12 Challenges - January (Something for ME!)

Carolyn over at My Favourite is hosting a meme this year. The meme is 2010 - 12 months, 12 challenges.

There is a different challenge every month and for the month of January, we were challenged to make something for ourselves. This is rather appropriate, since we have been rather busy making things for others in the lead up to Christmas.

I made this "two hour dress" (NewLook 6889) for myself. I am fairly long in the torso, but an average-ish height, so I made the shorter of the two lengths and added 7cm to the top half  of the dress but made no modifications to the bottom half. It finished up a nice knee length dress, perfect for wearing around the house on hot days. 

Now, I bet you are wondering, did I do it in two hours? After tracing and adjusting and cutting (which isn't included in the two hours) it took me somewhere from 2.5 - 3 hours. I would imagine it would be quicker doing it again.

Next month the challenge is to sew something from a knit fabric. I have a plan, hopefully I get it under way nice and early in the month.

Sushi

The night before New Year's Eve we had a friend over for dinner. I pan-fried some salmon and Maxx made sushi. I prepared the rice for him though, so he could do the rest when he got home from work. The next day, Maxx showed me how to make the sushi roll using the left over rice.

Last night for dinner, I made sushi all by myself.

My Versatile Little Barrel Purse

I finally finished the straps for this purse this morning. It's a real cutie, the pictures honestly don't do it justice. The designer is so clever!

The fabric is from a very small, free piece of Saffron Craig, that was given to me by Amy of Badskirt - never under estimate small scraps, they can still be put to use, and this was definitely a quality scrap!

I decided to turn the cuteness up a notch and add a detachable strap. Both ends can be attached together as a wristlet, or at either end of the purse (which given the size of the purse, is still, surprisingly like a wristlet) or the strap can be entirely removed and the purse can be strap free!

I tried to make the strap using scraps from the purse fabric, but my original piece of fabric wasn't very big, and it is next to impossible to turn a rouleaux strap when you have a join in the fabric. Unsatisfied with the "matchiness" of anything in my fabric stash I turned to my box of bias binding.

It's all about the fabric! Favourite Fabrics of 2009

2009 was a year of discovery for me. Before this year, I had no idea about different fabric designers really. Most of my fabric purchases were from Spotlight as that was all that I thought was really available to me. As I began to shop online for my fabric, I made new discoveries and here are some of my favourite fabric discoveries of 2009...

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN FABRIC DESIGNER

Saffron Craig

(please excuse my blurry, work in progress....!)

FAVOURITE NEW FABRIC DESIGNER

Laura Gunn

FAVOURITE KIDS FABRIC DESIGNER

Amy Schimler for Robert Kaufman

FAVOURITE FABRIC COLLECTION

Flora and Fauna - Patty Young

Hummingbirds in Lime

(image courtesy of True-up)

FAVOURITE JUVENILE RANGE (GIRLS)

Minny Muu - Lecien

FAVOURITE JUVENILE RANGE (BOYS)

Cogsmo, by Cosmo Cricket

FAVOURITE NOVELTY PRINT

Musical Animals - Kokka

FAVOURITE JAPANESE PRINT

Trefle - Kokka

FAVOURITE NEW FABRIC TYPE I TRIED IN 2009

Far, Far Away - Heather Ross (double gauze)

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN FABRIC SHOP

Retromummy

FAVOURITE US FABRIC SHOP

The Quilter's Studio

To see other people's favourite fabrics of 2009, visit True Up

Introducing....

I just couldn't resist this pattern from Jodie of Ric-Rac. First I saw this blog post, and then there were more posts, and then I couldn't help myself, I ordered it! Would you be able to resist?

I started making this lovely elephant when I really should have been making Christmas presents. Or working on the purses I was making in Nikki's class. I finished her yesterday.

She is made of a cotton-linen blend that I purchased from a local shop. I think I got 5 metres of this, so I could probably make a whole herd of elephants from it if I wanted to.


Her dress is made from some American Jane fabric that I got from Amy at Badskirt. I just had to finish it off with some ric-rac from my stash that just happened to match the flowers in the dress. Be careful when ironing ric rac, as the stuff I have melted (as in to a liquid!), so I had to unpick and sew again. She also has snaps instead of buttons on her dress as they are so much easier (for her and for me).

Anyway, I've been saying "she" and "her" because I haven't come up with a name yet.... any ideas?

Nicole Mallalieu - Advanced Purseframe Workshop

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but Christmas and the New Year got in the way, so I'm doing it now. Back in late November and early December, I attended Nicole Mallalieu's Advanced Purse Frame Workshop. It was held over four Monday nights. As my partner had to take time off work, this meant I had four Mondays to spend shopping in Melbourne, but that's another blog post!

If you are in or near Melbourne (I'm a couple of hours away) I highly recommend you attend one (or more) of Nikki's workshops. I am hoping that Nikki is going to run the pattern making ones this year, as I would really like to have a go at that.

The class was great. The pattern I used was the Teardrop Purse, which doesn't have a base or purse feet, but with Nikki's help, mine does! I get compliments on this bag everywhere I go. I've actually stopped telling people I made it now, and just say thanks...I think the pattern and the lovely Laura Gunn Lantern Bloom fabric have quite a lot to do with it!

If you can't get to the classes, the patterns are VERY GOOD. Nikki's patterns have around 20 pages of instructions, which might sound like a lot, but it really is a lesson in a packet. Nikki covers everything you need to know in order to complete your bag or purse rather than skimming over things, assuming you know what you are doing. Nikki's patterns also include lots of tips to help you do the tricky bits. If 20 pages sounds a bit daunting to you, definitely get to a class, you will not regret it and I am sure you will come away with something you are truly happy with.