a patchwork pinafore and some other things

hello!  I’m back with a few further “things I have made” ….

1) Finished only yesterday is this new patchwork pinafore….  Mum bought a little bundle of Irish tweed cut-offs during a visit to the UK years ago.

I admit to being quite intimidated by this lovely stuff for a long time!  but as my policy for the past few years is to sew my stash completely, the time came to step up, get brave and cut into it.  I used a pattern partly based upon the Pauline Alice Turia dungarees pattern, but as I’ve unfortunately thrown out my copy I made a new pattern by laying down my pink pinafore and tracing around it.

I cut the tweed into equal sized squares, dimensions based upon the narrowest of the lengths, overlocked all edges, arranged and joined them so as to fit the pattern pieces.

I made welt pockets just like the ones I did on my pink pinafore because they work so well for me.

The straps are also patchwork, which created a few problems when I had to thread them through the buckles because of the sheer bulk of the fabric; but I managed to force them through eventually!  Initially I decided to line the pinafore with some lovely chocolate brown cotton that I’ve had for many years.

Yes, it looks pretty nice but unfortunately made it quite difficult to wear.  I realised very quickly I had to replace it with something a bit more slippery.   So I cut most away and attached a new one made of polyacetate lining fabric.  Sadly, it doesn’t look nearly as pretty now to my eyes, but it does make it SO much easier and more pleasant to wear!

The only way to attach this securely was to press down the seam allowance around the top edge all around and basically topstitch it in place to what remained of the previous cotton lining.  However, the topstitching looked quite ugly to my eyes and I wanted it to look a little cleaner, even on the inside where no one can even see it.  SoI made a bias strip from the chocolate brown cotton, and hand stitched this over the join all around on the inside to hide it.  So much better!

Everything here was from my stash, and I’m so happy to have finally made something I love from this beautiful fabric!

2) Back in summer I made a new little dress using leftover cotton fabrics and the Esme pattern from the book “Everyday Style” by Lotte Jansdotter.  I love how it looks like a French flag!

The seams look like straight lines, but in reality none of them are because of the weird shapes of the fabric scraps I was using!  All the horizontal seams are curved to differing degrees.  It was a little tricky to get a good neat result but I was actually very pleased with myself how cohesive it all looks in the end!  Of course this is a fun and cool, airy little dress to wear and I am extremely happy with it.  I’m looking forward to summer so I can get back into it again!

Again, everything from stash.

3) Also during last summer I also made this little lace dress using the Fibremood Lennox pattern and a pale “greige” lace originally from Fabulous Fabrics from many years ago.  I underlined all pieces completely with a cream coloured muslin, also bought many years ago, I think from a Morrison remnant sale.  The buttons are actually some leftovers from the covered buttons that I made for Kelly’s wedding dress, back here!  This is also all from stash, and  although I’ve worn this a tonne since I made it I took only one picture of myself wearing it… this rather terrible one, sorry.  I’m trying to get back to photographing and documenting things better.

4) and 5) and oodie!! along with some new winter pyjamas.  Not particularly glamorous or exciting, and I did have to buy all new fabric but we all have to do that sometimes since we need pyjamas, yes?  I’d bought the fluffy pink blanket from Spotlight with a view to making a new dressing gown like my previous one… but the blanket was unfortunately way too small for my pattern.  So I drew up a plan that used as much of the blanket as I could, while making a functional winter coverup. I absolutely love the result!  It’s super comfy and warm and I’m in it every single evening, even during the day at home sometimes!

I chose the pyjama fabric simply because the pink of the teddies’ tummies perfectly matches the colour of the blanket so well.  The patterns I used  for these are my usual; the Closet Core Carolyn pyjama bottoms, and heavily modified Burda 10/2009; 121 for the top.

Finally I just want to add; thank you so much for the lovely welcome back comments on my previous post!  I do still have quite a few more things to share once I get around to taking some photos, so please stay tuned!