Category Archives: Sewing

a knitting project bag

13/10/2018 11:11 pm \ 9 Comments \

It’s sometimes quite difficult to think of gifts for Mum because she will say, without fail; please DON’T GET ME ANYTHING FOR MY BIRTHDAY.  But… I have to think of something!!!  Besides the fact that she’d probably be little bit upset if I actually did give her nothing, haha  😉

Mum is always knitting, and she’s still particularly keen on knitting socks… whenever she comes up to stay she brings her knitting, usually stuffed in some flimsy plastic shopping bag; and works on it pretty solidly, at all hours of the day or night.  And inevitably, she will ask to borrow my scissors and a wool needle… btw, I don’t mind at all hunting these things out for her, but really it would be so much better if she had them with her and at hand already.

Lightbulb moment… Mum was in urgent need of a knitting project bag!!

It’s only recently I even became aware that knitting project bags were a thing, after I discovered a few knitting podcasts on youtube… where knitting project bags are an absolute must have!  I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that my own knitting bag is just a daggy old, small shop tote thing, that shops put your purchases into… it can be seen in this post here.  It’s not very good, and Mum’s isn’t any better.

I perused Le Stash, and my hand fell on some lovely garden-green raw silk, mainly because I knew I had a matching zip in my zip stash already too.  The green silk turned out to be a pair of trousers, that Mum herself had originally give to me to use for fabric sometime.  She’d originally bought them in Italy, while on holiday, and got many years of good use out of them.  It occurred to me I could make a really good little project bag, utilising the trousers’ existing welt pockets and waistband…  bonus that this lovely fabric is boomeranging its way back to Mum in a new, and newly useful form.  Full circle! I selected some brushed tartan cotton for the bags’s lining, and inserted a new zip underneath the waistband facing inside, along with a wrist strap, so she can have the bag hanging from her wrist and still knit from it.  I think the really interesting thing about the bag though is the accessories; I added three little tabs inside, two with swivel clips, to which I attached a pair of scissors, and a pack of wool needles, and the third has a D-ring to which I’ve sewn a tape measure.  I left the original back welt pockets intact on the outside (above), so she can tuck small extra things into those pockets, things she might not want to go rattling around the inside of the bag.

I think she will have everything she needs!

I wrote a little tutorial, in case anyone reading this wishes to have a go at a similar refashion for themselves.  It’s a very useful thing for a knitter, whether for yourself or a gift for someone else, it’s easy and kinda fun to make, and I think it turned out quite cute too! In fact I would really like one for myself!

I used:

a pair of trousers with a waistband,
piece of brushed cotton for lining (around 52cm x 25cm),
stiff interfacing (52cm x 25cm)
30cm zip
2x 13mm swivel clips
1x 20mm D-ring

Extra accessories to finish; a tape measure, pair of scissors, pack of wool needles

To start with, unpick the side seams of your trousers, and cut out the seat.  Cut the waistband off at the side seams too, allowing the same seam allowance as the side seams.  Note; I then trimmed down my piece to about 52cm x 25cm (inc waistband) which made a bag with a finished measurement of approximately 20x20cm, and with a base of 20cmx8cm.

If your trousers have welt, or other pockets, that’s a bonus!  Cut a piece of lining fabric the same size and shape, using the trouser piece as a template.  If the fabric is on the floppy side, apply stiff fusible interfacing to the lining, and if your interfacing is anything like as unreliable as mine, it’s a good idea to stitch/quilt the interfacing and lining together to be sure they stay together as one layer.

Unpick and open out the lower edge of the waistband facing, and stitch up the side seams, including the waistband and waistband facing, in one continuous seam.  Stitch the lower bottom seam.  Likewise, stitch the side seam/s and bottom seam of the lining.

Determine the desired width of the bag bottom… this should be at least equivalent to, or even a bit wider than the bag opening.  I made mine 20cm.  Measure this length along the bottom edge of the bag, centred so that the excess on each side is the same.   Bring the side seam and bottom edge seam to meet, right sides together, and pin.  Determine the side edges of the base of the bag, by marking two straight lines at the end points of the bag base, perpendicular to the bottom seam.  (shown on the bag lining, below) Measure each carefully to ensure they are going to be the same length, if there are differences then adjust and re-mark until they  are equivalent.  Mine are 8cm long from pin to pin.

