Ciao for now

No I'm not leaving the blogging world - I'm off on holiday to Italy for a couple of weeks, that title is about all the Italian I know at the moment (apart from food!).

I had a couple of husbandless weekends so I did a Carolyn and had two mini sewcations. I have managed to make quite a few new clothes to take with me - not just on those weekends but it definitely gave me a jump start.   I'll be making sure I get some more interesting photos of me wearing them (including the maxi dress from my last post) than the usual ones of me in front of my door for reviews when I get back.

Not a bad haul - 4(!) dresses, a skirt, shorts and 2 tops.  4 of these were patterns I had made before which definitely speeds things up.

While planning holiday wear is a great way to get the sewing mojo flowing, another way is to hit the fabric stores.  A Pattern Review member, Julie contacted me recently to say she had just moved to Hong Kong so we got together and went to Sham Shui Po, sewing mecca of Hong Kong.  As anyone who has done these kind of meet ups before knows, it is always fantastic hanging out with fellow sewing enthusiasts.  Every time I go to Sham Shui Po I find something new and taking someone there for the first time and having two pairs of eyes made it a great experience.  The best part is that she lives here so we can do it all over again soon.

From left - 2 burnout knits in the softest fabric ever, these will be great tops for fall; black silky cotton stuff which was going to be shorts and blouse for Italy, but that proved to be too ambitious; paisley cotton (see sorry tale below); khaki stretch cotton which became the skirt and shorts for Italy; stretch jacquard which became a sheath dress and I reckon I can squeeze a pencil skirt from the leftovers.


One item that won't be making the Italy wardrobe is this sad dress.  I don't often have wadders on this blog, not because I am some kind of lucky genius, but because I either give up on them so early that there is nothing to show or I make it work somehow.  Although very rarely do those make it work items ever become favourites.

Anyway I used one of my new purchases, this soft cotton paisely print to make an aline version of the Sewaholic Cambie dress.  I've made the full skirted version before which needed a bit of tweaking on the fit, but turned out well.  Totally different story for this one and I don't know if it is the thinner fabric or what, but the top of the bodice is far too big, the waist is far too low and the pockets are drooping.  I'm still deciding whether to try and fix it or salvage pieces and make it into a top - as I write this and think about all the unpicking I'd need to do I am leaning towards the latter.  So, a bit of a sorry end to my sewing streak, but must focus on the positives - the fabric is nice!

See you in a couple of weeks!