Tag Archives: Shirt

deep teal, suedette dove blouse

23/05/2017 7:32 pm \ 31 Comments \

Hey!

I’ve made a new blouse.  It’s the Dove blouse by Megan Nielsen patterns, in an lightweight but warm, faux suede from Spotlight.  So, the recommended fabrics for this pattern are shirt-weight stuff like voile and crepe de chine and chambray and linen… not a wintery fabric like this.  However, when have I ever taken any notice of fabric recommendations? Pretty much NEVER, haha.

And I love it.  Very very happy.  Look at those sleeves.  Oooo yeah.

this is a blouse that demands at least one dramatic arm pose

Now, remember how I mentioned pretty recently that I was looking out for this pattern??  Well, Evie, of Indie Stitches very kindly emailed me to let me know that she had one in stock… and offered to send it to me… thank you so much, Evie!  Indie Stitches is an online pattern store with a very nice range of both paper and digital patterns, obviously as the name suggests specialising in small and independent pattern makers like Closet Case Files, Grainline, Sewaholic, Jennifer Lauren Vintage, Papercut, By Hand London, Tilly and the Buttons, Waffle patterns, Megan Nielsen and would you believe this is just a selection?! There are many many more!  If you love supporting small independent pattern companies then I highly recommend heading over to the Indie Stitches pattern store and having a browse, at least.

Please note; I did receive this pattern gratis, however there are no affiliate links in this post.  I will always notify my readers if there is an affiliate link in my posts.  Also on a tangential yet related note, I read somewhere that people think bloggers are raking in the money through affiliate links, well! that may be true for some types of bloggers, like maybe fashion bloggers?  but sewing bloggers…  NO.

For the sleeves you do a triple-stitched skinny hem… it’s a hem finish I have used a few times before that gives a neat little baby hem but with no rippling or “lettuce-leaf” curling that you usually get with a single-stitched or machine-rolled hem… I think I read about it first years ago in an issue of Threads.  I wasn’t sure how it would work out with the slightly thickish suedette, but it did beautifully! and I had a request from my daughter and also from sewnewbee in IG as to how exactly is it done so I did a little sample and took a few pictures for a short tute…

I used a contrasting white thread here because I found you could barely make out a single thing in my pictures with the matching thread!  anyway:

First; stay-stitch at a distance of 6mm (1/4″) inside the raw edge, being super careful NOT to stretch out the edge while doing so.  This is the 1st row of stitching.

Turn the raw edge to the underside just outside the previous stitching, so the stitching sits just inside the pressed edge, and press.

Stitch again (the 2nd stitching) at a distance of 2-3mm  (1/8″) inside the pressed edge, and give it another quick press…

Trim away the raw edge as close to the 2nd stitching as you can.

Turn under this now extremely skinny, double stitched edge and stitch again (3rd stitching) right over the visible (2nd) row of stitching.  The first two lines of stitching help keep the hem from stretching out as you sew, so your edge will be nice and flat and with minimal “lettuce-leaf” curl along the edge.

Inside: looks almost like one row of stitching, but it is actually two; one over the top of the other

Right side has only one row of stitching… plus a very skinny, nicely non-curly edge achieved in a difficult to hem fabric  🙂

excuse me ma’am, your remote is showing

Details:

Blouse; Megan Nielsen Dove blouse MN2105, version 2, in petrol blue suedette
Skirt; Vogue 1247, yellow corduroy dyed brown, details here and my review of this pattern here
Tights; self-drafted, black polyester stretch, details here and my tutorial for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; made by me, and my own design, details here

location: South Perth foreshore, Western Australia

pinterestmail
Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

golden brown

10/05/2017 7:07 pm \ 67 Comments \


hello!  I’ve made this new blouse…  I was having trouble thinking of a way to describe the colour, since the only thing coming to my mind was those white puffball fungi that upon “puffing” send forth a little cloud of smelly spores that are just about exactly this colour.  Then Craig came to the rescue, suggesting “golden brown”  Oh, yes, that is SO much nicer!  Why is my brain sooo….? um, weird and mundane and lacking in poetic nuance?!

