Tutorial: How to Line a Sleeveless Bodice

I love to line my clothing, I don't like seeing seams unless I have to, and usually then I'll French seam them anyway.

Often bodices can be fiddly to line but I recently found a way that has made my life so much easier in regards to lining bodices. It takes a lot less time too!

This tutorial is for a sleeveless bodice where the back piece is in TWO sections [not one]. I haven't tried it for a one piece back yet, but I'm not sure if it will work.

 Cut out your bodice pieces in your chosen fabric. Cut them out again in your chosen lining fabric. You should have two front pieces and four back pieces all up.

Back bodice pieces [left] and front bodice pieces [right].

 Sew the back bodice pieces at the shoulders, press seam open. Repeat with lining.

Place lining onto outer piece, right sides together. Stitch neckline and back bodice centre seams, matching shoulder seams.

Stitch arm hole seams, matching shoulder seams together.

Ignore the flipped up section of the fabric, make sure they are together.

 Clip or notch curves to create a smoother look once turned out the right way.

Turn right way out. I find it easiest to push the back bodice pieces through to the front. Press edges and [optional] top stitch the neckline/back bodice seams ONLY. Don't top stitch the arm holes yet.

So now we are going to stitch the side seams. You need to match the two armhole seams right sides together. They are marked by the white dashes. 

Nest the underarm seams together, so the seam allowances from the two underarm seams go opposite ways to each other. This reduces the seam bulk.

Pin and sew the seam.

 This photo give you an idea of what it looks from the outside before stitching. The green pin by my thumb is holding the outer front and back bodice pieces together and you can just see part of the blue pin at the base of the arm hole.

 Turn out the right way and press. Now you can top stitch the arm holes if you wish.

Front

 Finish off according to your pattern's instructions.

Back pinned closed.

Patchwork Clothes

I love the look of patchwork clothes, they just have this certain feel to them. They make me happy!

On Wednesday I went to a local quilting shop Cotton Stitches for some inspiration, and collected up a couple of charm packs. I don't tend to use charm packs to make quilts, but turn them into clothing. Today I created this gorgeous little patchwork dress with a charm pack of 'Honeysweet by Moda' fabrics.

I've been doing a number of little patchwork skirts lately using charm squares as well. 

Fabric ranges [L-R Top to bottom] are 'Mind Your Ps and Qs', 'Flirt', 'Flirt' [again] and 'Oh Deer'. 

The bodice is lined in cream to hide the seams of the squares.

The little monkey loved wearing this dress! Why oh why does she always love the ones I make to sell, but isn't so keen on the ones I specifically make her?? Funny girl!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

Hope you all had a fun halloween! We went out with friends to a dessert cafe called Eggless, who do wonderfully delicious desserts! On Halloween they do special spooky desserts available to those who dress up!

Ember was a redback spider, I went as a cobweb and my hubby went as a fly! 

A Little Backpack

Ember is getting to the age where around eleventy billion toys must come with us, no matter where we go! So instead of them bouncing around in the car, getting lost, I decided to make a backpack for her to carry them in.

I designed it up myself, and I am super happy with the results. It needs a few tweaks, mainly as I forgot to allow for the zips! Ooops. It contains over 40 pieces [including interfacing and straps] and took about 6 hours for me to complete...with a fair bit of unpicking!

It's fully lined inside. I didn't add any pockets but it wouldn't be too hard to add them if I wanted.

The straps are padded and can be adjusted.

 The underneath contains a third zip compartment and also a D ring. These are here for MY benefit! Ember has become a bit of a bolter and she is super fast! The idea is that I can attach a 'leash' to the D ring whilst she is wearing it and keep her from running onto the road or something!

My Trip to River Cottage Australia [Part 2: Lunch at River Cottage]

Saturday [Sept 7th] was the day I had really been looking forward to the most. I got to meet Paul West, who I admire greatly and shared similar passions to mine in regards to food, gardening and livestock rearing. For those who don't know, Paul West is the host of the TV series River Cottage Australia, recently aired on the Foxtel Lifestyle Channel.

River Cottage is only a few minutes outside Central Tilba. We met up with the other winners [Brenda, Sammy, Rebecca and Kealy] and our co-ordinator Artemis in Central Tilba and drove out there. As we rounded the bend, we got our first glimpse of River Cottage! Of course we all stopped and took photos!

River Cottage Australia

They really chose a gorgeous location, it's absolutely spectacular! The house is nestled in at the base of Mount Gulaga National Park.

Domineered by the mountains

Horses grazing with the Gulaga National Park as the backdrop.

Driving into the property

 On arrival we were greeted by Paul West and his fiancée Alisha. There were introductions all round, and then we were ushered inside the River Cottage homestead for some very appetising looking appetisers!

Extremely fresh local oysters, which I thoroughly enjoyed even with all my past oyster experiences being slimy and yuck! I guess it goes to show, the fresher it is, the better it tastes...especially with seafood.

