2018 - Page 3 of 6 - Handmade by Carolyn

blue and green should never be seen

31/08/2018 7:01 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

I almost called this new lingerie set “frozen”; which to be honest is more like an accurate description of me, actually, while disrobing for the purposes of trying it on, haha. #comeonsummer But finally, today the last day of winter YAY!!! Around this time is typically a low time of the year for me, when I’m really flagging and running low on zip and zoom, just banking on the promise of warmer weather appearing, any minute now. I know I know; our winters are so mild, what have I got to complain about? Nothing really. And yet…? I do. Sad to say, I do. But I shall stop now. Becaaaaause… *pauses for dramatic effect* I have some new pretties!!!!

It’s a bit embarrassing actually, since this lingerie set has been all cut out, elastics and all the other bits and bobs present and accounted for, and the whole lot merely awaiting the sewing together bit for…. *mumble mumble* months now. Actually I believe I mentioned it the last time I presented a set of underwear, here on ye olde blog. I did a bit of a cleanup of my sewing space (Tim Gunn voice, there) and the pieces of this set got “tidied” away into my laundry cupboard, out of sight and out of mind. SAAAAD!! Anyway, it’s made now.

I’m very happy with this new set… I really love to have matching sets, and it’s even more pleasing if I can make the two sets of undies quite different from each other, and at the same time match each other, and the bra. Tick!!

Patterns:

Bra, or more accurately “bralette” I suppose, since it’s a fripperous little thing with no underwires or anything serious like that; it’s basically my own design, the same design I used to make this neon yellow one here. I draped the lace onto Bessie and cut and pinned and tried on here and there… and ta da!

The two sets of matching undies are made using:

1. the Watson briefs, which I’ve used a million times before. Not even exaggerating there. Oh, ok, maybe a little then 😉 And

2. the Tanga lace panties pattern a free pattern available on Burda style here. I’ve made this pattern up three times before; here, here and here. They look absolutely adorable while you’re wearing them, but the design is just not my favourite… the sides are completely unsupported and so have a tendency to slowly slide down your hips; meaning I’ve never felt 100% secure in them. But they really are soooo cuuuute! so here we go again… this time I downsized from a medium to a small, because it occurred to me, that maybe the medium is simply too big. I cut out a medium first – this lace is not cheap!! – but pinned the small on me, to see; and yep, small fits just fine. Got high hopes for these ones!!!

Oh, and I also did my usual, and very essential, crotch fix as described here.

Materials; Blue lace from Homecraft Textiles, green silk jersey was a hand-me-down scrap from Mum. Bralette is lined with a light peach-coloured swimwear lining fabric from the Fabric Store ( I have quite a lot of this) Elastics and all other findings from Homecraft Textiles. The blue fold-over elastic on the green watson undies was leftover from a previous project, this set. The lace knickers have a green panty liner, because it shows through the lace obviously! whereas the green undies have a white liner, because not enough fabric!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cloth habit, lingerie, own design, Tanga, watson

the Perth dress pattern, new size range

28/08/2018 3:09 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

This much-requested new pattern has felt like a long time coming… I had a lot of requests from ladies wanting our Perth dress/blouse pattern to be made for a larger size range… so ta da! this new version is for sizes 46-54. It’s now available here in our etsy shop; CarolynandCassie, as a pdf and also a paper version in limited numbers.

I apologise for the delay; we’ve had to contend with a computer issue that has been pretty devastating, some extremely costly software that we desperately needed in order to function has been practically obliterated, it’s been so difficult… All I can say is thank God for Craig who eventually managed to work it out.

Anyway. No one wants to hear about computer blurb, yeah? On to the pattern!

ye all-important size info….

Sam’s girlfriend L is in our new size range so I asked her if she would kindly model for us. I’m so happy she agreed because she is super cute! plus now I had a good reason to make something for her, hehe… The dress I made for her is in a rather beautiful cloudy-sky print, cotton drill from Spotlight, with a white contrasting collar. I absolutely adore this on her!

My favourite part though is the crisp white collar; just love this look! the button is a little wooden one from my stash

Thanks so much L; for being such a totally gorgeous model!!

