The Great BSC Perth sewing weekend away

This is so exciting! A weekend away, just the BSC Perth ladies, wine, sewing, cocktails, sewing, yummy food, sewing…

We’ve booked the Dwellingup Forest Heritage Centre from Friday night June 15 to Sunday June 17.  It has has single bedrooms, a huge kitchen and the dining room has enough tables to spread out your fabric and patterns.  The price per night will vary with the number going.

You’ll need to bring your own towels and bedding, and make it generous as we’re staying in Dwellingup and it gets cold.

Also your sewing machine and some projects, wine, any food you’d like to share, the makings of cocktails…

Enough of us are fab cooks, so meals with be mouth-watering, hopefully made from ingredients sourced locally. We’ll probably have one or two meals at local establishments, to be decided when we see what’s on offer.

email bscperthwa@gmail.com for a flier with details or see the BSC Perth Meetup site

Another sale

Love your knits?

Potter Fabrics has a knit sale this week: Tuesday 15 ’til Friday 19 May.

According to the email I got and facebook, half the store is stocked with summer and winter knits and they’re all 20% off.

Potter’s is at 12 McEwan Place, West Leederville.  Mention you’re with BSC Perth and you’ll get a special welcome.

Liz Davenport designer fabric sale!

The fabric sales just keep coming at the moment!

Today the VERY EXCLUSIVE (not my words ) Liz Davenport Designer Fabric Sale started. The sale runs for 1 week only – 10am to 4pm, everyday.

A huge selection of exquisite and imported fabrics are available for purchase.

EFTPOS available & parking on-site.

Drop into the Liz Davenport store at 109 Stirling Highway, Nedlands to check it out!

Thanks to Vanessa for spotting an ad for the sale in Friday’s newspaper – she sure has a nose for these things!

The February “Sew your own knickers” meet

This year some Perth BSC sewists met at Elizabeth’s home lured by brunch and champagne and sewing talk.  However we were really there to come up with some ideas for themed meets for 2012.  After seeing some bloggers talking about how easy it is to make your own underwear I thought it would be a good one to try as it seemed achievable for an afternoon sewing session.  So the plan was set and in February we all congregated at my place on a hot and steamy day for an arvo of knicker sewing.

Unfortunately “Sewanista” was unable to make it with her unlimitless knowledge and help however I had recently been to a Janome “Sew your own bathers” workshop and knew the basics of what we should be doing.  Some of us chose to use patterns off the internet and others threw caution to the wind and drafted their own from scratch.

After 3 hours of sewing we had sewn up a range of completed knickers from granny to boyleg to risqué animal print g-style.

So the true test is in the wearing.  Unfortunately for me I managed to sew a 10cm crotch for my knickers (the green ones third from the left) so it felt like I was wearing a nappy.  One of those situations where you are so focused on the details that you don’t step back and see the big picture.  I’m not deterred though and will be making some more, I might even use one of those silk jerseys I’ve bought from Potters!

Another first for our group, we got to use the awesome name tags Sarah brought along.

Vanessa

Bindaring Red Cross Clothing Sale!

Today I received an email letting us know that the Bindaring Red Cross clothing sale is happening soon! This sale happens once a year at the Claremont Showgrounds, and is like a massive one-day only op shop sale (oh, and there’s also some designer stuff on sale too!). But, don’t forget, to get any of the good stuff – you need to get there really early, and not be scared of crowds!

You might like to let your members know that the next Bindaring Red Cross Clothing Sale is on Saturday 19th May 2012.

The doors to jumble open at 9am. In the Ellie Eaton Pavilion of the Claremont show grounds nothing is priced over $10. Large ranges of scarves and shoes, mens suits and shirts and women and children’s clothes aplenty.

At 10am the boutique opens. We have received large donations of nearly new and new clothing from many shops in Perth. Designer labels and one off samples all priced under $99.

In the Robinson Pavilion. There are also ‘Pop up’ market stalls of beautiful accessories, jewellery, handbags and shoes.

If you would prefer a complete outfit, our stylists create 20 outfits that will be auctioned at 11.30am.

This year trains are stopping all day at the Showgrounds station so come along and see what bargains you can find.

All proceeds go to The Australian Red Cross.

Click here to read Perth blogger Karen Cheng’s review of the 2011 event.

The mystery of the op shop trousers

So, I needed a new pair of trousers appropriate for work. I’m planning to sew myself a couple of new pairs of trousers, but I didn’t have the time to do it right away, so I popped into the op shop near my local supermarket instead. SCORE! I found a new pair of trousers, perfect size and fit for only $4!

But there was something a little weird about them. This is the mystery. Here’s the front of the trousers:

 

No mystery here. But then, this:

Okay. So who wants to guess why someone would move the fastening clips approximately 3″ to the left of where they need to be?!

Weird. The good news is that the clips were easy to remove and reposition. These trousers should now be perfectly wearable in the short term – and will hopefully last until I find the time to sew myself a new pair of trousers!

 

 

Bella Trousers #6011 Burda

I am very proud to present my first pair of trousers that make it to the outside world! (previous attempts have only been worn inside the house)

I used the burda pattern bella. It was featured a few weeks ago and I thought it was great. I was a bit concerned about how it will look in a “not skinny” person, but I am quite happy with the result.

Pattern sizing: The pattern has indications for size 34 to 46. I cut a 46 because of my hips, but I had to make the waist smaller. I think the measurements are a bit overestimated because I am quite sure that a 44 would have fit on the hips just fine.

Were the instructions easy to follow? They were a nightmare! I had to wing the whole waist because I had no idea what I was meant to do.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I looooooove high waist trousers. There is a bit of room for change in the pattern: pleats or no pleats in the pockets, pockets or no pockets and the most amazing one is the sailor modification.

I ended up with so much fabric at the seam of the waist with the legs that my machine couldn’t make a button hole, so some of the bottoms are “fake” and they are actually a snap fastener (susssh don’t tell anyone)

Fabric use: Light denim from the sales at Homecraft Textiles.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I didn’t bother with the back pockets. The high of the crotch was way to low for me, but I only realized that when the whole thing was done.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would do it again one size smaller and with a higher crotch. I have already modified the pattern, just waiting to buy more fabric… so when are we going to the sale at intangible?