Needlework and Fabric Craft Inspiration on Book Depository

My new favourite way to get some inspiration.. browsing the books on Book Depository. There are many many needlework and fabric crafts books for sale and it is easy to read a short bit about them, see the cover and get inspired.

Crochet for fun in the sun

Happy yellow crochet bikini briefs being created from the same 100 % cotton yarn as the top.

I am using a vintage crochet pattern but there are modern ones using modern threads - one example is this one by Audrey Lopez

Easy 2 hour dress New Look 6750 stretch fabric casual dresses and stash busting

I oiled my overlock machine, dove into my fabric stash and made three dresses from my remnants. All are view B from New Look 6750.

Dress 2 and 3 have twin needle stitched hems. Dress 3 is my favourite to wear, the others are very figure hugging on me and I am just not used to it.

Dress no. 1 - View B, cotton blend fabric with little stretch,

made as per pattern instructions

Dress no.2 - View B

a drapey knit by John Kaldor fabrics.

Dress no.3 - View B, a cotton knit.

This time I removed the shaping

at the waist by ruling straight from the underarm to the hip.

It is cool dress for hot days.

Two colour twin needle stitching on dress 3.

This is a classic easy to wear dress. The BurdaStyle range of dressmaking books are another source of classic patterns and are available with free postage from the Book Depository.

Pin-up Sweater from the Gertie Sews Vintage Casual book

The Pin-up Sweater from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual is an easy to sew body hugging t-shirt. I cut size 8 and widened it from waist to hip by about 1.5 cm each side.

The neck binding caused me some page flicking to get the instructions correct. However it all made sense and sewed up fine after reading page 83 inconjunction with the sweater instructions on page 177.

The fabric is a textured 100% cotton knit from my stash.

So I am happy I made a wearable muslin. And yes the book is available free postage at Book Depository.

Shift dress from Gertie sews vintage casual

I traced the shift dress pattern from Gerties sew vintage casual book today. I ended up doing it twice because I didn't properly look at which pattern line I was supposed to cut. There are two dashed lines, one set for size 8 and a shorter set for size 12. My mistake, anyway it is a quick and easy pattern to trace once you follow the correct line for your size.

I used a polyester cotton for the collar and a 100% cotton for the dress.