shorts Archives - Handmade by Carolyn

Why do I sew with striped fabrics?!

01/03/2025 1:51 pm \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

rhetorical question, don’t mind me. I actually love stripes, even though when I do sew with them I feel inextricably compelled to pin each and every stripe. It’s ok. A small amount of suffering is acceptable when it leads to nice things.

Anyway, I made a new outfit for myself, in anticipation of the slightly cooler weather that heralds the onset of autumn, hurrah. The fabric is a really nice, crisp, slightly crinkly, and reassuringly sturdy ticking striped cotton, ivory with steel blue stripes, and a silver thread running through. I bought it years ago from Fabulous Fabrics, and it’s been one of those lengths of fabric that I’ve “saved” for really a nice project, one far off day. It’s always a lovely thing when that far off day finally dawns.

For the top, I used the new Fibremood Kristy pattern, a smart top with big patch pockets with arrowhead flaps, and a nice shaped collar, with the most rudimentary of collar stands.

I lengthened the sleeves by several inches so I could turn up a cuff, and I love how this looks. There’s double topstitching just about everywhere although it doesn’t stand out since I used matching ivory thread, but you do pick it up subconsciously.

My skirt is, of course, our own Meelup skirt pattern. I do feel a bit bad about my possible overuse of this pattern and have decided I really need to branch out a bit with regard to skirt patterns, well, ALL patterns really, but it really does tick all my boxes so well. Maybe I’ll limit myself to just one of a pattern per year? worth a thought!

I lined the skirt with ivory poly acetate lining fabric, also from stash. This adds a bit of necessary body to the skirt too, making it nicer to wear. In fact, the whole outfit is very comfy, and happily has a certain subtle chic afforded by the details on the Kristy top; I really love it a lot.

I also ran up an adorable little pair of shorts for my littlest grandchild G, using the very last of the leftover “public pool” cotton drill fabric designed by his mother, which I bought from her Spoonflower shop, here.

The pattern I used is Butterick 5510, size M. This is the biggest size in the envelope, so I’ve realised I need to use it a few more times, and quickly too, before G grows out of it! I’d almost forgotten how much fun children’s clothes are to make, so quick and easy compared to adult clothes. I traced out the pattern and finished the shorts in about an hour, tops!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Butterick 5510, childrens, fibremood, Gilbert, Kristy, Meelup skirt, own design, shorts, skirt, top

refashioning some things

23/02/2025 8:20 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

hello! I’ve made a new outfit by refashioning some other previously worn old things… from a skirt and old jeans, I’ve made a new/old tunic top and some new/old shorts. I realise I probably I should be using some of the new fabric already in my stash instead of “already used” fabric – truthfully I am not very sensible a lot of the time – however if I really like a fabric but not the garment so much then I do feel like it just makes sense to reuse the latter if I can. Actually, I have been making a number of things lately, and from my stash! but just haven’t got around to taking photos or blogging them yet. For some reason, I’m finding taking photos to be the biggest challenge now.

Anyway, previously I had this skirt, and some of Mum’s old jeans.

I really love this fabric, but it was ultimately a bit on the flimsy side to be a skirt really. I am, obviously, much happier with the new things. To be honest it’s just a casual and fairly unexciting outfit but it is the kind of very comfortable and practical outfit that suits my lifestyle very well for the time being.

For the new top, I partially used a pattern from the Japanese pattern book, Stylish Dress Book, but just for the yoke. I stitched up the pockets on the old skirt, cut out armholes and stitched it to the yoke. The armholes are bound with the same linen. The denim yoke is cut from old jeans, and lined with indigo-dyed linen. I added a pocket harvested from off of an old pair of jeans.

I made the denim shorts using a heavily modified Pietra shorts pattern by Closet Core patterns. My version is a lot more A-shaped than the original and there is absolutely no elastication at all.

My littlest grandson G enthusiastically rushed over to join me modelling here … he was so cute and funny! You just have to imagine his huge delighted smile here! My legs are a little wider and I tapered off all pieces toward the top substantially to make it close fitting about my waist, and inserted an invisible zip in the centre back seam.

I cut the legs to be a little wider at the bottom edge, and substantially tapered off all pieces toward the top to make it more close fitting about my waist. Closure is by an invisible zip inserted in the centre back seam. The facings and hem edges are bound with pretty gingham printed cotton, leftover fabric from a very recently finished dress.

