Staple Dress

What do you do in the hours before you leave on holiday?
Me? well I whip up a new dress of course ;) 
The pattern is the Staple Dress by April Rhodes which is available for instant download on her website. It was the perfect thing to sew in the few hours I had left between packing up my last few things and leaving for the airport. I love it, it's quick, stylish and super comfy to wear on the plane!

Apart from lowering the neckline slightly I made no alterations to the pattern.
I used a jersey knit fabric which I can highly recommend it makes for such an easy to wear dress. I made the drop hem version with pockets but omitted the shirred waistline. Since I'll only be wearing this with a belt I felt it wasn't necessary plus I was in a bit of a rush ;)

My holiday was lovely and we have a few more days left before school starts again. All I need to decide now is if I'll be good and get behind the machine for some serious sewing or if I'll go out and play in the sun some more... with my new dress on I don't think it's much of a choice now is it!

x Leila

Books and patchwork

My weekend was all about the books and patchwork.
I listened to the audio version of this amazingly brilliant book whilst sewing some more hexagon flowers for what one day will be a quilt- really it will! ;)

I received Ayumi's book Patchwork Please in anticipation of the Zakka Sew Along.  Notice the sponsor goodies, I will be sharing these with you soon! I love Ayumi and everything she does so I knew I would love her book, and I do! Her projects are SO cute!  I started putting sticky notes on all the ones I want to make but soon had to stop as bookmarking each page seemed a bit silly.

 I left the comfort of my couch and audio book for a little while to sew this block from Patchwork 163. It is a tricky block with lots of Y seams. I must admit it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

I've gone blind to the good parts and can only see the faults, those uneven edges with not enough seam allowance - ouch. Oh well, I'm not in love with my work but the block is definitely pretty and worth another attempt some day.

It will have to wait though I have one more chapter to finish listening to before I'm ready to leave my couch yet :)

x Leila

Wednesday

Lately I haven't been very good at finishing anything I start.  I am keeping myself busy but have nothing to show for it in the end which leaves me with very little to blog about. It's one of those things I suppose, it happens to me now and then. I'm never quite sure if it's too many ideas or a lack of ideas that are inspired enough to actually stick.
My sewing room is filled with half sewn blocks, sketches and stacks of fabrics. Quilt blocks on piles waiting to be made into something, lots of projects in various states of 'unfinishedness'

For a while I sewed endless rows of scrap squares together just to go through the motions of creating something without actually making something (does that make any sense?!) It helps clear my head so fresh ideas will emerge.

As for finishes, I sewed two more Schoenrock Cross blocks which brings the total up to ten. Far from a quilt top yet but I still love them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!
Ours was cold with icy winds and even some snow, but there was some sunshine as well and an endless supply of chocolate eggs to see us through :)

x Leila

Sloppy Josephine Tee

I am willing it to be spring (snow in March gasp it's still so cold!!) So I made myself a new spring top. I'm hoping Rae will host another spring top sew along again this year it's one of my favourite ways to celebrate the coming of the sunshine, my pale skin needs it so!

In my search for a nice basic top pattern to add to my small pattern collection I stumbled upon Papercut Patterns Have you heard of them before? I had not, but the sloppy Josephine tee looked promising. Sloppy is the way I like my tee's and I love me a raglan sleeve top!

The packaging of this pattern alone is worth the price it is gorgeous!! Not only does it come in a pretty box, it has a cute little booklet with instructions and the pattern pieces are printed on nice thick brown paper. I'm impressed.

I was good and made a quick muslin before cutting into my fabric and decided on some minor adjustments:

• I raised the neckline, it's still low cut and could be raised another 1" or so but I like the low cut look. Also I did not follow the patterns suggestion of binding the neckline. Instead I cut the strip about an 1" shorter and slightly stretched it in while attaching, finishing off the raw edges with my overlocker. This makes the neckline sit nice and flat, as a bonus it was easy and quick.

•  I'm not very tall so I shortened the length of the tee to suit me better. 
• And lastly I opted for more narrow sleeve cuffs, it's a personal preference I don't like the look of wide cuffs.  

It's a pretty basic tee, very comfy so I'm sure I'll be wearing it lots. I want to try a long sleeved version when I find the right fabric for it.  

oh and guess what the sun just came out woop!! my plan worked ;)

x Leila

Ringo Pie Guitar

For Melinda's month in Ringo Pie she asked us to make guitar themed blocks to make a quilt for her son who loves everything guitars. He sounds like a pretty cool dude doesn't he!

I on the other hand wasn't so cool, more than one attempt at sewing a guitar block fit for Melinda's little rock star ended up in the rubbish bin. I will not bore you with all that went wrong, lets just say the curves and I were not going to get along, I'll not even mention the endless seam ripping and how things got so distorted there was no resemblance of a guitar in sight.... no best not ;) 

So after quickly disposing of all evidence that ever such a horrible block had existed, I made a fresh start using a wonderful Paper panache pattern. And I'm glad I did it is just the right guitar shape and better still no curves - what a relief!

I'm looking forward to see this quilt I think it will be something very special!

x Leila