The platter just looked amazing as it was! Local cheddar from South Coast Cheese, 'head cheese' made from one of the River Cottage pigs, a cranberry and rhubarb relish, sweet pickled gherkins and mustard.

And of course, what platter would be without a hot loaf, fresh from the oven?

Table set for lunch

The house was gorgeous inside! It has corner windows which are fantastic, you get amazing views from every window of the house. The whole place has this beautiful light and airy feel to it, and the most amazing vibe to it.

Outside the 'show' kitchen [there are two kitchens in the house], is a small deck leading out to the vegetable gardens and a chicken tractor with young Australorps.

Out the back were the chickens which Ember had a lot of fun with, and the pigs-which my partner was very interested in and almost got bitten by! He came back inside with a number of muddy snout marks on his pants!

Meeting the Australorps

The piggies!

Paul West picking produce for lunch

Bringing out the main meal

 Lunch was amazing! For starters we had fish tartare done in nasturtium leaves. The main was roast chicken and pork sirloin [from one of the River Cottage pigs], with an amazing egg and potato salad, garden salad, chopped broad beans and a pesto-I think it was at least!

Ember tried pinching Paul's lunch!

And that's not all! Dessert was a gorgeous Lemon Delicious pudding with stewed rhubarb and thick cream. It was suggested that this should become Australia's official dessert, and everyone at the table heartily agreed!

You can find a copy of Paul West's Lemon Delicious Pudding recipe on Rebecca's blog insidecuisine.

And if that dessert wasn't enough, there was more deliciousness on it's way out in the form of a salted caramel shortbread!

In the 'prep' kitchen after lunch [note the amazing view from the corner windows!]

Digger the River Cottage dog and star of the show [or at least he thinks he is]!

Me with Paul West

 The afternoon was amazing! So much lovely food and conversation with a group of amazing people and friends! I connected with some incredibly like minded people and shared something very special. I wish it could have gone on forever, and I'll never forget the people I met!

Punch the travelling wombat meets Felix the travelling duck!

My Trip to River Cottage Australia [Part 1: Journey to Tilba]

Last weekend was probably the most exciting weekend I've had for quite awhile! But let me back track a little first!

On the 29th of August I got a phone call quite early in the morning [8:15 I think it was] telling me that I have won the River Cottage Australia competition!

The competition comprised of entering photos with a 200 word description of how I was 'living the River Cottage life at home'. As an avid gardener, cook, sewer, crafter and 'urban farmer' it was the PERFECT competition for me! I did a photo collage as my entry piece of different aspects of my garden, livestock and cooking.

The prize was flights for me and three guests to Central Tilba, accommodation, a brand new Subaru to drive in for the weekend, 2k spending money and lunch at River Cottage with the host of the show Paul West!

Needless to say I was a little over the moon when I found out I won! 

What was even more awesome was that Ember being under 2 years old wasn't counted as a guest, so we could take my grandparents with us on the trip!

We left Thursday [Sept 5th], flying to Melbourne, we stayed the night in Melbourne before catching a Rex [Regional Express] flight to Merimbula first thing in the morning. 

Ember was super excited to get so close to a real aeroplane!

At Merimbula airport we got given the keys to the brand new Subaru to drive around in [and an in depth run-down on how all the fancy bits worked]! Not that I was allowed to drive it, as I'm under 25 and Subaru had a policy that under 25's couldn't drive it!

After a quick stop off to hire a pram for the weekend, we started our leisurely drive north up the Sapphire Coast towards Central Tilba and River Cottage!

We stopped off at the mouth of the Bega River and had some fun on the sand collecting shells and driftwood, and drawing in the sand.

We saw a bit of wildlife on our journey up, mainly birds and the occasional wallaby. We crossed one creek and saw heaps of large fish. Later we found out they were mullet.

Oystercatchers

King Parrot

Mullet

We spent a lot of time travelling over rivers and parts of lakes, including Wallaga Lake. Many of the bridges were made from large wooden sleepers which was a change.

Lake Wallaga

A view of Mt Gulaga from the road between Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba

We arrived in Central Tilba in the early afternoon and after unpacking all our bags into our gorgeous B&B rooms at Tilba Two Storey Bed and Breakfast, we had an explore of the township of Central Tilba. Everyone was so friendly-small town atmosphere-I love it! So many fascinating shops, including a dairy, leather shop, woodworking shop, lolly shop, candle shop and many others. 

Our room the "Dame Zara"

View from out the back

 We had a cooked breakfast provided each morning, and it was always so beautifully set!

Breakfast!

Back of the Tilba Two-Storey

We spent our first night in Tilba having wood fired pizza from Carooma and a few goodies from the local shops. Tomorrow [Saturday] would bring a whole new adventure, the one I was looking forward to the most, our lunch at River Cottage!