Category Archives: Sewing

jump to it!

18/09/2018 11:33 pm \ 26 Comments \

Ohmygawd, wot is this then??  I’m wearing a jumpsuit!

I know!  So… fashionable!!

Disclaimer; so, any and all claims to being abreast with current trends and wearing something that’s oh-so-hot-right-now! that’s only just barely appearing in RTW shops here is absolutely nothing at all to do with me and everything to do with Heather of Closet Case Patterns for kindly sending me this pattern and thus propelling my wardrobe ever closer to what the cool girls are all wearing…  thank you, Heather!!

Up until now I had precisely zero jumpsuits in my repertoire and to be honest I had early, prior-to-making-it worries that I would be wanting to transform this one into a midi-dress fairly soon … my fear of  jumpsuits is mostly because of the toilet issue.  I remember Cassie telling me a story about herself and a friend: said friend was wearing a jumpsuit and no bra one time, and Cassie was waiting for her in the ladies’.  Friend sings out from her stall;  “Cassie? I’m basically sitting here naked right now… ” This struck both of them as particularly hilarious and they laughed until they cried… well I’ve gotta say I think of that every time I even contemplate a jumpsuit.  Once I’d made this one though and tried it on, I did immediately love the rather glamorous breeziness of those super wide wide legs, immediately! and I also really like how the extravagance of width at the bottom edge is nicely balanced out at top by the tapered in lines of the camisole-style top half.   The curved V-neckline is cut quite low both front and back, it’s flattering in a quietly sexy sort of a way; and while it’s a leeetle bit skimpy it’s not too skimpy that you can’t wear a bra, which is comforting.  In fact the straps are designed thoughtfully wide enough to be bra-strap friendly.  Wearing it feels quite delightfully breezy and relaxed and comfy and easy, like you really are wearing nothing, even though you’re actually swathed in looooads of swishy fabric, and I found myself not minding the bifurcated-ness after all.  In fact, colour me pleasantly surprised!  Could I even be *gasp* converted to jumpsuits?!

Pattern: so, of course this is the Amy jumpsuit, designed by Heather Lou of Closet Case patterns…  and I used a slightly crinkly deep blue rayon from my stash, I think this was originally from the Morrison sale; and I cut the shoulder straps from white cotton because…. well just because.  The white was a remnant from deep deep Stash.

I lined the bodice with the last remains of this goooooorgeous yellow and white check rayon… love this divine fabric, originally from the Tessuti’s in Melbourne, and I used it to make this top for Cassie, and this little dress for Ms Spring.

  

It’s now been used up totally, each and every skerick, likewise the blue rayon, and likewise the piece of white cotton now too.   I’m using up so much of my stash!  I’m a bit behind on my blogging, but trust me; I’ve been making tonnes recently and have used up LOTS of my stash while at the same time adding almost nothing to it…  THIS.  IS.  AWESOME!!!

Details:

Jumpsuit; the Amy jumpsuit, pattern by Closet Case patterns, in a royal blue rayon? I think? with white cotton straps
Sandals; made by me! at the shoe camaraderie workshop; details here

jumping in my jumpsuit!  I’m sure Clara’s wishing she had one too…

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blue and green should never be seen

31/08/2018 7:01 pm \ 8 Comments \

I almost called this new lingerie set “frozen”; which to be honest is more like an accurate description of me, actually, while disrobing for the purposes of trying it on, haha.  #comeonsummer  But finally, today the last day of winter YAY!!!  Around this time is typically a low time of the year for me, when I’m really flagging and running low on zip and zoom, just banking on the promise of warmer weather appearing, any minute now.  I know I know; our winters are so mild, what have I got to complain about? Nothing really.  And yet…? I do.  Sad to say, I do.  But I shall stop now.  Becaaaaause… *pauses for dramatic effect*   I have some new pretties!!!!

It’s a bit embarrassing actually, since this lingerie set has been all cut out, elastics and all the other bits and bobs present and accounted for, and the whole lot merely awaiting the sewing together bit for…. *mumble mumble* months now.  Actually I believe I mentioned it the last time I presented a set of underwear, here on ye olde blog.  I did a bit of a cleanup of my sewing space (Tim Gunn voice, there) and the pieces of this set got “tidied” away into my laundry cupboard, out of sight and out of mind.  SAAAAD!!   Anyway, it’s made now.

