Quick Knit Dress

Here's my last last-minute stash bust for the year - a fairly simple knit dress, with wrap top and half circle skirt. It is made from a knit fabric that a friend and fellow seamstress gave to me last year (I think that's when it was anyway) It used up 1.5m of stash.

Reverse applique flower and leaf top

It's been a while since my last foray into an Alabama Chanin style project, a dress that I finished back in April. It was about time that I made something else in this style. I actually started planning this top shortly after finishing up my dress, and have had the pattern lying around my studio for a number of months now, just waiting for me to have the time (and attention span) to make it up.

Stashbusting Sewalong: December theme "Christmas Mayhem"

To end the year off, the theme for December in the Stashbusting Sewalong, is Christmas mayhem! Whether it be sewing presents for gifts, or making those finishing touches to your own Christmas, it's all covered this month!

Stashbusting Sewalong: November Theme "Containment - Japanese Knot Bag"

The theme for the Stashbusting Sewalong for November is all about containment. I had high hopes of making both my children new bags for swimming, maybe some more fabric boxes to store things in my studio, and of course, a Japanese Knot Bag, for which Sue from Fadanista is hosting a sewalong this month for the Stashbusting Sewalong.

I was determined to at least make one bag this month, and had a neglected cotton top in mind to use as well.

Lingerie: White stretch lace Sierra bra

I have so much work to do for others at the moment that to make something for myself I carved out a bit of me-time this weekend while my daughter was at a birthday party. Despite having two other bra patterns that I want to try out, I decided to have another go at the Sierra bra. Although I can't really wear my last bra, as it is too tight, I wanted to prove that I could make it work. The Sierra is a free bralette pattern by Madalynne. If you're lusting after this bra and haven't downloaded your copy yet, you can get it from here.

Lingerie: Stretch lace Sierra bra

I don't often get to the end of making something, and then think, "Should I really blog this? It didn't really work and I don't want anyone to know." There's nothing wrong with this bra itself, it just doesn't really suit my figure, and it's too tight. More on that later though.

This is the Sierra bralette, a free pattern from Madalynne. You can download your own copy here. I just missed following along with the sewalong, but have caught up now. This is unlike any other bra that I have made before. In many ways.

Tutorial: Hemming a lined wedding dress with horsehair braid

I've altered my share of wedding dresses over the years that use horsehair braid in the hem, but have just finished my first wedding dress from scratch using it. I'm a convert. Horsehair braid, where have you been all my life? It gives a beautiful crisp finish to not only hems, but necklines too. (See Gertie's tutorial for adding horsehair braid to necklines. I followed it to put braid in the neckline of this same dress)

I only wish I had taken more notice of how the braid was sewn into the hems, and, you know, taken photos and stuff? I thought I remembered how they were done, but wasn't 100% sure, so turned to my friend Google to find an answer. Alas, the only instructions I could find either featured hand stitching the braid to the outer layer of the dress, or sewing the hem to the very edge of the braid (similar to how you would use ban-rol, without pulling it out), and either topstitching it down, or use handstitching at the top. Neither of these was the solution I was looking for.

White Linen Bamboo Shoot Top

It was only after finishing my broderie anglaise top that I realised that I actually made something n theme for the Stashbusting Sewalong this month. As is this top. The theme is "Outerwear / Seasonal Change", so both tops qualify as new tops for summer! This is actually my second attempt at making the bamboo shoot top from Pattern Magic. I tried to make one once before, using white cotton poplin, but thought I could do the front in one piece, extending to the hip. It turns out that I couldn't.

I'm kind of glad that I left trying it out again, as not only do I now I have a better starting point with the block that I've been working on to fit me better, but I discovered that I have enough white linen in the stash which will made up much better than the cotton poplin would have.

Lingerie: Blue and White Lace and Satin Bra

I couldn't wait to finish sewing the bra that I started with Sharon on the weekend. It came together quite quickly, and before I knew it, it was finished!

