Monthly Archives: May 2023

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dressing like a tomato

25/05/2023 2:23 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello!

So, I’ve alluded to this ongoing project previously; the mission to “use up a rather large length of tomato-red jersey” I am pleased and just a ~~little~~ lot relieved to report a successful completion of the mission, ahem…

I originally bought this “remnant” from a Morrison seconds sale… it was very cheap… when I had the chance to check it out properly I realised it was at least 6m in length, possibly more if I’m honest. Phew! Just a few weeks ago I dedicated myself to remove this from Le Stash.

Item 1; a dress for Cassie… this is the Ebony pattern by Closet Core patterns. I don’t have any pictures of her wearing it, but it skims her knees and the sleeves are elbow length. This will be a great little dress for winter for her; worn with tights and boots, over a turtleneck, and with her denim jacket, it looks super cute!

Item 2; a little T-shirt for Theo (previously posted)

yes, he looks cute

Items 3,4 and 5; a little T-shirt for Arthur, plus the sleeves for two more (previously posted)

here he is on Mothers Day. Cassie is wearing this dress I made last year, and Tim is wearing a hoodie I made for him yeeeeears ago. I’m thrilled he still loves it so much! Also, yes, the dress is still mine but I’ve lent it to Cassie for a little while because she wanted some more work-appropriate dresses and I don’t have the time to make new ones for her just yet!

Item 6;

a cardigan for myself… I’m in the midst of planning to make a pattern for this design this year. I’ve made multiples for myself and it’s such a useful little thing to have!

wearing it during me-made May

Item 7:

a little top for myself. This is our most recent pattern the Booragoon top, available in our etsy store here #shamelessplug

Item 8;

a little winter skirt for myself. This is the Paprika patterns Jade pattern; one I make up usually once a year. Well, I really like it! Again, pictured during me-made May…

there’s even a failed Item 9! I cut out a skirt for Cassie too, but as I was pinning it together for its first seam I noticed a fault, a few holes right across a line of the grain. By this time I was well and truly over the tomato fabric so it was with some joy that it got tossed into the bin. No regrets!

So wow, yes that’s still a lot of tomato!!

I may or may not wear all three of my own tomato items together like this; on the one hand I really love this colour. On the other hand…. well actually there is no other hand really. I love the colour, so I most like will! btw, not pictured; but the three items I made for myself each has a “circa 2023” label on it.

Now; to be honest, there is a problem with all of these new makes, well more accurately there is a problem with the fabric… I realised that it was cheap and plentiful for a reason. The fabric is super stretchy, as in it’s stretching out quite fast and it’s clearly not going to last very long. Like, probably not longer than this year. Beware a bargain! You can see in my miniskirt how the folds do not look super stable and a little stretched out already. Oh well, just gong to enjoy it while I can 🙂

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: arthur, Booragoon top, cardigan, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, Closet Core patterns, dress, Ebony, Jade, own design, Paprika Patterns, skirt, Theo, top

green Quilla and some small T-shirts

17/05/2023 1:07 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made some new things… actually I’m always making new things but am seriously behind on blogging them. Bad me!

First up; a new little top for myself… this is the new Fibremood Quilla pattern, I and I love it! It’s super cute in my opinion, very easy to make and uses a very small amount of fabric. Is that a good thing? well pretty wonderful when you have lots of small leftover cuts that you wish to “gainfully” use up, like I am.

something I should mention: several times I have had to go back and lowered the necklines on a few of my fibremood makes, retroactively; because I’ve found them to sit quite high in general. So this time I proactively lowered the neckline by 5cm on this and I’m glad I did! it doesn’t feel too low at all and is in fact very comfortable. Something to bear in mind!

I used a raw silk hessian from Le Stash… this is leftover from when I made this green dress.

I stitched with green thread of course, but didn’t have any matching cotton for the bias binding nor green overlocking thread, so used white for both of these so there’s kind of a match-matchy situation going on with the inner seam finishes. This is quite a pleasurable sight to my eyes.

