sewing Archives - Page 9 of 41 - Handmade by Carolyn

2022; a retrospective

31/12/2022 11:09 am \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

It’s the last day of the year! which seems like a pretty good time for reflection and introspection. I mean, why not? a blog is as good a place as any for such nonsense 🙂 I’m going to start out with my own personal favourite outfits from each month of the year…

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Everything made by me! I really love how I can make my own style and thus feel perfectly comfortable in my own skin most of the time. I think my “makes” don’t always hit the mark for me in the long run but I do feel like I’m getting a grip on what works for me overall while still trying to be a little adventurous too.

What did I make this year?

I made 82 things this year; not too shabby, I think! The breakdown: in total I made 12 dresses, 17 tops, 14 skirts, 1 scarf, 5 prs sockettes, 6 prs tights, 5 bags, 3 hats (inc. 1 crocheted), 1 pr trousers, 2 coats, 1 hoodie, 2 cardigans, 1 pr bathers, 1 slip, 1 baby onesie, 2 robes, 4 sets of underwear (1 bra + 2 prs matching undies per set), 1 jacket, 1 pr knitted socks, 1 pr knitted hand warmers, 1 stuffed felt fox + clothes. Phew!

Out of these; 4 tops, 3 skirts, 1 hat, the 2 robes, 1 coat, 1 bag, and the stuffed fox were all for others.

Cassie and I were thrilled to release two new patterns for our tiny pattern company this year too; the Booragoon skirt and its partner, the Booragoon top. We love how these patterns go together!

Stashbusting vs new fabric…

I made a substantial effort to not buy any new fabric this year! and imo only failed in an acceptably small way! We went to Melbourne in March, and I allowed myself to buy a few new pieces. Well, souvenir fabric always gets a pass from me and I was very careful to not go overboard! I also received two new pieces of fabric from Minerva, and used my prize voucher from Ikuntji Artists for my winning entry into FrockOn last year. Apart from that I bought nothing! and I’ve really roared through a large amount of stash this year. I managed to go through the 30m I promised at the beginning of the year by May, and from then made my pledge to keep going with buying no new. I think I’ve made pretty good headway, especially considering that latest year Mum basically offloaded her stash onto me! I’ve had to have a stern talking to myself though about no longer accepting any one else’s stashes.

favourite makes?

This is really really hard for me to choose just one thing! so I’m allowing myself a few…

For pride in the sewing process I really love how this green dress turned out:

for pure joy, I choose this little raincoat I made for Theo

also I’m quite pleasantly surprised how much I love this extremely soft, comfortable and wearable dress made from an old sheet!

any fails?

It makes me so sad to nominate this dress since I was so proud of it when I’d finished it! but unfortunately the top feels weirdly bulky and I’ve decided I just don’t really vibe with the double corded, gathered waistline. I’ve developed a dislike for those very carefully constructed white-and-red inserts too… eeep!! I can’t just give up on the lovely plaid fabric just yet though and am determined to rework it somehow early next year. I have plans!

what did I wear this year?

my most worn things this year can be summed up quite succinctly in the following outfits…

top ticket items were; my yellow raincoat (27 wears), my above-knee raspberry skirt pictured just above left (23 wears), the yellow cardigan just above right (22 wears) and my blue/white gingham Myosotis dress (top centre, 22 wears). This isn’t counting any of my shoes, underwear or my black tights.

in general life stuff; I’m still learning Japanese, it’s coming up to three years now! Pretty pleased with my progress and I’m hoping to keep on it with the same intensity next year too. The first bit of 2023 is going to be a quite challenging though, because I’m currently working on a HUGE project, Lainey’s wedding dress! Yes, I’m deeply embroiled in that, and it’s only going to get more involved from now on. I’m going to try to make at least a small effort to keep on with eliminating the stash but to be honest that has to go on the back burner for a short while.

I will however most definitely be making something new for myself in my mother-of-the-groom role, of course! So excited for Sam and Lainey’s big day! and for Lainey’s dress, which I am super DUPER excited to be making for her!

If you’re still reading, then thank you! I really enjoy reading and appreciate every comment. I wish you all the absolute best for a safe, happy and healthy 2023!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: random life stuff

featuring a top and a skirt and some other miscellaneous wearable things

20/12/2022 7:25 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new little top and skirt, as well as a few other odds and sods … so here’s the thing.

