Category Archives: Sewing

Betty boop

15/09/2021 3:13 pm \ 6 Comments \

I’ve made a pair of cute little trousers! well at least I think they’re pretty cute anyway…

 

So: here’s the funny thing; I really do love and want to wear a lot of trousers/jeans/pants but I kinda struggle with them.   I genuinely worry that I look terrible in trousers and I’m convinced I look better in dresses and skirts.  If anyone has taken even a passing glance at my ootd blog it’s obvious I rarely wear pants.  And yet, I’m always on the eternal search for pants that look cute AND that I think I might look ok in.

 

And I think these fit the brief!  I’m very happy with how they turned out; they have a sorta fitted feel to them without being in the slightest bit tight, they’re loose enough to be comfortable, but have no hint of bagginess in them.  Yes!

 

I have an extra special reason for loving these; my grandmother was known as Betty, even though it was not technically her name.  SO I have a special soft spot for the name.  I’ve always held this deeply secret wish that my name was Betty, because I loved my grandmother so much.

Anyway!  I’m happily adding these to the small collection of pants that I really love… I have several pairs that I feel really good in; up until now my blue Sashas and my Morgan jeans were the top of that list.  I also still love my Ginger jeans, although I wear these less nowadays.  Yes, all Closet Core patterns, hehe.

Coinkinky-dink; the fabric I used to make these are the leftovers from my old Ginger jeans!  I made those back in  *checks blog archive* wow 2014.  I can’t believe they’ve gone so well, for so long!  I could have sworn I got the fabric in Spotlight, but my blog reliably informs me I bought it in KnitWit,so there you go.  I have zero memory of that.  Ha!  Thank goodness for the blog!

I cut the pocket lining from this cute evil-villain, cotton fabric, that was leftovers from one of Craig’s surgical masks, and I also made a few Covid masks from the leftovers this year too.

I used a red top-stitching thread for all the topstitching, I dunno, just for fun, because I had it.  In fact, 100% of the materials for my Betty’s were from my stash, which always feels amazing; if I can achieve it.  The potential of my stash is quite exciting to me, I’ve discovered so many garments in it this past year!

The top I’m wearing them with here is a Burda pattern; 04/2014;111, made in a bobbly stretch stuff from Fabulous Fabrics.  And in another funny coinkinky-dink, I am wearing this very same top in my blog post of the Ginger jeans too!  Another old favourite that has stood the test of time for me  🙂

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bumblebee baby

28/08/2021 9:52 pm \ 4 Comments \

Le Bebe needed some new outfits… so I made one!

The little clownsuit/jumpsuit is totally adorable in my opinion!!  it’s partly based upon two other different rtw ones Cassie already had for him for gauging the size and width, and I drew up my own pattern from those measurements…

For the little T-shirt, I used the cardigan pattern in Butterick 5583, just cutting it as a T-shirt instead of as a cardigan, and also accordingly making the neckline wider by about 1.5cm each side so his head can fit through the hole… the funny thing is that this size is the newborn size!   It’s very big and loose on him and actually he is NOT a small baby.  It just goes to show once again how strange the sizes are in baby patterns.

the fabrics are pretty cute, I think!  both are from my stash, originally bought from Spotlight.  I’m still virtuously using stash fabrics but have recently bought some new fabrics from Spoonflower, so that’s a bit of a setback in my use-stash only plans for the year, whoops! but actually I’m not going to get too down on myself because each of the fabrics I got is really cool and, you know what? Life is too short to be hard on yourself if you don’t have to be!

In random wardrobe news, Cassie came around last weekend and helped me to do a big closet cleanup, and we tossed out a huge garbage bag of my clothes… this felt SO GOOD! because I’d got into a bit of a rut with my winter wardrobe, basically forcing myself to wear shabby and old things that really were not doing me any favours.  Now I have a smaller collection of winter clothes that I really like and that also actually look good on me!  I’m not planning to make much more in the way of winter clothes to replace them though, but am revving up for spring and/or summer now.

