Rainy Holiday sewing - knit dress

Project - New Look 6280 View A - knit dress with 'V' neck and bust gathers
Started - 27 December 2014
Finished - 28 December 2014

I purchased this fabric and pattern in November just before my quilt weekend, intending to get it started - at least cut out and ready to sew. As usual I took far too much with me and this didn't even get a look in.

Post Christmas, with an empty, tidy house and a grey rainy day, what else is there to do but pull it out and sew while the boys are flaked out in front of the TV?

The fabric is a fairly firm knit with one-way stretch. It isn't the colour I would normally wear but fine for trying out the pattern to see if it fitted and if I liked it.

The lining was a stretchy jersey. All up, the fabric I used cost around $17 and the pattern was $6.


I've been looking for summer dresses for a while, but everything I try on is either shapeless or far too small in the bust. I bought this pattern hoping I could adjust it for a custom fit.
I tried out a Full Bust Adjustment using this tutorial from 'Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing'.
I used my high bust measurement and the finished garment dimensions from the pattern tissue to select the size to use.

My full bust measurement is 8cm larger than my high bust so I needed to add 4cm width and length to each side of the bodice. This would have been easier if the shoulder line and bust apex were marked on the pattern.

I guessed and ended up too full through the high bust. I could probably get away with a smaller increase but it is lovely to put on something that doesn't pull over the bust and that has an under-bust seam that sits exactly where it should.

I made view A from the pattern but altered the front bodice to have a vertical centre seam rather than a cross-over neckline, as there was enough bulk from the gathers under the bust. I should have dropped the neckline lower as it ended up higher than I wanted.

I sewed the bodice pieces with a smaller seam allowance (by mistake) so the straps ended up too wide and the underarms too high. There was also some bagging on the centre bust seam caused by the incorrect seam allowance. I added a piece of elastic to the front bust seam to gather the excess fabric and pull the 'V' down a bit lower. I think I attached the straps a little too high, so it sits a bit strange over my back. Using the correct seam allowance and getting someone else to help place the straps correctly should fix all these issues on any future dresses.

I picked a size with less than the recommended ease around the hips, and when I make it again I will go bigger through the hips for a looser skirt, especially if I make a maxi version.

The result is a comfortable summer dress. I'll make more of these, but with the changes I mentioned above. I've already been scouting out fabrics online.

Merry Christmas - 2014

We were planning a quiet one at home yet managed to end up with 10 for Christmas day and 15 for Boxing day.

There was swimming and Nerf guns and bike riding and Skylanders and squabbles and cuddles.

There was wallaby watching and bird spotting and a friendly green tree frog watching us from the roof gutter.

There was an enormous turkey and an enormous black forest cake that each lasted at least three meals. There was cool gingerbread house that we didn't eat.

It was lovely to spend it with family and I hope yours was as wonderful as ours.

Merry Christmas.

    

Reading in 2014 - Dirt Music

Dirt Music by Tim Winton

'Set in the dramatic landscape of Western Australia, "Dirt Music" is a love story about people stifled by grief and regret; a novel about the odds of breaking with the past and about the lure of music. Dirt music, Fox tells Georgie, is "anything you can play on a verandah or porch, without electricity." Even in the wild, Luther cannot escape it. There is, he discovers, no silence in nature.

Ambitious, perfectly calibrated, "Dirt Music" resonates with suspense and supercharged emotion -- and it confirms Tim Winton's status as the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation.'

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tim Winton's writing is quite amazing. He can write a scene and have you there, smelling the salt-water, feeling the gritty sand in your clothes and the relentless heat of the sun, yet he does it with a masterful use of fairly sparse language. With Winton I never feel bogged down in pages of description of trees or light or landscapes (unlike Bryce Courtney as one example).

For me though, the plot and characters in this one were a bit underwhelming. I often wondered where the story was heading and was left scratching my head at the end with no resolution. It was a fairly convoluted tale with lots of side stories that were never explored or developed. The back stories of the main characters were heavily hinted at but never explained, and to be able to empathise or simply understand the relationships and actions of the characters you needed those back stories.

I was left unsatisfied with far too many 'Why?'s to be able to say this was a great book.

Reading in 2014 - The Language of flowers

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

'The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love.
But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them.
An unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.'

