I’ve been checking out all my as-yet unblogged things, and there are so many! I guess I’ve been in a real blogging slump this year. Anyway, apologies for the overloaded, as well as overdue! blog post, and here we go…!
Item 1: a pretty lingerie set. This is of course the Watson pattern by cloth habit, one I’ll be making for the rest of my life, I’m sure… just such a goodie. Same modifications I’ve always made. (see here)…
I had all the elastics and bits and pieces already, and a quite short length of bright neon yellow elastic, leftover from this set… it was fun incorporating a length of it in each piece!
Item 2; a pretty blouse. This is actually my most recently made thing… well, apart from a few samples for our new pattern, to be announced very soon, I hope!
This design is the new Nova pattern by Fibremood. It has a very interesting fluted neckline, that attracted me to it in the first place. I dunno, but I can’t resist a unique twist to a thing! and simply must try it out. 
I used a length of pretty slightly brushed cotton, given to me by Mum when she cleaned out her stash. It’s lovely, isn’t it?! I added one pocket, just for fun, and threaded a length of elastic through each sleeve hem, a look that I really like lately. 
The back has a centre-back seam with an invisible zip. Quite unnecessary, since I found you can pull it over your head quite easily. Something I like to do with the end of an invisible zip is to wrap the end with a little piece of fabric, since a lot of invisible zips seem to have almost imperceptible sharp bits at the end, that will torment you without pity if you don’t do something about it first.
The back has a centre-back seam with an invisible zip. Quite unnecessary, since I found you can pull it over your head quite easily. Something I like to do with the end of an invisible zip is to wrap the end with a little piece of fabric, since a lot of invisible zips seem to have almost imperceptible sharp bits at the end, that will torment you without pity if you don’t do something about it first.
Item 3; this cute little bag… I made this earlier this winter, using a kit from JT Tanner bought during lockdown actually!
It was an exceptionally beautiful kit and I really enjoyed putting it together, in spite of breaking all three of the provided needles! however I finally figured how to stitch through that tough tough leather without putting too much strain on the needles… :D. and am super happy with the quite profesh look of the final product!
I wore it a few times, but it had one small problem which ultimate led me to my next project…
Item 4; a little wallet. My new bag is awesome, but my current purse doesn’t fit into it at all, and since the bag is such that a loose credit card or cash would easily fall out of the gaps, I decided that I needed a customised purse! Yes, I’m admittedly weird about not immediately shopping for things at the moment and I also I do like to challenge myself, ergo; I decided to have a go at making one.
There was one failed version before this final one, failed only because I cut the zip too short and it couldn’t flip out open completely; but this one is nearly perfect, I’m happy to report.
I didn’t want to use any of my precious leather just yet! although I might be ready to go there soon; instead I used charcoal felt, that I bought to make a stuffed toy at some point (still unblogged, whoops!). Fortunately I still have a huge number of oddly coloured zips that Mum gave me at some point, and found two matching ones. The wallet took a bit of very careful measuring and lining up, and I am pretty proud of the final precision.
It has a whole lot of card slots, a zipped coin compartment, one separate car slot that I was initially intending to have a clear plastic window in it, but couldn’t found the right plastic on hand and didn’t want to go out and source any either. C’est la vie! Oh, and also a bellowed pocket for bills/notes. This time I carefully made sure the wallet could flip open fully and lie flat.
I agonised on how to put in the zip, finish the raw edges, and eventually bound the edges with matching charcoal linen – the same stuff I used to line the card slots and coin pocket. I hand stitched the linen binding down inside, and then finally glued the outer layer over the top. I wasn’t sure how the glueing would work out, but it has nicely stiffened up the final product in a very satisfactory way.
And it fits into the bag perfectly!
Item 5; I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before? if not here tis… a baby onesie for our friend’s baby. Design is my own, and yes, I used the leftovers for my Watson set, above!
Item 6, 7, 8, 9
some new little books. I always save and cut up the leftover paper from paper patterns and make little books from them. It’s fun to do this and makes me feel virtuously zero waste. All materials are waste scraps and leftovers from other projects. I have one in my handbag all the time and use it all the time, and they make nice gifts too, I think! 
I think that’s enough for now? Anyway, I’ll be back with more soon! 
First thing to get made was a shirt for Tim… He has a job now where he has to look smart, so I decided to make a business shirt… I bought the really lovely deep maroon, mini-scale gingham cotton shirting from Tessuti’s in Melbourne, and used Burda 6874, my kinda go-to shirt pattern since I semi-retired Burda 7767. d’you know 
For Kelly’s top, I’d chosen the asymmetrical cowl top from Pattern Magic 2; the shape of the cowl is dictated by the shape of the facing. It’s always a bit of a challenge to draft your own patterns, but well I love a challenge! and I knew the shape of this top would be super flattering for Kelly and suit her beautifully… I cut the pieces on the bias and inserted a maroon invisible zip in the left side seam, so it zips down undone… however Kelly says she can squeeze into it without having to undo the zip which is cool. I think the bias-cut is what gives it that little bit of stretch.
Next up! a pullover/sweatshirt for Craig! truth now… I was running out of time, and steam! and this fair near killed me!
With the bias binding facing up, and following the previous stitching as a stitching guide, topstitch the pressed edge of the bias binding down. Since you’re using the previous stitching as a guide, the width of your double-topstitching will be nice and even from the outside.
And, last but not least! I also made a few more little hardback notebooks… just fun little things, however I do know that the recipients do actually use notebooks regularly so I know they will be useful too! I used mostly a mixture of leftover and old papers; from old scrapbooks, some with the children’s scribbles still on them! I’m sentimental that way 😉 , various papers, musical paper, some pale coloured wrapping paper, writing stationery; just lots of different stuff.
So the title explains it all really, hehe…
