August 2019 - Handmade by Carolyn

a pink pinny

30/08/2019 2:51 pm \ 19 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I loved my red velveteen pinafore so much… it’s such a lot of fun to wear. I can’t believe I worried a little that I was too, er mature, for such a garment and I thought I might become the butt of mutton-dressed-as-lamb commentary but you know what? I wasn’t, and I’ve throughly enjoyed having a “pinny”. So I made another! though I believe this is an improvement even upon its predecessor’s near-perfection because the pockets are a tonne better, in my opinion.

Again, I used the pauline alice Turia dungarees pattern for the bodice section, and modified so the bottom part is a skirt. I put the pinafore on and pinned carefully so as to achieve the ideal proportion to suit my figure, but it actually turned out identical to the shape of my red one! I’m really really happy with the shape and length of this, it’s absolutely perfect for me,I think…

I really love the front bib pocket of the Turia pattern, I think it’s super cute.

For the pockets, I got out the pattern pieces for Vogue 1115; the shape construction and placement of these pockets is also close to perfection, in my opinion! I like my pockets to be a bit bigger, but instead of cutting the pockets bigger, I simply stitch the with a 6mm (1/4″) seam allowance instead of the regular 15mm, and boom! I have bigger pockets!

Fabric; cotton corduroy in the most totally divine shade of dusky pink!! I saw it on Potters’ Textiles instagram and raced in immediately to snap some up! Then, for some bizarre reason that I have absolutely no explanation for, I bought only 1.5m. Sure; it’s quite wide; but still I was struggling to cut my pinafore out of such a small piece, especially since you do have to be strict about following the corduroy’s nap when laying out your pieces. To be honest; I totally would have cut my pockets bigger, but was dealing with mere scraps after getting out my big, important pieces first. Anyway, I did get everything I wanted successfully, thank goodness… Normally you’d think, oh I can always get more fabric! but while I was buying it the lady in the store specifically mentioned that they were nearly out!

Like with my red pinny; I chose to line this one fully. I cut the lining using three of Craig’s discarded old business shirts. I’m kind of a stash-busting mission lately; really making an effort to reduce pieces in there that have been kept “just in case”; and particularly; fabrics/garments from my refashioning bag. I carefully harvested all the buttons off the shirts first, of course…

these matching sets of buttons are quite valuable if you make shirts for the menfolk in your life; particularly the shirts that have those mini-buttons often found on the sleeve plackets and button-down collars. It’s almost impossible to find the two sizes in complete matching sets like this in haberdashery stores.

So you’d think there’s loooooooads of fabric in 3 shirts; and surely more than enough to line a little pinafore?? but of course unless I want my lining to be a heavily patched/seamed, and therefore rather bulky thing, I could really only use the largest swathes of fabric from the backs of the shirts, and still had to join! But that’s ok; I still feel good about using up at least a little bit more of the refashioning bag! The lining for my straps was harvested from one sleeve.

THIS! is a cautionary tale…. so, when you’re making welt pockets, and you come to the all-important, ever-so-precise task of cutting the welt opening in your dress fabric? It’s a good idea to check that your lining fabric has been flipped up out of the way first. Yeah. *kicking myself BAD over this disaster…. I used my rotary cutter, and cut the most beautiful clean neat welt pocket opening through the front of my pinny…. AND THE LINING UNDERNEATH AT THE SAME TIME TOO. Fortunately this only happened once, on just one pocket I mean, and I realised straight away. If I’d done it for both pockets, I would have seriously considered replacing the lining, for real. Anyway; I bandaid-ed the problem by ironing on a strip of iron-on interfacing and indulging in some furious and thorough zig-zagging. Not the most beautiful of repairs, but experience has taught me that this is both a durable and efficient method of fixing a cut like this.

Miraculously, I unearthed a very small length of pink, bias cotton cotton voile from my stash, that I made so long ago I barely remember it. But it was just enough to finish the hem!! STOKED!!!

So happy with my pinny!!!!! I’ve worn it a couple of times already, and am over the moon with it!

I am wearing it here with one of my wool-mix Nettie tees, probably one of my most worn winter tees! my self-designed and -made black tights, and my favourite motorcycle boots.

Now… for something completely different!