I bought a batch of 20x “circa 2022” labels at the beginning of the year, used these up in 6 months, and so bought a second batch of 20. These are neeeeeeearly finished! and now I’m basically on a mission to use them all by the end of the year. I have four or five to go… let’s see if I can make it! aieeee, it’s going to be tight!

First up! a little brown top…

this is our own Booragoon top pattern… and like Cassie with the ones I’ve made for her, I’ve found it to be such a wonderfully comfortable and useful little top to make and wear. I used the leftovers from this little tee I made for myself at the beginning of the year; scrummy merino from The Fabric Store, in colour Nutmeg, bought last year.

I’m wearing it above with my BamBam Pietra shorts, first blogged here. The fabric is cotton drill from Spotlight, the shorts are made using Closet Core Pietra pattern, adapted to have no elastic waistband and a centre back zip.

next up! I made a little white skirt…

Yes, it’s kinda of mini-length, thus the tights and boots. I think it will be a winter skirt! This is another of my own patterns that I’m hoping to release next year some time. The fabric is again cotton drill from Spotlight, obviously the same fabric as my BamBam shorts just in the white colour way. Yes, I really liked it! It also came in a dark green colour way but I figured I had bought enough already…

The skirt is fully lined and closes with a button and a hook and eye over one of the side pockets.

Here are some other little basics I’ve made recently too, to which I did not attach any labels. Necessary things, but not really label-worthy things, unfortunately!

A simple double-layered neck warmer using the very last Nutmeg merino as my top, above.

I’ve also made a five more pairs of little sockettes, using the now sadly unobtainable syttochprytt ballerina sock pattern, adjusted as outlined here.

All the fabrics are either leftovers from other things or old T-shirts that I’ve kept for this very purpose.

A brief update: I’m going so well on my not buy any new fabric pledge! I have to confess to feeling the desire for new fabric every now and then, but have quickly managed to overcome it. Mostly by forcing myself to go to my stash and sort it out. Always a great cure! Anyway, I have plans, lots of lovely plans for the fabric I do have… aaah, so many plans, so little time!

it’s curtains for you! otherwise titled; why should windows have all the fun?

03/12/2022 1:21 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

This year, my friend Raina gave to me a couple of bags of fabric that she’d been hoarding for years, finally sensibly throwing them out… or should I say.. throwing them my way? I really should throw out a lot of my fabric too but not only am I not sensible, I’m also such a sucker for a lonely, unwanted piece of fabric that is just screaming out to be made into something wanted and loved… *sigh*

Anyway; amongst the odds and ends and bits and bobs was a length of really beautiful curtain fabric. Samarkand by Sanderson, no less. I thought it was lovely and had lots of potential. Interestingly, I’ve just searched online and can find not even one picture of this print?! Weird!

Raina tells me this was the leftovers from the bedroom curtains in their old house in England, and since they left England more than twenty years ago that should give you an idea of how long this has been kicking around! I’m so happy it’s finally been put to good use!

I made a skirt using my own skirt block pattern, that I’m developing to be a pattern for our pattern company actually, and this time I managed to remember to add seam allowances, hurrah! Yes, I finally got my matching top and skirt set, yay!

For my top I used the Closet Core patterns Cielo pattern. I didn’t have enough of the curtain fabric to cut everything, so the sleeves and sleeve cuffs are a co-ordinating grey linen, which was given to me by Mum when she cleaned out her own stash. I know, I seem to be using everybody else’s stashes at the moment and not much of my own! I really should remedy that for the remainder of the year… if I can!

I lined the skirt with a leaf green lining fabric, also from Mum’s stash. Later on, I also noticed that the lining of the skirt peeped out a bit in a few of my photos so since then I’ve gone back in and shortened the lining by a few centimetres. Always telling myself; it’s really worth me doing this sort of thing properly because otherwise it would bother me forever.

I finished off the raw edges inside the top and skirt with bias tape cut from dark olive poplin. Now, this is actually from my own long term stash! I also finished off the neckline facing with the same poplin; it makes the inside look so nice and neat, as well as being far more comfortable and soft against my skin. I try to do this as much as possible nowadays.

