skirt Archives - Page 3 of 34 - Handmade by Carolyn

it’s curtains for you! otherwise titled; why should windows have all the fun?

03/12/2022 1:21 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

This year, my friend Raina gave to me a couple of bags of fabric that she’d been hoarding for years, finally sensibly throwing them out… or should I say.. throwing them my way? I really should throw out a lot of my fabric too but not only am I not sensible, I’m also such a sucker for a lonely, unwanted piece of fabric that is just screaming out to be made into something wanted and loved… *sigh*

Anyway; amongst the odds and ends and bits and bobs was a length of really beautiful curtain fabric. Samarkand by Sanderson, no less. I thought it was lovely and had lots of potential. Interestingly, I’ve just searched online and can find not even one picture of this print?! Weird!

Raina tells me this was the leftovers from the bedroom curtains in their old house in England, and since they left England more than twenty years ago that should give you an idea of how long this has been kicking around! I’m so happy it’s finally been put to good use!

I made a skirt using my own skirt block pattern, that I’m developing to be a pattern for our pattern company actually, and this time I managed to remember to add seam allowances, hurrah! Yes, I finally got my matching top and skirt set, yay!

For my top I used the Closet Core patterns Cielo pattern. I didn’t have enough of the curtain fabric to cut everything, so the sleeves and sleeve cuffs are a co-ordinating grey linen, which was given to me by Mum when she cleaned out her own stash. I know, I seem to be using everybody else’s stashes at the moment and not much of my own! I really should remedy that for the remainder of the year… if I can!

I lined the skirt with a leaf green lining fabric, also from Mum’s stash. Later on, I also noticed that the lining of the skirt peeped out a bit in a few of my photos so since then I’ve gone back in and shortened the lining by a few centimetres. Always telling myself; it’s really worth me doing this sort of thing properly because otherwise it would bother me forever.

I finished off the raw edges inside the top and skirt with bias tape cut from dark olive poplin. Now, this is actually from my own long term stash! I also finished off the neckline facing with the same poplin; it makes the inside look so nice and neat, as well as being far more comfortable and soft against my skin. I try to do this as much as possible nowadays.

I really love this new ensemble! the beautiful bird print on the fabric is so elegant. I’m so happy I was able to pattern match quite close to seamlessly everywhere. I kept and incorporated the colour legend from the selvedge on the waist band of the skirt, because… well just because I can! I love it, and I believe that a print with such a lot of colours in it like this is the mark of a really quality print.

I wore this to morning tea with Raina this past week because I knew it would give her a laugh, and she was satisfyingly very happy to see it too! Gave me lots of warm fuzzies to see how much she loved it actually. Very satisfying. It’s very comfortable, and a style that makes me feel really good too. I’m going to get lots of wear out of this outfit, for sure! I only have a few more of those “circa 2022” labels left now. Hmm… what label-worthy things should I make to finish up the year? Better put my thinking cap on!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: cielo, Closet Core patterns, own design, skirt, top

a suedette skirt

14/10/2022 6:00 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I made another Booragoon skirt for myself; partly so I could film it and make a kinda helpful – I hope! – youtube video to illustrate some of the more difficult parts of the construction process. I appreciate this is an advanced pattern with some tricky aspects to getting a nice sharp and clean edge to the front panel, and the way the zip is inserted is quite unique, in my experience. SO I hope this helps some! I will be linking to this video in the instructions too…

As the video contains quite a lot of detail shots already, this post is another short and sweet one… you’re welcome!

Please note that this skirt is a cut little longer than the pattern; and I love the more midi length of it! And it’s deliciously swirly!

I used a very deep chocolate brown suedette that is actually beautiful quality; Mum bought it for herself from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of our jaunts over there and upon cleaning out her stash has now passed it onto me.

