This make was a bit of a palette cleanser to a 'slightly disastrous top' that I was making out of the most perfect striped blue silk that I bought in Paris.. but let's not think about that now.  You've seen this pattern recently. Yes, it's that peplum top again from the Japanese pattern book 'Clean and Natural'.  Can't get enough peplum! Please don't be disappointed with me buying two pieces of fabric from the same store and using the same pattern for both of them. I just really love this pattern at the moment and it just seemed to be perfect for this fabric.
The fabric is Blue Marine Irouleguy (code: 18009763,01)  which I bought from La Droguerie in Strasbourg with Christine.  It's quite a sheer cotton with an embroidered pattern.  I thought that I would need to wear something under it but so far it's actually fine and not at all see through.

Part of the Charlie Hebo public memorial in Place Kleber, Strasbourg

We are back home from 6 weeks holiday! Back to school and work on Tuesday, so I am profiting from the last few days off to get to know my new sewing machine, my birthday present from last November (yes such a long wait to get to use it) and to sew up some holiday fabric. Predominately the holiday was to visit family but for those of you who follow me on instagram will know that I also managed to squeeze in two fantastic days with sewing friends. Meeting up with sewing friends who I've met through the online community is really like meeting up with old friends. It just comes so naturally. These days were absolute highlights of my trip especially as they occurred after Charlie Hebdo, a time when I really needed a bit of distraction from the profound sadness.
I'll talk about my  sewing day in Paris in another post, but this make is from fabric I bought in Strasbourg, where I spent most of the holiday. Here, I met up with Christine for a day of chatting, fabric, lunch and shopping.  We were also going to meet up with Connie, who sadly couldn't make it at the last minute.  Next time! And in fact Christine has sent me a list of amazing places to go to in the extended area so now I can't wait to go to Strasboug again next year and meet up with Christine and Connie! In Strasbourg centre ville there isn't really many places to fabric shop, but there is La Droguerie, where I bought two pieces,  This make uses a liberty-esqe lawn called Pollock Flamboyant Ambiance. an abstract splatter paint design.  I bought matching binding (genius!).
I'm always nervous about sewing up holiday fabric. It always seems so much more special, but I was impatient to sew and try my new machine and this was the 'easiest' piece of fabric that I bought. I was going to sew another Marthe, but there has been a lot of talk on instagram on the Japanese Sewalong so I thought I would have a look at my Japanese pattern books.
Last year when I was in Sydney for Frocktails, Lizzy  bought  Clean and Simple and I immediately fell in love with the jumpsuit in it.  I didn't have time to go to the book shop in Sydney and pick up a copy but immediately rang the bookstore on arriving back in Canberra and bought it over the phone. I am still super keen to sew up the jumpsuit, especially after meeting Christine, who is absolutely the jumpsuit queen, (making 11 in the last 18 months!), but I was looking for something simple and quick, so after much deliberation settled on the peplum blouse on the cover.  My love for the peplum is well documented and I have been itching to sew a higher necked top for ages,
During the making of this blouse, I fluctuated between loving it and hating it. The peplum is unusual and sits lower than I would normally like to wear it (being on a trend lately of moving peplums higher and higher) and it is elastic waisted. I find I have to be a bit vigilant with the elastic as it can cause the 'ruffles' to be a bit uneven. I love Japanese patterns as they are drafted for my height 160cm (well I'm a few centimetres shorter but when you round..), but I added a couple of centimetres to the 'skirt' to give me some flexibility. I should have added a bit more as I felt the balance would be out if I did a bigger hem and so only managed a very small hem (overlocked and then turned up 1/2 cm).
The blouse has dropped shoulders, which I love and as a result I kept the elastic loose in the peplum as it looked like that was how it should be in the cover photo and I like how this lets the blouse hang. The sleeves are quite puffy and have elastic in the wrist. I took 3cms off the length of the sleeves to assist with balance.  I always like to show the wrist bone when there is elastic in the wrist! :) I might consider reducing the puffiness of the sleeve next time.
There are no darts to sew and the neck is finished with binding and the back is closed with a button - which is self covered as I amazingly didn't have anything that I really liked in my stash.
So my verdict on the blouse. I like it. Ok, it's not exactly a woo hoo make, but I do like the quirkiness of the design and I really like wearing it and can imagine wearing it at different times. I've worn it here very casually but it will also look ok with skinny leg jeans or for work. I wore it yesterday to meet up with sewing friends and there wasn't much love for it there, but I know this isn't a blouse for everyone and in reality I couldn't see any of my friends wearing it so I wasn't offended. So maybe that's why I like it, in fact, that might make me like it more! So that's the first make of 2015 done!

I have been feeling very sad today.  Many many things going on. I am  ready to be back home.. but I'm also sad for the family that we leave behind here in France. Many tears today and there is still two days to go...
Afterwards, we snuck by la droguerie for one last shop before we leave on Friday. I had on my mind the need to find some fabric for the Laurel which is top of my list for April sewing next week (post jet lag recovery) when I'm still off work with the kids for the last week of school holidays.

I bought some (surprise!?) Liberty (Mawstons Meadow) with some corduroy and trim.  I love a bib in a dress (see the two sugar tees I've made) so I think that I might make the Laurel version with the bib and maybe this fabric as the feature. It doesn't look so much in the photo but the orange really stands out and is quite fluoro.

Last night I finished the scarf that I have been knitting with the alpaca wool bought from La Droguerie on and off for the last two weeks.  Phew!
I mentioned that I had originally thought that I would do a bit of a sampler scarf to try out new stitches but in the end I only had courage for three basic stitches: moss, stockinette and plain knit. Where I did stockinette stitch I did 4 knit stitches at the beginning and end of each row to help the scarf with not rolling too much. It still rolls!I used 3.5 needles and cast on 43 stitches.  It is about 19cm in width when not rolled but of course the sides roll to a fraction of that.  It is about 88cm in length.
It was originally made for my little one Elliot, but he thinks the Alpaca it's too itchy.
Oliver kindly 'modelled' it for a bit ....

We arrived into Strasbourg yesterday through Frankfurt airport, which had snow!  As I mentioned on twitter yesterday: it was nice  to finally watch The Sapphires.  What a lovely Australian movie.  I managed to convince Ben that he should watch it too and he loved it and had a tear or two.  I also managed to watch two out of four parts of a documentary on Bill Clinton, This is Roller Derby and Paul Kelly: Stories of Me.  All highly recommended. Not bad in flight entertainment really.
We did manage to pop into le centre ville this morning to do some errands where I stumbled across this store, la droguerie.  I was transfixed.  This is a new store for Strasbourg and wasn't here last time we were here in October 2011.
From the few seconds I was able to gaze in and snap a few quick phone photos it seems to sell fabric, wool, cute cute notions and a whole lot of other lovelies which I was only able to glimpse at as the boys (one big, two small) dragged me off.  A visit without the family is in order.