sewing Archives - Page 34 of 41 - Handmade by Carolyn

a family collaboration

26/11/2016 12:29 pm \ 46 Comments \ Carolyn

So Mum is up to stay with me, and she popped out the other day wearing this gorgeous, completely handmade ensemble… and it occurred to us that it was a tri-generational effort! Mum made her skirt, Cassie made the scarf for Mum a few years ago, and I recently made the top for her. I asked her if she minded if I took a picture to share on ye olde blog and she graciously said yes.

SO! What have we here?!

Pride of place of course goes to Mum’s skirt… a fully hand-embroidered and hand stitched Alabama Chanin skirt; with embroidery in the reverse appliqué method, and using the four panelled, mid length skirt pattern from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design by Natalie Chanin. The cotton jersey fabrics were originally white and Mum dyed them herself in two different shades of grey and blue. Mum traced and cut the stencil design June’s Spring from p116 in the book herself, enlarging by 300% as recommended, (also available as a pre cut stencil on the Alabama Chanin website here) She printed the design in creamy-coloured textile paint, and hand-embroidered with a running stitch in double strand of cream Gutermann’s upholstery thread.

When snipping out the motifs she carefully left a very narrow border of the cream stencil round each one.

Exquisite, oui?? I adore everything about this skirt; the colours, the design, the workmanship; and it’s just slightly tempting me to get out the materials and get a-hand-stitching again. Slightly 😉

The scarf… Cassie made the this gorgeous seaside/beach-inspired silk scarf for an art project at school. She hand-dyed and -painted white silk habotai in blue and yellow blocks and blobs, tying parts of it in the shibori style, then stitched a wiggly row of blue stitching for the tide, and embellished with clusters of mini yellow glass and gold beads. The hems are hand-rolled and -stitched.

I can’t believe I’d almost forgotten about this beautiful piece of Cassie’s and feel so lucky and proud that I have two such talented and creative ladies in my life.

Mum’s top is made by me, and yes it is very plain… ! A month or so ago Mum mentioned how she specifically wanted an unobtrusive, very plain white top to wear with this skirt so I offered to run one up for her… I chose the Esme top pattern from Lotta Jansdotter’s book Everyday Style and a slubby plain white cotton from Fabulous Fabrics. I measured Mum all over, secretly storing the measurements away for future use, mwahahaha… no one gets away from the handmade in my family!! and drew the pattern so as to custom fit it or Mum’s measurements. Instead of the neckline facings I finished the neckline with a bias cut strip, because I think it’s a much nicer and neater finish for a neckline edge. Mum wants to know how to do this herself so I’ve promised to write a tutorial sometime.

Anyway. She looks so chic and beautiful here, and it was so fantastic when we realised she was spontaneously wearing a collection of handmade family pieces… Such a fabulous and sentimental thing for the three of us. Thank you so much for letting me share, Mum!

Posted in: fashion, sewing \ Tagged: alabama studio sewing + design, dyeing, embroidery, everyday style, handcrafts, lotta jansdotter, Mum, scarf, skirt, top

acton dress, in the folds

10/11/2016 7:54 pm \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello, I’ve made a new sundress. Hmmmm, how do I love thee… let me count the ways. It’s easy. It’s breezy. It’s the palest of soft cloud-grey with teeny ivory stripes. It’s crinkly-linen-tastic on the outside, and lusciously silk-lined on the inside. It’s a midi length #currentcrave The skirt can be styled in multiple different ways.

That’s a lot of different ways.