 

Fabric; a silk crepe from Tessuti fabrics in Melbourne, bought during a previous years’ trip over there with Mum and Cassie.  I’ve had it marinating in the stash all this time, awaiting the perfect blouse pattern.  I think this was happily, and accidentally, IT!

obligatory back view… 


Pattern; the Sudley by Megan Nielsen patterns. Tim and Sam gave it to me for Christmas, after I had requested the Dove blouse pattern.  Did I mention already that the Dove is perpetually sold out?? yes I believe I did.  Clearly my boys encountered the same issue that I have had …. timing, it seems, is everything!!  However, the Sudle is a nice little pattern, very simple, and I think I will use it a lot too.

This is actually the second Sudley I have made.  I also made a dress that has now been assigned to Cassie when I realised it was just going to be a little too, er, young for me.  I expect it’ll show up on ye olde blog here sometime…

 

Alterations:  The Sudley is a very young-at-heart style whereas I am more of a hoary-old-beast-at-heart; so I made a few minor design alterations to “old” it up a bit.   I opted for the plain neckline, and jazzed up the plain sleeves by running a loop of skinny elastic through the sleeve hems to gather them softly up, and made a separate bias rouleau loop “bow” which is purely decorative and just sewn on to the hem with a few firm stitches through all layers.

I also cut the lower hemline to have a curved “shirttail” line to it.  The hems and the neckline are all finished by hand, because I really wanted to have a smooth clean stitch-free expanse of fabric with absolutely no visible topstitching anywhere.  This is about as invisible as I could get.

Oh; one thing I did, which I would recommend for this type of neckline; you stay-stitch all around the neckline and the keyhole opening, obviously to stabilise it, however! to further help keep the neckline straight and true I kept a little bridge of fabric intact at the top front edges of the keyhole where the ties were to be attached, and maintained it throughout most of the blouse’s construction, and only cut through it at the very last minute, when turning and hand-stitching the bias binding down on the inside.  I think this simple precaution really helped to keep everything true.

All seams throughout are French seams, except for the armscye seams which I just ran through the overlocker to finish.  Picking my battles here!  This silk, while absolutely divine and a dream to wear, was actually not much fun to sew!  However!  The puffball spore, I mean, lovely golden-brown is a perfect colour for autumnal me, also I think this style of blouse suits me and I’m going to enjoy wearing it a lot.  It’s going to go with TONNES of my other clothes.

    

Details:

Top; MN2004 the Sudley blouse by Megan Nielsen patterns with minor modifications, silk crepe
Skirt; Vogue 1247, ivory curtaining fabric, details here and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; made by me, my own design, details here

Skirt below; Vogue 8363, canvas, details here

Location: Eagle Bay, Western Australia

Wearing it out to dinner recently, with my “bookshelf” skirt.  I think they go together quite nicely!

And my clogs have received a much-needed makeover!  The ivory pleather part of the upper has got so worn and was starting to pull badly around where it was nailed to the soles…. I’d already fixed it once but finally acknowledged that if I wanted them to last a lifetime, and I think they can! then it was time for action.  One thing I’ve learnt about making my own shoes is that if something needs a little mending or attention then it REALLY pays to get onto it very quickly.  Mum had given me an ivory leather clutch years ago “for shoes” and it was juuuuuust big enough so I could cut out new pieces.  I used my punch that I bought in Copenhagen, and upholstery thread in ivory to sew up and down all around, and hammered on the new uppers.

