2021 - Page 5 of 6 - Handmade by Carolyn

3 merino netties

30/06/2021 10:43 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

To be perfectly honest I don’t know why I keep calling this a Nettie because I’ve rejigged it so much it literally has zero of the original seam lines left…

… anyway! above is my new sweater/ tee in the Fabric Store merino knit, colour Vanilla; I made it using (sort of) the Closet Core Nettie pattern and added a short wide turtle-neck collar… I love this tee so much! even though honestly I don’t really need to make another white or even white-is top as long as I live. I don’t care I still love it!

Worn with my Closet Core patterns Pietra shorts in BamBam cotton drill from Spotlight, and ye olde self-drafted tights

二 … another new sweater/tee; same pattern, same fabric in colour Marsala. Worn with my outback wife V 1247 skirt, self-drafted tights

三 … below; same pattern, this time with a bound neckline, and the same fabric in colour Forest. Worn with this little wool tartan skirt, fabric bought in Tokyo during a holiday there… boy that feels like decades ago now! I wish I could go back some day!

below, closer to actual colour

So; I had bought all of these beautiful thin merino stretch knits from the Fabric Store online during one of their sales… I had this idea once upon a time of making a tee in every colour in their range but just to do it bit by bit, buy maybe two new colours per year. I don’t know now if I’d still do a tee in every colour… since we moved and I had to finally own up to the fact that my stash is GINORMUOUSLY HUGE, so I’m kind of on a mission to use up my stash before buying anything else at all. And now with the completion of these three new tees, I’ve successfully used up nearly all the merino in my stash, which is kind of amazing! Yes, I said “nearly’ I still have about another sweater’s worth of the ivory leftover, and small leftover amounts of marsala and mustard left too, oh and also the forest, but the forest is thankfully already cut out and well on its way to be completely, and gainfully, used up which is totally awesome news.

oops, almost forgot! the last, forest, (sort of) nettie is the next in my use-12 fabrics challenge that I set up for myself at the beginning of the year… yes, I got a bit behind with this for a few months but I hadn’t forgotten it!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Closet Case files, Closet Core patterns, daily outfit, Nettie, tee, use 12

Tali Tali Sandhills

22/06/2021 1:18 pm \ 17 Comments \ Carolyn

I thought about holding off on posting anything about this ensemble until later on, like after the exhibition and I had some pictures of it actually IN the exhibition but … well obviously decided no!

I was thrilled to be invited to participate in FrockOn this year, a collaborative exhibition between Flying Fox fabrics and Ikuntji artists group; an event that aims to highlight and celebrate the work of indigenous artists in Australia … Essentially indigenous designed and printed fabrics were supplied to sewing peeps like myself and we were expected to turn it into an ensemble for the exhibition.

I received 2m of this print; “Tali Tali- Sandhills” by Alice Nampitjinpa. The design depicts the artist’s Tjukurrpa the Tali Tali Dreaming in reference to her country in Western Australia… you can read more here, and even purchase some of the fabric if you so choose…

The print is in khaki and cream on black linen and I really threw my all into making something truly worthy of this really beautiful print! I just wish I got to keep it! a few peeps on instagram suggested I buy more of the same fabric and make another set for myself, but honestly, I don’t know if I have the creative stamina to do that. But anyway! Here it is, in the spirit of continuing to document everything I make, sewing wise on this ol’ bloggeroo … 🙂

I made the top using V1486, a Nicola Finetti for Vogue design … (this pattern previously made here) I love the boxiness of this design and thought it went so well with the clean, very straight and fitted lines of the skirt… the back closes with an open ended zip and I was pretty determined to use a gold zip, the nickel colour did not look good at all… however the gold one came only in a 75cm length so it had to be shortened. This is always a far fiddly-er process than you imagine and I’m always terrified the zip pull is going to be on the wrong side or fly off the top! A solid wedge of hand stitched upholstery thread at the top provides a good thick stop though.

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I cut all internal facings from plain black linen and made bias binding for edging throughout from khaki cotton batiste … I think this looks quite smart on the inside…

I made the skirt using V1693, an Issey Miyake for Vogue pattern that is sadly long out of print… (this pattern previously made here)

I really love how the asymmetric details of this design play up the jaggedly stripes against each other in such an interesting way, adding a bit of a visual twist to a print that is already quite dramatic!

