hello! I’ve made some more things lately…
Firstly, some new trousers. I used a new pattern, the Fibremood Lux trousers. Lately I’m more interested in trousers/jeans etc with a flat front and no pleats… and so the pattern piqued my interest immediately. I also liked the sleek, menswear vibe that the top part gave, even if the patch pockets at the back and the flared legs didn’t quite fit that vibe. Easily sorted!
I cut mine with straighter legs… partly to fit the pattern better on my fabric too! and decided to put single welt pockets on the back in place of the big patch pockets. There are nice slanted front hip pockets as well, and I cut mine a good inch bigger all the way around, to better accomodate my own big flippers…
There’s not really much more to say about the pattern, it’s a kinda basic pattern really; classic and a bit plain but we all need patterns like this in our lives too, hmmm? The belt loops at the centre are stitched in an “M” arrangement, a subtle detail that is different enough to draw the eye without being too much.
my cute little photobomber!
The fabric is a deep chocolate; cottony-sort of stuff; I’ve had it in my stash for so long I cannot even remember how or where I got it from, let alone the content of it. It has a very crisp “snappy” hand to it and literally crackles while you walk. It does crush a little, but irons beautifully, and putting in those welt pockets was a dream! It is just slightly water resistant, and dries very quickly, so I think it might be a technical fabric of some kind. Meaning I can wear them hiking if need be … and that need will probably come up next year, at least once!
worn here with my Fibremood Georgie top and above with my yellow clogs, made using a kit from Leather Needle Thread. Yes, a 100% memade outfit!
I also have my knitting project for the month to show… I made a couple more cushions. I know, sorta boring? and a bit crazy too, if that makes sense. But since I’m using otherwise discarded materials and spending nothing, making stuff like this makes me feel virtuous and thrifty and therefore very happy, so it’s all a good thing! I needed a smaller project this month after a couple of months of knitting full jumpers/cardigans. I’m hoping to go back a more substantial project for next month!
Both the bobbly yarns were given to me by my daughter-in-law Lainey, and the yellow yarn was leftover from some socks that I knitted a few years ago. I also made cushion inserts to fit, using yellow satin and toy filling from my stash. I remember buying the satin years ago as a lining for a coat, and ended up using a different fabric. The yellow cushion inserts look really nice in my opinion, since you can see through the bobbly knit; and white would have looked too stark.
Hello! I made some new bathers recently…
This cute, random ivory polka dot on a hot orange background, swimwear-specific fabric is also still from Le Stash, surprisingly! I’ve had it a long long time, like probably six or seven years or more. I bought it from the Fabric Store during a previous trip to Melbourne.
The hem of the skirt is the original hem of the jeans shorts, and I unpicked a little to sew the side seams, before resewing the original hem in place. The original topstitching on the jeans shorts was a mixture of navy blue and a kind of dull, mustard-y orange, but all my new topstitching is quite a brighter orange.
It’s a bit daggy, let’s be real, but I guess I’m an 80’s girl at heart really so daggy is set in stone into my DNA. I’ll happily wear it as a knockabout skirt on the weekend and when I just feel like slouching around. It’s fun, very comfy, and I often kinda like that scruffy vibe anyway, hehe.
I didn’t take a picture of the “before” yarns, but actually this project changed shape and form several times during the making and new yarns got added in as I went along. I’m pretty happy though… because there were about 11 balls/part balls of yarn in all to start with, and now they are all GONE from Le Stash. I’m particularly pleased with the “turquoise” stripes on the sleeves, which are actually four strands of two different colours of an extremely fine mohair yarn that I had no idea what on earth I could use for anything at all. The four of them held and knitted together as one turned out to be a reasonably good thickness to actually use.
I used our own Carolyn & Cassie Pinjarra pattern, the high necked top version. I cut a size bigger than my usual for a loose fit, and cut a hoodie piece to fit the neckline length. I also added a few inches of length to the bottom edge, again for that loose look. It was a pretty easy hack of our own pattern! so easy that I wondered for a little bit whether we should draft the hood up and add it to the pattern.
