this worked. When you're first learning to sew everything seems to be a matter of cross your fingers and hope for the best.

After battling with the slinky fabric in my first Tank I decided this time around I wanted something really easy to sew with. I found this pretty Cotton Voile (no idea what that actually is) at Lincraft and whilst I don't think it was cheap I only needed 1m of it so no big deal. As I was making the biggest size of this pattern I had some Tetris moments trying to get everything to fit on the amount of fabric I bought...it only it had been a fraction wider!

I used bias binding for the neck and arm holes but this time I actually hemmed the top "the proper way". It's a bit wavy but if I don't tell you that you'd never know, so shhhhhh.

I got some tips from my Twitter sewing friends (plus this Grainline tutorial also) on hemming. Basically if I sew a line of stitching around the hem and use it as a guide for turning up the hem then all should be OK. And it pretty much was. Hooray!



I'm pleased to report that the top passes my "can I wrestle someone to the ground" test. I can move my arms in it which is my Number 1 peeve in clothing. It's not tight across the back at all which shall not impede my eating adventures. Woot!

I've not yet worn this top out of the house, but it's hanging there ready to go. I'm thinking "maybe" I'll wear it to my first Sydney Sewist Meetup that is happening soon...or maybe not.

I really like this pattern. I think it's a good option for beginners like me as it's quite simple and the instructions are pretty easy to follow. I like it so much that I've already got another top cut out plus a version I'm trying to extend into a Tank Dress. Wish me luck!

Grainline "tiny pocket tank" sans pocket!

On my inaugural visit to The Fabric Cave I found barely a meter of this lovely lavender and cream "mystery fabric"...that's it in the middle there. A better sewist than me will be able to identify this - but all I know is that it is NOT cotton and it's NOT stretchy. It's quite slinky and there's nothing "natural" feeling about it - polyester perhaps?

I bought a PDF copy of Grainline Studios Tiny Pocket Tank when there was as a sale right before X-mas and when I saw this fabric I thought they'd go well together. I do love PDF patterns. I find them less intimating than the old school type of patterns, mainly as I can reprint them easily if I make an error on sizing.

I was actually REALLY worried about sewing with this fabric as it quite slippery. Ergo, I made good use of the slowing speed function on my machine - I LOVE this. I dialed things right down to tortoise speed and slow and steady she went! I am pleased to say that the actual sewing of the fabric went super smoothly....even the darts.

Funnily enough the hardest part about the whole process was ironing the fabric, laying it out and cutting. I am SURE that the fabric slinked around so much that the top is lopsided.

The fabric frayed WAY more than I was thought it would. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting actually but at one stage I thought the whole top was going to end up as a frayed ball of fluff on the floor. I've zigzagged all the seam edges - not the prettiest but it does the job. I also got to practice more bust darts AND bias binding finishes. I'm getting pretty good at these two things now.

When I tried the top on for the first time it was pretty obvious that it was going to be "too rude" to wear out of the house.  The front was cut so low that you could see my bra and ALL my cleavage. I know this is "the look" for "young people" these days but not for me.

So I did the logical thing and took it up at the shoulders until the front covered my girls. Pity I didn't think that raising the shoulder seams would mean that the bust darts now sit under my armpits. The top is also not that comfortable under my arms either. Derp.

Whilst sewing this top I also came to the realization that I REALLY need to learn how to hem garments without bias tape. I was afraid if I attempted a regular hem on this top I'd total botch it as it was hard to iron the hem into place. Bias binding is great but not for this as it's made the hem SUPER stiff and it sticks out like I've threaded a hula hoop through the hem. Double Derp.

So all in all a good practice effort but a waste of some pretty fabric. It only cost me $6 so I'm not too sad BUT I would LOVE for someone to teach me how to hem. Anyone?

Tie-dyed denim Peplum Party Dress #2

After what I considered a pretty successful effort with my first #partyPeplumDress I was as keen as mustard to get going with my second version of this dress.

During our recent trip to Melbourne I found this great Tie Dyed "denim" with floral from Lincraft of all places. I could immediately picture this as a #partyPeplumDress so I snapped it up. I had a $10 voucher so that eased the pain of the $20/meter price tag (WHY is Lincraft so expensive I ask you when most of their stores are a total schmozzle)?

