Handmade by Carolyn

pretty duds, plain duds

20/09/2016 11:38 am \ 40 Comments \ Carolyn

Sooo….. I’ve been making underwear, and recently have produced two new sets; one is sorta Oo-la-la while the other is more of the Serviceable variety.

Madame Serviceable? you’re up first!

“Pretty” is all very well but we all need some plains in our lives too, right? I still think this set is kinda classy 🙂 Of course I’ve been wearing it a lot! because it’s absolutely awesome under all my winter white sweaters and Tshirts, which I wear such heckkuva lot it’s not even funny. Rest assured though, I took these photos when it was all fresh and brand new, hot off the machine and not yet been worn.

Patterns; MakeBra 2610, which is apparently now renamed DL03; so I’m going to start using that tag instead… and all four pairs of knickers in this post are the Watson briefs.
Materials; light caramel stretchy stuff from Fabulous Fabrics, all other materials are from my MakeBra basic kits. The foldover elastic on the waist of the knickers is a different type from that I used for the legs, because in between the two basic kits I’ve bought through them, they seem to have changed their supplier or something. I didn’t have enough of either elastic to do everything on both pairs of briefs, but I had enough for this arrangement. They’re close enough to identical that I can live with it 😉 The waist elastic is a teeny little bit “shinier” than the leg elastic. The little ribbon bows are rescued from off of an old lingerie set, also me-made. Yep, when I toss out an old lingerie set, I usually salvage the little decorative bows off it, because A) it’s not like they get dirty or worn out or ruined or anything through wear, and B) they’re kinda fiddly to make so it’s worth the few seconds it takes to pick them off to keep for a new set. Waste not want not!

Madame Oo-la-la…

I bought this neon yellow bra kit from Measure Twice Cut Once… and was rather thrilled that I managed to get not just the bra but two pair of knickers from it too;yay!!! ~~Stingey~~ economical cutter; yet another of my middle names…

hehe; I finished the set late at night and then just slung it all over Bessie in a hurry. The next morning it gave me such a laugh to see her “wearing” these pretty frilly nothings all deshabille and “twas a wild-night, eh?” like this!! 😀

The bra design is my own; I just wanted something flimsy and a bit of whimsical frippery. In summer I don’t always want or need to wear the foam-lined “Tshirt” bras that I favour in winter, and can just happily live in the more lacey, pretty and fun designs. Just one more reason to love summer!!! Anyway, I just draped the lace directly on Bessie and ad-libbed it, and I couldn’t be happier with the result! I think it turned out really pretty and almost more like a sweet little camisole than a bra. Don’t worry, it’s definitely going to be worn as a bra, though! even though it’s lined with beige power net it’s still quite see-through.

It’s not a super supportive thing, but realistically I have no need for a super supportive bra anyway. I still think it’s pretty stable though; I stitched the clear elastic that came with the kit along each side of the cups; so they won’t stretch out, and stitched a little strip of bias-cut white linen in with the side seams. I trimmed the linen strip right down before encasing it within the side seam, so it doesn’t show…. and this stabilised the side seams and makes them nice and strong, and they won’t stretch out either.

Inner workings: 1) hand flat-felled seams within the cups and clear elastic stabilising; and 2) linen bias-strip to stabilise the side seams(above) is then sewn to be enclosed inside the layers (below)

There was enough of some neon yellow bra elastic to do one pair of knickers around the waist, the other has a strip of the leftover neon yellow lace at the top. After that, I had to resort to things from my stash; obviously I didn’t have any matching lingerie elastic for the legs and had to resort to white. I don’t hate the white, but don’t love it either… I kinda wish I had made some attempt to get hold of matching lingerie elastic but I’m an impatient person and really wanted to just get them made and done!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, makeBra, own design, watson

a tart for tartan

17/09/2016 12:53 pm \ 50 Comments \ Carolyn

Och aye! I’ve made this big, swirly tartan dress, and I absolutely LOVE it! I know it‘s kinda crazy and huge-skirted and possibly a bit over the top, but you know what? it’s also extremely comfortable and cosy, and so swirly and swishy. The instant I finished it and put it on I immediately felt simultaneously relaxed, like I had put on a warm comfy dressing gown or something; but also a bit chic as well. The big feminine skirt with a nipped-in waist does that, but I really like how the volume below is balanced out by the mannish style shirt top with cargo pockets and flaps, and a notched collar.