I removed the pockets from the jeans, unpicked all the old topstitching thread, and re-stitched these to the shorts back. I had just enough burnt orange to finish the yoke and pocket on my new tunic top, and used a vibrant and sharp lemon yellow for the shorts. These, along with the jeans in the first place, were inherited from Mum.

Worn above with my white Booragoon top, blogged here, and below with a matching Sorrento bucket hat in the same MaaiDesign wide checked linen, blogged here.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, pietra, shorts, Stylish Dress Book, top, tunic, Wardrobe Refashion

some blue things because why not

21/07/2023 9:09 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

First up; some navy blue suedette shorts!

I actually like wearing shorts in winter; it’s kinda the same as wearing a mini, in my opinion, and personally I think minis are absolutely great in winter. So why not shorts in winter too?

Suedette is quite a wintery-feeling fabric too I think; this piece is actually leftover from when I made my Megan Nielsen Dove blouse, way back here. I KNOW! I surprise myself sometimes with my stashing capabilities. Too silly for words.

I had just enough fabric to squeeze out the pieces for these shorts, which is awesome sauce. The pattern is the FibreMood Dahlia shorts pattern, which is a beautifully feminine, roomy design, with a deep deep pleat at the top resulting in chic wide legs, also very deep and lovely cuffs. These are my favourite part of the shorts actually. It has pockets too, of course! Oh, and lastly the waist was a little baggy on me, so I also added belt loops and made a short tie belt. I really like how this looks on the shorts too! You can probably see that I used a silver press stud for the shorts closure, it stands out ike a sore thumb in these pictures unfortunately; after I noticed this I went back and added another belt look over the press stud, hiding it. Thus fixing the problem, yay.

I’m wearing them here with my ivory tee top, my handknitted hand warmers, and my black tights…

What else have I made… hmmm? Well another maternity skirt for Cassie. This is another Burda 7023, using navy blue cotton jersey. I was asked in the comments where this can be bought, I’m afraid if it’s not in your local pattern store then I don’t know, sorry. It’s kinda hard to get hold of older paper patterns nowadays, very sadly. I think this particular pattern was from about three or four years ago. I just gave it to her without taking a photo sorry; maybe I’ll get a photo and update here then 🙂 (later edit: Here ’tis!!)

And I finished another project, this beanie has been a veeeery long term one! In 2018 we went to Canada and Alaska, blogged about here; and here; and I bought some yarn while there; including this ball of locally handspun and hand-dyed wool in Talkeetna, Alaska. The label has Wild n’ Woolly on it, but they don’t seem to have an internet presence so I can’t link to them. The colour is Berry Picking, and the design is my own, but pretty plain. I started and unravelled it a few times, trying to get the perfect amount of head-hugging, which I think I got in the end. It’s beautifully cosy!

I’m wearing it here with my raspberry tee top, my raspberry Paprika Patterns Jade mini skirt, hand knit navy cardigan, navy corduroy jacket (originally made for Sam but he’s given it back to me) my yellow raincoat, black tights…

And that’s all for now! Our new pattern is going to be ready very very soon, we’ve been working so hard on it, so please look forward to that coming soon!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: beanie, dahlia, daily outfit, fibremood, knitting, own design, shorts

I sewed selflessly

21/04/2020 9:07 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I sewed some stuff!

Item A; a dress for Mum to wear to Cassie’s wedding…

I started out with Burda style 09/2019; 109 because I thought the sleeve cuff really lovely; however I ran up a muslin – actually 2 – and we decided the cut-on sleeve just wasn’t that nice and that a set-in sleeve would be much better. So I ended up re-tracing and -fitting the Esme pattern from Lotta Jansdotter’s Everyday Style book again since Mum had really like the one I made for her previously. I just adapted the sleeve to have the Burda cuff on the sleeve end.

The fabric is a really beautiful, green polka-dotted ivory crepe from Fabulous Fabrics; Mum and I went in together and chose it one morning. Fun! I didn’t use the neckline facing pieces, opting in stead to fully line the dress with an ivory lining that I already had in my stash, the lining negated any need for a facing… Mum kindly hemmed the dress herself since I was seriously running out of time by the end of it! The dress shell has french seams throughout, though I used the overlocker for the lining.

At the same time that we bought the fabric, Mum bought a length of emerald green chiffon and finished it with a hand-rolled hem to make herself a lovely matching scarf.

I thought she looked absolutely lovely!