The first thing I did to the pattern, with the help (again) of The Boy, was to make sure the skirt was the same length the whole way around (23 inches) rather than dipping "up" at the sides into the peplum (19 inches). Dave measured and I marked it out on the pattern (I find I need three hands with most sewing tasks so he comes in helpful).

I also then traced a second skirt pattern so I could cut the front and back at the same time (and I'm making the front and back skirt are the same length the whole way around as I'm not into the "high-low look"). And, for the record cutting on our tiled floor = NOT fun!

Things started off pretty smoothly with my sewing. I'm getting fairly good at French Seams, but I always really have to think about what goes together first...wrong sides or right sides? At this stage of the game I was feeling pretty darn confident in my ability to punch at this dress toot sweet! Pride becomes before a fall as they say...

And then I tried the dress on. Oh dear!

Despite finding the arms a bit tight in my Daisy #partyPeplumDress I did nothing to fix the problem for my second go around with this pattern. I think I kinda forgot about it to be honest. I wouldn't say the arm openings are "restrictive" but they seem to be wider than they need to be so they cut into the front of my arms.

So I did what any clueless beginner would do....I hacked into the dress with scissors until I thought it felt...OK. I also hacked into the dress until the arms were no longer even on both sides. Whoops! I actually think my shoulders are uneven...so whilst things looked OK whilst I was cutting it became clear when I put them on that the bodice was now wonky.

But look how nice my pink bias binding looks on the arm holes...so pretty!

Another problem I noticed with the Daisy Dress was that the bodice was a tad too long at the back for me. I have quite a large caboose and my big butt stopped the bodice from hanging nicely into the skirt. Ergo the fabric all bunched up and was quite "puffy" at the back.  This "big butt bunching" seemed to be more of a problem on this version of the dress...I've got NO idea what going on here (has my bum grown)?

Anyway...I knew I had to shorten the back piece of the bodice so it no longer hit me on the derrière.  Because I'm lazy I tried to do this whilst the skirt was still attached to the bodice...as you'll see by my THREE rows of stitching. In theory I know what needs to happen to fix this but I just cannot be bothered to unpick the whole dress to fix its bunchy back.

And that my friends is the end of this story about what was to be a lovely floral tie-dyed denim dress - the answer to all my summer dress woes.  Now it's just hanging on my bedroom door...accusing me of being a terrible seamstress and it's right. But I'm just a beginner so it's all a learning experience.

I'm not sure what to do with this dress now? Throw it out?

In case you're wondering I AM going to make this dress again. I raced up to Lincraft right after this fiasco to see if they had more of this fabric and they did. I bought 2.5 meters and once I make up a 'muslin' of this dress I'll be ready (I hope) to chop into this fabric. I LOVE this fabric and I was SO sad when I knew I botched the dress and now I feel like there's hope again.

On my next attempt I will be:

• Reducing the length of the front + back bodice from an XXL to a S - which may seem drastic but it's only 2cms and I think that's a good start. I'm not sure what to do with the vertical darts though - do I use the Size S now?
• Reducing the arm hole from an XXL to an XL - which makes it 1cm smaller on the side.
• Praying to the sewing Gods that everything goes according to plan.

Wish me luck!

Adventures in Sewing #4 - a revamped (now too small) skirt

Every now and then I like to do a tour of the local op shops to see if anything jumps out at me...or more truthfully to see if there are any bargains in my size. Sometimes I get lucky, but not very often.

I recently spied this GREAT skirt and fell in love with the 70s style fabric. The skirt was obviously home-made and the previous owner had done such a great job on it. It was pretty obvious looking at it though that it was going to be miles too big for me. So I bought it anyway.

I figured now that I had my own sewing machine at home...and now that I could sort of sew...I could perhaps unpick the skirt and remake it to fit me.  As I was unpicking I took very careful note of how the previous owner had stitched it all together. Even though the fabric is stretchy they didn't use an overlocker at all which was good to see as I don't have one. They just did a simple straight stitch up the sides and a finished hand sewn hem. Noice one!

