The sewing god is certainly not smiling on me this week. There have been broken needles, I have run out of sewing thread  (in the perfect colour, of course!) I have made  crucial mistakes in cutting,  Martin has been sick. I'm sure you get the general idea of the week that has been (and it's only Monday... wow!)


Why am I telling you this?  This week's tutorial from me is going to be a little late.  I know you're all waiting with baited breath and on the edge of your seats, but never fear, I will be back towards the end of the week.

I just realised that we haven't yet announced the winner of our giveaway (apologies).  The winner is Martha.  Martha, please contact us with your email address as soon as possible and we will post your package off to you.

The next pattern that we're going to have a look at in our 'Beyond the Basics' series is the elastic wasted skirt.  Pattern is a fairly generous term for this one actually.  Your basic elastic waisted skirt is a rectangle.  Yep... that's right.  That's all it comes down to.

If you are looking for some instructions on how to make an elastic waisted skirt there are about 27,000 tutorials that will show you how.  Ok, so maybe that's a bit of exaggeration, but not really. The Simple Skirt from Dana at Made is probably the gold standard in elastic waisted skirt tutorials, but there are lots of other fantastic  instructions out there, too.There is a whole collection of skirt tutorials at Project Run and Play. Go and check them out!

While making an elastic waisted is exciting (and quick...!) look at some of the fantastic ways you can alter and embellish them.

Click on each image for its source

Feeling inspired?  Good... pop back later in the week to see how Maryanne and I alter our elastic waisted skirts.
See you then!

So, I have called my A-line dress re-make the Last days of Summer Dress. I like this little dress so much I really wanted to call it the "I hope she doesn't grow too much before next summer because I really hope she can where it then dress" but maybe that title is just a tad too wordy! Interestingly, today is the first truly hot day we have had in Sydney all summer, so maybe there will still be lots of opportunity to wear it.

I would like to say there was no bribery involved in this photo shoot, but a picture tells a thousand words. It took a lollipop and a play with a favourite cousin to get these pictures and even that was pushing my luck!! If you would like to make the dress that Lizzy is wearing, Caroline's tutorial is here.

In today's tutorial I will show you how to:

• draft up the placket and front gathering
• draft up and sew the collar
• line the top of your dress for a simple but very neat finish

Apologies and Warnings

In this tutorial I use the term "Master pattern" This is just your original A-Line Dress pattern that has no seam allowances include. Trace this off and make all your alterations to this master pattern. It makes the whole drafting process much easier to not have seam allowances included. Once you are happy with the changes you have made, add back your seam allowances before cutting. I will say this over and over in this tutorial. Boring and repetitive I know, but so much better than realising you have cut out your pattern without seam allowances (I know from experience!)

Caroline apologised for her photos in her last post, I can only admit that mine a worse. As the tutee  progresses you will have many insights. Among other things -  I sew day and night and when desperate regularly use my flash, I am terrible at trimming threads as I go and my lawn needs some tlc and a good mow. There is photographic evidence to support all these statements! So I am really, really sorry.

Another warning. I am bilingual and ambidextrous when it comes to the whole inches/centimetre thing. I concretely use a 1cm seam allowance but in some places my brain just works better in inches. I will point this out as I go along. Sorry for any confusion!!


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