I’m very happy with this new set… I really love to have matching sets, and it’s even more pleasing if I can make the two sets of undies quite different from each other, and at the same time match each other, and the bra.  Tick!!

Patterns:

Bra, or more accurately “bralette” I suppose, since it’s a fripperous little thing with no underwires or anything serious like that; it’s basically my own design, the same design I used to make this neon yellow one here.  I draped the lace onto Bessie and cut and pinned and tried on here and there… and ta da!

The two sets of matching undies are made using:

1. the Watson briefs, which I’ve used a million times before.  Not even exaggerating there.  Oh, ok, maybe a little then  😉  And

2. the Tanga lace panties pattern a free pattern available on Burda style here.  I’ve made this pattern up three times before; here, here and here.  They look absolutely adorable while you’re wearing them, but the design is just not my favourite… the sides are completely unsupported and so have a tendency to slowly slide down your hips; meaning I’ve never felt 100%  secure in them.  But they really are soooo cuuuute! so here we go again… this time I downsized from a medium to a small,  because it occurred to me, that maybe the medium is simply too big.  I cut out a medium first – this lace is not cheap!! – but pinned the small on me, to see; and yep, small fits just fine.  Got high hopes for these ones!!!

Oh, and I also did my usual, and very essential, crotch fix as described here.

Materials;  Blue lace from Homecraft Textiles, green silk jersey was a hand-me-down scrap from Mum.  Bralette is lined with a light peach-coloured swimwear lining fabric from the Fabric Store ( I have quite a lot of this)  Elastics and all other findings from Homecraft Textiles.  The blue fold-over elastic on the green watson undies was leftover from a previous project, this set.  The lace knickers have a green panty liner, because it shows through the lace obviously! whereas the green undies have a white liner, because not enough fabric!

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the Perth dress pattern, new size range

28/08/2018 3:09 pm \ 11 Comments \

This much-requested new pattern has felt like a long time coming…  I had a lot of requests from ladies wanting our Perth dress/blouse pattern to be made for a larger size range… so ta da!  this new version is for sizes 46-54.    It’s now available here  in our etsy shop; CarolynandCassie, as a pdf and also a paper version in limited numbers.

I apologise for the delay; we’ve had to contend with a computer issue that has been pretty devastating, some extremely costly software that we desperately needed in order to function has been practically obliterated, it’s been so difficult… All I can say is thank God for Craig who eventually managed to work it out.

Anyway.  No one wants to hear about computer blurb, yeah?  On to the pattern!

ye all-important size info….

Sam’s girlfriend L is in our new size range so I asked her if she would kindly model for us.  I’m so happy she agreed because she is super cute! plus now I had a good reason to make something for her, hehe…  The dress I made for her is in a rather beautiful cloudy-sky print, cotton drill from Spotlight, with a white contrasting collar.  I absolutely adore this on her!

My favourite part though is the crisp white collar; just love this look! the button is a little wooden one from my stash

Thanks so much L; for being such a totally gorgeous model!!

I also made two blouse versions for my sister in law, Sandi.  This first version was initially a bit big on her, which totally did my head in – what did I do?!!! – but eventually I worked out it was all due to a very stupid mistake which I am too darn annoyed and exhausted to even talk about how this happened, suffice to say that one should ALWAYS check the test square BEFORE leaving the copy shop.   I know I personally will never ever neglect this ever again!!  #superannoying

I took it apart and re-made it to fit properly, just because I’m a glutton for punishment well really, I cannot bear to waste perfectly good fabric!  And also, Sandi really likes it  🙂 #allswellthatendswell  which is why I went to the effort of re-fitting properly.  I cannot say how much I LOVE an appreciative recipient! makes it all worthwhile in the end, yeah?   The fabric is a really very nice charcoal and white striped linen, that I ?think? I bought in either Tessuti’s or the Fabric Store in Melbourne, during one of our visits there.  The only giveaway that it was initially made to a larger scale is the the overly long collar points, which I just left as they were.

The blue and white striped version, which was correct all the way from go to whoa, yay!! is a rather lovely shirting cotton from Homecraft Textiles.