Now they’re as good as new!! in fact; I reckon BETTER!

pinterestmail
Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

white Issey Miyake shirt

28/01/2017 11:54 am \ 20 Comments \

Self-explanatory, really.  #endblogpost  😉
Pattern; Vogue 1384.  It’s a vintage pattern, hailing from 1984, sorry. Yeah, it’s annoying when people make things in vintage patterns that you can’t get a hold of anymore.  But I’m sure this is not particularly aspirational actually, it’s a little weird in that 80’s way.  That high, slightly floppy collar combined with a billowing pirate-y blousiness is giving me serious Duran Duran vibes.  That’s sort of a good thing btw HUGE Duran Duran fan, once upon a time… only you know, dating myself here  #woops  On a side note; watching that clip again, wow I think I’ve suddenly identified the genesis of my lifelong white shirt obsession…   Also, haha, I totally dance just exactly like that, to this day still, lol.

I’d actually vaguely planned to make this shirt for quite a while, then Anna of blogless Anna proposed an IG #sewjapaneseinjanuary sewing challenge; prompting a jump to the top of my queue… sewing challenges are such fun!

I’ve previously made the skirt from this pattern too; here.  That now resides in Cassie’s wardrobe.  Thing is; the pretty floaty pink-ness, while lovely, I’ve decided is just not really ME.  Not to mention that she put it on one day and obviously it looked only like about 999999 times better on her than it ever did me (sob)   I’ve got to stop giving her my clothes to try on!!   Just kidding; I wore it a few times but tired of it quite quickly and I don’t miss it, not one little bit.  Though I do still really like that design and am thinking of making it up again, just in a more me-friendly fabric and colour.

Fabric; a thin, sparsely-dotted swiss cotton voile with ever so faint and equally sparse paisley embroidery on it in bits.  Very very subtle.  I bought it in Potters Textiles a few years ago, when it was in its other location.

The top looks at its best when it’s either tucked in or belted-n-blousy, and while I have a small collection of self-made belts… like, four maybe?  none of them looked very right with this sheer-ish white top, so I quickly whipped up a thin white one in the same fabric to wear with it.  Kt-chaaaaaaa!! *whip-crack sound effect*  Sorry, I simply cannot read “whipped something up” with regards to sewing without hearing a crack o’ the whip sound in my head.  Craaa-aack that whip!  *  (Devo, and a warning, do not click that link unless you WANT to be subjected to some really random and classic 80’s, madness.  Yep, I was a fan of that too, *blush*)

The belt is basically just a waistband really.  A poor, bereft and lonely little waistband, with no skirt to call home…  *sad violins*  It’s exactly the same deal as the one I made for my tartan dress.  Just two buttonholes, and one button, and you wear it so the button is on the inside.

Also, interesting pocket tab/flap detail.  You can’t really see it on the outside, which defeats the purpose a bit really, but oh well.  It’s kinda cute when you notice it!

I flat-felled all seams throughout, as usual.  Btw, you CAN flat-fell all sleeve and armscye seams too… my tutorial for flat felling the armscye seam is here… and the sleeve seam itself can be flat felled by starting from the middle of the seam and stitching OUT.  Be sure to have the sleeve RIGHT SIDE OUT, so that you are sewing inside the sleeve… this will ensure that you are in no danger of stitching down the other side of the sleeve underneath…

In the case of this shirt; I stitched the sleeves to the shirt, and flat-felled that armscye seam before stitching up the sleeve and side seams…
First, stitch the sleeve and side seams in one fell swoop.  Press seam open and trim one side.  If you are flat-felling the seam towards the back of the garment, trim the back edge of the seam.

Press the front edge back over the back edge, turn under the raw edge, and press in a neat even width.

Turn sleeve RIGHT SIDE OUT  (v. important) and from the wrist end of the sleeve; bundle the tube of the sleeve up to locate a point roughly midway up the sleeve.  Position the bundled up sleeve tube behind your machine and pull the wrist end of the tube through until this midway point is under the needle.  Take it nice and slow, and stitch the flat-felled seam from here out to the wrist.

