Jacket with standing collar.

I have been wanting to make a waist length jacket for a while now. In my wardrobe I have three trench coat sized jackets and a couple of cardigans. I need something in between to get me through the changing season. Burda Style have released their latest magazine patterns online and I have fallen in love with the blue jacket on the bottom right.

Image borrowed from BurdaStlye.com here.

We are going into Spring at the moment here in Sydney so I would have to pick the jacket fabric carefully... I think a trip to Tessuti Fabrics is in order!

Sam xox

Dress made.

Finally, the first outfit for my no-clothes project!

It has been a few weeks now since my dressmaking class with Geogria at Tessuti Fabrics in Surry Hills Sydney. The past few weekends have been very hectic, and I was really struggling to find the time to actually sit at my machine and sew.

I finally decided enough was enough, and declared last Saturday as "Craft Day". What did this involve? Asking Jamie (very nicely) to vacate the house for the day; jumping out of bed at 7am to set the place up with both machines and cutting table; inviting my crafting buddy Mill over to keep me company; oh... and a whole lot of sewing!

I began cutting out the dress at 10am and finally had it finished at 5:30pm in time to wear out to dinner with the girls!

I think the fact that I was able to make this dress (that included an invisible zipper and boning) was all due to Georgia's thorough teaching during my lesson with her! Thanks Georgia!!!

I have a feeling that this summer I will be wearing this dress in many different fabrics!

Below are some photos of the finished dress. Sorry they are such bad quality with the lighting but I was just busting to show you all as I am pretty impressed with my result. The fabric looks very grey in these photos, when in real life it is a beautiful caramel white. Oh well.

Standing on our spare bed trying to 'model' the dress!

The back of the dress with the very first invisible zipper I have ever put in!

(Seriously, you NEED the invisible zipper foot if you want to put

on in a garment - it makes it too easy).

Close up of the boned bodice.

And you can have a sneak peak of the inside of the dress.

I love this pattern because the bodice is actually lined

and this makes it look so professionally finished.

Before the last stitch was sewn into this dress, I was already planning what to make next...

Sam xox

Dressmaking class.

On Saturday I attended a three hour course on 'how to make a dress' using the dress pattern V8184 by Vogue Easy Options. It was held at the Tessuti fabric shop in Surry Hills (remember I blogged about Surry Hills here?). Many of you may have noticed my post a few posts back on the tessuti online fabric shop and all the beautiful fabrics they had available. Well, the online shop is nothing compared to the actual store! What a hidden gem! If you want to have a look, check it out here and watch the video of inside the shop.

I arrived at Tessuti as doors opened Saturday morning, with my sewing machine in hand. I was feeling nervous as I do consider myself a novice when it comes to sewing clothes, and I was unsure what to expect from this lesson. My nervous eased when I met our teacher Georgia. What a gem! She was infectiously bubbly and enthusiastic about dressmaking. She had brought along a variety of dresses she had made using this pattern, and showed us how she had altered each slightly to give it an 'extra something'. Her workmanship was something to behold!

I still can't get my head around how much info Georgia managed to pack in the three short hours. I feel like I learnt so much: how to pin and cut a pattern properly, sewing a toile, fitting the toile perfectly to a body, and using the toile as an individualised pattern.

I even learnt how to sew a perfect princess seam AND bone a bodice! I am totally prepared now to make this dress, and I would definitely recommend anyone who is in or near Sydney to attend one of Georgia's classes - worth every cent!

After the class I spent time browsing the walls of fabric, until I found the perfect one...

Here are some pics.

Three hours of hard work.

My 'couture' bodice.

Princess seam & boning.

Heavy-weight cotton fabric in an oatmeal colour.

Tessuti card.

If you are interested in finding more out about this dress pattern, check out Georgia's pattern review here at the Tessuit Blog.

Sam xox

Dressmaker dreaming.

I have spent some time window shopping researching fabrics online and I thought I might share some of my finds with you, in case anyone else out there was looking for good quality online fabric stores.

As I mentioned in this post, you can find a large range of Liberty of London fabrics for a very reasonable price on the Shaukat & Company website (I will be spending some of my first pay cheque on some Liberty fabrics from this store!).

I came across this little gem tonight: Tessuti Fabrics, an Aussie online fabric store with a great variety of unusual fabrics and prints. The website also lists their store location as being in Surry Hills of all places (remember my trip to Surry Hills recently?)!

Here are my favourites from Tessuti Fabrics' online store...

{Dark Clan - Wool - AUS$89 p/m}

This wool fabric is so beautiful, but the price ... I would have to be very confident in my sewing skills! I was thinking that I could perhaps make a lined winter skirt or coat? Maybe for winter 2011?

{Nouveau Bloom - Printed Silk/Cottom Voile - AUS$29 p/m}

This fabric captured my imagination. It does have a nouveau feel to it, and I thought it would look great with the right dress or skirt pattern.

{Osaka Sand Bloom - Japanese Cotton - AUS$29 p/m}

I like the weave of the fabric here as it looks like it would be quite textured. I am unsure what I would make from it, perhaps a summer top?

{Suki Mauve Bloom - Japanese Cotton - AUS$24 p/m}

Finally, I just think this is so cute, the perfect spring fabric.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here, winner drawn this Sunday August 8!

Sam xox