Happy New Year - Love, the Dachshund xxx

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
Surely that means I can post my December and January Monthly Stitch challenges on time??
no?? These are all gratuitous dachshund shots….. good enough reason? excellent! let's just ignore the timestamps and cover them here….
December's Challenge was "tis the season to Party" and I wore my project top to three Christmas functions, including family lunch on Christmas Day. Did I get a single photo of it - well, of course not ;)

Needless to say this is an 'action' shot as he spied something worth considering leaping into action for

It is Leisl+Co's Weekend Getaway Blouse and I admit, I was completely influenced by Lara Thornberry's two and SewBusyLizzy's versions.

It's a jungle out there - in the water

Jungle January in Australia finds us merging into our native environments of the beach, the freshwater lake and the local suburban pool… or with 5 days over 40C (110F), into anywhere with functioning air-conditioning…

Knowing that all of the above environments were likely in January, I needed some camouflage, stat. Something rated to SPF50+, in marine colourations, able to merge with the background water wherever it may be found and also to survive the hike in and lifeguard duty while there.

Enter Cake's Cabarita in spongy wetsuit material. It's in the snow peacock 'pant-tone' colourway, but do I spy some little kittys peeking out from that big cat print?

Victory Nicole

Victory Patterns' Nicola has always been there, just hovering under my radar - woven wrap dress, cute petal sleeves, convertible to top and skirt combo, named after me (no, not me, it is a beautiful story though)
 - how could it not be on my sewing wishlist!

Koi Mini Moss

Moss selecting Liberty for Scout

With many thanks for Jen at Grainline's Thanksgiving Give Thanks pattern sale, and enabled by every blogger who's made the Moss, Archer or Scout before me….  - I've finally jumped onto the Grainline wagon with both feet and hands ;) I've added the Scout & Moss to my repertoire, while Archer & the Maritime shorts are waiting impatiently in the sewing queue ;)

Christmas Time!!!

Happy Festive Season everyone! We celebrate Christmas with the family, but are also in the midst of birthday season ;)
This year I participated in three sewist's swaps and have met some of the most lovely and talented sewists and their blogs.

I participated in Kat's Sewist's Secret Santa and had a win! - My lovely recipient received her gift safely (big win! - and I do like meeting new-to-me bloggers!) and I received a lovely piece of vintage sewing patterned cotton/linen that I can't wait to convert to the sewing bag I've been itching to make to keep my bits & bobs organised and away from the boys. Thank You!

I was also part of the Handmade Ornament Swap organised by the lovely Kelli of True Bias who created a swap pool for us Aussies and NewZealander to save on international postage - yay! ;)
Five gorgeous ornaments arrived in my post box - snail mail!! and there was much jostling as the younger members competed to be able to open them & hang them on our rather undersized vintage tree! (ok, so they were scattered a little more for the week of Christmas!)

Sewing from Japanese Pattern Books - DrapeDrape2

I do like the visual style of sewing from Japanese pattern books & magazines in general.
Having instructions in english doesn't seem as important when the pattern pieces fit together and there are numbers indicating the order of sewing and which bits connect where.
 - and I might just like a puzzle, perhaps ;) *

For my contribution to the Monthly Stitch for November's challenge "From a sewing book", I chose a Japanese magazine "Female", however that dress can wait for another post as I had a delightful time with DrapeDrape2.

I've previously blogged about the batwing dress of awesomeness and this time I'd love to introduce you my renditions of #2 and #4

#4 The left sleeve is a batwing with lovely draping, while the right is a more 'typical' sleeve shape

Gertie in green

Well, spring decided to retreat again before really arriving, so sewing for cooler weather has been easier to think about as summer still seems so far away!

Woollen skirts and knee high boots have long been essential items in my winter wardrobe, however I've not tried to sew one until now. I can attest to the winter warmth of wool and leather (and the yet to be blogged leggings underneath) as I braved a windy Ballarat* day to celebrate my grandma's 90th Birthday celebrations.

My green wool skirt is from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing and is her pencil skirt with a drafted back flounce variation, and a drafted waistband.

I hadn't sewn with any of Gertie's patterns before, and I over did it a little with my safe seam margins ;)

Gerties Sizing: 6:waist 28", hips 40". 8:waist 30" hips 42". 10:waist 32", hips 44". 12:waist 34", hips 46".
For my 40" hips and 32" waist, of course I cut a size 12 ;)
I have side seams of 1 1/2" (each), having narrowed the skirt considerably in stages.

The vintage metal zip is machine sewn to the seam allowance, then hand picked to the main wool fabric. The hem is also hand picked after having bias tape sewn to the hem and turned under.

I've never been the neatest handsewist, though trying to keep my stitches loose did help immensely with minimising their appearance on the right side. The hem is much more subtle than the zip.

Pressing the skirt brought back many memories of classrooms filled with wet woollen jumpers and standing close to heaters to dry.

The skirt is lined in a green lining material, attached at the waistband. Both fabrics are from Rathdowne Remnants and the green wool was a delight to sew and press. 

*For those unfamiliar with the oddities of Australian weather, Ballarat is commonly accused of being the coldest non-alpine city in the state - a claim encouraged by those who guard their gold rush history closely.