I also made two blouse versions for my sister in law, Sandi. This first version was initially a bit big on her, which totally did my head in – what did I do?!!! – but eventually I worked out it was all due to a very stupid mistake which I am too darn annoyed and exhausted to even talk about how this happened, suffice to say that one should ALWAYS check the test square BEFORE leaving the copy shop. I know I personally will never ever neglect this ever again!! #superannoying

I took it apart and re-made it to fit properly, just because ~~I’m a glutton for punishment~~ well really, I cannot bear to waste perfectly good fabric! And also, Sandi really likes it 🙂 #allswellthatendswell which is why I went to the effort of re-fitting properly. I cannot say how much I LOVE an appreciative recipient! makes it all worthwhile in the end, yeah? The fabric is a really very nice charcoal and white striped linen, that I ?think? I bought in either Tessuti’s or the Fabric Store in Melbourne, during one of our visits there. The only giveaway that it was initially made to a larger scale is the the overly long collar points, which I just left as they were.

The blue and white striped version, which was correct all the way from go to whoa, yay!! is a rather lovely shirting cotton from Homecraft Textiles.

Yes! Homecraft Textiles actually stocks a really nice little range of crisp shirting cottons… who knew?! certainly not me, since they were hidden way back at the very back of the store behind the vast wasteland of lurid polyester satins and “chiffons” and fleeces that takes up like 90% of that store. One day I was hanging around in there and discovered it. EUREKA!!!

Oh! Something else I made for Sandi recently, which is completely unrelated to our Perth dress pattern so if this seems a little random and out-of-the-blue, sorry! but this seems like a good a time as any to lob it into Le Blog… I promised to make a custom-fit top pattern for Sandi, for her birthday, she put in a request after I had done the same for Mum, a few birthdays back. So I made this one… The shorter, open front T-shirt over a longer one underneath in a contrasting colour is a design modelled to a favourite top she has already. We chose and bought the fabric together from Fabulous Fabrics. I’m kicking myself I forgot to take a picture of her wearing it, because she looks so lovely in these moody pinks and blues. AND she professes herself to really LOVE this one too. This just makes me so happy! See what I mean about a grateful recipient?

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, own design, Perth, perth dress

Ms Winter

12/08/2018 9:36 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

O hello, dahlings!

This is Ms Winter. So very pleased to meet you!

Her first name? well, what is in a name? Is a name, “just a name”, or does it mean something? We all know someone who makes us think, “well she certainly doesn’t look like a “Carolyn”, I’ve always thought she looks just like a ____ “(fill in the blank) When I was making this young lady, I did not intend to give her a name myself, in fact I purposely tried to avoid thinking of one. Howeeeeeever, the same as when I made my Sally doll, I couldn’t help it but a name did pop into my head in those quiet zen moments as I was working on her. So, in that respect, she actually does have a name; a quiet maker-born name… but first things first, let me start at the beginning.

I really enjoyed making my first doll Sally, which is why I decided to make this other… she is quite similar but actually quite different too in many little but significant ways. I used the patterns in “the Making of a Rag Doll” by Jess Brown for Sally; whereas I drew up my own new patterns for this girl and for all her clothes. The new girl is taller, has a smaller head and is quite the lanky skinny-minnie compared to the pear-shaped Sally.

She has pale skin, blue eyes and a thick long mane of charcoal-black merino hair… technically “beluga” hair, actually the wool leftover from these hand-knitted gloves, as well as from the heels and toes for nearly all my hand-knitted socks. Just like Sally, her hair fully covers her scalp and can be styled a little.

I started out thinking of her as a Winter girl, thus her colouring; and was just going to make the above winter outfit for her… black merino tights, a black and white striped sweater dress (leftover from this little top) and a knitted beanie (leftovers from these arm warmers) The pattern for the beanie is adapted from that free one from the tiny sparks website, designed for preemie babies. I’ve previously used it when I made a bunch of little preemie outfits. And I added a pompom.

But of course, the minute I’d finished her winter outfit I couldn’t resist making a summer outfit for her too; an elegant and ladylike wrap dress – le dernier-cris!! – in a swishy, prettily floral rayon.

Having two outfits made me realise, of course she was going to be getting undressed every now and then…. which can only mean one thing; underwear. Even dolls deserve pretty underthings! so I made a little pair of lace boy-leg knickers for her too. I embroidered a tiny rosebud with flanking leaves on the front, just because.