Pattern; a few weeks ago Emily, the designer behind In the Folds contacted me, asking if I would like to review her new pattern, the Acton dress. Obviously I said yes! I love trying out new patterns! and this one looked like so lovely and elegant for summer, long clean lines, an interesting skirt, tres chic

Fabric; a crinkly linen bought at Tessuti’s in Melbourne a few years ago during a trip over there with Mum and Cassie. I remember I was going to make a shirt for one of my boys from it, but it wasn’t really the best fabric for that and I ended up buying pinstriped linens for them all instead, which was far more suitable. And by doing so, I then had the fabric all for my own selfish little self, while maintaining the virtuous position of having actually bought it unselfishly for someone else, mwahaha. My dress is fully lined with an ivory, silk crepe from Fabulous Fabrics. Actually leftover from my Ruby slip; and I just needed to buy a little more to get out the pieces.

For the straps and the ties; I used 1.5mm wide, white grosgrain ribbon. The pattern provides pieces and instructions to cut these out as bias-cut strips, but I chose to make them the ~~cheat’s~~ easy way. I overlocked all raw edges inside the dress, and hand-stitched the hemline in both skirt and lining

Thoughts and alterations: the pattern has two variations, or four if you count the fact that the bodice has two variations, and the skirt another two. Along with the fact that the skirt on variation B can be tied differently in several different ways itself, that adds up to …um, let’s just say “lots” of slightly different looks, to suit lots of different tastes, pick your favourite. I love having options like this in a pattern!

I made my dress with skirt B and bodice A that has a lower back. As recommended in the pattern, I used the skirt A pieces for my lining. There is an invisible zip in the CB seam, but with the lowered back of bodice A, I have found I can actually just slip the dress on and off over my head without having to zip it up or down. BONUS!! and darn that perfectly aligned invisible zip!

skirt wrapped and tied at front

The pattern is only available as a pdf; which I reckon is absolutely brilliant for those of us who want something NOW, however has the unavoidable downside that you have to tape all those pages together *sad trombone* If you’re printing out both skirt options as I did, because I was using skirt A pieces to line skirt B this is a whopping 64 pages in total. Yes, that’s a lot! Though, this is the entire pattern, and if you’re making the skirt unlined you wouldn’t have anywhere near that many 🙂 Also, of course you can always go the A0 route; take the file to a copy shop like Officeworks and pay a small amount to have it printed on three A0 size pages. This reduces the amount of taping to almost nothing. Me being the impatient bod that I am, yes: I printed at home and taped… and I save time and tape by cutting out and only taping together the bits that I absolutely have to.

I used to find pdf’s a bit of a pain but the instant gratification is undeniably a big plus and I consider myself an expert at this taping biz now.

skirt wrapped and tied at back

My measurements put me at a size C, and as mentioned, I can just slip the dress on over my head. I do have narrow shoulders it’s true, and my crinkly fabric does have a tiny amount of give, but the bodice does have that easy-wearing, loose-ish fit, which I reckon is a good thing for summer, or if you want to wear it over a Tshirt as I am pictured below. I found it necessary to do just a slight small bust adjustment; I did this by the simple expedited method of flattening the bust curve by shaving about 1cm off of the bust curve. Not very scientific, but it works fine for me…

skirt wrapped and tied at back

I also lengthened my outer skirt pieces about 7cm at the lower hem, to give a nice long midi skirt, just because I’m currently in a midi sort of a mood. A mood for midis 😉 Speaking of the skirt, let’s get into these skirt variations… what are these different ways in which it can be styled?

skirt loose and untied

Firstly, there’s just with the side pieces hanging down completely loose and with the ties tied up in themselves to keep them up off the floor. This is easy and comfortable, excellent for large Christmas dinners! and gives that sort of loose, flowy, “Lagenlook” to the dress.