I really love this new ensemble! the beautiful bird print on the fabric is so elegant. I’m so happy I was able to pattern match quite close to seamlessly everywhere. I kept and incorporated the colour legend from the selvedge on the waist band of the skirt, because… well just because I can! I love it, and I believe that a print with such a lot of colours in it like this is the mark of a really quality print.

I wore this to morning tea with Raina this past week because I knew it would give her a laugh, and she was satisfyingly very happy to see it too! Gave me lots of warm fuzzies to see how much she loved it actually. Very satisfying. It’s very comfortable, and a style that makes me feel really good too. I’m going to get lots of wear out of this outfit, for sure! I only have a few more of those “circa 2022” labels left now. Hmm… what label-worthy things should I make to finish up the year? Better put my thinking cap on!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: cielo, Closet Core patterns, own design, skirt, top

in which I make yet another tartan thingie…

27/11/2022 8:04 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made a new.. blouse? jacket? the more open-ended “top” would be the least controversial, I suppose!

This is the new Rhonda pattern by Fibremood… I always tend to go for the weirdest pattern in any collection because that’s just my preference in just about anything, and I was not disappointed with my choice this time either! It’s quite unique; sorta boxy giving a tres-flattering square shape to one’s torso #imjoking and an up-and-down hemline all around. The sleeves are wide and a little flared without being annoyingly big. If I’m being critical I’m not super sold on the buttoned back; such a thing has a tiny whiff of “homemade” about it and maybe I would substitute a zip or even an invisible zip in a lighter fabric next time. But, I’m ok with it for them most part.

I didn’t have matching buttons in my stash, so got some blue fabric covered ones that I’d rescued off a cardigan, many years ago, and used a sharpie to colour them in black. Perfect! I really like how they’re a little woolly looking, just like the fabric.

Oh, the fabric? This was a leftover, given to be by Mum. She’d bought it in Melbourne, during one of our girls’ trips over there; and subsequently made a pair of trousers for herself. In true Mum fashion she had bought about 2m too much. The wrong side is a bit fluffy, like a blanket, and this is the side I used as a right side. The actual right side is a lot more defined and sharp looking, which is nice but I just wanted the slightly fluffy, ill-defined felted look of the wrong side.

I managed to get this little jacket out of it, and also a little matching skirt. Oh, you’ve noticed I am not wearing the matching skirt? That’s because while I used my own perfectly fitting skirt block to cut it out, I foolishly failed to add seam allowances. And then steam-rollered through without pausing to try it on at any point, until it was completely finished. So it turned out depressingly tiny *sob* Fortunately it fits Cassie just fine, so she accepted it happily. I’m quite sad because it honestly looked so cute with the matching jacket! but really; I have enough skirts planned top of that one to suit my needs.

I’ll attach a picture of Cassie wearing the skirt here when I can get one… ~~until then!~~

please say hi to my darling little grandson and BooBoo … and yes, I am … just a little bit dying of heat right here. But hey; summer is here at last, and I am NOT complaining!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: fibremood, jacket, rhonda, top

bikini washing bag

20/11/2022 3:52 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

… the zip on my old lingerie washing bag finally gave up the ghost, so I whipped up a new one! Perforated sports fabric has been in Le Stash for years, I originally bought a long length of this from the Remnant Warehouse for raincoat vents and I think it’s going to last me a lifetime! purple zip inherited from a large batch of random haberdashery from Mum…

After I’d cut it out I decided to tizzy it up a bit with a spot of embroidery… I was going for the bikini emoji so tried embroidering yellow French knot “polka dots” over the pink but they sadly turned absolutely terrible so OFF they came! It’s ok, I happen to think the pink bikini by itself is super cute and I’m very pleased with it. I was little worried the satin stitch would skew in the wash, but it’s survived several washes already and come out totally unscathed so I think it’s going to be quite stable!

To do the embroidery, I freehand drew the bikini straight onto my bag with lead pencil. The sports fabric is a little stretchy, so on the back (inside) of the bag I pinned a bias cut piece of white linen. This provides a stable “tough” layer to give the embroidery a nice strong backing, so it won’t stretch out.

I outlined the design with simple back stitch, and then just filled in the gap with satin stitch. The bikini straps are double stitches.