I made bias binding of khaki batiste to bind inside edges and flat felled the side seams of the skirt inside… I found the perfect blotchy khaki buttons in my stash, and handstitched some “made by me” labels inside both pieces, these are cut from the same khaki cotton batiste and handwritten using a laundry marker…

I am SO EXCITED to see the exhibition virtually in July and to view all the art and textiles work by all the artists involved… it was an honour to be invited to contribute in just this small way … It was very scary to make that first cut but once I’d committed to my chosen designs it was a hugely enjoyable process to work with such special fabric. I posted it off back towards the beginning of the month and just hope it gets there ok! Still slightly terrified!

Details:

Top; Vogue 1486
Skirt: Vogue 1693
Sandals; my old faves from Zomp boutique

boy I really kinda wish I still had it looking at these pictures now. I actually REALLY love it!

Posted in: knitting, Uncategorized \ Tagged: skirt, top, vogue 1486, Vogue 1693

sewing tragedies

09/06/2021 11:45 am \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made this crazy new dress… isn’t this fabric hilarious?! The very second I clapped eyes on I simply could not resist… it’s like a comic book – first point in its favour – except all sewing stuff – second point in its favour. Almost an afterthought, but I was really drawn to its cool sharp black and white graphic artistry too- I don’t frequently gravitate to a lot of black-and-white prints but if it’s quirky I suddenly do – point three; and SOLD!

I think comic book art is a highly unappreciated art form and its taken way too long for the style to finally come out from the cold… I’ve always loved it but it’s always teetered on being Not Taken Seriously, which is such a shame.

I wanted a style of dress that kept the boxes fairly intact and not cut across like you would for a regular A-line skirt, so I drafted my own idea. It’s kinda wacky, but I actually love how comfy and nice it is to wear so I’m thinking of making this into our next pattern… I mean, it needs some work because this is a sort of prototype but I think it has promise!

Because the print tickled me pink I went with a pink linen for the bias bound neckline and armholes…! hmmm, a tenuous little link?! In reality it just happened to be sitting on the sidelines, so I grabbed it…. this was leftover bias binding from the Yallingup top I made for Cassie, in the previous post.

just because, cute pattern weight… #notstagedatall

I put on some patch pockets, and employed weapons-grade pattern matching skills here… hehe. Ok, definitely tongue in cheek there since only one pocket could be pattern matched! I only had enough fabric to do one… but you know. The other pocket is not even vaguely pattern matched sadly. I probably should have matched neither, to be consistent, but… I didn’t. Pattern-matching… missed chance for another sewing themed tragedy comic there, haha?

Details:

Dress; designed by me, cool comic book fabric from Minerva, available here
Sandals; Zomp, old favourites

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, own design

the Yallingup dress/blouse

23/05/2021 4:34 pm \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

I can finally reveal the main thing I’ve been working on for the past few months… our new pattern!

Please allow me to introduce the Yallingup dress/blouse!
This is a loose summery piece that can be made as either a regular item or alternatively as a nursing friendly version for nursing mothers… both versions appear superficially the same at a glance but of course are constructed quite differently on the inside!

The design features a scoop neckline, single breast pocket, and an overlaying wrap top that can be worn either loose or tied at the back… for the nursing version the wrap can also function as a modesty cloth for when you are feeding your baby… the dress version also has deep inseam side pockets, of course!

Cassie conceived the design after the delivery of her baby and then I converted the idea into a regular one for “not nursing” people too😁

So technically, the pattern has four views:

A, the regular blouse; B, the nursing friendly blouse; C, the regular dress and D, the nursing friendly dress… and because the construction method for the regular version and the nursing friendly version are quite different I ended up deciding to write two different instruction booklets, for the two different methods. I know, that sounds complicated but honestly it was nowhere near as complicated as when I had them combined in one single instruction booklet! Separating the two methods completely has simplified things considerably so I hope you’ll forgive the extra file that comes with it.

I’ve been making tonnes of these lately, for basically everyone in our family, including the new Mums … it’s super comfy and easy to wear and we hope you like it too!

The Yallingup pattern is available right now in our Etsy shop, here, or you can click the Yallingup illustration in my right hand side-bar over there ->

Pictured here are just a small sample of the Yallingup’s I have made:

btw; I opted to not go the call-out for tester route this time.. this is because there has been a bit of negativity around the “doing testing work for free” in the sewing community lately and I even ran into this a little bit during the testing for my last pattern, the Mundaring raincoat.

