The Sewing Revival - Classic Pants

 

A fortuitous linen remnant find, saw me revisiting the Classic Pants pattern from The Sewing Revival.

I originally made these in May last year, but made them a size to big, so my mum was the lucky recipient of them.

These are a straight size 10.  The only adjustment I made was to make a faux hem with bias binding made from the same fabric to keep the length.  I love the flat front and angled pockets on these. With good easy to follow instructions, these are a relatively quick and easy sew

It's a relatively heavyweight linen I've used, but it hangs beautifully. I've just ordered the same in the Navy colourway, for another pair. 

I feel that these will be a very versatile addition to my wardrobe.

Guo Pei: Fashion, Art, Fantasy Exhibition

 

Rihanna's famous Met Gala gown

This garment had at least 50000 hours spent on it

Guo Pei is a Chinese couturier, who creates the most magical, fantastical sculptural beaded and embroidered garments.  For more about her see here.

I enjoyed the exhibition so much, I revisited it and was able to absorb the details in her creations without as many people around. 

The yellow gown made famous when Rihanna wore it to the Met Gala weighs around 25kg.  Some of the garments have had up to 50000 hours spend on them.

As a sewer and embroiderer, I really want to touch them, and lift pieces up to see what's underneath, but understandable one can't, so lots of photos and close-ups where I could were taken.

I totally recommend see this exhibition f you get the opportunity.

A New Year and a January Round Up

     

A belated happy new year, even though it's halfway through February already.

January was a pretty lazy month, some time off over Christmas and New year, lots of books were read, no sewing was done, though I did purchase some fabric. My dahlias and zinnias have finally started flowering and I am loving having big bright bouquets in my house.  I've hiked, and continued my daily walks, paddle boarded, and went on a holiday with The Scout to Mangiwhai.   Most excitingly I have booked myself a trip to Brisbane later in the year.

Lets see what February brings.

Papercut Patterns - Lulee Dress

 

 

As soon as I saw the new Lulee Dress pattern from Papercut Patterns, I knew I had to make this.

I had two fabrics suitable in my stash, a beautiful cornflower blue linen and a hot pink /orange rayon.

Needless to say I chose the more difficult option - the rayon.  Hanging it outside on the clothesline and spray starching it made a huge difference to it's manageability when cutting and avoiding stretching on the bias.  I made a size 4, and it's very true to size, I shortened the sleeve to sit halfway between the short and long-sleeved lengths, and shortened the dress length by 3"/7.5cm.  Probably the hardest part was inserting a 35cm invisible zip in the side seam.  For a change this went in beautifully on the first attempt.

I love the fit and feel of this dress, the keyhole in the back and the swishy bias skirts and puff sleeves.

I'm sure I might need to find some heels in the perfect shade of orange to go with this.

Kismet Kiss - A Finished Quilt

 

Photo from https://www.instagram.com/cultivatedbychristin/

Yay - I'm so pleased I managed to finish a quilt this year.

I started my Kismet Kiss quilt back in April 2021 and as usual, with my quilts, it has been a slow process. 

Originally I had planned a totally random scrappy quilt, but decided to make it a little more cohesive using colours from a  beautiful floral arrangement as my colour palette.  I think I managed to work within the restrictions quite well. 

The English paper pieced blocks (EPP) were supposed to number about 48, but I got sick of doing them and stopped at 25.  These were all pieced together in January this year .   Borders from Kaffe Fasset fabrics were added to make the quilt a useable size, and a multi fabric pieced backing in colours similar to those I used used in the quilt front was made.  I decided to hand quilt it using a deep purple perle thread, my stitches are definitely not even, but really no one will be looking that closely ( hope)  and I do think that finished is better than perfect. 

The binding is an orange grunge fabric with colours found in the quilt too.

I am really happy with how this quilt has turned out, and as yet haven't decided if it will be a keeper or gift.