On, I should mention something about the zip too… again because of the sports fabric being a little stretchy and we all know what inserting a zip into stretchy fabric looks like ie. absolutely blooming’ awful most of the time…. anyway I interfaced the zip opening with fusible interfacing AND stay-stitched the zip box as well as the stitching lines before putting in the zip. I think it did the trick as my zip is nice and smooth and flat with no bubbly bits or humps or bumps.

Et voila!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: accessories, bag, own design

orange yoga girl

19/11/2022 2:37 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Remember my pink yoga girls dress? well I made an orange one too! I used the Nerida Hanson smock dress pattern.. only this one is made (almost) exactly to the pattern with no variations! shock horror, I know… how often do I ever faithfully follow the pattern #notever

The “almost” up there? well, obviously it’s substantially shorter than the pattern! And it is a bit shorter than the pink one too. Not much shorter in the scheme of things, only about 10cm or so; but this small amount has made quite a big difference, I think! I’ve worn it bare-legged just once, and decided it was too short to be worn without tights from now on. Am I getting … dare I say it… old? I’ve never really worried about dresses being “too short” before and now I seem to worry about it quite a lot.

I’m also a touch worried about the sleeves. I’ve never been a “big sleeve” sort of person, so I’ve passed this trend over, mostly. This time I decided to take the chance. I kind like them, they do balance out the skirt quite nicely.

But at the same time they make me a little nervous. I’ve worn this dress a number of times over winter… always with tights! and because winter is cold I’ve always worn it with a jumper or hoodie or something over the top, for warmth. That means the sleeves are hidden too. With summer coming up, I’ll see how I feel wearing this big sleeves on show, as I shed those warm winter woollies…

really love that little burst of orange with my broderie top and my denim jacket!

Anyway, the fabric is so cheerful and fun, it really puts a smile on my face. I’m going to enjoy wearing it for that reason alone!

have worn it multiple times with my terracotta corduroy hoodie; it just seems to really work well in this outfit combination

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, nerida hansen, NH smock dress

pink and blue magnolias

02/11/2022 12:44 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello!

Here is another little sundress I made more recently actually… just in late July if I recall correctly. I was so excited and getting ready for spring and it seemed like the perfect little spring-time thing… little did I know that winter was going to continue to grip us in its icy cold claws for a further few months.

Even so, I happily managed to don it for a few random warmish days in there, hurrah! I’m so excited to wear this lots and lots as the weather warms up more, because I absolutely love it!

Firstly, the fabric; is super lovely. It’s a linen cotton, but feels a lot more linen-y than cotton-y; with a crisp hand that crinkles a little. The print, Nerida Hanson “Magnolia” in the blue colour way, is really beautiful too, cool sea-blues and a big splashes of pink.

I based my design on the Nerida Hansen half-sleeve top pattern, but of course added some very wild modifications to make the most of the 2m I had… fortunately it’s a very wide 2m and I was able to cut out quite a voluminous and flouncy dress in the end!

I really love how my mods turned out and am seriously thinking I would love to make this style into a pattern one day! I know, I know; I have so many ideas for patterns but so little time. It’s a little sad for me, because I honestly love designing and making patterns and would love to do it a lot more than I do at the moment. My dream career, if you will :/

It is actually two very wide and deeply “flouncy” flounces both cut on long curved, asymmetric angles across the body.

Hemming was fun of course (sarcastic font) because of the bias… I left it to hang for quite a while before venturing to cut off the hemline evenly. I had no room for error! partly because I had zero leftover fabric to play with, and I had only managed to get a fairly short version of my idea from the 2m. I cut super super carefully, and got a pretty decent hem, I think.

I did start out with the eponymous “half sleeves” but for balance sake eventually cut them off quite short … I think the very voluminous skirt looks much nice with the shorter sleeves.

My dress also has pockets, of course.

The flounces were just not possible with just 2m of fabric of course; so each is comprised of multiple smaller wedges, cut both up and down and joined around to make a multi-sectioned piece. Basically using every single scrap of fabric possible. The result is good, I think; for the randomness of pattern placement; the fact that you don’t get that slightly obnoxious pattern repeat that you do if you cut things out the normal way. A little bit of every-which-way in pattern placement does wonders for the a visually pleasing aesthetic sometimes; if you have an obvious pattern repeat. I often think when I’m checking out designs on Spoonflower actually; that designs could be improved so much if they had a larger scale repeat. I mean; I’m no visual art expert by any means, but this is just an impression I get.

