New Look 6356 easy 2 hour tops

Both tops are made with cotton fabric from my stash. Both pieces were too short to cut the back from one length so there is a join at the back waist.

The pattern says to insert a back zipper which I did for the bird fabric, but after trying it on I decided I didn't need a zip for the fox fabric version.

I tried using bias binding instead of facings in the first version but didn't get it to sit quite right. So the fox fabric version has a neckline facing as per pattern instructions.

My first cutwork embroidery

I have two cutwork embroidery cards for the Janome memory craft 5700.

Memory card no. 107 cutwork designs
Memory card no. 29 cutwork series

Today I tried a small design from card 29.
The sample used a lightweight cotton fabric with one layer of water soluble film.  The bobin thread was ordinary sewing thread and the needle thread was ordinary machine embroidery rayon.

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.

Stripey t-shirt Butterick 6475

I made the V neck t-shirt and added a ruffled band to increase the length.

Summer shorts Simplicity 7655 six made easy

Janome Memory Craft card 31

Penguin embroidery

I made view C, the elastic waist shorts and added a patch pocket to each side. I also lengthened them by about 5 cm.

They were fast and easy to sew but took longer than expected because I had to join fabric to get enough length.

I used Janome Memory card 31 birds to embroider a penguin on the back and on a pocket.

Fabric - a poly cotton gingham remnant

Machine embroidery bunting

I made this decorative bunting for my thread shelves using machine embroidery. I nearly always do a practice run to test colour, size and tension and it is these practice pieces that I used to make this decorative piece.