Hehe, actually while I was making it I did worry a little bit that it was going to look exactly like a dressing gown! but once I put it on I was instead happily reminded of 80’s Ralph Lauren, and even Spandau Ballet. Remember To Cut a Long Story Short? big big fan here. HUGE fan. I still know all the words off by heart; and that film clip transports me right back into breathless, happy teenagehood all over again, and wearing this dress totally reminds me of that clip and that joyful time in my life; the over-the-top, big, blowsy, romantic 80’s era. So I”m very happy. And, can I say? there’s something about a big wide dramatic skirt that really brings out the poses in a person. Not to mention twirling… put a big skirt on a girl and just watch; you just can’t help it but break out into a coupla twirls.

#awkward!! Yes, well; obviously most of us don’t actually twirl very often. Twirling is something of a fashion blogger contrivance… although if I do want to get in a bit of highland flinging I am all set. 😉

More realistically, it still looks pretty awesome when you’re striding briskly along the street too, and this? I do a LOT.

When making this I had an image in my head of an actual dress like this from an 80’s or maybe 90’s editorial, I swear it was a Ralph Lauren… so of course I wasted many hours searching and searching and searching to link to it, and do you think I can find a picture anywhere of that maybe-Ralph Lauren dress??? NO. The closest thing I could find is this maxi-dress, which isn’t it.

Anyway: Fabric; soft, cotton flannelette, tartan shirting from Spotlight. The same stuff I used to line my Tosti jacket, in a different colourway. One side is slightly fluffy, the other side is smooth and flat. I put the fluffy side inside. This is the opposite of how I used it for my Tosti jacket, which has the fluffy side out! Or… since it’s the lining, is the fluffy side therefore in? hmmm, that’s a puzzle! Navy blue buttons from Fabulous Fabrics.

Pattern: Mum had given me some of her old patterns, including this great Vogue 1147 shirtdress with multiple variations, from 1993. I thought it perfect for that vision of the big skirted, maybe-Ralph Lauren, maybe-not dress in my head. It’s not in my size, but the three nested sizes made it fairly easy to downsize a bit. I made view B, at far left.

The skirt pieces, bodice pockets and flaps are all cut on the bias; bodice and sleeves on the grain. As much as possible, I matched the tartan. #madpatternmatcher This was easy in the bodice and sleeves, and the pockets which please note, are exact mirror images… however! That skirt.…! I love how the centre seams in the skirt have a nice, fairly even row of white diamonds and am fairly happy with how the lines join up at the side seams… this took some careful pinning and only a wee bit of fudging… 😉 Those side edges did not have the same profiles and combine that with an asymmetric tartan…! *hair-pulling stuff* Anyway, the matching turned out pretty good, spot on where it counts, and so is reasonably satisfying 🙂

I cut the sleeves long, then stitched an ultra-wide wide hem. This is then turned up once in a wide cuff, and secured with invisible hand stitching 1cm inside the fold. I did it this way because the underside of the fabric is different from the right side, quite fluffy! and I wanted the smooth side to be on the outside of the turned-up cuffs.

Because the skirt is on the bias, I let it hang up for a week to let the bias drop a bit, and it did! by quite a lot in some places. The hem is hand stitched.

I also made a sort of belt… this helps to pull the waist in. I only made this actually because of my year of totally handmade, meaning I can’t grab one of my nice leather ready-to-wear belts, and I really think the design NEEDS a belt. But now I’ve made it I LOVE how it blends invisibly into the dress so perfectly! It’s basically just an interfaced waistband, with an inside button and two buttonholes. One buttonhole is for the start of the evening, before dinner. The outer one is for when you decide you do want to have dessert after all. Comfort dressing, at its finest!