Probably explaining myself really badly here, sorry. At least I know what I mean!

“winterised” … as worn on the plane home from Velassaru

Anyway, I guess the long and short is that I am really happy with my new dress.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, half sleeve dress, nerida hansen, own design

the Maldives; a travel wardrobe

26/10/2022 11:18 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

phew! it’s been aaaaaages since I did one of these! or it feels like it anyway! We’d originally booked this holiday back in 2019, to be taken in 2020; and well, we all know what happened in 2020! Covid, in case future me has forgotten this world-altering event already… hehe. We’d decided we wanted to treat ourselves to a lovely relaxing break after catering to the respective two weddings of our two eldest; Tim to Kelly, and Cassie to Daniel. Of course these were both lovely and wonderful events in our lives, at the same time I’d made the wedding dresses plus all the bridesmaids’ dresses for both and was pretty much exhausted.

Anyway, we finally got to take this longed-for dream holiday! and return back to our dream holiday spot in the Maldives.

Time away: 7 days

Where to: Velassaru, of the Maldives

Season; tail end of the monsoon season, meaning possible rain. High tropical temperatures from 27C lows to 29C highs #heaven!!!

Expected activities: lots of nothing at all! no really, just swimming and lazing

Colour scheme: cheerful and colourful, as befits a blissfully beautiful oceanic isle

What I packed: We’ve been here previously, so I know that the ideal holiday wardrobe is basically a new little sundress every day. So this is what I took!

From left to right, top to bottom; all items are linked to their construction posts… (I will update this post with the links once the as yet unblogged ones are finally blogged)

pink checked sundress

rtw red thongs

rtw turquoise thongs

rtw ivory scarf

ivory, long sleeve tee

black tights

rtw black booties

not pictured; my oxen dress, a few books, small knitting bag, my nightie and a selection of underwear

I’ve been so slack with blogging this year! I’m sorry! I will make a big effort to blog everything as soon as possible 🙂 Also, there’s another sundress in my outfit shots that I wore but forgot to put into the lineup… also unblogged, whoops!

My daily outfits:

Thoughts:

I’d taken the long sleeve tee, cardigan, tights, scarf and booties to wear on the plane. It was bitterly cold in Perth as we were leaving, plus planes are cold, so I knew I’d need to be warmly dressed just for this short part of our trip. I wore these things over/under one of the sundresses on travelling days, to minimise packing space. Verdict: necessary!

The bathers got worn every day obviously, the bucket hat occasionally, and all of my colourful pretty sundresses got worn, each perfect for the climate and location. 🙂 it’s pretty hot and humid so you basically need a fresh one every day… verdict; all necessary!

I didn’t really need the raincoat; although we’d gone at the tail end of the monsoon season and it did rain several times, the resort provides big umbrellas for you. Plus, it was too humid and hot to wear the raincoat anyway… verdict; unnecessary!

I’d taken one pair of red thongs however I did not wear them even once! since the resort also provides a pair of thongs for you, the turquoise ones pictured above; and I wore these ones every day! Such a pretty, summery colour, and as a bonus they have “Velassaru” stamped into the bottom. There are Velassaru footprints all over the island, and I found this totally charming!

One thing which I did not take and which I wish I had? a pair of sand shoes, or sneakers. This trip we did a good solid hour on the treadmill in the resort gym everyday. This is actually so unlike us! a gym?! but for some reason we just got into it and enjoyed it. Possibly because the first day it rained quite heavily ALL DAY (thus the umbrella in my 1st daily outfit pic) and we still wanted to get some exercise after a day of travel. And after day 1 we decided to do it every day; just that one hour of solid exercise and then we could fully relax, swim, read, snorkel and just generally laid about for the rest of each day. And I had to wear either my thongs or a pair of Craig’s socks on the treadmill, because I had no choice! In future; I will take a pair of sneakers for both on the plane, and that I can wear for exercise if needed. because actually the booties were a kinda frivolous, plane-only thing… verdict; better footwear choice needed!

Some favourite holiday snaps: Craig took the 1st and 2nd distant shots of me, and the final one is our de facto pet from during the holiday; a rather large fruit bat hanging in the tree outside our cabin. I loved watching him swoop silently along the beach at night!