It’s funny because I personally love testing patterns and I’ve been doing it for many years for other pattern companies, happily, and with no expectation or even thought of getting paid. Nowadays a lot of sewing peeps feel like they should be paid. This is not necessarily a criticism by the way, just an observation into how attitudes are a-changing.

This time we did all the testing in-house and through personal contacts. I mean, I’ve always personally tested each and every size in all our patterns anyway, so I know they work as they should; and this time we did the same thing. I think maybe part of the pattern-testing negativity I mentioned earlier is because pattern testers feeling like they’re doing work for free and then being treated like free publicity for the pattern company; and so I decided I did not want to be associated with that perception of exploitation.

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: blouse, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, dress, own design, top, yallingup

cool new top

23/04/2021 11:27 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

oh hey! I made a new top.

This is the Harmony pattern by FibreMood; and I really loved it upon first sight; the interesting, sailor-inspired bib collar and slightly old-fashioned sleeves with a wide, buttoned cuff. I think it has a vaguely Edwardian air about it and I am totally on board with this idea!

I used a beautiful silk/linen mix that I bought from Fabulous Fabrics ages ago… btw, I’m on a use-my-stash-only kick, since out move when I realised just how much fabric I have. Spoiler alert; it’s a LOT and I seriously want to get my supplies down to a much more manageable level. Like, to about a quarter of what I have now! Yes, very embarrassing, I know! but there it is and I’m making good headway, believe it or not! Yes, I know I haven’t posted much here lately, but I’m making a lot of toiles for Cassie’s and my new pattern and I’ve managed to harvest/cull quite a bit in the process. But, I’m getting sidetracked here… back to my top!

You’re supposed to gather the bodice into the bib, and also gather the sleeves into the cuffs; instead I carefully measured and folded mini pleats in these areas which I think suits my quite crisp fabric a lot better. I really love doing pleats in lieu of gathers, actually and have done it in quite a few garments in my time. I won’t call it “age-appropriate”, because I’ve become wary of that divisive term in recent years so I will just describe it instead as “personal-style appropriate”. That’s better!

The design actually uses an unexpected lot of fabric, and I didn’t actually have enough… I solved this problem by cutting the bib facings on the selvedge, and joined them in the middle. This enabled a much more efficient layout of the pattern pieces and of course you can’t even see the facings anyway!

The pattern advises you to put buttonholes on the shoulder closure; I did stitch them on during the making but I unpicked them when I realised buttoning and unbuttoning up on my shoulder like that was going to be pretty darned awkward; and I installed pretty pearl-headed press studs there instead. The sleeves have self-fabric looped button closure too, but they are wide enough I can easily slip my hands through without having to fiddle with those, and the cuffs can stay firmly and securely buttoned the whole time. I used pearl look-alike buttons here. Yes; all of of this from my stash! I’m so glad I could finally “marry” all of these items together into one pretty garment!

Details:

Top, the harmony blouse pattern by FibreMood, ivory silk/linen
Trousers; the Sasha trousers pattern by ClosetCore patterns, stretchy cotton denim, more details here
Shoes; made by me using a Shoe Camaraderie kit, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Clara, daily outfit, fibre mood, harmony, top

progress on wardrobe capsule…

10/04/2021 12:04 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some more things to add to my little make12/capsule wardrobe….

I think I got this rather smallish scrap of very nice damask upholstery fabric from my friend N when she cleared out her stash… I fell in love with the pretty ocean-blue colour immediately and the scrolling curls in the damask reminded me of seam foam… I thought there might be enough for a little skirt. And there was… JUST!! as in, I literally had the smallest quarter handful of scraps leftover after I’d finished with it!

I started out by cutting my skirt block as well I could. This left me with a micro-mini that would barely cover my knickers in wearing, so I put my university level mathematics to good use, calucating the exact width I could cut the side pieces into in order that they could fit around the entire hemline of the mini evenly and making maximum use of the very limited area. And I think I did it! I found that I could have a little bit of extra width on the last pieces to be cut, and I used these at the centre back, where I think it’s nice to have a little bit of extra length anyway. So there is a very subtle high-low hemline going on at the back too, as well as a slight curving out of the centre-back seam which give the skirt a little “kick” at the back.