And then I thought… all these very casual clothes: what if this glamorous young lady wants to sashay out after dark? Every girl needs a chic little sparkly number for a special occasion, yes? So I whipped up a hot-pink, sequinned, raglan sleeved sheath; in a mini-length in order to show off her enviably long slim legs; and for a finishing touch, added a matching jewelled necklace to nestle at that alabaster throat. Oo lala!

But, all these clothes? How is a girl to get from A to B with all this lot? Not to worry! she has a lovely cherry red duffle bag with a black strap to sling over her shoulder, as she dashes through traffic twixt office and taxi, taxi and theatre. Just like all the cool girls.

Just a note to be real here; the duffle is actually empty in the below picture… she has a tendency to topple over when it’s packed full with her wardrobe!

Oh, her name? Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out! Anyone who likes to “pin” will be able to find her name easily enough… ! There now, that’s a clue!

This is the first girl in a small seasonal set that I am planning to make, and sell in our shop.

Later edit; I made little raspberry coloured drawstring carry bag, with an inset tulle window so that she can see out… this can store her and all her stuff for when she’s not out and about 🙂

Posted in: crafty stuff \ Tagged: Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, doll, dollmaking, kimberley doll, own design

ivory leather “camaraderie” sandals

06/08/2018 12:07 am \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

This past weekend I had great fun doing a shoe-making workshop with the lovely Lisa, of The Shoe Camaraderie! This is a bucket list item I’ve obviously been wanting to do for aaaaaaaaages, so when I saw on instagram that Lisa was planning to come here and run some day-long workshops to make a pair of sandals, I jumped immediately! And here they are! I chose to make a simple slide, the strap around the back of my ankle was my own idea, partially because I just wanted it, and partially also I wanted to add my own little spin to the design, and Lisa graciously accommodated my request.

These are obviously the most professional looking and beautifully finished shoes I have ever made; benefitting from the help and supervision of a professional. Not to mention learning what are the right tools and supplies I need, and how to use them safely. I’m super keen now to get my hot little hands on the proper tools and glue I need to get, so I can make more of my own shoes in the future. I’m hooked!

Lisa was a wonderful teacher; generous with her time and expertise and super helpful to everyone in our small class. There were six of us; and we all managed to complete our different shoes. Lisa devoted time to everyone individually, as well as frequently teaching relevant information to the whole class; and stepped in to help anyone with bits they found too tricky or difficult, in order to ensure we all went home with a perfect pair of shoes. Funnily enough, everyone’s shoes were quite unique! Not one of us had an identical pair to anyone else. Which is exactly what you want, yeah?

I chose ivory leather… I was dithering whether to go for this or caramel, because you know, white shows the dirt. But in the end decided to just go for the one I wanted. After all, you can always buff and re-polish!

Below, applying glue to the soles and heels. I need to get me some of this glue!!! It’s a special shoe glue by Foss. At right, my straps are lined with thin pig hide.

These dash-holes were made with a special punch. I couldn’t get over how cute they are! I forgot to take picture, but I also learnt how to skive… a very useful skill if I’m going to do any more leatherwork!

I’m so pleased with how the black buckles look with my white leather! It picks up the black layer on the bottom of the heel so nicely. The little curved “V” on the end of the strap in the lower picture was made with another purpose-shaped punch.

Forgot to take pictures… again! But we spent some time fitting the tops specially to our feet, and then getting the second slide to look exactly the same!

Temporarily glued the skived straps in, then punched some holes and stitched them on. It’s funny, but this simple stitch on the sandal is so charming to my eyes! and adds the perfect amount of “handmade” look to them.

This stuff below is AMAAAAZING! It’s “rand”. You’d think there was hours and hours of hand-stitching the uppers to the sole, but this stuff is simply glued in and it all looks absolutely perfect. Cheating? Maybe just a little bit, but doesn’t it looks lovely when it’s in!

Lisa showed us how to apply the rand with little bit of a downward slope around the heel and toe curves, top and bottom, which keeps the shoe and sole nicely tight once they’re glued together.

And finished!!!

The thread you use for all stitching is heavily waxed, and all the knots on the inside are melted using a lighter, then stamped down flat, so a) they’ll never come undone and b) so they won’t poke into and irritate your foot while you’re wearing the shoes. Clever!