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another one of the books pulled off the shelf for me by our librarian when I begged for assistance with picking some decent books.
I enjoyed it.
I think the style seemed to change mid-book, from a drama (coming-of-age, rising-from-adversity, girl-conquers-terrible-childhood) to a more standard girl-meets-boy-and-eventually-get-it-together-after-overcoming-obstacles/misunderstandings/sheer-pigheadedness-with-a-not-so-subtle-twist romance.
But that's okay. It is chick-lit. It reads like a movie script - but the sort where they change the end when they actually make the movie. It won't change your life but it will give you a few pleasant hours of escapism. We all need that sometimes.

Reading in 2014 - Coal Creek

Coal Creek by Alex Miller

'The new novel from Australia's highly acclaimed literary treasure is an extraordinarily powerful exploration of tragedy, betrayal, the true nature of friendship and the beauty of lasting love.

'Me and Ben had been mates since we was boys and if it come to it I knew I would have to be on his side.'

Miller's exquisite depictions of the country of the Queensland highlands form the background of this simply told but deeply significant novel of friendship, love, loyalty and the tragic consequences of misunderstanding and mistrust. Coal Creek is a wonderfully satisfying novel with a gratifying resolution. It carries all the wisdom and emotional depth we have come to expect from Miller's richly evocative novels.'

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful!

This was picked out for me by the local librarian when I was whinging about not being able to pick anything that appealed to me. It was handed over with the warning that some people find the language and style a little hard to get into - but this was far from the case for me.

This reads as a memoir with a unique style and rhythm - the rhythm of the man and the rhythm of the land. It is sparse and measured and has the ring of truth to it. The only disappointing thing about this book is coming back to yourself at the end of it and remembering that it is a work of fiction not an actual autobiography.

It isn't a light read but it isn't very demanding either. Beautifully written and carefully crafted by an author that I will seek out again.

Reading in 2014 - Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

'An epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

King says he wanted to know what happened to Danny Torrance, the boy at the heart of The Shining, after his terrible experience in the Overlook Hotel. The instantly riveting Doctor Sleep picks up the story of the now middle-aged Dan, working at a hospice in rural New Hampshire, and the very special 12-year old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.'

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this while on holidays and then kept getting cranky with the family for expecting me to put it down and spend time with them (the things we do for the ones we love...!).

I must be the only person in the world that has read this but not read The Shining (or watched the movie) but that really didn't matter. In fact, the trips down memory lane may possibly get annoying if you had read it fairly recently.

I enjoyed it. It is classic Stephen King. Entertaining, a bit gruesome, a bit creepy, enough going on to keep me turning the pages but also simple enough to dip in and out of holiday-reading-style without losing track of the plot or the characters.

Reading in 2014 - Ella Minnow Pea

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

'Nevin Nollop left the islanders of Nollop with the treasured legacy of his pangram the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. But as the letters begin to crumble on the monumental inscription, the island's council forbids the use of the lost letters and silence threatens Ella and her family.'

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a clever little book. While it is a short and easy read it does require a bit of effort on the part of the  reader.

It is written as a series of letters between the various characters as their isolated community crumbles. The characters are forbidden from using certain letters of the alphabet and as each letter is removed in turn from the language, it also disappears from the pages of the book. I found myself scanning the pages looking for forbidden text on many occasions - I am in awe of the author for putting this tale together and sticking to the self-imposed rules.

While it seems to be a fairly outlandish and far-fetched tale, I found it to be an interesting depiction of how a thriving, democratic society can loose their freedom seemingly overnight. The rapid demise of Nollop actually occurs after a long period in which social apathy, neglect, greed and corruption have eroded social infrastructure, the rights of the individual and the strength of the community and a position of absolute, uncontested power has been achieved by the elected Council. Throw in an unhealthy dose of Nollopian fundamentalism and the stage has been set for simple event to tip the society into totalitarian tyranny.

There are plenty of places in the world today where people face torture, exile or execution for transgressions that seem just as trivial to us as the accidental use of a forbidden letter of the alphabet. These are the people that are seeking refuge on our shores and across the globe. Unfortunately the only place where a 32-letter phrase will bring peace is Nollop - in the pages of this book.