Machineless week and Bombshell dress online course

We took my sewing machine to the repair shop last Saturday. It was such a hot day (35°C !) and my husband carried the heavy machine through several train trips before we reached the Janome dealer in Asagaya.

The man opened the sewing plate, took a look inside and shook his head heavily, which of course made me even more nervous. Anyway he said that it might take up to a week to repair the sewing machine and depending on the problem, the repair cost would be up to USD 150. He would inspect the sewing machine and let us know this week. So I guess it’s a serious thing?!

I’m sitting at home now, machineless for hopefully not more than a week. I guess I will do something else, like drafting a new pattern or cutting up fabrics. And why do all of my options have to be related to sewing? I guess I should find a new hobby.

Sew Retro Bombshell Dresses!
Sew Retro Bombshell Dresses!

Still not finding a new hobby, I took an online sewing course at Craftsy, Sew Retro: The Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress. The cost is USD 29.99 from the original USD 59, and I even got more discount because Craftsy is having a Summer treat deal for a week. So I only paid USD 25.

The instructor is one of my favorite blogger, Gretchen Hirsch of Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing. The course is for making a bustier dress with sarong skirt, using highly tailored techniques like underlining, boning, bust padding, waist stay and many more. Gertie also shows how to use use different style of skirts and straps, adding more versatility to the pattern. The pattern used is this Bustier dress with draped detail from Burdastyle (PDF download).

I’m not really sure if I have enough bomb to fill that shell, but I’m very interested in learning the construction and sewing techniques. My husband said that I can make the dress just to apply the techniques that I’ve learned. I think I will do that!

There are 15 videos in this course, each is about 15-30 minutes long and I was planning to spend my machineless week watching them all. I began to watch the introduction video yesterday and couldn’t stop! These videos are very fun to watch and Gertie is such a talented instructor. Her style is also a delight to the eyes, I love all the outfit she’s wearing in the videos.  If you’re interested in vintage and couture sewing technique, I really recommend this course!

I spent all day watching the videos, ignoring my poor husband and son. My husband loves to cook on weekends, so he made anchovy spaghetti for lunch and nikujaga for dinner (they were both so delicious!). Sidra read books and played Nintendo, then both of them played card games, checking Sidra’s homework, did lots of things etc, while their irresponsible wife and mama sat in front of the computer with headphones on her head all day long. Video #15 was finished at midnight. It is now Monday morning, day one of my machineless week …. *hang my head in shame*

Let’s go back to: And why do all of my options have to be related to sewing? I guess I should find a new hobby.

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