MARIA DENMARK – day to night top… 5 STARS

Posted on December 22, 2012 by sewbusylizzy

Maria Denmark – Day to Night Top. This pattern is SOLID GOLD. Easy and looks fabulous.

OMG I love this top and and I love this pattern. It’s MariaDenmark’s Day to Night Drape Top. I made it this morning and wore it today. Seriously, it’s that quick and easy.

Two pieces to cut out. Elastic for the back neck line and armholes and you are done.

“Oh no it’s a PDF pattern” I hear you cry. Yeah… get a grip. If you are clever you just have to stick six pieces together for the top and six pieces together for the back – if that’s too much of a challenge I can lend you my 7-year-old, she’s a whizz with scissors and tape. Trust me, it’s not one of those enormous jigsaw puzzles that gets completely out of whack by Sheet 30. And these patterns do not have a lot of ink on the page so that’s no excuse either.

Maria Denmark – Day to Night Top. The ‘day’ shot, back

PDF patterns can be a mild challenge but so can wrestling fragile tissue paper back into an envelope. It’s just a different challenge. Get outta that comfort zone I say!

I’ve also got smart about these non-seam allowance patterns. I have a little two pencil tool which I use to trace around the pattern. I then cut out from this second line – so I don’t have to think about it as I cut and sew (cos I am a bit of a dunderhead when it comes to that!). Easy peasy.

seam allowance tracer

This is an amazing top. I love love love love drape necklines.

Did I mention I love drape necklines?

I usually have to wait for them to be in fashion or buy them via mail order. Now I can make them whenever I want!! Hooray.

This took me about 90 minutes to sew. And that was mainly because I had never used my new overlocker to sew stretch and I had never used invisible elastic – so I had a few tests on scraps before I tackled the ‘real thing’.

Maria Denmark – Day to Night Top. The ‘night’ shot. My fabric is a little sheer in this light!

Could not be happier with this project.

And it’s about $5.50 on Craftsy at the moment. Stop reading now and go and buy it. Consider it a Christmas present to yourself.

And if you think I am high on Christmas spirit – well Scruffy Badger is too. Either we are both mad or just switched-on stitchers. I’m going for the latter – how about you Winnie?

Winnie has put sleeves on her’s – clearly my current weather doesn’t require sleeves. But if you have Maria’s Birgitte tshirt – the sleeves from that fit onto the top. Genius.

I used invisible elastic on my top. I could only find white or black foldover elastic at ‘my local’. I tested the technique on a scrap before I sewed the ‘real top’.

Maria Denmark – Day to Night Top. The daytime top beach outing – that’s me!

Top 5 Misses 2012

Posted on December 20, 2012 by sewbusylizzy

*sigh* just like I used to have RTW Disasters I’ve had Sewing Misses.

With RTW you just have to negotiate changerooms, your own grand delusions and overly ‘nice’ sales assistants.

Sewing is fraught with a much more difficult processes. Does the style suit me? Is this the right fabric? Have I chosen the right size? Can I successfully alter the pattern? Do I have the right skills and notions to make this?

So my sewing Misses 2012 (in no particular order include)…

SEW BLAH LIZZY – Vogue 1224

Vogue 1224 – not feeling the love

Sorry I just cannot make myself like this but thank you for all your kind words on this post. I like the fabric design – not the composition. I don’t like the gathered neckline or the elastic waistline. I also don’t like the height of the waistline. It’s just simply not ‘me’ – alas.

COLETTE PEONY

Colette Peony: with a piped waistband, back view

Tough one. I do like this dress. I like the style, the neckline and skirt. I love the fabric and the care I took making it and the little details like the piping. I don’t like the fit of the top back. I think it’s going to be transitional piece – perfect with a cardigan… which I am knitting… I’ve just start the right front…

COLETTE HAZEL

Purple Haze’l – pleased with myself – Colette Hazel pattern with a bas cut skirt

I love the idea of this design. I love the bodice. The skirt is just all wrong, the gathers do not work – well not on me anyway, I should have used pleats like I did in my muslin – although the stripe impact might not be so great. The fabric is also quite stiff. However I am v.proud of this project, the stripe matching and chevron of the skirt that I achieved by bias cutting the skirt is awesome (if I don’t say so myself).