Lingerie: Making Bra Patterns is more fun with a friend!

I met the lovely Sharon from Petite and Sewing through the Stashbusting Sewalong FB group, when I realised through a photo on her blog that she lived close to me. We met in real life for coffee one day, and now chat regularly through email.

One of the things that Sharon has been wanting to try more of is bra making, and if you've been reading my blog at all over the past year and a bit, you would know that I've developed rather an obsession with making bras, and am constantly on the search for the perfect fit.

I swear my desk my clear at the start of the day!

Lingerie: Top 10 things to avoid in bra making

When I came to the anniversary of my first blog post on the making of bras, I started to write a really long winded post about some of the failures and successes of my bra making journey so far. It was so boring though, that I couldn't even bring myself to finish writing it, so I figured no one would want to read it either. I've taken some of the things I wanted to say, and come up with a list of common sense things to avoid when bra making. Learn from my mistakes, so you avoid making them.

Broderie Anglaise button up top

This is a top that I've been planning on making for a few years. You may remember the fabric from one of my earlier bras - my second one, in fact. I did hesitate to cut into it at the time, just in case I didn't have enough left to make my shirt from it. Thankfully though, I did have just enough. All that's left now is scraps!

I decided rather than just make a few changes to my block pattern to come up with a pattern for this shirt, that I would spend a bit of time fitting my block to my shape, to save time later when make more tops, or dresses!

Stashbusting Sewalong: August theme "Face your fears" - Swimsuit

Guess what? I'm a bit chuffed, because for the first time ever, I made a swimsuit! This month's stashbusting theme is all about facing what we fear in sewing. I had originally thought of cutting into some special fabric that I've been putting off using, but after some discussions on the Stashbusting group's Facebook page, I came up with something far more appropriate, and an actual real fear of mine: Lycra.

Lingerie: Cream Bra

It's been a while since I've had a big enough chunk of time to sew something for myself, and of course, my mind went straight to bra making. I had actually been putting off making my next bra, even though I knew what style I wanted, and what I would make it from. As I mentioned when I made my last bra, I made the decision to try a larger size underwire.

My sewing studio: Storage for fabric by the roll

How wonderful is my husband? Not only did he come up with the opening line for this blog post, but he put together a storage solution for organising my fabric rolls in my storeroom.

The new fabric rack

Knitting Adventures - Silk Scarf, and my new dressmaker's dummy!

Do you remember when I bought some silk yarn on my visit to Tasmania last year? The yarn is 100% silk, from a local Tasmanian artist Rebecca Kissling. I had in mind to make a scarf, but have been taking my time thinking about it before making it up.

Well, the time had come, and my neck was crying out for a different scarf to wear, so I took a week out from my other knitting project to make this up. I didn't want a pattern that was too boring, but also didn't want to have to follow a pattern or think too hard when making this one. I settled on a 2 x 2 rib knit, so the scarf would look the same on both sides, and not roll at the edges.

Hemming Tutorial - The wonders of Ban-Rol

I first came across ban-rol a few weeks ago, when a member of the Stashbusting Facebook group was asking for opinions on hemming a shirt, and someone else posted a tutorial to sewing baby hems with ban-rol. Not that I had a need for it, but I started searching for some straight away. Local sewing shops had never even heard of it, so I switched to searching online. Even there I wasn't having any luck.

I was trying again one day to find an Australian supplier, and came across another tutorial for using ban-rol, when I happened upon a comment from an Australian saying that she was getting some in for her shop. That person was Helene from Stitch 56 in Melbourne, a company that I had not previously heard of, nor had it come up in any of my searches for ban-rol. Less than a week later, I had my ban-rol, and a client who needed 50 silk scarves hemmed! I bought 5 metres of the widest ban-rol available, 2 inches. In hindsight, I should have bought more. I mean, the postage cost me as much as the ban-rol did, and if I need more, I'll be up for even more postage!

