Hello! I’ve got a small handful of new stuff to show off present … four things to be precise!
Firstly, two sage green/pale coffee, checked tweed skirts. I inherited this beautiful quality piece of wool tweed from my grandmother’s stash after she passed away. Although I earmarked it straight away as two skirts for Cassie and myself I just hadn’t got around to it and have sat on it all this time. It was one of those fabrics I couldn’t bring myself to cut into… you know, inherited from Granny, plus exceptionally good quality, equals inevitable thoughts of sewing tragedy followed by eternal self-damnation…. but I’m making myself get over that nonsense nowadays. Make it! Enjoy it! Live dangerously! So, finally… it helps too that I think Cassie has now grown into fabric of this calibre 😉 not that she didn’t deserve high quality fabrics before, but you know what I mean! it’s very much a grown-up fabric and makes a very smart little work skirt for her now that she has a serious and professional career. The fabric really is beautiful stuff… fine and evenly woven, and there are flecks of all sorts of colours in with the sage green/coffee check… blue, red and gold, caramel brown, forest green, and a hint of purple and black. It has no identifier on it but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a fully English tweed. My grandmother was very much into that sort of thing 🙂
Also, this is possibly the first time that my fabulously neutral garage wall has failed me in showing up a garment nicely!! it blends in way too much here! Maybe the gorgeous fabric shows up better in Cassie’s picture, below. Here, she is wearing her skirt with this caramel coloured merino tee that I made for her previously.
Both skirts are pretty much identical, apart from the size, of course!! Both made using Vogue 8363; the waistbands and pocket linings are cut from cotton calico, and the lining is a beige polyacetate. Ivory/beige invisible zips in both skirts, closure by a wide hook and eye, and I cut the linings big and eased the extra fullness into the waistband with big pleats, for some wearing ease. As always, I like to hand-stitch the waistband facings and lining down on the inside, much neater I think and the fabric deserved a really nice finish 🙂
Next up, a little top for Cassie! we bought this ivory/grey cotton French terry while we were in Japan recently… and can I just say… OmigawdthisfabricisthemostGORGEOUSstuff and I would sob with pitiful happiness if only I knew I could go back to Japan again… *sigh* When Cas
sie moved out of home she left this fabric behind and I almost started to factor it into my own plans mwahahahahaha… but of course she hadn’t forgotten it, o no! The reason she had deviously left it behind was so that I could make something for her with it! HA! She chose the wings top from Pattern Magic 3, modified so as to have the wings gone; I’ve made this for myself once previously too, and I like Cassie’s new one so much I’m now wondering why I threw mine away! I left the lower edge raw so it curls up nicely, and the sleeve edges and neckline I overlocked the raw edge, turned it under once and did a nice discreet little zig-zag to finish it. It looks quite nice, I think.
Item number four, and actually this is nothing to write home about really… I refashioned the fabric from an old woollen jumper of Craig’s into cosy new hand warmers for me. I have my nice sheen green knitted hand warmers, that I’ve been wearing all winter, but! It’s still cold, I’m bored to tears with all my winter clothes and I just really fancied a new colour. And the jumper was such a divinely rich tangerine-y colour and going begging because it had developed a large moth hole in the front. Also, it had felted and shrunk a little bit when some careless person had accidentally tossed it in with too hot of a wash, tut tut *whistles innocently* and I have NO IDEA who that could have been, hum de hum!!! Anyway!! I cut open the whole jumper, assessed for holes, and cut out two rectangles, carefully avoiding said holes and a few stains. I kept the ribbing intact for the bottom edge, and cut holes for my thumbs, overstitched those all nice and secure, and sewed the long side up. I put them so the seams are on the outside because I liked the bobbly look of them, then sewed a little casing in the top edge and inserted a ring of elastic so they stay up my arm. Bam! and bob’s your uncle. New hand warmers, and making use of an old thing that would have otherwise been tossed out. WIN!
