Stretch... we will be friends

This weekend we are off to visit my brother who lives at Merrigum (near Shepparton) and also a little day trip tomorrow Echuca, which is close to where he lives. The kids are going to drive a paddle steamer.  I'm sure I'll post on that later. I think I'm probably more excited than the kids.  But, before we leave I made a quick dash to Addicted to Fabric for their twice yearly sale. Luckily the doors open at 7am! Normally I loiter around the Liberty rolls, but I had heard a rumour that they are getting a new shipment in before Christmas so saved my Liberty spending for another day and instead wandered through the stretch fabrics looking for some fabric to make up some patterns from Drape Drape 2.

These two above  I'm thinking might look good as this tshirt. Although the stipey one on the right I can see as the drape skirt as well (remembering that I've photographed it sideways....

I bought this cream and dark navy stipey to make up the drape dress that didn't turn out so well last time.

And lastly I bought this fabric which is naturally slightly crinkled - maybe a top, maybe a dress.... who knows. Perhaps in the car I'll study my pattern books...

25 May 2012 - salvaged stretch: put a bow on it

The other day I posted the start of this story, where at the end of part one, I had tossed some salvaged scraps of re cut material (to start again a boat top from Built by Wendy Sew U Home Stretch) high up into the stash cupbooad.  To relive part one go back to "Stretch - how not to do it".

And so, we resume our story on Monday: I was home looking after Oliver who had contracted chicken pox, when I felt brave enough to climb back up into the far reaches of the top shelf to reclaim the plastic bag and material. I laid out the pieces carefully and with the remaining fabric, I cut out sleeves - perhaps a bit shorter than they should be, but I used what I had. I proceeded to follow the instructions, reasonably closely and carefully, to sew up the seams and voila a boat top appeared.  It was ok.  Not great.  The neck was wide and a bit floppy at the back.  It could work though I thought.  Perhaps I've made it a bit big and yes it is a bit short, but it's ok. Sort of.  Maybe not. The floppiness at the back of the neck bothered me, so I dug around at what pieces I had left and sewed them into a scarf, which I then proceed to sew onto the neck.  Ah ha.  When in doubt, sew a bow on it! You know, I love this top now!  Ok, ok, it has it's imperfections, like the scarf is made of about 4 bits of scrap.  But it's comfy, pretty flattering, has a bow on it, is in stripes.. so hey, I'll wear it!!

Today's MMM12 theme is water, so  I am standing in front of the water map of Australia outside the big boss's office.On the 3rd floor next to a canoe, but the shot is a bit blurry and sitting in my office next the Murray-Darling Basin Map!!! 

stretch - how not to do it

To be honest, I had almost forgotten that I even had SEW U Home Stretch on my bookcase, until I started seeing a lot of tshirts and tops appearing in MMM12 and then it clicked.  I've got a stretch book.  I could do stretch..  Yes, I can.  I'm going to make a boat shirt! So off to the fabric shop I went on Saturday, with the intention of replacing this tshirt.  Unfortunately there was no blue and white stripe so I ended up with a very very soft pink and grey sort of stripe.  I got home and got out the book, had a quick read and then instead of following the pattern, changed my mind, and decided I was going to make a cool bat wing shirt with thin arms, and with that,I  started cutting into the fabric.  Forget a pattern, who needs it!   It's true it didn't quite look right, the arms a bit thin and the wing, perhaps going slightly the wrong way and not really the right shape and the whole thing looking a bit short; but I ran that fabric into the overlocker like nobody's business.  I could already see myself prancing around in my new top..."Where did I get it?  Oh I made it myself!'
After sewing up one side, sense started to return and I removed myself from the machine to check out the sleeves.  Mmm, this isn't right, I can't even get my arm in.  Thin arms alright.  Arms for a stick man.  A short stick man at that. Not good.
I immediately took the scissors to the arms and cut them straight off.  No point dwelling on it. The fabric wasn't the most expensive in the world but it wasn't cheap either so I decided to cut out the side seam sewing, snuck back over to the bookshelf, retrieved the book and started to see if any of the original pattern pieces might fit on what I could salvage.  I had only bought a metre rather than the required yard and a half which the pattern calls for so it was going to be a struggle.
Diligently, paying very close attention to the instructions, I cut out the front and the back using the boat top pattern (a bit short, yes) and then just like that, I was completely over it and put all the pieces into a plastic bag and threw it in the stash cupboard.  And that's where they stayed until today.  But that's a story for another day!