Stitch.  Construct the lining bag to be exactly the same.  Trim off the corners.  Pin the bag and bag lining together along the bottom side edges, wrong sides together, and stitch together along the previous stitching, ie. the short side edges of the base of the bag.

Turn the bag right sides out, so the lining bag sits inside the outer bag, attached at the base but not yet attached at the top.  You can optionally stitch the bag and bag lining together along the long bottom seam as well, however I found this to be quite fiddly…

Make the wrist strap and tabs for the bag’s accessories to hang off…  my
dimensions are:

strip 1: 8cm x 37cm
strip 2: 4cm x 10cm

Construct each as follows: fold strips in half lengthwise and press, open out and fold both raw edges in to meet the pressed centre line, press.  Fold the strip in half along the first fold line and press, topstitch close to each long edge of the strip.

Cut the narrower strip in half, giving two 5cm strips. Thread each through the closed top of a swivel clip, and baste raw edges together.   Cut 5cm off one end of the first, wider strip for the tape measure tab, thread this piece through a D-ring, baste.  Stitch the tape measure onto the D-clip.  The remainder of the wider strip will be used for the wrist strap.

Bag: open up the remainder of the waistband facing away from the waistband.  Pin the ends of the wrist strap to the waist band facing adjacent to either side of one side seam, baste in position close to the raw edge.  Take the zip, and pin each side of the zip to the waistband facing, aligning the top and bottom ends of the zip with the side seams of the bag, and ensuring the opening end of the zip is adjacent to the wrist strap, and with wrist straps folded back against the waistband facing; topstitch zips in place, stitching over the wrist straps.  Leave a gap of 1.5cm each side at the bottom end of the zip to enable the end to sit on the outside.  Trim the zip, leaving a 2-3cm tail.  Cut a small square of fabric and use it to wrap and enclose the trimmed bottom edge of the zip; fold, pin, and stitch it in place.

Open the zip; take the three previously made tabs with swivel clips and D-ring attached and pin them around the top of the lining bag, raw edges even, right sides together, and with the swivel clips/D-ring hanging down inside the lining bag.  Fold down the waistband facing enclosing the raw edge of the lining bag and top edges of the accessories tabs inside the old waistband.  Pin waistband facing back to its old position on the original waistband of the trousers.  Ensure the upper ends of the zip tape are tucked up inside the waistband, also check you are happy with the position of the tabs with swivel clips/D-ring before stitching the old waistband facing back in place.  This can be a little fiddly around the top and lower edge of the zip, but just take care and stitch as far as possible.

The final step is to clip a small packet of wool needles and pair of scissors to the swivel clips.

Aaaand, done!!!  Now, I really really want to make one for myself too!

 

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outback wife

01/10/2018 7:23 pm \ 70 Comments \

My dear sister-in-law S gave to me a length of precious “Outback Wife” barkcloth for my birthday… soooo thrilling to finally get a piece of this gorgeousness for myself!  I’ve bought other designs of this once or twice before as gifts for others but never for myself for some strange reason, I know not why … Because, oh my gosh this stuff is just so lovely, sews up like an absolute DREAM!!  I’m in love!  I’m seriously thinking about sneaking out to Calico and Ivy and buying more!  For meeeee!

I turned to my ol’ reliable, tried and true,Vogue 1247 for the skirt… my copy of this is now a little bit tattered, not surprisingly since this latest is version number 23, ahem.  I just counted, and wow, that’s a shock, even to me!  Yes, I really do need to move onto a new pattern…  A lot of my V1247’s have been straight, sans pockets, because to be honest, although the pockets in this design are really cool I actually don’t really use them all that much.  Very occasionally for my phone and keys and it’s very rare I shove my actual hands in them..  I worry about distorting the lines of the skirt and contributing to premature pocket sag.  And if there’s one thing NO ONE needs in their life, it’s premature pocket sag, am I right?   Quelle horreur!

But for old times’ sake, I put the pockets in this version.

I über-carefully cut my pieces so the print matches up practically everywhere, along both horizontal skirt seams, and as well the centre back seam, and even the waistband seams matches as well as it is able.  This took only a little bit of frowning and sighing, and moving my pattern pieces around more times than the most diligent of sleight-of-hand operatives, but it’s always a worthwhile thing to do, I reckon.  Otherwise, the not-matching pattern would probably bother me forever.

