Where I've been at

sewing, kids.


I made the skirt and the jacket (it just struck me that this is a rare full-face-shot of me on the blog. Hm). The skirt will be discussed next post.

The jacket is Vogue 8414. I am very, very pleased with it. This was merely a wearable muslin, before I make another in some (very) metallic linen. It's plum corduroy, medium wale, from Spotlight. I really, really love corduroy. I haven't shown it yet, but I have a corduroy dress, too (rust orange, fine wale). There's not much to say about sewing it. It was cut and sewn together (complete with handstitched hems) in a day. It was a straight size 10 (a size down from the recommended measure) with no alterations. Normally I would make the back narrower, but I figured that the absence of inset sleeves and the loose style made that less important, and I didn't want to interfere with the pleats at all.


Here's the back, with its awesome little pleats. I'm sure someone better at fitting than I could tell me why I have those creases in the upper sleeve. I'm also thinking that next time I might draft and extra inch or two in the sleeve so they don't sit right in my elbow - it gives the sleeves a slight tendency to bunch up my arms rather than crease when I bend my elbows.


One of my favourite parts of the pattern is the loose mandarin (?) collar. I love the line it creates in profile against my neck (apologies for the blurries - BCB is not so steady with the camera).

The jacket is unlined, with self-facing, so I opted to cover the facing edges with bias binding (and one of the sleeve seams too). I'm still a bit of a spazz at sewing bias binding, so I'm pleased enough that this is attached to the garment and the facings caught. Wrinkles be damned. You can also see the only spot where I didn't catch the folded-under part of the collar facing. I'll handstitch that down today. I did ignore instructions to handstitch down the collar facing and opted for machine stitching in the ditch on the outside instead. I'm getting much, much better at machine sewing down facings these days. That skirt above was done perfectly, and I only missed that tiny part on the jacket.

It doesn't have buttons yet. I'm thinking maybe dark wooden ones? All up I think this thing is very cute, very appropriate for Perth weather, very comfortable and cosy; and I'm happy enough to make well, actually a couple more probably.

Charade Socks

This is quite old. I finished the sock before I started the raglan, and I've nearly finished the body of that raglan now. I'm a little unenthused about finishing, because they don't fit too well. Too tight across the bit of my foot that's just before the ankle bend. I think because the herringbone rib has so little stretch in. I also decided to try a picot bind off for a change, and, um, I don't think I love it very much.

However, my mum has volunteered to take these off my hands, so I'm slowly ploughing through the second one. Mostly a row here or there, at the train station or before a dance class (look, I need to do some kind of exercise, and jogging is just not me). In fact, when I pulled out my knitting before dance class one other girl leaned over and said "Oh wow! You catch my train in the mornings! I thought you looked familiar, but I now I definitely recognise that sock thing!" Startling, but not so bad as Badly Coloured Boy, who was recently recognised by a fellow train-traveller as "the guy that talks a lot."

I've been loving The Sartorialist again. I've bought some new patterns. Kwiksew 3436; Vogue 8414 and Vogue 8451. The Kwiksew is looking not bad, I'm halfway through a muslin. If I can make it while hungover it must truly be easy and logical. I'm planning another two, maybe three, in a blue and chocolate cotton, a teal satin, and maybe a metallic plaid chiffon type fabric I picked up in an op-shop (I had a nasty experience with plaid before, so I'm a little plaid-shy. That whole matching thing is difficult!). I'm waiting on some metallic linen from Ebay to make the jacket for 8414 (it's been a little while - hope with me that it hasn't gone astray in the mail!) I'm struggling with getting fabric for the jersey top. The stretch knits at my local fabric store were either swimwear type, or cheap and nasty. Oh, and I ordered some Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler prints to make some pleated skirts. I doubt my skills are such that I'll earn a place on the Sartorialist's pages, but I think I am improving.