Lisa very kindly and generously did the final bit of sanding of everyone’s heels, which allowed us all time to relax and chat with wine, cheese and chocolate. I know, right?!!!

You’re not supposed to wear newly finished shoes for at least 24 hours after completing, to let the glue dry. You’ll be pleased to know that 24 hours had just passed when I gingerly donned the sandals for these pictures, and then immediately afterwards very carefully took them off again and put them back in their special bag. And I might even have (ahem) especially shaved ye olde legs and applied nail varnish for the occasion. Well… it’s winter!

I know I’m going to enjoy wearing my new sandals so much! And I’m looking forward to when Lisa next comes over for another round of workshops…. I’m totally planning to sign up again!

Posted in: shoes \ Tagged: shoes, the shoe camaraderie

10×10 challenge, winter

05/08/2018 3:31 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

This is my fourth, and possibly final time taking part in the 10×10 challenge; I always said I would complete a full four seasons and … now I have! While I’ve enjoyed doing this challenge in previous seasons, I didn’t really this time. Why not? well I’ll delve into that later.

The scenario; you pick 10 items of clothing, including shoes, and wear only those items for the following ten days. You can freely add accessories like hats, scarves, gloves, bags, jewellery and tights, as needed. Because this was a winter round for me, I added tights every day, and scarves a few days too. Well, it was cold!

My selection; four tops, two skirts, one dress, one raincoat, a pair of hiking boots and my knee-high black leather boots. I made all items except for the two pairs of boots.

From L to R, each item is linked to its original construction post. The number in brackets after each item is the number of times I wore it during the 10 day period.

all tights also made by me…

The outfits:

Thoughts?

Just as predicted, I found winter to be the most difficult season in which to do this challenge! To be fair; it’s been so dingy and very very wild, wet and stormy which is something that will always make me feel a bit miserable anyway. But as far as the challenge goes… well fashion is obviously one of my major passions and winter is that time when I really get into playing with layering and the mixing and matching of as much of my wardrobe as possible. I guess it’s the one of those tiny pleasures that takes my mind off the winter blahs. Sounds a bit pathetic, I know; but this round I just felt a little resentful, like I was needlessly depriving myself of something fun in my life.

I chose all my items fairly quickly and without putting much thought into it, all very easy wearing and I loved wearing them all. Even though a coupla pieces are new, namely my raincoat and my little ginger/mustard skirt; they’re all tried and true favourite winter silhouettes so I knew I’d be happy with every piece. I did really love my jewel/spicy colour scheme. Something sorta noteworthy to me is that my black leather boots are the only item that I’ve picked to be in two different capsule wardrobes… I also had them in my first, spring, 10×10. Hmmm, obviously they’re very very “me”!

I wore my raincoat every day – so happy and pleased with that thing!! – and even though the pictures don’t reflect it, I wore my hiking boots every day too! Where I walk Clara every day is a natural swamp during winter, and hiking boots are the best footwear option. Off topic, but I kinda giggle to myself whenever I remember how making shoes to cope with my daily walk during winter was the biggest source of angst to me during my Year of Handmade. I think that’s why I’m proudest of my knockabout walking shoes than I am of pretty much any other pair! Boy, I put those things through their paces. Shoes that can withstand my daily winter walk can fair dinkum withstand ANYTHING.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. So, I’ve completed four seasons of 10×10 now. Will I do this again? Probably not, but never say never! There are very few sewing peeps who get into this game, just one or two, or possibly three including me. So funny! I’m not sure why not. It is very nice and reassuring to know that the things I am making suit me and my lifestyle very well, and that they are capable of mixing and matching up acceptably too. The 10×10 experiment is a very good way to thoroughly test that they do, so it’s got that going for it. But…. I am reeeeeally looking forward to wearing something else tomorrow!! So much choice!!! Aaaaaaaagh!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: 10x10, daily outfit, wardrobe challenge

a mustard raincoat, oh and a skirt too

31/07/2018 11:27 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made a new raincoat!