Recently I had a conversation with my good friend E. Now, E is one of my closest friends, we’ve been so for decades and I hold her opinion in high regard. At the same time! she doesn’t even know I have a sewing blog really, and though she knows I have an instagram account I’m totally sure she has never looked at it… why? because the topic of our conversation on this day was about her recent holiday with her husband, and as an extension of that; how she feels super strongly that “instagrammers” are ruining the world and are just beyond despicable, in her eyes. In her own words; she despises instagram, because people are obsessed with taking their pictures in the most beautiful places and are thus destroying these places for everyone else, in both the taking of the photos, and the damage they do while doing so. And not to mention they look ridiculous in their ballgowns and long tresses blowing in the wind, out on the moors, or in front of a particularly picturesque cottage, that’s not even their cottage, or whatever….. Now… on the one hand I can certainly see her point, especially when it comes to people monopolising key beautiful tourist spots, setting up tripods and preventing other people from enjoying the view because they are prancing around right in the middle of it. Our conversation didn’t even touch on people leaving rubbish behind, or treading on and damaging delicate flora or anything physically destructive like that! though of course that is a problem too. My friend blames instagram completely for all this.

Now of course, I have thoughts! I personally love instagram! though I can see too that all of her points have validity. I know exactly the type of instagrammer to which she is referring… I have seen them myself too. And secretly thought how silly it all looks. And I know I might well be accused of being one of “those prancers” sometimes…!! HOWEVER; I would argue not! since I take great care to take my own photos in complete private. I think this is something not many readers of my blog or viewers of my instagram understand about me; I am actually a very shy and quiet person; and would be terrified to take photos of myself in front of other people. I need complete isolation! If there were other people there enjoying the view and taking their own pictures or whatever, you can bet your bottom dollar I am NOT going to be getting in their way, or taking my own pictures. So while the evidence is there on my blog that I do indeed take pictures of myself in beautiful locations, I’m not really making a spectacle of myself in the action of doing it; if that makes sense.

It’s always felt logical to take photos of my new creations in my favourite spots. It just gives me lots of pleasure to make this happen. Should I stop? because I’m being ridiculous? or continue because it gives me joy? rhetorical question btw, no need to answer… I don’t even know why I’m going got all this effort to explain myself really, except maybe to lay out my own thoughts coherently. Did she strike a nerve? maybe. I have a sense of the ridiculousness of it all, even while I’m doing it. But at the same time, I want to take pictures of my clothes, and I like the idea of nice photos, though my commitment to this waxes and wanes. I did actually go for a fairly long period of time where I only took pictures in my own garage, or in our own house and garden. I don’t know if it even went noticed on my blog here because I am fortunate to have some quite picturesque corners in my garden, but yes; I went off the idea of ” real” photos “out and about” for nearly a year…

And obviously; I am super opposed to damaging the environment in any way. If I love a beautiful spot, I definitely want it to stay beautiful for the future! Leave only footprints and take only pictures. Am a big proponent of that.

I’m not sure what the right answer is, but I guess I should just continue to be super vigilant and careful about taking my photos only when alone. It’s easy to “say”, like many people do in this time of (over?)-sharing; that I don’t care what other people think of me, but obviously that would not be true!

What a weird, double life I’m living! Maybe I should just delete all this?!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, daily outfit, own design, pauline alice, pinafore, pockets, turia, Vogue 1115

a raincoat for Cassie

25/08/2019 7:07 pm \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

Yes, I may be modelling it here, since maybe I stole it for a few days after finishing it, hehe, but this raincoat was always for Cassie and is now safely residing in her wardrobe, where it should be! I ended up finally giving it to her a coupla weeks ago. Luckily I had taken photos of me wearing it because it’s just not so easy anymore to take photos of her, now she’s moved out of home… *sob* She popped over today for some Mum/daughter time and I asked her how it’s been. She says it’s waterproof, it’s a good size to wear over regular winter clothes which is just what you want from a raincoat, and she loves it, all three of which are always very gratifying to hear!

Materials; So, I’ve had this beige pleather in my stash for aaaaaaaaages, so long that I barely even remember buying it! although I do remember it was from Spotlight. I’m in a real stash-busting frame of mind lately, so TIME TO GET THIS STUFF MADE UP AND OOOOOUUTTA THERE! It’s pretty hideous stuff to sew; slightly stretchy and with that “sticky-ness” of pleather so it doesn’t move nicely under the sewing machine foot at all. I used strips of tissue paper for each and every top-stitching seam… see here for my tips on sewing leather or pleather

Lining fabric from the deep stash; have no idea now whether I bought it originally or whether it was one of Mum’s throw-outs. I used a slightly different beige lining fabric, also deep stash; for the sleeves. All three zips, hood cord, cord stops and eyelets are all from Spotlight.

