OWOP - Renfrew Week

OWOP is over. I wore a Renfrew top every day for an entire week! I am hanging to wear a dress. I didn't realise how much I love dresses.

But I do love the Renfrew top!! I have a white knit linen ready to be cut. Watch this space.

Thanks Tilly for organising the OWOP Challenge. I greatly enjoyed it and hope we can do it again next year.

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 7!!

Last day of OWOP!! Today was beautiful, sunny and 29 degrees so I had to pull out my black linen Renfrew again. No wool today. Paired with an old Butterick 3597 made with a black and white polka dot from Clegs. Perfect for a Gumbo dinner in the sunshine at our local cafe...

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 6

Since my Mum is in town visiting for the week we hit the road early and headed to Bendigo to see the Grace Kelly exhibition. Highly recommended!

I wore my black linen Renfrew with a Dinosaur Designs necklace and a colourful Vogue tulip skirt from a few years ago. Loving my linen Renfrew!

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 5

Day 5 of OWOP, my week of wearing Renfrew tops. Enter my 4th Renfrew top made up in a black linen knit from Tessuti Fabrics. I wore it with a simple tube skirt made from fabric (also from Tessuti) salvaged from a disastrous maxi dress.

A lovely casual outfit... if I do say so myself!!

Project Details - Top
Pattern: Sewaholic Renfrew
Fabric: Midnight Black Sake - Linen Knit from Tessuti Fabrics

Project Details - Skirt
Pattern: self drafted
Fabric: Argo #4000 Jersey from Tessuti Fabrics

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 4

Day 4 of OWOP!! Just a day at work, nothing exciting.

Once again, my black wool Renfrew but this time I wore it with a pair of charcoal Clovers.

I was going to get my photo taken with some Meerkats at work but didn't get around to it. So my lovely crabapple tree will have to do.

Off to finish my next Renfrew for OWOP day 5.

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 3

Day 3! My favourite combo so far. The Renfrew made up in a warm yellow merino knit paired with my new pair of Colette Clovers which I made in a charcoal wool suiting. A lot of people commented on my outfit today. I love the red accessories with the yellow. Happy days!

L x

PS. Excuse the blurry photos, these were taken at 7am with two screaming children running around as we were heading out the door to childcare & work.

Renfrew Week - Day 2

Day 2 of One Week One Pattern: I wore my first ever Sewaholic Renfrew made up in a black wool interlock with a pair of denim capris and my Minoru jacket. A day of food shopping at the Queen Vic Markets (with my mum and without kids!!), kid wrangling and a trip to the movies with my better half to see the wonderful The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold.

L x

Vogue 8028: Check Shirtdress

Project Details
Pattern: Vogue 8028 View A (with shortened sleeves)
Fabric: Suda Night Check from Tessuti Fabrics
Notions: 9 x 15mm buttons from stash, interfacing (two different weights for collar & facing)

This Vogue Easy pattern was very straightforward to sew. The only difficulty I had was cutting the fabric out. Trying to match the checks as well as the optical illusion this fabric gives caused quite a headache! I was concerned that it was starting to look like a school uniform but with the sash and a good lick of red lipstick this is avoided.


I highly recommend this pattern if you're after a good shirtdress.

 

Tick off my Winter Wardrobe list!

L x

Renfrew Week - Day 1

I have chosen the Renfrew Top from Sewaholic for the One Week One Pattern project that Tilly over at Tilly and the Buttons is organising. Hooray for t-shirts!!

Project Details
Pattern: Sewaholic Renfrew Top
Fabric: Marc Jacobs charcoal mesh cotton knit from The Fabric Store

Worn with a recently finished Infinity Scarf made with the leftover merino wool knit of another Renfrew top (watch this space!).

Ready to rock on at the Playschool concert!!

L x

Party Dress

Soon I will be turning 30 and we are having a party!! I have taken the plunge and ordered the fabric I have been swooning over for a few weeks. It is called Emerging Spots and is a navy, black & ivory Japanese cotton voile from Tessuti Fabrics.

Once again I am undecided about which pattern to use...

I originally thought the Colette Truffle dress. With a black cropped jacket, black heels and a statement necklace??

What do you think? The fabric will need lining and I will probably go with a navy lining to make it a bit darker and more suited for an evening party (not kid's birthday parties for once!).

Any other pattern suggestions? I have 3.5 meters so enough fabric to play with.

Thanks in advance lovely ladies!!

L x

Review: Tessuti Online Shop

I used to have the pleasure of visiting the lovely ladies at Tessuti Melbourne on an almost weekly basis. Unfortunately (but fortunately for my bank account) my maternity leave finished and I returned to work. So my fabric shopping opportunities have diminished significantly. Enter Tessuti Online Shop!!

Tessuti runs an efficient and pleasurable online shopping experience. Each fabric has a few photos and clear description. Sometimes they include the weight, texture and potential uses for the fabric. I wish this info was included on all fabric as it makes it easier to "visualise" the fabric. In terms of efficiency, I ordered my fabric on Sunday night and it arrived Tuesday. All beautifully packaged in pattern tissue and a Tessuti ribbon.

In summary, I love Tessuti in all it's forms and if I can't get to the shop then the online version is a fantastic backup plan.

Store Details
Store: http://www.tessuti-shop.com/
Delivery: Express Post via Australia Post (free for orders over $150), extremely efficient, beautifully packaged
Extra Info: Fabric is ordered by the quarter meter, so be aware - for one metre enter quantity of 4, very helpful staff

Last but not least, my purchases! Two knit linens, in black and white, to make the Sewaholic Renfrew pattern. Plus a large piece of Japanese Cotton Voile Emerging Spots to make a dress for my 30th Birthday party (more on this soon!).

