With Jasmine in the Air...

Sorry I've been MIA again! I had a few health issues, namely my lower back. What ever I did to it meant that I was in excruciating pain for over a week and spent the better part of four days planted on the couch on my back.  It seems to have mostly healed now though thank goodness and I'm back to being able to sew.  You don't realise how much you use your back until you can't use it anymore!

I finished the Colette Patterns Jasmine blouse a few weeks ago - and incidently these photos are also from a few weeks ago too, it's not quite warm enough for bare legs and arms any more...

I made view 1 sans sleeves which I’ve been doing with most of my sewing lately.  I made a bias binding for the arm holes instead and really like the way it turned out - no sleeves has the benefit of using less fabric if you are trying to stash bust like me and don’t quite have enough (and cutting on the bias means you have to be a bit creative with your pattern laying if you only have a small amount). I made this Jasmine from a light cotton I had thrifted a few years ago back in NZ.

I did have a few small issues with the pattern, namely gaping at the front and back.  The front was easy enough to fix, but for some reason, no matter how much I shaved off the back, it still gapes a little (maybe this is just my bad computer slouching back?).  I’ve found the gaping to be less noticeable when the collar is sewn on.  I also ended up shaving off about 1cm from around the neckline - after seeing a few finished garments on other people’s blogs, it looked as though the blouse didn’t quite have the lovely wide neckline it looks like it does on the pattern front. But I think it actually turned out really nicely on mine.

I also cut a good 1inch off both sides of the blouse after cutting it to my size.  It was too big in the waist (and could still possibly be a little big) so I recommend cutting a size smaller in the waist if you want a more fitted look. I would also recommend making the ties longer if you do want to tie them in a bow, but I don't mind mine in just a small tie with the ends hanging down (looks good under a cardigan!).

Overall, I think this is a great pattern for beginners and especially for those wanting to learn about sewing on the bias. 

I also made the circle skirt from a thrifted blue-cottony type fabric from my stash, it's fully lined and I've worn it at least once per week since I finished it. I think if I had to pick a pattern that was 'me', circle skirts would be it. I can bash them out quickly and they are so comfy to wear and go with so much I already have in my wardrobe!  Next up is a light grey wool circle skirt.

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Jen

Hermit...

I've been hermiting* lately. My weeks are spent head down, bum up at work and my weekends have been spent hiding away, catching up on sleep and ignoring anything I don't quite feel like doing. I think this is a combination of being too tired to do anything much and from not wanting to spend ANY money (do I hear Europe in 11 weeks? Weeeee...!).

Today however, marked the start of the long Easter weekend in which I will mostly sew, cook meals that take a whole day to prepare, watch TV and eat chocolate (aka be a productive chocolate-eating hermit).

And while Autumn has officially decended upon Sydney, the weather, as usual, is still lovely and warm. Perfect shorts weather infact. The wrap blouse is one I actually made back in 2010 from a vintage pattern that has never been worn on the blog! Oops.

In other news, I started doing an April Photo a Day on instagram (and then promptly forgot to keep taking photos on the second day, though I have started again now!). Are any of you on instagram? Let me know so I can start following you (I am jenniferlauren3 if you're interested) and I also started a Pinterest, because, you know, I need another way to waste time...

Hope you eat far too much chocolate this weekend :)

xx
Jen

*Is that even a word?

PS) And can you tell we changed the white balance half way through these photos and I couldn't be bothered editing them? Oh the difference one little button can make...

Making Pretty Dresses...

I've been in a sewing mood lately, it's been nice and very productive - I finished this dress about a week ago and have already started on my next.

I made this dress from a Japanese cotton lawn I bought in October-ish last year. I lined it fully with a white vintage cotton I had in my stash due to the lightness of the lawn - to give it more structure and so that I wouldn't have to wear a slip underneath for modesty if I didn't want to.

I made a few small changes to the pattern, I lined the sleeves with self-made bias binding instead of the facing the pattern came with, moved the side zip to the back (I have issues with side zips for some reason, they always come out bulky) and because there was no way I'd have enough fabric for the circle skirt called for, I used 1inch pleats on the skirt instead.

I loved making this dress and am already planning my next. I'm going to make the v neck a little wider at the shoulders and a little deeper - a little something like this...

+

XX
Jen

Happy Valentines...

Albeit a wee bit late..

I made David gluten dree red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and David surprised me with 6 long stemmed red roses delivered to me at work with chocolates and a french lesson for two :)

xx
Jen

Via London and Paris...