Details:

Dress; Vogue 1147 from 1993, tartan flannelette shirting
Tights; my own pattern black stretch, details here and my tutorial for making your own custom fit tights pattern is here
Shoes; made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, vintage pattern pledge, Vogue 1147

blue roses *

16/09/2016 11:31 am \ 32 Comments \ Carolyn

* … Tennessee Williams…

Hello! I’ve made a new skirt. Hehe, hot on the heels of writing that I was a wee smidgeon tired of making Vogue 1247 skirts; what should I do? but immediately make another one!! Doh!! Clearly there’s something terribly wrong with me… #madvogue1247addict

But wait, there is a perfectly good reason…. I’m doing One Week One Pattern again, and of course chose to use this pattern, well I’ve got so many of them!! lotsa skirts and I was kinda hoping that we would get at least ONE day warmish enough for me to wear the one top I have from it… but it’s been so freaking cold; officially the coldest and wettest winter and early spring we’ve have in like thirty years or something like that! I’m getting to the end of the week, no motivation whatsoever to wear that thin little summery top, and only have 6 pocketed V1247 skirts. Which are what I consider to be the only true V1247’s, all my ones without the pockets are kinda pretenders to that crown, and even though I love them all too I ruthlessly omitted them all from the line-up. So what can a girl do? but get cracking and make for herself another true V1247, obviously, so I have a nice 7 to round the week off. Yeah, I know; a normal person would have worn one of her existing ones, twice; but see I already had the fabric earmarked for the pattern anyway; and just decided go for it; whip it up, make it happen.

Fabric; pale teal denim, just very slightly stretchy, with a reverse print of smudgy roses. This was a remnant given to me by my friend LW, who was cleaning out her stash. Something funny/miraculous; the remnant was kinda oddly and awkwardly shaped, yet it was absolutely perfect for the pattern pieces! like it was cut just perfectly to fit them all on with the smallest of scraps leftover. I freakingLOVE when this happens! it’s like the planets aligned for a pattern/fabric match made in heaven 🙂 Even if I was feeling a bit meh about V1247 to start with, when I laid out the pattern pieces and saw how perfect it was it totally galvanised me into excited pattern-love all over again. I managed to cut my skirt about 10cm longer than the pattern, and I cut the pocket linings and waistband facing from a small piece of nani Iro quilting cotton, from the little bundle of pieces that Mum gave to me for my birthday, for my rag-doll Sally. I used it for her tote bag.

obligatory “waitress” pocket pic

aaaaaand, my week of exclusively wearing Vogue 1247 skirts, in a nutshell…!

Back very soon, with something that is NOT Vogue 1247… I promise!!

Details:

Skirt; Vogue 1247, lengthened by about 10cm, teal denim
Top; Nettie, by closet case patterns with my own collar variation, ivory knit; details here
Cardigan; knitted by me, Audrey in Unst, wool bought in Paris as a souvenir, details here
Tights, my own pattern, black stretch, details here and my tutorial for making your own custom fit tights pattern is here
Socks (not seen); hand knit by me, details here
Boots; made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, OWOP, skirt, Vogue 1247

bananananananana BATMAN!!

04/09/2016 3:03 pm \ 30 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh hey-a! I’ve been making some more stuff for Le Daughter… recently I went around to her place on an important mission: Wardrobe Assessment and Consultation following the Winter Blahs. She was feeling meh about all her clothes, so we went through EVERYTHING and worked out new combinations, identified tired stuff, rediscovered forgotten stuff, and dreamed up new stuff to fill some holes. It was actually great fun! we did the same thing with my wardrobe too; so useful. I reckon we could stand to do this every six months or so. Keeps things fresh, and you know how you tend to wear the same things over and over and over again and sometimes don’t seen yourself how tired and ratty things are getting? Just grab yourself a trusted friend/daughter/mum that doesn’t mind giving you the hard truth and have at it. It’s SO worth it!

