Top 5 of 2012 - The Hits

Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow had this great idea to post up a bit of a summary of 2012.  What a great idea to review how my sewing has evolved over the past 12 months.

I only started blogging at the end of April this year, the blogging originally started as a way for me to document what I was doing and how I was progressing, but as a result I have met (virtually of course) an amazing bunch of bloggers and readers that are so supportive and friendly - so thank you all!

I have been sewing for many, many years although with many a break too as life got in the way at various times. This time around I seem to be taking it more seriously and making more of an effort with each garment.  Previously I didn't take much time to alter the pattern, I used to cut the pattern larger than needed and then took in various seams as required.  Now, I make the effort to cut smaller shoulders, do an FBA and anything else required to get a better fit. Of course this has resulted in garments I am much happier with and that I wear!

So starting with my favourite garments of the year in no particular order and not including a couple still to be photographed and blogged (these will possibly feature in next year's round up) .

1. My cotton shirt-dress, this is so comfortable and I wear it all the time.  It is great to wear to the office with some nice wedges, or to the mall with ballet flats.

2.  Then we have my vintage pattern blue dress made to wear to a wedding earlier this year.  I got loads of great comments like "Really, you made it? That's amazing. I wish I could sew." Funny isn't it, I am pretty sure most people could sew if they really wanted to learn.

 

 3. Kelly Skirt - I love this skirt, it is so versatile, dressy and casual depending on what I wear it with. Just a great wardrobe basic. Nuff said!

  

4. This photograph does not do this Banksia top or fabric nearly as much justice as it deserves, however this is a great top, it gets so much wear.  Made out of Marc Jacobs fabric from Mood in NYC, it is cool, comfortable and pretty. LOVE!



 

 

5. My Got the Blues jacket.  Of course made to wear with the dress above, however it goes with jeans as well, in fact it goes with lots of things.  I don't probably wear it as much as I would like, but I love the fit, the construction and the cute polka dot lining

 

 

Aside from these made for me items, I recently made these aprons as Christmas presents and the joy I got from giving these was fabulous.  I made these for a friend of mine and her two daughters aged 4 and 2. They love to bake together and they went down a treat.  I made the children's aprons with elastic around the neck and a velcro closure around the waist with the intent that they should be able to dress themselves.  On opening their presents, the kids put them on and started chanting "we match, we match!"  Yay - this is the kind of me-made present I like, one that is really appreciated!!
 

 

In the next couple of day I will post up the misses and my goals for 2013, but in the meantime, Happy Holidays!

Got the Blues - Part 2 - the jacket

As promised, here are pictures of the jacket I made to go with this dress.  I used Simplicity 3538, a Project Runway pattern.  I made the longer view with the gathered front and straight vented sleeves.

This jacket is super comfortable and seems to go with loads of my existing wardrobe, so even though I know I won't get a lot of wear out of the dress, the jacket is going to get a lot of wear especially at the moment with our semi-warm days, too cold for a t-shirt, but too hot for a heavy jumper.

My favourite part of the jacket is the surprise fun polka dot satin lining:

This was a super easy make although I did change the instructions slightly to get a cleaner finish on the inside. The pattern calls for a separate facing and then full lining underneath, but I combined the two so the inside only has seams around the armholes, which I have bound in red bias binding. I know I could have done it with no visible seams at all, but I was on a tight time frame as I was trying to finish it the night before I needed to wear it. As it turned out, the weather was lovely for the wedding and I didn't require the jacket after all.