Sewing Machine Review - Janome Coverpro 1000CP

Here is the final member of my sewing machine family, a Janome coverstitch machine.

What brand and model do you have? This machine is a Janome Coverpro 1000CP

Sewing Machine Review - Janome Mylock 634D Overlocker

It's been quite a while since I've written any sewing machine reviews, despite the fact that I do have two machines that I have not yet shared here. Although I've had it for a while, here's my newest overlocker (serger), a Janome Mylock 634D. I bought this to replace my Pfaff Hobbylock after it stopped working.

What brand and model do you have? This machine is a Janome Mylock 634D overlocker. I'm not sure of the exact age, but I estimate that it is from around 2012 - 2013.

Organising my bra patterns

I recently completed a long overdue job of cleaning up and sorting out my bra patterns. Up until this, they had been living in a rather attractive cardboard box, inside a larger box of bra supplies. Now that I've made 13 bras, the pattern pieces are all starting to get a bit confusing. For my first few bras, I labelled the patterns V1, V2 etc. When I changed the wire size, I wrote the size as well, and then when I was still getting confused as to which was which, I came up with style numbers. But they were still all going in the box.

Bra Patterns in the box

Stashbusting Sewalong: June theme "Stretch fabrics" - Long sleeve shirt

I don't really know if I have enough to say about this top to warrant it's own blog post, but I didn't have any photos ready when I posted about my Moto Jacket, so here is my new long sleeve rib knit top.

 

Stashbusting Sewalong: June Theme "Stretch fabrics" - Moto Jacket

Sometimes I don't have a fully fledged plan in mind before I start on a project. Over the past couple of months I've seen a few Moto Jackets popping up around the blogosphere, and the gears in my brain started turning, plotting how I could make my own. With this germ of an idea, I paired an old pair of jeans that I identified during Me-Made-May as ripe for refashioning, and grabbed some rib knit fabric that I thought would do really well for the sleeves. All that was left was to buy myself a zipper, and start on a pattern.

Knitting Adventures: Mustard Miette

I recently joined a knitting group. There's a couple of us who meet up in a cafe on a Tuesday morning, drink coffee, and knit. Or crochet, or whatever. None of us knew each other before our first meet up, but I always look forward to my Tuesday mornings to get out of my usual routine and just meet with like minded people and do something that I love.

I have been working on my second miette cardigan. It isn't the cream one that I wanted to make when I was knitting my blue miette, but at least I filled that hole in my wardrobe when I sewed up a cream cardigan a couple of months ago.

Quilt Cover for my daughter

My husband's grandmother had a matching pair of quilts that we acquired after she passed away. When my son was younger, my husband redecorated his room and even made a quilt cover for him. (I wasn't allowed to help - I guess it was a boy thing!)

We decided to leave doing the cover for our daughter until she was old enough to have a say in what she would like. However, I came up with the idea for this quilt (without really consulting her) last year after I made her a party dress and matching bunting for her fifth birthday party. The party theme was Lego Friends, and I chose a few of their most used colours to make a dress, bunting and lego play mats. For this quilt, I started with the idea of the bunting strip at the sides and went from there. The bunting itself has been hanging in her bedroom for about a year, and she has been patiently waiting for her quilt cover to be made.

Stashbusting Sewalong May 2015 roundup

How has your month been? What sewing did you get up to? Whatever it was, I hope you've managed to have a productive month. As usual, I had lots of things that I wanted to get done, and not much time to do it in. Top of my priorities though, was to get some lingerie sewing done. What kind of host would I be if I didn't?

Me Made May 2015 Round Up - Part II

For those who have come in part way through the Me-Made-Month of May, you can find the first half of the month's outfits here, with a bit of my rambling. So if you haven't read that yet, I recommend doing so now. I'll wait for you to come back! Continuing on, here are the outfits that I wore for the second half of the month.

May 16 - 19

Lingerie: White Silk Bra - Take II

As soon as I realised that my last white silk bra didn't turn out how I would have liked, I got to work on one that would.

