sewing Archives - Page 10 of 41 - Handmade by Carolyn

pink and blue magnolias

02/11/2022 12:44 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello!

Here is another little sundress I made more recently actually… just in late July if I recall correctly. I was so excited and getting ready for spring and it seemed like the perfect little spring-time thing… little did I know that winter was going to continue to grip us in its icy cold claws for a further few months.

Even so, I happily managed to don it for a few random warmish days in there, hurrah! I’m so excited to wear this lots and lots as the weather warms up more, because I absolutely love it!

Firstly, the fabric; is super lovely. It’s a linen cotton, but feels a lot more linen-y than cotton-y; with a crisp hand that crinkles a little. The print, Nerida Hanson “Magnolia” in the blue colour way, is really beautiful too, cool sea-blues and a big splashes of pink.

I based my design on the Nerida Hansen half-sleeve top pattern, but of course added some very wild modifications to make the most of the 2m I had… fortunately it’s a very wide 2m and I was able to cut out quite a voluminous and flouncy dress in the end!

I really love how my mods turned out and am seriously thinking I would love to make this style into a pattern one day! I know, I know; I have so many ideas for patterns but so little time. It’s a little sad for me, because I honestly love designing and making patterns and would love to do it a lot more than I do at the moment. My dream career, if you will :/

It is actually two very wide and deeply “flouncy” flounces both cut on long curved, asymmetric angles across the body.

Hemming was fun of course (sarcastic font) because of the bias… I left it to hang for quite a while before venturing to cut off the hemline evenly. I had no room for error! partly because I had zero leftover fabric to play with, and I had only managed to get a fairly short version of my idea from the 2m. I cut super super carefully, and got a pretty decent hem, I think.

I did start out with the eponymous “half sleeves” but for balance sake eventually cut them off quite short … I think the very voluminous skirt looks much nice with the shorter sleeves.

My dress also has pockets, of course.

The flounces were just not possible with just 2m of fabric of course; so each is comprised of multiple smaller wedges, cut both up and down and joined around to make a multi-sectioned piece. Basically using every single scrap of fabric possible. The result is good, I think; for the randomness of pattern placement; the fact that you don’t get that slightly obnoxious pattern repeat that you do if you cut things out the normal way. A little bit of every-which-way in pattern placement does wonders for the a visually pleasing aesthetic sometimes; if you have an obvious pattern repeat. I often think when I’m checking out designs on Spoonflower actually; that designs could be improved so much if they had a larger scale repeat. I mean; I’m no visual art expert by any means, but this is just an impression I get.

Probably explaining myself really badly here, sorry. At least I know what I mean!

“winterised” … as worn on the plane home from Velassaru

Anyway, I guess the long and short is that I am really happy with my new dress.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, half sleeve dress, nerida hansen, own design

the Maldives; a travel wardrobe

26/10/2022 11:18 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

phew! it’s been aaaaaages since I did one of these! or it feels like it anyway! We’d originally booked this holiday back in 2019, to be taken in 2020; and well, we all know what happened in 2020! Covid, in case future me has forgotten this world-altering event already… hehe. We’d decided we wanted to treat ourselves to a lovely relaxing break after catering to the respective two weddings of our two eldest; Tim to Kelly, and Cassie to Daniel. Of course these were both lovely and wonderful events in our lives, at the same time I’d made the wedding dresses plus all the bridesmaids’ dresses for both and was pretty much exhausted.

Anyway, we finally got to take this longed-for dream holiday! and return back to our dream holiday spot in the Maldives.

Time away: 7 days

Where to: Velassaru, of the Maldives

Season; tail end of the monsoon season, meaning possible rain. High tropical temperatures from 27C lows to 29C highs #heaven!!!

Expected activities: lots of nothing at all! no really, just swimming and lazing

Colour scheme: cheerful and colourful, as befits a blissfully beautiful oceanic isle

What I packed: We’ve been here previously, so I know that the ideal holiday wardrobe is basically a new little sundress every day. So this is what I took!

