New home, new tools, new start.

Well, it has certainly been a while!

Boyfriend and I were thrown into a sudden move. It was all our own doing of course, but it was sudden in that I had gotten the dates mixed up and we were able to move to a better rental in Feb, as opposed to April as I had originally thought. And then The. Perfect. House. was found and we got it!

This of course resulted in chaos, but in the midst of said chaos I managed to score a bargain, as previously mentioned in a post in early Feb. I have been keeping an eye out for a while for a Horn cutting table, on Gumtree, ebay etc. I had been using the dining table to cut which was too low and brutal on my back. I knew that a brand new Horn table is around $800. I was expecting to pay $400 secondhand. Most of them are too far away for me to pick up too…it seems there are MANY sewers in Victoria, not as many in NSW? Then a beautiful one popped up on ebay, bundled with a mannequin no less, and I mustered all my sniping skills to chase it down. I swooped in with seconds to spare and lay down a $300 bid (which was all I could afford with the pending move). I waited the final 30 seconds on tenterhooks, watching the frantic bids from competing buyers as the price ticked up. It was at $90 when I bid and reached $202.50 in the closing seconds. I got it, and at a BARGAIN price! The table itself was worth about $400, and I got it for $200 with a bonus mannequin! I haven’t been more thrilled since my very first ebay purchase, an out of print boxed set of the Tomorrow Series by John Marsden. My brother and I drove to Lithgow to pick the items up, a three hour drive away, squishing them into my trooper little hatchback.

This is my baby in all its glory, its even the same colour as my machine cabinet

I tried to upload a pic of it all opened up in the seller’s garage but it isn’t working. Just know that it opens up HUGE and I am glad it is on wheels because I will need to relocate it to the dining room whenever I fully extend it

The neck of the mannequin had come apart (but was unbroken) and for those who have never tried to put one back together it was, to be blunt, a bitch! But I did it, and it is now as good as new

And considering the crazy circumstances, that’s all the sewing news I have for you. The costume party I mentioned in a previous post was postponed due to torrential rain, which was just was well as it was the weekend after we moved and I hadn’t even started putting it together. I have all the stuff there so it will definitely happen…I’m just not sure when and can’t share because it’s still a surprise. In other costume news though, I am hoping to afford to go to Supernova for the first time this year, and possible will attempt to make a Cloberella costume.

Other than that I have to make my stepdad’s curtains (still…terrible daughter) and get back to my true desire: dressmaking. I want to start with three thorough wearable muslins: Lily by Colette, Macaron by Colette and Simplicity 2217: Amazing fit dress.

I am going to have to do the sensible thing and start by plugging in my sewing machine for the first time in months and making a simple library bag for my cousin’s little girl. She deserves it, and I need to start with something simple and easy to achieve a result with!

My new sewing space in my new home. I’m in love!

Ticking along…

It’s now Monday and this week and weekend just gone have been project free, but productive no less.

Friday during my lunch break at work I moseyed on down to the Salvos Store to see if they had fabric. They had loads and this lot only cost me $13

At least three of these remnants are stretchy knit type fabrics (I am SUCH a novice at knowing what fabrics actually are) which will be interesting. See that funky purple/pink patterned piece on the top left? I am thinking of making it into a swingy slip on skirt like this…there’s about three metres of that beauty there! Thrift shopping owns my heart

I also picked up two new skirts and a pair of pants for work, all fit perfect and the grand total for those was $18. This is one of the skirts, as worn today:

It has a ‘librarian’ quality to it, which is the look I have decided works best for me at work. Looks even cuter when I add in my glasses because the pink in my frames is the same as the pink in the skirt The other skirt is a straight cut and I had to unpick and redo the hem on it. It’s very cute also, so I’ll try and remember to wear it tomorrow and to post a pic…bargains must be shared!

Sewing wise I took a bit of a break this week to focus on doing Sew School modules and to also take time to organise my life a little. Tonight I’m going to see if I can knock together the drawstring bag for Sew School. I am thinking the grey flower print in the above pic would make it a great beach bag…I never was one for bright colours. And there should be time tonight, dinner is already in the slow cooker!