Sunday, October 31, 2010

October Projects Complete!

I managed to finish two new pieces for October in my spare time... A new tunic and a pair of high-waisted jeans.

First up - I made the "Take Manhattan" tunic from the amazing Twinkle Sews book. The book recommended a medium-weight fabric so that it would hang properly. I chose a polyester blend plaid fabric in a neutral palette so I could wear it with lots of different items in my wardrobe. The fabric was on clearance at Fabricland, most likely due to the fact that it was off-grain - which I discovered while trying to cut it out... My step-mother helped me to cut it out and I must say that I am ridiculously pleased with the way all the plaid matches up!  I ended up adding 2 darts / seams down the back of the tunic as the shape of it was way too large for me.  It now is very loose-fitting (as it's meant to be), but not unflattering.


I should also give a shout-out to all the folks in the Burdastyle community for helping me decide which way to orient the fabric for the front pocket. Diagonal was the resounding favourite and it turned out so great! Thanks guys!

My second conquest was a pair of high-waisted, dark denim jeans. What can I say about these? I am so in love. This is honestly the best sewing I have done so far... All the seams matched up perfectly, the top-stitching turned out so well, and they are so comfortable to wear. Plus I didn't even have to rip out a single seam! I am really so pleased to show them to you all!





I used Burdastyle's Bella pattern and made them up in a delicious dark denim which I bought for $11 - don't you just love when Fabricland has sales??? I know I do!  I ended up making the smallest size (32!) since I've heard lots of people say how large the pattern runs and I didn't want to have to deal with tons of alterations since I would probably just screw it up.  I've also attempted this pattern before, making my supposed measurements of a 36 and it ended up being quite large and loose.  Oh well, I will probably gain weight anyways once we start our family!  I only made one small alteration to the pattern this time, I changed the front pockets to make them a bit more rounded, rather than the more angular front pockets on the original pattern.  A few weeks ago some friends asked what I was working on next, and I told them "a pair of high-waisted jeans".  To which my guy friend replied, "ummmm Mom Jeans???".  No, not exactly... ha ha ha.

Tonight we are getting ready to go to our friends' place for a Halloween party. N is going as the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I made his tunic, but he made everything else himself (including the bloody stump arms), and it's quite good! I will post pictures later.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Autumn in the Prairies

We drove as far as Calgary the first day and stayed overnight with some friends and had a great visit, sharing some laughs over my hubby's (amazing) homemade beer. The next morning we got up and went to Ikea for the $1 breakfast and purchased 2 new office / desk chairs since I gave away our old table and chairs to the thrift store after purchasing this amazing antique set!
















We continued on our way to my beautiful hometown of Saskatoon, just in time for rush hour traffic gridlock on Circle Drive... ugh.... Saskatoon is growing way too fast and the infrastructure cannot support it. It's only going to get worse before it gets better I'm afraid...


The next morning we hopped into the vehicle with my parents and drove out to Kenton, Manitoba where my grandparents' farm is. It was a nice weekend, full of visiting with lots of relatives that I don't get to see very often (being 3 provinces away doesn't help things!).

I also made a wrap-cardigan that I wore during the dinner and family photos. I used Simplicity 2603 (view A) and some blend-knit fabric in a bright purple... I don't know what it is, but I seem to be wearing a lot of purple these days! It was a pretty simple, straight-forward pattern that I was able to whip up fairly quickly... The fabric was soooo slippery though! I wore my favourite buffalo brooch, lovingly crafted by my friend (in real life, as well as the blogosphere) Jillian at The Noisy Plume as the buffalo is a symbol of Manitoba.




















Here is a photo of me with my grandparents; incidentally this is the grandmother who taught me to sew. She also made pretty much all of my clothing for me as a small child.

Coming up sewing projects include Christmas gifts, finishing touches on a few things, as well as my first attempt at a jacket (as well as one for N!).

Happy weekend everyone!

Cross-Western Canada Road Trip!

It was my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary this October, and they had an anniversary supper in Manitoba to celebrate. We decided that flying was too expensive so we drove from our home in the southern interior of BC all the way through the mountains and across the prairies to my parents' home province of Manitoba...


View Fall 2010 Road Trip in a larger map
Here is a map of our route!