Holiday Report

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family, eating great food and hopefully opening a few great gifts. I have been busy playing with all the new toys I got - I'm coming to you live from a new computer and I've also been reading non stop with a new Ereader. Santa was definitely good to me this year. There has been a lot of lounging and relaxing and not enough sewing so it's time to get back into the swing of things.

I want to do something different today. One of my favourite Christmas presents this year was a gift certificate to a fabric store. I've already been o use it and I wanted to show you guys what I got. The gift certificate was for $50 and as you can see that went a long way.

I couldn't help but get a couple quirky prints. I'm thinking the star satin blend for the Sencha Blouse and maybe the knit flowers in a Renfrew Top from Sewaholic.

I love the coral/orangey color of these fabrics. The first one, a polka dot chiffon I thought would be perfect for an intimate take on Cinnamon. The stripe cotton I thought would make a great Ginger.

Lastly, another polka dot. This is a very delicate and sheer cotton but I thought, with a lining, it will make the perfect Peony.

So now that we've had our holiday rest we have to snap back into our regular routines and for me, that's sewing. I hope you've all been enjoying the Ceylon Sew-Along and have made good progress with your dresses. There will be a new post with pictures and a new to-do list in the days to come.

Finally I wanted to ask a question to any reader who has made the Lady Grey coat. I had what I think was a brilliant idea the other day for my coat when I go to sew it, I want to use a vintage Hudson's Bay blanket I have as the fabric. My blanket has  couple of small holes in it but it is a King size and I think it would make a great Lady Grey.

My question is, is the fabric of the blanket too thick to use? I know the pattern calls for a more medium weight wool but I have my heart set on this idea now. If any of you have any advice please let me know!

That's all I have for this Boxin Day, see you soon everybody!

Ceylon Sew-Along Day 1 Complete

Hey everyone, so I hope your darts and gathers are coming along nicely. I have finished mine and have a few photos to show you but I must warn you: they are terrible! I couldn't beat the clock and get everything finished before sun down but I really wanted to show as much progress as possible for this project, so I was forced to take pictures using god-awful ceiling light. I hope you can forgive me!

They are nearly invisible, but here are the sewn darts at the Back Yoke D and Midriff Back F.

Here are the gathers at the Bodice Back B.

Here we have the gathers on both Bodice Front A pieces.

Here is one Skirt Front G piece with gathers complete.

So we have finished the first part of the Ceylon Sew-Along. Our next tasks are going to be:

• Attaching the Midriff Front E to the Bodice Front A
• Attaching the Midriff Back F to the Bodice Back B
• Stitch Back Skirt H together at center seam
• Join Skirt Front
• Join Skirt Back

I know this list is a little heftier than day one but I know we can do it! So good luck and happy sewing and I will see you back here soon with updates on day two!

Ceylon Sew-Along Day 1

Hello everyone, hopefully by know you've managed to get everything done on our before-sewing-to-do list and are now ready to start sewing your Ceylon.

Today's first steps are easy, we a just going to:

• Sew Darts
• Make Gathers

Easy enough right! So we have darts at the Back Neckline and the Back Midriff, and we have gathers at Bodice Front, Bodice Back and Skirt Front. Alright so that's our attack plan, Now Let's go!

Ceylon Sew-Along

So because time is slipping away this month, I thought this would be a great excuse to do a Sew-Along, spacing out the components of the Ceylon over the course of a couple weeks. I have cut my pieces but have done nothing else, so I'd like to start the sew-along by getting all those interested in joining in to gather their supplies, trace their pattern, make their muslin and cut their fabric! We will start sewing the finished dress on Monday. This gives you about four days to complete the above To Do list. I'm excited to share with you more pictures of my progress and hope it will be helpful to you when constructing your Ceylon as well.

Although I fear I may only complete two projects this month (EEK), I'm confident I will make up for lost time in the remaining months and that this little Sew-Along is fun way to make up for it!

So go gather and I will see you back here Monday for the first ever Complete Colette Sew-Along! See you soon!

Slowly But Surely

HO-LY COW!! December has been incredibly busy for me. With all the Christmas shopping, holiday gatherings and extra hours at work, I've hardly had time to sleep let alone sew. At this rate I fear I might not finish all my projects for the end of the month.

I do have one thing to show you, my finished muslin for my Ceylon dress.

 I made it a size smaller and it fits great. I decided I would make only one all black dress during this adventure, and Ceylon is it. I'm going to be using a black viscose that I already have yards and yards of, and I am going to go out and find the buttons for it on Wednesday. I am going to have to spread out all the components of Ceylon over several days in order to fit it in and may plan of attack for today is to cut the pieces from my fabric and apply the interfacing. So any who's following along, that's what we got to do!

December Projects

December is here and it's time for me to start working on my next round of sewing projects. I got a great response the first round and I want to say thank you to everyone who has been commenting and following along at whatever pace!

Since my Anise brought me right up to the very last day of November, and I was away this past weekend, I feel a bit behind on my planning, I really need to sit down and figure out what and when exactly I am going to do everything. However, I can give you a rough idea of what I am going to be doing.

Beignet, Negroni, Cinnamon and Ceylon. I'm only going to be doing four patterns this month because of Christmas and New Years, but I think they're all challenging enough to keep me busy. I'll keep you posted on my fabric choices etc when I get closer to a concrete plan.

I also have to mention Peony. I originally wanted to start with Peony this month but when I bought all my patterns, it was only available in digital form. One of my early Christmas presents was a gift certificate to Colette so I've decided to use to buy the only hard copy Colette pattern I don't have. Since I don't have it yet, I'll do Peony to next month. 

My plan for today is to develop my plan in further detail and maybe begin tracing my Ceylon pattern.Well that's all I have for you right now, see you soon!

Finished Anise

It is the end of November and I have finished my first six Colette sewing patterns, finishing with the tailored jacket Anise. So without further ado, here it  is, my Anise complete with bound buttonholes, welt pockets, sleeveheads and shoulder pads!

 I must admit, I was incredibly intimidated by this one at first, I was worried I wouldn't get the fit right or some of the details would be difficult to construct, I was very nervous. There also was a lot of prep work involved, A LOT of pattern cutting, but once I got down to the sewing - it was a breeze! This pattern is amazing and I love the professional results. Details like the bound buttonholes, which seemed difficult, were surprisingly straightforward, they just require a few extra steps. The part I found to be the trickiest was attaching the armhole lining to the jacket lining, took many pins and a bit of cursing but I got there and with a little practice I'll be a pro. I definitely give this pattern an A+!

So that does it for November, only five more months to go. I am going to be away for a couple days celebrating the holidays with my family early this year, but I will be back on the fourth ready to fill you in on all my plans for December's sewing projects. Have a great weekend everyone!