2013 Essential ...

top SEW-A-LONG started today! 

The clever Faye, from Faye's Sewing Adventure is hosting this annual top sew-a-long, between the dates of March 24th (today) till April 7th. Just long enough to whip up a much needed top, or two!

At this stage the following patterns are wetting my appetite ...

My Autumn/Winter wardrobe is in need of a new shirt, especially a lovely crisp white, and long sleeved tops are always welcome in my wardrobe. Not sure which one I will be starting with, but the sewing WILL start this coming Friday - first day of Easter school holidays ...

So far, over 40 others have signed up to join the Sew-a-long! If you are interested, pop on over to Faye's Sewing Adventure and add your name to the list. At the end of the Sew-a-long there will be a grande-finale of piccies for us all to drool over, and get ideas from. See you there...

Just a quick peek....

I, and several others, have showcased McCall's 6436 over the past few months, so my blurb won't be too detailed this time.

Again, the sleeveless view (remember, it is heading into summer Down Under!) But this time I have 2 fellow bloggers to credit my design ideas to. No sneaky photos from behind closed change-room doors on this top!!!

First off, Pdiddly at P'thrifty sewing blog made the same shirt with a black placket - design steal #1. This idea just made the shirt colours pop!

This top has even adorn the Hyatt Hotel, Jakarta!

The back view of my top...

Just love the fabric - it is a Wenzel Australia fabric with a beautiful cool feel to it.

My next design-pinching idea has come from Suzy at Suzy Bee Sews. Suzy must have the biggest stash of funky fun lining fabrics that she pops inside most of the outfits she whips up... 

Fun facing inside one of her latest pairs of pants, and the lining of a fantastic jacket. Please, go and check out her latest sewing craze with pants - she has just nailed the fit to perfection...

Anyways, I have pinched Suzy's idea of a bit of colour popping by pulling out the jade colour in my fabric, and using it in the collar underside...

Not that obvious when I am wearing it, but if I ever get swept away in a gust of wind, and my collar flips up, well, colour popping I will be doing...

Now, time to do a little of this ....

...before starting on these ...

Does anyone else put off the domestic (boring) side of the day in favour of whipping up something new! 

Let me tell you about...

 ...  my latest shirt....

I was in need of a quick little casual (insert 'big yawn') sleeveless shirt. So I turned, again, to McCall's 6436.

Now this shirt in itself isn't anything startling. But it does have the little added bonus of coming with B/C/D cup size pattern pieces...doesn't that just save a little drafting time???

Now I was only after a very casual top, so used the same fabric as I used last summer for one of my Sorbetto tops. 

A neat little blue/cream/white stripe that I found went with a multitude of bottoms. And to jazz it up a tad, because I am the first to admit it is a bit of a ho-hum pattern in itself, I added a little feature band down the front.

It really is just a play-for-fun with the stripes. Nothing fancy, but a little different. I also French Felled the side seams just to add some excitement to this top.

And a quick peek at the collar...and the back...

So, if you are still awake after reading about this plain-as shirt, head over to 

P'thrifty sewing blog

She is whipping up the same shirt, but with a very exclusive Versace slant to it...worth popping over to see how she is coming along....

Would I??? Could I???

DD (aged 19ish!) is out shopping with the girlfriends and sends me the following photo....

...and the added request of 'can I make this but without the threads hanging, hole in the side seam, baggy boob covers and crooked hemline?'  And reading between the lines I also could add 'within her price range, in her length (she is 6'2"!!!) and this weekend!!!' 

These light weight chiffon summer tops seem to be all the trend for the coming summer months for the younger age group. From the picture, I do like the use of 3 colours to also tick the colour-blocking-trend box. A simple loose design without many seams was needed to compliment the fabric. Chiffon is usually such a fiddly fabric, but well worth perserving with. And I will be in my element of joy with making a shirt, with French Seams! Ahhh, heaven...

So my plan of attack is to cutout a shirt from what I have, using pattern 6436 from McCall's. The sleeveless View A will be ideal, though minus the shoulder tabs. 

Not bad for an afternoon and evenings work, no cost and easy to do! I had an apricot chiffon fabric that was enough for the body, some blue dotty fabric, yellow binding, and 8 buttons all just sitting at the back of the cupboard waiting their turn. I quickly prewashed it, just incase it wasn't already, and while it dried cut out the pattern ready.

Close up of collar, sleeve binding and front placket. All these colours are 'In, In, In' in Australia at the moment. Whatever shop you look in, strong pastels are looking straight back at you. 

Cheating a little, the collar and front placket are constructed from a cotton. Just so much less fiddly than trying to work with that chiffon!!! But, since this is a one season knock-off I forgive myself.

Styled with a vest, you can see how I lengthened the shirt for her height. This normally wouldn't be necessary for most of us! So an extra button was needed.

I just loved the pattern! Though I did omit the back darts in this case, as DD was after a loose hanging top. The instructions were easy to follow, though I did notice that small hints such as clipping curves where omitted. This may cause problems for beginners. 

Main thing is at the end of the day, DD is really pleased with the top and plans on wearing it! Bonus! Current, trendy, and free! What else could a Uni Student ask for???

Will be making myself a few shirts up from this pattern in the coming months. But not in chiffon.Will stick with the light weight fabrics suggested. The pattern itself comes in various cup sizes A/B up to DDD. What a lot of time this will save.

That's it for me for this weekend, time to think about work...

I'm Back!!!

I’m back! After taking a short few days weeks months sabbatical from my online journey of sewing,  visiting fellow sewing bloggers, and discovering just how clever our little community is,  I’ve finally jumped back on-board and feel as if I have come back home. 

Not much has happening in my little part of the world, except for a bit of a name change to my blog. Why??? What was wrong with Doobee, my childhood/adulthood nickname??? Well, apparently, it is connected to a particular easy smoking drug (which I won't name so I don't get inundated with spam mail on my first post back!!!). And to say that I was Creating with Doobee, well, I will leave it to your imagination.

So therein started the need for change, and 'Made by J' was born. With a new little logo to boot! 

Made by J

Enough of the dribble, this is a sewing blog afterall. And today I have been sewing a shirt. I thought a quick and much needed spring shirt would get my rusty brain working again. Boy, after hand sewing on the 12th button I was back where I belonged.

Butterick 5678, a semi fitted shirt with shoulder princess seams and a stitched rounded hem. I whipped up view B, with the roll-up option on the sleeve. Five other sewers have had success with this on PR so it was easy for me to have success with it once reading their tips. 

Front View

Fabric is a cool cotton shirting with a neat little black strip and a matching floral splattering printed overlay.

Close-up of collar and 4 buttons (out of 12!)

Front Princess seam

Rolled-up cuff detail

...and the back!

Excuse the poor photos, it is the end of a day sewing and the winter sun is setting early! But I am pleased with this shirt, and will be wearing it to work tomorrow (with the sleeves rolled down). The Princess seams give such a great shape to this shirt that it is hard not to enjoy wearing it. What is next on my list???? Well, I have a heap of fabric and still awaiting my latest little bundle of patterns from the recent online sale. Spotlight has opened a new store in my suburb, and as my DH tells me, I should just get my weekly pay check sent straight there!!! How rude (but true)...