fibre mood Archives - Handmade by Carolyn

a cosy new dress and a backpack

20/07/2025 4:48 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

hello! long time no see! I’ve been very busy lately, being a diligent little jet setter and living out of one suitcase for an entire month … I do have a travel wardrobe post planned but it will take me little while!

Anyway, I made a new dress before I left and took it away with me. I’ve worn it quite a lot already! and managed to take a few photos out in the wild. Not that top photo though. The other ones 🙂

babysitting my littlest grandson G.. I knitted his beanie early last year (posted here)

The pattern is the new Mirri pattern by Fibremood, a delightfully quick and easy thing to make; and I used a lightweight cotton corduroy bought from Spotlight just before covid lockdown if I remember correctly. I loved the pretty bright florals on black background, and luckily had “just” enough for this pattern.

feels pretty good even in 36C heat!

Surprisingly, it reads as kinda “brown” from a distance, probably because of the large-ish amount of orange and black merging together. Honestly I did not expect that effect!

The Mirri is supposed to be a summer pattern, of course; since the new European summer patterns are all released during our, southern hemisphere, winter… however I can still usually manage to wrangle something together that’s suitable for me, somehow, anyhow. As it happens, I’ve found this dress has been that rare happy and successful marriage between summer pattern/winter fabric… it’s loose enough to be breezy and therefore cool in hot weather, but then can be worn over tights and a warm merino top to keep you cosy in cold wintery weather too. Versatile!

It’s such an easy to make design there’s really not much to say. The neckline is finished with a bias cut strip and the pattern includes a lovely deep hemline facing, which I edged with the same orange linen bias binding. I think this looks so pretty. Designwise, it has deep side pockets and sleeve cuffs. Hmm, that’s it, really…

worn over my indigo dyed, linen Pauline Alice patterns Mestre shirt, blogged here.

And, I made something else new on the eve of our departure overseas… a backpack. I’ve never really worn a backpack much during our hiking travels but decided it was high time I got one so poor Craig didn’t have to carry everything in his backpack! I used this tutorial called “DIY 3-pocket casual backpack” by a Korean channel, Tendersmile Handmade. This was an absolute terrific tutorial, very easy to follow and I loved the final result.

I made mine from a tomato red water-resistant stuff that I bought many years ago, I think from a Morrison clothing company fabric sale. I already had some white waterproof plastic fabric, leftover from when I made a whole lot of luggage for some of my family for Christmas one year (here). I also interlined with some wool wadding between the two layers for a bit of padding. All these materials were from stash, and I bought the strapping, zip and plastic hardware from Spotlight.

I altered the dimensions by a bit; specifically making mine 10cm “higher”, and so made the side pockets a little higher to compensate proportionally. My zip was also a different length, so all the dimensions of the side, bottom and top pieces are different actually. It really wasn’t all that difficult to work out though.

I couldn’t get a zip like theirs that zipped from the middle out, mine zips from each outside edge in. This wasn’t ideal, but didn’t make a lot of difference. I also stitched the lining down firmly to the seam allowance inside to keep it firmly in place as far as I could possibly reach; the bottom and top edges, and part of the side edges. The tutorial doesn’t tell you to do this but I imagine the lining would just kind of float around inside the bag in an annoying way if you didn’t anchor it to the bag in a few key positions.

The backpack worked out really great! and would have been actually perfect if it had been for one small modification… to have a shoulder strap as well so I could carry it comfortably as a cross body bag if I wanted to. I desired this variation so greatly that since I returned home I did indeed pop off to Spotlight for all the necessary bits and added one. This can be removed if not in use. As well, I added a “made in 2025″label, that I’d forgotten when I first made it. Voila!

So this bag did absolutely great duty and I enjoyed making and wearing and using it. It passed the waterproof test on one day of continuous rain and all my stuff inside remained perfectly dry. My water bottle fitted in the side pocket just fine. Having three internal pockets worked well for how I like to arrange my stuff. I did think it possibly couldn’t carry a superheavy load, but then I wouldn’t want to do that anyway.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, backpack, bag, daily outfit, dress, fibre mood, mirri

dazzling dazzle

27/04/2025 12:47 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

hello! I made a fun new little dress…

this is the new Fibremood Dazzle pattern, which is actually a top pattern but I lengthened it to be a dress, simply because I had enough of this gorgeous fabric to do so!

