Thursday, November 18, 2010

A bit of this, and a lot of that.

I have been busy sewing blog friends, but I have been sewing a big project and so it will be a while before I will have a "ta da" moment.

First off, I did a Palmer/Pletsch knit weekend course with the lovely Carol Mill, which is always a treat, not the least because it involves spending quality sewing time with fellow enthusiasts, child free time and Carol's delicious lunches. I do have some things to show from that, but not today because the knits I chose to work with were wool, and it is very humid today.

Following on from that with some more inappropriate seasonal sewing choices, I am in the midst of sewing the Trench from the September issue of Burda (09-2010-113). I have mostly finished the outer, with lining to cut and sew and buttons and belt to finish. It has details for Africa, some of which are partially finished and I can show you here:

collar with stand and top stitching detail, epaulet with carrier and top stitching detail etc etc ...




I have also been trying to de-clutter my sewing room with better storage solutions. Instead of lumping everything in together, I have been collecting beautiful containers from the Sally Army to house each notion individually, thus making it easier for me to find things, once they are labelled.

For safety pins:



For my sets of retro buttons on cards, this biscuit tin:



Threads with ends taped down and stored thus:



To house my needle selection:



And this holds all my elastic:



Well, I have lots to get on with, so I'd best get back to it - see you in another week or two with a new trench!

13 comments:

  1. The top-stitching on your trench looks great. I like your quirky choices for creating order in your sewing room. My sewing room must stay messy for now.

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  2. Nice topstitching!
    I'm sure the next edition of your button tin is already being manufactured!
    I'm not quite so organised with my stuff - I sort things into piles on the floor, and move them around periodically... my half-finished trench is in one of those piles!

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  3. Oh Mary Nanna, such impeccable detailing as always!

    I like all your various containers for your sewing goodies!

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  4. Your sewing storage solutions are much groovier than mime. I just keep eating ice-cream so that I can have the containers...

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  5. Beautiful topstitching. My velvet coat is lying in a forlorn heap on the chair I would like to sit at to use my overlocker. Out of season sewing only seems intermittently tempting. Tidying my sewing room does not seem at all tempting.

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  6. yes I too am looking forward to seeing another beautiful coat. HAppy sewing

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  7. Let me join in the chorus: nice top stitching! Like Katherine H, I keep my notions in old ice-cream tubs. Your containers are lovely.

    Your sewing workshop sounds great. I am looking forward to seeing what you have made.

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  8. Threads with ends taped down? But those look like Gutterman spools, and they're designed to have a deep ridge on each end, which hold the end of the thread very securely if you just run it in there (once)...

    Great top-stiching on that trench... can't wait to see the whole :-).

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  9. Hmmm... never thought I'd be guilty of Container Envy.

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  10. Well I, for one, am excited about the sequel biscuit tin to your Charles and Di one- the one with William and Kate on it. Royal kitsch ahoy! These are SUCH exciting times we live in.

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  11. Satisfying storage solutions and the coat looks very promising. Beautiful colour.

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  12. Oh, I can't wait to see your trench! And great ideas for organization. I am happy if I can just walk across the floor in my sewing room. It gets pretty messy in there!

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  13. The one constant when my life is going crazy is to check out your blog and see that in spite of my disfunction your world of creation just keeps on going... and you have yet even more items in your wardrobe.
    By the way I have one of those Charles Diana tins - the real mcoy we got it for an engagement gift with the biscuits in. Our marriage has lasted way longer and was way less complicated

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