Kiwi's Dress

Kiwi, one of the girls in my sewing group, has spent most of the last few months working on a dress.

The dress represents the third thing she has ever sewn - she made the sea horse hat pack, then the bucket hat, and now a dress. An impressive feat, considering that up until she sewed the sea horse, she basically had never touched a sewing machine, or sewed anything, in her life.

(Sorry Kiwi, I know it's not the most flattering photo, but I didn't get another one of you sewing)

Her goal was to have the dress completely finished and wearable by December 18, so that she could wear it to a dance party we were going to.

So, once a fortnight (give or take) we have been having sewing sessions. She learnt some things, and I learnt some things about how much information I just ‘know’ about sewing because I’ve been doing it for years. Just reading a pattern was an interesting task for Kiwi, because sewing has it’s own special language. Things that seemed so obvious to me, were perplexing to her. For example, it just seems normal to me that when a pattern asks you to press something, you iron it. But, as it turns out, that is a sewing (and dry cleaning) specific term. Who knew, right?

In walking Kiwi through the dress, I think I learned almost as much as she did, although we learnt very different things.

And, On December 18, Kiwi finished the dress.

Isn’t it pretty?

I love this photo - Kiwi and her boyfriend look so natural in it.

The sweetheart neck line is perfect for Kiwi, and the colours - red with white detailing - are great on her

She was so proud, and rightly so.

Well done Kiwi!

(And, on a sadder note, Kiwi has subsequently moved to Perth, and will be greatly missed.)

Sewing Group

I love to sew. I make no apologies for this. It gives me pleasure. And, it allows me to own and wear items of clothing that I would otherwise be unable to find.

While I was sewing my Alice dress, several of my friends lamented that they would love to learn how to sew. So, I started a Stitch n Bitch group.

We had our first meeting last weekend. Not knowing the sewing abilities of each of my friends, I simply invited them to bring along things that they were working on, or things that they wanted to start.

The day before the session, I was trawling through http://craftgossip.com, and found so many cute stuffed animals. I have been meaning to make a heat pack for some time now, so decided to also offer cute animal heat packs as an alternate project.

The four founding members - myself, Squirrel, Lola and Kiwi - turned up, armed with sewing machines and fabric, and we set about creating things.

I decided on a butterfly heat pack stuffed with linseed (flax seed), and scented with lavender oil, Kiwi decided on a seahorse heat pack stuffed with linseed, wheat and pearl barley, and scented with rosemary oil, and Squirrel decided on a squirrel stuffed with linseed, wheat and pearl barley, and scented with lavender oil. I used a hand drawn butterfly shape, while Kiwi worked from lia's craft journey, and Squirrel worked on the cutest pattern from we wilson. Lola started working on a bag based on the tutorial from crafster.org.

Squirrel set about starting her squirrel sewing by hand, while I used my machine.

Lola carefully glued her shapes into place before she could sew them on.

Kiwi, in the mean time, tackled the sewing machine - and won! She not only sewed the entire way around a seahorse (which is mostly curves, let's be honest), but she also labouriously clipped the seams of all of those curves so that her seahorse would sit right.

I, on the other hand, had finished my butterfly (having chosen the simplest project of the group), and moved onto making a bucket hat. It seems I got the band measurement wrong, because the hat is far too big for me, but a good first attempt I figure.

Squirrel's squirrel began to take shape

And then, sadly, she had to go home, as did Lola. Lola decided that she would be working on her bag for several sessions, so stay tuned for it's progress. Squirrel was feeling inspired, so took her squirrel home to work on, (it was finished by Monday).

Squirrel guarding Squirrel's desk.

Squirrel and her squirrel.

Kiwi and myself remained, and Kiwi was determined to finish her seahorse before she went home.

Which she totally accomplished!

Kiwi's Heat Pack Seahorse - isn't he cute?

All in all, the first session of our stitch and bitch group was totally successful!