The Fabric-a-brac Chantilly

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Here's another one I finished a wee-while ago, the Colette Chantilly. The fabric I picked up at Fabric-a-Brac earlier this year, it was this gorgeous vintagey green cotton. 

It's gotten much too cold to wear this one lately, but I think it''ll come out of the closest again once the weather warms up.

I made a muslin and had to take out a fair bit of fabric at the bust area. It's pretty tricky to space out all the gathers but I'm not too fussed with how it all turned out. All in all, a nice dress but time will tell if it gets wear or not.

On the plus side, it goes well with the new(old) purple funkis clogs!

A running start

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Happy new year!

I know, I know, we're almost halfway through it! Sorry I may have a been a bit distracted melting, watching new/old tv shows, and thanks to this creature:

May I introduce you to Neika. Neika, my blog readers. Neika is Ben's dog that he bought as a puppy and has been living out his folks, next door to a dairy farm where she would sneak off to and drink/eat the cream, hence the slight chubbiness.

She LOVES pats and will roll over onto her back anytime anyone comes near with a look in her eyes 'pat me pat me pat me pat me'.

I'm not one for new year resolutions but reflecting on my sewing from last year, some of my most worn pieces were the least expected. I discovered a real love of all things stretch and knit my first jumper (and discovered just how warm real wool is!). For 2013, I'd like to sew a few more plain colour pieces that I can mix and match. Perhaps some knit tops and some skirts.

On another note a small confession - I may or may not have gone on a small online shopping spree. It was 2nd Jan, I was back at work, life was tough, y'know?

So many delightful goodies. I'm currently working on 3 (!) dresses, so eventually I'll get one finished to share. I also have Lonsdale dress pics which are in Canberra and I'll try to get and post soon. Picture a tropical fruit lady.

In other quick photo updates, we had a crafternoon with a bunch of friends. Look bunting!

We also grew a bunchload a basil, made jars and jars of pesto. I fit in a quick sewing project makin a Colette Meringue out of fabric my ma got me a while back. Hope you all had a swinging start to 2013!

The final countdown

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It's the last day of Me Made May! And what a month it's been.

This final week has gone much better than last week, even fitting in a new addition to the wardrobe. Here's a quick round-up of the last few days.

28 May
Forgot to make picture but wore the Megan Nielsen Banksia with some Zara black pants. I'm enjoying the Banksia top a lot more since I sliced off the sleeves, it will definitely get a lot more wear.

Look who found a new picture spot?

I've really enjoyed taking part in Me Made May (Thank you Zo!) It's made me realise what parts of my wardrobe I do wear and which ones I tend to steer clear of. Dresses get a lot of wear in my wardrobe but I prefer simple designs and shapes. Also of course am discovering my love of stretch fabric; some days you just want something simple and comfortable and stretch fabrics really cover that for me. 

Some of my earlier pieces I really just don't wear anymore I think partly because as I've been sewing I've discovered what styles suit my shape instead of just choosing a fabric I like and a design I like and squishing the two together. 

So there you go! Hopefully next year I can do even better, with more and more handmade items. 

One night in Bangkok

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Technically it was one week. But the song doesn't sound quite the same when I hum that in my head.
I was lucky enough a to go to Bangkok for a work conference not last week but the week before. I arrived back last Sunday night and last week seems like a bit of a blur!

I was super excited, partly because I'd never been to Bangkok, partly because I would get to meet all my work colleague from the region and partly because it was warm weather so could break out all my Me Made May gear for hot weather. Hurrah!

The first outfit (15 May) was actually a blue and cream striped t-shirt dress (similar to StitchyBritts here) which I wore on the plane with leggings. I hadn't taken any pictures yet and then managed to leave it in the hotel. Funny story actually, they had one of those fire smoke alarms that had a green light that flashed constantly and kept me awake. So I hung that dress over it to block out the light. Then left it there. Poor cleaners must be wondering what I got up to!

The first day of the conference (16 May) I wore my new black dress with slightly Polish feeling trim, the Colette Pastille (yet to be blogged). I finished this the day before I left *phew*. I'll take some close up photos soon to post about but the top part of this is so nice and neat (!) as I had enough black material to line it. I added some flowery looking trim I had in my stash to make it slightly different to a plain black dress.

The second day (17 May) I had to do a presentation and decided to go with the Megan Nielsen Banksia top (not yet blogged). I originally made this with sleeves but they were so ridiculously tight and uncomfortable I had only worn it once. I ripped off the sleeves and put bias binding around the edges. The collar maybe stands out a bit more now, but at least it's comfortable and will get some wear.