I couldn’t find the same seam sealer I’ve used for all my other raincoats; BCF is now stocking the above sticks of wax for the job. I couldn’t help thinking they were basically candles without the wicks and maybe I could use one of the many candles I have already! but bought one anyway. It proved not very easy to use, since it was quite “firm”, not really soft enough for the job; and you have to rub it quite vigorously over the seam to get it insinuated into the stitch holes which seemed to stretch the fabric out a little. Then, I tried melting it a little in a (real) candle flame, before dripping it over the seams, then eventually moved to softening the wax stick in the flame just a little before commencing to rub it in. The last wasn’t particularly easy either, because the wax only stayed softened for about five seconds away from the flame before it hardened up again, and needed another “soften” in the flame; but in the end I decided this was the best way to get the wax well-worked thoroughly into the seam holes.

But it works! the raincoat is waterproof and that’s the main thing. Though if I had a choice, I would probably choose the chemical seam sealer over the wax stick… actually I only just had a thought; I have some real beeswax somewhere, and wonder if this would actually work better? It’s quite soft naturally and so might prove easier to massage into the seams…. something to think about trying next time!

Pattern; is my own. I’ve made this up three times previously, my first go is here, my second, also for Cassie! is here, my third is here. I’ve added little improvements and modifications each time I’ve made it up; this one is, dare I say, the nicest yet… although it’s always had the most awesomely practical and deep pockets, if I do say so myself! I gave this one a big upgrade when I lined it fully with golden beige polyactate lining fabric. This makes it quite delicious to wear, and makes me wish I’d properly lined my own raincoats with something more traditionally “dressmaker-y” like this. I lined my first and second raincoats with a soft mesh, which is very nice, but the lining fabric is definitely silkier and far more luxurious against the skin. Again… next time!

o hey you gorgeous thing! fluffy photo bombers are always welcome!!

I also gave it an internal pocket, just a simple patch pocket on the left breast; simple but extremely useful. Yes, ahem; I am realising this raincoat IS most definitely far nicer than my own! I should have kept it! jk

.. cheekily wearing it “out” another day! I wore it to the sewing guild meeting with my dp studio “Eve” dress, my handmade black tights, and the booties Craig bought for my last birthday present…

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Cassie, Clara, daily outfit, own design, raincoat

some naice new clothes

23/08/2019 8:49 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve been whipping up (k-chaaaaa!) some maternity clothes for Kelly… I’ve been making a lot “for others” lately, all this year in fact, or at least it feels like it! but I’m ok with that; for one thing; it gives me a chance to get that aspirational 30 wears out of my own wardrobe, and for another… well that’s reason enough, I think? I have lots of nice clothes and I’m enjoying getting the most out of what I have lately 🙂 But I still want to sew! so it’s both fun and enjoyable for me to make clothing for my loved ones instead. Kelly needs new clothes to fit her fast-changing body and is keen for me to make them, and I am more than happy to make them for her, so it’s a win-win situation for both of us. She recently had a birthday, and we headed out to Homecraft Textiles and Spotlight together and did a bit of shopping; my birthday present to her.

A lovely reader of my blog, Graca sent to me this maternity skirt pattern, Burda 7023, thank you so much Graca!. First of all, I ran up a little test number, using a soft, grey and white cotton jersey sweat shirting, leftover from this hoodie I made for Sam a few years ago. The leftover scrap I had was the perfect size for the skirt! The sizing chart of the Burda pattern was a little weird; Kelly’s hip size put her between a size 20 and 22, the very top of Burda’s size range which seemed quite quite bizarre! I eyeballed the pattern pieces and decided to size down to 18-20 for Kelly, and of course it fits pretty well so sizing down was a pretty good decision. Also, of course the skirt is currently huge on her, not surprising given that she is in the very early stages of her pregnancy. But we both feel it will be a good thing for her to have in the later stages of the pregnancy.

On our shopping trip for the real version we picked up a few very nice fabrics; including a truly gorgeous, creamy/ivory/grey cotton jersey – I bought enough for me to have something too! – and this absolutely drool-worthy rose printed stretch velvet. I used the Burda 7023 skirt pattern to make the skirt, and “early-maternitised” it a little bit, so it’s more suitable for her to wear during this wintery, early stage of her pregnancy. I did this by reducing the amount of gathered rise in that front portion of the skirt. I also installed a drawstring in the front band, so she can pull in some of the extra width now, and let it out gradually as she expands over the coming months.

