Shop!

Last Saturday, Fiona, my partner-in-scary-shop-venture and I, opened The Drapery to the public for the very first time!

We put out the A-frame and opened the doors and no fireworks went off and there was not a crowd of a thousand waiting to barge in and it was all a bit anti-climactic of course, this very moment.

The first to walk in were Andy and the boys about half an hour later. But as the day passed, people came by. Lovely people, not all blood relatives of ours, just enough to feel busy but not totally overwhelmed, and we made a decent amount of sales.

We had loads of lovely comments that reaffirmed the reasons we opened the shop in the first place: Adelaide really needs a new sewing shop, there are no decent fabric shops left, you want to get in and feel the fabric, and so forth. Heck, this gamble of ours may actually be a success!

There is tweaking to be done, and more stock to order in (now that we have a little money starting to come in to help pay for it all!) and learning to happen (like, really, the way our cash register calculates fabric meterage is just not intuitive or even, apparently, logical). But it was fun! And we pretty much grinned our heads off the entire day, and for some time afterwards. In fact we were both so energised by the experience that we each cut fabric to take home and launch into more sewing projects... shop samples to display and wear!

Because our kids and Fiona's kids are on school holidays (last week and this week) we're just opening again this Saturday, then more 'proper' hours next week when school goes back. A good way to ease into it, really.

And I would just like to say here, hooray for Dads, because Fiona's awesome Dad made our shop counter, above, from recycled timber, and my awesome Dad made the A-frame you can see in the first picture, mostly from gum tree branches from my parents' block in the hills. Hooray for Dads!

If you are reading this and you are in Adelaide and would like to come by The Drapery, we're open 10 - 4 again this Saturday. And we really must get around to starting up The Drapery's own blog. One step at a time, hey.

- Jane x

Yep, I embroidered

I felt like a bit of soothing hand stitching and I wanted to try out some beautiful embroidery thread we ordered in for the shop. So yes, I decided to embellish my Linen Esme Top with a little crossed embroidery stitch.

The thread actually has a lovely subtle variation in colour as it goes along (I hesitate to use the 'ombre' word which is everywhere but I don't even know how to pronounce... omber? ombray? ombra? ormb?). It's hard to see here but because I did the bottom of the cross stitches in one go and then went back the other way over the top, sometimes the top and bottom of the cross have a pretty contrast.

I realised one of the things I love about the Esme Top so much is that the sleeved are bias cut, which gives them a lovely drape. Such a nice detail.

In case you are wondering about the necklace, it's this adorable happy sloth I got from Etsy here. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling majorly stressed and, you know, pulled in a thousand directions at once and not on top of any of it, so naturally, I was hit by a primal urge to buy something pretty for me! I'm fairly good at containing that urge lately but oh, sometimes, I give in....

We've had a heap of short weeks lately which have been a killer, what with Easter and a long weekend and a 'pupil free day' on Monday of the last week of term so it has been so hard to cram in all the work I've needed to get done. Plus Andy is deep in rehearsals for the biggest new show his company has ever done so he's hardly home. And, um, we're trying to get the shop open, and now it's two weeks of school holidays and, ack... so on that pupil free day I took the boys to my favourite haven of the Botanic Gardens and we had some welcome fresh air and sunshine, which I invite you to share. Breathe ..... :)

- Jane x

Linen Esme

Another Sew Liberated Esme Top!

I have been wearing my first one so much - it's so handy for this transitional autumn weather - that I thought I should sew up another. This time in more of the lovely natural linen that my parents brought me back from Lithuania, and that I used for my Washi Dress. (I think there was four metres, and there's still probably a metre left!)

I made the bib lining and back neck facing out of some leftover Anna Maria Horner voile. The only alteration I made was to raise the back neckline a bit.

More mismatched buttons as solution to indecision. I was intending on adding a little embroidery to the bib in a running or cross stitch around the edge but I'm not sure now. Best left plain or could it use a little more decoration?

And on a real person. Hmm there's a bit of front gaping there. I think it's more to do with my button placement than anything. I might fix that with just a little hand-tacking, since I think the buttons will always be done up. The linen is slightly stiff and scratchy right now but I know from my Washi Dress that it will soften up beautifully with a few more washes.

