Monday 21 June 2010

Japanese sewalong finished






Hurray - we have pictures again!


I have finished my Japanese top from Cecili's sewalong. I am not sure if I like the neckband in brown though. (I keep thinking it may look a bit like the shepherd's costume froma school nativity play in brown) Cecili made a very elegant black and white top in this sewalong and Zoe made a fab seventies tunic, with a lovely shaped neckband. Alison was very clever and used the japanese top pattern with an existing dress pattern to produce a lovely blue dress. Ali, if you are reading this, I am looking forward to seeing yours!
It is really comfy on and has fab sleeves. I will try and photo it on once I have figured out the self-timer on the new camera. I just cannot do that while looking after a three year old and seven year old both of whom love to fiddle with cameras (subsequently breaking the last camera I had). There is a lot of fabric in the body of the top but it doesn't look too huge on (I think/ I hope). I do like it but it is a different style to what I usually wear and I think it is going to take a bit of getting used to. I think it will be great on a hot day to keep cool but also keep my upper arms nicely covered from sunburn. (I have a bit of a thing about avoiding sunburn, having fair freckly skin). I think it was a bit of an error to try and sew the neck band at night when I was tired as I went wrong with it and lost the nice curved shape that it originally had. But I did enjoy the whole sewalong experience and Cecili posted some very helpful advice on her blog - I am certainly going to try another one of these patterns again in the future. I am going to try wearing this top next week and see whether I lose my nativity-related reservations.



The next picture really should have gone in my last post - these cushions are what I made out of the green patterned Ikea fabric that I had rejected as a skirt fabric. The sofa itself is brown not as dark as this photo suggest. Previously we had brownish coloured cushions (why? On a brown sofa? I just don't know) now re-covered they are soooo much better and I have used up some of my stash.


Finally a picture of what I was working on last night - a brown sheath dress from Built by Wendy dresses book with a falso placket on the front. The binding tape is from Liberty via Clothkits (another birthday present). And there on the right - my new attempt at sewing organisation - the zip up bag that I have been keeping pattern pieces and fabric for this dress in. I am trying to organise my projects in this way....

3 comments:

  1. I love the fabric you used, it looks so soft! I guess it's linen? So pleasant to wear :) The 2 buttons are a cute detail, I'm glad you enjoyed the sewalong! Alison has shown me a new pattern from the kokka site, it could be our July project, if you're interested please leave her a message.

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  2. Congrats on finishing and looking forward to seeing it on! :) (I'm hoping to finish today!) I like that you also did a contrast neckband (I agonized over it and decided against it because I didn't have anything suitable). If it's any consolation on the neckband, I actually put one side on backwards and didn't realize it until it was perfectly stitched. This is why I'm so good at seam ripping. Ha!

    And looking forward to seeing the sheath dress! I'm waiting for the book to arrive and it's taking a lot of discipline not to overthrow my summer sewing plans so I can sew every last one of those dresses :)

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  3. I love your top and really like the colour. Looking forward to seeing your sheath dress. I really want the Built by Wendy dresses book and the knits one....I'm going to attempt to sew my first knit today, i don't have an overlocker but hopefully it will be ok. Hope you have a lovely day xx

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