The fruits of purservering...

Oh the witty puns...gotta love 'em....

So, yes the finished purse that I am mildly proud of...

front - next to my matching mattt bag

inside - oh what a wonderful lining...no puckering!

the back

Fabric is Lara Cameron's Birch in charcoal on black for the purse and in chocolate on chocolate for the mattt bag...

All I can say is woot!

Scarves, capes, migraines and good breakfasts

Not much on the blogging front as I have been stricken with the ugliness of the dreaded migraine...possibly stemming from an over-extension of my neck last week in pilates, but I think I've managed to get rid of it with packets of codeine, ibuprofen and paracetamol along with coffee, rest from the screen and some heavy crafting.

Oh yes have I been busy...

sorry about the crap photos but I kept forgetting to take photos until after dark...and yes, i know my carpet needs vaccuming...

First up scarf no. 1 

Close up of fabrics > (colours = bad due to terrible lighting...sorry!)

made from some black cotton drill and some japanese fat quarters I got from the Stitches and Craft show a while back and lined with a nice knitted fabric in brown I found at Clegs.

Then after deciding I needed one to match my outfit last night I whipped up this one in under 2 hours...it's not as wide as no. 1 and is possibly a little poorly sewn but it does the job!

Close up of fabrics >

This one was made with the same black cotton drill, lined with a black version of the knitted fabric and some more variations of the japanese fat quarters.

Was actually quite easy to get a fairly professional looking outcome...an iron really helps with that too...

and tonight, I started the purse...the massive amount of instructions with ACCURACY in all caps and underlined and the 'intermediate' rating kinda freaked me out...but y'know...nothing ventured, nothing gained...so unlike my usual approach, I turned the sewing machine to low speed and managed to get it done without too much drama! I don't have the proper glue so I'm holding myself back from whipping out the super glue...so unlike me again! and am planning on going to buy some proper glue and do it properly...woot!

So I can't find a button/clasp/do-upperer for my cape, so it's just sitting there waiting to be finished...booo...

Good breakfast tip? I am an avid breakfaster...I am actually thinking about starting another blog to document good (vegie) breakfasts in and around melbourne...So added to the list this week is Palominos on High St in Northcote. Moving past the free King and Queen font used on their front window, the coffee was good and strong and the spinach and pecorino baked eggs with fennel seeds and pumpkin bread was really good...I was scraping the bowl for more...Also, props go to the newly opened Pearl Oyster cafe on Miller St Thornbury, awesome decor (exactly how I would love to decorate my house) excellent coffee (Coffee Supreme) and sublime breakfast...shame about the service, our order was forgotten twice and after a one hour bike ride to get there we were famished...but sooo worth it when we finally got it and we'll definitely be going back there...

Another thing done today was not very crafty at all, but this blog ain't all about craft...maybe more about happy stuff, and happy stuff = snowboarding...yes, we spent almost an hour in Trigger Bros with Khan trying on boots...he ended up buying himself a pair which makes me very excited as we're going to NZ in August to snowboard...soooo much funnn...can't wait...we may've also bought a DVD at my suggestion which is soooo dorky and I'm holding out on watching it cos I know I'll wanna jump out on the snow asap after watching it...

Oh and I got some awesome new shirts this week from sneak design who are having a sale on some of their older designs on their site...Go buy one or 5! Support local designers!

What a caper!

I downloaded a free cape pattern from fitzpatterns.com a while back and have been intending on making it for a while. After a few false starts, i.e the printer stopping working part the way through printing (faulty cartridges!), then the pages that were printed from the work printer didn't match up with the ones printed at home... I finally started on the weekend.

After a 3rd attempt at piecing the pattern together (I had made 2 previous attempts, both ended up screwed up and with me at the point of giving up) , I finally decided it'd just have to do...yes the lines weren't matching up completely but isn't it close enough? Sewing is not an exact science and a lot of the time, yes, she'll be right!

Well, Spotlight, you need to train your assistants how to cut a straight line...when I folded the fabric and placed my piattern pieces on the fabric as instructed on the pattern, I found that I was short due to poor cutting! So after a LOT of umming, ahhing and swearing, I decided the facing would just have to be done in another fabric...she'll be right!

Digging through my remnants and bits and pieces I found some large scale Birch in Fuschia by Miss Lara which may not be exactly right buttttt....so I promptly cut it up, accidentally cutting one of the facings the wrong way, wasting more of my precious fabric...bahhh!

The pattern said it would take 2 hours...hmmm...due to my lack of sewing skills, the not very thorough instructions and unpicking bits, I think I'm up to about 12 hours!

Last night I had a go at thinking about lining the inside which I eventually dismissed as I just could not work out how to do it! I ended up sewing the hem and trying to work out why i have flappy bits around the neck...which i just intend on hand sewing down so they don't flap...next step is a button and a good pressing and then it should be done! Will be lovely for sitting at my work desk. I have an air con vent above me that keeps me at a sub-zero temperature most of the day.

Macchiato brown Tonia cape with Birch fuschia facings
- Sorry about the crap photo, taken at 11:30 last night in my bathroom...not the best lighting situation