Anyway, so we made a little list. Cassie wanted some more options to wear to work; she works in an office but in a very creative field, so along with the more professional stuff she sometimes likes to wear pieces that are fun, humorous and “arty” yet still city and office appropriate. She had a small piece of Batman print fabric leftover from when she made some pj shorts for her brothers, and I still had some yellow corduroy leftover from my own yellow corduroy skirt… the yellow is a perfect match for the small blotches of yellow in the Batman print, and I just managed to squeeze the pieces out with only one bit of piecing inside the pockets (see composite picture below). The Batman fabric… now it IS fun, but let’s face it; professionally iffy… To twee, to not to twee, that is the question. Then I thought of the black leather sleeves and we both went Oh yeah!! I think they “adult” the print up a bit, make it kinda cool and ok. Also; I like how from a distance the Batman print could just pass as a nice, blue/black/white nondescript print, and it’s only when you get up close you notice that it’s actually a cartoon. The black pleather is leftover from my shoemaking adventures. All fabrics are originally from Spotlight.

Patterns: the skirt is Vogue 1247. I do really love this pattern but to be honest, I’m getting a wee bit tired of making it?! I’ve just made SO MANY, and even though I love all of them to bits I think I just need a little break…!! Anyway, this was requested, and those pockets were the drawcard. I used some deeper gold cotton to bind all the seams; this is a leftover from Cassie’s Lucy Hartfilia costume… so in actual fact, her entire ensemble is a glorious mishmash of completely unrelated leftovers. Amazing how things can come together, no?!

Top is the epaulette cut & sewn top from “she has a mannish style”, by Yuko Takada. I’ve only just made this pattern up for myself, here; and coincidentally also with black pleather sleeves!

I took this picture to send to her when I’d finished the outfit. She was so pleased!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, She Has a Mannish Style, She Wears the Pants, skirt, top, Vogue 1247

sage skirt, sage skirt, ivory top, orange hand warmers

31/08/2016 1:48 pm \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve got a small handful of new stuff to ~~show off~~ present … four things to be precise!

Firstly, two sage green/pale coffee, checked tweed skirts. I inherited this beautiful quality piece of wool tweed from my grandmother’s stash after she passed away. Although I earmarked it straight away as two skirts for Cassie and myself I just hadn’t got around to it and have sat on it all this time. It was one of those fabrics I couldn’t bring myself to cut into… you know, inherited from Granny, plus exceptionally good quality, equals inevitable thoughts of sewing tragedy followed by eternal self-damnation…. but I’m making myself get over that nonsense nowadays. Make it! Enjoy it! Live dangerously! So, finally… it helps too that I think Cassie has now grown into fabric of this calibre 😉 not that she didn’t deserve high quality fabrics before, but you know what I mean! it’s very much a grown-up fabric and makes a very smart little work skirt for her now that she has a serious and professional career. The fabric really is beautiful stuff… fine and evenly woven, and there are flecks of all sorts of colours in with the sage green/coffee check… blue, red and gold, caramel brown, forest green, and a hint of purple and black. It has no identifier on it but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a fully English tweed. My grandmother was very much into that sort of thing 🙂
Also, this is possibly the first time that my fabulously neutral garage wall has failed me in showing up a garment nicely!! it blends in way too much here! Maybe the gorgeous fabric shows up better in Cassie’s picture, below. Here, she is wearing her skirt with this caramel coloured merino tee that I made for her previously.

Both skirts are pretty much identical, apart from the size, of course!! Both made using Vogue 8363; the waistbands and pocket linings are cut from cotton calico, and the lining is a beige polyacetate. Ivory/beige invisible zips in both skirts, closure by a wide hook and eye, and I cut the linings big and eased the extra fullness into the waistband with big pleats, for some wearing ease. As always, I like to hand-stitch the waistband facings and lining down on the inside, much neater I think and the fabric deserved a really nice finish 🙂

Next up, a little top for Cassie! we bought this ivory/grey cotton French terry while we were in Japan recently… and can I just say… OmigawdthisfabricisthemostGORGEOUSstuff and I would sob with pitiful happiness if only I knew I could go back to Japan again… *sigh* When Cassie moved out of home she left this fabric behind and I almost started to factor it into my own plans mwahahahahaha… but of course she hadn’t forgotten it, o no! The reason she had deviously left it behind was so that I could make something for her with it! HA! She chose the wings top from Pattern Magic 3, modified so as to have the wings gone; I’ve made this for myself once previously too, and I like Cassie’s new one so much I’m now wondering why I threw mine away! I left the lower edge raw so it curls up nicely, and the sleeve edges and neckline I overlocked the raw edge, turned it under once and did a nice discreet little zig-zag to finish it. It looks quite nice, I think.