At the same time as I was making my skirt, I happened to notice in my stash two lengths of very thin jersey knit that I’d bought at the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of my trips over there with Mum and Cassie, one a bottle green and the other in deep teal blue; both an absolute perfect match for the skirt!  It was meant to be!!  I quickly whipped up (k-tchaaaaah!) two long sleeved modified Nettie tees.  These are practically identical to each other, narrow neckline bands and wide sleeve and bottom bands.

It’s so funny to me, looking at these pictures.  See, S actually gave this fabric to me back in early June, yes, it was a very early birthday present!  and I made the skirt and two tees up straight away, like within a week.  And took the pictures of the tees on Bessie, though it was too cold to actually wear them at the time… then a few months later, early September to be exact, I took the wearing-with-black tights-and-boots pictures.  And did precisely nothing with those pictures, either.  As it happens, I’ve been in a bit of a funk over the past few months, feeling a little intimidated, like I’m just not capable or good enough, almost on the point of giving it up entirely.  Generally speaking, it’s been taking me a looooong time to write a blog post lately, like almost as long as to make a little dress for myself.   And so I’ve just been feeling… less inclined, and oh so lazy about it, to be honest; even though I want to write.

Anyway; yesterday, it was a perfectly beautiful day and we went out walking at the beach, and I wore the whole lot of them, the skirt and both the tops too.  Meaning, in my funny weird little world, a blog post must transpire.   Eeeek!  Quick sticks!!  so I gave myself a bit of a pep talk.  Just lay it out there.  With minimal fiddling.  Just spill, organically.   I mean apart from spelling.  I am as it happens, the biggest spelling nazi imaginable.  I roll my eyes on the regular, at the newspaper, at advertisements on instagram; at all the offending “your”s instead of “you’re”s and so on.  I’m sooo judgemental, the absolute worst, in fact!  But, I’m getting off track…  where was I?  Ah yes, writing without pause.  Letting the words flow, flying from my fingertips, of their own volition.  That’s what this is.  Stream of consciousness blogging, for better or worse.  Well, that’s what blogging is supposed to be, right?   It’s supposed to be a personal journey?  Just me, being me?  SO!  I hereby free myself of further worrying, right now.  Begone, thy treacherous feelings of inadequacy!!  Vamoose!  Whooooosh!!! And; this house, is clean *… I hope!

* … name that movie 🙂

  

Details:

both tees; loosely based on Closet Case patterns Nettie, thin cotton jersey
Skirt; Vogue 1247, in Outback Wife barkcloth
Tights; made by me, details here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp boutique

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floral trench coat

26/09/2018 8:54 pm \ 72 Comments \

I’ve made a new trench coat; a riotously floral-tastic, blowsy English rose of a trench coat.  As soon as I spotted this print I was smitten!  delightfully old-fashioned, vaguely reminiscent of Granny’s china cabinet and a wholly unabashed celebration of spring-time.  Because that’s what it finally is now… SPRING!!!

This very thing, by which I mean an over-the-top floral trench coat, is a thing I’ve had percolating in my mental wish-list for aaaages, ever since I first laid eyes on the floral trenches by Burberry from a few years back.  I originally bought this paler pink magnolias floral fabric to make the trench coat but got distracted and made that dress instead, obviously!  Anyway, a little after I finished that dress, I still really really wanted my imagined floral trench coat, so I bought some more floral sateen.  And I’ve finally made it!

Pattern; McCalls 5525 view E, the view with all the bells and whistles.  The only things I left off were the flap thingies over the pockets, because I didn’t have enough buttons for them!

Fabric; a floral cotton sateen, from Spotlight.  The trench is fully lined with pure white cotton poplin, also from Spotlight, and the buttons… the buttons! – are totally gorgeous vintage ones that I’ve had for about ten years.  I was actually the lucky person to get them in a Secret Santa pressie swap at a very early Burda sewing community meet-up, way back in 2010? I think?