So, I’ve been wearing my pale pink Kelly anorak raincoat, made from a shower curtain, for several years now, it was undoubtedly my most worn garment of last year by a fair dinkum mile! and it’s been such a trooper. I love it so much, still! However it is looking a wee bit shabby now… so I’ve been toying with the idea of a new raincoat for little while. Getting nice waterproof fabric is quite a challenge in Perth, you come across it so rarely and I was wondering if I’d have to brave the scary gamble that is Buying Off the Internet. Then I happened to be browsing in Homecraft Textiles during their yearly 50% off sale, and unearthed this gorgeously mustard-coloured waterproof fabric. The colour was particularly exciting. Something that actually suits me? that’s not black, or navy?!!! Take my money!!!

Having said that… it’s not the most wonderful raincoat fabric in the world and I had struggles APLENTY but more on that later.

Patterns!! I loved the Kelly anorak pattern, and it did work really well for me as a raincoat, however I have this maybe erroneous belief that a raglan sleeve is better suited in a raincoat… I think that a rounded armscye seam could lend itself to a higher chance of leakage. I could be totally wrong there though, but I just think it anyway. I’ve been looking out for a good, raglan sleeved jacket pattern that would lend itself to being a good raincoat, but to no avail. So I made my own pattern. My previous, blue, raincoat was a pattern I’d worked out for myself; inspired by a cheapie old RTW one that I’d bought for Tim when he was a young ‘un, and which I’d inherited down the track as he grew out of it. I devised some rather unusual pockets for it, and actually totally loved how they worked out. I dug out the pattern, made the modifications to bring it into line with the shape I wanted for my new raincoat. Everyone’s heard of the famous FBA… well I have no use for a full bust adjustment, but in a raincoat I could definitely use a FPA. What is that? a Full Ponytail Adjustment, of course!! I have pretty much never had a raincoat, rtw or me-made, with a hood that accommodated a ponytail comfortably. The hood is always pulling back off your head and exposing your forehead, which is annoying. I’m happy report that this hood is so far perfect!

I’d originally bought some soft tulle to line the raincoat. I’d managed to get some soft netting to line my first, blue raincoat and it worked a treat, and I wanted something similar for this one. But the tulle was horrible; just not soft enough and too scratchy against my sensitive snowflake skin after all, so I’d ended up ripping it out. The raincoat is actually fine without a lining, because the inside of the mustard shell is a rather nice, soft woven stuff.

the white sports fabric seen in the pic is a ventilation panel, hidden underneath the upper back flap

The outside is laminated, actually the fabric could best be described as a lightweight, thinly laminated, woven cotton. The plastic laminate was obviously downright hideous to sew. For one thing, it had quite a sticky waxy coating on the laminate, which gummed up the needles, and the eye of the needle, making re-threading the needle a freakin’ NIGHTMARE. I wiped the laminated surface with a lightly soapy solution before sewing, which did help a tiny bit, and occasionally wiped down the needle too, but it was still pretty bad. When it came to top-stitching, well there was absolutely no way the laminated side up was going to move underneath the foot at all. I cut strips of tissue paper to stitch over, and tore them away afterwards; fiddly, but not a difficult thing to do (above).

seam sealing, also a view of the fabric’s wrong side

Sealing the seams; I used a no-name seam sealer from BCF, a local boating camping and fishing store. It’s supposed to be used for tents and sails I think, but it works beautifully for raincoats too! I used a cheapie old paintbrush to work it into the stitch-holes, and seal everything thoroughly. Since then, it’s been out in three very heavy downpours, and I’m happy to say has stood up to the task beautifully! All the traumas, and it’s been worth it! It’s early days, but I think I’ve found my new favourite wardrobe item!

Want to read all my tips for making a raincoat? They can all be found in my original raincoat making post, here.

Oh, and I made a new little skirt too, but it’s not nearly so exciting. Well, I had a small piece of coffee-coloured, wide-wale cotton corduroy, leftover from when I made this dress, and when I was dyeing the fabric for my Sherlock Holmes jacket I’d also tossed in the coffee-coloured corduroy. And it came out a nice shade of golden-mustard. So I managed to squeeze out this little skirt. It’s not made up to any real pattern really, I basically put an invisible zip at centre back, held the front and back up to myself and pinned the side seams and where I wanted darts. Pretty ~~lazy~~ genius, huh? It was a very small piece of fabric, and the resulting skirt was too short for a hem. I edged the bottom edge with a chocolate linen bias-cut strip to finish, and the skirt is lined with pale golden polyacetate lining fabric, itself also leftover from something else, can’t remember what.

