Ottobre 3/2007 Sleeveless Hooded Jacket

I don't sew much winter clothing as the weather here is rarely cold but we've had a cool year and Jess has grown out of any warm clothing that she did have. Rather than go all out and make her a jumper I thought that the Ottobre sleeveless jacket would get more use being a somewhat transitional piece. I cut out and made up the 170cm size ( the largest the pattern goes up to). I thought that the largest size would be fine but failed to take into account that Jess is now taller than me at 171cm. Therefore the jacket was actaully a tad too small and ended up being given to Sarah.

The main fabric is a Cotton lycra French Terry and the binding fabric a cotton lycra blend, both of which I purchased from Crafty Mamas. This was an easy and quick sew my only frustration being that I could not get the plastic snaps I bought for it to stay together. I've decided to leave it without any closures.

Happy New Year

and hopefully a better blogging year! Obviously I'm not the greatest blogger and over the last few moths have thought about why I have a blog. My main purpose was to keep a record of the things I've made this year but between work, family committments and the random accidents I seem to be a magnet for my blogging has fallen by the wayside.


Whilst I actually finished this Ottobre Women skirt a few weeks ago I'll post it now to start off a new year of blogging. I originally intended to make it for myself, but somewhere between measuring myself and reading the pattern sizing I cut out a skirt that just fits my reed thin twelve year old daughter - hmm ....not sure where I went wrong there (wishful thinking maybe?)

It's the denim skirt from Ottobre Woman issue 05-2008-2. Its made out of a cotton drill that I purchased from Crafty Mamas a while back and has been sitting in the stash. The directions were quite clear and easy to follow though I attached the waistband differently to how was described in the pattern instructions. Size -??probably the smallest, lol.

Oops - can still see the guide lines I drew on for the top stitching - I wanted to get a photo of this before the clouds and rain set in again. Looking at the skirt now I wish I had of gotten some buttons for the two front and back pockets - I think it would have given a better overall finish to the skirt.

I'm working on my first quilt at the moment so will hopefully have something to show before I head off to Tassie with the family in a weeks time - I'm looking forward to some nice cold weather - which may sound crazy to most but living here in the tropics where the tempreture sits around 38 degrees centigrade for 3/4 of the year, cold weather is what I'm dreaming of!