Lingerie: White Silk Slip and Bra

My on theme sewing for the stashbusting sewalong this month, ok so what will possibly be my only completed personal sewing for May, was a white silk slip, and matching partial band bra. I have been planning a new slip for quite a while. I used the same bias cut pattern that I made a previous slip from about 18 months ago, but wanted one that was a little longer with less flare at the hem. I also wanted it to be more light weight, for which I had the perfect white silk remnant. As part of the lingerie theme for the stashbusting sewalong, I had also planned on making another bra this month, but hadn't put much more thought into it than that, when it occurred to me that I should just make one with the remnants from the slip, and have a matching set, of sorts.

Me Made May 2015 Round Up - Part I

May has been quite a busy month so far for me, with hosting the Stashbusting Sewalong, getting through work sewing, taking daily photos for MMM, and trying to fit in some sewing for myself. You may remember that my pledge for my inaugural Me-Made-May was to wear at least two me-made items of clothing every day during the month of May. Not such a challenge in itself, as that only equates to a bra and one other item. After looking at a few of my photos though, I decided to extend my challenge, to not wear the exact same outfit more than once during May.

The weather in Sydney during May tends to be starting the downward slide into winter. We started the month with a few rainy days, followed by a few warmer days before winter kicked into gear again. I've given you the weather highlights to go with my outfits. So far, so good. No duplicate outfits.

I have listed only the clothes for each day that I made. Where applicable, I have linked to the relevant blog post, or one that has better photos of the item. I had half this post written when I accidentally deleted the entire post (don't ask!), so I'm not sure what bra I was wearing every day, not that it really matters, so if I have just written "bra" without a link, that's why. I also decided after that incident, it might be safer to publish the first half of the post, and finish up the month after the end of May. Hence why this post is Part I.

May 1 - 5

Stashbusting Sewalong May 2015: Why am I stashbusting?

Why did I join the stashbusting sewalong?

I first stumbled across the stashbusting sewalong a few years ago, when I saw another blogger had mentioned that she was joining in, and at the time I was bemoaning the fact that I never seemed to have time to sew anything for myself, but regularly added to my stash. Just, because. I saw it as an opportunity to force myself to do something about actually using up what I had, and getting new clothes while I was at it! I didn't get much time to sew things up in that first year, but it was a start, and the stash only grew a bit, mostly from other people destashing onto me.

In that first year I did find myself unable to make a few things that I had ideas for, as I had nothing suitable in my stash, and I had forbidden myself to buy fabric, so last year I gave myself some more leeway and did go a little overboard on buying fabric, but managed to keep to my goal of sewing twice as much as I bought.

For my pledge this year, I'm not too concerned with how much I sew up, but don't want to see the piles of fabric starting to build up again. As long as I don't end up with more fabric than I started with, it's all good, I will have met my goal.

We live in such a throw away society, that I want to see the fabric that I already have being used, and made into something that will last. If I can re-fashion clothes that have seen better days, even better!

Since the first Facebook group was set up last year, it has been more than just a way of documenting and sharing with others what I've been up to with my stash. Seeing what others have been doing is so inspiring. As well as showing each other what we've been up to, we have been known to share tips on how we organise our (sometimes vast) stashes, and shed light on sewalongs or free patterns that we've tried, and ask advise from each other.

Fellow stashbusters, why did you join the sewalong?

Stashbusting Sewalong May 2015: Lingerie resources on the net

Don't have any lingerie patterns lying about, and not wanting to spend any money on new patterns? I've done some research for you, and have found some free resources for you to download, and some sewalongs too!

Various Lingerie Sewalongs, Tutorials and Patterns

Bra making sewalong from Cloth Habit
I love this sewalong. I read it through a couple of times before I made my first bra, and it totally demystified the bra making process for me. I still refer to it on occasion when I need to brush up on something.