SEWAHOLIC THURLOWS

Sewaholic Thurlows – full view. Sorry black is very hard to photograph at night!

Awesome pattern. I think I chose the wrong fabric and my ‘junk trunk’ is just not the real deal in these pants. I prefer the MariaDenmark Winnie design on me, less fiddly design elements, lovely wide legs. Nowhere near as may pattern pieces either! I must make Winnie STAT!

SIMPLICITY 1880

Simplicity 1880 shirt dress – windswept and finished! Material: printed linen from Lincraft.

Again a tough call… Lovely dress, beautifully made and finished. I adored making it. The fabric pattern is just all wrong on me, it’s waaaay too genteel and ladylike. I feel like a fraud. I also think I prefer shirtdresses with buttons all the way down, rather than this shirt maker style with just a button down top.
I made this as part of A Fashionable Stitch sewalong – which was a fabulous learning experience.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

LISETTE PASSPORT DRESS
Cute as a button but the finishing point of the darts bothers me. I think I might make up another dress in navy polka dots and I love them.

Simplicity 2209 – Lisette Passport Dress

SEWAHOLIC MINORU
Again awesome pattern, love everything about it. Love this fabric. The waist on this was a little too high. Miss 9 has inherited this and adores it. It’s a little big and the sleeves a little long – but totally wearable – she gets compliments when she wears it as people think it’s very ‘cool’ 🙂

Soft & Fuzzy Lizzie – my Barbara Cartland shot

BUTTERICK 5814
Don’t faint. I don’t consider this a ‘miss’ but it’s not quite hitting the target. I’m not a fan of the sleeves and worry about wearing it out due to the tightness under the arms, they just don’t sit easily. I don’t like clothes I have to ‘fuss’ over when I’m wearing them – there is no better way to lose your confidence than to be tugging at your clothes.
That said, I love this dress, I loved making it and I achieved so many things, underlining, boning, fitting and more. Great project.

Butterick 5814 – my little wiggle (and a tad smug)

PS Gillian – I love writing these posts. Clearly I enjoy a bit of navel gazing.

Top 5 Favourite/Most Worn 2012

Posted on December 17, 2012 by sewbusylizzy

Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow is posting her Top 5 hits/misses/reflections/inspirations/goals for 2012. Great idea.

I think it’s always great to sit back and reflect on hits & misses – celebrate your moments of joy and absorb what you have learnt from the ‘minor’ hiccups.

So here are mine. Can you guess Number 1? Sorry no prizes for guessing the obvious…

SEWAHOLIC CAMBIE – I’ve got THE CAMBIE POX
Well you are hardly surprised are you? I adore these dresses. Beautiful finish, fit and the two skirts produce two completely different dresses. I adore my floral the most, with polka dots a very close second and then the lovely black number (it’s very sensible which makes outrageous adoration a little pathetic).

Sewaholic Cambie, View B. The perfect sundress, pretty, ladylike but not ‘old & fussy’.

SEWAHOLIC ALMA – not squee or twee
The perfect woven top. No buttons, no buttonholes, no fuss, versatile, comfortable. Perfect. If I had to teach the world to sew in perfect harmony… we would all be making Almas. There is enough variation in that pattern to keep anyone happy.I would be hard pressed (no pun intended) to choose a favourite between these tops.

Sewaholic Alma – view A

Sewaholic Alma – not squee or twee… just me

VOGUE 1247 Skirt & top – the tardis skirt and top
Love, love, love this skirt. Amazing. Best casual skirt ever. I wear it all year round thanks to boots and leggings. We are BFFs.
Top is gorgeous. It could look big and boxy but in the right fabric it drapes beautifully. I wear the skirts and top… a lot.
This picture doesn’t do the pattern justice. However if you don’t have this pattern you really must buy it.

What I really wore all day… Vogue 1247 top and skirt…

VOGUE 1236 – not a sack of potatoes a frolicking frock!
This was one of my early makes. It’s not super flash but it’s so comfortable, nicely finished and I wear it quite a lot. A lovely simple pattern.

Vogue 1236 – Definitely not a Sack of Potatoes

SEWAHOLIC LONSDALE
I made this last week and worn it twice already. Great casual summer dress, flattering, simple to make and comfortable. Yes, yes! Pictures coming very soon.

