Category: blue

Vintage in development

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This Butterick 3833 dress style was one I bought while managing the PR Vintage contest. The participants were very vintage inspired and knew their stuff so I did buy a couple of patterns.

The dress below is made of a Cue remnant fabric from Pitt Trading. The bodice is interfaced because the fabric needed more body to fit firmly.

What you see here is the first fitting. Now I want to wear this dress so I’ve:
– added lining to the skirt to give it a smoother flow
– taken 2cm off the centre back seams for a better fit
– replaced the zipper with a darker blue and the white bias strips now match up. 
I’m at the handstitching stage so that’s going to take some patience but the hand stitching that Anne and Sharon have done recently has convinced me that it will be worth the effort.

The white bias strips are a white shirt remnant. The bias strip edges will not be finished because they won’t fray. There are some white buttons to be purchased but I might use self covered white or blue buttons. What do you think?

I do have some more Cue remnant pieces but I’ll use those later. Much later.

Rashie – Kwik Sew 2881

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I love water sports and the thought of sunbathing on a hammock for a week gives me the willies, so while DH and I are on hols, I intend to do some water sports that I don’t get to do at home.


The only rashie top I own is a tight number that I bought in Hawaii five years ago and it even says, Hawaii five O on it. The pink top above is my toile. The fabric is again from Pitt Trading when we did swimwear classes at PT with Roberta. The boardies are new, but I have plans to make some this week.


The key change I made was I added 4cm to the side panel on the second rashie around my hips.
I also got DH to try one on because this pattern is for men. He’ll need a XL version and he already has a few in his wardrobe so I’ll make one for him when he needs one. I have used the budgie smugglers in this pattern for DH and he loves them.

Butterick 5328 – 3/4 sleeves

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This has been such a comfortable shirt to wear, I decided to make it for between seasons by using a longer sleeve length. After wearing this shirt to work, I discovered a couple of design faults:

  • the side tie kept loosen on me throughout the day
  • neckline fitted well but felt like it would fall open if I bent over too far.

I decided to add a buttonhole where the front side ties up and placed a hook at the bust point.

We’re in autum and last week I’ve had a head cold so my aim is to make some nice tops that will keep me warm yet chic, instead of dowdy.

This is one of two quilting fabrics that I bought in Bowral three years ago and I was taken by the blue cherry print, so I bought it for a potential top. My work wardrobe has navy clothing so this fabric fits into the navy theme but also lends itself to green. I know this top will work with jeans too.

The two piece collar sits really well and I interfaced both sides because I love collars that sit well. I’ve kept my original adjustments – shortened hemline, sway back adjustment, back darts removed and roll shoulder adjustment. This shirt has a button where it ties at the front and a hook at the bust point. There is still some room to wear a contrasting top underneath the shirt so it’s a step towards having a colourful, co-ordinated autum wardrobe.

When I started making this shirt, the challenge was to sew this while I had a head cold. This shirt has taken me two weeks to complete – the head cold won, and now it’s gone.

Fabric stash #5

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I loved the colour of this fabric when I bought it at Cabramatta and I originally thought to use this fabric with a contrasting knit net print. I’ll do that anyway but I decided to make this top using a feature from a Burda world of fashion belt feature.
The top is my basic knit top that I use all the time so now it’s got a belt feature.