Built by Wendy meets Puce Floral
Do you remember the Built by Wendy sheath dress I started back in September? Unfortunately I only got as far as a toile fitting before being paralyzed by fabric and styling indecision. Since then, though, I’ve dug through my extensive fabric collection and come up with a very old cotton sateen pink/purple/puce floral. I can’t…
Read More3 Useful sewing ideas
A short post this week, with three unrelated sewing ideas I hope you’ll find useful… Unpicker cover The Clover unpicker, while expensive, is considered by many to be the unpicker of choice, with its smooth sharp blade and comfortable handle. However, it comes with a flimsy sleeve to protect to blade (which I lost). …
Read MoreA small gallery of Visible Mending
Hello Folks, I’ve been preparing some samples for a visible mending workshop in November. While I tend to be a fan of invisible mending (as explored in this post), I do like the combination of embroidery, denim, running stitch and creatively working through the household’s mending pile. The technique is very simple and kinda fun.…
Read MoreA day at the country show
On the weekend was our town’s one-day country show. I had decide two years ago to enter something in the dressmaking section, but last year I was too busy with The Dressmaker’s Companion and didn’t get around to it. There were hardly any entries that year, and I vowed to make sure I was organised…
Read MoreThe experimental shorts: the crushing verdict
In the world of patternmaking, I like to persist with things and Get It Right. It’s not often I give up easily on a project. Last week I experimented with a short/trousers draft, which I found in one of my old sketchbooks. Unfortunately I hadn’t dated it or noted the source, but I might have…
Read MoreExperimental shorts
Last week’s Built by Wendy, Sewn by Lizzy dress is progressing…slowly. Meanwhile, I came across an interesting idea for cutting trousers (or shorts) and thought I’d give it a whirl. Here’s the concept: It’s closely related to these zero waste pajama pants, except that the triangular/diamond gusset is cut from the tummy rather than…
Read MoreBuilt by Wendy, Sewn by Lizzy
The arrival of spring weather has given me the urge to sew a summer dress. Does this happen to you when the season changes? I was also inspired by a library book: Built by Wendy Dresses: The Sew U Guide to Making a Girl’s Best Frock. The book was published in 2010 and has had…
Read MoreOverlocking: A perfect beginning and end
A question that sometimes comes up during sewing classes is How do I secure the beginnings and ends of overlocking? There are a few answers depending on the situation… If the overlocking will eventually have another row of stitching or overlocking over each end (probable examples are side seams, shoulder seams and in fact,…
Read MoreQuestions people ask at book talks
This month The Dressmaker’s Companion turns one. While I’m no veteran of book talks, I’ve done a few since then, always with an opportunity for questions at the end. Sometimes no-one asks any and sometimes people ask questions during the talk (especially if the group is small). Read more about my publishing story here. Here’s…
Read MoreThat old dressmakers model Part 3: Got it covered
It’s now the final week of my dressmakers model makeover: the cover. This turned out to be harder than I thought. (For the background on my dressmakers model, read part 1 and part 2.) Cheers! PS, Adelaide readers, it’s not too late to book for this…
Read More