Item B; a shirt for part of Cassie’s birthday pressie…

For her birthday, we went out together and bought a few lengths of fabric which I was to make into some simple work outfits for her. Of course now she’s working from home but that’s ok; at least she’s still working!

This is pattern 02/2015; 113, adapted to be much slimmer in the body due to the fact that I didn’t buy enough fabric, ahem… that’s fine since the style is so super wide I think Cassie would have requested it be slimmed down anyway! This thing is BOXY!! I also had to leave off the sleeve cuffs, but Cassie absolutely loves it just as it is :)..

The gorgeous polka-dot fabric is a linen from Fabulous Fabrics. The buttons are leftovers from Kelly’s wedding dress!

I did manage to snap one photo of her wearing the top! kinda a miracle given how crazy busy we were before the wedding, and then I’ve barely been able to see her after the wedding during these virus social-isolation times… this is her on the eve of her wedding, when she was preparing to practice her father/daughter dance with Craig… yes, she’s wearing her wedding shoes of course 🙂

I actually made a little video on the making of this blouse, which was fun. I’m hoping to make more of these for my YouTube channel 🙂

Item C; some shorts for Cassie’s birthday. For these I started with the Closet Case patterns Pietra shorts and did the same elastic-waist elimination that I did for my own shorts… shown here.

The fabric is a cotton twill from Spotlight, in Cassie’s favourite duck-egg/mint green colour.

Item D; another little top for Cassie… this is the Closet Case patterns Cielo top, lengthened slightly. This is a lovely little pattern and I will definitely be using this one again! No other adjustments.

The pretty rose-print is a linen from Fabulous Fabrics. I should say, that while these pieces are all a gift from me to Cassie, she did choose the fabrics herself. We had a lovely fun morning checking out fabrics and chatting about work-wardrobe possibilities!

Items E & F; I made two different masks for myself. I haven’t used them very much but am really trying to get more used to the idea! When we’ve visited Japan I’ve seen lots of people wearing masks all the time of course, and while I think they’re a great idea, especially in our current virus-centric lives, we’re just completely unaccustomed to wearing them here in Australia and it’s really hard to get used to it. I find them very claustrophobic and a little difficult to breath in them!

The first one, above; I used this pattern/tutorial on the Makers Habitat YouTube channel, it has a lining with an opening so you can insert a filter inside. It’s a nice straightforward pattern, very quick and easy to make. I added a skinny channel to the top, and cut a short length of wrapped florist’s wire to insert in there for a nose support; this can be removed for washing.

This second one I used the Trend patterns free mask pattern, here. This is also a nice pattern, very “designed” and I really like it, but I did find I had to fold a quite wide dart in the under-chin piece to get a good fit. Also it is a more complex and involved thing to make than the previous pattern, For both masks I used a leftover piece of cotton from my stash, the most tightly woven and with the densest thread count I could find! They are both lined with cotton voile. The ties are just thin strips of cotton jersey, cut with my rotary cutter, left unhemmed, threaded through the side channels and simply knotted.

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: blouse, Burda 02/2015;113, Burda 09/2019;109, Cassie, cielo, Closet Case files, dress, esme, lotta jansdotter, mask, Mum, pietra, shorts, top

mustard pietra shorts

10/09/2019 7:35 pm \ 9 Comments \ Carolyn

Hack attack!

Despite initial appearances, my new shorts are actually based upon the Pietra shorts/pants pattern by Closet Case patterns… I loved this pattern immediately, loved the high waisted flat front with no waistband, and those cool side panels with pockets. However, I was not quite so much in love with the elasticated back … or perhaps I should specify I was not quite so much in love with my own rear view in the aforementioned elastic waist version of the pattern?!

Yes, I did make up a test version with the elastic waist first … for version number one, I cut up an old linen dress given to me by Mum. Unfortunately I decided I’m tragically allergic to elastic waistbands, with the one and only exception of pyjama bottoms. Although looking at these pictures now my rear view is not as offensive to me as it was when I first looked at them! at the same time, I am still much happier with the rear view of my second, non-elasticated and more streamlined version.

side view…

I was pretty sure I would be able to alter, modify, wrangle a de-elasticised waist with a bit of finagling… putting an invisible zip in the centre back seam and removing a whole lot of real estate from the back waist area, retaining that lovely flat front and pockets completely.

the front view looks exactly the same as the original, unsurprisingly since this is basically unaltered…

I shall now proceed to explain my butchery… and please note that these measurements laid out here are tailored to my own personal waist measurements and will obviously be different for other people. Specific measurements for each of these modifications can best be determined from your own waist and hip measurements.