To complete the seam; just repeat the same process as above only bundling up the sleeve from the armscye side… locate that same midway point of the sleeve, and stitch the seam from there, to the underarm, and keep going in one long continuous seam down the side seams to the bottom hem of the shirt.

Done!

Details:

Blouse; Vogue 1384, white swiss voile
Skirt; Vogue 1247, striped stuff, details here and my original review of this pattern here
Sandals (above): my own design, made by me, all details here

   

Denim shoes (below); my own design, made by me, all details here
location at top: Preston St overpass, Como, Western Australia

Replicating the 80’s pattern envelope pose,  just because…. the 80’s.

pinterestmail
Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

some shirts…

27/12/2016 4:33 pm \ 42 Comments \

… in addition to luggage pressies, I made some shirts for those incredibly difficult to buy/make-for men in my life.  Honestly, it would be so much more fun and frivolous if I only had girls to make stuff for, but you know.  I love these big blokey-bloke creatures anyway.

My husband and sons all do like shirts fortunately, and I recently bought this new pattern, Burda 6874, and made a short-sleeved version for Craig, here.  For these new ones though, I went with the full-on, long-sleeved version.
Prior to Christmas Craig and I went to several Christmas parties, and on on a fair few we encountered our good friend S, a man who is the most super-stylish, fashion-forward, hip dresser you could imagine in sleepy old Perth.  Needless to say, he is not actually a born-and-bred Perth man.

I always look forward to seeing what he is wearing.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago he was sporting a floral shirt.  And not a traditionally manly type of a floral, like a Hawaiian print or abstractly/discreetly masculine-y subdued-colour floral either, but a distinctly “pretty” floral with rambling roses in shades of pink and pale yellow.  Well!  With the way he’d styled it, with rolled up sleeves and faded blue jeans, it just looked so awesomely cool, it blew my tiny little mind.  SO ON POINT!!!  With brain a-buzzing, I forthwith made haste to the fabric store like immediately; to add some cool-dude florally goodness to Craig’s wardrobe.  I should just slip in here, Craig is not much of a fashion-forward guy actually.  To his credit, he wore this shirt on Christmas Day, and looked super cool.  He garnered many compliments too, hehe (rubs nails on chest pridefully)

I also made a shirt for Sam.  His is a fun and beautifully coloured feather print, that I just fell in love with, randomly.  Oh, in each case, I’ve customised the fit of the pattern to suit each guy… Sam is my easy one, in that he just about perfectly fits a size 38.  YAY!!  Craig is not so perfect, ahem  😉 he still requires that 2cm extension out and down from each underarm point, plus the same modification to the sleeve/underarm point.  Otherwise I run him up a straight size 40 with a little added length in the body too.

All fabrics and buttons are from Spotlight, both a crisp cotton print. Funny thing, while I was making each shirt, I kept each guy’s shirt super secret from that particular guy, but was less careful when that guy wasn’t around.  So every now and again they would catch sight of the other one’s shirt.  And even though I was careful to say to them, “btw, this is NOT for you!” they each privately thought the other’s shirts WERE for them, and were looking forward to wearing them!  I’m sorry! but yes, I was telling the truth  😉

I altered things very slightly on each shirt… the pockets are different on each one.  They both have two breast pockets; but Craig’s has arrow-pointed bottoms, and I did a little bar tack on the top edge of the topstitching, in lieu of the usual triangle.  I don’t know why, just a whim.  For Sam’s, the pockets have a rounded bottom, and the regular triangle at the top edges.  I chose shiny black button for his shirt, to pick out the black feather borders, and unobtrusive, white, matte buttons for Craig’s shirt, to allow the floral to truly shine, hehe.

