Monthly Archives: February 2014

Sevens suits

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Every February the Wellington Sevens occurs. It is a rugby tournament but it is also known as a two day costume party. This year we got tickets with a couple of friends to go. We decided to go low key in costumes – something comfortable and easy to do – floral jumpsuits for the girls and Andrew requested a summer suit. Into the stash I dove looking for suitable fabric. These are the options I shared for the jumpsuits.
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I used a Burda pattern that was really simple for the floral jumpsuits.
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And the inspiration image from Andrew was
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I borrowed a men’s suit pattern from Made Marion and got some beige fabric from the Arthur Toye sale.
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I simply cut the pants to short length and made the jacket sleeveless, omitting most of the tailoring, pockets and about 17 pattern pieces.

All of this was made in a week, with the help of one of the other girls. I am really happy with the end result.
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Fully lined vest jacket with welt pockets with flaps and matching fly and pockets in the shorts.
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NZ team warming up… to prove there was sport and not just costumes and drinking.
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NZ won the tournament and did a haka in front of us.
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24/52 Zoo Trip

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Juliet of Crazy Gypsy Chronicles proposed a WSBN meet up at the zoo with an animal theme.  The invite on facebook had a very tribal print as the header image  and I knew that I had something similar in my stash.   It was a large rectangular tablecloth with circles print shown below. I had always intended to make a circle skirt from it, but I changed my mind and instead made a maxi dress with an empire line.

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I used a Kwik Sew pattern from the op-shop for the bodice and fabric left over from my friends skirt.  I measured under my bust, made sure it matched the bottom of the bodice piece.  I then did maths to figure out what radius to use to cut out a circle from the centre of the tablecloth.

Cut out circle and bodice pattern

Cut out circle and bodice pattern

It was a pretty simple make, I lined the bodice with some cute cotton I had in the stash and hand stiched in my zip in the side.

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See it really is a just a huge lot of fabric…it too ages to hem around the edge of this.
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We had a great time at the zoo.
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We found a african style village with drums
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The boys got in on the action
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We danced
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And found the other girls
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Clockwise from top-left: Jo, Juliet, Joy, Zara, Gemma, me, Kat and Sophie-Lee

Gained some wisdom
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And saw some animals
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Pants please Mummy

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How can I say no to that!  Today while sewing a dress Lewis came in to play with the toy sewing machine.  He grabbed some fabric, pins and scissors and asked for some cotton. As he snipped randomly at the fabric he told me he was making pants and a t-shirt.  Next he handed me the slightly shredded piece of fabric and asked me to make him some pants.  As he he is three, cute and quite insistent I put my dress aside and cut out some shorts.

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As it was not a big piece of fabric I had to be clever to layout the pattern pieces and avoid his earlier random cuts.  I grabbed one of the few kids patterns I own which had a short pattern in it. 
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I asked Lewis if he wanted pockets, he replied “yes, for money and tickets”. So I made up a pocket piece by tracing around his hand and making a rough shape.

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Got pockets

There was nothing technical in making these pants and when he tried them on,thankfully they fit.  His response…”where’s my t-shirt?” to go with them.  So I best get back to the sewing room.