Bazinga!

Bazinga is the new catchphrase in our house. It's from The Big Bang Theory.

I've finished my Mini Wardrobe! Yippee!! The pants were my last item and boy, were they ever trouble. Trouble with a capital T in fact. I had major under bum baggies and sort-of fixed them by fiddling with the side seam and taking in some of the excess. It looks to me like it needs a big ole horizontal tuck taken out somewhere between the crotch and knee. However, I found out how to fix the diagonal wrinkles which go from my hip to my knee. FFRP say to pull the side down. Unfortunately, this was not an option for me this time as I'd already cut off the excess at the waist. But maybe next time.

So here's my best pic of them. I'm sure as heck not letting you see the back! My real life sewing buddies   have already seen them at their worst.




Then today I finally got my composite pic done. My DD co-operated nicely and took many many photos of me (wearing make up incidentally!) under the tree in our front yard. There were a couple of out-takes which I might post here for the amusement factor.



Outtakes:

Pics!

OK...so here are a couple of pics for your edification. I need to say that the pants aren't finished. I've been trying to fiddle with the baggy bum bit and it's just about doing my head in. I need to take the legs in beneath the bum but let them out at the calf. Is that really possible?? Talk about a wonky seam! Here's how they look right now....the right leg is the one I've been playing with, the left is actually undone at the inseam so just ignore how it looks. There's also some tiny horizontal thing going on with the waist dart. Bleh. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know! Maybe I can just leave them. As my husband said "doesn't everyone have pants that look like that?". I told him that sewers don't.

Did I mention that we found perfect shoes for DD's dress (that I haven't started)? In Target of all places and on special for $20. Fabo! Here's how they look.

And this is how they look after I stuck swarovski crystals on them with my marvellous bejeweller.

Finally, here is the pic of my top. Simplicity 4076 with sleeves from KS 2694. I've cropped my head so as not to frighten any small children who may be looking over your shoulder. It's not a good hair day today.

Simplicity 4076 with KS 2684 sleeve

Fabric: Poly jersey (ITY????)

Purchased at Pitt Trading $4 per metre

Nearly there!

Well dear readers....my mini wardrobe is almost complete! I've finished another top (& I gotta say I'm pretty happy with it!), the Simplicity 4076. That pattern is such a TNT for me. I've made it 4 times now, each time a different size LOL, with or without neckband, FOE, whatever. I love it! So much so that I bought another pattern in the smaller sizes. I'm up to a 16 now so am hoping to morph into the new one pretty soon. But that's another story.

I've been waking up each morning during this Easter break, thinking of wardrobe planning! What the??!! My brain is going in circles wanting to plan for the Wardrobe contest on PR and it doesn't even start until July! Madness. I've been looking in my stash for a pattern, McCalls 4600 which is a Nancy Zieman knit wardrobe pattern. The reason I want it is it's got a top with a removable cowl. Yes, removable! Now I just have to find it.

Anyway, I'll be back later with some pics of my top and maybe even my pants. They're up to the waistband/facing stage so are almost done. Although I think the back is a little baggy under the bum but they will do.

2 items are done!

I've finished both my wool skirt and my KS top. Woot!

The skirt I'm still not sure about as I never wear skirts. Going by these pics, it seems that I need a higher heeled shoe...those Skechers in the photo look a bit daggy. Anyway, my reviews are on PR so I won't repeat it here. Here are the pics.

Vogue 7911

Fabric: 100% wool

Purchased at the Remnant Warehouse

March 2010

Kwik Sew 3740

Fabric: Poly jersey

purchased at The Remnant Warehouse

sometime in 20009

And we're off!

The mini wardrobe contest has begun! I'm so excited to start sewing. Geez...who would've thought! I'm washing my grey wool/spandex as we 'speak' and my red skirt is cut out.

Let me tell you about my red wool drama. There's always a drama, isn't there? LOL. It started with the pre-shrinking squares I mentioned in the last post. The thing was, the wool didn't shrink when washed in cool water. So off I go...dunk the 2m of wool into the cool water, swish around, spin it in the machine & line dry. While it's hanging I thought I'd check the measurement of the width. Well bugger me if it hadn't shrunk 12cm. ARRRRRRRGHHHHHHH! How the? So I consider my options.

• I could make the skirt shorter - this is not really a goer as I did that last time and it was too short, even for my short legs. Cross that one off the list.
• I could fudge it with the smallest size and it would probably still need shortening - that's not a goer either as, really, I need the size 20 if it's going to look half decent. Cross that one off.
• I could add a seam somewhere - hmmmm...this sounds like the answer. But where? Centre back? No - that would make a bias seam if I want it to be straight. And I do. Centre front? Well what would be the point as the lapped bit is almost at centre front so this wouldn't work either. Solution? The side. Yes viewers, only 1 side. It works because the pieces will now fit on the fabric and the seam will be on grain and also straight. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

So the (now) 2 piece skirt is cut out. Later on I will re-thread the overlocker with red & serge all the edges of both pieces. Then I can change to black overlocking thread & finish off both my Simplicity 2603 cardi and the one I just made for my mother which I haven't mentioned. These have nothing to do with the mini wardrobe contest BTW.

Mini Wardrobe again

So here is my storyboard (subject to change LOL) for the Mini Wardrobe contest.

The hardest thing for me in this comp will be those pants. I want to do them with an invisible zip. Only problem is that pattern has the zip at the back. I don't know how easy it will be to change that but we shall see.

I found the black wool crepe skirt and it fitted me easily. No wonder as I had made size 22! I've since donated it to my mother as I found it a little short for me due to the fabric not being wide enough last time. I will be making a smaller size this time and the pattern should fit easily on the fabric so I shouldn't have that problem again (fingers crossed). The other thing I did last night was test the shrinkage of the red wool. A 1.5" square shrunk in reasonably warm/hot water 1/2" in width only. But it didn't shrink in lukewarm or cool water so I will pre-wash it & hope for the best. I don't do dry-cleaning!

Oh & to answer Sue's question about Puyallup - I'm going next year! Yip yip yipeeeeeeeee! Two of my friends are coming with me, velosewer & Sharon. Should be fun. You can come too Sue if you like!