still on fire

Well I had another very productive weekend, but nothing to show for it on my blog due to a lack of photos! Last weekend I made two tops, finished one of the elastic waist skirts I started a few weeks back, refashioned a fugly denim skirt I found in the back of my wardrobe and traced off two BWOF patterns. Plus I managed to supervise my husband in the big clean out of our garden shed and other miscellaneous junk around the house for council clean up, had dinner and then brunch with two seperate sets of friends... No wonder I barely did anything at work on Monday, but hey no one noticed so no harm done!

Anyway I did manage to get one photo of the top I made to wear out to dinner on Saturday evening. It is a simple knit top which would have been so quick to make had my overlocker been behaving itself - it has decided it doesn't like knit fabrics and the two needle threads keep breaking mid sewing. I changed the needles to jersey ball point needles in case that was the issue but it didn't help it. It sews woven fabric fine, and it has done knit fabric in the past so I'll have to investigate further.

But luckily knit fabrics don't fray so it's not the end of the world, although the silver lurex knit fabric I used does shed little curls of silver thread now and then. I made the long sleeve top of New Look 6430, a 2004 pattern that is now OOP, but it is a cross over top with a ruched waist area - perfect for that extra area needed across my stomach. I made my usual size 10 for the bodice, but cut out the largest size 22 for the botton half figuring I could gather it to give more volume. Well the lurex knit fabric was so stretchy and floppy, that not only did the gathering across the front look ordinary, so did the ruching and under bust gathers. I took them out one at a time, re-sewing between each try so in the end I made and unpicked this top at least 4 times! But even without the gathering, the lurex knit is so stretchy that it fits perfectly as a size 10 top:

Because the knit fabric was quite thin, I made this from two layers of fabric. I read somewhere that to make cheap or thin fabric look more luxurious you should use two layers, and it does make it look much better. Doing it this way meant I didn't have to finish the neckline because I sewed the cross over portion and the back right sides together and then turned out and pressed. The other problem I encountered was that the hem stretched a little when I turned and sewed it, despite stabilising it with some stretch interfacing, so you can see from the photo above that it ripples a bit, but given a few more weeks of belly growing it will probably be just right! I also did make the front a little longer than the back so I can grow into it. It is a bit lower cut than I would normally wear, but for the first time in my life I have cleavage so I'm putting it out there! If I make this top again I would raise the neckline a little.

Oh and have you noticed that Tearsa over at That's Sew Live has announced her pregnancy? I love her style and I can't wait to see what she comes up with. But I think I would absolutely freak out if I had her job - imagine the stress of presenting on a tv news show when you're pregnant? I've certainly had my fair share of days when I just wanted to hide from the world and blob out....