With a basically finished skirt, I realised I had a small rectangle leftover that I thought would be big enough for a pocket facing, so I slipped a little pocket in the horizontal skirt seam.

It has the aqua damask at the back of the pocket, for a nice uniform look when you peek into the pocket on the outside, and the remainder of the pocket is made of the cream coloured gingham I used for my recent little top, which I’ve just now realised I haven’t blogged yet Whoops! I will get to it! it’s a prototype for Cassie’s and my newest pattern which we are working really hard on getting out very soon, I hope. Anyway, the pocket lining is from the scraps from that.

Due to lack of fabric, I finished the hemline and the waistline of the skirt using a bias bound finish… this was cut from an old shirt of Craig’s. So really, the only thing I had to buy new for this project was the zip! I hand stitched the bias bound hemline but the waistband I topstitched on my machine. The pocket is handstitched on the inside to the skirt. I love both my labels; this green one is Japanese, organised for me by my friend Yoshimi.

pocket in action… and boy do I miss my white wall in the old house!! I had to borrow this one from Cassie 😀

Next up!

I’ve had this too-big-to-throw away scrap of yellow cotton jersey leftover from when I made last year’s mini-skirt and I thought I’d be able to get a little T-shirt out of it. However I was too optimistic! and no matter how creatively I arranged it, even a little top was not going to happen. Well, maybe it could, but not without horizontal seams like I did in the skirt and in my opinion, in a jersey this is just not a good look.

Anyway, obviously I turned to my favourite old standby for smallish cuts of jersey fabric and made a set of underwear… I used my old favourite the Watson pattern by cloth habit, and managed to get two pairs of undies for one bra, which is my preferred ratio.

I did my usual adjustments to the pattern, like fully lining the bra as outlined in more detail in this post here. Also, I always cut the front of the briefs to be one piece to incorporate the outer crotch, so as to avoid that awkward horizontal seam at the front. All elastics and bits and pieces were already in my stash, and the little white bows were recycled from an old, also me-made, set from the past. I always recycle the bits that I can!

These are the second and third things in my make 12/capsule wardrobe that I proposed for myself, using all fabrics/notions from my stash. I kind still kinda wish I’d had enough of the golden-yellow fabric to make a top, because I really like the idea of a yellow top in this particular capsule, but I suppose I can still make a top at some stage in the future. Obviously I’m going to wear the underwear a lot, so it’s all good really. I’m super happy with the little skirt too, it’s exactly the kind of thing I will wear both winter and summer. I’m pretty happy it has a pocket too!

Details:

Top; from Burda 4/2014/115, details here
Skirt; my own design, old leftover damask from a friend
Shoes; made by me, details here

Underwear; the Watson pattern by cloth habit, leftover yellow jersey

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, lingerie, own design, pocket, skirt, use 12, watson

of dots and bats…

13/03/2021 5:55 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a swishy new skirt…

this beautiful rayon challis fabric was generously given to me by Minerva in the UK in return for a blog post for their site, which can be read here.. however because of course I am in the habit of documenting my makes here on my own personal blog too, then here we are!

For sometime I’ve been wanting to make a maxi skirt, and just thought what the heck, no time like the present! It’s very nearly zero waste, which I am quite proud of. This is the very simple design:

I measured my waist and hips, and gave myself a bit of extra in the hips, and divided by six to get a rough dimensions for a six-gore skirt design, and the width at the bottom hem decided by subtracting my waist measurement from the total fabric width and then dividing by two, and the length of the skirt was determined by the length of fabric I had, divided by two obviously. So first step was to draw up the one skirt piece. Yes, I used the same pattern piece for all six gores!… I planned to fit three of the gores onto each half of the fabric length I had, laid alternately up and down to make the most of the area. This was possible because the print is non directional. Actually, side note, but print-matching as a concept is actually the biggest fabric waster OF THEM ALL, I know, pretty controversial thing to say, huh? Or not, it’s actually quite obvious of course, although no one wants to admit it! 🙂

Initially I thought I’d try to be clever and cut a waistband and pockets from that bit of scrap off the sides, but I quickly realised that pockets and/or a waistband were going to be, respectively; ugly and/or unnecessary. So this skirt has neither in the end.

some progress shots…

when making a skirt of a delicate fabric and bias side seams, I’ve found it a good idea to hang the pieces up for a day or so to let some of that bias drop out before seaming. Otherwise I’ve sometimes noticed that over time, the fabric can grow a slightly “gathered” look either side of that stable side seam stitching.

