Burdastyle Sewing Club Perth Meetup - Part 2

One of the best parts about going to the Perth Burdastyle Sewing Club meetup was getting to see all the wonderful, creative and arty stuff that members were making and wearing. After being there for only a few hours my wish-list of future sewing projects has grown even bigger...

First up we have Irene with her very groovy necktie embellished t-shirt. 

At first I didn't even realise this was a necktie that had been pleated and attached to a store brought top. Irene pleated the tie to fit then stitched it on by hand,  how awesome is it?

Irene and her pleated tie t-shirt.

I totally want me one of these and if op-shops don't turn up anything suitable soon I may have to plunder hubby's tie collection ;)

Next up is Gill who, besides making all her own silver jewellery, was also sporting a delectable winter weight skirt, made by herself in a mixtures of fabrics and featuring a pleated front. Any excuse to add pleats or buttons to a wardrobe item always piques my interest and this skirt ticks both boxes ! 

Gill would also like you to know that she has mastered the welt pocket!!!
Welt pockets are something that I have so far not attempted, putting it into the "ooh-that-looks-way-too-tricky-and-fiddly" basket,  so I have real R-E-S-P-E-C-T for Gill's accomplishment:

Gill and her amazingly neat, accurate welt pockets:)

Gill is also a professional visual artist (painting) and jeweller :)

I noticed that one of the clubs members was wearing this most adorable mini patchwork badge:

The whole thing was maybe about 5 cms (?) in diameter and looked stunning on the wearer's (Sarah's) grey cardigan. The badge is the result of an evening sewing session by several members in the club. If I ever have the patience to try patchwork making one of these will be at the top of my list!

Finally we have the very lovely Sally, a new member like myself. Sally managed to knock out the majority of this gorgeous summer dress during the meet-up session:

Sally's sublime summer dress.

Sally if you ever decide you don't want this let me know... I think this dress would be just the thing for our 40+ summer days! 

Add strappy sandals, floppy wide brim hat, big sunnies,a tan belt and you would be good to go to the beach or for an outdoor BBQ dinner party :)

This is one of Sally's first projects BTW- if any of mine had looked HALF this good I would have been ecstatic!!!

Burdastyle Sewing Club Perth Meetup - Part 1

Have you heard of Burdastyle groups? If not then get onto the Burdastyle groups page quickstitch!!

Today I had the most lovely experience of meeting with members of the Burdastyle Perth Sewing Club, a totally awesome 3 or so hours spent with a bunch of people who love sewing as much (or even more) than I do!!

Meet-ups are held at the most wonderful Sandra Bryan's- aka Sewanista- workshop studio:

Sally, Sandra, Gill and Fleur

Sandra runs lesson from her workshop for people of all ages and is also an article contributor to the eco-friendly Peppermint magazine.
Fantastic to know there are such talented, creative and sharing people in the Perth arts community isn't it?

A wonderful quote on the wall of the studio.

A bonus to the day was that BurdaStyle headquarters had sent a "little something" along for members of our group. Apparently we are now the largest BurdaStyle Sewing Club going- yay Perth!!!
 Looks like I picked the right time to join ;)
Our BurdaStyle pressie was a totally cute card for writing your personal measurements on, plus a spool of Mettlers thread and a very sweet Brudastyle button badge:

BurdaStyle goodies

I had a fabulous time at the meet-up and can't wait to attend the next one!!

If you haven't got a club going in your area why not start one up?

Next up : some pics of arty sewn stuff seen at the meet up :)

July W.I.P

A sneak peak of what I'm working on...

Striped Kwik Sew Pants

As I had so much fun making the first pair of pants up I decided to give another pattern from Kwik Sew's "Sewing For Toddlers" (by Kerstin Martensson) a go.

This time I decided to try the "Pants with side seams", which is designed for wovens and firmer knits.

There are two peices to this pattern, but besides that construction is as simple and easy to do as the knit pants.

I think the leg may be slightly wider on this version? They look a little baggier...

Either way Cooper seems to like them!

 

New pants are great for climbing in....

 

:) :) :)

Camo Kwik Sew Pants

Managed to knock out another pair of the knit pants from Kwik Sew's "Sewing For Toddlers":

I used a camouflage printed tracksuit material picked up on sale from Textile Trader's.
The back of the material is white, fleecy and annoyingly shed fibres all over the printed side after prewashing- I am so hoping it stops shedding after a few washes grrr.
Interestingly this fabric had "made exclusively for JoAnn's" on the selvage - isn't this an American textiles store?

I decided to add elastic to the leg cuffs this time to make the pants a bit warmer (has gotten cold here) and to eliminate the need for folding them up, as they are a little long at the moment.

Love how quick this project is to make- just what I need right now!

Toddler pants

Have started to go back through my collection of patterns and sewing books :)
While I don't actually have that many specifically for children (though I'm sure that will change) what I do have is the Kwik Sew book "Sewing For Toddlers", by Kerstin Maternsson.
Although a bit dated in styling and some of the fashions (I am guessing the cover was shout during the early 1990's?) this is a good book for basic patterns, such shorts, pyjama pants and t-shirts.
Also, as with most Kwik Sew products, the instructions are well written and easy to follow - a definite bonus when you are a sleep deprived mum!
As my sewing time is very limited at the moment I was looking for something quick and easy, that could provide almost instant gratification with not too much labour.
I decided to give the "knit pants" a go as Cooper really needed a couple of extra tracksuit type pants, that kids can sure go through pants!

The book comes with a master pattern sheet that you trace the pattern pieces off from, like Burda WOF but much clearer and easier to see. As the knit pants used only one (yes one!) pattern piece I was able to trace the pattern and cut out the fabric during one afternoon nap session (the kids not mine...sewing in my sleep would be a very handy skill to have though).

The fabric I used was a graffiti style knit that I brought at Rathdowne Fabrics during pregnancy (apologies for the photos they were taken very quickly) :

 I like that the colour scheme is a little bit different from the usual run of the mill boys clothing. Plus- with the way Cooper is climbing these days- the "trouble" text print is very apt ; )

Construction was very simple- I didn't even bother reading the instructions before sewing except to check out the seam allowance. If I had of bothered I would have realised that Kwik Sew has a slightly easier method of sewing pants than my "sew the inside leg seams, stick one leg inside the other and then sew the crutch seam". Their method has you sew the centre front and back seams together (fabric right sides together) and then you sew the inner leg seams in one continuous pass after that-  resulting in 2 seams to sew instead of 3.

Leg seams sewn.

Oh well with a project this simple I don't think it made too much of a time difference! Goes to show though that you should always read the instructions, never know when you might learn something new :)

As I was trying out my "new" vintage Princess sewing machine I kept the seams pretty simple, just a very narrow zigzag with a wider zigzag overcasting the edges:

Very basic and rough seams

Also no doubt Cooper with have grown out of these in no time so speed was a priority over aesthetics...

I did try the suggested method for applying the elastic, where you sew the elastic ends together to make a loop then fold the casing over it and sew as close to the elastic as possible. You end up with the elastic completely encased in the fabric and it eliminates the need for threading through afterwards.
I found it to be a bit of a fiddly process, using a zipper foot I tried to get as close to the elastic as possible but was worried about catching the elastic in the stitching the whole time and to tell the truth I don't think its any easier than sewing the casing and then threading the elastic.
Cuffs were just folded under and sewn with a zigzag stitch, with such a busy pattern I figured that you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't straight stitch.

Finished pants

Cooper wore his new pants to playgroup for the first time the other day and I received some lovely comments from other mums on the pants. Now I just wish I had brought more of the fabric!!