A challenge - 11 things

Kat over at Petticoats & Peplums tagged me in this ages ago, and I'm finally posting it!
The rules:  

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people

Random facts:
1. When I tried to copy and paste the instructions, this appeared instead - apparently I'm much better at ctrl + v than I am at ctrl + c!  I was writing about antimicrobial treatment for tuberculosis about an hour ago and these are some of my notes.

Rifampicin: resistance can occur.  Other unwanted effects are relatively infrequent – skin eruptions, fever, GI disturbances.  Liver damage with jaundice has been reported and has proved fatal in a very small proportion of patients.  Induction of hepatic metabolising enzymes, resulting in an increase in the degradation of Warfarin, glucocorticoids, narcotic analgesics, oral antidiabetic drugs, dapsone and oestrogens (failure of oral contraceptives)

2. I am very easily distracted from things, so I allow myself one distraction while I'm trying to work - most of the time it's music playing - so that I can avoid the 'unplanned' distractions

3. I have a lot of contradictory habits - for example, I hate ironing and yet about 60% of my favourite clothes need ironing after washing, I love the feeling of new sheets but really dislike making my bed, I own a lot of jewellery but hardly ever wear any, and so on!

4. I never feel like I have enough time to do everything - even if I have a day with nothing planned, I'll get to the end and feel like I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to, which is a bizarre feeling.

5. I am a bit of an introvert, and I really liked this video that one of my favourite vloggers posted - I think we're very similar in that we don't dislike being with people, but we're not very good at formulating thoughts on the spot and knowing what to say to strangers, and that sometimes we just need to have time alone.

6. I am a Nerdfighter - not fighting against nerds, fighting for nerds.  Visit the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel for a better explanation (also the How to be a Nerdfighter: Vlogbrothers FAQ video)!  Basically we're an online community who all believe in decreasing world-suck and increasing awesome, by doing fun and useful things!

7. I love Monty Python, The Goodies, The Good Life, Black Books, Blackadder - a whole bunch of British comedy that my dad introduced me to.

8. I'm a big believer in supporting independent musicians, but I'm actively trying not to be that person who says "they're pretty underground, you've probably never heard of them".

9. I'm very bad at prioritising what needs to stay and what needs to go when I am cleaning up my room - as a consequence my room is full of stuff and I have no room to put anything new, yet I can't bring myself to get rid of any of the old stuff.

10.  I have a lot of projects that are sort of half-imagined or partly completed or nearly done at the moment - so far on my list of things to finish off are my Megara costume (that I was making for a costume party that I was sick for, so I didn't end up hemming and attaching a sash) and my choir dress (it's so frustrating to have everything ready to go, only waiting on the actual sewing bit and yet not have time!), and I have grand plans for a mini-wardrobe and learning how to knit a jumper, so watch this space!

11.  I really dislike swimming in water that I can't see the bottom of - I don't mind deep water as long as I can see the bottom, but even if the water is only waist deep but I can't see my feet I get really uncomfortable.


Questions from Kat
1 - Who is your hero? I have a few people that I really admire, but my top two at the moment are my high school biology teacher, for being the best teacher I have ever had and for being so enthusiastic about what she was teaching that we couldn't help but love biology; and Dr Catherine Hamlin, who started up a fistula hospital in Ethiopia and has been part of the huge advances in womens' health in developing countries.  You can read more about Dr Hamlin here.

2 - Favourite holiday destination? I love going to the Atherton Tablelands, about 4 hours north of where I live - it's absolutely beautiful country up there, and a combination of farming areas and rainforest.  Another favourite is Bingil Bay (just outside of Mission Beach, which is also about 3-4 hours north of me), where we would always spend the Queen's Birthday long weekend with our family friends... I miss those holidays!

3 - Favourite family holiday tradition? The Bingil Bay holidays that we used to have - us kids formed a 'club' (which was obviously not very exclusive because we were in it) called DAMEC - because we were David, Angela, Megan, Emma and Caroline.  It was the one time when we could run around all day, take a lunch out in a basket, hide from the adults, and have what we saw as complete independence.  We invented so many silly games, and made so many wonderful memories :)

4 - Worst habit? Biting my nails - I'm really trying to stop, and I keep getting to about a month and then slipping up!