I know, I’m so lucky, am I not? I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to work through my augmented stash now, but am excited to find out. Cassie, with a raised eyebrow opined that it’s (quote) extremely disciplined (unquote) of me to attempt to use up my entire stash before allowing myself to buy any more, but I’m determined to see it through. I may have to allow myself to buy something for Sam and Lainey’s wedding, but I’ll see how I go. I do have some nice fabric already … but mother-of-the-groom worthy? Hmmm.

just saying… pocket

Well, that’s all for now! Until next time!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Booragoon skirt, Booragoon top, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, daily outfit, skirt

some snuggly corduroy goodness…

16/09/2022 3:09 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a few new things!

I was sent a length of lovely snuggly corduroy from Minerva; it is soft, quite lightweight, fluid and drapey and a little fluffy, and of course the most gorgeous and delicious shade of burnt orange/terracotta imaginable! this very stuff, in fact…

Soooo happy with my pocket-elicious new ensemble! hmmm, why the new (non)word, you might ask? Well, because there are SO many pockets on my newest outfit that it’s borderline ridiculous… AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

Patterns; I really love the practicality, utilitarian urban vibe of Waffle Patterns and have bought quite a few… now I can shift a few more off my list of “want to makes” and into the list of “yay finally made!” namely the Arare hoodie and the Anzu skirt.

Both these patterns come with a lot of variations; the Arare hoodie can be a hoodie or just have a high collar, and you can do either front welt pockets or a big kangaroo pocket with flap. I opted for the hoodie and the welt pockets, and there’s also a little sleeve pocket. That’s where I stuck my circa 2022 label 🙂

I didn’t really have enough fabric to line the hood, well not if I wanted to make the skirt too, which I most definitely did! so I used some nice, autumnal floral viscose from Mum’s stash … given to me when she cleared it out a few months ago. I really love how this looks peeping out inside the hoodie 🙂 I also used this same fabric to line the pockets. I didn’t add a cord to the hood mostly because I didn’t have the perfect coloured cord; I did put in the eyelets though, just in case that perfectly matching cord ever does show up!

I’ve had a tendency in the past to do welt pockets my own way… or a way that is a conglomeration of various big 4 patterns I’ve used over the years… the welt pockets on the Arare were a little different and took a little getting my head around. And they turned out absolutely perfect! I’m thrilled with how well they turned out.

For the skirt… I opted for the knee length, zip-fronted option, with inner slanted hip pockets. The other pocket options I went for were; the zip pocket, the “flap” pocket which comprises a bellows pocket with a partitioned off “non-flapped” section, three layered patch back pockets, and a double tool pocket. So, I just had to pause to add this up… this make for a 13 pocketed ensemble. I know right?! It’s crazy! And amazing!

Now, while I really wanted to make the skirt in this corduroy it was actually a little on the lightweight side to make a good cargo skirt. I applied lightweight fusible interfacing to every piece and this gave the perfect amount of stability to make this structured design work well. This had the slightly unfortunate side effect of make the wrong side of the fabric a jarring shade of white, obviously… now I know you don’t really see inside a skirt to notice something like this but it still bothered me. So I lined it with a dark brown lining fabric…. kinda overkill but it’s nicer like this.

One thing I should mention; I had to substantially alter the top of the back skirt piece. I’m not sure if I did something wrong at some earlier point, or whether it’s something to do with my slight sway back; but the back bulged in a very weird way before I scooped out a considerable crescent from the skirt back, before adding the yoke. And here’s a handy tip; when making any skirt at all I’ve always found it a good idea to try on for fit BEFORE you’re about to embark on any substantial seam finish and/or topstitching/flat-felling and/or overlocking raw seam allowances together. It’s SO much easier to make adjustments without having to unpick any of this! Ask me how I know! spoiler alert, I learnt the hard way…

Although it hasn’t shown up too well in any of my photos because it’s in a toning caramel colour; there is masses of topstitching in this outfit. I used up almost an entire roll of upholstery thread!