The other alteration I made for both was to make the sleeve plackets with an arrowhead top…  the previous pattern I used Burda 7767, had this feature and I’ve just grown to like it.  The Burda 6874 sleeve placket has a flat, rectangular head; I did use this pattern piece still, just cut it a little bit longer at the top and stitched it with the arrow head.  I had to giggle at myself though, because there’s pretty good chance these shirts will ALWAYS be worn with the sleeves rolled up, they’re just that kind of shirt! and those immaculately stitched sleeve plackets won’t ever be seen.  Ha!

When I wrote about this pattern previously, I mentioned how I always hand-slipstitch the inner collar in place before topstitching, and quite a few people commented how you could dispense with the hand-stitching; just press the SA in and topstitch and voila!  However, maybe it’s just me, but I just do not get a very neat finish that way.  I’ve tried it, but nearly have always ended up unpicking and re-doing little bits here and there, where it ends up a bit uneven.  So, now I save myself the unpicking and just do the invisible hand-stitching, then topstitch from the outside; and get this satisfactory (to me) evenness in the collar finish.  I suppose I am pretty pedantic, but I just cannot dispense with that step and I admire anyone who can.

topstitched on the outside

still looks kinda neat inside

In both shirts; all seams are flat-felled, including the armscye seam (tutorial for flat-felling a curved seam here)  It’s a bit crazy, particularly given my very tight schedule for making Christmas gifts this year, but since I discovered that I could do this level of finish for my mens’ shirts, now I just can’t let it go and always have to do it.  Really, it doesn’t add that much time overall.  Sometimes I wish a little that I could go back to those days of carefree-ly zipping the seam allowances through the overlocker, but no.  #sigh

This side seam, um… gusset/insert-thingy?  don’t know what you should call it really, but this is a feature of the pattern.  I love this!  It’s just a little thing, but I think it looks really nice.

I’m planning to write a pattern review for this pattern too… but in a nutshell; LOVE almost everything about it! with the one exception of the instructions for doing the front buttonhole bands.  Those are a little light-on and it’s not intuitive, really.  You kind of have to work it out from scratch each time… I’m thinking of doing a little tute for myself to refer to in the future.  Next time I make a shirt  🙂

pinterestmail
Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: , , , , ,

a bit of re-colouration

11/08/2015 7:20 am \ 27 Comments \

I’ve just been updating a few bits and bobs in my wardrobe…
when I get bored or dissatisfied with a particular item but it’s still in perfectly good nick or I still kinda like it because of a good shape/style or I put a dangload of effort into finishing it off particularly well or whatever; I will not toss it out.  Instead I ‘avvago at re-vamping it somehow. 
And this often includes dragging out ye olde dyepot and potions, aka dyes, eeeeeeeEEE heheheheheheheeeeee!!  That was an evil witch’s cackle there, just in case my written word did not adequately translate to the spoken word, ahem.

So, revamp-eroonie; DONE. 

Exhibit A; my little yellow cotton corduroy skirt.  Absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I was just getting meh about it.  Plus the clear yellow colour was a bit sharp and not one of “mine”.  Since my khaki dress I have been thinking more about “my” colours and having more of them in my wardrobe.  Sorta de-wintering my wardrobe and autumn-ifying it some more, if you will.
I used iDye in Brown and a tiny touch of the True Red, and got this rather wonderful deep caramel colour, in the top picture.  Hehe, it’s funny; because actually I was aiming for mustard! important moral of the story; you should never ever never dye something that you are so much in love with that you couldn’t bear an unexpected outcome.  Potential dyers, engrave that on your dye pots as it is one of the Commandments of Dyeing.
Anyway, I could not be happier with this super yummy, albeit unexpected, colour.  
Unsurprisingly, the poly satin I used for the lining and bias binding did not take up the dye one tiny little bit.

woa, crack out the sunnies!

Exhibit B; while in the mood for dyeing, I also got out my pale blue, supposedly silk shirt (all original construction details here) and gave it a facelift.  Supposedly? well it was sold as silk, but its mild lack of enthusiasm for taking up the dye speaks to some synthetic content, ahem.  Not that I mind! it’s been a wonderful blouse and I love the shape unconditionally.  Just that it has faded drastically and its colour was now palling on me; or should that more accurately read, appalling on me?  Yeah, probably.
Anyway, it got treated to iDye in True Red.  