From left to right, top to bottom; all items are linked to their construction posts… (I will update this post with the links once the as yet unblogged ones are finally blogged)

pink checked sundress

rtw red thongs

rtw turquoise thongs

rtw ivory scarf

ivory, long sleeve tee

black tights

rtw black booties

not pictured; my oxen dress, a few books, small knitting bag, my nightie and a selection of underwear

I’ve been so slack with blogging this year! I’m sorry! I will make a big effort to blog everything as soon as possible 🙂 Also, there’s another sundress in my outfit shots that I wore but forgot to put into the lineup… also unblogged, whoops!

My daily outfits:

Thoughts:

I’d taken the long sleeve tee, cardigan, tights, scarf and booties to wear on the plane. It was bitterly cold in Perth as we were leaving, plus planes are cold, so I knew I’d need to be warmly dressed just for this short part of our trip. I wore these things over/under one of the sundresses on travelling days, to minimise packing space. Verdict: necessary!

The bathers got worn every day obviously, the bucket hat occasionally, and all of my colourful pretty sundresses got worn, each perfect for the climate and location. 🙂 it’s pretty hot and humid so you basically need a fresh one every day… verdict; all necessary!

I didn’t really need the raincoat; although we’d gone at the tail end of the monsoon season and it did rain several times, the resort provides big umbrellas for you. Plus, it was too humid and hot to wear the raincoat anyway… verdict; unnecessary!

I’d taken one pair of red thongs however I did not wear them even once! since the resort also provides a pair of thongs for you, the turquoise ones pictured above; and I wore these ones every day! Such a pretty, summery colour, and as a bonus they have “Velassaru” stamped into the bottom. There are Velassaru footprints all over the island, and I found this totally charming!

One thing which I did not take and which I wish I had? a pair of sand shoes, or sneakers. This trip we did a good solid hour on the treadmill in the resort gym everyday. This is actually so unlike us! a gym?! but for some reason we just got into it and enjoyed it. Possibly because the first day it rained quite heavily ALL DAY (thus the umbrella in my 1st daily outfit pic) and we still wanted to get some exercise after a day of travel. And after day 1 we decided to do it every day; just that one hour of solid exercise and then we could fully relax, swim, read, snorkel and just generally laid about for the rest of each day. And I had to wear either my thongs or a pair of Craig’s socks on the treadmill, because I had no choice! In future; I will take a pair of sneakers for both on the plane, and that I can wear for exercise if needed. because actually the booties were a kinda frivolous, plane-only thing… verdict; better footwear choice needed!

Some favourite holiday snaps: Craig took the 1st and 2nd distant shots of me, and the final one is our de facto pet from during the holiday; a rather large fruit bat hanging in the tree outside our cabin. I loved watching him swoop silently along the beach at night!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: travel wardrobe

22/10/2022 8:31 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn \ Quote

I made a pretty new top… isn’t it gorgeous? It’s a slight different style that I might usually go for, and I absolutely love it! So elegantly feminine and floaty and chic.

This is the new Nicks pattern by Closet Core patterns; it comes as both a dress, a blouse, and a tunic top, which is the view I chose to make. It also comes with two different sleeve choices, a slightly puffy long sleeve, and the short sleeve. I really like the mix and matchability potential that this pattern has, I really reckon you could play about with the different bits and pieces and come with a whole tonne of different garments that could look quite distinct from each other. It’s not pictured on the pattern cover, but the blouse option does not have the buttons, nor any frill, so it stylistically looks quite different from the sweet V-neck buttoned front of the dress and tunic pictured there. I’m quite excited to try some of the different options out!

My fabric is actually the leftover ivory crepe from Kelly’s wedding dress! I had just enough to cut the tunic out, and not much more! And fortunately I still had buttons leftover from when I covered 100 for her dress too… phew boy was that a project and a half. I think I still have a little ptsd from all that. But excellent that I still have the buttons to use for other things like this!