Sewaholic Lonsdale fabric choice

HONORABLE MENTIONS

MARIADENMARK
I haven’t had a chance to take photos for the blog for my Yasmin Yoke skirts. Or make my final pair of Winnie Wide Leg Trousers. I suspect they will be on my 2013 Top 5 list!

Life intervened in a spectacular way late this year… work, family, you name it, was all going pear shaped. Casual clothes I find easy to photograph as I spend lots of time on the beach. Work clothes I am always racing out the door and the evenings are long and late and the light is bad. Great simple design, easy to wear and make. Although I did sneak in this picture when I had to pick one of my girls up (sent home from school sick – so I enlisted her to take a blog photo. Come on! She just had ‘itchy eyes’ which turned out to be an allergy and was better within an hour of medication and home!)

Sewaholic Alma – as a work blouse. I’ve paired this with Maria Denmark a-line Yasmin Yoke skirt!

I have only muslined the Winnie wide leg trousers, I suspect these are my perfect trousers. They fit perfectly, I adore the wide legs and they are really easy to cut out and put together. There are not a million and one pieces. Just a simple clean design. Love them. There will be a ‘real’ pair of these in 2013.

MariaDenmark Winnie Trousers: muslin back

Love the simple t-shirt and look forward to making more – I also printed out the Kimino tshirt pattern this week. I’ve also just purchased her brand new Day to Night top which I’ve just got to get some elastic for! It’s just $5.50 on Craftsy at the moment – special introductory price!!

MariaDenmark Birgitte Basic T-shirt – short sleeved t-shirt

SELFLESS SEWING
I adored making the Fishing Vest, it was trimmed with all manner of frivolousness, she admires it, I adored making it.

A Fishing Vest – this project was a blast, I loved every minute.

Confirmation dress. Not my most stellar make but again Miss 7 adores it and that’s the most important thing of all! I think it’s in her Top 5!

Giselle’s confirmation – she is doing well not to shiver. It was freezing and they made us wait outside in a cold wind for 20 minutes! Lovely!

APRONS
This might seem a weird choice but I loved making these – thank you Karen for a light-hearted sewalong that really got me to make something completely different! I loved photographing them – particularly when the tourists started taking pictures of me too! They are just fun. I’ve even made an amazing one as a Christmas gift. Yes, yes! You can see it soon!

Butterick B5474, view E: Strawberry Fields Forever. Oh and that? In the background? That’s coathanger – also known as Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I’ll be with you in a Jiffy… with a Pattern Pyramid!

Posted on December 15, 2012 by sewbusylizzy

Simplicity Jiffy 4977 – at the Lighthouse, this is only a few minutes from my home… I really do sew by the seashore!

When I said I’d be with you in a Jiffy… I really meant it!

In November I won a Pattern Pyramid on Made by Trisha’s blog. I managed to keep quiet about it as I knew it would take while to arrive from USA. Trisha was off at a conference, check out the dress she made to wear to it here.

The pyramid arrived this week… and you will be pleased to know that I’ve already made two things! Hey don’t look so shocked, I’m not SewBusyLizzy for nothin’! LOL.

OK I know that you ain’t so interested in my sewing as you are in the Pyramid itself, huh? *sniff* After stalking many a Pattern Pyramid I understand, really I do *sniff*.

And yes, it’s a pretty good one.

The jury is still out, I can’t decide what to keep. At the moment I’m a little bit in love with the very simple Jiffy 60s number. And yes, that’s the Jiffy that I’m wearing at the top of the post 🙂

Simplicity Jiffy 4977

I made the Jiffy on the spur of the moment. I was digging through the stash looking for something else and stumbled across this vintage fabric (you know how that happens) I picked up at an op shop for $3 for 3 meters. I suspect it’s a 70s print. I have no idea what it’s composed of… but it’s quite heavy, a twill weave and has a fabulous drape. It just felt ‘right’ and in a jiffy – or a few hours – the Jiffy was born. Miss 9 and ELH decreed that I should make the sleeveless number so I obliged. I even had some vintage hooks & eyes to close the back (it’s supposed to be a button & loop but this felt ‘right’). So total cost (excluding electricity and cotton etc for those auditing types) was $2. I have enough fabric left to make an Alma with this 🙂

My modern cheating touch was to use my brand new overlocker/serger to finish the seams – this fabric is a ‘frayer’.

