I'm moving my website (again :P ). Continue reading

It's been a busy few weeks & I haven't had much of a chance to post anything, let alone sew anything. That's not to say I haven't been thinking about sewing... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** My birthday dress has been sitting half finished for almost a month! Since my birthday was on Saturday I decided that on Friday it was time to get cracking & finish it. The main reason why the dress had been sitting... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** Happy Easter! I hope everyone has had a happy & safe easter. This year in Australia we get a 5-day long weekend over Easter, as Easter weekend coincided with another public holiday. So that means I've spent my weekend sewing like... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** This weekend I have been making silk flowers for my Sakura dress. I wanted a nice 5-petal flower shape to use as a template for all my cherry blossoms, BUT, if you haven't worked it out by now, my drawing skills... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** For those of you that haven't been forced to listen to my rant on seasons, autumn is my favourite, (summer & winter draw for second - long days of summer, snow in winter, spring is my least favourite because it rains... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** So.... embroidery hey. The last time I embroidered anything was when I was in primary school & I completed one of those long stitch embroidery packs. You know the ones with the picture printed onto the cross-stitch fabric & then you... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** I went to Darn Cheap this weekend & picked out my fabric for my Sakura dress. I also went to a bead store & got some beads for the flowers; From left to right: Pale pink polyester lining, pale pink grosgrain... Continue reading

***This post has been moved to my new site*** When I was in Japan, the plum blossoms had just started to bloom. Unfortunately I was a couple of weeks early for the cherry blossom or sakara season, but even so the plum blossoms were beautiful. I became a little obsessed... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** My Birthday Dress is slowly coming together. I've made the bodice & the petticoat & next up is the skirt. Once the skirt is done I just have to add a zipper & hem. The fabric I chose for the... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** I was pleasantly surprised at how painless making a petticoat is. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be a royal pain in the butt, but it wasn't. You don't even need a pattern. I... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** Even though my birthday is a month away, I've already started to plan my birthday dress. I've decided to make a full skirted Betty Draper style dress - but in slightly brighter colours. I'm planning to use leftover fabric from... Continue reading

It's been a really long time since I posted anything here (almost a month!). I have a good reason this time. It was my first wedding anniversary two weeks ago & so Greg & I decided to celebrate by going to Japan for a holiday. We just got home on Thursday, hence the absence of blog posts/sewing. We were very lucky & were in the south when the quake & tsunami hit. Continue reading

Tonight was the first night of my 30 minute meal challenge. What Meal Did I Make? Mustard Chicken w/ Quick Dauphinoise & Greens (pg. 98). I didn't make the dessert that is part of the this meal plan though. I also forgot to buy leeks so I didn't add these.... Continue reading

Last night I received a new cookbook in the mail. Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals. I'd been watching the series on TV & Greg & I really liked the look of the meals. I had a look around on the internet for reviews of the book & to be honest,... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** I've been a little absent from blogging over the last couple of weeks. It's for all the usual boring reasons, busy work = tired Steph = no sewing. Also I've been feeling a little low on inspiration recently. But I... Continue reading

Yesterday at about 4pm I had the sudden urge to make a fancy dinner, even if it was just for Greg & I. After a quick flick through my recipe books I settled on the following; Menu Entree Maggie Beer's 'Burrata' with Figs & Honey Main Lemon & Herb crusted... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** Once upon a time I had a beautiful Marc Jacobs silk skirt. Then I washed it. The end. That was about 4-5 years ago & to this day I follow the rule 'when in doubt, dry clean'. Unfortunately, since I... Continue reading

My husband is Ukrainian. He loves pickles. Every summer his Dad makes batches of delicious homemade pickles. Of course we all scoff them so quickly that by Autumn they're all gone & we spend the rest of the year eating canned pickles waiting for Summer to come again. Last year... Continue reading

I felt that my Melbourne Malanka dress required a little more support, so I decided to add an internal corset. I've previously posted instructions on how to add an internal corset to a dress with princess seams, which is a lot easier. The problem I faced with this dress was that the contour was added with a series of darts rather than seams. This post details the steps I took to create a corset pattern from a form-fitting dress with two central darts at the front & a combination of princess seams & darts at the back. Whilst this is what I did for the Vogue pattern V2720, you could use similar techniques on a different pattern. Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** I saw this post on Couture Allure & I was swooning. What beautiful matched swimwear/clothing combos. I've never made bathers before & have no idea where to start but I did spend some time looking up patterns & fabric. Pattern... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** Since making Greg's shirt, I've been inspired to make a few more projects for him this year. I promised him I'd have a look around for some patterns & if he liked any of them I'd add them to my... Continue reading

*** This post has been moved to my new site*** This year the theme for Melbourne Malanka was 'Carnival', like the circus or fun fair. Originally I was feeling flowy vibe for Malanka, I wanted something that would just drift across the room on the faintest of breezes. But then... Continue reading

This afternoon I felt like making a cake, but I didn't want anything to fussy or sweet. So I made an old favourite, coconut & rhubarb cake. You can find the recipe here, it has also appeared in a number of Women's Weekly cookbooks. It's really easy you just mix... Continue reading