I’m rather thrilled at how very 70’s this outfit turned out! really that’s my only excuse for some of these poses…. honestly I don’t really go out of my way to make stuff that’s very obviously costume-y but am always quite chuffed when something does have an unexpectedly unusual and possibly even unfashionable flavour to it!

I shall sign off with a few pocket details…

the “flap pocket”

the “zip pocket”

and lastly but most importantly of all, my darling little grandson wanting to join in posing with me…

the Booragoon skirt and Booragoon top

02/07/2022 9:24 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

phew… I’m beyond exhausted, but also absolutely thrilled to announce the release of our latest two patterns… the Booragoon skirt and the Booragoon top!

So; here’s the story -yes, there’s always a story. That’s what a blog is for, right?!

For our niece’s 21st last year, for which I made this bumblebee cake; Cassie made a self-designed skirt for herself. It was a seriously cool skirt and brought forth many oohs and aahs and the inability to keep oneself from checking it out. Fortunately, not only did Cassie welcome the checking out part, but also excitedly declared on the spot that we should most definitely make it a pattern. So the horses were out of the gate and we were off! Of course, it did not proceed as swiftly as hoped; not only did work get in the way like a great big ol’ nuisance (not like it pays the bills or anything) but Cassie also returned to work after maternity leave was over, which slowed things down a little too.

And while Cassie’s skirt was beautifully made; she had done a massive amount of hand stitching to make the zip insertion and design lines work; which I knew would have be worked on before we could even think of releasing it.

See; the top tier of the skirt has a sharp edged, right-angle panel encircling the waist; very architectural in its genesis; that incorporates the waistband and a front panel. The front panel folds down to hide a zip closure; and the waistband has an attached, very long and skinny tie to further pull it all together. Sounds interesting? It is!

It took a bit of experimentation and fiddling, but I eventually worked out the zip insertion; so you could do it all by machine.

The top is one I’ve made for Cassie many times before; and we both decided the top really complemented the skirt very well; so we decided to release the patterns as a set. But of course you can always buy them separately as well. Actually; while I would rate the little jersey top as an Advanced Beginner level of pattern, the skirt really veers into Intermediate-Advanced level, thanks to the difficulty in mastering those nice sharp angles.. I would never tell anyone not to give it a go, however, Honestly; if I’d been scared off by Advanced ratings in my early sewing days I reckon I never would have got anywhere! I’m a big believer that’s it’s a good thing to push yourself. At the same time, the skill level thing is there for a reason!

We are offering a special, release day sale on the new patterns; the Booragoon Top, the Booragoon Skirt, and the Booragoon Top & Skirt are all 20 % off for the first 5 days, starting today. You even get a little special, and permanent discount for buying the set of patterns, as opposed to separately.

All three options re listed for sale in our Etsy store; here.

Is this a good time to mention that the skirt has a pocket? It’s just big enough for a phone and some small things, and it’s surprisingly unobtrusive. I’ve got my phonon my pocket for all my photos and it can’t be seen at all!

My lovely daughter-in-law Lainey agreed to model for us again; and the set I made for her is an all-in-one colour set; so it gives more of a dress vibe: for this one; I bought cotton from Spotlight for the skirt, and the cotton jersey for the top was a lucky match from Mum’s stash.

This next set is one of my earlier attempts; it was not particularly well made because I was still working out the zip at this point; but I really liked the skirt-over-a-dress look of it so saved the idea for my “real” one, above! Cream cotton jersey inherited from Mum’s stash, brown gabardine leftover from a long-gone pair of jeans/trousers I made for myself years ago.

And this set is playing with a dress-over-a-skirt look, just for fun. Both fabrics inherited from Mum’s stash.

All these different looks are achieved simply by different combinations of self and contrasting fabrics, and I really love this kind of versatility in a pattern!

Working on this pattern also contributed substantially to my #use30 challenge, for which I am quite grateful too, hehe. Thanks for that, Booragoon skirt and top!