Simplicity Jiffy 4977 – interior

Verdict? Jiffy = lots of fun and a very comfortable dress!

Now I had thought I would keep Simplicity 4687 – the shift, jacket and overblouse. So cute! It seemed the perfect solution to my Christmas dress dilemma. I thought I would make a red dress with a green lace over blouse.

Simplicity 4687 Pattern Pyramid fail

Glad I muslined this. It’s too big. Yes, yes, yes. I could grade the pattern. I could make alterations. And I really admire people that do that. However for me… there is a world of patterns out there that fit me and I’d rather fritter away my time with those 🙂 This was nice enough to sew but a major sewing/fitting fail. I could not even be bothered to tidy up the hem for the pictures 🙂

Simplicity 4687 Pattern Pyramid fail – back view – it’s huge!

Verdict? I’m not a vintage size 12. Lesson learnt. It’s staying in the Pyramid.

I’m still dying to try the 6512 pants… they might be too small though. And trust me you don’t want to see my stretch marks in that crop top. I am a small person and had two babies around the 9 pound mark – scarred for life I tells ya. I’m sticking with the dresses.

What am I keeping? I don’t know!!! Decisions!! I thought about tracing off the pattern but decided I will just throw a few more in. I have plenty of vintage patterns and I actually love seeing how the Pyramid morphs and changes with every blog it passes through. At the moment the Jiffy is definitely the front runner. I can see myself making this up many times…

What should I throw into the mix? A jacket? A Vintage Vogue? An 1980s fashion crime?

Excited? Wanna win? You can find the rules of the Pattern Pyramid here – when it was started by the lovely Karen of Did You Make That? In a nutshell you must have a blog to participate (sorry non-bloggers!). Leave a comment and let me know if you are in!

The Pattern Pyramid winner will be chosen by a lucky draw on December 23, 2012. Good luck!

JIFFY DRESS
Pattern: free
Fabric: $2 op shop.

LOCATION
Tacking Point Lighthouse, Port Macquarie
Tacking Point Lighthouse is Australia’s third oldest lighthouse. It was built on a rocky headland about 8 kilometres south of Port Macquarie in 1879 by Shepherd and Mortley, to a design by the New South Wales Colonial Architect, James Barnet. It is classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Tacking Point was named by explorer Matthew Flinders in 1802 during his 1802–1803 circumnavigation of Australia
(source: wikipedia)

Oh and if you have read this far it was WINDY today. Really windy… we were lucky to get these pictures… some of them looked like this…

I’ve been nominated for some blog awards – more on that later… oh and I made the Sewaholic Lonsdale dress. Verdict: sewing WIN! Photos soon.

I WON… and a Pyramid is coming…

Posted on December 12, 2012 by sewbusylizzy

It’s so funny how things turn out. Remember this dress?

Vogue 1151 – just can’t wear it!

Where I could not decide whether to wear it or not? Well when the Exposed Zipper contest, sponsored by Coats & Clark, popped up on Pattern Review I thought ‘hmmmm, I have something with an exposed zipper I might just enter it’ and then it won! I was always pleased with how the zipper looked and it’s gratifying that all the work that went into making this dress (it’s really nicely finished) paid off! I’m not so pleased with how I’ve got those two bulges on my back – but that’s me pulling my shoulders a little rounder so the zip is more ‘exposed’ *sigh* the things we do for sewing!

I won a Restyling with Exposed Zippers course with Angela Wolf and a pack of fashion zippers from Coats & Clark. I’ve always enjoyed Pattern Review, I think it’s a great resource if you are thinking about making a certain pattern or just cruising the gallery for inspiration. Thank you Pattern Review!

And OMG, I just spotted these Christmas ornaments on Coats & Clark… how cute!!

PATTERN PYRAMID…

I won a Pattern Pyramid a little while ago from Made By Trisha. It arrived yesterday – just got to take some pictures of the patterns, write a post and then you can all start jumping up and down and screaming ‘pick me! pick me!.

Sew Busy Lizzy

she sews by the seashore…