Glam Clam Quilt

At the beginning of 2017 I made a very definite plan to complete the Glam Clam Quilt within the year. It is designed by Latifah Saafir. At the time I downloaded the pattern it was free, but now it is a paid for pattern, with the addition of plastic rulers to help cut out all those pieces! The fabric is by Anna Maria Horner and the collection of prints is called Pretty Potent, all plants that have healing or medicinal properties.

However, I didn't buy the rulers, I did it the old-fashioned way, individually cutting out each piece by hand with scissors, one at a time.  I used and reused and reused freezer paper.  By tracing the shapes onto freezer paper I was able to cut the paper out, place it on the fat quarters, press with an iron to temporarily stick the paper to the fabric, cut out the shapes, then peel of the paper ready to be used again and again and again.

Then the pattern came with cut out labels so that you could lay them out in the order you want them and then stack them into bundles - each row from left to right.

Sewing them together was tricky but I soon got into the swing of it. This video tutorial helped to begin with.

I then had it professionally quilted by Trudi Wood.

An Aussie at a Scottish Polish Wedding

We have long been planning to attend a family wedding in Poland this September, and as Scottish formal attire is traditionally the kilt with a black jacket, we were going to make a big impression over there as a large contingent of kilt-wearing Scots.  As an Australian living in Scotland, I am wearing my tartan shoes and have tartan on my clutch, but I thought I would also include some Aussie-ness too!

I used this beautifully drapey and luxurious rayon fabric designed by Anna Maria Horner that has the leaves of my favourite tree, the eucalyptus tree.

So floaty!

We had these trees with the long leaves growing in our backyard when I was a child, and they remind me of the artwork of May Gibbs too.  I have always loved the shape of these leaves and even had them used in my wedding ring design.

Eucalyptus in Lime, rayon

For this dress I used Butterick 5987, version B

Butterick 5987 version b

The pattern is EASY.  It is designed for a light weight fabric but the drapey rayon worked really well.  I lined the bodice but not the skirt.  The pattern does ask for the bodice to have underlining as well as lining just to give the main fabric some structure, but I didn't use the underlining, as it was a summer wedding I didn't want too many layers for all that dancing!

Speaking of dancing, here are some photos of me dancing at the Polish wedding!  The dress felt really comfortable to wear.

The wedding reception was held in a rustic-looking barn-like restaurant, and this was the wall decoration at the table where we sat!

The dress details

For the belt, the pattern suggests a stretchy 2" bridal trim, but I went for satin ribbon with some sequined trim which I hand stitched.  At first I stitched the whole thing onto the waist by hand, but it looked all bumpy and wavey and didn't give me a narrow waist at all.  After unstitching I decided to only attach it at the zip seam, and then I tried the dress on to decide exactly how snug I wanted the waist ribbon to be, then cut four of the circles off and stitched the end to the zip seam too.  This is the only place where the belt ribbon is attached and it works perfectly!  The second photo below shows you how the belt is very loose when not being worn.  

I left a little bit of green ribbon at the edge to flap over the zip so that there is no visible colour gap, but as you can see in this last photo, the ribbon flap just sits over the zip.

About the pattern

The bodice is cut on the bias, and so has plenty of room to account for a bust and a tummy.  I cut the size 24 and made no alterations, apart from omitting the underlining and the skirt lining, only completing the bodice lining.  The instructions in the pattern never tell you to finish any seams, so I only finished the skirt seams with pinking shears and overlocked the bodice and waistband seams.

Here's one funny thing I found with the pattern:  What on earth are these circle markings for?  This is the pattern piece for the back of the skirt.  I didn't use them at all and there was no reference made to them in the instructions.

But there was no marking for the bottom of the zip, so perhaps that is what these are meant to be, and they just lost their way a little?  (When putting in my zip, I just started from the top and kept going until I got to the bottom without using any markings.)

It was a lovely time in Poland, and I loved wearing this dress! (tartan shoes are visible in this one)