So, wanna see a video of the making of this cute bumblebee baby outfit?  Because I made one!  It’s fun making videos and I enjoy it, but it does take quite a long time; so I’m not going to make one every time.  Maybe just for special or interesting things… we’ll see.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

It can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbO0gTSl-WQ

 

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another new nursing dress design

26/08/2021 7:12 pm \ 3 Comments \

… the last time I stayed with Mum and Dad; I helped Mum to clean out her fabric stash; AGAIN.  Mum now has small and beautifully curated collection of perfectly gorgeous fabrics in her possession, and I have… a much bigger pile of the less beautiful rejects, haha.  I know, I definitely did not need this! but *shrug*  I’m going to have to get a LOT better at throwing out fabric too, I think!

Anyway, I haven’t had the chance to go through it properly yet, but I did pluck out this one recently as something that would suit Cassie.  It’s a soft, very stretchy stuff, very pretty with a raspberry pink floral print… and Mum had partially made a sort of dress out of it already.  Thinking about it a bit, I realised I could make a really nice little nursing friendly dress for Cassie.

 Our Yallingup pattern wouldn’t do, because that really only suits a non-stretch woven fabric.  The previous, jersey maternity/nursingdress I had designed and twice made for Cassie was a possibility, but Cassie had mentioned how the boob tube under-top kind of snapped back up while she’s trying to feed the baby, which is annoying and not terribly user-friendly.  Anyway, I’ve dreamt up this design…

this is a sort of cowl-neck tank top, on a simple dress that is basically the same skirt as the one I’d previously designed for her.  The shoulder straps of the tank top aren’t joined to each other; the back one is stitched to the shoulder seam of the over top, and the front one snaps on to it; so all she has to do is reach up under the loose cropped top and unsnap the front strap.

Having a cowl neckline allows each front to come down comfortably without being too tight.  In short, it works really well!  I’m seriously thinking of making this a new pattern for our company!

I asked Cassie to lift up the front to show the cowl neck…  😀

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check out the checks!

23/08/2021 8:05 pm \ 2 Comments \

Hello!  I’ve made a cool new outfit!  At least, I think it’s pretty cool, anyway.  I think it’s got a strong 80’s vibe; it reminds me vaguely of what the dancers were wearing in Spandeau Ballet’s “To Cut a Long Story Short” video.  Oh boy, that takes me back, it was such a favourite of mine.

The fabric is a beautiful wool mix boucle from Minerva…it’s lovely and soft, with a nice, slightly bubbly texture to it, and I love the strong red and green check on a black background.  So cool! It did fray like mad, so my first step was to finish all the raw edges on my overlocker

For the skirt; I used an old pattern from the actual 80’s, Vogue 1834, and partially lined it with black silk, from my stash.  I’ve made this skirt once before … it can be seen here

The top is the In The Folds Collins top pattern, which I’ve made twice before; here and here.  I cut this from the scraps from the skirt, and only just managed to squeak out the pieces! thus the complete lack of pattern matching.  This does annoy me a little bit, but actually I had no choice at the time.

When styling it, I decided I like the ensemble best when the top is tucked into the skirt, because otherwise the wide flared top overwhelmed the skirt, and you can’t see any details of it.  And this is such a beautiful and unique skirt design! it really demands to be seen.  I mean, the top is pretty cool too, but for me this outfit is all about the skirt.

Having said that, though;  the top is still pretty cool too, and I really like it worn out over a mini skirt, like here.  This is a simple little mini that I made a few years ago, using a tartan wool that I bought in Tokyo during our last holiday there… you know, back when we were allowed to travel  *sob*

The beautiful wool fabric is stable and pliable, and was great to sew up but it did fray like mad, so my first step was to finish all the newly cut, raw edges on my overlocker… I also finished some of the raw edges inside the garments such as the bottom edge of the waistband, and the neckline of the top; using bright red, bias cut cotton… this was leftover from my own Yallingup dress that I made for myself here…  Want to see a fun video on the making process of this ensemble?  If so then that’s great! because I made one! and it can be seen here on my YouTube channel.  🙂  It also includes footage of me leaping about like a loon, so there’s that too…

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Cassie’s gum leaves

19/08/2021 9:29 pm \ 4 Comments \

I’m so happy with this new dress!  The fabric is actually very special… Cassie gave it to me last year, the print is one of a suite of designs she created for her wedding stationery and other wedding paraphernalia…  she has the designs up in her Spoonflower shop, and she gave some fabric of a different design to Mum (her Granny, obviously)

My piece is cotton denim; Cassie thought I could make a skirt from it, and yes I could have done that, but the piece was big enough that there would have been lots of leftovers.  So I wondered if I might be able to get a little dress out of it.  And I did!  Just!