I removed 6cm from the waist of the back piece; and actually swung the side edge out towards the hem edge at the same time, adding a bit of flare to the back view of the shorts…

I also removed 2cm from the top/back edge of the side pieces, tapering off to nothing at the top edge of the pocket. This wedge was also removed “mirror-image” from the front facing, shown already stitched on at the left…

I put a dart in the back piece… while my picture illustrates it to be 10.5cm, I actually stitched it a bit longer, closer to 11.5cm at its end point

… the dart is situated 10cm in from the centre back raw edge and is 3cm in width at its top edge

… I used the existing back waistband piece to cut my two new back waistbands to fit the new size…

… inserted an invisible zip into the centre back seam. Note, the centre back seam is essentially unaltered, except that the back waistband now has a vertical centre back seam too.

Because I whimsically fancied something a bit different for the back of my waistband, specifically a V-shaped cut-out effect at the centre back … I put in the zip a bit lower and stitched the top edge in an angle like so… Yes, I’m very much oversimplifying here, because making my two sides exactly identical actually took aaaaages and some super precise measuring. I even unpicked one side completely and re-did it because it’s amazing how even 1 or 2mm difference will show up as a glaring inconsistency. Hint; making a little paper template made it a lot easier to get everything perfectly mirror image; which yes, seems super obvious in retrospect!

corners trimmed and turned out…

I hand stitched the waistband self-facing down with tiny fell-stitches…

To finish; the side seams were pinned, and the already-understitched front facing was wrapped around over the top and over the back waistband piece.

Side seams were then stitched, corners trimmed and seam allowances finished etc. before pulling the whole thing right sides out. And that’s it!

Oh! of course, the ever important fabric notes… this is actually just a super cheap cotton drill from Spotlight… I LOVE the orange-y mustard colour of course, SO MEEEEE! and the random vertical dashes. The pattern sorta reminds me a lot of this felted wall hanging I made, many moons ago; my vision was of a sort of poem carved by an artistic cave man, in a language or alphabet wrought in colours and strokes of differing lengths and groupings. This is still hanging up in our front room! and you can read more about it here

Details:

Shorts; both the Pietra shorts/pants pattern by Closet Case patterns
Drapey white top; based on the loose drape top no.1 in the Japanese pattern book “drape drape”, by Hisako Sato
Hat; Vogue 8844, in khaki drill
Plain white tee; Nettie tee by Closet Case patterns, white jersey

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, Closet Case files, daily outfit, own design, pattern tutorial, pietra, shorts, tutorial

boatin’, campin’, bikin’ and hikin’ stoof

09/08/2017 10:57 pm \ 54 Comments \ Carolyn

We’ve just come back from a holiday in Alaska, USA and British Columbia, Canada; had the most AWESOME-est time of course! but more about that later… I made a few bits and pieces to fill in some gaps in the “mucking about in the great, but wet n’dirty, outdoors” areas of my wardrobe. Specifically, I needed some things that were both quick-drying and warm… which means, and I apologise right now to any strict natural-fibrarians reading this … polyester. #ohtheshame

Hehe, just kidding, of course polyester has appeared here on my blog before and no doubt will again. When you are roughing it out camping, and particularly in extreme climates, then unnatural fibres are definitely the go.

I made five new things prior to going on our holiday; a zip up fleece hoodie, a fleece sweater, some shorts for kayaking, a fleece neck warmer and a new sunhat. I made some other new things too, while we were actually ON our holiday, but I’ll save those for another post!

In the order that I made them…

White fleece sweater

wearing beanie, sweater, hiking pants
location: Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska, USA

Pattern is Burda 09/2010; 121, fabric is 100% polyester fleece from Spotlight.

I’d bought my polyester fleece back in the height of hot hot February during their 40% off all fabrics sale, made it straight away and actually posted it to instagram way back then too, although it didn’t get truly worn until our holiday…

wearing sweater, skirt

Mods; made the sleeves a little longer, and I pinned the side seams out to fit it directly on me so it’s shaped and fitted to my taste. After the first few days of wearing it I found the turtleneck to be extremely strangliferous. This is not necessarily a criticism of the pattern, since I’ve always felt strangled by turtlenecks, ever since I was a child; I really should have known this one would be the same too, doh! Fortunately it’s an easy fix. I simply borrowed a pair of scissors from the owner of the lodge and snip snip!! just chopped the turtleneck-y bit right off! No hems or seams, well, I was desperate! but hey, fleece doesn’t really need edging anyway and now it’s a funnel neck, and only about a thousand times more comfortable.