David and I have booked flights to Paris and London in June/July this year!! David has a conference in France and I decided to tag along, you know, just because I could. I'm so excited as it will be my first time ever in Europe!! If any of you reading this live in Paris/London, let me know, I'd love to catch up. I'm not sure how much extra time I'll have in London, but at this stage I will have plenty of time in Paris :)

Sydney has just started to get into its humid and heavy phase of summer - while temperatures are not really all that hot (mid 20's) the humidity makes it feel so much hotter. Hence the need for short shorts!!

The wedding in Christchurch last weekend came sans earthquakes and the day itself was beautiful! It was a perfectly relaxed day eating a picnic outside and catching up with friends I hadn't seen since finishing university (some six or so years ago now!!). The next day however saw snow falling on the mountains overnight, wind and rain. Of course I hadn't come prepared for NZ summer weather, why would I? Sydney was boiling hot when we left on Friday afternoon, cool weather wear was not high on my agenda. I ended up buying a scarf and shivering through with coffee until we reached the warmth of the airport.

Christchurch itself seems to be holding up well through the endless earthquakes. While it was so sad to see all of the destruction and rubble still piled up on the blocked off side walks, we had breakfast in the newly made shipping container mall, and it was lovely - painted bright colours with wild flowers planted everywhere. I didn't get any photos because I couldn't bring myself to stand out in the freezing rain to get any - Sydney has made me soft, cold weather wise.

XX
Jen

Going in Circles...

Hi everyone,

I'm just popping in to show you one of the skirts I made over the Christmas holidays...

David bought the pattern for me for Christmas and I was eager to try it out - I usually use my own self drafted pattern for circle skirts but it’s always nice to breathe life into a vintage pattern. I had put pockets in but decided to take them out when the skirt hung a bit awkwardly. I used a length of vintage polished cotton that I had pre-washed but I thought it was still a little too stiff to keep the pockets in - next time I’ll use a softer fabric that drapes a bit better and add pockets into that one.

I’ve been back at work for the last two weeks now and unfortunately my sewing machine has languished (along with a muslin of the top of a dress I’ve been meaning to make since late last year). My next few weekends are all booked up but I’ll hopefully be able to make some time to get a few more projects finished before my holiday completely wears off and I’m back to operating on robot mode again until the Easter long weekend in April (oh, it’s so far away...).

Speaking of far away things, or things from a long time ago in this case, I've actually had my hair cut since November last year, but because I've not done an outfit post since November(!!) I've not had a chance to show you.

This weekend I'm off back home to NZ for a friends wedding in Christchurch. It will be a strange thing to go back after the major earthquakes that have been hitting the city since 2010. We were there briefly for our honeymoon in 2010 after the first major quake and at that stage it seemed like every second house was missing a chimney, had a crack up the wall and was covered in tarpoulin and scaffolding. Since then they have had several more major earthquakes including the one that destroyed the cathedral and many buildings in the CBD causing it to be shut off (it's still shut off now) and where lives were lost. It's a little daunting, not knowing what to expect.

Anyway, I hope you've all settled back down after the Christmas holidays!

XX
Jen

Happy 2012...

The 'Monty in a box' photo above doesn't really have anything to do with this post - it's just key-ute!

I've read many inspiring resolution posts lately (as I'm sure many of you have too), and I particularly liked the post by one of my favourite writers Neil Gaiman - I like the thought of making mistakes, making glorious and amazing mistakes, because it means you are doing something.

This year has been an exhausting one to say the least - new job = less time = really really tired when you get home = not really being able to create a whole lot because you're tired and really can't be bothered etc etc.

I am happy to say though that at the half way point of my two week break I have sewed two skirts already (one just needs a hem and we are good to go) and it feels so nice to be back doing something I really love but have just had no energy for at all this year. It was nice to spend some lazy days doing everything slowly - gently ironing out my vintage patterns, carefully tracing them and making adjustments as I went, washing and hanging fabric out to dry, cutting and sewing slowly and knowing there is absolutely no reason to rush and that I could take my time.

I've also enjoyed talking to people I haven't for a while, volunteering at the dog rescue and taking wee pups out for walks, having friends over for new years eve and eating too much (and maybe drinking too much) and talking and laughing and watching the fireworks off the Sydney harbour bridge.

Next week I plan on putting the finishing touches on something I've been working on for over a year and then I'll tell you all about it. I hope it means I might be able to get some more time to myself this year to do the things I really love doing (though fingers crossed it'll get much busier first!!).

Happy 2012 to all you lovely people!

XX
Jen