Pinch Punch First of the Month!

Before I start on my projects, I'd like to give a preview of a fantastic Burdastyle member. For those of you who don't know, Burdastyle is, as well as being the Burda website, an online community for people who sew. You can sign up for free, with your own user, wall for people to post on, and a list of the projects you create. When you create a project, you can upload pictures, information about fabric and notions, descriptions, and even instructions or PDF patterns so that other people can make the clothing too. There are search options to find patterns, (many for free), that you can download and print at home or in some cases that you can buy and have sent to you. All of the Burda patterns are also available from the site. It is an amazing resource, with a wide variety of people and sewing styles using the site, and I would highly recommend joining even if you spend 6 months (like me) just looking and not adding anything up of your own.
But on to the member I'd like to show you...atommique has posted 32 projects on Burdastyle to date, and the latest ones especially have caught my eye. I would love (and am going to try) to create her twist front maxi and lattice work dress as soon as I have finished sewing up the fabric I have at the moment. I love these dresses because they are both simplistic when it comes down to it- the silhouettes are well-known and have been used countless times before, they are both just one colour and have no patterns. This simplicity allows the details in them - the beautiful twist and structured lattice work - to really stand out and be accentuated. All together, it makes for two very wearable pieces of clothing. I also loved atommique's black high-waisted shorts and her faux leather zipper corset. I'll leave it to you to do some exploring on her profile though.
As for the rest of Burdastyle, get on there! Check out the blogs, search for techniques, trawl through other user's profiles. You are absolutely BOUND to find something handy or interesting, no matter what your level of sewing expertise is. Go for it!

Now, onto my day. Today, I decided I would share some cooking with you. I love to cook, but usually only cupcakes or cheesecakes, because I find them easy, people enjoy them, and there are a lot of things you can do with them. So today me and my boy decided to cook Cafe Calypso Cupcakes. We used a recipe from the book "Cupcakes and Muffins", which was the collectors edition by R&R publishing house, (here is an image of the cover). My mother actually got this book as a present from a lovely woman we know, and I think that it is just awesome. Not that awesome is a particularly eloquent word, but the cupcakes are just that. Among the cakes in the book there are Coffee Muds, Double Lemon Cupcakes (which look like they've had an egg dropped on them), Peach Melba Muffins, and Lemon Sour Cream Butter Cupcakes. They all sound and look delicious, as ours were when they came out.
Here are some pictures;

 The cupcakes were basically coffee and rum flavour, with a coffee icing simply made from butter and icing sugar. They were delish though! I would post more on the recipe, but unfortunately it is under copyright. So buy the book for yourself! :p

Last post I also said I would talk about the Alannah Hill Factory Outlet store in Fitzroy. On the ground level, this store simply looks like any normal factory outlet- with piles and piles of clothing, messy and covering every available surface, and all ridiculously cheap. However, go up the towering stairs to your right, and then head to the far right corner of that level, and you will find shelves of Alannah Hill fabric at also ridiculously cheap prices. When I was there last week, there was even a waft of fabric that had thousands and thousands of feathers hand sewn onto it, in every shade of the rainbow. It was beautiful, but not yet priced and probably a bit over the top for anything I would be creating. I wish I had bought it though, it was stunning. There was also plenty of wool knits, in a range of colours, cotton prints, stripey stretch knits, patterned chiffon and silk, and any manner of other beautiful fabric. These pictures of what I bought do not begin to express the variety of beauty you can pay for at the Alannah Hill Outlet;

But please go and check the store out, because I only bought boring things! Both of these, if I remember correctly, were priced at $5 a meter, and they are pretty good quality fabric, (as far as I can tell anyway).

Just before I go, here is one last link. IroIroCrafts, which I just discovered, is a very cool blog with some interesting design journeys on it. Have a little look around, as I plan to write about knitting next!

helenxx

Fabric Shopping cont.

So, these are the fabrics that I bought yesterday;

I actually bought this fabric on my first visit to The Fabric Store, which was last year. I got a bit scared of sewing so I haven't used any of the fabrics I bought on that trip yet. It is a rich colour, and it feels rich as well, a beautiful soft velvet. I am planning to make a skirt out of it, but I'm not sure what the skirt will look like yet.