Yes! Homecraft Textiles actually stocks a really nice little range of crisp shirting cottons… who knew?! certainly not me, since they were hidden way back at the very back of the store behind the vast wasteland of lurid polyester satins and “chiffons” and fleeces that takes up like 90% of that store.  One day I was hanging around in there and discovered it.  EUREKA!!!

Oh! Something else I made for Sandi recently, which is completely unrelated to our Perth dress pattern so if this seems a little random and out-of-the-blue, sorry! but this seems like a good a time as any to lob it into Le Blog… I promised to make a custom-fit top pattern for Sandi, for her birthday, she put in a request after I had done the same for Mum, a few birthdays back.  So I made this one…  The shorter, open front T-shirt over a longer one underneath in a contrasting colour is a design modelled to a favourite top she has already.  We chose and bought the fabric together from Fabulous Fabrics.   I’m kicking myself I forgot to take a picture of her wearing it, because she looks so lovely in these moody pinks and blues.  AND she professes herself to really LOVE this one too. This just makes me so happy!  See what I mean about a grateful recipient?

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a mustard raincoat, oh and a skirt too

31/07/2018 11:27 pm \ 14 Comments \

Hello!  I’ve made a new raincoat!

So, I’ve been wearing my pale pink Kelly anorak raincoat, made from a shower curtain, for several years now, it was undoubtedly my most worn garment of last year by a fair dinkum mile!  and it’s been such a trooper.  I love it so much, still!  However it is looking a wee bit shabby now… so I’ve been toying with the idea of a new raincoat for little while.  Getting nice waterproof fabric is quite a challenge in Perth, you come across it so rarely and I was wondering if I’d have to brave the scary gamble that is Buying Off the Internet.  Then I happened to be browsing in Homecraft Textiles during their yearly 50% off sale, and unearthed this gorgeously mustard-coloured waterproof fabric.  The colour was particularly exciting.  Something that actually suits me? that’s not black, or navy?!!!   Take my money!!!

Having said that… it’s not the most wonderful raincoat fabric in the world and I had struggles APLENTY  but more on that later.

Patterns!!  I loved the Kelly anorak pattern, and it did work really well for me as a raincoat, however I have this maybe erroneous belief that a raglan sleeve is better suited in a raincoat… I think that a rounded armscye seam could lend itself to a higher chance of leakage.  I could be totally wrong there though, but I just think it anyway.  I’ve been looking out for a good, raglan sleeved jacket pattern that would lend itself to being a good raincoat, but to no avail.  So I made my own pattern.  My previous, blue, raincoat was a pattern I’d worked out for myself; inspired by a cheapie old RTW one that I’d bought for Tim when he was a young ‘un, and which I’d inherited down the track as he grew out of it.  I devised some rather unusual pockets for it, and actually totally loved how they worked out.  I dug out the pattern, made the modifications to bring it into line with the shape I wanted for my new raincoat.  Everyone’s heard of the famous FBA… well I have no use for a full bust adjustment, but in a raincoat I could definitely use a FPA.  What is that? a Full Ponytail Adjustment, of course!!  I have pretty much never had a raincoat, rtw or me-made, with a hood that accommodated a ponytail comfortably.  The hood is always pulling back off your head and exposing your forehead, which is annoying.  I’m happy report that this hood is so far perfect!

I’d originally bought some soft tulle to line the raincoat.  I’d managed to get some soft netting to line my first, blue raincoat and it worked a treat, and I wanted something similar for this one.  But the tulle was horrible; just not soft enough and too scratchy against my sensitive snowflake skin after all, so I’d ended up ripping it out.  The raincoat is actually fine without a lining, because the inside of the mustard shell is a rather nice, soft woven stuff.

the white sports fabric seen in the pic is a ventilation panel, hidden underneath the upper back flap

The outside is laminated, actually the fabric could best be described as a lightweight, thinly laminated, woven cotton.  The plastic laminate was obviously downright hideous to sew.  For one thing, it had quite a sticky waxy coating on the laminate, which gummed up the needles, and the eye of the needle, making re-threading the needle a freakin’ NIGHTMARE.  I wiped the laminated surface with a lightly soapy solution before sewing, which did help a tiny bit, and occasionally wiped down the needle too, but it was still pretty bad.  When it came to top-stitching, well there was absolutely no way the laminated side up was going to move underneath the foot at all.  I cut strips of tissue paper to stitch over, and tore them away afterwards; fiddly, but not a difficult thing to do (above).

seam sealing, also a view of the fabric’s wrong side

Sealing the seams; I used a no-name seam sealer from BCF, a local boating camping and fishing store.  It’s supposed to be used for tents and sails I think, but it works beautifully for raincoats too!  I used a cheapie old paintbrush to work it into the stitch-holes, and seal everything thoroughly.  Since then, it’s been out in three very heavy downpours, and I’m happy to say has stood up to the task beautifully!  All the traumas, and it’s been worth it!  It’s early days, but I think I’ve found my new favourite wardrobe item!

