Making a couple of knit dresses is motivation. I can cut the dress out before work and after work, pull it together within a couple more hours. That’s if I’ve made it before and the fabric is behaving.

McCalls 5752
This was a pattern I made for myself a couple of years ago in a zebra print knit so the bodice already have an FBA. The blue version is a well worn work version. So this was easy to cut out and sew up again. Would you believe I found a mistake in my original version by sewing it again? Anyhew..

The green knit is toile fabric which you’ve seen recently from the Missoni dress. This fabric is still from the Pitt Trading $20 garbage bag of fabric remnants.

The mistake was not including the vertical gather on the front ruching.

McCalls 5974
Instead of adjusting the round neck version, I used the cross over bodice that creates a v-neckline. No zipper was used for this version but I’ve kept the back shaping even though it would have been easier placing the centre back seam on the fold. I’m hoping the back fit will be great on SIL.

Now to do a fitting. I’m hoping I’ll only need to adjust the width and length. My unpicker and I are becoming great friends.

Sydney sewing blogger meet up
I attended my second Sydney sewing blogger meet up last Saturday. My first Sydney catch up was during Made Me May. Our summer weather was just kicking in so by the time we’d chatted and fabric shopped at Tessuti’s and The Fabric Store, we earnt a well deserved drink at the Clock Hotel on Crown St in Surry Hills. Here’s the great pic Christy took.

It was a great way to end a fun afternoon fabric shopping and catching up with our blogger friends in real life. Thanks Christy of Little Betty and Kristy of Lower your presser foot for organising the meet up. They both have lovely posts about our meet up and hopefully we can do this again in February.

Thanks to Kyle for letting me know about this meet up. Kyle let me know about the meeting up while she was keeping safe during Hurricane Sandy in the States.

2013 ASG workshops:
In case you’re interested Rhodes ASG has a few sewing workshops in the pipeline.
At this stage the workshop wish list is:
– a workshop on tips for sewing knits with zips,
– a session on trims and neckline finishes and
– a fitting workshop on sleeves and armholes.
Let me know if you’re interested in attending and I’ll send you the details when they’re available next year. I’ll keep you updated.

Silhouette Patterns webcast 17 December
If you want to check out Peggy Sagers webcast, the 2012 webcasts have officially finished. However there’s a special ‘off the record’ webcast that won’t be recorded on 17 December. That’s actually 18 December at 1pm Sydney time. The official webcasts will start again in 2013 and previous webcasts are on her website.