This top has a reverse pleat going on with the front/back panels and side panels; so I thought I’d share how I do the hem in this circumstance; the pattern just has you hemming as usual, but I’ve always found you get a sharper pleat if you doit like above. You need to snip the seam allowances at the hemline point so the hem seam allowances can wrap out the other way around the side seam allowances. Yes, sounds like it makes no sense but it does if you’re doing this sort of hem, trust me. Because I didn’t have matching overlocking thread, I just did a zigzag stitch to finish the raw edges in the hem allowance.

This gives you a nice, permanent fold at that point and enables the pleats to sit the way you want them too.

oh, see that cute little T-shirt Theo is wearing in the above pic? that’s the one I blogged about in my previous post. I’m happy to say he loves wearing it as a regular T-shirt and not just for pj’s!

Also, since Arthur’s T-shirts were a tad on the small side I made him a few more… These are made from out of two of Tim’s old T-shirts and also some more of that tomato red cotton jersey that Theo’s top is made from; that I’ve been using up lately. There will be some more things from this stuff appearing very soon, once I get around to modelling and photographing it. It’s actually finally all gone now, hurrah! and I have moved onto other fabrics!

Extras: yes, I made those jeans, using old jeans and the Closet Core Jenny pattern, previously blogged here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: arthur, fibremood, own design, quilla, Theo, top, Wardrobe Refashion

pj’s

02/05/2023 8:13 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh man! I have been unable to post here for quite a while and was starting to wonder; could this be the end of Handmade by Carolyn…? Fortunately my clever husband worked the problem out. Then I wrote a whole post and posted it, and it just disappeared, poof! into the ether. So upsetting! I’m going to try for a second time, so hopefully this time it will not!

Pj’s. I’ve made a few.

Firstly, for me, I used my namesake pattern, the Closet Core Carolyn PJ’s for my pants and a Burda pattern, 10/2009, 121 for the top. Sometimes I think I should make the Carolyn top as a pj top too, but I really prefer my pj tops to be buttonless. As well as saving buttonholes for a shirt that I will wear awake, and out of the house. Well, buttonholes are an effort!

I know I pledged to not buy any new fabric until I’d used up my stash, and I had to buy some flannelette for these, which is a little bad but not really because I really needed new winter jammies. I managed to use up every last scrap by slapping some patch pockets on the front of the top; which makes me feel very thrifty and virtuous, so it’s all good in the end. The white flannelette was already in my stash, leftover from a previous jammie-making venture. Both from Spotlight.

Next up; I made pj pants for Cassie, and mini matching ones for Theo. So cute that they can match each other! Cassie’s are the Closet Core Carolyn pattern, and I left the front open at her request, just in case she decides to go though another pregnancy in the next few years.

I added a press stud at the waistline and a drawstring so they can still be closed easily. The drawstring is attached to a bit of elastic threaded through the back of the waistband. I cut out and stitched in her Spoonflower label… oh I forgot to mention! The print on the fabric is her own design in her Spoonflower shop, printed on fleece from their range. We were using this small length as a cot blanket for when the kiddies slept over, but it’s outgrown that function and needed up cycling. So now it’s pj’s!

Theo’s matching pants are Burda 9436 modified slightly to be pj bottoms by eliminating pockets and adding elasticated cuffs, and his little red raglan T-shirt is self drafted. It’s cut from a massive “remnant” that I bought from a Morrison seconds sale, once upon a time. When I say, remnant, I mean about 6m although I’ve been too depressed to ever actually measure this. I don’t know what I was thinking, buying it; honestly. I must have been mad. It’s my current intention to use up this remnant as soon as possible… I’m making good headway too, results to appear here soon. I hope!

Next up, for Arthur. For the pants, I used the same Burda 9436 as for Theo, lengthened because he is much taller; and grey sweat shirting fabric from the stash. The two little T-shirts (same self drafted pattern again) are made using his Dad, Tim’s old T-shirts. Yes, I still have some of these left! and actually it’s getting quite hard to cut Arthur sized T-shirts from adult-sized T-shirts, believe it or not; so I’m planning to power through all the T-shirts pretty quickly now.

Lastly, and completely random I know; I made some lemon macarons because I had lemons, and because I kinda wanted to prove to myself I was still capable. Very very pleased with how they turned out!