Halloween 'Costumes'...

...in parenthesis because you can hardly call them costumes. More like an ordinary dress and long-sleeved vest. 5 points if you can guess what/who we were supposed to be.

Here be clues:

I wouldn't blame you if you missed it completely. Nobody at Nikhita's playgroup (where the Halloween party was) knew either. Only after they were told did they have the "oh ya!" moment.

Anti-climactic.

The important thing is that I enjoyed making the Buttercup dress (but made quite a mess of my vest which I couldn't care less about but good thing you can't see it), and I chose it purely because (a) it was easy to make, (2) I could use remnants from my stash, and thirdly, I could mostly wear my own stuff and be part of her costume as well. Shames me to consider the efforts others have put into their daughters' costumes. It's a good thing Halloween isn't a real big deal here (no trick-or-treating, phew!). If we have to dress up again next year, I promise I'll let the kid choose what she wants to be.

Now on to Christmas sewing!

Black Sheath (aka 'I am still here' post)

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Just the usual things getting in the way of blogging...you know, work, family, living. It seems like every time I think I have some space to breathe, I get a new commission or someone falls sick. The former is good, I shouldn't complain about that, but the latter - not so pleasant at all.

I finally found some time to actually sit down and sift through a gazillion pictures and wanted to show off something I made a million years (only 3 months lah) ago, with a view to developing it into a proper pattern for sale. I have a few on the drawing board but this stretchy piece is up first for its simplicity.

A very straightforward pattern, no faffing about with darts and other irritants, and therefore very suitable for the virgin (in terms of sewing...people!). Made in a knit-jersey fabric with a four-way stretch, it moulds itself to your shape and is very comfortable to wear.

My husband is not the best photographer in the world so don't mind the weird foreshortening of my body - which is also cleverly hiding the bumpy bits... er, the wrap is doing that too :P

Like I said, still on the drawing board, but as soon as I've written the instructions and finalised the pattern to fit various sizes (and taken a decent photo of it on the mannequin), it will be up for sale on my etsy site.

Meanwhile, some 'eye candy'. In support of breast cancer awareness month, here are a couple of the many corsets I have made this year for various commissions. Go here to find out more about breast cancer and how you can help support the cause.

A Versatile Blouse - adding a narrow banded collar (Part 2)

Following up with the tutorial posted here, this post shows you how to add a narrow banded collar to the basic blouse pattern (see side-bar for download links). This post also includes a full tutorial on how to make up the entire blouse, with the collar. Please see the previous post for information on the size chart, materials, and pattern cutting.

Because the tutorial runs a little long (what with all the pictures!), I've made high-resolution, downloadable thumbnails of the instructions instead.

Additional Material:

A small amount of medium-weight woven iron-on interfacing (for the collar).


How to:
1. Cut out the pattern (except the facings) and add SA as explained in Part 1, and a hem allowance of 0.5".

2. Serge the raw edges at the CB ONLY.

3. Cut out and make the collar piece like this:

4. Cut out the facings following this:

5. Make up the main bodice like this:

6. Insert the invisible zipper:

I found and tried this alternative tutorial for inserting invisible zippers, by The Sewing Divas. It worked really well and came together more easily than the traditional method I described above. I recommend that instead :)

7. Close the back seam:

8. Finish the collar (and zipper):

9. Join the side seams:

10. Finishing:

Well I hope I haven't missed anything out! E-mail me if there is anything omitted...

As usual, I'd love to hear from you if you do try this out :)

How to divide serger thread into smaller spools - a silly kind of tutorial

Make no mistake - I hate serger thread! They shred and split and fly here and there when one is trying to thread the serger. BLACK serger thread is the worst! Black attracts a lot of static cling and the thread shreds and splits even more than the other colours :(

That said, I still use it for some projects that really require it...like sewing up seams on jersey knits.

The problem, as many of you are familiar, is that your store will only have the exact matching colour in a jumbo spool - and chances are that it won't fit onto your little home serger anyway!

So what to do (short of buying 4 separate spools)?

Some places/books will tell you to wind the thread onto bobbins. But you quickly run out, often in mid serge, and then have to rewind constantly. Not ideal for large projects.
Here is what I do...

Equipment:

1 electric egg beater
carboard tubes

Method:

Get yourself 4 inner cardboard tubes.

I cut the long tube of a used roll of tin foil - can't you tell? You can also just use 4 tubes from toilet rolls, probably much easier.

Take one of the metal spindles from the egg beater...


...and tape one of the tubes securely to it.


Hand wind the thread a few times around the tube first


Then attach the spindle back onto the machine.

Place the original large spool on the floor and position the egg beater upright on the edge of a table. Like so:


Holding the thread trailing from the tube in one hand...

(You will probably have to hold on to the machine with your other hand cos it tends to migrate off the table when turned on)

...turn the machine on at the slowest speed and let it do the work!


As you get more confident, turn up the speed a little at a time (on my machine, it goes from 0 to 9!) and keep winding until you are satisfied with the amount on the tube.

Cut through the tape to remove it from the spindle.

And voila! you have one small spool of serger thread ready for use on the serger.



Repeat with the remaining tubes and save yourself $ buying 4 large spools of annoying thread.

Helpful or not? Do let me know by leaving a comment...*wink wink*

:D

Fabric Covered Journal - Giveaway Winner!

Thank you EVERYONE who participated in the giveaway! Your comments were so appreciative and encouraging that I wished I had more journals to give away :)

Without further ado, the winner is...

... Wood Violet from Ontario, Canada!

CONGRATULATIONS!

I shall be contacting you soon for your mailing address.

If anyone does try the tutorial and make one - a fabric covered journal, I mean - I'd love to see it! Just email me or leave me a comment anywhere, pointing to a link :)

Cheers and thanks again for making my giveaway a success!