Pink & red florals

 

Pattern: Vogue 8766 (view C, with straps)

Dress fabric: Spotlight

Shoes: Modcloth

Parasol: Christmas gift last year

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The Christmas Pudding bag

This bag actually has nothing to do with Christmas, or puddings. I just think it looks like a fat little pudding.

Actually it looks more like a pizza when it's lying flat.

The fabric is leftover from a dress I made years ago, proof that it IS worth hanging onto bits of fabric "just in case" I need them.

The lining is a soft silky rayon.

This was made exactly the same way as the previous bag here, but it's smaller.

I added the lace around the opening to hide the rows of stitching for the ribbon casing. In order to keep the stitches invisible on the inside, I had to hand sew it. I loathe sewing anything by hand. It takes foreverrrrrrr. It gives me neck and back and head and eye aches. And half the stitches were visible anyway. But it looks nice from the outside.

 

To finish, I added two red buttons to the ribbon ends.

 

And there you have it. My little Christmas Pudding bag.

 

McCall's summer dress

I previously attempted this pattern about a year ago. You can see it in this very short post here.

Today I finished making view D, the purple version in the top left corner. The fabric is from Spotlight. Isn't it great? It's just printed but it really looks like the patches are sewn on.

 

 

 I don't know why I didn't like it before. It's easy to fit because it has a seam under the bust and at the waist.

Doris and I have the same bust measurement, but she's all back, whereas I'm all front. So she doesn't fill it out quite as well as I do.

The side back seams also help to get a perfect fit. I didn't have to make many adjustments with this. I added a seam allowance all around the midriff, and took a few inches off the skirt length. If I make it again I'll make the straps about an inch shorter.

I added a dart to the front of the straps. The straps are curved but I wanted more definition.

And pockets. 

Look, they work!

And here is the finished product.

Spanx ahoy! (You'd think I'd spot them while I'm so busy checking my own reflection.)

(I just like the way my hair turned out here.)

So I should have a few more summer dresses coming up over the next couple of months, and hopefully some more experimental items too.

The past 12 months I've been supporting my love, Jay, through gender transition (male to female). This month marks the end of the actual transition. It's been an emotional and mentally challenging year which is why I'm now taking a long break. I have TWO MONTHS holiday from work which is going to leave me with LOTS of lovely sewing (/sleeping/eating/reading) time at home...

I am very excited about it!

Sack bag experiment

When I first saw this piece of fabric, I immediately knew it could make a perfect circular bag. It's much brighter than it appears here - it's actually a bright lime green.

I think it was originally a tea towel or something. 

Anyway, I cut it into something vaguely resembling a circle, and then used it as a pattern to cut out some lining. In hindsight, I really should have used a lining fabric which, you know, doesnt clash so hideously.

I sewed the almost-circles together, leaving an opening to turn them right side out. Before I sewed up the opening, I stitched a single button hole in the outer fabric, and used the buttonhole width as a guide to sew a channel all the way around, through both pieces, several inches from the outer edge.

Through the channel I threaded a ribbon for a drawstring, and attached some buttons to the ends to stop the ribbon disappearing inside the buttonhole.

Then I added a couple of handles which in no way match the outer or lining fabric.

And there you go. One sack bag. As experiments go, I think this one was fairly successful! The next one will look slightly less multiple-personality-disordery.