I bought this stunning cotton ikat in Stone Mountain and Daughters, a popular fabric store in San Francisco while I was there on holiday with Yoshimi in 2019. Nearly six years ago now, wow, I can hardly believe how time flies! Well, at least I finally found a good reason to cut into this gorgeous stuff!

I cut the collar and cuffs from a neutral linen that I’ve had in my stash even longer. I think this is from Calico and Ivy originally; it’s been very useful over the years for just cutting pockets, facings, and other bits and bobs that require a sturdy and neutral coloured fabric.

I added inseam pockets to the dress, of course! and I’m pretty sure I lengthened the sleeves a bit too, so I could turn the sleeve cuffs up properly. I like the look of a turned up cuff, and prefer this look to a plain, added on cuff, if you know what I mean. I usually secure them in the turned up position by stitching-in-the-ditch at the underarm seam of the sleeves and cuffs; and sew a few firm stitches at the outer edge inside the cuff and out of sight. This seems to work pretty well for keeping the cuffs permanently turned out.

The front neckline is a polo style neckline, but slightly different from the usual in that it is stitched in a V-neck style, rather than the two sides aligning in the centre front. Gives it a slightly more sporty look. I love this dress, primarily because of the fabric, I have to admit! and have already worn it multiple times. Little loose dresses that I can wear for walking on the beach are my go-to nowadays and it’s fun finding new patterns for this purpose. This one has ticked all the boxes quite nicely!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, daily outfit, dazzle, dress, fibre mood, fibremood

pretty blouse, handbag, wallet, underthings, baby things and pink books

19/11/2023 2:31 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

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.

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!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: accessories, bag, bookbinding, cloth habit, daily outfit, fibre mood, handmade book, jt tanner, leatherwork, lingerie, nova, own design, purse, top, watson

I made a really nice coat

22/11/2021 5:36 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new coat, and I really love it! I’ve been seeing some oversized, over-long coats here and there, not in the flesh I mean since where I live we really do lag behind just a leetle bit fashion-wise, particularly when it comes to something as Perth-inappropriate as a coat. No, I mean I’ve seen them mostly in Vogue magazine or Pinterest, and had a fancy for one myself… when I saw this pattern by FibreMood I decided it was time to go for it and make one!

I used this beautiful tobacco silk/wool fabric with a recurring, tiny gold spot; so tiny it sadly doesn’t show up in my full-length pictures… but look how pretty and delicate it is 🙂

Hehe, I’ve had this gorgeous stuff in my stash since late 2010/early 2011, when I bought it in Tokyo… this was the first time I’d met Yoshimi and Novita in Japan, and they took Cassie and me out fabric shopping. It was such fun! and this lovely piece of fabric was one of my spoils of that trip. I posted about it here… and as you can see, I finally made the choice as to which side I should use… obviously the wrong side finally held sway. It was hard though, I was honestly still dithering right up until the very first cut!

wrong side is at the top, right side is below…

This is all the fabric I bought on that trip… and I’ve used all but one piece now; the deep green wool at the top of the picture. I really should use that up now!

below; I still carry that bag regularly, and wear that red scarf…though I gave that white coat to my daughter-in-law Kelly a few years ago when we last took the family to Japan 🙂

Woops got a bit distracted down memory lane there! anyway, so the pattern I used for my new coat is the new FibreMood Carmen pattern, and it’s a really nice one… it’s big and roomy, has very deep side seam pockets, a chic notched collar and closes with a minimal tie. No buttonholes, yay!

The coat is designed to be fully lined with a bagged lining, that turns out through a gap in the sleeve seam. Now, patterns rarely specify this, but in my opinion they should; my one recommendation for doing this is to make sure that you can fit your fist through the hole. Your job will be so much easier!