Much better!
Now; compare the new colour of the previously same coloured cotton bias binding … that strong red was what I was aiming for, although I like this warm tangerine colour just fine.  I’m just going to enjoy it as this colour for a while; and if I still want the deep true red colour I’ll pick up some red dye suitable for synthetics and give another whirl.  See how we go.

Exhibit C; not a biggie, but I switched the yellow buttons on my forest green Miette cardigan for new deep green ones.  

I think it’s going to be a tonne more mix ‘n’ matchable like this, since previously it pretty much went ONLY with my mustard dress below, or with all-white ensembles.  The yellow buttons were a distraction, I can see that now.  My mistake.  Also, I think the lacework shines a little more than it did before.

So, that’s it!  
In my current sewing news; I’m still struggling away with embroidering my felted wool, for my 1 year 1 outfit ensemble.  Every now and again I have to lay it aside and do something else.  It’s wearing me down a bit but I am certain I am going to love the finished piece and am quite excited to see it all come together.  Ever onward and upwards!

my tutorial on basic dyeing here

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Carolyn shirt and shortie shorts, take one

29/03/2015 3:39 pm \ 22 Comments \

Hello!  So what’s new? hmmm not much.  
Well OK, of course I am wearing something that has not yet appeared here on the ol’ bloggeroonie.
My shirt and my shorts are another pair of Carolyn pyjamas by Closet Case patterns, made a few months ago.  These are the first ones that I made actually, months ago! using an earlier version of the pattern, before Heather changed the shape of the collar for her final pattern release.
So technically they are not really new, nor are they “pyjamas” for me either since I have every intention of wearing each of the pieces as daywear, actually out and about and in public.  Why? well, I used such really nice fabric, a particularly lovely slubby soft cotton from Fabulous Fabrics and I feel like it’s just too good for bed!  Also, maybe I’m biased, since well, you know, they have my name on them and all! but I do really like both the pieces in this pattern such a lot.  The shirt has such a crisply classic, yet easily swingy shape to it, with a very nice curve to the lower hemline.  I left off all piping, and I like to wear the shirt with their long cuffs casually and cooly rolled up.

I made the set really as nicely as I could, flat-felling all the seams in the shirt.   Well I’ve been flat felling all the seams in the shirts I make for my boys for ages so felt like maybe I too deserved a little of that same attention to detail  🙂 

My own tip for flat-felling a shirts curved armscye seams is here, and another for just regular flat-felled seams is here

I think the shortie shorts are very cute too, and I actually have worn these out and about! in public! *gasp* several times during our holiday, with the elastic waistband hidden away underneath a longer overhanging top, so it doesn’t show.  I am slightly allergic to visibly elasticated waistbands in daywear.  But yes, of course they are super comfy, that cannot be denied.  I think the shorts with a turned-up cuff, peeping out underneath a long top, make a really fun and playful look for summer.

Just exactly the same as I did for my previously blogged black Carolyn shorties, I like for shortie shorts to have the turned-up cuff look, so I constructed the cuff slightly differently to the pattern to have this feature.  I left off the piping, and sewed the cuffs on with a narrow seams allowance and then turned up and pressed a 1cm fold-up.  Then turned under the cuff and pressed under the other SA so the SA fold sits directly underneath that stitching line.  Then underneath the first fold, I sewed all the layers underneath together by stitching-in-the-ditch of the shorts/cuff seam; so that folded-up cuff is sewn securely and permanently in place and you can see no visible stitching on the outside, since it is all hidden inside the cuff.

