Tag Archives: Butterick 5583

bumblebee baby

28/08/2021 9:52 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

Le Bebe needed some new outfits… so I made one!

The little clownsuit/jumpsuit is totally adorable in my opinion!! it’s partly based upon two other different rtw ones Cassie already had for him for gauging the size and width, and I drew up my own pattern from those measurements…

For the little T-shirt, I used the cardigan pattern in Butterick 5583, just cutting it as a T-shirt instead of as a cardigan, and also accordingly making the neckline wider by about 1.5cm each side so his head can fit through the hole… the funny thing is that this size is the newborn size! It’s very big and loose on him and actually he is NOT a small baby. It just goes to show once again how strange the sizes are in baby patterns.

the fabrics are pretty cute, I think! both are from my stash, originally bought from Spotlight. I’m still virtuously using stash fabrics but have recently bought some new fabrics from Spoonflower, so that’s a bit of a setback in my use-stash only plans for the year, whoops! but actually I’m not going to get too down on myself because each of the fabrics I got is really cool and, you know what? Life is too short to be hard on yourself if you don’t have to be!

In random wardrobe news, Cassie came around last weekend and helped me to do a big closet cleanup, and we tossed out a huge garbage bag of my clothes… this felt SO GOOD! because I’d got into a bit of a rut with my winter wardrobe, basically forcing myself to wear shabby and old things that really were not doing me any favours. Now I have a smaller collection of winter clothes that I really like and that also actually look good on me! I’m not planning to make much more in the way of winter clothes to replace them though, but am revving up for spring and/or summer now.

So, wanna see a video of the making of this cute bumblebee baby outfit? Because I made one! It’s fun making videos and I enjoy it, but it does take quite a long time; so I’m not going to make one every time. Maybe just for special or interesting things… we’ll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

It can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbO0gTSl-WQ

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: baby clothes, babywear, butterick 5583, own design, Theo

pretty green ebony, bibs, masks

04/07/2021 11:23 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made lots of Closet Core patterns’ Ebony tees and dresses for others and this is the first one for me! I finally used this absolutely beautiful, delicate grey/green wool knit that I bought in Tokyo, one of of our trips over there. It’s beautiful stuff, with an almost lace-like texture to it, but unfortunately it had developed a few little moth holes over the years since I bought it.

So I fixed these up with some carefully invisible mending. Yes, I know visible mending is all the rage nowadays but personally I like my mending to be of the other sort if possible.

See my ghost-like hand up there?! The knit is very sheer, so I fully lined my Ebony tee using the leftovers from my recent Forest Nettie, from two posts ago… I had just enough to squeeze the Ebony pieces on for a lining!

I stitched the outer and lining together around the neckline, and under stitched using a wide, shallow zigzag stitch. I also handstitched them together at the underarm points, just to anchor the lining inside secretly.

This is the latest thing in my use-12 challenge for the year, where I’m making a little capsule wardrobe from 12 pieces selected from my stash.

I’m also wearing this skirt from Vogue 8363, drastically modified, and self drafted tights

In the last week we had another mini lockdown, and I kept myself busy by making some much needed things for Theo…. bibs!

These are made using the piece from Butterick 5583, and the fabrics are all scraps and leftovers from other projects. One of them is from one of Cassie’s old skirts, another two are from Craig’s old shirts, and one of the boys’. The other cute prints are all from the leftovers from Craig’s surgical caps, fabric originally from Spotlight. The backing is thin cotton towelling, that I already had in my stash too.

Some of them have completely useless, but also completely adorable little pockets. What can I say, I couldn’t resist!

I made 10 in the end, and I also made a few masks for Cassie, just in case she wants to match her baby. Masks are newly compulsory here again, after a few months without them, so it’s becoming more necessary to have a little supply on hand…

I’d made a few more for myself as well during me-made May, which fell on the tail end of our last period of compulsory masks; here are some of my favourites. These are also from out of those cute surgical cap leftovers. I have successfully and completely used up all these fabrics now, yay! The pattern is from Trend Patterns…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: baby clothes, babywear, butterick 5583, Closet Core patterns, daily outfit, Ebony, mask, Theo, top, use 12

nighty night!

01/07/2021 4:03 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Last month I also devoted some time to updating the pj situation in my life, and in little Theo’s life too! It suddenly got really really cold overnight, and my fave old bunny pj’s, that I still LOVE btw are sadly too thin to really cut it any more…

I actually bought both the white and mustard, fluffy cotton flannelette at Spotlight very early out of our first lockdown last year… I panicked that we might have another lockdown and I would need new pj’s and that I didn’t have the fabric for a new pair, so rushed out and quickly bought some. Then decided my bunny pj’s would be fine for another year after all. Anyway, they’ve been made now and ooooo, they’re so fluffy and awesomely warm I’m in heaven as soon as I put them on.. 😀

I used my namesake pattern, the Closet Core patterns Carolyn pj’s for the bottoms, and for the tops I used my now standby pj top pattern Burda 10-2009, 121; which is just so quick and easy and comfortable. I jazzed up both pieces by incorporating a bit of faux piping in some horizontally placed seams. I used the selvedge of both white and mustard flannelette in their opposite pieces’ nd found a piece of gorgeous raspberry cotton jersey in my stash in both to tie them both together. The selvedges are just single thickness with the selvedge edge facing out, and the raspberry jersey is folded once with the folded edge facing out. On the inside, all the raw edges are overlocked together to finish, and the seam allowances are stitched UP in all cases.

One of the best things is that I think they look great with my fluffy pink robe, that I made two years ago and that is still going strong. It’s VERY IMPORTANT that one should look exceptionally well put together even in one’s pj’s, ahem…

Also, little Theo needed a sleeping bag… we had some very cold nights during June and Cassie had put in a request. I already had both these pieces of fabric in my stash too… the red fleece, well I’d previously used most of it to make kangaroo pouches last year, when we had the bushfire wildlife care callouts. I still had a few pieces big enough to cut out the sleeping bag, fortunately! I cut the collar and cuffs from striped cotton jersey, just to make it look more interesting and fun. The only thing I needed to buy in all of this was the red zip… I feel like my stash busting efforts are going really well!