Oh, the name? Booragoon is a local suburb here in Perth, and the location for a very popular shopping mall, which was actually both mine and Cassie’s introduction to department store shopping, for me dating back to my childhood years. Well, for Cassie too; but I mention for me in particular just to illustrate how long the mall has been there. It is also where my Dad had his practise for many many years; so when we went shopping we were always popping in to visit him while he was there. So “Booragoon” just has sentimental memories for us both; being a place “to shop” if you like. And we thought the Booragoon skirt and top was that kind of outfit that you might put on in order to sally forth for a day of genteel shopping and maybe a cup of tea and piece of cake to fortify yourself during the ordeal. Aaah, memories!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Booragoon skirt, Booragoon top, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, Cassie, Lainey, own design, skirt, Theo, top

a vanilla skirt, a periwinkle robe and an adorable little onesie

11/06/2022 8:35 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve been making things! btw I have to apologise profusely for my terrible blogging lately, I feel like I’m neglecting my poor little blog so badly.. the thing is that Cassie and I are working like mad on our newest pattern and we are so so close now that I can taste it!! well, ok I did nibble experimentally at a corner and it tasted just like paper… but you know what I mean. It is going to taste a billion times sweeter when it is finally out in the world!

I’ll discuss that a bit more in a minute, but in the meantime I’ve made a few things other than samples….

item 1:

a little skirt, to match this jacket I made fairly recently… I had a scant 50cm or so of leftovers, just enough for a little mini. The fabric is the wide wale cotton corduroy in colour vanilla, bought in Potters Textiles a few years ago. I utilised my skirt block, and a closure method that I wrote a tute for once before on my blog; a button closure over a pocket so you don’t need to do a zip.

And this time I got creative and added a full lining too. Bias binding to hem because of the severe shortness of the skirt otherwise! You may or may not recognise the bias binding as being cut from the last leftovers to this robe I made recently…

It’s not perfect on the inside but I’m pretty confident I can polish up the method to be very neat and tidy for the next time. I’m also quietly working on this one as a pattern for our company too.. shhhh!

item 2:

a sweet little onesie for a new baby; our friends L & L welcomed their darling new little baby, and of course I had to make something sweet… I used my own pattern, developed for my own grandchildren, and a short length of cotton jersey from Spotlight. It’s beautiful stuff, isn’t it?

item 3:

a robe, for my dear sister in law for her recent birthday. This lovely periwinkle raw silk was in my stash, I’m about 80% sure it was from Mum when she cleaned out her stash; but honestly when and where I got some of my older fabrics is sometimes a bit of a blur. Anyway, I washed it up, measured it and had just enough for another Closet Core patterns Veronik robe.. I just had to run into Officeworks to print up a new pattern in her size. I gave it to her just before the long weekend, and she seemed very pleased!

So where am I with the whole #use30 challenge….? Well, the little vanilla skirt used 50cm of corduroy, plus another 50cm of lining; the onesie was about 50cm, and the length of periwinkle silk was 3m, and I used every single scrap. That’s 4.5m of fabric.

And guess what?! That’s my 30m of stash fabric… DONE and DUSTED!!! Actually 32m! As per my own rules for the challenge, I am now “allowed” to buy new fabric if I want to… but now I’ve started down that path I really want to sew up as much of my older stash as I possibly can. And actually; I did fail a bit, since I bought a small amount of souvenir fabric when we were in Melbourne recently. Whoops!!! But I HAD TO! It’s Melbourne. Yes, ok I am a little upset with myself for “failing”, but not too much. At least I did use up that 30m eventually, even if I jumped the gun on my “reward” a bit early.