Watson sewalong from Cloth Habit
While talking about how awesome Amy is, she released a pattern for a wire-less bra pattern, and has done a sewalong for it on her blog. Amongst the bra sewalong is a post on sewing up the matching undies. The same construction applies to any undies patterns with a front, back and gussett.

Bra Making Tutorials from Madalynne
Some really useful tidbits on bra making and important information to keep in mind when doing pattern alterations. Includes a tutorial on how to convert a full band to partial band bra pattern, and vice versa. I read this a few times before I attempted to do a partial band!

Bra making tutorials by Sigrid

French Knickers sewalong from VeraVenus - link to Day 1 of the sewalong
(Pattern link below)

Slip Tutorial from Sewaholic
Simple instructions included to make your own pattern for a half slip

Bias Cut Camisole from Weekend Designer
Tutorial, including instructions to make your own pattern from your measurements

Slip pattern from VeraVenus (full slip)
Also has a pattern for french knickers, and 50's style big knickers

50's petticoat from Burdastyle
If you aren't already a member, you'll have to sign up to access this, but you can sign in using facebook.

Panty making tutorial from Very Purple Person


Free Undies patterns

Rosy Ladyshorts from Cloth Habit
Pattern and tutorial

T-Shirt undies from Indigorchild
Pattern and tutorial

Amerson undies from Madalynne

Madeleine bloomers from Colette Patterns

Undies and camisole/vest from 'So, Zo'



If you didn't catch the third issue of "Seamwork" from Colette Patterns back in February, it's all about lingerie. Have a read!


Disclaimer:
I do not guarantee the quality or accuracy of these patterns. I haven't used all of these patterns, or tried all of these links. Where possible I have included some extra information for you. Please feel free to comment below with your favourite free lingerie pattern or great sewalong. If you have anything to add regarding the links I have provided, please comment also and I will update the post where applicable.

Stashbusting Sewalong: Announcing the May 2015 theme - Lingerie!

Theme for the month

As promised, I'm taking more of an active role in this year's Stashbusting Sewalong. This year a group of us are guest hosting a month each. With May being my birthday month, I volunteered to host this month, and then realised that I was going to take the plunge and join Me Made May for the first time this year. Oh well, I can do that too, can't I?

So welcome to the Stashbusting Sewalong for May. If you're up for the challenge, the theme for this month is to sew lingerie. Whether you're into petticoats, slips, undies / panties, bras or maybe even pyjamas if nothing else interests you, this is the month for you. I'll be sewing up another bra or two, and I'm hoping to get a silk slip done as well.

I'm looking forward to a month bursting with lingerie posts!

I've done some research for you, and next week will be posting a roundup of some free lingerie patterns that are available to download.

The following week I'll give you some insight into why I am part of the Stashbusting Sewalong, and I'll round up the end of the month with my lingerie sewing from the month, and hopefully some sewing from my fellow stashbusters.


My Bra Making

After years of dreaming about it, I only started making my own bras a little over a year ago. If you've been thinking of bra making but didn't know where to start, here's a bit of inspiration to get you started with a summary of my bra making journey from the start.

Making a bra block
Floral print bra
Broderie Anglaise bra
Cream Silk Bra
Pale Blue Lace Covered Bra
Hand Dyed Bra
Black Bra
Long Line Convertible Black Bra
Cream and Blue Lace Bra
White satin print Partial Band Bra
Mint and White Lace Bra from a new bra block
Blue Duchess Satin Bra

I know not everyone has the background or the ambition to do their own pattern making, but it is possible to make your own bra pattern from scratch, and the link to the instructions that I used for my first nine bras is in my first post above. I have also found this same method as a tutorial, but the images weren't coming up for me. Here's the link to that one for you anyway. The last two bras I made from a block I drew up from the book The Bra Maker's Manual (Vol 2) by Beverly Johnson.

