Colette Laurel

Well! After my camera went AWOL for a bit, it has turned up again so I can get on with photographing a bunch of finished projects (not necessarily in the order they were completed, though)

First off, is Colette patterns most recent release, the Laurel shift dress.

I will be the first to admit that when this pattern was released, I was not really very ennthused. I just wasn't convinced this was going to be a good shape for me. After having seen a few iterations made up though, I felt it was at least worth a try.

I chose a cotton poplin that I just loved when I first saw it, but have had sitting in my stash for a bit because the 'right' pattern hadn't presented itself. It is a happy fabric, but not too out there.

I made the pattern up as drafted, except for tracing off the length of the largest size, which gave me about an extra inch to play with. The only other deviation was to machine stitch my sleeve and neck bindings down rather than slipstitch by hand as suggested in the pattern.

This is a really quick sew, particularly as I left out the back zip. I basted the back seam together to check the fit and discovered I could comfortably take it on and off without a zip, so didn't bother!

While this dress is comfortable, and I'm pleased with how it came out, I'm still not sure if this is the right style for me. Time will tell how often this makes it out of my wardrobe.

Final Word: happy enough, but no immediate plans to make it again.

Birthday Present Sewing

Another one of those things 'they' don't tell you before you have children, is that children will make friends, and get invited to a LOT of birthday parties! And it seems we are in the midst of birthday season.

I am fortunate to have crafty friends who appreciate a good handmade gift, so the search was on for a great idea. I came across this Art-on-the-Go kit, and decided it would be perfect for the varying ages I needed to make gifts for - mostly 3 - 7 year olds.

These are great as they don't use much fabric, so I have been able to make use of my leftover offcuts from previous sewing projects.
I have also been able to match the fabric and colours to the child I have been making them for.

I have so far made at least half a dozen of these, and my own children are making noises that they would like one for themselves.

As well as the examples pictured, there have been art rolls made from denim, shirting stripes, sock monkey print, pinwale cord, and I have used what I had on hand for the batting layer - mostly towelling, polar fleece and flannelette.

Fabric-a-brac is on

After some concern near the end of last year, Fabric-a-Brac is back in Wellington

Save the date!

Pattern Pyramid Winner

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment, and have a looksee round my wee corner of the blogsphere. It was also awesome to find some new-to-me bloggers in New Zealand!

While I have seen some really cool prize draws on blogs recently, I am going with the standard fallback of the random number generator. Sooo................... the number that came up was number 7! (sorry, can't figure out how to get the actual number generator to display, so you'll just have to trust me on that!!)

dressesandme
What great patterns! And fantastic to find another new Zealand based blogger like myself! Count me in please!

Congratulations, I've sent you an email to sort out postal addresses and whatnot.