It always feels like such a hugely satisfying achievement when I lay the pattern pieces down on a piece of fabric and they only just barely fit, so you have basically no leftovers at all.  Honestly, one of THE MOST satisfying things about making a thing, when you can manage it!

of course I had to keep this little piece of the selvedge and stitch it inside!!

This pattern is Burda style, 07/2018; 118; one I’ve made before here.  This is another great little pattern from Burda, they have long dry spells with boring patterns, but you get such a lot of good ones in there too so I always find it worth perusing the magazine when I see it.  Both of my versions of the dress do not have a lining.

I even made a little video of the making of it, just for fun; for myYouTube channel… the link is here if you’d like to watch it  🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10PmRka94GU

 

 

We even had a beautiful day of 25C last week, so I got to wear it for …   this picture is seated for “fashion-on-the-sofa Friday”

This is the 8th thing in my “use 12” challenge…  I’m really so please with how it’s all coming together  🙂

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sea-blue Ingrid dress

05/08/2021 11:25 am \ 8 Comments \

I made this dress months ago! like in April! … however because I made it to test the pattern I had to keep it a secret until its release, and it wasn’t released until the end of May.  And at that time, not only was it getting too cold for me to really wear it regularly, but I was getting overwhelmed with preparation and planning for the release of our own Yallingup pattern, and so although I did post about it on Instagram I didn’t get around to blogging my own version here.

 

This is the Ingrid dress/blouse pattern by Homer and Howell, and it’s a really interesting design.  Something to get you thinking a bit, which is always nice in a pattern.  It has several different views; a top and dress in two different lengths, and two sleeve versions.  I made view B; the mini dress with plain sleeves.

All views have an interesting central pleat on the bodice and the dress version has different skirt panels, some cut on a slant at the top, so you kind have to be on your toes to get them all cut out and dealt with in the right way.

I really enjoyed making mine, and I remember the instructions for gathering the skirt panels were really awesome and taught me something new about gathering things neatly and well.

One thing I noticed in other tester versions was that the split at the back of the neck tended to gape a bit, which looked like it was due to the split being a bit long, so I reduced the length of my own by about 1 ½”, or about 4ish cm, and accordingly shortened the facing piece too; and I think this turned out better.

For fabric, I used a piece of greyish/orange cotton voile that Mum had thrown out from her own stash … yes the colour sounds kind of hideous and I really didn’t like it, but was optimistic about being able to dye it a nice colour.  In preparation for this moment; I had used navy blue thread and also navy blue overlocking thread to finish the raw edges inside… and then boiled it up in a pot of half-strength iDye in deep blue, and I really love the resulting colour.  Much much nicer!

I’d also used a blue, love-heart shaped button … .btw, cute?!  A nice side effect to committing to using up my stash this year is that I get to be creative with fabrics and notions I’ve long ignored because “I don’t like it”.  And now I do really like this dress!  Every single thing for this was from Le Never-Ending Stash… which of course IS going to come to an end some day…

Because it was cold the day I finally got to show it; this is how I actually wore it for its debut during me-made May.  Apologies for the grainy iPhone photo, I’d accidentally deleted the original from my phone and had to screenshot this from my Instagram account which is why it looks so bad… I’m wearing it here with my suede leather “coatigan”/coat/jacket thing… and selfdrafted leggings.  btw these leggings used to be tights, but this year I took out the tights I’d made that had developed holes in the heels and/or toes from being worn hundreds of times, and cut off the toes, hemming the new edge with my twin needle.  So now they have a new lease on life as leggings.  I can wear them like this, with bare feet and my clogs, or I can still wear them with my boots on the coldest days of winter with a pair of my cosy hand-knit socks.  Win, win!