Want to read all my tips for making a raincoat?  They can all be found in my original raincoat making post, here.

Oh, and I made a new little skirt too,  but it’s not nearly so exciting.   Well, I had a small piece of coffee-coloured, wide-wale cotton corduroy, leftover from when I made this dress, and when I was dyeing the fabric for my Sherlock Holmes jacket I’d also tossed in the coffee-coloured corduroy.  And it came out a nice shade of golden-mustard.  So I managed to squeeze out this little skirt.  It’s not made up to any real pattern really, I basically put an invisible zip at centre back, held the front and back up to myself and pinned the side seams and where I wanted darts.  Pretty lazy genius, huh?  It was a very small piece of fabric, and the resulting skirt was too short for a hem.  I edged the bottom edge with a chocolate linen bias-cut strip to finish, and the skirt is lined with pale golden polyacetate lining fabric, itself also leftover from something else, can’t remember what.

And that’s it… until next time!

Later edit: this skirt now has pockets!

Details:

Raincoat; my own pattern, made from thin, plastic-laminated cotton
Skirt; my own design, dyed cotton corduroy
Bobbly top (just above); Burdastyle 04/2014;111, details here
Tights; made by me, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp boutique

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Elementary, my dear Sherlock

15/07/2018 3:21 pm \ 14 Comments \

Yes, I know; a complete mis-quote of an already mis-quote… *braces oneself for outraged Holmes enthusiasts*

But wot is this new thing I’m wearing ‘ere then?!  Is it a jacket…?  no, a cape…?  some tweedy, distinctly Holmes-esque thing, somehow exuding English-ness, an air of briskly strolling in the country, of hounds-at-dawn, roaming in-swathes of fog and mystically swirling mist, stalking the streets of London or out on the Baskerville moors?  Fittingly, I’m accompanied here by my very own hound, who while certainly a fearsome and diabolical creature at times, is however sadly lacking a Baskerville lineage.

So, I was mindlessly browsing Le Internet, checking out new-to-me pattern companies, something I am wont to do, randomly, late at night and way past my bedtime,… and clicked Add to Cart on the Cape-Sleeved Jacket by Trend Patterns.  Followed by… Purchase.  So daring!!

It’s a rather interesting and lovely style, not something I’ve seen anywhere else: a longline open jacket with notched collar and interesting “sleeves” that are more like an intriguing hybrid of sleeves and cape.  I searched my stash for a suitable victim, and unearthed a grey/black houndstooth-y check suiting; given to me yonks ago by ?I think? Mum, though I’m not totally sure.  It had exactly the right weight and style for this design, but the colour was pretty dead and cold and flat and looked absolutely terrible on me… so I squandered more time than I care to admit to, attempting to dye it.  It was a rather large piece, so I’d started out leaving it to soak cold in a large tub of yellow dye.  This had almost no effect, so I added orange for synthetic fabrics.  This had a tiny teeny little effect.  So then I dried the fabric, and cut out the jacket pieces, which made for a smaller bulk of fabric for the dye pot, and boiled it all up with the same dye mix.  Finally; SUCCESS!!!!

helping…

from left; original colour… after soaking… after boiling

The new shade of tobacco was rather warm and pleasing, and deemed acceptable.  Of course the big problem about dying pieces, already cut up; as opposed to one single piece of fabric, is that the pieces frayed a bit, and also got stretched out and distorted somewhat in the boiling/dyeing process, and so I’m not 100% confident that my final jacket is all that perfect or beautiful… but I did my best!  carefully steaming everything back into the shape of the intended pattern piece.

