27 Sep 2011
Swoon
– me and the quilt!
Like a lot of people lately I was hit by
one of the nasty viruses going around – for me it was really terrible vertigo
and nausea whenever I tried to stand or sit up. If I was lying flat on my back
I felt reasonably ok so that meant 3 days in bed with plenty of thinking time.
Lots of it was spent imagining quilts and auditioning fabrics – albeit in my
head.
So…in my swooning drug induced state I
thought it only fitting that I started Camille Roskelly’s Swoon quilt once I was better. I absolutely adore this quilt pattern and every single one I’ve
seen made up so far. It amazes me how different the block looks in different
fabrics – when I first saw Camille’s original I thought it was more than one
block.
I think I’ll go with aqua and red fabrics
for this one. I want to try and experiment with the different ways the block
can look depending on the fabrics used. With this block I thought it would be
the Loulouthi that would stand out and be the star (pardon the pun) of the
block, but I see mostly the Lotus dots. I wonder whether it’s the fact the
Loulouthi print is a big pattern so some of it gets lost when all chopped up. I
only had half a yard so just enough fabric and think it would have looked
better if I had been able to fussy cut some of the bolder parts of the print.
Or is the colour and tone of the Lotus dots that make that print stand out
more? Do you see it differently? I think I’ll learn a lot making this quilt. I
can’t wait to see it come together.
4 Sep 2011
Spring
sewing – Amy Butler Liverpool dress
2011
Spring has sprung in Melbourne in the
last week, so I had earmarked this weekend for some Spring dress making. Well,
in true Melbourne style today was grey and rainy and not at all Spring like –
all the better for sewing though. It was still a mild morning so we went for an
early walk and a yummy brekkie at this local cafe and I was still home by 9.30 to start sewing!
I pulled out the Amy Butler Liverpool
dress pattern and some Oliver + S City Weekend fabric I had purchased on sale.
I found the pattern instructions really
interesting as this is the first Amy Butler pattern I’ve tried. There’s loads
of detail and step by step instructions for less experienced dress makers. My
teenage years of making something on Saturday to wear Saturday night (and
sometimes going out sewn into it because I couldn’t be bothered with fastenings
– sound familiar anyone???) make me an impatient dress maker. I did take some
shortcuts – machine hems and deliberate gathers in my sleeves because I can’t
be bothered with the whole setting in thing.
I popped down to Lincraft this morning
for some thread, interfacing and buttons. I was stunned that I managed to find
some great matching buttons and didn’t have to buy the kit to self cover some.
It didn’t look like the self covered button kits have changed in the last 20
odd years – cheap and nasty things they are! I did have a few nostalgic moments
in store though – my first ever job was in Lincraft for 3 hours on a Saturday
morning. That was back in the days when it was a “proper” fabric store and not
what it is now. I LOVED that job – it was a dream come try to work there – even
if it was only 4 hours a week! My other moment was remembering making goodness
knows how many self covered buttons from emerald green raw dupion silk for one
of my school formal dresses…hmmm…do I still have that dress somewhere???
So…self indulgent trip down memory lane
over…the point of this was to say how the notions for a dress can cost about as
much as the fabric! Over $16 for the buttons!!!
I think I like the dress; like anything I
make I’ll have to make myself just put it on and go out without thinking too
much about how home made it might look. I had this issue with my Lisette Passport dress, but
I wore it out loads on hol’s in Hawaii. I think in this fabric it looks quite
retro; a bit house coat-ish. I did ask Mr Tortoise if I looked like Alice from
the Brady Bunch and while he said “not really” his laughter did have
recognition in it :)
Overall though, pretty happy…now I’m just
waiting for those nice red patent sandals to come into the stores…
No comments:
Post a Comment