Secondly and thirdly, wrap and overlap the side bits around to either the front or the back of the dress… (in photos higher up) I’m undecided as to which of these I like the best. They both look equally cool, I reckon. Craig likes them wrapped to the front (below).

skirt wrapped and tied at front

Finally; I’ve been seeing all the cool, fashion-conscious kids of the world wearing their long-line spaghetti strap midi dresses with a little cap-sleeved Tshirt on underneath, so thusly decided to give it a whirl (below)… and I really love it like this! It was too hot to wear it in Broome with the additional layer underneath, but right now in Perth our sorta-warmish-but-not-hot springy weather means it’s simply perfect to wear a sundress with Tshirt, for that little bit of extra coverage. And the ties, for this “look”, I just tied them very loosely at the back without “wrapping” the side bits over each other. This does look nice too, I think, more casual and allows the long sleek lines of the dress to hang more gracefully. I actually think this could be my favourite way though it’s a close one. I do really like the way the skirt can be worn such a lot of different ways and plan to mix it up every time I wear it!

skirt not wrapped but loosely tied at back

Now, for some business-y notes. Emily kindly offered me an affiliate link for the Acton; and while up until now I have earned not one single cent from my blog and I have often said I wouldn’t do affiliate links, I have decided it’s time to give it a go. So my links to the Acton pattern will pay me a very small commission if someone chooses to buy it through that link. Please bear in mind that the commission paid to me is NOT an additional cost to the pattern; if you buy the pattern the price is exactly the same whether you buy through my link or otherwise. I just wanted to explain that just in case anyone was unsure and was wondering how it works. If you have enjoyed reading about and looking at my sewing projects over the years and also wish to buy this pattern, then please do not rule out this option 🙂

The Acton dress pattern is available from Emily’s site here; and you can also read more about Emily, an honours graduate in fashion and textiles from the University of Technology Sydney, and her other designs here

loosely tied at back

Details:

Dress; the Acton dress by In the Folds, in grey striped crinkly linen, lined with silk crepe
Tshirt; the Nettie, white jersey, details here
Hat; Vogue 8844, ivory corduroy, details and my review of this pattern here
Sandals, in the beach pics; designed and made by me, details here
Clogs; in the garage pics; designed and made by me, details here

I took these beachy photographs on Cable Beach in Broome; a place which captured my heart during our holiday a few weeks ago and from which I did NOT want to come home. I’m not even joking. I’m getting that happy, eternally-summer vibe all over again, just looking at these pictures *sigh* Minimums 25C, maximums 32C every day; huge beach, squeaky white sand, almost completely deserted. Heaven!! I want to go back!!

Bonus picture; husband was intending to stay well out of the way but still managed to inadvertently photobomb, haha

LATER EDIT: the dress has had a minor update! I sliced off the wings, angling from the waist seam in a straight line out to the unaltered hemline… so the dress still has those lovely handkerchief points in the hemline, but is a little more streamlined about the waist and hips.

LATER EDIT:

the dress has had another update!

fairly major this time… it’s been worn quite a lot and I was getting a little bit tired of it… so it got rather summarily dunked into the dyepot… from which it somehow managed to emerge totally transformed into something newly amazing and magnificent to my eyes… I’M SO IN LOVE WITH THIS DRESS ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: acton dress, dress, dyeing, in the folds, pattern review, photobomb

white inari

02/11/2016 11:36 am \ 41 Comments \ Carolyn

Mum and I went shopping together on my birthday; her for my birthday present, and me for her birthday present! yes, our birthdays are just a few days apart so this is a bit of a tradition. We went to Fabulous Fabrics. Haha… well how unexpected! *wink*

After much lengthy and highly enjoyable hunting, comparisons and consultations with each other, Mum chose this really beautiful fabric for me. it is thick but very light and airy, has a nubbly, ultra slubby texture and is as pure white as the driven snow. I absolutely adore it, in fact I’d been salivating over it whenever I saw it, ever since it came in. Getting a little bit to give me is extra thoughtful of Mum when you take into account that she doesn’t think white really suits me at all. I kind of agree with her up to a point… however! I still totally adore it, because ~~I’m a dreadfully contrary soul~~… no not really, I just have this thing for white clothing, particularly for summer, I love it with a fierce and burning passion…even a white-hot passion! Mum knows I do, so I thought it pretty sweet that she overrode her feelings to give me something I really love.