Obviously the most worn items in just about anyone’s wardrobe is bound to be underwear… and so one is obliged to often update these things, even though you don’t get the benefit of showing of your new creations to your friends, much less the general public! I’m still using up small pieces of cotton jersey in my stash that are too small for anything else, thus this is another patchwork set. Oh, pattern? the Cloth Habit Watson pattern, adapted over time to become a long term favourite of mine.
I made this very snuggly and cosy shirtdress/jacket thingummy recently, the pattern is the new Fibremood Ildri … I think it is called a shirtdress, but it can obviously be cut shorter as a shirt or jacket too. btw, while it has a second version pictured here, when I got it the pattern only had the first, long version with covered button band..
To belt or not to belt? that is the question. This is how I wore it yesterday… I think I prefer it belted mostly, but this makes the pockets practically inaccessible… !
Anyway, I decided to run up two new pairs of knickers to match the bra. Obviously I didn’t have any more of that pretty Liberty jersey, but I did have a big-enough remnant of reasonably well-matching blue jersey from which I managed to cut out two new pairs of Watson knickers. I cut out a few small flower motifs from the old Liberty knickers and hand stitched them on too, just for fun. This was a very small project, barely worth blogging really but I’m so happy with it! Sometimes small things can make you really happy.
The skirt is our very own Meelup pattern, which is currently my number one top favourite. It has all my desired features; deep pockets, no zip, and a streamlined, yet comfortable and roomy silhouette. I carefully lined up the pockets to match the pattern in the skirt front; Pattern Matching 101. The skirt is lined in deep green lining fabric, not a perfect match colour-wise but t’was already in the stash thus making it the perfect candidate.
I also used a khaki cotton for the pocket lining and red buttons for the same reason… I know I know; the purist in me shrieks “NO!” however the thrifty-miss in me reassures myself that it’s not like you can ever see either of these wrongly coloured things when you’re wearing the skirt! I used the same khaki cotton to make bias binding to finish the raw edge of the hem inside…
The little tee-top is kinda based on another old favourite, the epaulette top from “she has a mannish style” by Yuki Takada. I had enough tartan for the sleeves and two big patch pockets, and the body is cut from an ivory wool felt that has been such a very long-term stash resident that I cannot remember its provenance. I did not include the eponymous epaulettes, … also I lined the body fully with an ivory silk habotai (also long-term stash) because the ivory wool is really itchy.
I stabilised the neckline with a biascut strip of cream cotton, then attached the lining to this, before stitching them all down to the top around the neckline.. yes, quite complicated but gives a nice finish, imo. The armscye of the lining is also stitched to that of the outer, and the remainder of the body and side seams float freely from each other. Having a silk lining makes it quite beautiful to wear!
I finished the lower raw edge with cotton bias, just like with the skirt… You can see here how I used dark green thread in the bobbin to stitch on those patch pockets… and no that is not a mistake! I discovered that a cream coloured thread to match the wool showed up just very slightly on the outside of the pockets, not terribly but enough to bother me…so I unpicked that and re-did it with the green thread. Now the topstitching on the pockets is nicely invisible… 🙂
A few little moth holes had sprung up during its confinement to the stash, so while I could cut mostly around them, I darned the few unavoidable ones up before making my tops… The merino is so fine, I used regular stitching thread for darning… and even then it looks thicker than I’d like.
Honestly, though, it really is near invisible, unless you get up really close! and I know these two items are going to work hard in my wardrobe next winter… btw, can you see how I used a white thread and and ivory thread in that double top-stitching? No?!
I’ve made some new jeans, and the overly wide-legged-ness of them is so funky and awesome … it’s silly but I am really feeling like this sort of thing at the moment! I’ve been working on these for several weeks now … taking my time to get the fit just right and exactly how I wanted them. It was fun to work slowly on something that I really wanted. They are super comfortable and easy to wear, almost like a tracksuit, only not. Way better.
For the waistband lining and pocket flap linings, I used a gorgeous linen gingham, leftover from 
The topstitching thread is two slightly different shades of orange, to explain; the waistband and belt loop topstitching is a brighter orange than the remainder of the jeans. Actually, now they’re finished I realise you can hardly see the difference so I’m not sure why I was worried about it, but honestly on the spools the colour was noticeably different!
