A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.

I have a completed garment for the Burda Sew Along.  

 Pattern: Tunic Dress 118, Burda 8/2008
Fabric: Ponte knit from Spotlight.

This is a pretty easy pattern, and I've made it once before so I didn't have to trace the pattern off.  I wanted it to be a bit longer so I could wear it as a dress, so I added about 20 cm but then I put a huge hem on it, so I probably could have added only about 10 cm. 

Now to think about what to make next.

“There’s always something to look at if you open your eyes!”

No burda sewing to report yet.  But here's some socks:

My first toe-up socks.

It's not easy taking photos of yourself wearing socks.

Pattern: Ladies Lace Socks by Donna Druchunas

            Craftsy class: Knit Sock Workshop

“Always take a banana to a party, Rose: bananas are good!”

 Wonders will never cease, I have joined my first Sew Along. It's being hosted by the Wellington Sewing Blogger Network and all you have to do is sew at least one item, or more, from a Burda magazine in your posession.  I think I can manage to do that, it's not like I don't have enough magazines to choose from. To kick it off, the curious kiwi has invited us to show our burda collection but I'm pretty sure you don't want to see photos of my entire collection so I'm just going to show a few highlights.

Here's my oldest burda, from my Mum who got me started on sewing with burda.

And here are my newest additions, January and February 2013. I buy from the local shop rather than a subscription, so these are the latest copies available in my part of the world.

And how did I get hooked on burda, well I started off with Carina, a burda young fashions magazine when I was a teenager.  I didn't get it for long, I think I discovered it at the tail-end of it's life.  It morphed into Miss B and then Bonnie.  Once they disappeared from the local bookshop's shelves I used to get neue mode and then sometime around the 90s that disappeared too and I made the move to the burda magazine which I have successfully accumulated copies of ever since.  I have hauled the stack(s) of magazines around with me for years, and yes, I have made a few things from them. I have also spend many hours just looking through them, planning what I could sew.

So on to my favourites, it's a tough choice but I'm going to go with my first two Carinas; issue 10 October 1983 & issue 12 December 1983. Laugh away at the fashions, I thought they were pretty cool (still do but I keep that quiet).

 

 

"Never ignore coincidence. Unless, of course, you’re busy. In which case, always ignore coincidence.”

I've discovered Craftsy, well actually I discovered it a while ago, purchased a class "Learn to Knit Socks", purchased the wool and then proceeded to forget all about it. But I have finally made a start, this is the toe of a Ladies Lace Sock.  Of course, once I tried out this class and I got a discount for another class I started exploring and have purchased a few more classes plus enrolled for some of the free mini-classes.  Now I just need time to do them all.

I've also been watching The Great British Sewing Bee online, you can find episodes here , here and here.  The final is next week, I'll be interested to see who wins.

Birthday Daleks

It was my birthday yesterday and these are my fabulous birthday cakes made by my daughter.

Potions

Last Saturday I went to a Eco-printing workshop at the Sustainable Living Centre, in New Lynn.  It was a great workshop as we played with wrapping different leaves and bits of rusty stuff up in cloth and dyeing them.  Unfortunately most of my pieces didn't turn out that great. This one is the best of the bunch, I think the dyebath was pohutukawa leaves and the leaves wrapped up inside were feijoa.

Even though I was a bit disappointed by my results the workshop has inspired me to explore further. I have been re-reading Eco Colour by India Flint out, looking for eucalyptus trees when walking the dog and this morning I went gathering walnuts from a local park to make some dye from the husks.

Birthday Time with Finn & Jake

There is now a 17 year old in the house.  His sister kindly made this cake for him, and it must have got the seal of approval as he said he was going to post photos of it online.

(for those of you without teenagers in the house, that's Finn & Jake from Adventure Time)