Pattern is the Named patterns Inari tee dress. This is my “real” Inari, for which I ran up my previously blogged red striped “muslin”! though of course they are both wearable since I found I needed to make only minor changes to the pattern for it to be perfect.

Something I mentioned in my red-striped inari post, the dress made as per the pattern rides up a bit when you lift your arms, so for this version I made the following simple modification to the sleeves to help reduce the problem:

What I’m doing here is adding width to and reducing the height of the sleeve cap slightly, and doing so without altering the armscye. Diddling about with both the sleeve and the armscye is possible if you really know what you’re doing #idonot; however can be quite complicated and so I tend to not go there… I would prefer to substitute an entirely different, tried-and-true sleeve cap and armscye from another pattern if it came to that!!

from L to R, top to bottom:

1) Trace the sleeve, and draw a line from the shoulder seam junction mark near the apex of the sleeve cap down to the lower edge, parallel to the grain line.
2) Cut from the lower edge up, leaving a scant few mm at the upper edge still attached. Pivot the two halves open; I allowed a gap of 4cm (2″) in width, although you could stand to go a little wider, if desired.
3) Tape a piece of paper to fill and fix the gap
4) redraw that lower hem to curve smoothly in a similar line to how the sleeve was previously, and trim
5) Original sleeve and new sleeve, juxtaposed. You can see how the sleeve is wider; and not seen, but the height of the sleeve cap has been reduced by 2.5cm (1″).
6) Very important!!! remember to measure the length of the new lower edge and cut the sleeve cuffs accordingly! They’ll be a bit longer than the sum of the original width and the width of the gap created in step 2.

Demonstration of results (below); The dress does still ride up a little bit however not nearly as much as previously, at right. To lessen the ride-up even more, you could go even further with widening the sleeve and “flattening” the curve of the sleeve cap even more. Or alternatively of course, you could always substitute an armscye and sleeve cap from another pattern, at a pinch!

I’m pretty happy with this though 🙂

Finishing details:

I still didn’t use the neckline facing, but turned in the seam allowance and finished with a piece of bias-cut white linen. Similarly at the lower hemline, the raw edge inside is bound with bias-cut white linen and then handstitched, this looks nice if anyone happens to catch a glimpse of that back hem inside.. which lets face it, is quite possible because of that low-hanging back edge, and also eliminates the bulk that you’d get if you turned the fabric under twice.

Bonus picture, photobombing daughter…

Fun fact, she made the dress she is wearing here; it is a cute and interesting tank dress with tucking up one side and side split detail on the other, made in blue marl jersey that she bought in Japan. She’s wearing it over the skirt that I made for her, here. Honestly, she makes the most lovely things, but doesn’t really share them on any social media. Occasionally I persuade her to pose in something she’s made, like the time she made this really divinely beautiful ivory cut-out lace top…

Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Details:

Dress; Inari tee dress by Named patterns, white slubby cotton mix
Shoes; designed and made by me, details here
Sandals in top picture;designed and made by me here. this picture taken on Cable Beach during our recent holiday

and hmmmm, I’m sorry that I’m closing with my dress here… bit of an anticlimax after Cassie’s top!!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, daily outfit, dress, inari, named patterns, photo-bomb, tutorial

red striped Inari tee dress

29/10/2016 10:22 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

Heya’all. I’ve made this new dress. Actually, I made it ages ago. And took most of these photos ages ago too. Bad lazy blogger!

I wore it recently as my “travelling dress” when we holidayed in Broome, and it was the most AWESOME travelling dress… why? well it’s a loose-fitting, baggy, dress made in a comfy fluffy fleece, so just about the most amazingly comfortable thing EVER! pretty much like wearing a blankie. At the same time, there’s something about the curved, slightly cocoon-y lines of the dress that I think makes it quite smart, chic and pulled-together. This is actually my wearable trial of the pattern and I absolutely love it. I might almost love it more than my “real” version. Almost. I actually love that one a bunch too. To appear here very soon.