I really really LOVE this.

Pink zip-up hoodie

wearing hoodie, white tee, grey tee, black jeans
location: the Khutzeymateen Wilderness Lodge on the Khutzeymateen River, British Columbia, Canada

Pattern is Burda 8042, the same 100% polyester fleece from Spotlight

Mods; in lieu of the patch pockets, I added welt pockets which were absolutely great for shoving my cold hands into… however I thought they gave a rather lumpy and thick look to my stomach region, even when said hands were not shoved into said pockets, and like most women I am not very partial to a lumpy thick look to my stomach region! But it was awesome to have the pockets? I dunno.

wearing hoodie, sweater, skirt

I wore this thing so much, like practically every day even though it’s not in all my pictures… and I pretty much hate it now. It’s not really my colour, I only chose it because I actually had the perfectly coloured open-end zip in my stash already, inherited at some point from one of Mum’s periodic sewing-room clean outs, and I rationalised that the colour would be cheerful and fun. But now I cannot stand the thought of ever wearing it again. Can’t quite put my finger on the problem… as well as not suiting me, the colour feels somehow wrong for my personality, and then there was the lumpy stomach pockets thing. It was a good thing to have though, perfect for camping, beautifully warm and it dried off very quickly. Maybe I’m just sick of it. I’m giving it a bit of time out at the top of the wardrobe, and maybe another wet and freezing cold camping trip will crop up again, some time in the future…

Black poly kayaking shorts

wearing hat, tee, shorts, raincoat

Please excuse the lack of an exotic location here … I didn’t realise until we got home that I neglected to get even one photo during our holiday that showed my new shorts ! thus a re-enactment of a holiday outfit and yes I am absolutely freezing 😉

My new shorts are refashioned from out of an old pair of Tim’s work pants, rescued from the refashioning bag… I knew from many years of washing these things how quickly they dry, so thought they would be perfect for the kayaking camp. And they were absolutely brilliant…!

before, the observant will notice straight away that these have been nibbled at previously; that’s a pocket lining for something or another cut out of the bottom there…

To make them: I kept only the fly front and the button closure intact; unpicked most of the waistband and sliced off basically every single other seam! taking it in at both side seams, the centre back seam, and altering the crotch curve super drastically to fit. Approximately 7″ is taken out of the waistband overall tapering out to almost no width from the legs so they are nicely flared, just the way I like them. This also means that the hip pockets have a pretty tiny opening now! but I figured that’s a small price to pay for free new shorts and funnily enough I don’t really find occasion to put my hands in my pockets while kayaking 😉

I cut down and reattached the waistband, re-positioned the belt loops and created a cuff for the bottom hem of the shorts. I think they turned out quite cute! I’d planned to wear these with black leggings for kayaking, but as it turned out the days we kayaked were warm enough so that the leggings were not necessary.

Love these, they were perfectamondo for paddling, and I expect they will be my go-to paddling uniform from now on…

Cherry red neckwarmer

wearing neck warmer, raincoat, skirt, tights
location; the dock in Haines, Alaska, USA

The most basic thing ever, literally a lined cylinder. The outer is the same 100% fleece from Spotlight, the lining was cut from an old Tshirt from my refashioning bag. Yes, that thing is still like a bottomless pit of fabric! It’s a monster, but a pretty fabulous one for someone like me who is always sewing 😉

For my own future reference, the dimensions are:

fleece; 65cm x 29cm

cotton jersey lining; 64cm x 27cm

I made it by stitching the fleece rectangle and lining rectangle together at top and bottom, pinned the seam edges and the fleece edges together, and stitched the side seam leaving a 10cm or so gap in the side edge of the inner lining. Turned the whole thing right side out through this 10cm gap, then slip-stitched the gap closed to finish.

Like the pink hoodie this simple thing got worn most days, but unlike the pink hoodie I actually still like it! Just goes to show, ignore “your” colours at your peril! And it went with EVERYTHING!

wearing neck warmer, striped tee, green tee, skirt, tights, raincoat
location: Haines, Alaska, USA

Olive sunhat

wearing hat, grey tee, shorts, raincoat
location; Hanson Island, British Columbia, Canada

Pattern is Vogue 8844, fabric is olive cotton rip-stop from an online store whose name I have absolutely no memory of whatsoever. It’s leftover from the fabric I used for my khaki army-style jacket… I bought it in a joint order with my friend and neighbour Megan, and all I can remember is that the postage fee was so horrendously high that maybe I’ve deliberately blocked the store’s name from my memory in post-purchase shock, haha.