I had only 11; they are a deep bottle green, possibly made from Bakelite or something very similar.  I’ve been looking out for yeeeeeers for the the perfect project for them and I thought this trench coat was it…  they are in fact a perfect colour match for the deep teal-y/ocean-green of the foliage in the print.  However! now they’re all stitched on, I’m not completely sure the fabric was the right choice for them after all? ahhhh, the agony of high, followed by unattained, hopes and expectations!  The thing is; the busy busy busy colourful print, while it is really gorgeous and I LOVE it! it really just swallows up the impact of those buttons and at any distance you can hardly see them on there at all.  They just disappear.  As in, buttons, what buttons? I can’t seen any glorious buttons!!  The fact that they are beautifully profiled, and slightly marbled, and vintage, well, you’d never know.  So, I’m just thinking, maybe? I should substitute them for some plain buttons, and save my exquisite vintage buttons for another project – another, different trench coat, something in a solid colour where the buttons can really be allowed to shine? Hmmm….

the one under the collar is not one of the original set, it’s a modern, plastic, flatter one…

Making a coat is always an activity that brings me huge amounts of joy and satisfaction, and this one did too, keeping me blissfully pottering away the whole time I was working on it. Constructing all the little bits and bobs that go into a trench coat, like the tabs, the collar, putting in the sleeves and bagging out a lining is enormously fulfilling to me, just about as enjoyable as any project I can think of.  I’m totally in zen mode, throughout.  As it happens, I’m perfectly happy with all the construction details of this one; all my seams and sleeve insertion and symmetry of the tabs and collar, the walking vent, topstitching, and the neatness of my buttonholes and all that jazz all worked out exactly as I hoped, and I’m very pleased with all this.

for some reason, this arrowhead tab on the collar stand is always an especially pleasing detail to me!

So that’s all super good and satisfactory.  However?!  I have to admit to a little frisson of disappointment at the halfway point of making this coat, at about the point when the body was together, and I slung it over Bessie and took a step back to have a first look… and, oh dear.  See, I had barely enough fabric to cut out my trench, and in fact several pieces are pieced together!  Which ones?  oooh, I’ll never tell!!!  See if you can see the seams!  But that’s not the problem here, after all, piecing is something I’ve done in a lot of garments because of lack of fabric and I’m perfectly ok with doing that when I have to….   The thing is, I really had to be clever about laying out the pattern pieces to have any hope at all of getting the coat cut out, and I did some very premature self back-patting when I managed to lay out the pieces.  Because the way the print has turned out on the finished coat is just not good.  Specifically; the front is quite a lot “busier” than the back, and I wish I could have been switched-on enough to see that while I was juggling those pattern pieces but sadly, I did not.  The front and the back are to my eye almost like two completely different coats, which is very sad-making (please excuse my little Evelyn Waugh-ism there…)

It’s definitely not as obvious when the coat is worn open, like this; which to be honest is how I was planning to wear  it most of the time anyway.

I can’t do anything about the unbalanced “busy-ness” of the print; but as far as the button issue goes, well I’m gonna wear it for a while and sleep on it, but button-switching may just happen sometime down the track.

I’ll just see how it goes for a while.  The coat is quite lovely to wear, and perfectly comfy, well-fitting, and I did pour myself into making it well.  Oh well.  I’ll give it a crack!  Quite often, early dissatisfactions I have with a project evaporate a little bit down the track when I look at it one day and kinda go, what was I worried about?   I adore the overall vibe of my trench coat, how it looks when worn both belted closed and open are both very pleasing to me, and as usual, wearing a coat always makes me feel amaaaaaazing, no matter what!  Sometimes, well, very occasionally really, I have a tiny little wish we lived in a climate which was more conducive to coats?  But not very often really.  Like, hardly ever, to be honest  😉  #devotedtotheaussiesummer

I am mostly planning to wear it casually and glamorously open, like I’m wearing it here with my white Inari tee dress, I’m actually rather thrilled at how super swish this combo looks, and feels!  I’m even thinking this could be my Christmas soiree outfit over the upcoming festive season?  Maybe!!

 

   

Details:

Coat; McCalls 5525, cotton sateen, lined with cotton poplin
Dress; Named patterns Inari tee dress, white stubby cotton, details here
Heels; Zomp, from Zomp boutique

also looks pretty good when accessorised with a dog… mmm?  sorry, I couldn’t resist roping her in for just one picture!

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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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