I think I’ve pretty much decided to only make white or white-ish tops from now on actually. I’ve realised that during warm weather in particular, whenever I go to select a blouse or top from my wardrobe, I hone in on the white ones; they go so much better with all my more colourful or patterned skirts and other bottoms. Or maybe it’s just a mood I’m in at the moment. A sorta boring mood. Or maybe just in need of streamlined, uncomplicated comfort dressing, which to me means the visual peace and clarity of white tops.

This may very well be a mood that changes in the next instant, but for the time being; that’s the plan. Or maybe it’s just because the last time I sorted through my stash discovered I have a small mountain of white fabric that needs to be productively dealt with? To assuage the guilt? Either way!

I’m wearing my new top here with my Closet Core patterns Sasha trousers, still my favourite jeans. These are getting a touch sad nowadays, which in turn makes me sad. I think I should set aside a little time to make some more!

a suedette skirt

14/10/2022 6:00 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I made another Booragoon skirt for myself; partly so I could film it and make a kinda helpful – I hope! – youtube video to illustrate some of the more difficult parts of the construction process. I appreciate this is an advanced pattern with some tricky aspects to getting a nice sharp and clean edge to the front panel, and the way the zip is inserted is quite unique, in my experience. SO I hope this helps some! I will be linking to this video in the instructions too…

As the video contains quite a lot of detail shots already, this post is another short and sweet one… you’re welcome!

Please note that this skirt is a cut little longer than the pattern; and I love the more midi length of it! And it’s deliciously swirly!

I used a very deep chocolate brown suedette that is actually beautiful quality; Mum bought it for herself from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of our jaunts over there and upon cleaning out her stash has now passed it onto me.

I know, I’m so lucky, am I not? I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to work through my augmented stash now, but am excited to find out. Cassie, with a raised eyebrow opined that it’s (quote) extremely disciplined (unquote) of me to attempt to use up my entire stash before allowing myself to buy any more, but I’m determined to see it through. I may have to allow myself to buy something for Sam and Lainey’s wedding, but I’ll see how I go. I do have some nice fabric already … but mother-of-the-groom worthy? Hmmm.

just saying… pocket

Well, that’s all for now! Until next time!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Booragoon skirt, Booragoon top, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, daily outfit, skirt

pink trousers

05/10/2022 12:09 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some new trousers…

this is the new Mitchell trousers pattern by Closet Core patterns. It has two views, view A is a pegged, cropped version and view B is an ankle length, more swishy wide-leg version. Obviously I was always going to make the wide leg swishy leg version! I love that 40s Hollywood, menswear inspired vibe… although this design was actually inspired by Joni Mitchell from the 70’s, and yes while the menswear look was definitely a thing in the 70s I think it definitely had its actual roots from trend setters like Katharine Hepburn in the 40s.

I unearthed from Le Stash a long length of beige linen with blue pin stripes; originally bought from the Fabric store during one of our very earliest trips to Melbourne! I’m pretty sure I’ve had this for approximately ten years! SOOOOO happy to have this finally gainfully employed into a (I think) rather gorgeous new addition to my wardrobe!

Soon after buying it I suddenly felt the tastefully bland colour totally uninspiring, and just could not for the life of me work out why I’d bought it in the first place. But of course, an unexciting colour is never a problem when you can dye it… and it’s quite a thick, substantial kind of linen, really beautiful quality; so I hung onto it, confident it would find its purpose one day. And it finally has!

I washed the beige fabric with a length of very very intensely red cotton corduroy. This worked a charm straight off the bat and I got a length of beautiful blush pink linen which I absolutely love… hurrah! I’m aware this colour could fade over time, but fortunately it’ll be easy to keep it up with a light wash of pink dye every now and then 🙂 The buttons were from Spotlight, once upon a time… and the zip I used is a bit bright but it’s not like you can really see it. Both from stash.

