Butterick B5884 and my dress for Becci's Wedding

As soon as I received an invitation to Becci's wedding, I started planning my dress. I was in the middle of my year of not buying and only sewing clothes and I had worn my only new pretty dress to two weddings already so I wanted something new.
First stop was Potter Textiles, where I found an amazing cotton silk, with a large scale pattern of crystals. I LOVED the print, but wanted to find something relatively gathered to minimise it a little.
I went madly searching for some ideas on pinterest, but apparently when you search "dress to wear to a wedding" all the words in-between get lost and you end up with a lot of white! Finally found this:

Then came trying to recreate it. I had a little go at drafting it myself, but without a proper sloper and a very rickety dress form, I struggled. I finally cut my losses and went for a pattern: Butterick B5884, version A.

There were definitely problems, I took in the back, re adjusted the gathers of the bodice and took about 5cm out of the back of the skirt as it was really bulky (There wasn't much drape to the fabric, so I'm not sure if the bulk was just due to that)! But here is the finished product and I'm super happy with it!

Oh the Irony!! The Ironman Ironing Board Cover.

My boyfriend is a big fan of Iron Man and I love wordplay, so I guess this was inevitable. We called the Iron 'Tony', but of course I knew I could take it further...

With an Ironman ironing board cover!!!

My Mum is a very good seamstress, and I've watched her make several different ironing board covers over the years, so the how to wasn't a challenge. I sourced the material from Ebay. There aren't many sources for the licensed fabric in Australia, and trying to find something with just Ironman and not any of his fellow avengers was actually quiet difficult. There were several flannelette options, but its flammable and therefore not a fantastic choice. So finally settled on this, and some specific heat resistant wadding from Spotlight (the kind for oven gloves). I'm really happy with the result! Anything that can bring a smile to my face when I'm doing any kind of household chore is always good!

How I did it: 

1. Just turn the ironing board upside down on the fabric, and trace around it. Thats line 1

2. Add a seam allowance of 10cm all round the first line. Line 2.

3. Roll the edges over twice, to create a tube (make sure its wide enough to fit your elastic)

4. Sew it down, leaving a 2cm gap

5. Thread the elastic through, sew the ends of the elastic together and close up the whole 

6. Cut out some heat proof wadding, using the ironing board as a template again.

7. Place the wadding, then pop on the cover!!

My DIY Kindle Paperwhite Cover

So, I splurged a little and bought myself a kindle paperwhite.
With all the traveling between Melbourne and Perth, I thought being able to take my library with me would be a huge advantage. I'm saving heaps on english texts and its really helped to get me back into reading again. I think its money well spent!

Now that I have it in my hot little hands, I need to think about a case - the screen is apparently even more fragile then an Iphone/ipad! I didn't want to spend too much before i knew exaclty what I wanted from it. So i thought I'd make my own:

It's really simple. Just some cotton calico on the inside layer and then some of the leftover fabric from Jess' Christmas present on the outside, reinforced with interfacing. Super easy!

Also my first go playing with my new camera and lightroom. Excitement all around. Now all I need is the time to learn how to use everything!

Glam Rock Ski Suit Hoodie

My little brother is obsessed with "The Mighty Boosh". He has been cutting his hair like Vince Noir (circa season 1) for a last few years. Already giving me an idea for a theme for his 21st birthday present. He is constantly wearing his American Apparel hoodie - so I thought I'd combine his two loves:

and thus the 'Glam Rock Ski Suit Hoodie' was born...

so here's the inspiration:

Since I didn't want to sew a whole sweater, I bought a American Apparel one and decided to try my hand at applique. I used an iron on transfer and then zig zagged around the outside for extra support. Here it is after being ironed in place:

And here's the final product:

Happy Birthday Ronan!