Giveaway: Pattern Pyramid

My Pattern Pyramid parcel from Karen over at Did You Make That?! arrived this morning. All beautifully wrapped and packaged.

I've chosen the Burda Style magazine as I've never had one and the other patterns are for more petite women and didn't really excite me enough to grade up. Also, more bang for your buck!!

So, ladies (and possibly gentlemen?? - hi lovely!) without further ado please welcome my first ever giveaway!!

The Rules: 

• Anyone, anywhere can enter by leaving a comment on this post by midnight EST (GMT +10 hours) on Monday 16 July but you must have an active blog.
• I will randomly select one winner, and post them the collection of 5 patterns along with hand woven labels to be sewn into anything made from one of these patterns.
• The winner will pick one pattern to keep for themselves, then host their own giveaway. They will randomly select a winner, post the remaining patterns to that Person D. Person D will pick a pattern for themselves, host their own giveaway and post the remaining patterns to the winner, Person E. Person E will…

For more information, including code for the Pattern Pyramid button and details of the charity supported by the very generous donor of the patterns, please see Karen’s post.

Karen has also recently launched a WIP (work in progress) photo round-up. For a bit of fun, simply email a photo of your WIP to Karen by midnight tonight (GMT) and she'll do a round-up post over the weekend.

I have two WIP photos to present. Can you guess what they are?!

The first one is in its final stages so stay tuned...

And don't forget to enter the give-away!!

L x

Mum: Vogue 1270

Sorry for the poor photo quality but I thought I would share a photo of my parents at a recent family friend's wedding. My mum is wearing a recently completed Kay Unger Vogue 1270 in a bright green silk. Isn't it stunning? She certainly stood out amongst the black and navy.



Source: Vogue Patterns

L x

Sew: New York Cape

 Meet my New York Cape! Isn't she beautiful? My lovely parents gave me the pattern as a Christmas present and I had been keeping my eye out for the perfect check wool coating. Finally I found the perfect fabric, a Marc Jacobs wool coating from the The Fabric Store, and I was on my merry way.

Cutting the fabric out took some time and mental strength, not to mention a stiff drink! It took me hours to get my head around matching the checks both vertically and horizontally. It's not perfect but I am very pleased with it. I used some handy tips from Pattern Scissors Cloth for working with checks and plaids.

All up, this project was a really enjoyable sew. I really like the finish that the binding gives and I love my new cape. Perfect for a girls night out at The Brunswick Green with my mothers group friends. 

Project Details
Pattern: Tessuti New York Cape
Fabric: Marc Jacobs Wool Coating from The Fabric Store
Notions: 8 x 23mm buttons from Rathdowne Fabrics, 5.1m navy Mokuba wool binding from Tessuti, 6m navy poly-cotton 12mm bias binding, thread & interfacing

L x

Help: Weightloss and Wardrobes

Six months ago, I decided it was time to get rid of the excess kilos I'd put on after having my boys. My boys were 3 years and 12 months old and I was not having any more. So I signed up to Weight Watchers and started running (or shuffling at first). My biggest motivating factor? I was cutting out my paper patterns in a size 20! Seriously, size 20! Enough was enough.

So six months on, I've lost 6.5kg! Yay! Another 10kg or so to go. But who's counting?!

I now have a serious problem. I have so many lovely clothes that are too big for me. All that beautiful fabric wasted. All that time and money...

This is not all of it. This is only the skirts and dresses. There are more pants and tops folded. There's even some Liberty!

So what's a girl to do with all these clothes? Donate them and move on? Cut them up? Give them to Vinnies? Try and alter them?

I'm not a crafter and I don't have a daughter. Those are two obvious solutions. I'm not sure about the altering option either. It is hard enough adjusting the fit when you're sewing them up in the first place. And all that unpicking... 

Help?!

L x

PS. I am two buttonholes and four buttons away from finishing my New York Cape! I ran out of thread and so did Spotlight...

Win: Pattern Pyramid

I won the Pattern Pyramid over at Did You Make That? !!! I don't think I've ever won anything except a tray of marshmallow bunnies at the Easter raffle in grade 3 at primary school... Thank you Karen, I look forward to receiving my bundle of goodies and selecting a pattern. So, watch out for my first ever giveaway in the next few weeks to pass on the other 5 or so patterns and spread the love!!

On my sewing table this weekend is the Tessuti New York Cape. Isn't it looking beautiful?!

Happy Sunday sewing!

L x