lower your presser foot

My overlocker should be home safe and sound next week, I can't believe how much I miss it! I'm practically paralysed in my sewing without it, but I have got a whole slew of projects lined up waiting for the seams to be tidied up before I finish them. The bad news is that although I can pick it up on Monday, that's my first day back at work in 14 months so I don't think my boss will be too happy if I nick off early just to pick it up! Guess I'll pick it up on Thursday which is my day off....

In the meantime though I've finished the top that actually broke my overlocker, or was the final straw in any event because it seems my overlocker has been broken for a while and I've just been ignoring the really bad tension. Luckily I had overlocked all the edges of the pieces in white thread before I changed the thread colour and things came to a shuddering halt.

I seem to have a thing for blouses with frills at the moment, which is so opposite to my usual minimalist simple style. I made this blouse from Burda 8/09 pattern 117:

So simple, basically just a few rectangles joined together with a big flounce down the front. This is my version:

I made it exactly to the pattern since it's meant to be loose fitting so it didn't need any pattern changes. I've made it from a lightweight wool in cream (super 120s made in Italy according to the selvedge), bought from a garage sale last year. I wanted to do a rolled hem in black thread on the edge of the frill but that caused my overlocker to go beserk, so instead I did a narrow rolled hem and then topstitched it in black thread using a decorative stitch on my machine. Luckily the back and front look the same because the way the frill sits you can see the underside:

I also did a few lines of shirring in black stitch to cinch it in evenly around the waistline, and also as a feature because that big expanse of white was a bit too much for me. My shirring however is pretty bad, with crooked lines and bad tension so it didn't gather as much as I'd like, but unpicking shirring elastic is really painful so it's gonna stay! I did however only do a few lines of shirring so that I could still wear a belt over the top if I want:

I can also tuck the top in, and if I wear it with a high waisted skirt it covers the shirring lines too! The bonus is that I never wear this skirt (an Adam Bennett wool pencil skirt bought from an op shop) because it is an orphan and I'm a bit matchy matchy in terms of jackets and skirts when it comes to office wear, but I think this look could even work for a night out:

Thanks for all your loving re: my fabric stash - it makes my heart sing every time to see it so I'm happy to share the love! I don't know if I've mention this before, but I work in town planning (also known as environmental or city planning), so I always think in a very spatially organised way. Plus I'm a little bit obsessive, you should see my pantry. My dymo label maker is almost as beloved as my sewing machines....

Tracy - what a brilliant idea to use clear plastic sheeting over the shelves, I had been thinking of using some Ikea fabric I bought originally for the lounge room curtains but this might be better. Michelle - those shelves are screwed into the walls to make sure they don't rock and tilt, but I'm hearing you on the uneven walls and floors - our house certainly has it's fair share of those. Levanah - if I'm buying fabric fabric with no particular project in mind I'll buy at least 5m if it's suiting fabric so I can get a skirt + jacket and sometimes pants out of it, and at least 2m to 3m of other fabric depending on price which is enough to get a dress or pants from. And Vicki - you're a wicked, wicked woman!

Verobirdie - Anna does have a tinge of red in her hair, which is very surprising indeed because I thought that her dad' black chinese hair would be dominant. Especially since red hair is not common in my family, my brother and sister and I being the only ones out of a gazillion cousins to have red hair and even my parents don't have it. I should have listened better in high school biology.

Teresa aka Marie Sews, what a great perspective to compare UFOs to completed items because I've definately finished more than what's in that box. Now I don't feel so bad at all! Marie-Christine, I agree with you completely that there is a good chance that old UFOs are unlikely to be in my current style, but to clarify I did a huge edit and chucked out at least half of my UFOs before putting them in that box. So that box is full of things I think I'll still like when I finish them. I guess I either had really good taste all those years ago when I started those UFOs, or I'm stuck in a rut..... But my best example is this simple white dress I posted about here, which was my oldest UFO (12 years) but is now worn frequently:

Happy weekend everyone, I'm going to try and cherish my last few days of freedom! I suppose I shouldn't be so melodramatic since I'm only going to be working 3 days a week....