If you already have a bra pattern that works for you, how about having a go at changing the style? It can be as simple as trying out a new strap arrangement, adding / removing part of the bridge or changing the style lines on the bra cups. I have not yet used the exact same pattern twice, although that gets a bit confusing when I'm trying to match up pieces that go together.


I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this month, so don't forget, if you're a member of the Facebook or Flickr groups, post those photos so we can all see!

Stashbusting Sewalong: April Theme "Vibrant Colour"!

When I started making this dress, I was looking out the window at the constant rain that Sydney had for three straight days, and kissed summer goodbye, while wondering why on earth I was making a sun dress, out of vibrant orange and yellow flowers no less. Easy. Because I bought this fabric on holidays a couple of weeks ago, specifically to make something on theme for the Stashbusting Sewalong for April. That might sound like an oxymoron, but it's souvenir sewing, so that doesn't make it stash adding, right? I will add my fabric to the "purchased" column on my spreadsheet, but I'm not really fussed if I miss out on my target for the year because of this purchase.

Alabama Chanin style dress

T'his dress has been in the planning stages for ever. Or so it feels. It's been just over a year since I finished my Alabama Chanin style shorts, and it's taken me since then to find fabric that I was happy to use for this dress. I was looking for 100% cotton stretch fabric, in two co-ordinating colours, of an equal weight with each other, that wasn't too thin. Not too much for a girl to ask for is it? When The Fabric Store was having a summer sale on knit fabrics in January, I went a little overboard with cotton knits. I only realised when I took a photo of my fabrics that they all go together really well. I bought five different coloured knits, ranging from a deep blue through to a light aqua, and a cream to round it all out.

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.

Lingerie: Partial Band Bra

This is my first attempt at a partial band bra, and it wasn't without it's challenges. Before starting, I did a bit of research, and read up on how to turn a full band pattern into a partial band pattern. If you'd like to know how to do it yourself (or convert a partial band pattern to a full band pattern), you can read a tutorial here. I also read up on the pattern making and method of construction in my Beverly Johnson book.

Liebster Award Nomination

Well, it turns out that I was nominated for a Liebster award last year. Okay, so it was June last year. I think I had just gone on holidays for a couple of weeks, so wasn't reading as many blogs whilst away. I was checking my blog stats and stumbled across a referring URL from a friend's blog, and upon reading said post, discovered my nomination for this award, for my fabulous bras! At the time I had only made three! Now if I actually got around to setting up bloglovin, I'm sure I wouldn't miss any of her posts!

Thank you Sue for this nomination, I am honoured that you would want to nominate me. The questions posed to me by Sue are as follows:

Tank tops with a twist

Bra making hasn't been using up much of my stash lately. I took a tiny break from them to use up a bit more fabric, and re-stock the wardrobe with some essential tops for summer.

Lingerie: Cream and Blue lace bra

Only two things sewn up in January, and they were both bras. At least this one was sewn totally in the month of January. All in two days in fact. Making bras certainly isn't making much of a dent in the stash busting, but I'm having fun, and more importantly, I'm getting new lingerie, and learning!

Fabric Needlecraft and More... AKA The Fabric Cave

Don't ask me how I never knew about this place, but I quite literally stumbled across a reference to the Fabric Cave in a post by Perth blogger Fadanista's review of her latest make in December. Intrigued, I did some googling, and discovered this treasure trove of fabric, sewing and craft supplies, located in Meadowbank, less than half an hours drive from my place. (In Sydney terms, that's quite close!)

Lingerie: Long line strapless black bra

This was supposed to be my last finished project for 2014, but alas with a constant stream of visitors through my house during Christmas and New Year, two children home for school holidays, and being away for a week, it didn't leave much time for sneaking away to my studio for a bit of quiet, uninterrupted sewing time. So instead, this has become my first completed project for 2015. That also makes it, quite unintentionally, fit with the January stashbusting theme of Renewing Sewing.

Stash Busting Pledge 2015

I've been participating in a Stashbusting sewalong for 2 years now, and am really looking forward to participating again this year, for more than one reason.