Wednesday 26 September 2012

Bits and Pieces #3

I'm not going to repeat my EPIC RANT that I like to give people about how quilting fabric collections aimed at people making for kids enforce incredibly rigid gender roles (it's really an EPIC rant, it's kind of fun except for the part where my feminist rage is usually met by blank eyed boredom). However, I do like to give kudos when people produce fabrics that AREN'T rant worthy. This is my favourite new quilting fabric, and if it weren't £12/m + ludicrous P&P to get it, I'd buy tons of the stuff:


GIRL PIRATES. I love the captain and the cat staring at each other, and the girls with swords and maps and just. Yes. Adorable AND not rant worthy. It's Sarah Jane for Michael Miller, and it's from the brand new Out To Sea Collection. I think this comes in three colours, but once I saw the price on my local suppliers I stopped pretending I was going to buy some, I'm afraid. If I make it out to the US (where it's literally half the price, as always) in the next 6 months, I'll see if I can get some then.









In other news:

1. I am finally back in the bag-making groove and I finished a clutch! I'll post more about it this weekend when I have photos and it's up on my shop.

2. I took advantage of an offer on Craftsy to buy the brand new Beginner Serging class. I am not totally convinced by the Craftsy thing, but I feel like I need something as I don't know what I am doing with my overlocker at all, really, and none of the books I've found online have really grabbed me. I don't think I would have gone down the Craftsy route if I'd had to pay full price (£25? No.) But I got it for £9.50, which is only the price of an actual book, so it was a decent price for a video. I doubt I will be making any of the additional projects though -- though I will definitely make the stitch book.

3. Not at all relatedly, since I haven't even started the Crafsty videos, I managed to get my overlocker to do four thread ... something stitch. I don't know. It's the one you use to make seams in knits anyway. \o/ As soon as my ball point overlocker needles arrive I am ALL SET and can make my first knit top in seriously the most VILE knit floral known to humankind, which I bought specifically for this purpose.

4. If I had all the money in the world (which I plan to, by winning £80m on the lottery on Friday) I would get pretty much all the Jalie knit top patterns. I did that thing where I went through and just put everything I wanted in the "shopping basket" in the UK retailer that sells it, and then when I got to the end of the Jalie list, looked at how much it was: £106. Why is my appetite for patterns so much larger than my bank account? :(

5. Also, I'd buy a LOT of Style Arc patterns, except dear god, postage AND you have to pick a single size. I'm doubtful.
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5 comments:

  1. BeaJay27 September 2012 at 00:17

    Makes you want to live in the US doesn't it??

    I buy most of my fabric at Fabric.com (which has your fabric for US$8.99 a yard)and with the shipping it is still cheaper than Oz prices. And patterns at sewingpatterns.com.. I am not doing much for the local economy but I would if they would LOWER THEIR PRICES!

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    1. westmoon27 September 2012 at 00:26

      I lived in the US for 2 years -- before I got interested in sewing, unfortunately -- and wouldn't really choose to move back, even for easier sewing opportunities! But when I see Americans get worked up about the cost of fabric and how "few" fabric shops they have, I do just have to laugh.

      In general, I do pretty well at the moment buying from eBay but that's going to end when I move to Dublin. I may end up buying from fabric.com as well, although I don't really want to because of the customs duties on goods coming in to the EU from the US. I'll probably end up doing mad shopping trips for fabric every time I go anywhere! I can see myself now organizing my academic conferences by whether the location has any interesting fabric shops. :D

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  2. Ms. McCall27 September 2012 at 07:00

    I'm very interested to hear how the craftsy serging class goes. I loved the Jeanius class, and thought the Sewing Studio class was bleurgh. I know how to use my serger, but I've never tried to do anything very fancy with it. I've found the Silhouette webcasts really really great to watch, and they're free! (http://www.silhouettepatterns.com/html/media/livestreamchannel/index_replays.htm) Peggy has a pretty no nonsense attitude that I enjoy. My mailing you stuff offer still stands too xx

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    1. westmoon27 September 2012 at 08:58

      That Jeanius class always gets rave reviews on PR, so it's been on my list of things to do for a while, as has the Couture Dress Craftsy class. I'm just not quite at the point of making either jeans or a couture dress yet! I think by the time I found Craftsy I was past the Sewing Studio stage, and to be honest I dislike the presenter's books so I was put off from the start. Good to know I didn't miss anything. :D

      I also like the Silhouette webcasts. I have a couple of the Silhouette patterns, the yoga pants and a blouse that turned out to be so much more complicated than I expected. I haven't made either of them (yet) though. :D

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  3. westmoon27 September 2012 at 08:57

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