And that’s it… until next time!

Later edit: this skirt now has pockets!

Details:

Raincoat; my own pattern, made from thin, plastic-laminated cotton
Skirt; my own design, dyed cotton corduroy
Bobbly top (just above); Burdastyle 04/2014;111, details here
Tights; made by me, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp boutique

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, coat, daily outfit, jacket, own design, raincoat, skirt

more soap…

22/07/2018 7:04 pm \ 10 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I’ve been making some more soap, trying to develop a few new recipes of my own. Ever since my first go at soap-making, I’ve perused the oil selection at Coles with a lot more interest… and came home with a few new goodies to experiment with. Specifically; macadamia oil and avocado oil. Following the good advice a few kind commenters on my previous soap-making post, this time I used a soap calculator to help formulate my quantities, thank you Becky and Barb! for letting me know there was even such a thing! My recipes also contain different proportions of the other oils I already had, olive oil and coconut oil. I’ve been seeking out the paler yellow olive oil now too, because I wanted the natural colours of the new oils to be predominant …

And since I’m providing recipes here that include the highly toxic and corrosive compound sodium hydroxide, here are a few very important safety tips…

WHEN HANDLING NaOH, ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR AND CLOTHING THAT COMPLETELY COVERS YOUR ARMS.

Never let it get into contact with your skin. When mixing into water, work outside as much as possible so as to avoid inhaling the fumes. Never under any circumstances put your face over or near the container you are mixing it in.
Ensure you are not going to be disturbed for the time you are working with it. Keep all pets and children well away.
If you must take your lye solution inside, keep all windows open and work underneath a range hood with the fan on full blast.
In the case of spills, clean up with copious amounts of water… i.e. a garden hose if outside. If you do happen to splash some on your skin, IMMEDIATELY put the affected area underneath a tap, and flush with water running fully over the area for several minutes at least. If you can see a visible burn or the area continues to sting and burn after copious flushing then seek medical attention immediately. NaOH is not to be trifled with!

Making your lye solution; FOR ALL RECIPES: When mixing NaOH into water, put the full volume of your cool or cold water into a clean, thick sided, glass container that has no cracks, and can hold at least twice the volume of the water you are working with. Add the NaOH to the water, a little at a time, stirring with a metal spoon. You can stir with a wooden spoon, but you may find the solution gets a little discoloured with tannins from the wood. NEVER add water to NaOH, ALWAYS ADD NaOH TO WATER. This is because as NaOH dissolves in water it generates heat and fumes, and is potentially explosive. If you have trouble remembering which is the correct way to mix the two: when I was at school we learnt this little ditty… and the exact same principle applies to working with a strong alkali like NaOH.

(Picture of a gravestone)

“May her rest be long and placid,
she added water to the acid;
The other girl did as she ought-er,
and added acid to the water”

Substitute alkali for acid, it’s the same situbar. After the solution mixes clear, it will be quite hot. Do not seal the container. Supervise it until it cools before using.

Moving on…. here are my recipes:

Macadamia Soap (7/10)

I absolutely love the dreamy cafe-au-lait colour I got with this mixture! whether it’s horrible to use or not I do not know yet, but will definitely update here and write a little review when it’s cured and I use it.

200g coconut oil
500g macadamia oil
300g olive oil
300mL water
137g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Gently heat the coconut oil until it is liquid, then add the other oils.

Outside, carefully add NaOH to the water, a little at a time and stirring. Let it sit for a few minutes, uncovered and under constant supervision, until jar feels lukewarm and no longer hot, and fumes are no longer visibly emanating from the surface before mixing it into the oil.

Pour NaOH solution all at once into the oil, and commence stirring with a stick mixer not running. After a few minutes of this, turn the stick mixer on and keep “pulsing” and mixing for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes visibly “gelatinous” in appearance.

