Ooh - an Award!

Wow, I've been nominated for a Liebster Award by my fellow singer/seamstress Ree from Ree-Sewn. I love reading her posts and seeing the clothes she makes (she even sewed her own stunning wedding dress and shared the whole incredible journey on her blog!)

So, what's the deal with the Liebster Award? It's all about discovering and spreading the word about new blogs. By accepting the award I get to share 11 random facts about myself and nominate some more fellow bloggers to do the same.

I'm so thrilled about this, in fact I'm thrilled that anyone reads my blog at all! So here goes:

1. I'm a musician. I've been singing and songwriting in bands since I was a teenager and I intend to carry on doing so for as long as I possibly can!

2. I love a lot of different kinds of music and I currently sing in 4 bands playing very different styles: Gypsy jazz, 50's R&B, 60's ska & calypso and the newest one Catzilla is 60's garage pop, in which I also play keyboards. This keeps me extremely busy rehearsing, performing and making stage outfits.

3. I'm also a piano teacher and I'm blessed with a range of lovely students from 6 year olds to 60 year olds. They're all at different levels and have varying tastes in music which keeps things fun and interesting.

4. My favourite music to sew to is anything by Brad Mehldau who is an American jazz pianist. I find his music really relaxing and somehow helps me focus on what I'm doing.

5. I'm rubbish at making decisions.

6. My favourite chocolate is Mint Lindt- ooh, and Ferrero Rochers too - yum!

7. I lived in London for 11 years and it's still one of my favourite cities.

8. I love travelling and I've been lucky enough to visit lots of different places but Tokyo and Paris are two cities that I keep going back to.

9. Ree shared her phobia of moths, birds and anything that flaps, well I have a phobia of anything that crawls - most of all spiders and cockroaches. Given that I live in Australia this proves to be a frequent hindrance to my calmness and well-being!

10. I love the warm weather and can't stand being cold - thankfully Spring is here in our part of the world - Yay!

11. My idea of paradise is lying on a beach with my man by my side, a fancy cocktail in hand, a good book and the occasional dip in a calm, temperate ocean (take me there now!)

Thanks Ree for spreading the word about my blog. I'd now like to nominate two blogs for the Liebster Award. I'm not sure if they have under 200 followers (some say this is part of the rules) but I've only recently discovered them and feel they deserve to be shared:

Coolarama with her lovely makes and fun, witty writing style
and
Springstitches - I love the gorgeous vintage outfits that Becky sews.

If my nominees accept, they get to share 11 random facts about themselves and spread the blog love by making their own nominations.

Pineapple Bow Blouse

I seem to be on a bit of a Gertie roll at the moment, having recently made Butterick 5953 finally after having it sit in my cupboard for a couple of years, I thought I'd have a go at her most recent design for Butterick - B6217. The instructions were really easy to follow and it would have come together super quickly had it not been for the fact that the armholes are WAY too small!

Unfortunately I only discovered this after I had sewn most of the garment so I just had to cut into it until I had the right fit. As a result the sleeves weren't quite the right shape anymore so I ended up putting on some capped sleeves instead and finished the lower section with bias binding. Thankfully it all worked out in the end because I really like this pineapple print cotton that I picked up in Hawaii recently.

I made a size 8 which was a very comfortable fit everywhere but the armholes. A couple of people on Pattern Review who had sewn a size 6 pointed out the same problem (if only I'd taken note of that first). None of the other reviewers that had made larger sizes mentioned this so maybe this is only the case for the smaller sizes. Be warned though, if you intend to make this pattern, I'd make a toile first.

I do intend to make more of these cos I think it's a really lovely pattern but I'll have to do some serious adjustment to the armhole pattern piece first. I'd like to make view C and I'd also like to try the tulip sleeves, they look really cute.

Not content with photo bombing my blog pics, Koko insisted on having a cuddle too.

I See Red

Yes, it's a whole lotta red! This is Gertie's Butterick 5953. I wasn't overly keen on this pattern at first, the cover photo on the packet didn't really do it justice but when I saw Amy's version (from Sew Amy) I knew I had to make one for myself.

Both the main red fabric and the black are a stretch cotton drill which I was a little afraid might be too thick for this dress but it's actually fine and with a bit of pressing everything seems to sit quite nicely.

I was a bit nervous about the front bands and the godet as I've never sewn one before but the instructions were very clear and it was quite simple in the end. The sleeves were a bit fiddly and I ended up with a bit of puckering but after a few too many attempts I decided to live with it.

I cut a size 8 and graded the hips out to just between size 10 and 12. Having worn it the other night though, I decided to take it in at the hips and the fit is way better now. Overall it didn't require many fitting changes and was a fairly straight forward make - I'm really happy with the end result.

And now I shall leave you with a link to one of my favourite songs from the past - "I See Red" by Split Enz - I'm not sure how far their popularity spread but for those who don't know this is what Crowded Houses' Finn brothers were doing before they grew up!

Blogging Vacation

Oh boy, it's been such a long time since my last blog post - if only I'd been on holiday for all that time!(it was only 3 weeks of it sadly). Life has been pretty hectic since I got back so not much time for blogging or even much sewing for that matter.

I'm pleased to say that I packed quite a number of me made garments to wear which was really nice and I whipped up a couple of new things to take with me just before I left.

I used a mixture of Gertie patterns to make these highwaisted shorts. In her new book "Gertie Sews Vintage Casual" she has a pattern for cigarette pants that she converts to shorts. I didn't really have the time or inclination to toile the pants and then adapt them so I took Butterick 5895 which I had already made before and applied the changes to that which was really just shortening them and widening the legs slightly.

I also whipped up this denim skirt using Vogue 8603 which I've made a few times before so it was quick and easy. This is such a comfortable, versatile skirt that I wore constantly. This is the best photo I have of it - but you get the idea.

I had an amazing time on my trip to the US - it was mostly holiday (with a little bit of work) but I also managed to fit in a few sewing related activities - yay!

In New York I got to meet up with the lovely Sonja from Ginger Makes. We didn't get to go fabric shop together but Sonja very kindly gave me a list of her favourite stores in the Garment District which was just as well because I really would not have known where to start otherwise. Even with the list I was totally overwhelmed by every store that I went into and only came away with one piece of fabric in the end. I still enjoyed the experience though and next time I'll know what to expect.

My last stop was Hawaii which is one place I wasn't really expecting to do much shopping but I did discover Waikiki's Fabric Mart. This store had lots of lovely craft fabric and oriental prints but really, being in Hawaii it just didn't seem right to be looking at anything other than the amazing selection of Hawaiian prints that they had on offer - for me, it was like Christmas!

I did have to be a little restrained as our suitcases were getting close to bursting point by this stage but but I think I did pretty well and came away very happy with my purchases. I love holiday fabric shopping, it's like having a wearable souvenir to bring back those great memories.

Now, to dust off my sewing machine ...