Details:
Shirt and shorts; Closet Case patterns Carolyn pyjamas, in white cotton

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , ,

Carolyn pyjamas

09/02/2015 5:51 am \ 56 Comments \
I was supremely flattered when Heather of Closet Case patterns contacted me to ask if it was ok to
name her latest pattern after me… wow, seriously?!
!!!!!  
*deeply flattered moment*
So the Carolyn pattern is for pyjamas, hehe. 
Yep, I inspired pyjamas!  Honestly
I’m not sure why I find that borderline hilarious, but there it is!
I have to say though; it’s amazing that Heather totally has her
finger on the pulse of what everyone is currently needing to wear and sew.  
Loungewear.
Very astute.  I mean, I love Vogue patterns for their smart
little fitted designer dresses, and have often thought that the working woman can do no wrong
by sewing up nothing but little Vogue dresses for her office/working wardrobe…
so smart and stylish and absolutely perfect for a businesswoman’s life.  but here’s the thing, the number of people
working from home has increased significantly over the last few years and
comfortable loungewear is definitely a thing that work-from-home peeps are
stocking up on for their working life, not just for their after hours life.  A few years ago, who’d have thought it? But
now totally this is a real trend.  I
mean, I work from home myself. And although I need and want to dress up smartly for many things in my life, my real wardrobe workhorses lean towards the easy-to-wear and casual.
Enter stage right; stylish and smart loungewear.
The things one would actually wear to bed are generally loose-fitting to enable
minimum chance of ripping or restraint while one is unconsciously flailing about, but Heather’s new
Carolyn (pinch me!) pyjamas have a slightly sleek and tailored air to them; a body
skimming rather than blouse-y line, that in the right fabrics one could happily
wear outside the house if one so wished. 
Without looking like one is wearing pyjamas!
With that in mind, I chose to make my test pair in luxe-ish, not-bedwear but daywear like fabrics; namely silk hessian for the body of the top, poly organza for the sleeves and
a silk/cotton for the collar and cuffs. 
The little shorts are in a soft, lightweight polycotton.  These were all from the remnant table at
Fabulous Fabrics.
I chose to make view C with long sleeves on the top and leaving off any piping.  I love piping as much as the next person… however I felt piping in this shirt/shorts style IS going totally “pyjama” and I’m serious about wanting to wear my outfit out and about.  In the streets even!
The shirt is a classic, sleek, unfitted style, with notched collar and a gently curved hemline.  I felled the seams in the body of the top and French seamed those sheer sleeve seams.  The armscye seams were overlocked before stitching down to the shirt body to finish; faux felling, if you like!
The shorts are super quick and easy things to whip up, with satisfying huge
pockets.  The pockets are the same fold-back design
that Heather used in her Ginger jeans, which was the
very first time I had come across pockets like this in my 40+ yrs of sewing .  Yes, really! 
I’m starting to think of them as her signature pockets.
I made my shorts with the cuff as per the pattern, but sans piping and with the cuff invisibly stitched in place from inside the fold, so it appears to be a folded-up cuff.  I like this cuffed look on the bottom of shorty shorts like these  🙂

So… do I love the Carolyn pattern, well heck yes!  The shirt especially is an easy classic shape and tres chic, in my opinion.  I will definitely be making both pieces again, maybe even as actual pyjamas!
As for my fabric choices for my test sample here… well, I was using all remnants and my favourite part is the sheer and floaty, leaf organza sleeves, and I also love the strength of the black accent collar and cuff details.  However while the roughly textured, stone silk hessian seemed like a good idea at the time, now I’m not so sure if it’s letting down the rest of the ensemble.  Hmmmmm.  I’m gonna wear it for a while and sleep on it – by that I mean figuratively not literally, of course!   but don’t be surprised if a dye job or small subsitutory type of refashion happens on this bit in the near future!