5 - Favourite colour? I love purple, though darkish reds and navy blue are quickly approaching for favourite colour status

6 - Have you ever broken a bone? No, I haven't!  The worst injuries I've ever had were from iceskating, when I banged the back of my head one day and may have had a very minor concussion, and another time when I fell over and ended up with a giant swollen bruise that was bigger than a chicken's egg on the inside surface of my knee.  I found it fascinating to watch it change colours and slowly decrease in size, much to the disgust of my friends!

7 - Tea or coffee? Tea - I've never really gotten to like the taste of coffee

8 - Favourite sport?  I've never really gotten into any sport, though I'd have to probably say figure skating for favourite to watch and basketball for favourite to particpate in/play

9 - Skill you would most like to learn?  I'd love to be able to speak another language, French springs to mind but that may just be because I did French in school, and I want to learn how to knit something other than scarves, which is my project for this holidays.

10 - Song of the moment? Of the moment right now?  You're Not There, by Eddplant.  I can never pick a favourite song, because it changes all the time, but the song of the moment idea is great for indecisive people like me!

11 - Favourite movie? I have quite a few - I love the Harry Potter series, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Elizabethtown, Hairspray, and many others.  I'm not very good at remembering my very favourites, it would probably be more accurate to ask "do you like ____?" then I'd be able to tell you one way or the other.

My tagees:

• Annabellebumps
• Dixie DIY
• Giggles in the sun
• Meg the Grand
• Monkeysocks learns to sew
• Notes from a mad housewife
• Pincushion Treats
• Seamstress: poppykettle
• Splatastic
• Sugoi
• Veronica Darling
  

Questions for my tagees:

1. Favourite 'guilty pleasure' TV show (the one that's so terrible that you can't stop watching it)?
2. Automatic or manual car?
3. Ereader or hard copy books?
4. Cake or icecream (or both!)?
5. Favourite YouTube video?
6. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
7. If you could only listen to one album for an entire month, what would it be?
8. What is your favourite smell?
9. What is your favourite movie genre?
10. Who was your first celebrity crush?
11. Can you roll your tongue?
    

My pattern stash

Hi, my name is Megan and I'm addicted to collecting patterns.
For somebody that has made a grand total of 11 garments (including three from a single pattern and two from an online tutorial), I sure own a lot of patterns!  At last count (which I'm pretty sure is accurate) I now have 51, and a lot of these have just been given to me by my Grandma.

So, I have decided on a new project - I will not be buying any more patterns 'just to have' until I have sewn through all of the patterns that I currently possess!  Just to be clear, this excludes patterns that I need for a specific purpose (e.g. making an outfit for a particular occasion with very specific requirements, when none of the patterns I have can be used instead!)

And another exception is this wedding dress pattern, which I have for some reason - it looks like it's from some time in the mid-80s, and I have no idea why it was in Grandma's stash!  Obviously she got married long before this, and it doesn't look anything like any of my aunts' wedding dresses - so maybe it was for a friend?  Anyway, it's just an interesting example that I shall keep for the future (in my 'just in case this comes back into fashion please don't let it come back into fashion' pile) and not add to the list of patterns I must make. 

I also have a lot of children's patterns from when dad and my aunts were younger, which will be kept aside for one day in the future!

In any case, I'm working on a new sub-page for my blog, hopefully it will be on the top bar, where I will upload my pictures of the pattern covers (some of which are better quality than others, as they were mostly taken with the pattern on my bedroom floor!) and then link the photo to each blog post as it gets written.  I am still undecided about how I should group them - by decade, by pattern company, by made vs. not yet made, or another system that I haven't worked out yet - any thoughts?  At the moment they are grouped in threes in the same order as they are in the folder on my computer, i.e. alphabetically by pattern company and then numerically by their number.

Graphical breakdown of my patterns:

I don't think these numbers particularly mean a lot (aside from being interesting), considering a lot of my patterns were given to me rather than me buying them myself.  However it's made me realise that I have a lot more modern patterns than I thought - over half of my current collection!  This is a bit unexpected for me, because I thought I'd been given far more patterns than I already have, but apparently my gradual buying of patterns 2 and 3 at a time adds up...