My lining fabric is also from deep stash, it’s a metallic gold/bronze taffeta that I bought years ago on special from Fabulous Fabrics. You can probably see in my lining photo that it has water stains all down the centre, which is why it was on super special, and also why it took me a long time to use it, probably. It’s ok, at least I’ve used it now! and I actually love it. I really think the metallic-ness of it beautifully highlights the gold flecks on the shell fabric.

I added a hanging loop between the collar and the back neck facing; because I’ve always found this to be a really handy thing.

Not sewing related of course, but chocolate related, and who can resist a bit of chocolate-related content, hmmm? No need to answer that, I know it’s purely rhetorical… anyway, I made this chocolate brownie cheesecake recently, using this recipe by the Cooking Tree, and this is to remind myself how utterly divine it was; and that I MUST MAKE IT AGAIN!!!!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: baking, carmen coat, coat, daily outfit, fibre mood, the cooking tree

Betty boop

15/09/2021 3:13 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a pair of cute little trousers! well at least I think they’re pretty cute anyway…

So: here’s the funny thing; I really do love and want to wear a lot of trousers/jeans/pants but I kinda struggle with them. I genuinely worry that I look terrible in trousers and I’m convinced I look better in dresses and skirts. If anyone has taken even a passing glance at my ootd blog it’s obvious I rarely wear pants. And yet, I’m always on the eternal search for pants that look cute AND that I think I might look ok in.

And I think these fit the brief! I’m very happy with how they turned out; they have a sorta fitted feel to them without being in the slightest bit tight, they’re loose enough to be comfortable, but have no hint of bagginess in them. Yes!

I have an extra special reason for loving these; my grandmother was known as Betty, even though it was not technically her name. SO I have a special soft spot for the name. I’ve always held this deeply secret wish that my name was Betty, because I loved my grandmother so much.

Anyway! I’m happily adding these to the small collection of pants that I really love… I have several pairs that I feel really good in; up until now my blue Sashas and my Morgan jeans were the top of that list. I also still love my Ginger jeans, although I wear these less nowadays. Yes, all Closet Core patterns, hehe.

Coinkinky-dink; the fabric I used to make these are the leftovers from my old Ginger jeans! I made those back in *checks blog archive* wow 2014. I can’t believe they’ve gone so well, for so long! I could have sworn I got the fabric in Spotlight, but my blog reliably informs me I bought it in KnitWit,so there you go. I have zero memory of that. Ha! Thank goodness for the blog!

I cut the pocket lining from this cute evil-villain, cotton fabric, that was leftovers from one of Craig’s surgical masks, and I also made a few Covid masks from the leftovers this year too.

I used a red top-stitching thread for all the topstitching, I dunno, just for fun, because I had it. In fact, 100% of the materials for my Betty’s were from my stash, which always feels amazing; if I can achieve it. The potential of my stash is quite exciting to me, I’ve discovered so many garments in it this past year!

The top I’m wearing them with here is a Burda pattern; 04/2014;111, made in a bobbly stretch stuff from Fabulous Fabrics. And in another funny coinkinky-dink, I am wearing this very same top in my blog post of the Ginger jeans too! Another old favourite that has stood the test of time for me 🙂

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Betty, daily outfit, fibre mood, jeans, trousers

little black dress

31/07/2021 5:02 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I’m so behind on blogging! so this is part one in what I hope is a serious attempt to catch up… so I made this little black dress a little while ago… it’s light and floaty and breezy so really it’s a summer dress. And I’m wearing it here on basically the coldest day of the year… ha! But I do like it styled like this for winter! so I guess… good?

The fabric: which I appreciate you can’t see at all in any of my pictures, because of its matte-ness and it’s blackness, sorry! anyway; it is a lightweight crisp fabric that has a very slightly bumpy, seersucker-y quality to it… I’m not sure if it’s silk or cotton or linen but I’ve a feeling it is a combination of two of those components. I bought it in Fabulous Fabrics quite a long time ago for another project, that I’ve completely forgotten what it was so I decided the fabric was fair game, eventually! I’m seriously trying to use up my stash this year… yes I’ve probably said that million times before but I’m really serious this time. I think I’m doing quite well! because I’ve bought just one piece of new fabric all year. I really want to buy some more lovely fabric that I am really really keen on… but am trying so hard to be good about this!

