2013 sewing

This year's sewing was sewing in twos and sewing wardrobe staples:.  Here are the twos:

• Two Renfrews - yellow and purple, two pairs of Sew Liberated skinny jeans in red and in blue, two staple dresses by April Rhodes, two pairs of shorts from Simplicity 5558 (thank you Phillipa)

navy shorts

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• Two Tovas - grey and white floral
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  grey tova

  
  

  

  spotty tee

  
  

  

  spotty Staple dress

  
  

  

  floral Staple dress

  
  

  

  blue Sew Liberated skinnies

Two Ottobre tunics

And sewn only once (so far)


Minna blouse from Salme patterns (unblogged)

Traveller dress from Sew Lisette
Spotty tee
Vogue green cord skirt

Most of these garments have been worn so much and become my staple everyday uniform, especially the Sew Liberated jeans and in the summer the Simplicity shorts.  The |Renfrews are slightly too big so I wear them but not as often as the Ottobre tunics which I wear and wash, wear and wash at the moment.  So  hurray for sewing wardrobe basics.

I have a few vague plans for 2014, but nothing concrete yet.  I just want to think about getting more creative,  linking sewing to my painting....returning to some form of teaching as I desperately need to earn some money!  Oh and finishing off my ufos of course!  I have recently bought the Lola pattern and the Paula pleated skirt from Maria Denmark so once the UFOs are done, those two patterns are top of my list.  

vogue skirt

Last year I learnt the value of looking after my sewing machine, reading the manual and changing the needle. Could I finally be moving away from being a slapdash sewer?  

Last year I have learnt that I have lots of ideas but I do not have the time or resources to follow them all

through. Maybe I need to focus more.  Hmmmmm...I will get to you about that. 

Two Staple Dresses

The staple dress is a pattern designed by April Rhodes and downloadable as a pdf to buy.  The simple shape and construction lends itself to many iterations.  I have to say the simplicity is one thing that attracted me to the pattern. 

If like me you have seriously limited sewing time and often sew with a small person or two talking or shouting at you while  throwing breadsticks and assorted toys across the room, then you too will welcome this pattern.  It consists of a front and a back piece, armhole and neck facings and two side pockets.  I made it first in polka dot spotted black cotton.  This stuff is hard to photo! I squeezed it out of two metres by making the  pockets in another fabric, and it is a wee bit short. for my liking. I still wear it though, just over cropped leggings.   I shortened the pattern by an inch and cut a small on the shoulders and neck, grading to a medium for the bust and back to a small for the skirt.    

The waist is simply elasticated.  Very forgiving for one like me as I have a fat little tummy and my size is still shifting post baby.  That shifting size means I am wary of making anything too fitted.  The top has quite a lot of ease. 

The cotton fabric used for the first dress is  quilting weigt and you can see it bunches up a bit, creating a pouffy effect.  I still wear it though.  For the second dress I used a lighter weight cotton which hangs better.  It was from my mum's sewing room and looks kind of Liberty-ish.  I can really feel the difference in the way the two dresses hang on me.  I made this one a bit longer than the first as I had more fabric.  I just cut to the line of the shorter version in the pattern. 

I like the side pockets, though I know many sewers feel they spoil the line.  But I always need pockets.  I have noticed in Me Made May that those skirts I have without pockets are hardly worn.  I have to hide my keys and phone and multiple choking hazards  from RG throughout my day. I pick up bits of lego, hairslides, coins and quickly shove them in my pocket to put away later.  I also have hayfever and need a hanky!  

Then, I made the dress a second time using some floral cotton  fabric from my mum's stash clearout.  It is a lighter weight than the dotty cotton and I think it hangs better, and creases less.  I had been saving this fabric to make a crepe dress but realised I didn't have enough.  I made the skirt to the specified pattern length and feel better with this length.  It just hits mid knee when I stand still. 



Close up of the fabric, but also please note my navy nails!  I finally used a Christmas gift of a manicure voucher



I now want to try the dress in a viscose or rayon fabric.... I like the way I can think of multiple variations from this one simple pattern.  Has anyone else tried the Staple Dress?