More stuff for my poor tiny sewing room

Oh my gosh, thanks to Rachel I've just seen the new Vogue patterns (LOVE!!) and am going to have to find another source of knit fabrics in advance of the next sale or I will bankrupt myself. I think a trip to the Sham Shui Po fabric market first and then I will look online, shipping prices to Hong Kong are crazy but I still think it will be cheaper than going to Western Market again when all I need are basics.

That said I picked up some gorgeous fabrics in addition to the much needed plain knit. I mainly bought good quality solids which aren't very exciting to share photos of, but while there I couldn't resist picking up a couple of prints......

This is a printed silk, for a dress (of course!). I have the pattern in mind, this V1207 Cynthia Steffe which I know I own but cannot for the life of me find anywhere right now. My sewing room is in a mess so it will be a good excuse to tidy it up.

I also picked up the last of this large butterfly print silk chiffon. I've looked at this fabric every time I've shopped there in the last couple of years and always loved it but not known when I would wear it. Since there were only 3 metres left I bought it and will figure something out. If I didn't think I'd come home one day and find my cats hanging off it by their claws I would just leave it draped like this to look at and feel happy!

In sewing news, I am in the middle of making another version of V1120 DKNY, that should be ready soon, in a plain teal blue silk - I love this colour. I'm feeling in the mood to crack on with more sewing before the next Vogue Patterns sale. And tidying that sewing room to make some space!

Vogue 1250 DKNY dress (times two)

I may be almost the last person in the universe to make this pattern and it seemed like the perfect project to get me back in the sewing room.

My knit stash is a bit limited and this is one fabric it seems hard to get out here for some reason, so I only had prints to choose from. After much procrastination, I picked a risky print, quite a large scale geometric border print, took a deep breath and ploughed in.

While I was making the dress I still had reservations but figured I could always turn it into a top, besides the dress is so quick to make I didn't have time to talk myself out of it. It's a very easy pattern but similar to other DKNY patterns has unusual shaped pieces that make it difficult to alter. I just used a straight size 12 which luckily worked out fine.


I took time to centre the print on the centre front of the pattern, completely forgetting about the centre back seam so I had to fudge it a bit there but it's OK. As soon as I tried the dress on I loved it and knew I had to have another one (at least!). I think the cowl drape has the perfect amount of drapiness and depth and the cut on sleeves are just right too.


Of course I had to then try and track down some solid jersey and went to Western Market in Hong Kong, a reliable but expensive place to shop. While there were plenty of lovely printed silk jerseys, cotton jerseys and very lightweight silk/cotton blends they weren't quite what I was looking for and in the end the best I found was a plain black blend. (Needless to say I couldn't stop at just one piece of fabric but thats a story for another day). Still, I am always saying "this would make a great LBD.." and never get around to it so for once I did. I know this will be a staple in my wardrobe and will probably get worn till it falls apart. As always it is difficult to take good photos of black dresses so I have tried lightening these.




If you haven't tried this pattern yet then I really recommend giving it a try. It only takes a few hours and 1.25- 2 yards of wide knit fabric. Are 2 versions of this enough for me, we will see........

For those of you interested in my trip, I'm working on putting some of the photos up online (I have hundreds as you might imagine) so in the meantime I'll just stick a few random ones on my sewing posts! Galapagos wildlife today!

I'm back

I am back from a fantastic vacation to a temporarily tidy sewing room, 2 new Burdas, 2 Patrones, hundreds of blog posts and lots of torrential rain! I may not be commenting much while I catch up, but I hope not to miss anything and I hope too that there will be some sewing from me soon.

I visited Peru, the Galapagos Islands and a stop off in Vegas on the way back home, a lot of flying but totally worth it, truly the trip of a lifetime. Thank you all for the comments on the 1 yard dress, it got a couple of wears in Vegas!

Burda Style 06/2004 130 Dress

I found this remnant of fabric in the market and simply had to buy it and even there was barely a yard of it I wanted it to be a dress. I trawled through all my old Burda magazines trying to find a pattern that would work and after a lot of trial and error that I won't bore you with, came up with this one - 06/2004 - 130.

It is so easy to make that I had 95% of it finished in one evening. Mine is unlined because my fabric has a lot of stretch and I didn't want to lose the comfort factor by adding less stretchy lining. Then I decided it would be better with sleeves and I did nothing more on it for about a week while I procrastinated about it. Finally I added some cap sleeves which came from Burda 11/2010 - 119. I just had enough fabric left to cut them double so I didn't have to hem them.

The fabric was ridiculously cheap (HK$20 or about US$2.50) so this is one bargain dress and I think I have found another TNT dress pattern in the process!

Sewists are Stylists too!

Guys thank you all for the great suggestions on the kimono top, you have saved it from the PJ pile! I am about to go on a trip so if it goes a bit quite round here for a bit that is why (my posting is a bit sketchy so maybe no one would have noticed!). I am hoping to get a post up that will appear while I am away but, well, lets see how today goes......