I didn't have a pattern to use so I sort-of made my own by measuring around my waist and adding a few centimeters for the seam allowance. I attempted to make the skirt into a bit of an A-line shape...but I didn't A-line it enough as it's a tad...snug...on my hips/bum/thighs. I had SO much fabric to play with that I wish I'd cut it a bit bigger! I'm really annoyed with myself.

I was pretty chuffed that I got to bust out my new twin needle which I used to hem the skirt. It turned out pretty well, although the machine was "jumping" in a few places so the hem is a tad skewif in some parts.

So whilst I technically "made" a skirt I don't think I'll be wearing it.  Off to the charity bin it goes.

Watch this space as I am DETERMINED to make something soon that I can actually wear, something that actually fits me.

Adventures in Sewing #3 - another (unfinished) dress

I've returned to Sew Make Create in Chippendale to embark on attempt number two of making the poxy stretch dress t-shirt dress that I so unsuccessfully didn't finish at the Tessuti BYO project class a few weeks ago.  Will it be second time lucky?

After a 3 hour long visit to Spotlight where I dropped a cool $120 on fabrics without even owning a sewing machine yet I came home with (amongst other things) a nice stripy knit jersey that I thought would work really well in the simple t-shirt dress we were going to be making in class. I didn't want anthing "too thin" or clingy and this fabric had a nice weight to. Plus it is made in Japan and pretty much everything out of Japan is cool.

The very FIRST thing I noticed about the fabric after I washed it home before the class was that it had a great big hole in it...right in the middle of the fabric piece. D'oh! Luckily I'd bought heaps more fabric than I needed (because I'm OCD like that) so it didn't end up causing too many problems (other than me cutting out two left sleeves as I couldn't double my fabric over to cut the sleeves out ?!?!). That aside, the fact that the material had a great big arrow on it pointing to the hole boggles my mind. It means someone KNEW the hole was there, marked it out and then rolled it on the fabric roll anyway. And the Spotlight lady would've most likely seen this too and still sold me the fabric!

As always Pepper the Puginese was on hand to supervise our class...and when she got bored with us she feel asleep on the floor. Sewing sure is tiring work isn't it Pepper?

Our first two hour lesson was pretty much taken up with doing pattern adjustments for each of four students in the class; plus cutting out our fabric. Embarrassingly I was the only person who needed the pattern made BIGGER! But like our teacher Angie said, our measurements in sewing as just numbers to help us make a perfect garments...no matter what your size sewing is ultimately about making something to fit our own unique bodies.

Class two sees us pinning our garments together and sewing! I had my "new" second machine with me for the class and I'm happy to say that together did a pretty good job! The sewing machine belonged to my Mother-in-Law who was a quilter and I've named my machine Betty after her. Don't let me down Betty!

The order that we sewed the garment together in class was totally different to the Tessuti class I did so I'm glad I learned a few ways to construct this dress.  I'm also REALLY happy that I got to do all of the sewing myself (bar one little piece where Angie stepped in as I was about to have an epic throw-down tantrum).  I'm also pleased to say that I learned the proper way (not the cheats way) of inserting a sleeve (or two left sleeves to be precise) in a garment.

Alas, I ran out of time to hem my sleeves and the bottom of the dress so it's still not finished. I did have a go at hemming but this fabric is so roly-poly along the hems that I lost my cool and had to walk away...fast!

And you know what -- after all that time spent adjusting the pattern the damn thing is TOO big for me! Either the pattern measurements are wrong (I think they are) or my butt measurements are whack-a-do! I'm also thinking the fabric is too thick and heavy for this style of t-shirt dress anyway!

So...what now? I was thinking of turning both this dress and the red one from my 1st attempt into an elastic waistband skirt but I gave up on that idea and chucked them both into the charity bag.

Adventures in Sewing #2 - an (unfinished) dress

After the success of sewing my lovely cushion cover I was keen to enrol in another sewing class asap...to keep the momentum going.  This time I was keen to make something wearable out of stretch fabric as that's a fabric I wear a lot (aka "eating dresses").

I enrolled in a "Learn to Sew Stretch Fabrics" back at Sew Make Create and took myself off fabric shopping.

First stop was The Fabric Store in Surry Hills. This store has LOVELY fabrics...REALLY lovely fabrics that sadly come with a really BIG price tag.  I was really tempted to buy something from their enormous range of knit (aka stretch) fabric but I just couldn't justify paying top dollar for something I was probably was going to ruin.