In the interests of reality-checking, here's a different view of that terribly picturesque rustic background:

It's the door of our falling-down shed. And I was standing in possum poo. Glamorous, non?

During last week, the boys had sports day (across two days) at school. It's always rather delightful and for some reason I even get a little choked up when the teams all do their chants and cheers at the end.

Guess what colour our team is :)  And we won!

- Jane x

a little creepy, quite fascinating

We've had our eye on two fat Wanderer caterpillars in our front yard for a few days now. Today, Clem went to check on them and found one in the very act of shedding its skin and revealing the chrysalis. You don't think it's a bit creepy? Picture it wiggling - nay, writhing - to get that skin off. Happened within the span of a minute or two. Kept wiggling somewhat after the entire skin was gone. But isn't it cool how you can see where the wings are already beginning to form at the end there?

- Jane x

this moment

Joining with SouleMama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

- Jane x

Everyone looks better in a Laurel Wreath

Hey, how about some laughably basic instructions on how to make your own Laurel Wreath? Cut two longish bay (laurel) twigs and join them together. I used sticky tape. Wear. Feel Roman.

Thanks lovely commenters on the last post for your encouraging excitement about the new shop. I will write up a proper post about it soon, but briefly, I am blessed with the most awesome, talented and delightful business partner, Fiona. Together we aim to bring to Adelaide the kind of sewing shop that we feel is desperately lacking in our city: beautiful garment and craft fabrics with an emphasis on natural, organic and sustainable fibres, together with indie designer patterns, inspiring books, sewing classes and more. After months and months and months of planning, it's really happening. We're very excited but it's scary and opening up a shop costs a lot, cripes! Retail... a whole new world. More details soon.

- Jane x

Sew Liberated Esme Top

I loved this pattern as soon as I laid eyes on it. It's the new Esme Top by Sew Liberated.

With the loose fit I just made up a straight size 12 without a muslin. Actually it's quite roomy and I could possibly even go down a size if I made it again.

Now, who can relate to this: I get up on a Saturday morning and finish sewing a garment while in my pyjamas. Have quick shower. Throw on new garment and feel pleased. Grab husband for quick photo shoot. Realise have done nothing with hair. Hair rather lets down photoshoot. Don't want to appear vain and waste time fixing hair and asking for more photos. Post blah hair photos. Seriously, sometimes I do something nice with my hair. Just never, apparently, for blog photos.

Anyway, you might like to see the Roman who has been hanging about our house all day. He even went to the supermarket.

And what does a Roman keep in the folds of his toga?

Why, jelly crystals, of course!

Want to know a bit more about the Esme Top pattern?  So glad you asked. It was a fairly easy sew, with a slightly tricky but clever way of joining the front & back facings and shoulders all in one. The paper pattern comes with rather brief instructions and there is a video tutorial online for more detailed help. Now, I have a severe lack of patience with video tutorials. They're just not my thing. I would rather skim over a bunch of diagrams. However, I imagine some people really like this way of learning.

I would have preferred the written instructions to be perhaps half as long again since I found them just a little too brief to use without the video. By the time I came to attaching the cuffs, for which there is really barely any written instruction, I just winged it because I am too impatient to sit through an entire instructional video. Nevertheless, I really like the end result. There is a small errata in the written instructions and they forgot to add the sizing chart so if you do buy this pattern, make sure you visit the video section on the website, even if just for those corrections.

Oh, and another thing: the fabric requirements just gives the amount for narrow (quilting cotton width) fabric and it seems quite a bit: 2 & 1/2 yards (about 2.25m). I used fabric that was 130cm wide and eeked it out of 1.5m. In the end I had to piece together the back facing from two halves but you'd have even more success using less fabric if you used a different fabric for the front and back bib lining/facings.

The pattern suggests hand-tacking the back facing down but I chose to stitch it down; I think it suits the look of this top anyway. If I made it again I would probably cut the back neckline up a bit higher, for personal preference.

And this is what happens when a Libran has to choose from her extensive vintage button stash... three different 'matching' buttons.

And I might need another whole post to show you my 'new' old Singer buttonholer!

Not to mention the post I really need to write about the shop I am about to open with a friend... if you are on Facebook you can check it out here. Eek! But that will have its own blog and won't be all over here all the time, I promise.

- Jane x