Pattern: So, yeah; the Inari tee dress by Named patterns. SUCH a popular pattern, and as I now appreciate, for an excellent reason. It’s terrific. Simple, yes; and basic, and bordering on a boiled-down-to-the-bare-bones kind of a pattern with just a few very subtle features like that slight cocoon shape, the side seams drifting gently frontwards, the split hem and an up-down front and back hem. And I love it. I’m normally attracted to a more complex design for a dress, but this one just hits all the right buttons for me right now.

Fabric; a red and white stripe mid-weight fluffy fleece from Spotlight. This is the same fabric I used for Tim’s Christmas hoodie and for Kelly’s hoodie too. Yep, I bought quite a lot! there was a sale… um, yeah *awkward self-justifying of excessive fabric acquisition* Well, at least I’ve used it all now. This has been kicking around in the stash since pre-Christmas, since I’d decided it didn’t really suit anyone else in the family. I think it suits me though!

My stripes are matched up as perfectly as my obsessive little soul could manage. I’m smugly and complacently satisfied with how well they turned out… the only way I know how to achieve this level of stripe matching is to pin each and every junction and go nice and slow. Tedious but failsafe, and all my stripes here match any which way and everywhere. *primly pats self on back*

sewuthinkucan asked me on instagram whether I found the high slim sleeves on the design to cause the dress to ride up when you lift your arms up as above: not that I pull this pose all that often and probably will be careful now I’ve seen these pictures! but it does a little. Not enough to stop me from wearing it! I think the effect is not too bad because of my fabric being a little stretchy. However, in my next, “real” version of the pattern, I altered the sleeve so as to successfully fix the problem… and will post details on that in my next Inari post.

Alterations; the most obvious one is inseam side pockets! Well, of course. It’s baggy enough and the side hems curve forward slightly to the front, an even more comfortable position for your hands than the true sideline of your body; making inseam pockets an almost foregone conclusion.

My neckline has neither facings nor bindings; partly because my fabric has too much fluff and loft for bulky extras with incorporated double seam allowances etc, and also because this is basically my wearable muslin for the pattern and I just didn’t want to fuss around with it. I overlocked the raw edge and simply turned it in once, topstitching in a single line of stitching from the right side. My fabric is all of thick enough, stretchy enough and stable enough for this to be totally fine. I did do the sleeve cuffs though.

Details:

Dress; Inari tee dress by Named Clothing, red striped fleece
Shoes; designed and made by me, details here

taken after a plane trip, a week rolled up in a suitcase, another plane trip, and precisely zero ironing. LOVE.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, inari, named patterns

a Kelly for Kelly, and one for Cassie too…

16/10/2016 1:14 pm \ 25 Comments \ Carolyn

O hey-a! After finishing my own Kelly anorak and having it admired to the nth degree by family members, I made a few more! a pale grey one for Cassie, and I also made a deep cobalt blue one for Tim’s girlfriend Kelly. Well, it seemed only right that she should have a “Kelly” too!

I quickly snapped that top picture of an unsuspecting Cassie waiting to meet up with me in town before she noticed me heading towards her… I know it’s a bit blurry and not very posed to show off the anorak to modelly perfection, but I just really like it nonetheless… to me it attests that she’s been wearing it a tonne, in fact every single occasion that I’ve seen her in the past three weeks since I finished it and gave it to her she has been wearing it. There’s no greater compliment to a seamster than that! as well as a testament to the pattern being an absolute style winner. Kelly’s worn hers each time I’ve seen her since I gave it to her too, but I’ve not taken any pictures of her in it.. will update if she sends me one 🙂

This, taken when I presented it to her three weeks ago, and probably the only time it’s been worn with the sleeves unrolled like this. It does look a little more wintery like this. I have to admit, it does look a lot trendier and suits the casual, “heading into summer but still need a layer” look to have the sleeves rolled up.