 

Lining;  fully lined with chocolate polyacetate lining fabric, from my stash, probably originally from Fabulous Fabrics since it’s a really nice quality.

below; see how the front armhole is open right up to practically shoulder level? I think it’s worth pointing this out since I actually had no idea it was like this from the line drawing and remained ignorant right up until it came time to add the cape facing…

That’s not a criticism btw, just an observation.  I really love my new Sherlock Holmes jacket, and I really loved making it too; but I’ve admit; it was not a particularly easy project.  Even given the fact that I complicated things for myself a. dyeing and b. deciding I absolute HAD to have in-seam pockets – which were a big success in the end if I say so myself.  I’m so glad I put them in.  Actually I can’t imagine a jacket without pockets of some kind.

How did I put in my pockets?  so I remembered to take a few pictures but not many, so hopefully my written explanation will suffice…  I cut the front armhole piece (below, at left) and the front panel (below, at right) as pictured; and in addition, a pocket opening facing piece (below, middle) with the same upper edge as the slanted edge of the front panel (at right)  I also cut a pocket lining (not pictured) from the same chocolate polyacetate lining fabric used throughout the jacket…  it’s the same size and shape as the pocket bag extension (at left) and with a slanted top edge equivalent to that of the pocket opening (at right)…

the pocket opening edge is that slanted edge showing out from under the square inner edge of the paper pattern piece, and that little extra piece is the pocket opening facing.  The facing is interfaced (see below), stitched along that slanted edge leaving a 1cm free at either edge of seam, and under stitched.  I cut a pocket lining using the same chocolate lining fabric that lines the whole jacket and stitched this on to the lower edge of the pocket facing.  Then stitched the pocket and pocket linings together around the long curved pocket edge.  The remainder of the jacket construction proceeds as normal, and the pocket is nicely hidden away between the jacket outer and lining

So; what was tricky about making this jacket…?  well, the steps are illustrated with photographs, not drawings; so if you’re the kind of person who often goes on the illustrations then it’s not always clear which pattern pieces or which seam you might be looking at in this photograph or that one….  and there are 27 un-numbered pattern pieces…  Maybe I’m just dumb, or losing it or something, but I’ve been sewing clothes for myself for over forty years and there were bits where I was scratching my head and had to read and re-read over a couple of times to “get” it.

It’s also pretty important to mark the marks, notches and dart lines carefully and securely.  As far as this project goes, this is where my brilliant plan to dye my fabric pieces fell apart a bit since a lot of these little marks were dislodged and lost while dyeing, and notches disappeared in fraying edges, and it was pretty hard to re-instate everything accurately.  To be honest, there were several times I felt like heaving the whole lot in the bin and starting over anew, with fresh new fabric, particular since I hadn’t even liked my fabric all that much in the first place!!

I think numbering the pattern pieces would have been a HUGE help, and then to use those numbers in the instructions.  Another thing, the instructions are…. kinda sparse.  The term “bag out” is used several times …  I’ve always been a little thrown by the term”bag out”.  I mean, I know what it is… basically just another way of saying stitch the outer and lining layers together.  See, I grew up under the tutelage of the long-term pattern companies like Vogue, McCalls and Burda; and “bag out” is not a phrase that ANY of them EVER use, as a rule.   Also, “bag out” is incidentally Australian slang for picking on someone, like rudely giving them a really hard time, so seeing it pop up in sewing instructions is always a moment for pause 😉

After all this; I actually quite happy with how my jacket turned out, and am even little keen to make it up again.  I think my attempts to dye the fabric just made the project a whole bunch harder than it needed to be, and I’d like to give the pattern a second chance, and to do it properly, make a really good and proper tailoring job of it next time.  I would also like to add a few more pockets, to the inside and the lining, like a mens’ suit jacket has.

    

Details:

Jacket; TPC13, the Cape-sleeve Jacket by Trend Patterns, grey tweed overdyed with orange dye
Shirt; the Closet Case patterns Carolyn pj shirt, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Burdastyle 10-2010; 136 (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt), in black suiting, details here
Tights; my own custom fit pattern, details here
Shoes, designed and made by me, details here

My cape-sleeve jacket feels so very very Sherlock Holmes to me that I couldn’t resist just popping over to London for a more appropriate photoshoot location….

jk, of course.  Hurrah for the wonders of photoshop!

