June 2023 - Handmade by Carolyn

white top… ghost horses jumper… patchwork underthingies

30/06/2023 6:11 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Perth dress/blouse

Hello! I have been so remiss in not posting this top, made months ago now… I wanted a new white shirt and if you’re feeling like a quick and easy shirt project then what better pattern to get out other than my own Perth pattern?! #shamelessplug

The back pleat goes “out”; I really prefer pleats to go “in, the fact that this one does not was not intentional but a boo boo. It’s, ok, I can live with it! I used some white linen/cotton from my stash; leftover from my Charlie caftan that I made *checks blog stats* goodness me, about six years ago now! And obviously made a few minor mods.

The length is about halfway between the top and the skirt cutting lines, and I lengthened the sleeves as much as I could to about three quarter length. I really love this sleeve length on a shirt! and for visual interest I added buttoned cuffs. I also added a little pointy-bottomed breast pocket, for almost the sole purpose of sporting a “circa 2023” label.

I also made the little black flecked white skirt.

Item 2; this (to my mind) absolutely beautiful jumper is also something I finished months ago, and have only just got around to wearing and photographing it for my blog here.

The pattern is Ghost Horses by Boyland knit works… I bought it through her blog site here but you can also get it through Ravelry…

The yarns are:

dark blue: Rowan felted tweed, col 170 Seafarer

variegated pink: Manos del Uruguay silk blend, col SB3317 Kilim

plain pink: Manos del Uruguay silk blend, col SB3236 Clafoutis

Le inside/backside

I bought the yarn from Morris and Sons in Melbourne, during our Harry Potter excursion over there, last March. Actually, March 2022, hehe; so embarrassed to admit that. I actually started knitting it straight away and got it to final ribbing stage within a few months. Then took like forever to decide on the finishing bands. I didn’t really like the slightly tight look of the finishing bands on the pattern envelope sample and tried multiple variations ie various k/P ribbing combos, stocking stitch, double yarn etc before finally settling on … well, these ones. Mine is same needle size as body, single yarn, 2K 2P rib, very loosely finished.

And at least it finally is finished!

yea haw! btw, I made my shirt, skirt and tights too…

Item 3:

I made a new underwear set… all from scraps and leftovers! this kind of project is super fun for me, mostly because it is so crazy and silly.

The pattern is my favourite, the Cloth Habit Watson, and the fabric is all from projects in my previous post; the T-shirt for Arthur, itself an old T-shirt of Tim’s; and the red and navy stripe from the skirt I made for Cassie. I had only small pieces, so it was fun to cut and join bits together to get enough for my set! I know I know, silly and crazy. But fun!

I’m belatedly a little annoyed that the white-fronted knickers are asymmetrically pieced so it looks a little lopsided, but at the time I was just happy to have enough to even cut a front! so I guess I can’t complain…

The strap elastic was also salvaged from an old, also me-made bra, the straps though were still in really good nick … the knicker elastic I had in the stash already too. In the last couple of years since we moved and I vowed to use entirely from the stash, I’m constantly amazed at HOW MUCH is in there…!

So that’s all for now.. until next time!

Posted in: knitting, sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: boyland knitworks, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, cloth habit, daily outfit, ghost horses, jumper, knitting, lingerie, own design, Perth, shirt, Wardrobe Refashion, watson

some new sewn things….

24/06/2023 10:08 am \ 9 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve been busy; making lots of things, but not so busy posting them!

Firstly; Cassie is expecting again, so I’ve whipped up a few new maternity outfits…

Items 1 and 2;

this is the Closet Core Ebony tee combined with the Burda 7023 maternity skirt pattern. This is such a great maternity combination; I’ve made it as a set for both Cassie and Kelly in the past and it’s worked so well. This set is made with navy blue merino and a navy blue/red striped cotton jersey; both have been in the stash for at least a year. I’d bought 2m of the merino from The Fabric Store and made one single tee; I’d been planning a cardi from the remainder but never got around to it… I’d bought the striped jersey to make baby things but again not got around to it yet… Right now I’m totally over saving things for that imagined planned project but am just of the mindset to use what I’ve got, when the mood for a project strikes … it’s a much healthier mindset in my opinion! After all, I can always buy more fabric if I don’t have something appropriate, right?

Items 3 and 4;

the same pattern combo as above, in a mossy green/grey stretch stuff. I have no memory of buying this, and I’m pretty sure it’s another from Mum’s stash. I didn’t have quite enough to cut the tee full length so it’s about 10cm or so shorter than the pattern. Still looks pretty nice imo! I think the sombre colour makes it look a bit more sophisticated and smart.

Item 5;

this is a Burda pattern; 2/2015;107… I’ve made it for her once previously and she absolutely loves that dress. Thus why she requested that I make this one, using fabric from her stash. I think she bought it from Tessuti? when we were in Melbourne, and yes I know I know; I’m trying to use my own stash, why on earth am I accepting commissions from other people’s stashes, hmmm?? Madness! But she’s my daughter so of course I acquiesced. She’s pretty busy, after all!