Both the anoraks are in a nice weight cotton drill from Spotlight, in fact, all the other bits and pieces are from Spotlight too. In both anoraks, I added a few inches to the length of the body and modified the pockets to have separate pocket flaps so as to close the pockets; otherwise these are both made up exactly to the pattern.

This picture below of Kelly’s anorak has been my most “liked” picture on instagram ever! far more than anything I have ever made for myself! Interesting, no? Well, I think it is, anyway 😉 I don’t know what that “says”, if anything at all, but maybe something. Social media is such a funny phenomenon. Something else also interesting to me is how a person, any person, can have a certain number of followers and the number of “likes” never ever reaches anywhere close to that number. Honestly, I have no idea about how or why this is so, but it’s just a curious thing.

I’d got enough of the same white cord for Kelly’s anorak , but since I’d found a nice, perfectly colour-matched blue zip for hers’, and used blue thread for all topstitching and there was no other white anywhere in the jacket; the white cord looked all wrong. And naturally there’s no such thing as blue cord in the whole of Perth! so I just had to dye it. And, when your regular dye-pot is HUGE and there’s just one little length of cord what’s a mad maker to do? but of course, improvise.

Yeah, I know this looks uber-weird, but determination breeds resourcefulness… and it gave me such a laugh to watch this crazy little dye-pot bubbling on the stove! I’d tossed a pair of the same white plastic stops as I used for Cassie’s anorak in with the dye bath and it was very satisfying that they dyed up a nice deep blue too. I’d bought some silver stops just in case but fortunately the blue dye did the job beautifully 🙂

Different day, still wearing it. Yep, like I said, she’s worn it literally every single time I’ve seen her in the past three weeks. I’m calling that a ginormous WIN!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, Closet Case files, coat, dyeing, jacket, Kelly, kelly anorak, parka

Kelly anorak as a raincoat

06/10/2016 3:10 pm \ 51 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made a new raincoat! This is the Kelly anorak by Closet Case patterns, and I knew straight away I wanted to make it as a raincoat… why? well we’ve had officially the wettest winter and early spring on record, since they started keeping records, so like ever. EVER! It’s been hideous, I tell you! I’ve been wearing my old me-made raincoat all winter, but I’ve noticed that it’s not quite as effective as it used to be. I would classify it as shower-proof now, rather than waterproof *sob*. Well, it is a few years old now so possibly the fabric is becoming a little brittle with age, because I’m pretty sure it used to be lovely and watertight! Now, not so much! #sadface

So a new raincoat was needed… I really wanted a white-ish, cream or ivory one. I just love off-white and think ivory looks so chic and really smart in outerwear. Actually, I think it looks chic in anything!! #welldocumentedivoryfan I bought a plain white shower curtain from Spotlight, and gave it a little water test, posted here on my instagram account. I love how the water droplet looks like a wee little living thing, zipping about on the surface. Obviously the fabric passed with flying colours. Pretty cool, huh?

The fabric was quite see-through, and while I don’t mind a little bit of sheerness in a raincoat it really was TOO sheer, so I decided to underline fully with polyacetate lining fabric. I didn’t want white lining fabric, pure white is quite harsh for my colouring, so I chose this pale golden beige colour. I had this idea that it would tone down the pure white to a warm, off-white, oyster white, which I think my colouring needs. SO. Funny thing! To my mind, this lining fabric is a definite gold, or even brown, wouldn’t you agree? I would not call this colour “pink”… so I’m pretty surprised that the overall look of my raincoat reads pink! Don’t get me wrong, I love it! just that I did not expect this! In retrospect, I can see the colour does have a sorta peach-y look to it…but still! Golden brown under white; gives… pink?!?? Well alrighty then!!

