Chaos Theory – a butterfly flaps its wings…

…and starts a chain reaction that results in a hurricane on the other side of the ocean. Well, that’s the theory. In my case, it began with the simple decision to buy a new sofa.

Before I go on, yes, there has actually been *some* sewing going on, but not nearly as much as I’d planned. This all began early in March, we bought a new sofa, something we’d been thinking of for many months but couldn’t find the right one. Until then. So, the chain reaction.

1. Old sofa would move to the basement family room, so…
2. Family room sofa bed would be moved out to the office, but…
3. office is not big enough for the sofa bed, so…
4. switch the office with the kids TV room, but…
5. the computer desk is too big in the new office with the sofa bed, so…
6. we bought a small IKEA desk, and…
7. (this is the key!) the old computer desk would be GREAT for my sewing room as a pressing/ironing area! BUT…
8. the sewing room was a MESS and CRAMPED, so…
9. I rearranged the sewing room and the old computer desk fit perfectly! then…
10. I made the new ironing pad and was able to do a little sewing again. FINALLY!!!

I made this from the Singer book, Sewing for the Home.

 

The one thing I would add to the directions in the book, is that the staples should be at least 1/2 inch! I don’t know how many didn’t go in, the layers at the corners were pretty thick. I love it, what a treat to have such a large pressing area, and it fits pretty snugly. The great thing about this is that if I need to use another sewing machine it just pops out, it’s portable.

I can’t find any of the BEFORE shots, so here’s the AFTER shots:

 

   

And after all this, we then decided we’d need to repaint the whole living/dining/kitchen room (it’s all open concept, high ceilings), get a new counter top and make it an eat-at bar, but we’d better move the stove away from the eat-at area for safety, so, WTH, we’re now going to rip out the 50 year old kitchen and put in a new IKEA one!!! And that means that the big cabinet in the sewing room which contains my good stash will be moved to the kitchen and I’ll have to find another shelf for it! Can we say “design creep”!!

As soon as the IKEA kitchen sale event is on, sometime in July, we’re starting the reno, so I won’t be doing much sewing. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a little something in August!

Have a great summer!

Copying a Favourite Top, and Variations

Last summer I had meant to write about this series of tops, but life seemed to be too busy for any blogging, so here it is almost a year later. At least this is the right season, and we’ve been getting some pretty hot days lately (last weekend it hit 30 Celsius!)

One of my favourite RTW knit sports tank tops was starting to look a little… well, rundown! Without actually pulling it apart I just traced around it. This is the first copy in a lovely, drapey pink from Darrell Thomas, made a couple of inches longer than the original:

 

and the original (FILA tank, circa 2005):

There’s a lot of puddling at the lower back of my pink top, so for the second version I just sewed a horizontal dart (wedge) across the back just under the armhole; it’s about halfway down the back, which in hindsight is not the most pleasing, so in future I’ll *try* making the alteration over in the side seam and hemline. This one, by the way, is made in a bamboo/cotton blend with a little bit of spandex, from Wazoodle a couple of years ago (I think they still carry this type of fabric). It became another absolute favourite, and now it is also looking a little over-worn!

 

Then I thought, why not a dress? The thing though, was to add enough ease so it would just skim over my tummy and behind! I measured my abdomen at the fullest point (side to side) and graded only the front piece out from the bust level, then measured my behind at the widest part (side to side) and graded out only on the back piece from the back dart. This kept the side seams vertical, with no pulling. This is it, in a basic cotton knit without spandex from the remnant table at Fabricland:

 

Now, I’m not wearing a slip, and I don’t think I wore one last summer either. In hindsight (pun intended!) I think a slip IS needed. The back of the dress is sitting on my backside! Ooooh, not good!

All three pieces got worn loads of times last summer. Almost everyday. They were great to have running around with the boys at parks and places. I’ll definitely make some more for this year, but perhaps I’ll shelve the dress idea? Or is it that it’s also a bit too long? Maybe hem it to or above the knee?

I’d love to get some feedback here, what are your thoughts?