Details:
Set; the Carolyn (eek!) pyjamas by Closet Case patterns, shirt in silk hessian, poly organza, silk cotton; shorts in polycotton

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Cocoa Tao

14/01/2014 11:36 am \ 44 Comments \

Hello!  I’m wearing a new blouse.
It is the Tao, by Tamanegi-Kobo.  I’ve seen lots of lovely Tamanegi-Kobo designs made by Yoshimi, and then during me-made May saw even more worn by Japanese ladies, including the adorable and very talented designer Miho.  And since I loooove Japanese designs I just had to try one out!
On a crazy spontaneous whim I added a funny little swoosh-shaped welt pocket.   I had finished sewing the blouse, tried it on and just thought; hmmm, pocket…  I had some scraps left over, the bobbin still had some of the pale grey thread wound on.  I had recently pinned this dinky little welt pocket.  Snap decision.  I just decided to go for it.  I think it turned out quite cute!

The Tao really is a very lovely style, loose and artistic, comfortable and still very feminine and flattering.  I’m still getting used to pdf patterns, I don’t mind them as long as there aren’t hundreds of pages to tape together.  The Tao is 24 pages, which is do-able.  The collar is a petite little thing,  stylistically matching the boxy cropped feel of the blouse, and I think it looks equally sweet buttoned right up.   Normally I don’t button my blouses right up to the collar stand, ‘cos I’m a laid-back Aussie beach bum, but I like this one both ways.

I made the blouse out of, believe it or not, a stark, optic white linen/silk mix from Fabulous Fabris, the leftover piece from after I had cut out the collars, cuffs and button bands for the boys’ Christmas shirts.  But since I’ve made two white shirts in hot succession recently, this one was always going to get a dye-job.  I stitched it up using a pale grey/brown thread, and once I’d finished sewing it and prior to chickening out, quickly gave it a light wash in a very weak dye solution of Brown iDye.  Giving it this subtle and rather delicate shade of pale pinky/cocoa brown.  I think this is a colour quite flattering to my skin tone.  🙂

Details:
Top; Tamanegi-Kobo Tao, white linen/silk mix dyed with a teeny amount of Brown iDye
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, details and my review of this pattern here

My review for this blouse pattern is below….

Pattern
Description:

The Tao is a loose-fitting, button-front
blouse; with two collar variations, wrist cuffs and a continuous
sleeve vent, cut-on sleeves and a long wrist-to-wrist yoke.
Pattern
Sizing:
Size 36-42.  I made a straight size 38.
Did
it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished
sewing it?
Yes.
Were
the instructions easy to follow?
I
could not follow the Japanese written instructions, but the illustrations are quite
clear and helpful.  The seam allowances
are clearly marked.
The
notches that you need for piecing and pleating points can be seen clearly and
easily, but I did think the Japanese character markings looked a little
chaotic, repeated for each of the sizes and heaped on top of each other. There
are two collar pieces: one the under- and the other the upper collar; if you’ve
made a collared shirt before and so know that the under-collar is supposed to
be a touch smaller then you should have no trouble working out which piece is
which.
What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
It
looks so pretty in the photographs on the website, and I like the loose
artistic shape.  The style is really
pretty and a very nice feminine alternative to the traditional style of
button-front shirt; and easier too, in fact, since you don’t have to insert the
sleeves!  The prim little collar looks
sweet, both unbuttoned and also when buttoned up all the way to the top.
It is
a pdf pattern, which I am slooowly getting used to, old-fashioned thing that I
am  😉
Fabric
Used:
Silk/linen
mix
Pattern
alterations or any design changes you made:
I added
a little asymmetrical swoosh-shaped welt pocket 
😉
Would
you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Definitely!
and yes  🙂
Conclusion:
Oh, I
love it!  I’ve used Japanese pattern
books before and this is the first time I’ve made a “regular” Japanese
pattern.  I’ve made it in a summer-weight
linen/silk mix but I think it would be equally appropriate and just as
cute in a soft comfy flannelette for winter.
pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , ,
Switch to mobile version
↓