Item number four, and actually this is nothing to write home about really… I refashioned the fabric from an old woollen jumper of Craig’s into cosy new hand warmers for me. I have my nice sheen green knitted hand warmers, that I’ve been wearing all winter, but! It’s still cold, I’m bored to tears with all my winter clothes and I just really fancied a new colour. And the jumper was such a divinely rich tangerine-y colour and going begging because it had developed a large moth hole in the front. Also, it had felted and shrunk a little bit when some careless person had accidentally tossed it in with too hot of a wash, tut tut *whistles innocently* and I have NO IDEA who that could have been, hum de hum!!! Anyway!! I cut open the whole jumper, assessed for holes, and cut out two rectangles, carefully avoiding said holes and a few stains. I kept the ribbing intact for the bottom edge, and cut holes for my thumbs, overstitched those all nice and secure, and sewed the long side up. I put them so the seams are on the outside because I liked the bobbly look of them, then sewed a little casing in the top edge and inserted a ring of elastic so they stay up my arm. Bam! and bob’s your uncle. New hand warmers, and making use of an old thing that would have otherwise been tossed out. WIN!

Details:

Item 1)

Top; Burdastyle 04/2014-111, white bobbly stuff, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, sage green/coffee check wool tweed
Tights; my own pattern, black stretch stuff, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; made by me, my own design, details here

item 2)

Top; drafted by me, caramel coloured merino wool, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, sage green/coffee check wool tweed

item 3)

Top; the wings top from Pattern Magic 3, ivory French terry cotton knit

item 4)

Handwarmers: made from an old jumper
Tshirt; self-drafted, dyed black cotton jersey, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, dyed purple denim, details and my review of this pattern here
Cardigan; Miette knitted by me, details here
Cowl; knitted by me to my own design, details and my original pattern is here
Tights; my own pattern, black stretch stuff, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; made by me, my own design, details here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Cassie, daily outfit, handwarmers, Pattern Magic 3, Sienna, skirt, top, Vogue 8363, Wardrobe Refashion

the year of handmade, 6

26/08/2016 10:21 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

above is a small selection of my outfits for the past month, the whole lot so far can be seen in my Year of Handmade flickr album, here…

So I’m halfway through my year, wooooot! I’m feeling so pleased with myself and how it’s all going; with the end of winter on the horizon I truly believe the most difficult bit is nearly over now and I’m REALLY looking forward to shedding some layers, getting into some warmer weather gear. I’m pretty bored with all my winter wardrobe – standard procedure for this time of year! even though I think the last month saw me getting more “interesting” in my wardrobe choices,discovering new combinations, and mixing and matching things up a bit. Anything to generate some excitement into the winter blahs.

Something funny; I’m still pretty shy about telling people in my real life about this project. Hardly anyone even knows that I’m doing this thing. It feels like a huge thing I’m doing in my life right now and for some reason I just don’t ever bring it up in conversation… like, on the weekend I met up with a bunch of old school friends and while everyone was talking about their kids and their lives and their own current activities etc, I just didn’t even mention the fact that I make all my own clothes. Not sure if it’s that I worry that people are going to think I’m crazy, or not normal, or a raving loony; generally I have always marched to the beat of my own drum anyway. Also, I’m often a cripplingly introverted person. This probably sounds counterintuitive, since maybe I don’t come across that way on my blog here… it’s different when you’re just tapping away on a keyboard all by yourself and it’s easy to imagine no one ever looks at it. Like, I talk about myself and my stuff here, but not really in real life. Weird, huh. Maybe I just feel like I get it all out here thus obviating the need to mention it for real. Ha!