This mixture took a lot longer to set than my previous batches… at least 48 hours before it was hard enough to remove from the moulds without distorting them at all. I’m hoping this means it will be a really nice, moisturising soap

This recipe has larger quantities and so obviously produced a lot more soap than my previous recipes, I had an old Brie container and used this to mould the excess into a nicely oval-shaped bar of soap, but it was still overflowing and these bars are each quite a bit bigger and thicker. I chopped up some macadamias and sprinkled them on top for both decoration and as an identifier down the track, seemed like a good idea at the time! but then I decided I don’t like how it looks on top of the soap and will think of something different in the future…

Avocado Soap (5/10)

250mL avocado oil
400mL olive oil
110g coconut oil
200mL water
90g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Exact same procedure as for the previous recipe…

This mixture got to the gel stage a lot more rapidly than the macadamia soap. The avocado oil was quite a strong natural “grass” green in colour, which gives this soap its creamy yellow-y green colour. This is the entire batch from this recipe: avocado oil is quite expensive and the bottle a small one, thus the smaller quantities.

I just used my 24x24cm cake pan lined with baking paper, there wasn’t enough mixture for the silicone moulds too. The bars are quite deep though.

Just a note on how I’m choosing these quantities, it’s pretty easy to let the olive oil just take over your recipe since it’s so cheap compared to other oils, however I wanted to keep the “special” oil up there as a major-ish component and not just a token one! While for sure, costs are something you always want to consider, I still want to experiment with the more interesting oils, like macadamia and avocado and am quite excited to use both these ones once they cure too!

this is the full quantity of soap produced from this recipe… yes, the avocados are there for pretty, illustrative purposes only and are not required for the recipe!

Update:

I’m rating the Macadamia Soap a good solid 7/10; it’s nice soap to use and I probably will make it again. The macadamia oil makes it a little more expensive to make than some of the others which I why I’m rating it down just a little.

The Avocado soap is getting a slightly low 5/10… I mostly likely won’t make this again. The avocado oil was quite expensive, that pretty green colour faded as the soap dried, leaving it a regular old pale yellow colour, and also I just wasn’t keen on the, albeit subtle, fragrance of this soap. It just smelt a little on the…. “foody” side, is the only way I can think of putting it!

My other soaps, pure Olive soap (4/10), Coconut soap (7/10) and Buttermilk soap (9/10) are blogged here

Posted in: crafty stuff, Uncategorized \ Tagged: recipe, soap

Elementary, my dear Sherlock

15/07/2018 3:21 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

Yes, I know; a complete mis-quote of an already mis-quote… *braces oneself for outraged Holmes enthusiasts*

But wot is this new thing I’m wearing ‘ere then?! Is it a jacket…? no, a cape…? some tweedy, distinctly Holmes-esque thing, somehow exuding English-ness, an air of briskly strolling in the country, of hounds-at-dawn, roaming in-swathes of fog and mystically swirling mist, stalking the streets of London or out on the Baskerville moors? Fittingly, I’m accompanied here by my very own hound, who while certainly a fearsome and diabolical creature at times, is however sadly lacking a Baskerville lineage.

So, I was mindlessly browsing Le Internet, checking out new-to-me pattern companies, something I am wont to do, randomly, late at night and way past my bedtime,… and clicked Add to Cart on the Cape-Sleeved Jacket by Trend Patterns. Followed by… Purchase. So daring!!

It’s a rather interesting and lovely style, not something I’ve seen anywhere else: a longline open jacket with notched collar and interesting “sleeves” that are more like an intriguing hybrid of sleeves and cape. I searched my stash for a suitable victim, and unearthed a grey/black houndstooth-y check suiting; given to me yonks ago by ?I think? Mum, though I’m not totally sure. It had exactly the right weight and style for this design, but the colour was pretty dead and cold and flat and looked absolutely terrible on me… so I squandered more time than I care to admit to, attempting to dye it. It was a rather large piece, so I’d started out leaving it to soak cold in a large tub of yellow dye. This had almost no effect, so I added orange for synthetic fabrics. This had a tiny teeny little effect. So then I dried the fabric, and cut out the jacket pieces, which made for a smaller bulk of fabric for the dye pot, and boiled it all up with the same dye mix. Finally; SUCCESS!!!!

helping…

from left; original colour… after soaking… after boiling

The new shade of tobacco was rather warm and pleasing, and deemed acceptable. Of course the big problem about dying pieces, already cut up; as opposed to one single piece of fabric, is that the pieces frayed a bit, and also got stretched out and distorted somewhat in the boiling/dyeing process, and so I’m not 100% confident that my final jacket is all that perfect or beautiful… but I did my best! carefully steaming everything back into the shape of the intended pattern piece.