Anyway, the lightness and crispness of this black fabric was perfect for this design, so I’m very happy I had it and it was pretty much the perfect size piece too… so it worked out really well. Oh, the design! Well, it’s the Fibremood Dolly pattern, which is big and floaty and has huge, gathered sleeves, so it’s very trendy, I think. I do like it though! I really like the neckline with a little tie to pull in a gathered V neck. It was so cold on this day I actually wore it for real with my mustard cowl, and also my shearling coat as well as the usual underpinnings pictured, brrr. I’m excited for when I can wear it all summer long!

Oh ok, so I’m just going to slip another extra thing in here…. did I mention our wonderful youngest son Sam has become engaged to his beautiful lady, Lainey? We’re so happy and excited to welcome this lovely lady into our lives, she’s the most gorgeous girl and has willingly and happily acted as a model for our little pattern company a few times, so her face has definitely been seen around here before! Anyway, they recently moved into their own house and asked if I would mind hemming their lounge room curtains. Of course I hate hemming curtains, but it was absolutely lovely to go and hang out with them while I did it. It took an entire morning basically and we chatted away and it was a really nice morning in the end. So I didn’t hate it at all in the end.

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: curtains, daily outfit, dolly, dress, fibre mood, home wares, Sam

cool new top

23/04/2021 11:27 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

oh hey! I made a new top.

This is the Harmony pattern by FibreMood; and I really loved it upon first sight; the interesting, sailor-inspired bib collar and slightly old-fashioned sleeves with a wide, buttoned cuff. I think it has a vaguely Edwardian air about it and I am totally on board with this idea!

I used a beautiful silk/linen mix that I bought from Fabulous Fabrics ages ago… btw, I’m on a use-my-stash-only kick, since out move when I realised just how much fabric I have. Spoiler alert; it’s a LOT and I seriously want to get my supplies down to a much more manageable level. Like, to about a quarter of what I have now! Yes, very embarrassing, I know! but there it is and I’m making good headway, believe it or not! Yes, I know I haven’t posted much here lately, but I’m making a lot of toiles for Cassie’s and my new pattern and I’ve managed to harvest/cull quite a bit in the process. But, I’m getting sidetracked here… back to my top!

You’re supposed to gather the bodice into the bib, and also gather the sleeves into the cuffs; instead I carefully measured and folded mini pleats in these areas which I think suits my quite crisp fabric a lot better. I really love doing pleats in lieu of gathers, actually and have done it in quite a few garments in my time. I won’t call it “age-appropriate”, because I’ve become wary of that divisive term in recent years so I will just describe it instead as “personal-style appropriate”. That’s better!

The design actually uses an unexpected lot of fabric, and I didn’t actually have enough… I solved this problem by cutting the bib facings on the selvedge, and joined them in the middle. This enabled a much more efficient layout of the pattern pieces and of course you can’t even see the facings anyway!

The pattern advises you to put buttonholes on the shoulder closure; I did stitch them on during the making but I unpicked them when I realised buttoning and unbuttoning up on my shoulder like that was going to be pretty darned awkward; and I installed pretty pearl-headed press studs there instead. The sleeves have self-fabric looped button closure too, but they are wide enough I can easily slip my hands through without having to fiddle with those, and the cuffs can stay firmly and securely buttoned the whole time. I used pearl look-alike buttons here. Yes; all of of this from my stash! I’m so glad I could finally “marry” all of these items together into one pretty garment!