Posted in: fashion \ Tagged: year of handmade

Marimekko dress

18/08/2016 3:59 pm \ 61 Comments \ Carolyn

what’s with the ballet pose? I have no idea. Anyway… I have a Marimekko dress. *pinches self* *sits in reverent silence for a minute*

See, to have a Marimekko dress is something I’ve kinda lusted after for a long long time… I grew up in a Scandinavian style house decorated in modern Scandinavian decor by my everything-Scandinavian-loving parents. White walls, those white Danish “UFO” light fittings; lots of pared-back wood and leather, with simple lines, naif flowers sprouting upon our white bathroom tiles and so I’ve been trained to have an affinity for it from a very early age … When we went to Scandinavia I was quite disappointed to not find any Marimekko fabric during our time there, although to be honest it was a gamble since we didn’t actually manage to get to Finland, the home of Marimekko. All through Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland I harboured vain hopes and searched and searched, obviously coming up empty handed, sob. And I’ve never ever seen any for sale here in Perth; so it’s proven to be pretty elusive stuff! But no more! you CAN get Marimekko fabric in Australia! 🙂

Fabric; Marimekko Pieni Unikko 2 in blue/yellow, and is actually from an Australian fabric store, Yulki’s Home Decor in Hobart, Tasmania, believe it or not! I’m a wee bit sad the brick-and-mortar store is not next door to me! but only a wee bit because the store does (obviously) have online sales. Thank goodness for that! It’s a little price-y but well worth it because it really is absolutely beautiful quality, thick and strong, happily not too thick for clothing, and the colours and prints are of course instantly recognisable, modern day classics, so vibrant and optimistic and happy. There’s a pretty good reason why they are perennially popular and still in production after fifty years… everyone loves a happy vibrant print, and I’m pretty sure I will not be able to resist buying more either *blush*. The currently available range can be viewed here. I’m rather excited to see it comes in oilcloth too… mmmmm, raincoat? *plotting plotting*

I’ve kept the selvedge from off the fabric, and have sewn these inside one of the pockets! just because I love information like this… namely: this design is by prominent Finnish designer Maija Isola, and was created in 1964! out by a year but definitely still of my era, haha. “Pieni unikko” translates literally to “little poppy” I’m not sure what KI 2009 means yet, but I’m investigating…. Also, how cool is it that the laundering info is printed on the selvedge?! so classy and very considerate really, it’s been along long time since I’ve seen such consideration in a fabric. That information’s the kind of thing I usually forget the very minute I swan out of the shop with my new fabric tucked under my wing.

I also sewed this: “The Label” inside my dress… half of me wanted to sew it on the outside, haha! but of course Marimekko is instantly recognisable so there’s probably no need.

hehe, I’ve just asked my husband, and he had no idea! so maybe I should amend that, ahem… instantly recognisable to design and fabric afficianadoes, then!

Pattern; I used dress 108, the cover dress from the Burda 04/2014 issue, also known as the Wings Dress. It’s an interesting design; looks simple but has quite a lot of seaming which I chose to highlight with inset strips of acid-yellow cotton voile, bought from Calico House. My method for framing pieces with contrasting inset strips like this is here… and my method for edging those pocket openings as part of the side seam inset strip is here… I also edged the neckline, armholes and the lower hem and edges of the overskirt in yellow cotton as well. The dress closes with a long navy blue invisible zip in the centre back. I agonised a bit over the colour to use here, the contrasts in the colours of the print are all pretty extreme! yellow? blue? black? white? aaagh, so hard. The navy blue turned out not too bad, I reckon.

The bodice has princess seams and tiny additional bust darts in the centre front piece that I believe are called a Dior dart. This is the very first time I’ve come across one of these! it just adds a little more nuance to the “shape” in the bodice. Although there is all that shaping by seaming, the design is actually little boxy, believe it or not. I shaped mine a bit more throughout those seaming lines, bringing it in at the waist more and giving a bit more width at my hips. The princess seams in the bodice visually connect to the gore lines in the skirt, which itself has an interesting overskirt feature with the pockets in it. I think it looks quite interesting and pretty and lends the whole dress a slightly sporty “wraparound” feel to it, a bit like a sports or tennis dress.

