Wandering Way Quilt

Wandering Way quilt from Quilts in a Jiffy. The finished size is 42 X 60 inches. I found this took longer to cut and sew than the previous two Fabric Cafe quilts. I collected Art Gallery Fabric in red, green and ivory, I didn't have red so had to purchase some, I chose a russet or burnt orange red. I showed my books to Mr W, he chose three he liked, I went with this one to go with the fabrics. I used 2 metres of Art Gallery cotton for the back in a geometric print. I decided to quilt it in rectangles and squares, edge stitching each side of the seam plus through the blank red and green squares. In hindsight, I should have quilted all in squares as there was a lot of thread trimming, stopping and starting! I think the rectangles make the pattern look less like it is all patchwork squares though, the design is more vertical.

Pre quilting 

Itch to Stitch Quebrada Skirt

Itch to Stitch Quebrada Skirt in cotton twill canvas. I did need to press it again, but I was on a work lunch break so in a rush. It uses a centre back standard zip, I tend to sew lapped zips, I sewed it with Guterman topstitching thread and handsewed the end of the seam. I also sewed the hook and eye on afterwards! I since wore it to meet a friend in a pub garden, and despite not wearing tights it kept the wind off. 

Brick Street Quilt

Fabric Cafe Brick Street pattern from the Fast & Fun 3 Yard Quilts book. It is 49 X 59 inches. Michael Miller cotton painter's canvas in Peach, Art Gallery Fabric flannel in Painted Prairie (3/4 metre remnant) and Entwined (2 metre remnant, 1 metre left over). The backing is Liberty cotton in candles - I'm not sure if I would purchase this fabric again, the ink was not very bright, and Dashwood in chapels, I used grey for the bobbin thread. Quilting is edge stitched each side of the seam in Guterman ivory thread. I used the coral fabric for the binding instead of Fabric 3 as it was the non flannel option.  

Itch to Stitch Orono Top

Itch to Stitch Orono Top - Organic french Terry made up into Orono Top! I really want to make a Newport top in french terry too, plain colour sweatshirts are very on trend and easy to wear.

• Stand-up collar
• Long raglan sleeves with shoulder darts
• Overlapping, petal-like front
• High-low hem
• In-seam pockets
• Designed for structured knit fabric

Halloween Quilt

Halloween quilt! Last year I purchased the Liquid Magic print by Art Gallery as it was cute, and in a cream background soI thought about making a shirt with it!  The pumpkins is a Dashwood Studio I also loved instantly! Then I used a Riley Blake cotton as the blender, the charcoal and black are Halloween colours and the scratchy flower print suited the other fabrics. I used to get the impression you needed a few different fabrics to make a quilt but I only had two Halloween prints and you can think outside the box and just use orange/lime/black colours for example. Next time I will sew in Gitterman thread I stead of Moon thread as I found the topstitching prettier in a thinner thread.

NL6843 Skirt Sateen

Cotton sateen supplied by Minerva for review. This skirt is lined in lightweight cotton, I think I used View D of New Look 6843, the shorter A line skirt with the darts and I used a narrow hem foot to finish the raw edge. For the cotton sateen I sewed View A, the full skirt. I added the same cotton poplin bias binding to the hem. I handstitched the skirt hem as the print was busy, I felt a stitch line would look distracting. With the handstitched hem, lining, and bias finish, the skirt feels like it will last. I used a green invisible zip, the pattern recommends standard zips. I used a wooden button and sewed the waistband 1.25cm at the top and bottom instead of 1.5cm, as I wanted to use a button fastening, before I had to use metal snaps.

Back

I made a quilt for my friend and a quilt for a friend's cats recently (neither blogged), bags (blog) and pj shorts (not blogged) for Mr W, so sewing up the Minerva fabric made me feel better about sewing for myself. I also donated fabric and clothes, I would rather have a few beautifully made pieces than lots of clothes.

Vogue 8956 Skirt

Vogue 8956! View D is my favourite look as it's a fairly slimline skirt but with a wrap feature, I added 6 inches to the length for this one. I received the skirt pattern from Minerva for review last year. Vogue 8956 has three wrap skirt versions, either in midi or short. I chose to make View D first of all, which is the pencil skirt wrap skirt with a separate waistband, in the longer skirt option (View C is shorter). I used cotton and acetate suiting, with light-interfaced shirting for the facings. The narrow waistband is interfaced, I used firmer interfacing. This pencil skirt is easy to style as the wrap is quite subtle and lies flat. The waist is fitted and the band is not too narrow so there is enough room for buttons, but I used large sew in snaps so I can unpick and refit if needed. I thought that's the benefit of a wrap skirt, it's adjustable. There's also an option for a side tie but you would still use trouser hooks or snaps. The cotton sateen is also from Minerva for review, I made two skirts. Rose Pattern DIY Chloe blouse:

Itch to Stitch Melrose Top