Sewaholic Renfrew Top in salmon pink

Tasia has some wonderful patterns on Sewaholic.net. She designs them herself and gets them printed. Really friendly presentation and a basic storage envelope. I bought the Renfrew Top pattern from Sewbox.co.uk but I think there are a few other stockists in Europe and UK (not sure about Ireland, specifically).

I made "C" with the cowl neck...

...but with the long sleeves of "A"...

...and added 2 inches to the length (as I like my tops long). [Pity about the awful leggings, and the slumpy posture.]

The pattern called for a "stable knit" - the jersey I used - bought from Hickey's Henry Street - is quite light and as you can see, a little bit too see-through. The wrist bands have stretched badly out of shape.
Most of the seams are done on an overlocker. I used the machine at my sewing class at the Grafton Design Academy in Dublin. But I've since bought myself an overlocker. Exciting!
Cowl neck...

I'm not sure if I misread the pattern or if there's a mistake in it - my cowl is actually inside out! The seam connecting the two pieces and the seam at the centre back were facing opposite directions which didn't look right. I re-stitched one of them (at my teacher's advice, I hasten to add) but that resulted in the cowl being inside out. All my friends assure me they would never notice... but I know...

Fabric

Viscose Jersey

100% Viscose

Better blogging to come... new camera!

My images thus far on this blog have not been of great quality. Partly due to not having bought myself a new camera for about 10 years. My Sony Ericsson mobile phone had a brilliant camera but I replaced that mobile phone for a smart phone.

I purchased a 14.1mp camera t'other day. Improvements in picture quality await.
Now I just have to find a good background in the apartment in which to stand. And I need to work on my pose too ;)

Dress for a wedding

When I first started looking at dress patterns, I decided it was probably best not to buy something too fitted. I chose Burda 7352 because the dress is bandeau-style and the ribbons allow it to be worn in different ways. I'm big into functional too!

I bought beautiful fabrics in Hickey's of Henry Street. Mini Floral Jersey and Sophie Chiffon. I think possibly the chiffon is too good for this project! It's a little bit on the heavy side. I think it's great how Hickey's receipts have care codes for the fabric.

Here's the dress:

I'll try and make a prettier, more dramatic ribbon tie at the back on the day of the wedding!

 And the matching headpiece (which I didn't make)

Fabrics

Mini Floral Jersey
96% Viscose - 4% Elastaine

 

Sophie Chiffon

100% Polyester

Cut-up Top

Another Cut-up Couture project. This time made from a man's shirt, size L. A halterneck top. The shirt was an old one my brother had.

 See the original shirt buttons at the back.

I liked this. It was fun and I'd make it again but the measurements weren't great in terms of making the halterneck fit properly around the neck or the back. The back sits a bit too low (hoisted up over my bra in this pic).

Cut-up Jumper

Recently I blogged about a Japanese pattern-book called Cut-up Couture. The patterns take men's garments and turn them into interesting female garments.
I made a jumper from two XL man's sweatshirts, bought in Penney's for €12 each. The ribbon was bought in the wonderful, huge, Hickey's in Galway near Eyre Square.

It balloons at the back, and ties with a ribbon at the front.

The pattern calls for men's L sweatshirts so perhaps this corner which takes from the "ballooness". This would be avoided if the sleeve and side seam of the original jumper were the same length.

I like things cosy and snuggly, this is more crazy and zany than practical.

Sewing Class - Murphy Sheehy

I just started a sewing class at Murphy Sheehy. It's excellent. The tutor is Violet and she's so patient and attentive. It's exactly what I dreamed a sewing class would be. The room is small. The girls are friendly.
I'm making a skirt in black crepe satin.

Bunting - olé olé olé

Ireland will soon be playing in some Euro football thingy. I made bunting.

Thanks to Annie at The Village Haberdashery once again for her inspirational post, although this time around she didn't benefit from my custom at her shop because I urgently needed fabric before the first match on Sunday (+ making time) and in very particular colours!

I thought I'd use bias binding for the string but the lady in Studio 54, Blackrock suggested 'tape' at 5 cent a metre. I took my own advice and bought black. But really, her suggestion of white would have been better. I bought 6m of it and it's a bit on the long side. A quick internet search brings me to The Bunting Boutique. Their bunting is in 3m lengths with 55cm (is this a typo; should it be mm?!) at the ends for tying and 9 triangles to a string. She seems to use bias binding.
I also used ribbon cut in three. It'll probably fray like mad.
I found my granny's pinking shears recently but it doesn't cut very well. I tried sharpening it by cutting through tinfoil but it's still not working too great.