I lined the hat with floral rayon, leftovers from my French Navy Forsythe dress, I thought they went quite nicely together! and the crown is stayed with a coffee-coloured cotton braid that is a VERY long term resident in my stash. Since I would be wearing the hat kayaking, I decided it would be a good idea to add a chin strap; this is an old, orphaned bootlace, snipped in half and stitched in each side underneath the crown stay. For some reason, I decided to go with an additional method of tightening the hat to my head, and laced a piece of white cotton cord through the crown stay. Probably not necessary and now it’s a rather over-engineered hat but oh well. Got it now!

Technically, I didn’t really neeeeed a new sunhat, since I do have my perfectly lovely ivory corduroy sunhat, made a few years ago…. but still I decided a new one was in order. Partly because I didn’t want my ivory one to get irrevocably dirty while camping, a khaki one would be more colour suitable for out in the dirt of the wilderness. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t actually warm enough for it until well into our holiday! laugh! the first few weeks or our holiday were mostly wet and very cold and the sunhat languished unworn… squashed sadly and disconsolately in my suitcase *sob* Then finally the weather turned warmer and we even got a bit of sun and I was like, hurrah, I CAN WEAR MY HAT!!! and was pretty glad I’d gone to the effort of making it after all.

wearing hat, raincoat
location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

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Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8042, Burdastyle 09/2010;121, daily outfit, hat, hoodie, own design, scarf, shorts, sweater, top, Vogue 8844

short and rose-y

24/10/2015 9:20 am \ 38 Comments \ Carolyn

…some new summer shorts 🙂

Pattern; ye olde faithful Burda
7723. Someone alerted me to the fact
that this pattern has been discontinued…. boooo! This is fair dinkum one of my favourite
patterns… goodness knows why Burda would let go such a nice flattering design
as this 🙁 However, last time I was in
the fabric store I had a good squizz at the pattern catalogues, and while there are no Burdas like this any more, I noticed Vogue 8836 cut to shorts length might just be a pretty good substitute? It has the same high rise with deep/wide waistband,
the same slightly flared leg, the same slanted front pockets, the same double
pleats at top to enable decent hand-shoving access to said pockets.

One thing I really loooove
about the Burda pattern is the way the pocket piece extends right into the fly;
which gives you a kind of inbuilt tummy control panel right across the front. I don’t know if the Vogue has this feature but if not that would be sad, since this is a GIANT WIN!

Alterations; just the usual, the pattern doesn’t instruct to put a protective placket behind the fly but I always put
one in. It’s an easy add-on and always a nice finishing touch to any fly front.

Fabric; some lovely stretch sateen from Fabulous Fabrics; soft, sturdy without being very thick, and the print has a sharp, painterly appearance, like old-fashioned ceramics. Mum bought it for
me for my birthday. Actually, the fabric is very lovely and totally deserves to be something far more dressy. Just that I’m a funny bun when I get an idea
in my head, sorry; and I really fancied some luxe-ish shorts. I’m excited about the thought of wearing them
both pretty pretty style, with my ultra feminine broderie anglaise top; and also
more contrast-y like, with my more masculine, utilitiarian khaki linen shirt
too.

The lovely Margo recently posted about showing your sewing creations in action, with an action shot… which inspired the following display of gawky awkwardness. What was I thinking, I don’t know.

Thought bubble emanating from Sienna; what the flippin’ heck is she doing NOW!????

Action shot! Sienna knows, you see, that in real life this particular action is pretty much non-existent from my daily repertoire of actions, haha. Pegging clothes on the line or taking out the rubbish would be a more realistic action shot, if slightly less riveting for a picture!
Oh dear. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, ahem…!

Okay! wrapping it up…

Happiness factor; well, a favourite pattern and totally lovely fabric, all going together as smooth as silk. I’m giving
this project 10/10 🙂

Details:

Shorts; Burda 7723, floral sateen

Tshirt; the Nettie, Closet Case patterns, white bamboo jersey. details here

Cardigan; midnight blue Miette, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7723, daily outfit, shorts, Sienna

Carolyn shirt and shortie shorts, take one

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

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