Projects in the works.

Yesterday morning I had brunch at my house and invited Michelle and Mill over to eat it. I made a recipe from my new gluten free cookbook (given to me by my father-in-law, who has totally embraced my new dietary requirements by the way! He is finding all sorts of awesome gluten-free products for me!). I made baked eggs on a bed of leeks, spinach leaves and ham, accompanied with grilled tomato and mushrooms. It tasted so good that it was gobbled up too fast to get a photo.

After breakfast we sat on the couch and soaked up the autumn sunshine that was filtering through the windows, and talked craft of course. We helped Mill brainstorm a knitted wedding gift for a close friend of hers. She decided on a knitting project from a magazine I had. We then planned our next craft day and the three of us agreed to do a skills trade (an idea we have seen a few times on the net) at the next craft day.

The girls left, and I was so pumped from all the crafty talk, I headed down to my reliable Remnants Warehouse and picked myself up some fabric. Silly me never realised that all the rolls of fabric in the bins out the front of the shop were actually priced for the entire length on the roll, and not per meter.

Here is what I got:

The classic Walk Away dress pattern in my size requires around 4 meters of fabric, which is quite a lot when most of the nicer fabrics in Sydney will cost you between $10-$20 per meter. I managed to find this burnt pink and black spotted cotton for under $5 per meter. I teamed it with some sweet little rounded black buttons. I didn't have the pattern with me so will need to buy the bias binding later in the week. I desperately want to sew this dress up in time for my mini break to Melbourne later this month.

I wear jeans all week at work during winter, so I am desperate to have a bunch of skirts I can team with tights to wear on the weekends. This fabric has a very classic print (the tag called it the "David Jones" print - any Australian will know what I am talking about). I will line the skirt with the black fabric. This pattern looks promising as it is only two pattern pieces, and my size requires only 1 meter of fabric, which makes these skirts cheap to make.

This fabric is not appropriate for winter, but I thought it could go in my stash for maybe a summer skirt or dress? It has a silky feel to it and a nice shine. I picked up 2 meters of it.

I thought this fabric was just so beautiful. I have been thinking of making a white dress for a while, but had neither the perfect pattern or fabric. Now I have the fabric. It is a lovely weight and has a beautiful lined detail.

I'm going to be a busy girl!

Sam xox

P.S Also wanted to say "Happy Mothers Day" to my fabulous Mum. Love you heaps!

Talea jacket.

Many people have been telling me that I simply have to visit The Remnant Warehouse. It all started a few years ago when my friend and her boy used to shop there for fabric to have clothing tailored for them (so fancy!). More recently at the quilting group I would admire members fabrics only to be repeatedly told that they were purchased from The Remnant Warehouse. It was only going to be a matter of time. On Saturday I dragged Jamie to Alexandria to check this place out for myself.

Words can't describe what greeted me when I walked into the store. I felt like I had walked into some kind of sewers utopia. Walls of quilting fabric. Piles of dressmaking fabric. And hundreds of embellishments, supplies and tools. I didn't know where to start.

Jamie reminded me of the purpose of our trip:

1) Buy fabric for a jacket.

2) Buy cheap calico for practicing patterns.

3) Linen for his mum.

There was a large table to the left of the door as you walked inside the shop. On it (and under it) were piles of folded and discounted off-cuts of dressmaking fabric. I searched the pile to find something to make a jacket with and came across a hounds tooth print fabric that I thought would be perfect to make a coat from. It is a wool blend, so not the expensive stuff, but I thought it would be perfect for my first coat project. And seeing as it is only Spring time here, there will be no pressure of time to rush this project.

Here is a picture of the coat I want to make, but with a few minor changes to the pattern. The pattern Talea and is a Burda Style pattern. If you like it, you can download yourself a copy of the pattern free from here.

Now I just have to find the perfect lining fabric...

All of these fabrics available at Shaukat.

Too many choices. I think I may need to make more than one coat. But first I need to learn how to line a garment!

Sam xox