How? Firstly; I ironed a square of iron-on interfacing in the centre of the skirt front facing section, and stitched a sort of double buttonhole/figure 8 stitching using a narrow width, short-stitch zig-zag stitching. I used small shape scissors to cut X-shapes int he square centres of this stitching. Next, I cut long strips from the ivory jersey I used for the little T-shirt top; these left unheeded naturally roll up in to nice little rolls of fabric. These I stitched into the side seam stitching of the front/back waistband/facing/casing so the strips are hidden inside, and threaded the ends through my makeshift eyelets.

So, they emerge inside the front waistband of the skirt, and Kelly can pull the waistband in to fit now, and let it out as she grows. I think this is quite an improvement on the original, which is left to stay big and loose and floppy no matter which stage of the pregnancy you are!

I also made the little top, using the Ebony top pattern I’d bought recently, totally for maternity purposes only of course. Though I did get an extra one printed out for myself too! ahem… Kelly has been wearing the striped, raglan-sleeved test version I’d made up, and requested it be streamlined just a little bit, so I brought in the “swing” of the side seams by about 2 inches at each side seam, keeping the side seams straight. And it still has plenty of swing! The next request was to bring it in even more next time! though I’m pretty sure the bit of extra room will come in very handy come breastfeeding time.

When making a T-shirt; I like to stitch the shoulder seams down towards the back, and also to stitch the neckline seam allowances down onto the shirt at the back only, like so…. I believe it stabilises this part of a T-shirt which is often subject to the most strain.

This is the regular, set-in sleeve version of the pattern …

btw, when it comes to stitching a hem or an elastic casing in velvet; its pile causes it to become the most annoyingly migratory stuff that slides over itself under the sewing needle, even even when you’re being super vigilant and slow, it just happens! I found the best way to keep it firmly in place was to pin regularly, like at least every inch! and perpendicular to the seam, with the needle passing through exactly where you’re going to be stitching, and not removing the needle until you’re right upon it. This seemed to keep everything in place nicely enough…

I already have some other versions in the pipeline, as well as a few as yet unblogged things awaiting in the wings; I need to get cracking and catch up!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: burda 7023, Ebony, maternity, skirt, top, tutorial

terracotta skirt; 6 different ways

22/08/2019 3:17 pm \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve loved this skirt so much! but it’s been worn and worn and worn and the placky-dack fabric got so crazed and brittle in places towards the end there, I’ve finally been forced, forced I say! to bid it adieu; because my husband was like, that skirt is AWFUL. And I had to sadly admit; dear, thou speaketh the truth.

I made it two years ago, using a plastic-fantastic polyacetate/vinyl stuff from Spotlight, and the Megan Nielsen Axel skirt pattern. It most definitely got its magic number of 30 wears… just. It was fairly shredded towards the end of its life, but it got there! I’m giving this awesome little terracotta workhorse a little salutary send-off by reminiscing about some of my favourite outfits in which it featured… Six outfits, to be precise… and everything else I’ve made in the outfits here is linked to its original construction post.

Above; at left; ok, being real here; this is not the most awesome “outfit”, per se; but this OOTD pictures holds a special place in my heart because it was Clara’s first feature on my OOTD blog… LOOK AT THAT LITTLE SCRAP OF PURE CUTENESS!! SO TINYYYYYYY!! sigh. If only they could stay so little and cute like that. But without the puppy-insanity, thanks…. I’m wearing the skirt here with my leather sleeved/wool/silk top, my trusty homemade tights (as always) and my heeled black booties…

At right; I really love this outfit, and wore my caramel suede cardigan with the skirt quite frequently… also with my pink Pattern Magic twist top, ye olde homemade black tights, and my favourite motorcycle boots that I wear practically all winter long…

Both these outfits above were from my spring 10×10 challenge from two years ago, during which the skirt proved its workhorse-ness to me most satisfactorily! At left; worn with my mustard silk crepe blouse, itself another of my creations using a Megan Nielsen pattern, the Sudley…. and also my own handmade white oxford shoes.

At right; worn with my blue-check hoodie from a Burda pattern, my navy edged white Nettie tee, my black tights and, yet again, the favourite boots….

