Fabric Shopping, Island Style

I've just come back from a relaxing holiday in Rarotonga in the beautiful Cook Islands.

I didn't set out to buy fabric while on holidays, so hadn't done any research before I went. But seeing so many beautiful tropical floral print clothes everywhere you go really makes you want to buy some fabric to make your own creation. I did do some research when I got home to see if I missed anything.

I'm participating in Me Made May 2015!

For the first time, this year I thought I would participate in Me Made May.

I'm going to keep it pretty low key, I hope to try and take a photo of my outfits every day, but am already expecting that they will all be blurry, so I'll save them all up to show you at the end of May.

My pledge is as follows:

I, Andrea of www.obsessivecreativeness.blogspot.com.au, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear at least two me-made garments each day for the duration of May 2015.

I have hesitated to participate in previous year, mainly because the weather in Sydney is so changeable during May. I have a stack more me-made clothes in my summer wardrobe than I do for winter, and it is usually getting quite chilly in May Last year, however, our summer weather decided to extend right up to the end of May, making me wonder why I hadn't signed up for Me-Made May.

So this year I decided to take the plunge. I have a few more winter clothes ready to go, and of course, I know I have a sufficient supply of bras to wear every day. I'm in! Who else is joining me?

Lingerie: Blue Duchess Satin Bra

Today actually marks the one year anniversary of my first blog post on bra making. I was going to do a little run down on some of the things I've learnt over the past year, but I might save that post for another time.

After the success of my new bra pattern, I was keen to try another one based on this pattern block. and had this pattern ready within days of finishing my new lace bra.

Yohji Yamamoto jacket

This month's stashbusting sewalong theme is using patterns that you already have. Given that I make most of my patterns, I couldn't think of anything that I would be able to sew on theme this month. Until I remembered a PDF pattern that I had printed out last year, and abandoned when I realised the pattern would need more work to line up properly. Too much effort when you already have real work to do!! I can't remember who it was, but a member of the stashbusting group last year made this jacket and posted it to the Stashbusting Facebook group, and I was inspired enough at the time to download the pattern. That turned out well for me though, as it gave me a stash pattern to use this month.

Lingerie: A new bra block and lace bra

Are you sick of reading about my never ending stream of bras yet? I hope not, 'cause I don't intend to stop making them, or telling you about them any time soon. For bra number ten, I decided to go back to the drawing board, quite literally. Not that there was anything wrong with my existing bra block, in fact, I think I had the fit almost perfect, but I decided to make another one from scratch. Although it felt like starting all over again, there were a couple of reasons why I decided to do this.

Underwear experiments

Have you tried making your own underwear yet? I must admit that initially I had no interest in sewing my own, but the style of my regular undies got me thinking that maybe I should give it a go. It's not the best look when your undies come up a good 5cm above all the skirts and pants that you make. And just maybe, I might have a go at a matching bra and undies set.

Cream Cardigan

Can you relate to this? You have a favourite piece of clothing, but your other half just wants it gone. Well, my husband has been nagging me to throw away my favourite cream cardigan for a while now. I bought it at Jeanswest a few years ago, and it's the perfect weight to throw over any outfit on cooler autumn and spring mornings. But it now features holes all through, and stains that won't come out.