In a raincoat, you need to seal the seams, and for my previous raincoat I used some stuff called Seam Grip, which has done a stellar job in that raincoat for years. So I was pretty sad that I couldn’t find it any more! BCF sold me some of this stuff… it’s a little different, far more liquid-y than the gel-like Seam Grip. It dries on the surface of the fabric forming a slightly hard, just slightly stiff, matte finish; similar to what you would expect if you painted clear matte nail polish on the seams. It does seem to do the trick, though only time will tell. The good thing about it is that it “disappears” on the fabric and you can hardly tell it’s there… unlike the Seam Grip which was a definite visible, shiny “smear” on the seams inside my old coat. Not that anyone ever looks on the inside of my raincoat, but you know what I mean! this new stuff is quite invisible which does look really neat and tidy. So that’s good.

Materials: my shower curtain, zip, eyelets, nylon cord, press studs and the “stops” for the cord; I bought everything at Spotlight. Seam sealer from BCF (boating camping and fishing) store. It’s intended for use on tents and sails! My shower curtain was just enough fabric for my pieces!! Just a few scant patches left enough for me to cut a few extra pocket flap pieces and after that? almost nothing leftover.

Pattern; the Kelly anorak, by Closet Case patterns, available here. Heather asked me to be a tester and I gleefully jumped right in. I really like Heather’s patterns, she has a modern young woman’s aesthetic, with clean lines and unfussy shapes. Basically, I’ve loved everything she’s designed! I made up the pattern just as is, grading out from a size 8 at the top to a size 10 at the hips, according to my measurements, and I reckon the fit is spot on, with just the right amount of ease. I believe Heather has shortened the sleeves, lengthened the body and widened the biceps a touch in the final version in response to tester feedback, however I’m happy with the fit I’ve got here!

Alterations: I just made some very minor alterations simply because it’s a raincoat:

The bellows pockets are designed to have a faux flap, so you can just shove your hands satisfyingly right in those pockets with absolute no impediment… however because mine is a raincoat and I thought functional pocket flaps would be a good idea, you know, to protect whatever is in the pockets from the rain! so I made and added extra pocket flaps on the outside. I LOVE the little double flap effect this gives! ok, maybe it looks a bit weird but I really like it!

I added press studs to the wrist cuffs but left them off the opening front zip placket; reason being that I think a raincoat doesn’t really need them and might actually be more of a nuisance than useful. You know; it starts raining, you want to just throw on your coat and just zip it up quick! bob’s your uncle. The drawstring is good enough for pulling it all in, for me.

In most cases, I overlocked all raw edges to prevent fraying then flat-felled all seams UP, which you always do in raincoats for waterproofing reasons. I remember I went into some detail on this in my previous raincoat post… it’s a little thing but I believe it does make a difference! The shadow of up-flatfelling can just be made out above on my sleeve seams and this front/front yoke seam, which is slightly curved to give some subtle bust shaping.

I hammered in two eyelets tucked up high under each arm to allow body heat to escape; this is an essential in a non-breathable, waterproof garment…

I also added eyelets and pull-cord to the hood opening because, well obviously. A raincoat hood is never merely decorative!

You know what? I’ve worn the raincoat several times, and it’s brilliant. I love it! And so far so good; it’s stood up to a a pretty heavy downpour and I’ve remained happily dry inside It is actually very warm too, which I guess is what you’d expect from a completely waterproof fabric. I’m happy!

Details:

Raincoat; the Kelly anorak, Closet Case patterns, made using a shower curtain with polyaceteate underlining.
Jeans; Morgan boyfriend jeans, Closet Case patterns, details here
Top; modified Nettie, ivory knit details here… hehe, I’ve just realised I’m wearing all Closet Case patterns, this was not planned, honest!
Shoes, designed and made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: anorak, Closet Case files, coat, jacket, kelly anorak, pattern review, raincoat

pretty duds, plain duds

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

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

Madame Serviceable? you’re up first!

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

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

Madame Oo-la-la…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a tart for tartan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Details:

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