The Mitchell design has two buttoned welt pockets at the back and deep, slanted front hip pockets peeping out from under deep front pleats, side ties to nip in the waist, and a waist facing as opposed to a waistband. This does give a lovely sleek and smooth silhouette at the back of the waist, which is very nice, I think! I couldn’t find the correct size of D-rings at Spotlight, so had to settle for a smaller set. I folded in the ties to fit as neatly as I could and I don’t mind the slightly squeezed in resulting look here, but am thinking if I ever do spot the right size I’ll probably by them and switch these out. Or not. As I said, I do kinda like this look!

Very happy with my back welt pockets! My stripes even match up perfectly, which is a pretty happy thing! And yes, I admit I pinned each and every stripe to get that perfect match 😉

this colour closest to the true colour…

The Mitchell design has you cutting the pockets from lining fabric, and you add facings and patches so that you can only see self-fabric peeping out from when the pockets open up; but I opted instead to cut all pocket pieces from the self fabric in the first place. It might make things a little bulkier but it’s a lot simpler and I don’t mind having the small amount of extra thickness; though this does depend a lot on the kind of fabric you’ve chosen… I guess if you have chosen a wool crepe of something then you’d definitely want to go the extra effort of doing the pockets as outlined in the instructions.

Of course they are exceptionally comfortable to wear. In fact I really enjoyed wearing them all day; and the fact is that I’m not usually very comfortable in trousers or jeans. I mean, I wear them, but mostly think I look terrible in them so tend to go for a skirt or dress by default. At this time of year though, I’m heartily sick of all my winter skirts, and yet it’s too cold for summer dresses yet, and so I find myself reaching for trousers/jeans instead. You know, just for a bit of variety. I’m a person who craves variety, particularly in my wardrobe.. oh really Carolyn? whatever gives you that idea?! *laughing at myself*…

Anyway, love of trousers amounts to a seasonal thing, for me. The exceptional quality of this beautiful linen, combined with a truly chic design means I’m sure I’m going to enjoy wearing this a lot over this season, as well as well into summer!

In all my pictures, I’m wearing them with my white Booragoon top, available as a pattern here, and first blogged here… I am wearing this all the time at the moment. It’s the perfect basic!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, daily outfit, Mitchell trousers, trousers

the fascinating sleeves of farrah

22/09/2022 2:35 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

…hyperbole? I don’t think so!

The sleeves of my newest thing are extremely cool imo… I’m really enamoured with their very unique design. I’m always on the lookout for cool design ideas anyway, and was so excited to try this one out!

Oh yes, what pattern is this?… the new Fibremood Farrah dress. It calls itself a “dress” but my honest opinion is that it is far more coat-like… I’m wearing mine over a merino tee and a corduroy skirt in my pictures here. It is a very easy pattern to make, despite the sleeves appearing sorta avant garde. They look interesting but end up being a pretty simple construction, which is an interesting thing in itself, I suppose!

I used a length of deep midnight blue slubby cotton that Mum had given me when she cleaned out her stash – and yes, there’s even more where that came from! – I’m pretty sure it was originally from Fabulous Fabrics because I’ve seen it in the store. It’s quite sturdy but soft and pliable and sews up beautifully; I’ve bought lots of this stuff in the past in different colour ways and made up loads of things. Really really love it; in any colour way. I’ve had to restrain myself to not buy any more during my pledge to use up my stash! Btw, remember I made a little pledge to not buy any new fabric until I’d used up 30m of my stash? Well, I finished that and now I’ve decided to unofficially extend my pledge to not buy any new fabric until I’ve used up the WHOLE LOT; within reason. By that I mean; if I have to buy more, to make some desperately needed thing and have absolutely nothing that will do then I will; but as much as possible I am determined to keep going until it is ALL GONE. I know, right?! I wonder how long it is going to take me! I’m excited to find out!

Anyway, fortunately I had almost the exact right amount to make up this design… almost! I was short by about 5cm to cut out the sleeves as intended, but I just shortened the sleeves by folding a tuck in the pattern piece and ploughed ahead. I’m very happy with the resulting bracelet sleeves so it was a very serendipitous “oh damn” moment in the end after all.