Last up (18 May) I decided to go with the Colette Ginger I made last year. Paired with a black top from Kmart, I quite like how it looks like a dress if you don't look close enough.

I sort of failed to complete MMMay on the 19th May. I started the day wearing the Banksia top but I was transferring hotel (these last two days were personal holiday time) and I tell you what , boy oh boy was it hot outside! So by the time I reached the hotel I was sweating something chronic and changed into something a bit flow-ier - but not me-made.

Have you ever been to Bangkok before? It's an exciting place and he days I wasn't working I spent eating, drinking coconuts and having foot massages. I'm one of those people who travel by eating. I just move from breakfast to lunch to dinner to desert and back to breakfast again.

A delicious restaurant that's founded by an NGO that works in HIV prevention and education. It has really delicious food, cute fairy lights and funds go to the NGO's work.

Oh, they also had decorations made of condoms.

Mmmmm coconuts.

Relaxing by the pool.

Joining the me-Made-May challenge

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I've decided to take the plunge! It's been about a year and a half now since I learned how to sew garments and am slowly building up a small wardrobe of wearable clothing.  For the month of May I'll be taking part in Zo's Me-Made-May '12

'I, Bohdana of Poppet Hill, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear one self-stitched/refashioned/knitted garment each day (Mon-Fri) for the duration of May 2012'

Phew! I think this will give me a chance to review what I have, what I wear and what I could do with more of. You'll notice I've only said Monday -Friday in there; I mostly wear my handmade clothes to work, my weekend gear consist of jeans and a t-shirt. I'm hoping this year to make more around-the-house clothes though but doubt I'll have anything ready for the month of May.

Sarai at Colettte patterns has this great blog post the other day about making practical clothes and I totally agree. More cake less icing needed!

New Colette Patterns ahoy!

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You may have already seen, but Colette Patterns have announced their new spring/summer patterns. I swoon.

Yes, I know we're heading into winter here but dresses can always been work with tights, boots, jackets and scarfs, right? Right?!

The new range features two vintage style dresses and a cute-as-a-button pair of shorts.

I love the cute little pockets on Lily and the vintage figure. I can just see this pattern giving you curves that you never knew you had! Important in my book, as I'm a straight up and down.

Their Hazel made up in stripes blew my mind. So gorgeous!



 


And then finally the Iris. Who doesn't need a cute pair of shorts like these in their wardrobe?! 

 

If you're looking for an easy to make pattern with fantastic instructions, I highly recommend Colette patterns, their pieces are always sure to inspire. Head along to their website to snap up their patterns.

The pretty Pastille

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Told you I'd be back!

I convinced Benj to come down to the park with me this afternoon to snap a few pictures of the Colette Pastille I finished recently. Though he's no photographer, I think he did pretty damn well and will be roping him in for all my future photo shoots.

The vital stats (al la Sew Weekly)

Pattern: Colette Pastille from the Colette Sewing Handbook
Fabric:A blue cotton-ish thing from The Fabric Cave
Cost: About $5 for the fabic + an invisible zipper
Time to make: A looong time. I started cutting out the pattern for this darling before Christmas and managed to make the muslin, adjust and cut out the nice fabric pieces before we went away. But once we got back from India I got so carried away with work and what not that I only picked it up again about 2 weeks ago.

This was the first dress I've ever made a muslin for and to be honest, it paid off. While it took me longer than usual it gave me the chance to fit the bodice perfectly. This is the area I most struggle with as my sizing is pretty much straight up and down, so while I may be a 0 in the top, I'm a 6 in the waist and then back to a 2 in the hips!


I ended up taking some length off the bodice, slightly adjusting the darts and bringing in the hips. It would perhaps do with a bit more work in the top but I'm quite pleased how it turned out. I've already worn it to work twice and both times have received compliments which I'm always thrilled with. Better than my first few creations which caused the comment 'Oh, did you make that?'.

The pleats down the bottom, although you can't really notice them with this fabric, are a really lovely touch. I took the time to thread trace all the lines as the book recommends. In the end though they didn't match up for me so I ended up just measuring with my tape measure and pinning as I went. I'll probably try do something in between next time, the thread tracing took just that little bit long for my liking.


I'm still learning how to stand for photos, really not very used to it at all!

The fabric is from this wonderful place called The Fabric Cave. As it's open during the week I usually don't make it out there but once a month it's open on a Sunday so I duck out and pick us as much fabric as I can carry in my hands.