L x

Help?!

I need help. I have this beautiful Liberty Tatum fabric and can't decide what to make with it. I originally bought it for a Peony dress but since seeing Simplicity 2215 over on Idle Fancy I am torn...

What do you think? With a little red cardi and belt... Which is perfect for Autumn???

L x

Passata Making in the Country

On a glorious Autumn day, I drove out to the country to spend the day with friends making a years supply of passata. And what fun we had!!

7 boxes of tomatoes, 100+ litre glass bottles, 5 chopping boards, 5 tomato knives, cheesy music and good company. Perfecto!

Thanks to my amazing friend D for organising. Here's to the first of many!

L x

Travel: Inverloch

This weekend we took an extended long weekend and headed to Inverloch camping. We had 4 days of family time to recharge and spend time with the kids. No mountains of washing to fold, no laptop and no sewing machine... Just me and my boys.





  

  

Trip Details
Destination: Inverloch, Gippsland Coast (Check out here and here) 2 hours drive from Melbourne
Accommodation: Inverloch Foreshore Camping
Activities: walking, swimming, fishing, surfing, fish & chips!

Back to reality...

L x

Sewaholic Renfrew Top #1

Project Details
Pattern: Sewaholic Renfrew Top View C
Fabric: Black wool interlock from The Fabric Store (has a denim blue wrong side)
Notions: Cotton twill tape (to stabilise shoulders)

Perfect t-shirt pattern with a range of variations. I can see many more of these t-shirts in the future.

Tick off my sewing list!

L x

Working Mum Meals

I work 3 days a week and my husband travels a lot for his work. So a freezer full of food is a necessity for my sanity. Every second Sunday I cook and stock the freezer and fridge for the weeks ahead. My all time favourite meal that can be prepared and then frozen is Jamie Oliver's Quick Tomato Macaroni Cheese. It is full of tomatoes and basil and is not too cheesy. I know, macaroni cheese is supposed to be cheesy. But I like it this way. And the best thing is, the boys eat it!!

The recipe states that it serves 4 people but I split it into two baking dishes and it does us for two meals and leftovers for lunch. I don't do the 400g of mozarella, opting to just grate some over the top. I freeze one dish and pop the other in the fridge for later that week.

Highly recommended, from my kitchen to yours.

L x

The Fabric Store - Review

Between sewing for myself, my boys, my husband and our home, I buy a LOT of fabric. I tend to spread myself out across the fabric retailers within the city and inner norther suburbs. So I thought over the next few months I would do reviews of my main fabric and sewing supplies retailers.

Early one morning I dragged my boys down to Brunswick Street, Fitzroy to The Fabric Store. My mum had recently been to their Brisbane store and told me there was heaps of wool suiting and merino knits. I was in search of some fabric for a few Renfrew tops and a black wool crepe for a pair of work Clover pants.

The shop is full of fabric organised predominantly in colours, with some fibre content organisation as well. The service was friendly but not pushy. I did find that they weren't really eager to assist with fabric selection even though I'd asked for some help. I had two kids and a list, so a bit of assistance would have gone down a treat. I also didn't feel like they really sewed a lot.

Besides that, it is a wonderful shop full of ex-designer fabrics, lots of wool knits and linens and a good turnover of stock. You need to be careful when they cut the fabric, as there are often flaws in the fabric. Two of the pieces I bought had holes in the middle but the assistant happily gave me extra fabric to enable me to easily cut around the flaw.

Store Details

Store: The Fabric Store, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (there are also stores in Sydney, Brisbane & NZ)

Opening Hours: Monday - Friday: 9.30am - 5.30pm & Saturday - Sunday: 10am - 4pm

Parking: Street parking right out front

Access: Street level, easy access for prams, lots of room

Extras: Friendly staff, couches for the onlookers, great coffee shop just a few shops away. 



Here are some of my purchases. You can see my plans for these in my Autumn Winter 2012 sewing list. 

After about 30 minutes I had one bored little boy...

Thankfully the museum is close and is a great bribery tool!

L x

Finished!! Colette Patterns Clover Pants

I am so very happy about these pants! I read reviews and googled pictures of them for months before finally embarking on making them. I was expecting them to be a lot of trouble but I was pleasantly surprised. I am wearing them with my Tiny Pocket Tank.

Project Details
Pattern: Colette Patterns Clover Pants
Fabric: Stretch Navy Cotton Drill from Tessuti Fabrics Melbourne
Notions: 10" invisible zip

Fitting Notes
From my muslin test run, I made a size 18 sizing down to size 16 during the fabric fit. I then straightened the centre front seam and made it more like a right angle (by about 1cm) to remove the bagginess I get in the crotch. I then raised the centre back by 1cm by adding tissue to the paper. When I cut my fashion fabric, it had more stretch so I took in the side seams by another 1cm. I got a lot of bubbling on my hips. You know the bit between your love handles and tops of your things? Where the dint is? So I straightened the hip curve to eliminate this. Worked like a charm!

I used the book Pants for Real People heavily during this make and strongly suggest buying this book if you want to understand fitting process of pants.

There is still a little bit of extra fabric in the crotch area but I think I can live with that. Any suggestions? Next up, a pair in charcoal herringbone wool suiting I picked up at The Fabric Store.

I finished the waistband facing with some lovely navy and white spot binding that I bought in Tokyo last year. Every time I put them on, I think of our lovely holiday. That makes me smile!

L x