Something old, something new, something boring, something true.

Well, I did it. Last week, following the advice on this blog, I managed to score myself a subscription for La Mia Boutique, and thanks to this blog, I saved myself $100 US dollars by ordering direct from the publisher rather than through the only English speaking magazine site that will ship LMB to NZ. (sewers down under, make sure you choose the "Oceania" option and then you have to muddle through in Italian, I had google translate open in a separate window) Oh how that warmed the cockles of my thrifty heart!

And then once I had my reward for completing the competition I actually found some inspiration to do it.

It would be fair to say none of the pieces turned out as planned, because none of the pieces were planned. This resulted in some great disasters, some great successes and a lot of inbetween stuff. Once again, I proved to myself the 3-5-2 proportion of home sewn success to be true (3 items to love, 5 to use ambivalently, and 2 to hate.)

The 2 to hate need no introduction as I have already bemoaned them a plenty, the 3 items I really enjoy wearing are the velour coat, the green ruched top and the grey flannel pants. The rest are OK - I wear them, happily enough, but I can say about each of them, "next time I would .." which suggests a little dissatisfaction or maybe a lot of what my sister calls, "I-sewed-it-itis."

I learned lots from doing this competition. Making 10 pieces to work together is blimmin hard. I mean really hard, especially if you refuse to plan any of it. Since I relied totally on luck, and luck is a fickle friend, it's not surprising I had my share of bad luck too. However, in the end, it was trust and intuition that bought this collection to fruition since it was an unconscious longing for completion that took me to the end.

Although I have finished the competition I have decided not to enter it. Writing all the reviews and taking all the composite pictures takes more time than I want to spend. In addition, while everything goes with something in my existing wardrobe, they don't all go with each other, which is a central tenet to the competition! However, here is a photo of one complete outfit, just so you know that a lot of the things do work very well together.



Here is the top that I made to finish the competition: another round of Kwik sew 3338. Yawn, It's so boring isn't it? I twin-needled around the neck facing and hems to give a mock coverstitch look, and also to add more stretchiness. The fabric is more liquidation merino from Nicks. I wish I bought more of it. This is a really thick warm snuggly wool knit.



And lastly, look what my mother in law gifted me for my 40th. This is swiss lace, at least 60 years old, hand loomed and half a yard wide. It comes from my husband's grandparent's factory - they were clothing manufacturers. I wrote the full story about it here - and it is worth a read if you want to read something uplifting in these harsh economic times.



This fabric is so precious. Style gurus out there, what would you do with it? I have 7 metres (8 yards) but remember it is very narrow. I am thinking of having it professionally dyed and then maybe a modern jacket like Burda did Feb last year?