Next stop is Tessuti where I did my very first Learn to Sew class.  They also have super lovely fabrics but again they are NOT cheap. I was tempted by a few pieces that were way out of my price (and ability) range. And then I spied a nice roll of fabric that was on sale for $14/meter so I nabbed it.

Of course because I'm a tad OCD I popped into a Lincraft where I spied a lovely roll of red fabric that had some bobbly texture to it. I didn't buy it, but i couldn't stop thinking about. After two more visits to "check it out" the material came on sale so I bought it. SCORE!

So, now I have two lots of fabric...and sadly my class at Sew Make Create didn't go ahead as I was the only person enrolled (tears were shed when I heard this -- so sad). They weren't sure when the class would run again as the teacher was going overseas so I decided to see if I could go to the Tessuti class where you BYO your own "stretch project". It wasn't a beginners class, but because my pattern was SO simple I was able to enrol *fist pump*!

In hindsight this wasn't the best type of class for me as we weren't all sewing the same thing. Although my dress was "easy" I needed a fair bit of guidance on what to do next.

That said, I did learn how to fit a neck binding and how to sew in some whacky kind of paper fabric to make sure the neckline doesn't overstretch. I also learned a quick fix on what to do when a straight dress is obviously NOT going to fit my larger than life food-bloggers derriere (it's called a godet - a triangle wedge of fabric that caters for big butts/thighs/hips/tummies). When we realized we were nearly out of time the teacher sewed up the remainder of the side seems for me which is a shame as I probably could've managed to do this myself.

The dress is still un-hemmed and is now rolled up in the bottom of my cupboard - to be looked at when we're friends again (and when I learn how to hem a stretch garment).

Adventures in Sewing #1 - a cushion cover

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I recently decided that I needed to find a hobby that didn't involve food or my food blog...or specifically eating. And whilst the Balcony Garden gets me off the couch there is really only so much I can do on a tiny balcony each weekend. After you get the planting out of the way (which takes just an hour or so) you just...wait, and water. That's it.

I've been inspired to try my hand at sewing, after reading a few sewing blogs and becoming inspired by Sew Amy Sew who is only just learning to sew herself and is already turning out some lovely garments.

So (or Sew) I took myself off to a beginners sewing class at Tessuti which was very good + covered lots of basics.  But I wanted MORE. I wanted to make something other than straight lines on bits of scrap fabrics.  After scouring the internet I found a cute little sewing workshop and creative space in Chippendale called Sew Make Create.

Before the class started I took myself off to Lincraft to try and find some fabric for my cushion cover. Holy world of ugly Batman! That place is SCARY + a total messy schamozzle! I decided to try my luck at Spotlight...I know there are plenty of nice places in Sydney selling fabric but some of them aren't cheap and most of them are not in Western Sydney and I'm too lazy to venture far on the weekend. I was in luck though and found some really nice fabric...made in Japan which is where most of the lovely fabric at Spotlight seems to come from.

At our first 2 hour beginners class at Sew Make Create we learned about the machine, what bits go where, and then spent some time sewing straight and wiggly lines on paper -- just to get the "feel of sewing". This was really useful. Then it was time to thread the machine up and practice with real thread on real fabric. I'm happy to report that nothing went too badly for me and our teacher Melissa had infinite amounts of patience and I think it helped us all that the class was small - only four or five people each time.

Next class it's time to whip out my lovely Japanese fabric under the watchful eye of shopdog, Pepper who spent a lot of time supervising us in-between naps + (loudly) snoring. Pepper has her own Instagram account and she leads a lovely life of shopdog leisure...lucky dog. I really enjoyed having Pepper in the class - patting a puppy when sewing gets a bit stressful is VERY therapeutic.

And here it is, my finished cushion. I'm so proud of this little baby! I learned how to cut out a pattern, sew straight lines, pivot the needle, sew button holes using the machine and do a zig-zag stitch to stop the fabric edges fraying (and in between patting Pepper the shopdog). Nice one Miss Piggy!

Sew, tell me dear reader (LOL, I LOVE saying that)...do you sew? Who taught you or did you teach yourself?