The fabric is a very lightweight silk? I think… so lightweight I deemed it necessary to underline totally with a creamy coloured, very drapey drill, also used for that visible tie. This was from the stash, yay! It was all finished and I was pretty happy; however when she tried it on it looked way too heavy. When I’d made the first one I’d simply lined it, not underlined; and I realised this was the problem… the simple fix was to cut away the underlining from the side seams and resew the underlining side seams separately to make it a lining. Sounds kinda slapdash but it worked pretty well. The silk hangs quite nicely now! This is not really a maternity pattern but Cassie has found it works just fine in early pregnancy.

Item 6; another self-drafted tee for Arthur. This was cut from one of the last of Tim’s old tees from my T-shirt bag! Feels good to have those all gone now!

bragging about careful stripe matching ahem, particularly on those very small sleeve bands!

Item 7; a kinda silly hat for Cassie. I cut this from the scraps from hers and Theo’s matching pj pants; blogged here. The fabric is of course her own design, from her Spoonflower shop. The hat is a little funny but you know, the fabric was too nice to throw out.

The pattern is the Elbe Textiles Sorrento bucket hat; this used to be a free pattern but now has a small price on it. Which is fine, imo. Designers should be paid for the work they do! Did I ever tell you the story about the sewist who sent us multiple emails trying to not only get our patterns for themselves for free, but also to donate them as prizes for her followers? All to “support us and help promote us”? No? One for another time, maybe!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: arthur, burda 02/2015;107, burda 7023, Closet Core patterns, dress, Ebony, hat, maternity, skirt, sorrento bucket hat, tee, Wardrobe Refashion

💜 borahae! *

13/06/2023 9:02 pm \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! So, in the never-ending saga that is my making journey, blah blah blah; I want to try and make at least one thing per month for no reason other than it satisfies my creative desires. This is kinda important since lately I actually seem to make a lot of things that don’t satisfy me creatively at all … strange, huh? anyway, it’s just something I want to make time for, for my own personal happiness.

It doesn’t have to necessarily be “useful” or practical either… just something that I want to make, just because. While also being entirely from the stash, the other important proviso of course!

Something that’s bothered me for a while is that I have practically zero purple clothing… and nothing purple in the stash either. Also, today is the 10th anniversary of BTS debut, and being a reasonably recent fan (more on that later) I thought I could observe this milestone and fill the gaping purple hole in my wardrobe at the same time.

I had some cherry red cotton corduroy, originally from Mum’s stash… and I also have plenty of old jeans. I think these ones were also Mum’s actually! Thanks, Mum!

Plans were made, patterns were perused, discarded, dyes checked out. I worked out I could cut out the Named Maisa jean jacket from my corduroy, and also get a little matching skirt out if I cut some of the pieces from the old jeans. To make everything purple, I would dye the cherry red corduroy with navy blue dye, and the blue jeans would get a red dye bath, This may or may not have been a disastrous adventure, but you know me, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was so excited to see how it was going to go!

Stuff cut out. Here are the bits and bobs. The leftovers (middle right) are, I’m proud to boast; practically nothing. I did save some of them for another little project, yet to be realised…

I made up the body part of the Maisa jean jacket first, and overlocked the edges of the other red jacket bits, for dyeing.

I cut out a few extra pockets… I wasn’t sure where these would go exactly but I just cut and dyed them anyway, thinking I’d find the right spot for them eventually.

The second stage was to make the skirt. The design is my own, that I’m planning to make into a pattern for mine and Cassie’s tiny little company this year, if possible! It has deep pockets, and no zip, instead closing over a hip pocket. I made this completely including lining, before dyeing it as a whole in the same dye bath as the jean jacket body, just with a little bit of extra blue added. I used a green lining fabric (why not, ’twas in the stash) and some leftover pink linen from my Lennox dress to line the waistband. This is how they turned out after the dye job. I’m really happy with how (to my mind) gorgeous the colours look together!

Last step was to construct the jacket sleeves and collar, and dye these and the rescued jeans pockets in a red dye bath. I’d added a tiny bit of blue to this bath too, on a hunch; and am quite happy with the level of purple achieved. Then I finished the jacket construction. The two extra corduroy pockets got stitched onto the denim sleeves of the jacket, and the rescued denim jeans pockets got stitched to the body of the jacket. Of course I’m thrilled to have some useful pockets on the jacket!

Some details: I used copper jeans buttons, these were the only things bought new for the project. For the most part, I used black thread or a dark khaki thread for the skirt lining and some other parts; and navy blue overlocking thread throughout. For the skirt; I had two purple buttons already in my stash, which was handy.

Final verdict; well of course all that strong red turned out more raspberry than purple; though the jacket sleeves are decidedly purple. I still love it though! and am very excited to wear it a lot during winter. Although I “wanted” purple; raspberry is of course one of my favourite colours; so how could I not be happy?!

* “borahae” actually kinda translates to “I purple you”, and is a BTS thing… So I’ve been a low-key fan for a few years, but it wasn’t until I started making wedding dresses and spending a lot of time listening to youtube videos and bingeing on BTS Run while I hand stitched tiny lace motifs onto silk and tulle bodices that I really got into them a lot more. Then during the making of Lainey’s wedding dress, I finally finished viewing the entirety of BTS Run and of course anyone who has watched the show knows you cannot help but eventually became hopelessly addicted! Aaah! I’m not going to say any more, because it’s a little bit embarrassing, at my age! but anyway there it is. I’ve said it now! 💜