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coupla delicious merino tees…

13/06/2018 3:41 pm \ 26 Comments \

So, every now and then I tell myself that I’m not going to make any more winter tees since I have quite a nice little collection, really.  And I think I really should be making do with less; wearing what I have, more.  I tell this to myself quite firmly.  But then also every now and then the fashion-loving side of me is dreaming up some outfit and identifies a few colour gaps, and thinks, if only I had a mustard tee? or a nice navy blue…?  And that fashion-loving side can be a terribly convincing wench, especially when I’m standing in the Fabric Store in Melbourne, with Mum and Cassie, fingering the diviiiiiiine merino collection for which the Fabric Store is justifiably famous.  On our last trip over, suitably enabled, I bought a few pieces.  There may be a few other colours that came home with me and are still lurking in Le stash, too…

If I’m allowed to toot my own horn for a bit, I really feel like I’m nailing the tee-construction front at last, which is nice.  I have my tried and true pattern, and my technique is pretty solid now.  My tried and true pattern? well, my paper pattern was originally the Nettie, but I’ve sliced off here and added on there; and generally butchered it so much that literally nothing of the original remains.  Interestingly, I originally used to use a Burda pattern for my tried and true Tshirt pattern, and heavily modified that too.  Then I mislaid the Burda, and started using the Nettie instead.  Then, at one point I found my old Burda pattern again, yay!!  So, of course I had to overlay them, just to see.  And hilariously found I’d modified these two, completely different patterns to be basically the same, final pattern, in the end.  Hahaha.

 blue tee has a wider neckline and lower scoop than the gold one

I’m just laying my construction out here in the interests of documenting my “sewing journey” – ha! – just because this, my current go-to method for making a plain tee nowadays, is one which has been working pretty well for me.

Seams: first I stitch a seam using a medium-long straight stitch, and stretching the fabric slightly as I go.  This is partly a basting step, really.  Then I go over it with my overlocker, which is both the “finishing bit” and also a reinforcement of the first stitching.

Order of construction; shoulder seams first, and once they’re overlocked I go over and top-stitch the seam allowances down to the back, about 5mm from the join.  Then I put in the sleeve caps (no topstitching) and press the seam allowances towards the sleeve.  Then stitch the side seams in total, from the bottom hemline right along to the wrist edge of the sleeves.  Next step is to measure the neckline… sometimes I cut a low scoop neck, sometimes I leave it a bit higher, depends on my mood at the moment … and cut a strip for the neckline, 95% of the length of the neckline, plus 2cm for the joining seam; width; I generally like about 4cm, resulting in about a 1cm finished width.  Stitch it in a loop and insert it, as per this tute.  I then go and back edge only! top-stitch the seam allowance of the strip down to back edge of the tee about 2mm, or quite close to the join, to stabilise and strengthen this area and help prevent it from stretching out.

The sleeve edges and hemline edges; variously, I like to either add a strip, of whatever width takes my fancy at the time, or to fold the edge under in a traditional hem and stitch it using a twin needle.    I’ll either overlock the edge and simply top-stitch it with the twin-needle, leaving the overlocking showing inside; or do the double fold and baste first before twin-needling if I can be bothered, which is not so often.  In the case of my mustard tee, this time I actually could be bothered.  If doing the strip method; it can be cut EITHER to 95% the length of the edge for a “pulled-in”, sorta sporty look, or the same length as the edge for a smoother, more sophisticated look (I think)  For my gold-y mustard tee, I did a strip edging (same length) for the sleeves, and the twin needle finish for the hemline; while the navy blue tee has a strip edging (again, same length) for both the sleeves and the hemline.

It’s probably hard to tell, but I used the navy blue fabric inside out, because it was a little more intense in colour and duller on the wrong side, which I preferred.  The right side of this merino knit is a touch lighter and shinier.  For this reason I kinda wish I’d used the wrong side out for the mustard tee, too.  Oh well, next time!

