ever have one of those weeks?

Thursday 31 July 2008
So last weekend I had quite the plan to finish off a few things because I have reached that official stage of pregnancy where none of my pre pregnancy pants or skirts fit, and my tops are starting to look like teenage midriff baring style which is such a bad look. But things didn't work out that way of course.....

First up I wanted to finish a grey cotton jacket to match the vogue galaxy maternity-fied dress I made - all it needed was to sew the lining shell to the jacket shell, something I hadn't bothered doing for two weeks! So I finally sewed it, pressed the jacket and it looks really good, except that I sewed the lining sleeves on backwards! So that was left aside for a little unpicking action.

Next up I wanted to make two simple skirts with elastic waistbands the same as the black and white check skirt I made recently. But I had run out of stretch cotton elastene for the waistband, so I used some stretch rib I happened to have in the stash in just the right colours. All went well until I had worn them for a while to measure the hem when I realised the rib stretched ok, but did not recover and so they become way too big! More things to unpick....

All this was topped off by not being able to find my seam ripper - I turned my sewing room upside down trying to find it, creating lots of mess in the process but not finding it! So it was at this point that I backed away from the sewing machine to refind my mojo.

On Wednesday I went to Lincraft in the city which has a woeful range of fabric, and bought some more cotton elastene in black, and a new seam ripper in bright yellow - let's see if I lose this one. Of course later that night I found my old seam ripper, it had fallen down the back of the lounge, along with a few other miscellaneous objects....

So off came the stretch rib, on went a waistband made from cotton elastene and I have this:

A pencil skirt made from my usual pattern, with a centre back zipper and darts so that it fits really well at the back, and a stretch panel around the waist at the front where it's needed. It's made from the same material I made another skirt suit from ages ago (posted about here), so now I have another skirt suit to wear although the jacket doesn't button up anymore.....


Now onto those other disasters, I don't have time to create UFOs when sewing winter maternity patterns!

Thanks everyone for the compliments on the jacket on the last post - it has become a new staple in my wardrobe. As for the second button Jean asked about, I put the button on the inside because I made a button hole in each of the front pieces, and didn't actually notice it was supposed be two button holes on the one front piece until I was posting the line drawing on the previous blog! Ah well, it still works and that's how it's gonna stay!

p.s did everyone notice that this is BLUE and not grey or black? yes I am moving into some colour.....

13 comments:

  1. Ah, don't you love when the sewing gods are conspiring against you? Glad to hear you got back into the groove, with a bright new seam ripper to boot!

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  2. The quickest way to find something is to buy a replacement...also, the quickest way to find out you need something is to throw it away. *sigh*

    I love what you are doing with your maternity wardrobe! Keep up the fabulous work!

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  3. Okay maybe it's my monitor but that blue has strong hues of gray in it! *LOL* Nice save on the skirt and I'm impressed with the zipper and darts at the waistline! All of my maternity skirts had a huge front, regular back and wide elastic inserted in a casing so I'm really in awe of the time you are taking with this maternity gear...and it shows in the final garment!

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  4. You look fantastic!
    -Sandra

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  5. You look so fabulous! And you are so very smart to re-do regular patterns to make maternity clothes. I think your new clothes are way better than any maternity patterns out there! I'll keep watching with interest!

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  6. Magnificent as always. I absolutely love your style. Even with it being maternity. I never looked that good with my 3 pregnancies. As a matter of fact I never look that good normally. I aspire to sew like you!

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  7. Sigh....my maternity clothes were all enormous tent dresses/tops except for this jumpsuit in grey searsucker (what a beauty that was...hehe). You are really rocking the maternity wear!!

    As for seam rippers - I have at least 5 but can never find one when I need it!

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  8. I haven't fropped by for ages and can't believe I missed the BIG news!!! Congratulations on becoming pregnant... Are you about 16+ weeks now??? I'm just under 19 weeks myself and have really enjoyed reading your recent posts about sewing maternity clothes... My clothes are starting to get pretty tight and I've been searching for that 'perfect' maternity pattern for ages but am yet to find one... :( Like you said in a past post maternity patterns are SO daggy...
    Anyway, good luck with it all!!

    Jodie :)

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  9. Fabulous outfit. You are so stylish...I wish I could tie a scarf and have it look that good! It's so fantastic to be able to sew your own maternity clothes. Much better than what's in the shops & no doubt cheaper.

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  10. LoL... of course the seam ripper was in the back of the lounge! Funny, cause I thought hmmm I wonder if she looked in a chair or what ever.
    Your two button jacket looks great. Sorry, I wasn't really trying to make trouble! Repeat after me..... I made it that way on purpose! Ahhhh... solves lots doesn't it!
    Your growing that's for sure!
    So, have you felt the baby kicking yet? And have you and hubby decided to find out boy/girl? When I was having kids we didn't have insurance and so didn't find out (ultra sound was pretty expensive in the late 70's and early 80's) and so we had to rely on divine inspiration! And you know... it worked just fine!
    Boy, I bet the people at work are embarrased that they don't look as good as you! Your probably putting them all to shame. Pregnant or not!
    I was wondering if all was well since we hadn't heard for a little while.

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  11. Kristy,

    I hope you don't mind, but I nominated you for a blog award. Please check out my post on my blog for details.

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  12. I think I need some of that elastane stuff for the front of my skirts and pants. Of course I am not in the maternity age group-just acquiring the 60 yr old pooh bear tummy that some of us start to develop around that time.
    Don't worry about misplacing or losing things- this trait seems to come about the time maternity strikes and does not always go away. Many of us who have survived motherhood just buy multiples of every notion in the hopes one will surface when needed. Your wardrobe is really looking great. I'll bet the ones you work with are irritated that your maternity wardrobe is probably better than some of their regular clothes. mssewcrazy

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  13. Kristy, thatnks for visiting my site. I check yours out all of the time. How's the baby coming along, are you feeling better yet?

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