I finished the raw pocket edges inside the front overlays all with HongKong seaming, because they have a tendency to flap open and show! So, I had to make sure the insides here look as lovely as possible. Binding the seams visually ties the inside with the inset strips on the outside; all those yellow edges everywhere just keeps it all nicely harmonious. Well, I reckon it does…

The loose front pieces also allows you to have these big loose comfortable pockets that you can shove your hands in, while still maintaing quite a slimline dress overall. As a result, the pattern uses very little fabric. I managed to squeeze my pattern pieces out of 1.5m, which is not too bad, not too bad at all, I think *preens oneself on an exceptionally economic layout* I had the merest of scraps left after cutting out my pieces, scraps, I tell you! The pattern has you line the dress, and after a bit of um-ing and aah-ing, I decided to not. Reason? summers here are very hot and I think the breeziness of this lovely cotton fabric is going to be perfect just as it is.

So that’s it! I love it paired up like here with my new white shoes. A little bit sporty, a little bit flower child, a LOT summer; my little bit of Marimekko loveliness is just awaiting to dazzle with ultra mod 60’s chic. Right on. 🙂

Details:

Dress; Burdastyle 108;04/2014 in Marimekko cotton with cotton voile contrast
Shoes; my own design and made by me, details here

Pictured below on Cable Beach, Broome… along with my hat and my new sandals

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle 04/2014-108, daily outfit, dress, pattern review

side seam with inset strip and bound-edge inseam pocket; a tutorial

17/08/2016 5:44 pm \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

btw this fabric here is fulfilling a long held dream of mine…. a Marimekko dress!! print is Pieni Unikko 2, 100% cotton, available here… yes, you can get Marimekko fabric in Australia! More details on the dress in a future post to come… 🙂

Also, sorry for the unwieldy title but it’s the most accurate way of describing this technique, I reckon…

Anyway, recently I was putting in some inseam side pockets but I wanted to have a contrasting coloured strip set into the seam and carrying on seamlessly to incorporate a neatly bound edge to the pocket opening also… how to do it? well here is my method…

This is illustrated for a dress but works equally well in a skirt, trousers or shorts as well, obviously.

You have your dress (or skirt/trouser/shorts) front and back, the under pocket piece cut from the fashion fabric and a pocket liner piece cut from either lining fabric or the fashion fabric, and 1 1/2″ (4cm) bias cut fabric in a contrasting colour for the inset strip/pocket edging. btw the measurements given here are for a garment cut with 1/2″ (1.2cm) seam allowances and will resulting in a 1/4″(6mm) wide contrasting strip, but the measurements can be varied accordingly for different dimensions as desired.

Stitch the bias strip to the skirt front, using a 6/8″ (2cm) seam allowance. Press the strip to the side edge.

From the underside, make two 1/2″ (1.3cm) snips (seam allowance width) through all layers at the top and bottom opening edge of the pocket. Take care to not snip all the way to the previous stitching, but ONLY the width of the seam allowance.

Stitch the lining pocket piece to the bias strip in a narrow 1/4″(6mm) seam allowance.

Press the pocket lining out, then turn it under the front piece and press, forming the 1/4″ (6mm) wide bound edge of the pocket.

Use a matching thread and stitch in the ditch along the joining seam from the right side through all layers, securing the pocket lining to the front.

Underneath, pin the pocket piece to the pocket lining piece around all inner edges, stitch, Finish the edge as desired… I chose to finish the edges in a HongKong seam using the same yellow voile.

from the right side (with some irrelevant (white) basting along the side edge… not really necessary for this method)

Pin the back piece to the front piece at the side seams, marking the pocket opening points exactly with a pin. Have the front piece uppermost, so you can use the previous, bias attachment seam as a guide while stitching; this is so you can ensure your contrasting bias strip comes out as a nice perfectly even width all the way down the side seam. Stitch side seams in a 1/2″ (1.3mm) seam, passing exactly through those pin-marked points. Reinforce the pocket opening edges with a few backward and forward passes with the machine at these points. Take great care to keep the pocket opening edge free between the two layers.