Anyway, I hope somebody aside from myself finds this project interesting, and I'm looking forward to sewing my way through a bunch of new-to-me patterns and hopefully filling up my wardrobe!

Pay It Forward

Hello lovely readers!  I am still here, contrary to how it may seem from the lack of posts...

I'm excited to announce something new for me and my blog - a Pay It Forward event!  I found this on Kat's blog (which you should all check out), I've never seen anything like this before and I think it will be a tonne of fun!

I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post.  The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days.  It will be a surprise.  All you need to do is:-

1. In your comment, tell me your two favourite colours (that will help me make an appropriate gift).
2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along too.  Pay It Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.
3. You must have a blog (this is to help me figure out what to make for you).
4. After commenting here, you must re-post this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments...
5. I will need a way to contact you so please leave your email address

I'm really looking forward to making gifts for people, so comment away!

Steam Powered Giraffe

 
This little guy is a stuffed toy that I made to send to my sister who is away at university!  About two weeks ago, I discovered an amazing band called Steam Powered Giraffe - here's one of their songs.  Watching and listening will describe the band far better than I'd be able to with words.

 Steam Powered Giraffe, Brass Goggles

She's listened to a couple of their songs, and also loves them!  And before she left for college, she said that I should make things and send them to her - however, I don't think this is quite what she meant!

The giraffe is made from this free PDF pattern that I found after a quick Google, and some quilting cotton that I found at Spotlight that looks vaguely like gears (for the steam powered bit of the name!).  His eyes are little gold beads that we have had in our sewing box forever, and his tail is made from three pieces of 6 strand embroidery cotton, each about 20cm long, then doubled over and plaited, secured with a knot.  I added a little chocolate brown bow round his neck as an afterthought, and this can be removed if she decides she doesn't like it.

 Steam Powered Giraffe, Honeybee

Anyway, this was just a quick little project for fun, and I hope she likes it!

PS: I highly recommend watching and listening to their videos, this band is seriously amazing!  Even if you are one of those people who say they're 'not into steampunk', you don't have to know or enjoy anything about the genre to like this music.

Leibster blog award

I have been given a blog award (my first one!) by Splatastic! Thanks so much, I feel quite honoured to have been awarded this award!

"The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it means favourite or dearest to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers."

And it comes with the following ‘rules’:

1 - thank your liebster blog award presenter on your blog.
2 - link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3 - copy/paste the blog award on your blog.
4 - present the liebster blog award to 5 blogs (with 200 followers or less).
5 - let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment.

I've had a flick through my subscribed list and picked out five lovely ladies to award this to (in no particular order aside from the order my tabs are open in!)

• Lady Danbury/Thinking In Shapes: I love seeing all her wonderful creations, she has the sort of wardrobe I can only dream of having!
• Reana at Curves, Patterns, and Pins: A fellow Queenslander who started sewing at about the same time as me (but has advanced much more quickly, and has an impressive collection of self-made, refashioned, and mended clothes).  My favourite bit of her blog is the Check The Technique challenge/list that she's doing at the moment - a list of techniques that she's aiming to learn how to use.  I'd love to sit down and write one of them for myself
• Meg at Meg The Grand: This fabulous lady's blog is so full of joy, I can't help but smile (and sometimes laugh out loud - especially at the post her boyfriend guest-authored!) whenever I visit her page
• Lisa at Notes From A Mad Housewife: she makes some super cute clothes for her kids, as well as beautiful creations for herself - my current favourite is her denim and white Colette Macaron, with bright red lining
• Kat at Petticoats & Peplums: I've only just started following her blog, and I'm loving seeing what she has been up to!  I especially like all the wedding posts that she did a little while ago, but also seeing all the sewing, decorating, and cooking stuff that is happening at her place.  Added bonus: ANOTHER Queenslander - I seem to be collecting Aussies on my blog roll without realising it!

My Strawberry, Style Print, Sew Grateful dress

So, after a lot of build-up on my blog, here is the finished product!  I am so happy with how it turned out, and with my first go at making a belt and belt loops.  Although some of the eyelets are a bit wonky, it does the job and looks absolutely lovely.