Lining; fully lined with chocolate polyacetate lining fabric, from my stash, probably originally from Fabulous Fabrics since it’s a really nice quality.

below; see how the front armhole is open right up to practically shoulder level? I think it’s worth pointing this out since I actually had no idea it was like this from the line drawing and remained ignorant right up until it came time to add the cape facing…

That’s not a criticism btw, just an observation. I really love my new Sherlock Holmes jacket, and I really loved making it too; but I’ve admit; it was not a particularly easy project. Even given the fact that I complicated things for myself a. dyeing and b. deciding I absolute HAD to have in-seam pockets – which were a big success in the end if I say so myself. I’m so glad I put them in. Actually I can’t imagine a jacket without pockets of some kind.

How did I put in my pockets? so I remembered to take a few pictures but not many, so hopefully my written explanation will suffice… I cut the front armhole piece (below, at left) and the front panel (below, at right) as pictured; and in addition, a pocket opening facing piece (below, middle) with the same upper edge as the slanted edge of the front panel (at right) I also cut a pocket lining (not pictured) from the same chocolate polyacetate lining fabric used throughout the jacket… it’s the same size and shape as the pocket bag extension (at left) and with a slanted top edge equivalent to that of the pocket opening (at right)…

the pocket opening edge is that slanted edge showing out from under the square inner edge of the paper pattern piece, and that little extra piece is the pocket opening facing. The facing is interfaced (see below), stitched along that slanted edge leaving a 1cm free at either edge of seam, and under stitched. I cut a pocket lining using the same chocolate lining fabric that lines the whole jacket and stitched this on to the lower edge of the pocket facing. Then stitched the pocket and pocket linings together around the long curved pocket edge. The remainder of the jacket construction proceeds as normal, and the pocket is nicely hidden away between the jacket outer and lining

So; what was tricky about making this jacket…? well, the steps are illustrated with photographs, not drawings; so if you’re the kind of person who often goes on the illustrations then it’s not always clear which pattern pieces or which seam you might be looking at in this photograph or that one…. and there are 27 un-numbered pattern pieces… Maybe I’m just dumb, or losing it or something, but I’ve been sewing clothes for myself for over forty years and there were bits where I was scratching my head and had to read and re-read over a couple of times to “get” it.

It’s also pretty important to mark the marks, notches and dart lines carefully and securely. As far as this project goes, this is where my brilliant plan to dye my fabric pieces fell apart a bit since a lot of these little marks were dislodged and lost while dyeing, and notches disappeared in fraying edges, and it was pretty hard to re-instate everything accurately. To be honest, there were several times I felt like heaving the whole lot in the bin and starting over anew, with fresh new fabric, particular since I hadn’t even liked my fabric all that much in the first place!!

I think numbering the pattern pieces would have been a HUGE help, and then to use those numbers in the instructions. Another thing, the instructions are…. kinda sparse. The term “bag out” is used several times … I’ve always been a little thrown by the term”bag out”. I mean, I know what it is… basically just another way of saying stitch the outer and lining layers together. See, I grew up under the tutelage of the long-term pattern companies like Vogue, McCalls and Burda; and “bag out” is not a phrase that ANY of them EVER use, as a rule. Also, “bag out” is incidentally Australian slang for picking on someone, like rudely giving them a really hard time, so seeing it pop up in sewing instructions is always a moment for pause 😉

After all this; I actually quite happy with how my jacket turned out, and am even little keen to make it up again. I think my attempts to dye the fabric just made the project a whole bunch harder than it needed to be, and I’d like to give the pattern a second chance, and to do it properly, make a really good and proper tailoring job of it next time. I would also like to add a few more pockets, to the inside and the lining, like a mens’ suit jacket has.

Details:

Jacket; TPC13, the Cape-sleeve Jacket by Trend Patterns, grey tweed overdyed with orange dye
Shirt; the Closet Case patterns Carolyn pj shirt, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Burdastyle 10-2010; 136 (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt), in black suiting, details here
Tights; my own custom fit pattern, details here
Shoes, designed and made by me, details here

My cape-sleeve jacket feels so very very Sherlock Holmes to me that I couldn’t resist just popping over to London for a more appropriate photoshoot location….