Above, at left; I love the colour combination of this outfit, so much!! wearing the skirt with my teal-blue Nettie tee, my paprika tie-front cardigan, my mustard raincoat, the homemade black tights and my KronKron shoes that I bought during our holiday in Iceland…

At right; I discovered this outfit combo quite late in the skirt’s life, sadly, because I absolutely love it so much I definitely would have worn it over and over again if the skirt had lived a bit longer! My wonky apricot striped T-shirt from a Burda pattern, and my olive suede tunic-tee, from another Burda pattern. Same old black tights, and the little suede booties Craig gave me for my last birthday. Love these !!

Sooooo, this skirt has been pretty great, so I’m a little sad it died, but you know what? Time to cultivate a new favourite. What will take its place in my little skirt-loving heart, I wonder? I can hardly wait to find out 🙂

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Axel, Clara, Megan Nielsen, MN 2207, skirt

black Clementine

12/08/2019 10:52 pm \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh my gosh, I am so behind! I’ve made this new dress … and have worn it and why have I not blogged it? I used to have quite a strict rule about not wearing something until I have written a blog post for it, but things have been so hectic and complicated lately.

So I received a length of beautifully soft, perforated black suedette fabric from Minerva, and also the Clementine dress pattern, the inaugural pattern from a new pattern company, Forget-Me-not patterns and the marriage of these two items bore the most satisfactory fruit; this delightfully witchy-chic and I think rather elegant little number… I only had 2m of the suedette fabric which was technically not enough to make the dress I wanted to, but somehow I made it work! with some sneaky patching together here and there. Specifically, the side front and side back panels have a waist seam, and the back panel has a centre back seam. Not that you’d ever know that wasn’t completely intentional if I hadn’t pointed it out, right?!

The Clementine is a terrifically versatile pattern, a fit and flare style with princess seams, designed for a stretch knit, and includes a top and dress variations, with either a scoop neck or a cowl neck option. Also three different sleeve lengths marked too.

I went, very predictably I’m afraid, for the dress option, with the cowl neck, and the three quarter sleeve length…

My suedette, being perforated, is actually a little bit “peekaboo” close-up, so I chose to underline my dress completely with some very thin, beige/greyish-ivory knits I had in my stash already. Two slightly different fabrics, of an annoying length each of which wasn’t really enough on their own to be useful enough for anything much so I was mighty pleased with myself when it occurred to me I had “just enough” of each combined to cut out my underlining! I clean cut the suedette and the beige knits using my rotary cutter and left them unhemmed, since the fabrics are all non-frayable and quite stable; however I did opt to hem the sleeve hems since these areas are subject to a bit more stretch and strain. Each of the underlining pieces was cut to be 5cm shorter than its corresponding outer shell piece. I stitched each seam, before overlocking the raw edges in a second pass. The pattern is reeeeally economically designed for minimum fabric wastage, with a 6mm seam allowance. Highly approve of such thriftiness! although it doesn’t leave any wriggle room, should one wish to indulge in a bit of post-cutting size-fudging/alteration, ahem! fortunately I went with my recommended size and feel like the sizing is just right.

I am completely in love with that s0ftly draping cowl neckline! It’s my favourite feature of the dress!

At the back neckline I overlocked the raw edge of the suedette shell self-facing, turned it down over the underlining, and simply topstitched it in place…

I was quite pleased with myself when the front facing/underlining turned out quite clean and neatly done; I cut the front underlining the right length so as to stitch to the lower edge of the front self-facing, right sides together, and then when I stitched the shoulder seam I sandwiched the back shoulder edges in-between the front and its self-facing, so all raw edges are neatly hidden inside.

I liked the idea of the dress being middy length, so lengthened all pieces by 15cm at the lower edges… this is the very maximum I could get out of my metre-age! I was actually kicking myself I had not ordered more fabric, but was rather chuffed I managed to make it work, yay!

And that swish factor! I love a dress with a bit of swish!

I have to say; Clara was being so sweet the day I took these pictures! I was down south alone with her on this particular week, and setting up to take photos of my new dress and she just snuck over and plopped herself down loyally at my feet, without even being asked… I was so touched! although the little nose touching my hand in the first picture make me suspect she thought a treat might be in the offing; poor girl, it was not!

I am wearing the dress here with my self-made tights – think I might need to make a new batch of these before winter ends!; and the boots Craig gave me for my last birthday. It’s funny, I didn’t actually think these would get a tonne of wear since I have several pairs of black booties/boots; but I’ve enjoyed wearing them so much this winter. Maybe even my most worn pair of boots for the year?… maybe?!