The pattern that I used, as you are all probably sick of hearing by now, is Style Print 1283, which I won in a giveaway from Debi over at My Happy Sewing Place - also the host of the Sew Grateful week!

(Just like the pattern cover... except not!)

As you can see, I made view A, with the full skirt and short sleeves.  I also added four belt loops (just a 1 inch strip of material folded into quarters lengthways and stitched down... probably not the best way to do it but it works!) attached at the bottom of the waist darts on the front and back, to make sure they were evenly spaced.  Next time I decide that I want to attach belt loops onto a dress with a full skirt, remind me how INCREDIBLY NOT FUN it is!

I had a lot of fun making this dress, and learned a lot!  It was the first time I've done anything with a collar, which came together a lot more easily than I was expecting.  I had a play with more flat-felled seams, and used them on the shoulder seams, the seams closing the bottom of the sleeves (not sure what these are called), and then decided that I wanted to put them on the arm-hole seams as well!  So that was incredibly fiddly, but I think it worked out well - and now it looks so beautiful on the inside!

In other news, I found out that the machine I have been using has a blind hemming foot, so I used that to do them hem of the skirt and the sleeve hems, and it looks lovely - except for where the machine decided that it would be a good idea to take a navy blue stitch straight through the centre of a red strawberry.  But I think I am the only one that will be looking that closely at the hemming, so it doesn't particularly matter, not that there's much I can do about it aside from hemming all 3m of the skirt by hand.

In regards to the skirt, I took 3 inches off before cutting the material, and then an extra half inch again (in addition to the 2 inch hem that the pattern called for) to take this skirt to a mid-knee level.  I think if I was to make this  again, I might take a further half inch or inch off, just so it's a tiny bit shorter.

I also rearranged the buttonholes slightly to accommodate 3 buttons, the same as Debi did in her versions (view A with full skirt, view B with straight skirt), rather than the two that the pattern called for - I get a bit paranoid about the gaps between buttons gaping unflatteringly, which has happened to me with a couple of my work blouses!

(I painted my nails navy blue for this week, and when I messed up one of my ring finger nails, I decided to try to use my feeble art skills to paint a strawberry - do you think it was a success?  Also, my sister the photographer says it's very hard to take close up photos with some sort of light in summer - the sun's either overhead or set!)

I didn't make any other adjustments to the fit of this one.  Because of the era that this pattern is from, the bust darts do give a bit of a 'pointy-boob' look, designed to be worn with a bullet bra.  However I didn't feel confident enough to mess around with the darts, so I just left it.  The slight looseness of the bodice combined with the busy print means that the slightly odd fit around the bust isn't particularly noticeable.

Overall, this was a lovely lovely pattern to work with, and I'm so glad I got to make this dress!  My sister is currently working on a version of her own, so hopefully that'll appear on here at some point in the future.  Debi, thank you so much for sending me this!  I'll try to find it a lovely new home when the time comes - maybe next Sew Grateful week! :)

Fun photos to finish - this dress is very good for spinning in!  Also, the dogs like to 'help' with photos, mostly by putting white hair all over my dress and bringing my spitty, muddy tennis balls to throw.

Thanks x 1000 go to my sister, for taking photos of me in the exotic location of the back veranda, on the first sunny day all week!

Clothing labels

When I was messing around on Pinterest, I found this tutorial for making your own labels to go inside your handmade clothes.  And I would really like to give it a go!

My only problem is, I'm not very good at making decisions, so I'm turning to my readers for some input - which one of the following do you prefer?  They would be printed onto iron on t-shirt transfer paper, and attached to grosgrain ribbon, probably white or cream.

I think at this stage, I prefer the first loveheart, although the bird and the moustache are also serious contenders!  Unless I make up 3 sets...

I'll end this self-indulgent post with some news - I have finished my strawberry dress, and I'll be showcasing it on my blog during Debi's second Sew Grateful week, the 6th to 12th of February.  All that I need to do now is wait for a non-rainy day (at this time of the year, a Nice Day is a bit too much to ask for - even if there is no rain, there'll still be very high humidity) so that my sister can help me take some photos!