I’m wearing the mustard tee/charcoal outfit today, in fact, right now, because basically I finished it and HAD to wear it straight away!  THIS COLOUR IS TOO TOO BEAUTIFUL, OUI????  The navy blue tee/red skirt/tartan scarf outfit above was put together just for experimental styling purposes, and to model it for this post; but I adore that one too so I think I’ll be wearing that tomorrow  🙂

     

Details:

Tees; kinda Closet Case pattern Nettie, kinda my own design; fine merino knit
Skirts; both the Paprika patterns Jade skirt, details of red one above here, charcoal one below here
Tartan scarf, above; made by me, details here
Coat, below; McCalls 5525, charcoal wool, details here
Tights; my own design, black polyester stretch, details here and my tute for making your own custom fit tights pattern is here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp shoes

also, on a completely different, not-even-sewing related, random note; I was outside by the clothesline with Bessie, taking pictures of her wearing my new tees, and noticed these teeny. tiny, weeny little mushrooms growing in the seat of the jarrah chair I keep by the clothesline, to put my laundry basket on.  How cute is that??  I guess we have been getting a lot of rain lately!!

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seagull set

10/06/2018 3:48 pm \ 18 Comments \

O hey!!

So, what to make when you just want a super quick and easy project?  usually I would reply joyfully and with complete confidence “a lingerie set!”.  And I mean, I know I’m really going to enjoy wearing this, what turned out to be a nice and very pretty set, in my opinion, and I really love it, and all’s well that ends well.  But I guess every now and then I need to remind myself to never ever get blasé about inserting elastic.  Honestly, when all goes smoothly then it’s all so easy and you wonder what all the fuss is about; when it doesn’t then, just saying; zig-zag stitch on thin stretchy jersey, in matching coloured threads is the ABSOLUTE PITS to unpick.  THE PITS, I SAY!!!

Pattern; both bra and two pairs of matching undies are the cloth habit Watson, definitely my favourite tried and true nowadays.  Construction of bra modified to have a full lining with all concealed seams, as per my tutorial here, and undies altered so as to not have the horizontal crotch seam, as per usual.

Fully lined… and it’s difficult to see, but I always under stitch the front V of the bra/lining, so as to keep the lining nicely tucked inside

Material; seagull printed cotton jersey from Spotlight… so pretty, I couldn’t resist the instant I saw it!  It’s a nice quality and I think the duck-egg blue and soft teal wavey/wonky stripes are really lovely, and of course seagulls are pretty apt for a beach-loving girl like me!  I bought it on a trip there with Cassie… she bought some too, for a Tshirt, I think?  Lining is a soft thin, polyester; white elastics and findings from Homecraft Textiles; raspberry mini-bows made by me and recycled from a previous set.

I’m including this picture of the back of the bra; because for a long while now I’ve been putting the rings and sliders in this position, which is back to front from how it’s recommended in the pattern.  I’ve tried it with the findings at the front, but found this way uses less elastic, and sits more comfortably for me.  Yes, you do have to have the straps adjusted to the right length before you put it on, but I just like it this way, for the moment.

I made my usual two pairs of matching undies

Pretty raspberry mini-bows!  I’ve probably said it a million times, but navy/pink is one of my all time favourite colour combinations! Now for a brief post-mortem, if you don’t want to read a good whinge, stop now!

So, my biggest mistake was absent-mindedly picking up a length of navy blue underbust elastic and inserting it fully to the lower edge of the bra, with two passes of zig-zag stitch PLUS a single row of basting stitches too, including requisite thread changes for colour … before remembering that “oh yeah, I had actually gone out and bought some white elastic for this set and the blue elastic was supposed to be for a different set I have cut out right now …. *grrr*  what a dweeb.  That took a good hour or so of unpicking in front of the telly… to get back to square one…

The other mistake was to try out  a shortcut I’d thought of in my head by stitching the picquet elastic on the undies,  jersey side up . i.e. elastic underneath; and stitching with a negligible seam allowance on the cotton jersey, to avoid having to trim it after the first pass of zig-zag stitch.  This was a big mistake for two reasons; firstly, turned out I’d stitched too close to the picquet edge and stitched it FULLY DOWN! but couldn’t see that I’d done this because it was underneath, and secondly, the jersey edge kept wanting to buckle and slide underneath the needle, because it didn’t have enough of a seam allowance to the right of the needle to stabilise it going underneath my machine foot.  Yes, I should have gone slow to check that all was going well, but I arrogantly zoomed ahead, struggling with the buckling but making it work with SHEER BLOODYMINDEDNESS and a smattering of judiciously applied cursing; and stitched a whole waist elastic on before conceding that indeed, this was a disaster.  Result, another lengthy session with the seam ripper.  See comment in the first paragraph about unpicking.  Moral of the story; don’t try to shortcut this step!  I’ve learnt my lesson!

