Wednesday 4 April 2012

All the pretty dresses...

I finished four dresses today, including three that have been irritating me for weeks. All this sewing would be soooo much easier if I could stick to one or two patterns. But no, as soon as I get one design pretty much figured out, I get some bright idea for a new one. Which will, of course, not come together as easily as I envisaged. I had to scrap one this morning (more a colossal screw up with my measurements than a design issue), but the others have finally come together. And I made a new Perfect Summer dress while I was at it.I still have another three dresses cut out and ready to sew. And yes, that includes not one, but two new designs!



















Not the best pictures, I know. 
First is a Perfect Summer dress in a size 1. I love pure white! Still need to test the sizing, though. Second is a linen look bicycle print pini in a size 2. So cute. Button holes drove me nuts, though. Ever tried to unpick a button hole? Not fun. No pic for the third, which is a pretty floral print dress with doily sleeves. Pretty sure it's a size 6 - I need to bribe Mozzie to try it on for me ;) I don't have a pic of the fourth either, but it was the trickiest. I had no idea an elastic waist could be so difficult! It probably wouldn't have been if I'd planned it better, but you get that...

Monday 2 April 2012

Mozzie & Mac and Me

See, this is why it's taken me so long to start a blog. I've already sat in front of the screen for a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to start...it only gets easier, right?Well, how about an introduction? For Mozzie & Mac and me. 

The real Mozzie and Mac are my two gorgeous kidlets, Jack and McKenzi. This is us (and my beautiful partner):
Pretty cute, right? (Yeah, yeah, biased and all that) 

Mozzie (Jack) loves ninjas, robots, Lego, spaceships, Egypt, dragons, Star Wars, fruit bread and riding his scooter. He's pretty laid back and he has a fantastic imagination. He's constantly collecting random bits and pieces to build his rocket - he even tried to convince me he needed an old car engine sitting in someones front yard - yeah, good luck with that, kiddo! 

Mac is the ultimate princess: anything pink, sparkly or frilly (preferably all at once). She's also a real little mommy. Awwwww. Add puzzles, more Lego, arty stuff, Kindergym and preschool and that's pretty much what little Mac is made of. Oh, better add a tub of dirt - she's also the biggest grub I've ever come across. She can destroy an outfit/clean face/freshly mopped floors in about three seconds flat. And I have an appalling habit of buying her white clothes...

As for me, well, my name's Cori. I'm 27 - just. I grew up in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie but also call the Gold Coast home after two stints up that way (Mozzie was born in Tweed Hospital - yes, I know that's NSW, but we lived a good 30 metres on the other side of the border!). I love books, music, the beach, gymnastics, op-shopping, hardware stores(it's a bit of a love/hate relationship for a renter), hangin' with the kidlets, my family and yummy food. I'm a bit of a grammar and spelling freak, although my own isn't perfect - but it bugs me anyway. I'm opinionated and highly competitive, but so quiet that most people wouldn't realise.  I'd love to be an archaeologist, except that the best stuff has already been discovered (can you imagine unearthing Pompeii???). 

Since I was a kid I've loved creating things. I went through a miniature weapons phase once - whittling tiny little aboriginal weapons from bark and twigs. Yes, strange child. I would also dig clay out of the creek running through our backyard. Unfortunately it wasn't quite the same as the soft, smooth stuff we used at school. My mum taught me to sew when I was about eight or nine, I think. I started out as most girls do - sewing barbie clothes! I also got into beading for a while. Of course I did Art all through school. I wasn't really that good, to be honest, but I'm incredibly proud of my year 12 major work - it has pride of place on my lounge room wall. Crochet was one thing that I never really got the hang of, despite my mother being quite brilliant at it.

I took up sewing again shortly after Mozzie was born, but it was a pretty slow start. It wasn't until I bought a new sewing machine a couple of years ago that I really got into it. Mozzie and Mac began with hair clips, bibs and softies. I'm slowly progressing,  and I've even developed a few signature pieces along the way - button bracelets, Perfect Summer dresses and the Oblongs. There's still a lot of experimentation, and I'm still struggling to make my patterns in multiple sizes (how do I know how big size one is?), but I'm getting there. And having a lot a fun doing it. There's really nothing better than that sense of pride when something new not only works out, but works out better than you had imagined.

Alright, I'll shut up now. ;)