Details:

Top, the harmony blouse pattern by FibreMood, ivory silk/linen
Trousers; the Sasha trousers pattern by ClosetCore patterns, stretchy cotton denim, more details here
Shoes; made by me using a Shoe Camaraderie kit, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Clara, daily outfit, fibre mood, harmony, top

Indian patchwork jacket

22/02/2021 2:11 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I made a jacket! the beauty of which is all due to the magnificent fabric. Which has been recycled, and recycled again. To explain…

… so many years ago, like fairly early on in our marriage I think; we bought a patchwork wall hanging at one of those stores that sells all sorts of random imported things, I’m pretty sure it was in Margaret River actually. Definitely somewhere down south anyway. We had it hanging on the wall for years. I’ve always loved the beauty in each of its amazing little patches, each one I imagined was once part of a much loved and cherished sari once upon a time. Lots of the patches were very fragile and there were missing and broken beads and sequins, and worn frayed patches everywhere. The patchwork pieces were united by a sort of “hank” of red thread that wound its way through the patches, dividing and bordering them all. The red hank was bound to the piece by a fairly roughly stitched length of black cord. The wall hanging was backed with plain red cotton, and the same stuff bordered the piece as a whole, roughly and loosely stitched on in HUGE stitches.

Side note that adds nothing to the sewing story but says something about Australia; several times during its time on the wall I took it down for dusting, only to discover large spiders, and nests of spiders hiding behind it. Such is life here! I would brush it down outside into the garden – never kill a spider! spot clean any little eggs off, and hang it up again.

At some point I got a little tired of it, and took it down, folded it carefully and stuck it in the linen cupboard. I thought I’d hang it up again someday, but never did. Every time I sorted through the linen cupboard I’d think, hmmm maybe I’ll turn it into a little jacket one day, then would I re-fold it and stick it back in.

Anyway, obviously and anti-climactically; that day finally came! I got a copy of the FibreMood Molly jacket pattern, a boxy little thing with patch pockets. The instructions assume you’re making a double layered jacket with the potential to be reversible, with the edges bound with bias binding for a perfectly reversible finish.

It was actually touch and go as to whether the pattern was going to fit onto the patchwork piece! I printed out the pattern, and taped extra pages to the back centreline, and also traced out another front, sleeve and pocket piece each, so I could lay the pieces down onto the patchwork piece to be absolutely sure. After I’d removed the red border from the outer edge, I just managed to squeeze the pattern pieces out, with literally nothing to spare between the pieces for the most part! Honestly I couldn’t believe it… it was like it was meant to be! I know I probably say that a lot, because a lot of the time I will not cut out a thing until I’ve found a piece of fabric for it where there are basically NO leftovers, but this was the tightest pattern layout I’ve had in a long time… almost like the patchwork piece was made specifically for this pattern!

Cutting out was quite a challenge too… lots of the sari pieces were SO fragile that they had been literally glued to a piece of cloth underneath, for stability I suppose. Which made it unforgivingly stiff and inflexible in spots. Also, I had to temporarily remove beads etc. from some of the more heavily beaded bits just so I could cut, and later seam, the jacket together. I also removed all the beads from the seam allowances and saved them, to stitch on later and fill some of the barer gaps where beads had been lost over the years.

For the bias bound edging, I started by piecing as much of the red backing as I could for the edging, and managed to bind the top of the pockets with this. Once I’d joined the jacket though and got to the stage of edging the sleeves and long edge of the jacket, I realised it was going to be absolutely impossible to get together enough red leftovers from the scraps to do these too… so I found a length of dark red poplin from my stash and used this instead. I considered unpicking the red from the top of the pockets and using the dark red poplin to edge these too, but decided I liked it just the way it was! Perfectly imperfect!

For closure… obviously buttonholes were a complete impossibility, so I settled upon snaps. I kinda feel like these do look a little jarring and incongruous, but hey, they’re fine for the moment. If I’m feeling enthusiastic one of these days I might just remove them and add some bias fabric loops and small unobtrusive buttons inside the bias bound edge, which would probably look nicer.

Once I’d finished the jacket, I hand stitched on all the beads and sequins that I’d managed to save.

I’m so glad I managed to make something with this piece after all, and something that I think shows off the unique beauty of these precious scraps once again!