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jenny overalls/jeans/trousers

08/06/2018 5:36 pm \ 31 Comments \

I’ve made some rather cra-a-a-a-zy, and yet rather out-there groovy-baby jeans!

And they double up as overalls too! should I ever feel the urge to wear a pair of overalls… 🙂  Sneaky conversion between the two by way of a few flat buttons inside the waistband coupled with buttonholes on the bib and straps…  #havingmycakeandeatingittoo

So, these are the Jenny overalls/trousers pattern by the ever clever and uber-cool Heather of Closet Case patterns.  Actually I made TWO pairs of Jennys!… but first things first; this blue denim pair are my first.  To be honest I don’t know if I’m ever going to blog my second pair because I’m suffering from a retroactive hate for the fabric I used… but we’ll see! Heather asked for us to make them with the bib if at all possible, since she wanted to check out how the bib bit looked on chests.  So I bravely went there.  Initially I was pretty sure I would prefer to wear them as jeans, but now I’m actually a bit torn since the bib bit is rather cute?!  I’m just not sure if I’m “cute” enough to get away with it, you know?  I think I have a good grasp on what my style is, and “cute” is likely a stretch for me.  I’m keeping my options open, but so far I’ve only worn them out in the wild sans bib #notbrave

The upper part of the legs I cut from a piece of blue cotton denim that was given to me by my friend L when she cleaned out her garage, but it was a smallish piece, not big enough for the whole jeans.  So obviously, I had to make up the difference somehow.  Remember my maisa jean jacket?  well I actually kept all those leftover bits, most of them were the original pockets and waistbands; and I had great fun cutting and arranging and cobbling them together to make up the diff…  all that patchwork does make the legs a little heavy, because of the double layers of fabric in the pocket buts, plus embroidery and rivets and belt loops, but overall (haha, see what I did there) it’s not too bad!  My love of how they look outweighs the weight… if that actually makes sense!

I’ve worn them a couple of times already, whoops!  It’s not that long ago I would not allow myself to wear things until I’d blogged them; must be mellowing out in my old age, hmmm.  They’ve actually attracted several individual, real-life compliments from random passers-by on both occasions… this is extremely rare for me, and it’s pretty nice to hear!

In the below picture you can see the closure; a lapped zip in the side seam and disappearing inside the pocket.  I really love this discreet and clever feature, although being right-handed I find it a little awkward to do up that waistband button situated where it is slightly to the back of the right side of my body.  On subsequent pairs I think I’ll probably switch this closure to the left side of the trousers.  Having said that though, the instructions for inserting the lapped zip are outstanding!  I’ve inserted about a million lapped zips in my time, to the point where I barely follow instructions anymore, however I followed these ones to the letter, without “thinking about it” (you know what I mean) and my lapped zip is immaculately and perfectly aligned.  I should follow directions more often!

  

Details:

Jeans/overalls; the Jenny overalls by Closet Case patterns, cotton denim and recycled old denim jeans
Tee; the Nettie by Closet Case patterns, white jersey, details here
Cardigans; both the Miette, a free pattern by Andi Satterlund, details of the red one here, the mustard one here
Shoes; made by me, details here

Soooo; I usually like to get at least one ” out in the wild and actually wearing it” photo of the things I make… well, the little monster, I mean; Clara, and I were waiting for Craig to finish scoping out Bunnings (baby door for the patio at the beach house)  and on the spur of the moment I just propped my iPhone up in the grass outside.  Bam, photoshoot, DONE!!!  Who needs a fancy camera and a tripod, anyway?!  Oh, OK, if I’m going to even pretend to be a blogger then I guess I gotta keep up appearances, at least some of the time…  😉   Anyway it’s not a particularly good shot of my jeans, more like flipping’ terrible; but on the other hand Clara happens to be looking rather beautiful in a wolf-prowl-y sort of a way…  Please admire that her coat is looking momentarily spiffy and fluffy and washed and brushed!   #didntlast

btw, people often accuse her of giving side eye in my pictures.. it’s only because her eyes are actually half blue, half brown! which makes for a particularly side-eye-y sort of optical illusion!

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Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,
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