Arizona Moneta

I have made yet another Moneta dress, this time using some lovely thick jersey fabric designed by April Rhodes called Desert Blanket as part of her Arizona fabric collection.  The fabric is so lovely and soft to wear! 

Fabric

I love the colours in this fabric, so peachy  and refreshing.  This came from The Village Haberdashery.  I bought a separate piece of dark blue jersey from Lauren's shop for the collar and it matched perfectly!

I also bought enough fabric to make sure I could get a sensible pattern placement across the bodice, didn't want those bold blue flower shapes being placed anywhere embarrassing!   

I also went for twin needle stitching around the sleeve and skirt hems, I really love the way this looks, so stretchy and so much more satisfying to look at than my old zig zag line!

Stretch

I cut my first Moneta as a maxi dress and kept the pattern tracing to use again this time.  But I cut my black and white fabric with the stretch going up and down on the skirt, this time I cut it with the most stretch going horizontally, which has meant a huge difference in the length of the two skirts!  The vertical stretch means my black and white touches the ground, and my new Arizona is mid-calf!  Oh well, at least I'm not picking this one up to walk up stairs at least.

  

Final Thoughts

I really do like this pattern for tee-shirt fabrics.  On my second version I used a thicker knit fabric, the kind that is almost fluffy on the under side.  It is really lovely but it makes the bodice look like it is too short on me.  The weight of the skirt just isn't enough to stretch the bodice down to my normal waistline.  So in the future, if I make this again with a thick knit fabric, I'll be sure to lengthen the bodice by an inch.

And just because I find seeing the backs of garments so very informative when deciding if a pattern, a style or a fabric is for me, here is my Posterior for Posterity!  

  

And finally, my Mister's favourite shot too.

Sewing Plans for the Third Quarter of 2014

I can't believe it is already time to compile a list of all my unfinished projects for the third quarter of the year!  Where has the time gone?
Katy is hosting a Link-Up with prizes to help motivate us to finally get any of our long-term projects completed.  Feel free to join in: visit her blog here for all the details.

My Finish-Along goals for Q3

1.  My sister's quilt. Argh!  I really had hoped to get this done much earlier in the year, but I keep procrastinating and putting it off.  I really did want it finished in time for her to snuggle under it during the Australian winter, so hopefully it will get there at least before the daffodils open!

2.  I recently bought a fat quarter bundle from Anna Maria Horner's new fabric line Pretty Potent, and have deliberated long and hard over what to do with it.  I've finally decided on a pattern, and once some coordinating solids get decided upon, I am going to start cutting into these lovely fabrics!

3.  I have finished all nine of the Swoon blocks, and have sashed them together.  This quarter I aim to finish the quilting and binding and have it complete!

4.  I have had these Harris Tweed remnants for well over a year now, but have finally purchased cushions to go inside them so I have no more excuses to leave them undone.

5.  Will this finally be the quarter when I finish my needle-turn applique quilt????  Oh I do hope so!

6.  Earlier in the year I bought some gorgeous organic voile from The Village Haberdashery, it is Flight by Birch fabrics.  I have wondered what to make from it for quite a while, and have finally decided on a dress pattern.  I do hope to finish this in time for a holiday in August.

7. There is a wedding coming up in my husband's family, and the young couple are marrying overseas and so have requested that no presents be given.  So I thought a nice quilt made just for them would be really nice.  I have the pattern and colour idea, just need to purchase fabric.  My plan is to make the quilt on the cover of this magazine:

So, that is my list of proposed finishes for the third quarter of 2014.  I'll be linking up with the Finish-Along over at The Littlest Thistle.

Moneta Flight dress

I finally purchased a twin needle yesterday and so was able to finish off the neckline and hems of my second Moneta dress, and can share it on here at last!

The knit fabric is an organic fabric called Flight by Birch fabrics, which I purchased from The Village Haberdashery.  It is a cream coloured knit with the dark grey printed on top of the fabric - which means that if you stretch it a bit you can see the white beneath the paint, so probably not best used for ultra-clingy styles.  The underneath of the fabric is soft and a bit fluffy too, so perfect for Autumn and Winter.

I really like this dress pattern.  I have made it into a maxi dress before, so this is the first time I've used the proper pattern length, and it is just right for me, hitting just on my knees.

Just like my first attempt, I again gathered the waist using two rows of long stitches and then pulled on the thread tails to gather the skirt to the correct length.  Then I attached the clear elastic without stretching it, just laying it on top of the gathers and bodice edge as I stitched with my Overlocker.  It was a very successful method for me.

And I still can't get over how practical and useful having pockets in a skirt or dress really is!

This is the first time I have ever used a twin needle to finish off the neckline and hems and it was easier than I thought it would be.  The shop didn't have a 4mm width so I used a 2.5mm twin needle designed for Stretch fabric and it worked a treat.  Here is a link to a blog post that was quite helpful and gave me confidence to have a go.

I find seeing the backs of people's makes very informative, and so in a bid to promote showing our Posterior for Posterity, I am including a most unflattering photo of the back of my dress.

Whilst photographing this morning, my Mister was far more interested in getting his flowers in the photo - these ones were full of bumble bees - there's even one in the photo - thankfully they hardly ever sting, and even if they do, their stinger doesn't have a barb so they can remove themselves quickly.

Last photo - I love my new dress!