make it in may.

at the beginning of may, i mentioned that i might whip up a skirt and join in with curlypops and her 'make it in may' skirt sew-along...

then it got to the end of may...
and i hadn't even made a start! but i had been doing some thinking...

i'd bought a massive length of fabric from the oppie, that was a nice and light piece of linen, perfect for the weather in tropical far north queensland (i'm heading there later on this month ;D).
and that got me to thinking a little more... i knew that i wouldn't have had time to sit and trace and pin and press and all of those complex dress making things...
then on my day off i thought, 'stuff it!'

i folded my material in half, cutting it into a square (well squarish...)
then i folded it into diagonal eighths and cut a round shape from the middle

then i cute a length of fat elastic to fit my waist and sewed in into the hole i'd cut, hey presto!!!



SKIRT!

i did then press the skirt, and hem it. and i'm quite proud of the hemming job i managed too,



just look at those neat little corners!
i'm just a little bit proud of my last minute efforts. and i think it'll be beautiful to wear while i'm away, so light and breezy! and perfect to go over a pair of bathers :D

check out the other skirts on the curlypops blog, or over on the flickr stream.

tuesday afternoon.

i found myself with an unexpected day off today... so after a bit of houseworking, and subsequently finding a $10 birthday voucher for a certain crafty/homewares megastore, i jumped in the car to get some supplies.
some embroidery floss



for a little project i was pinspired to do...

and some nice thick elastic



to go with this fabric i picked up from the oppy last week, for a fast approaching deadline

what have you been up to on this cold and wet afternoon?

a little sew-a-long...

i mentioned in my last post, that i had signed up to cam's lisette sew-a-long...
and last night, having gotten home from work, and knowing that today was a public holiday i decided to make a start.


i spent a good 2 hours trying to get the fold in the right position to lay my pattern pieces correctly, and then another hour or so cutting them out. i've definitely still got a lot to learn when it comes to dress making.



i found the construction of the dress itself to be VERY simple (and i'm a complete and utter novice...)
the most difficult part for me was probably working out the whole binding thing, which way it was supposed to go on, and which bits to press and which way and what to sew together.



the whole binding process was actually explained quite well, it was just that my brain wasn't working too well as it was well after midnight when i got to it and i'd worked all day (and the day before that and before that...) i made a little adjustment as the arm holes were much too wide for me (and everyone else it seems...) luckily i'd read a few posts about finished dresses before i started (like bec's and cam's), so i knew i'd most likely have to take them in.



i even learned a few lessons along the way.
*don't flail your hands around in front of your sewing machine, at 1 in the morning you will most certainly impale your finger on the needle (big ouch!)
*actually look at the way you're supposed to thread the bobbin into the machine (my bobbin cover has a little picture indicating how to do it...). last night i learned that i haven't been threading it properly EVER! i've had my machine for almost 10 years!
*binding, cut on the bias, is freaking amazing. i never understood before, how it actually worked! but gosh, love it!
*taking the time to sew the binding on by hand will make it look a million bucks. there's no way i can sew an even line around a curve.



i was so excited about my dress, i wore it to a picnic today with friends from work. no one believed that i'd gotten home from work last night and made a dress.
made me soooo freaking proud :D

in summary, this is a dress i'd recommend for anyone to make. it's got the ability to fancy it up a bit if you've got the skills, or just keep it super simple and basic like me.
i've got another length of material ready to go so i think i might make a few alterations, pockets in particular!

how has your long weekend been?