This is another piece of fabric I bought on the first trip. It is a luscious blue cord fabric. I am planning on using it for a pair of shorts.

Again, an earlier purchase. This fabric is for another skirt. It is a simple cotton, but I love the striking design. The only skirt pattern I am familiar with at the moment wont be able to take advantage of this design, so I am waiting to work out a way that I can before I use it, possibly in an asymmetric skirt design to accentuate the diagonal lines.

This silk is my favourite! I am going to make a high waisted maxi skirt from it. Hopefully I will start sewing it up tomorrow, when I have the proper needle size, so I will post soon on this one!

This is a medium weight woolen fabric that I was immediately drawn to because of the bright blue colour in the pattern. I love blue, it has almost always been my favourite colour, and I find rich, bright blues like this one draw me the most. I think it is because they remind me of the deep of the ocean, of magic and mystery. From this fabric I am planning to make a Cynthia Rowley skirt, high waisted with a tailored look.

This is a Marc Jacobs knit. It has sparkley threads woven through it, although that is hard to tell from this fabric. The threads make it shimmer rainbows of colours, while the black backdrop for this show grounds the fabric. I bought this on my latest trip to The Fabric Store, when the sale was on, however this wasn't on sale. From memory it was a bout AU$40 a meter. I think it is definitely worth it- the knit is fragile but stunning, and perfect to make a simple loose dress to wear over leggings and a top in winter, to the movies, etc. My mum also bought some; it seemed to be a popular fabric.

I bought this fabric with leggings in mind, hopefully I can cut the pattern so that the stripes are vertical, but it wont really bother me either way. I like the idea of having semi-transparent leggings, subtly sexy. But, of course, I would have to wear something over the top of them, unless I decide to do leggings with two layers, which is a possibility.

The final fabric I bought at The Fabric Store was this blue merino knit. Merino wool is very warm- I already own two store-bought tops made out of it- so I am definitely excited about making a long sleeved top out of this for winter. I am constantly cold, and always wearing dark colours, so this should be a good change.

Today I have planned to start two projects; a skirt for my younger sister's birthday, and a maxi-skirt for myself from the purple silk pictured above. While I was trying to work out how to finish the silk skirt, I realised I might need a different needle, and my research led me to two websites, the Singer brand website, and this from the 'threads' magazine website. Be sure to check out The Fabric Store website as well, the one day sale may be over but there is plenty more to see! Also check out the warehouse next door, upstairs they have some fantastic and cheap fabrics, from the likes of Alannah Hill, which I will bog about soon!
helenxx

Fabric Shopping in Fitzroy...

On Thursday I went on a little adventure to The Fabric Store, in Fitzroy, Melbourne. It is a HUGE shop which is full of fabric, and slightly overwhelming. This is no amature-hour Spotlight, (where I normally shop), the people who shop at The Fabric Store are full on Sewers- with the capital 'S'. On Thursday they had an almost store wide 30% off sale, so my mother and I made the Journey to Fitzroy and annihilated our bank accounts. It was wonderful.
The fabric at The Fabric Store is high quality- Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, Tigerlily, etc. Needless to say, it is also expensive, so I would recommend getting on their mailing list to take advantage of the sales like we did on Thursday. The inside looks a bit like a small warehouse, with probably 4 big wooden tables covered in fabric. There are also shelves on 2 1/2 of the sides, which house even more fabric, and there is a long cutting table on the remaining 1/2 side with a few very helpful saleswomen. The fabric itself is in a myriad of colours, textures, and types. I was literally dumbstruck when I walked in, I had no idea where to go or what to look at first. This was combined with my extremely limited knowledge of fabric types and names, and it left a mildly depressed Helen waiting at the doors.
So, in order to help you guys, I have found two links which have descriptions of many types of fabric. The first is more detailed, containing the characteristics and uses of each fabric as well, and the second is simply a wordlist, but it could help with fabric types that aren't listed on the first page, if you find them mentioned in a pattern.
For now I have to go get ready to go the movies, but tomorrow I will post some photos of the fabric I bought on Thursday and what I intend to do with it! Thanks for reading!
helenxx