After under stitching the waist seam I didn’t feel like it was sitting very smooth and neat, so I topstitched around the top edge. Hangs much nicer now I think!

I used a black invisible zip because that’s what I had!

Hemline before and after trimming…

I hemmed using the triple stitched skinny hem, as described here…

I gave it a half lining, because swishy skirts have a tendency to be clingy skirts if they do not have a lining, to disastrous effect. Fortunately I had some yellow lining fabric leftover from when I made my yellow Mundaring raincoat. A lining doesn’t need to be super long to be effective for a main skirt, but now it’s done and I’ve worn it I’ve retrospectively decided I would prefer a big swishy lining too. I may or may not add a doughnut shape to the bottom some time, to get one.

Anyway, it’s still gorgeously swishy! I’m wearing it here with my little hand stitched Alabama Chanin tank top, which is my favourite tank top. I really should make myself another, because I could literally wear this two hundred times a year, easily! I mean, I don’t, but I could, I love it that much… Hmmm *wanders off to the fabric room in search of white cotton jersey…*

this is how I wore it to bookclub…

In non sewing news; we are nicely settled into our house at last. I still have a lot of cleaning out and sorting out to do to get our “family of five”possessions whittled down to be better suited to “empty nesters” state of things *sob* but you know… Work in progress, always!

Oh, one other, this time sewing related thing… Cassie needed a feeding cushion for baby Theo, so I made one using some batman themed cotton drill from spotlight and a European pillow insert. It has a big border so as to use up the entire width of fabric #wastenotwantnot and I put snaps along the bottom to take the insert out for cleaning. Look how cute he is on his cushion! Yes, I made the “Tshirt” here which is actually a onesie, and the pants were a gift from another doting relative that happened to match perfectly 🙂

Until next time!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: home wares, own design, skirt, Theo

embroidered white top

05/03/2021 10:33 pm \ 10 Comments \ Carolyn

hello!

so, short side note; but I didn’t post any yearly resolutions/intentions here previously. I did on instagram though. Whoops! Anyway, I did actually make a little resolution, and here’s the lowdown…

at the beginning of the year I was thinking about how I really enjoyed doing my “make 12” last year so I decided to do it again but this time with a little more flexibility ; I chose the above 12 textiles from my stash with the idea I’d make a sort of unplanned mini capsule wardrobe of 12 things. Early on I optimistically thought I’d be able to do one thing per month but of course moving house, well, moving two houses as it turned out! and our new pattern were all pretty major and stressful events that ended up taking every ounce I had… and before I even knew it it’s March already!

spot the paw… ^

Anywhoo! For patterns/designs I’m just gonna decide as I go …! My 12 fabrics are a hopefully interesting and eclectic mix, including wool, corduroy, damask, drill, jersey, heavily embroidered something, and even some precious fish leather that I bought during our trip to Iceland years ago…

And I made my first thing!

also… paw

This particular fabric is a piece given to me by Mum years ago when she cleaned out her stash, a heavily embroidered and appliquéd cotton that is absolutely beautiful and absolutely my cup of tea! As it turned out, it was not one piece of fabric, but several already cut out into shirt pieces. Mum had obviously planned to make a shirt and already cut out a back and two fronts, but I decided to switch them around, and have the one back piece at the front; and the two front pieces at the back!

…she’s been quite needy today; came and plonked herself up against me so hard and close, it was so very sweet! This furry love was just so comforting and I needed it today too 🙂

Apart from that it’s all fairly standard, I left the selvedges at the bottom of each piece because I thought it looked so weird in a way that I really like… and I attached selvedges pieces to the ends of the sleeves too to get the same effect here. I stitched the button plackets on the (old) fronts simply down onto each other, and cut a new neckline into the (old) back so I could wear it comfortably as a front. The neckline is finished with a bias binding, that I cut from an old cream coloured business skirt of Craig’s.

love a good bias binding 🙂

You know how sometimes you make something and you just put it on straight away and don’t want to take it off? Well, that is how I feel about this new top! I absolutely love it!