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little black dress

31/07/2021 5:02 pm \ 4 Comments \

I’m so behind on blogging! so this is part one in what I hope is a serious attempt to catch up… so I made this little black dress a little while ago… it’s light and floaty and breezy so really it’s a summer dress.  And I’m wearing it here on basically the coldest day of the year… ha!  But I do like it styled like this for winter! so I guess… good?

The fabric: which I appreciate you can’t see at all in any of my pictures, because of its matte-ness and it’s blackness, sorry! anyway; it is a lightweight crisp fabric that has a very slightly bumpy, seersucker-y quality to it… I’m not sure if it’s silk or cotton or linen but I’ve a feeling it is a combination of two of those components.  I bought it in Fabulous Fabrics quite a long time ago for another project, that I’ve completely forgotten what it was so I decided the fabric was fair game, eventually!  I’m seriously trying to use up my stash this year… yes I’ve probably said that million times before but I’m really serious this time.  I think I’m doing quite well! because I’ve bought just one piece of new fabric all year.  I really want to buy some more lovely fabric that I am really really keen on… but am trying so hard to be good about this!

Anyway, the lightness and crispness of this black fabric was perfect for this design, so I’m very happy I had it and it was pretty much the perfect size piece too… so it worked out really well.  Oh, the design!  Well, it’s the Fibremood Dolly pattern, which is big and floaty and has huge, gathered sleeves, so it’s very trendy, I think.  I do like it though!  I really like the neckline with a little tie to pull in a gathered V neck.  It was so cold on this day I actually wore it for real with my mustard cowl, and also my shearling coat as well as the usual underpinnings pictured, brrr.  I’m excited for when I can wear it all summer long!

Oh ok, so I’m just going to slip another extra thing in here…. did I mention our wonderful youngest son Sam has become engaged to his beautiful lady, Lainey?  We’re so happy and excited to welcome this lovely lady into our lives, she’s the most gorgeous girl and has willingly and happily acted as a model for our little pattern company a few times, so her face has definitely been seen around here before!  Anyway, they recently moved into their own house and asked if I would mind hemming their lounge room curtains.   Of course I hate hemming curtains, but it was absolutely lovely to go and hang out with them while I did it.  It took an entire morning basically and we chatted away and it was a really nice morning in the end.  So I didn’t hate it at all in the end.

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the Fridgetown hand warmers

23/07/2021 8:34 pm \ 9 Comments \

I’ve made a new pattern! along with the help of my beautiful partner in crime of course, Cassie… it’s for a pair of handwarmers, yes it is quite a simple pattern, which is why we’re debuting it for free, however the “twist”, if you like, or maybe the beauty of it is all in the construction, because you end up with a nice pair of double layered hand warmers with all the seam allowances and raw edges hidden neatly inside.  It was a little bit of puzzle working out how to do this, but I think it works out really well and I’m quite pleased with the process!

The pattern is available for free here.

CAROLYN_CASSIE_Fridgetown_Handwarmers_A4_letter

For this one, I did not do illustrations to accompany the instructions, instead I did a youtube video tutorial which I think illustrates the process much better.  It can be viewed below or on my youtube channel.  Jacqui commented asking about how to find my channel, the direct link is up above in the top right hand side bar of this here blog, if you’re interested..x 🙂

To make the hand warmers, you need a piece of stretch fabric, at least 80cm (32″) in length by 50cm (20″) in width, with the stretch going in the widthwise or 50cm direction.  For all three pairs that I have made, I used merino knit, that I bought from the Fabric Store, one pair in colour Vanilla, two pairs in colour Ochre.  This is all leftover from various Nettie winter tees that I have made recently.  It’s actually the ideal fabric for this design in my opinion, thin and lightweight, deliciously warm and cosy, and of course, beautiful quality.

The name? haha, well the name is our little joke… my parents live in Bridgetown, which regularly gets the lowest temperatures in Western Australia.  So a few winters ago this installation gave me a laugh… and it was the first thing that popped into my head when i was thinking of a name!

The pattern is free here, however it’s also available for a very small fee in our Etsy shop… unfortunately you cannot put up free things in Etsy which is why a small charge had to be added on to it.  We wanted to put it in our shop too, just for the sake of consistency and to have all our patterns represented in one place…

Anyway.  We hope you enjoy the pattern!

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