Details:
Item 1)
Top; Burdastyle 04/2014-111, white bobbly stuff, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, sage green/coffee check wool tweed
Tights; my own pattern, black stretch stuff, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; made by me, my own design, details here
item 2)
Top; drafted by me, caramel coloured merino wool, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, sage green/coffee check wool tweed
item 3)
Top; the wings top from Pattern Magic 3, ivory French terry cotton knit
item 4)
Handwarmers: made from an old jumper
Tshirt; self-drafted, dyed black cotton jersey, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, dyed purple denim, details and my review of this pattern here
Cardigan; Miette knitted by me, details here
Cowl; knitted by me to my own design, details and my original pattern is here
Tights; my own pattern, black stretch stuff, details here and my tute for making your own custom-fit tights pattern is here
Boots; made by me, my own design, details here
Hello! just a few quick items for today… I’ve actually been sewing a few things for other people! Scary stuff, huh. I mean, it’s one thing that I can see all my own flaws in things I make for myself, and on a daily basis! but that’s kinda the rough with the smooth, you accept that because it’s all your own doing, all your own fault and you can tell yourself you’re “learning” and going to do better next time haha…. but to subject another person to those flaws … well that’s really exposing yourself. ok, you know what I mean…
Sure, they’re all near identical, but still. What’s not to love about that.
This is the first time I’ve put an exposed zip in a skirt with lining, and wasn’t totally sure how to do it; I put the zip in similarly to how you’d do a welt pocket, and then hand-stitched the lining to the zip tape on the inside. I cut the bottom edge of the pleather clean and straight with my rotary cutter and left it unhemmed; and hemmed the paisley portions in a deep 4cm hem by hand. The skirt is fully lined with raspberry polyacetate, itself a leftover from 
Item number two; a hoodie for my son’s girlfriend. I had made 
I found this post in my drafts, and came thisclose to deleting it but then hesitated… see, I stopped writing these 6 different ways posts because I started to worry they were boring
to anyone reading my blog. But then I just thought that was silly. Because you know what? I just kinda like them. I like looking back on my old daily outfits, seeing my old favourites, what worked and what didn’t… and this little yellow skirt was a goodie that I got a lot of wear out of before 
Fabric; a silk/cotton knit from KnitWit in a rich bordeaux purple, and lined with black stretch polyester, the same stuff I make all my tights from. It appears slightly browny-rusty coloured in these pictures but trust me, it’s really rich wine/purple. I initially honed in on this exact fabric in a very nice, mossy swampy green, then thought a bit more about the skirts I already have and the colour of tops I have… see, trying to plan a bit more, be more, what’s the buzzword of the moment? o yeah… intentional about this and not so spontaneous and frivolous and crazy impulsive. Sensible, even! So this is a very handy colour, new to my wardrobe but still toning in very nicely with tonnes of things in there quite beautifully, and I’m trying to push away naughty thoughts of zooming straight back over to KnitWit and snapping up some of that nice moss-green anyway. Still thinking about it, but trying not too. Semi successfully. I’m giving myself a month, and if I’m still dreaming about that mossy green, then I’m giving in; but in the meantime I’m going to be strong and RESIST.
Details:
The dark navy blue, pleated skirt has an invisible zip closure and an interfaced facing. I suggested she make it a little longer, so she could at least wear it as a normal skirt too; but no; the costume had to be as faithfully executed as possible!
She used a blouse pattern for the vest, mainly because the collar was right for the costume; it had no collar stand and was the right shape and lay in the right spot. The front and back pieces were easily modified to be a vest shape, and she individually drew out the gold edging pieces to fit, and with self-fabric facing throughout.
This is a character driven pose; it means “I’m watching and I’ve got your back”… and that symbol on her hand is also a key component to her character too. I freehand drew it on for her this morning, because you know; right handed, and it had to be on her right hand! It’s in pink ballpoint pen. I can’t wait to hear how her day was…. I’m sure she will be one of the best dressed at the convention!! As we drove in to drop her off, we saw stormtroopers and a Joker strolling down the esplanade on their way to the convention, laugh! It’s fantastic how everyone who goes makes a real effort to dress up in amazing costumes and really look the part… oooo I so wish I could be there to see all the costumes!!
And also, don’t you just hate it when people boast smugly about their perfect pattern matching?
