Vintage A line Dress

This is my first finished project for a long while. It's from a 1960's pattern made with vintage Japanese cotton jacquard from The Dancing Queen fabrics in Fitzroy. I got lots of help from Lisa at Dancing Queen and some great tips from Stephanie and others in my once a month sewing group at Can Do Books in Hawthorn.  My neighbor also came over one day to help me with the darts...thanks Tina! That was the first time I have ever heard anyone say 'I love darts! I'll be right over to help'. This was definately a group effort! I learned lots about darts, had a major overlocker disaster and had to re-cut one of the back panels. I also discovered how to do a neckline interfacing and armhole bias binding. Lisa showed me the industry way to attach the interfacing to the zip...very tricky and impressive.  Mine is the one on the right, a little wonky on the inside but it looked great on the outside with a good press!

 

I found this tutorial very helpful with the armhole bias binding: http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/applying-bias-tape-on-arm-and-neck-holes/

Happy sewing!
Mel

Happy New Year

Hi everyone. The blog has taken a back seat since I have been back to full time work, as have the sewing and early stages of the veggie gardening this spring. I had to buy a few punnets of seedlings for the first time ever this spring to supplement what I had time to grow from seed. I got over it quickly once I started harvesting pre-Christmas.

Here are a few pics of the veggie patch almost five months after the last post. The veggies are definately benefitting from the removal of a large privet tree on the neighbor's side of the fence - many more full sun hours. This will probably be the last post again for a while since I'm back to work on Tuesday. Have a very happy and healthy 2012.

 Leeks left to flower for the bees, apple cucumber, zucchini

 Lettuce, rainbow chard, beetroot, capsicum, tomatoes, fig in white pot

climbing beans, strawberries, squash, tomatoes, spinach, artichoke, basil

 

purple bean flower, Mai li

  Purple King beans

 

BTW - My little asparagus corner yielded 1.8 kilos this year! Not bad for less than a square metre in it's fourth year since planting and second year of harvesting. Photos from September below (I can't believe how much everything has grown!).