Not writing, but still working!

I haven't posted in a while, but that's because I've been slipping in projects amidst a lot of other business. When I'm not busy, I like to nap and such things, so quite frankly, I'm amazed I've done anything over the last three months!

Being as anal as I am, I wasn't satisfied with my green dress and its loose fit in the bustal area, so I undid a heap of work, went to my friend's house and got her to pin it to fit it to me better. She did this and I stayed up until 3:30am sewing, the night before I was leaving for almost four weeks, but I got it done. I wont bother posting a picture because it looks the same, but it FEELS so much better!

Also in that sewing class I was taking which started me on the green dress, I made a Go-Go dress out of some rad fabric from my work. I'd being drooling over it for ages and had been sitting on it for quite some time. I had to do something with it, and it was soon revealed that it would be a Go-Go dress. My taste has been shifting more into 60s stuff, so there could be more like this, and it'll be easier not trying to do full skirts! My main reason for choosing this pattern was because it had sleeves. I really wanted to tackle sleeves. I was all panicked and it came down to the last class and I was all ready for sleeves and I rushed to the teacher's desk and said "What do I do?!?!?!" and she said "Like everything else, what do we do?" Luckily, I just heard her going over this with the new students. Though I understood the concept, the reminder was useful, "Face to face, edge to edge, seam to seam?" "Yes," she said "now do it!" So I did it, and just as simply as that, the sleeve fit right into the sleeve hole! There was a little extra, but I used it to make cute puffs at the top. I have rad, white Go-Go boots to go with this dress, but you can't seen it in this picture. I'm sure there will be another great Go-Go dress soon and pictures with visible boots.

Me and my friend Emma. I'd been to a Go-Go class before I caught up with her.

It's a little tight under the bust, but I learned a lot of lessons with this piece as I altered a pattern. I'm going to have to get use to this as I make fitted dresses to accommodate my wee bust and wide hips! Unfortunately I took in a bit too much, but it was a learning experience. The tragedy of this dress is that before I actually wore it out for the first time, I went to iron it as it was all crumpled from being in my suitcase (I took it to Australia) and I accidentally left the iron on the zipper too long and melted it a bit, separating a couple of inches from the fabric. I'm so upset because this is no reflection on my sewing skills, but my ironing!

Moving on from that, after I came back from Las Vegas, Australia, and Salt Lake City where I went for work, I got cracking on a shirt. I was keen to try a collar, but I am not quite sure this pattern was quite the challenge I was looking for. It's still totally cute though and I learned some new things, like creating bunch under the bust in lieu of darts, and I must say, it worked nicely! I really appreciated the power of basting there! I also did my first serious button holes.

There's a little tie in the front but you can't really see it and I can't be bothered taking more pictures. Anyway, it looks good! (click to enlarge)

People like to go for more matching threads, but I like contrast, so I went for this wild green thread and a red button as there is red in the print. I did the button with the machine for the first time! Much better than by hand once you line it all up! I was too scared to use the foot though, and manually turned the wheel for the needle.