I didn’t have any buttons that suited, but did have some bright white plastic ones with a nice surface design; so with a view to (again, recurring theme) using the stash as much as possible, I dug out some royal blue spray paint from the shed (used previously for when I made these shoes) and gave them a little face-lift. It’s not a perfect colour match by any means but I really love how they turned out!

I’m very happy with how smart and stylish this dress/coat turned out! and am really going to enjoy wearing it during our warmer months coming up. When they do… it’s still quite cold here *sad face* I’m desperate for summery weather!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: coat, dress, farrah, fibremood

some snuggly corduroy goodness…

16/09/2022 3:09 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a few new things!

I was sent a length of lovely snuggly corduroy from Minerva; it is soft, quite lightweight, fluid and drapey and a little fluffy, and of course the most gorgeous and delicious shade of burnt orange/terracotta imaginable! this very stuff, in fact…

Soooo happy with my pocket-elicious new ensemble! hmmm, why the new (non)word, you might ask? Well, because there are SO many pockets on my newest outfit that it’s borderline ridiculous… AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

Patterns; I really love the practicality, utilitarian urban vibe of Waffle Patterns and have bought quite a few… now I can shift a few more off my list of “want to makes” and into the list of “yay finally made!” namely the Arare hoodie and the Anzu skirt.

Both these patterns come with a lot of variations; the Arare hoodie can be a hoodie or just have a high collar, and you can do either front welt pockets or a big kangaroo pocket with flap. I opted for the hoodie and the welt pockets, and there’s also a little sleeve pocket. That’s where I stuck my circa 2022 label 🙂

I didn’t really have enough fabric to line the hood, well not if I wanted to make the skirt too, which I most definitely did! so I used some nice, autumnal floral viscose from Mum’s stash … given to me when she cleared it out a few months ago. I really love how this looks peeping out inside the hoodie 🙂 I also used this same fabric to line the pockets. I didn’t add a cord to the hood mostly because I didn’t have the perfect coloured cord; I did put in the eyelets though, just in case that perfectly matching cord ever does show up!

I’ve had a tendency in the past to do welt pockets my own way… or a way that is a conglomeration of various big 4 patterns I’ve used over the years… the welt pockets on the Arare were a little different and took a little getting my head around. And they turned out absolutely perfect! I’m thrilled with how well they turned out.

For the skirt… I opted for the knee length, zip-fronted option, with inner slanted hip pockets. The other pocket options I went for were; the zip pocket, the “flap” pocket which comprises a bellows pocket with a partitioned off “non-flapped” section, three layered patch back pockets, and a double tool pocket. So, I just had to pause to add this up… this make for a 13 pocketed ensemble. I know right?! It’s crazy! And amazing!

Now, while I really wanted to make the skirt in this corduroy it was actually a little on the lightweight side to make a good cargo skirt. I applied lightweight fusible interfacing to every piece and this gave the perfect amount of stability to make this structured design work well. This had the slightly unfortunate side effect of make the wrong side of the fabric a jarring shade of white, obviously… now I know you don’t really see inside a skirt to notice something like this but it still bothered me. So I lined it with a dark brown lining fabric…. kinda overkill but it’s nicer like this.

One thing I should mention; I had to substantially alter the top of the back skirt piece. I’m not sure if I did something wrong at some earlier point, or whether it’s something to do with my slight sway back; but the back bulged in a very weird way before I scooped out a considerable crescent from the skirt back, before adding the yoke. And here’s a handy tip; when making any skirt at all I’ve always found it a good idea to try on for fit BEFORE you’re about to embark on any substantial seam finish and/or topstitching/flat-felling and/or overlocking raw seam allowances together. It’s SO much easier to make adjustments without having to unpick any of this! Ask me how I know! spoiler alert, I learnt the hard way…

Although it hasn’t shown up too well in any of my photos because it’s in a toning caramel colour; there is masses of topstitching in this outfit. I used up almost an entire roll of upholstery thread!

