Super Mario QAL: finished!

All finished!

The details;

• All material is Prima quilting cotton from Spotlight and the wadding is low loft Bamboo also from Spotlight.
• The blocks are from Cut to Pieces Mario quilt-along and I constructed them using a thin interfacing method from here .
• Quilting is an allover loopy free motion stitch using a light grey cotton thread.

I found it pretty painstaking, cutting the interfacing apart so I could iron the seams open and flat took forever! But I am really happy with how it looks and I have all the materials to make another one for me.....maybe next year sometime!

Its an early Christmas present for my son who is a huge Mario fan (gets it from me, I still have the original Super Nintendo and games from the 1990's and the only computer game I play now is the Mario galaxy games :)

Colette 1001: Macaron dress

I'm looking a bit smug in these pics because even though this dress was a beast to fit it is my favourite self made dress of all time! I've worn it all day and I finally get why some women say that a dress is more comfortable than jeans!

So lots of adjustments though;

First muslin  I used a knit yoke in a sz 12 on a sz18 bodice/dress. I got the idea from this dress of Patty the Snug Bug's. I dropped the bust darts and moved them and used a tshirt type knit and lowered the neckline.
Second muslin I used a double knit which didn't stretch as much as the tshirt knit and felt awful to wear.
Third muslin I used a too thin knit which stretched downwards too much and I remembered why I never use darts, I can never get them to shape properly under the bust and get left with excess fabric. This version I also used the skirt from S2176, which I decided didn't look as nice as the patterns straighter skirt.

The final version was just right, lol. The front princess seam bodice pieces are from Colette Eclair, with the yoke in a tshirt knit sz 12 and the rest of the dress in pretty much a straight sz 18. The neckline has been lowered and widened and the sleeves made longer and straighter around the hem. I didn't use facings instead finished the neck and sleeves like a tshirt bands. The skirt I cut with extra wide fitting seams but didn't end up needing the extra at all.

A note on the pockets - they are inset into a slash in the skirt and the instructions have you complete them and then finish the seams, which is nearly impossible. If you cut the slash, sew on the pockets, and serge the slash now, its a lot neater finish and so much easier! (Hope that makes sense, I forgot to take pics while I was doing it)

Because I used a stretch sateen and a knit I got away without a zipper. The fits a little looser than I normally make dresses but this way I can belt it if I want it tighter and unbelted, its perfect size for sitting down all day at work.

Needless to say, I will be making this again!

Mario QAL: Koopa shell, red and green mushroom and star blocks

I did a big push this week to get all the blocks done, just have to add sashing and the front it completed. Its going to end up a big quilt, about 2mx2m finished! A lot bigger than I thought when I started.

Mario QAL: Shy Guy, Pipe, Question mark and Fire flower block

A quick catchup on the Mario quilt - 9 blocks down, 4 to go! I'm really pushing to get this done at the moment as it's meant to be one of my Son's christmas presents! Still not sure on how I'm going to quilt it, I'm thinking about stitching in the ditch around each character and then free motion quilting the aqua background - Anyone have any ideas?

Riley Blake's Zoofari: Hunter's quilt

My husbands cousin had her first baby last week (on my birthday! Yay, I have a birthday baby!!)
I used a charm pack of Riley Blakes Zoofari range and the same cot quilt pattern I normally use (Sophie's quilt)

The fabric was very cute, lots of animals and a bright but muted colour pallet, the sashing and binding are just quilting cottons from Spotlight.

I wanted to piece his name into the back, I did it more or less free form but am really happy with how it turned out.

Jalie 2908: Shorts

So you may be thinking you have seen these before, same fabric, same notions and pattern! A couple of changes though, wider leg pattern and the waistband. I've had a lot of trouble with my pants waistbands stretching out while wearing and have tried stay tape but that can make the pants a bit too tight to sit in comfortably.

So these pants have elastic in the waistband, very similar to this tutorial by Debbie Cook which she credits back to Sandra Betzina. I changed it slightly by making the pants to fit my waist when I'm sitting down and adding the elastic to fit when I'm standing up. So when I'm wearing them they have a mostly smooth waistband that stretches a couple of inches when I sit down (which is great if your waist measurement changes by about 3" when you sit down like mine does!)

The only elastic I had in a similar width was about 1/2" thinner than the waistband so I'm not sure how it will wash, it might need to be tacked down to stop it rolling. But I can say they fit really nice, snug when standing and comfy when sitting (compared to using stay tape which can dig in a bit sometimes).

I wore them all day today (which is why they were so wrinkly in the pics, sorry!), and while the legs stretched out a lot the waistband stayed fine. I did find that the elastic in the waist did hoick the back up a bit though so I really need to lower the back crotch by a little bit and lower the front waistband by about 1cm next time but I want to wear these around for a while first and see how they go.

My blog is going to be a bit light on the garment sewing for the next month or so, I have a baby quilt I need to sew, finish the Mario QAL quilt, make a Karate belt display quilt (which I still have to think about) and a Xmas quilt before Christmas!! So my poor V8333 jacket and the Colette Macaroon that I've half muslined up is going to have to wait.

Simplicity 2369: Wrap top.

In an attempt to take the ideas of the last top (Butterick 5783) and make it more wearable I pulled this pattern back out and changed it a bit.
I haven't worn the last version of this top, much mainly because the ties tend to pull the back and side seam around towards the front if I do it up tight but if I don't do it up tight the neckline is too loose and I end up  periously close to flashing strangers!
So for this version I sewed the wrap tie ends into the side seams and added the ties separately. I like the sleeves and the crossover a lot more on this one, but I think the back and length of the Butterick pattern was nicer. I have the new Vogue 8825 pattern to make up soon and it seens to be the best of both worlds! I'm not using a polyester knit again though, it always feels like I"m wearing a plastic bag