I’m rather thrilled at how very 70’s this outfit turned out! really that’s my only excuse for some of these poses…. honestly I don’t really go out of my way to make stuff that’s very obviously costume-y but am always quite chuffed when something does have an unexpectedly unusual and possibly even unfashionable flavour to it!

I shall sign off with a few pocket details…

the “flap pocket”

the “zip pocket”

and lastly but most importantly of all, my darling little grandson wanting to join in posing with me…

some snuggly spring-y merino

31/08/2022 10:46 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Last day of the month and I’m squeezing in a blog post about some other stuff that’s strolled out of the stash and onto my body during August… wait, that sounded weird. Leaving it though. I’m in that sort of mood!

I had bought some gorgeous “turmeric” merino from The Fabric Store in Melbourne during our trip over there earlier this year… when we saw Harry Potter… btw did I ever relate that story? Putting it here now for posterity:

So back in 2019 we’d bought tickets to the Melbourne production of the Harry Potter play for May 2020. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which at the time was only showing in three venues in the entire world; London, New York and Melbourne. During my trip to New York with Yoshimi I’d seen it happening there and was so excited for when Craig and I were going to see it too! We’d booked very good seats and a very nice hotel in Melbourne and it was going to be awesome… Well, we all know what happened in early 2020! (note to future me, who might have forgotten; covid) Our tickets were first rescheduled from May 2020 to November 2020. Then rescheduled again for May 2021. Then November 2021. In case future me has forgotten, Melbourne endured multiple, extremely stringent lockdowns during the pandemic; some of the strictest in the world, and also our own WA border was closed for a couple of years too.

Our tickets were finally forwarded to March 2022 and we eventually hopped on a plane and went on what turned out to be the last weekend of the production. The play was absolutely amazing!! and we loved every minute. The play was so long that it was divided into a two parter; a matinee from 2 until 5-ish, after which you went out and got some dinner, and then an evening performance that went until quite late. SOOOO good! easily one of the most enjoyable plays we’ve ever seen, although I admit you do have to be a Harry Potter aficionado to have “got” it. Fortunately we are most definitely in that category! since Tim was the same age as Harry and back in the day we’d got the books and eagerly devoured them all.

Anyway, apologies for the digression; sewing wise I bought a little fabric during that trip! Well, I can’t go to Melbourne and NOT buy souvenir fabric! It would just feel wrong!

Item 1; I made a self-drafted cardigan… this is a design I’ve made a few times before, at the start I was using my favourite Closet Core Nettie pattern. Over the years I’ve custom fit my Nettie pattern until it is now completely unrecognisable from the original. For me, it is now an only slightly form-fitting and streamlined T-shirt and I’ve adapted it further to be a slightly looser-fitting (so you can comfortably wear it over a tee) cardigan.

I really love this style and enjoy wearing it a lot.

Item 2; a matching turmeric T-shirt… from memory, I’d requested 1.5m, and when it was rolled out there was already a cut piece a bit longer than 1.5m. I’m sorry I can’t remember exactly how much more it was now, but I said I’d buy it! And it was just enough that I managed to get a T-shirt for myself too. I love how I now have a twinset! since I am a granny now and it’s about time I started dressing the part somewhat. I love how a twinset is kinda linked with “dressing like a granny” in my head, but my particular twinset feels not too granny as to fall into “undesirably granny” territory to me. It’s OK, I know that sounds nonsensical but it makes sense to me!

In fact, I love it so much I’m thinking of making my twinset idea into a pattern… I would love to do this if I can eke out the time!

Items 3 and 4; last year I had purchased 1.5m of lovely “red clay” merino from the Fabric Store during one of their online sales. It took a bit of super careful placement but I was pretty pleased to squeeze two T-shirts from this! I kept one for myself and gave one to Cassie, because I think this colour suits her really well too.

I’m so happy with all these items and they’ve all got worn quite a lot this past month already. If you check out my ootd day blog you can see just how much. For example; this is what I am wearing today!