One thing I’m relieved is that I can (legally) buy new fabrics to sew up the samples for our new pattern though! I thought I’d mention a little more about our newest pattern, since we’re this close! It’s a skirt and top… the skirt is one Cassie designed, and wore; to her cousin’s 21st birthday last year. The one I made a cake for here, and I made a dress for myself for the occasion too… well Cassie’s skirt was so lovely we both decided it had to be a pattern. And it has a matching top, one that I’ve already made several for Cassie, that have all appeared here on my blog before; plus a few for myself that have not yet appeared here on my blog yet! The skirt and top look really nice together, so we’re releasing them at the same time as each other, but they can be bought separately, to add a bit of flexibility and choice to our customers. I’m so excited that they are about to get out into the world, and cannot wait to share more very soon!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, onesie, own design, robe, skirt, use30, Veronik

a punnet of raspberries

29/05/2022 3:16 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I recently made a whole bunch of raspberry things … three, to be precise. One of the large pieces of fabric that Mum tossed my way when she cleared out her stash was a length of raspberry stretchy stuff. three and a half metres!! I have vague memories of the particular pattern she had planned to make with this and I’m almost certain that she bought way too much, but anyway that’s a moot point. I was even with her when she bought it in Fabulous Fabrics, and remember it quite well. Mum has always been in the habit of buying too much “just in case”. Not something I’ve ever been guilty myself, of course, ahem!!

Anyway, I set to and used it all up; and usefully, I think!

Item one, a pair of leggings. I was planning to make tights, but realised the fabric didn’t really have enough stretch to be successful as tights. Even leggings is pushing it a bit, to be honest! but I love the colour and was determined to make it work. Pretty simple, and just using my self-drafted pattern, just with the feet lopped off. This picture is pretty bad, sorry, the light was not good at the time. If I get enthusiastic, I’ll take another photo in better lighting conditions. We’ll see!

Item two; a little cardigan with a built-in scarf that is an extension of the collar. I’ve made a few of these in my time; three actually and none the same. Al utilised slightly different construction techniques, and this latest, version four was yet another. I made a slight boo-boo when I attached the bottom band to the inside of the cardigan, and then slip-stitched it closed on the outside, but it’s only something you’d notice if you looked really closely. I think my hand-stitching is pretty neat nowadays, if I say so myself!

still love these labels… I’m going to need to buy more!

I really love this cardigan and already know I’m going to wear it a tonne.

Item three; a little mini skirt for winter. This is an old favourite pattern; the Paprika pattern Jade skirt. I think I make one of these every year?! This one has no zip at the back, and this time I fitted it quite carefully to myself first, removing a good two inches of width at the waistband from each side. This means I have to squeeze into it head first, but that’s ok!

I have decided a pocket is absolutely necessary for my life nowadays too… really it doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to be there! and only big enough for my phone and a credit card. Because I had the Claremont pattern out already to make my yellow shopping tote, I just used the phone pocket piece from that, and attached it to the waistband inside. I know this sounds like a weird way to put a pocket in but actually it is surprisingly unobtrusive and I wore it with my phone it in all day, quite comfortably.

Very very happy with how this turned out! and I am sure this too will get worn to death this winter!

I’m also very happy with how much this has taken off my #use30 challenge! three and a half metres brings up my total to 27.5m! I only have 2.5m to go, and I already have enough things halfway done already that is going to be knocked off in no time!

HURRAYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: cardigan, daily outfit, Jade, own design, Paprika Patterns, skirt, tights/leggings, use30

brown

16/02/2022 8:52 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Yes, it is still extremely hot here. And I am dying a little bit in these photos. But what can I say? I found all of these coordinating fabrics in my stash -mostly leftovers! – and each one was the perfect size to cut out the individual pieces for the skirt. Win! And I also had the acorn brown merino, that I’d bought last year during a sale from the Fabric Store. So I feel like this is a totally seasonally inappropriate outfit that was nevertheless just crying out to be 🙂

The skirt pattern is the new FibreMood Crystal skirt… with some alterations, of course! Let me explain… the pattern is very simple really; the front and back are the same except mirror images, and the waistband is straight. Very uncomplicated. I’ve made several skirts like this in the past and they’ve usually been fine. However, nowadays I have higher expectations of my skirts, and I really really want for all my skirts to have pockets. I know pockets can sometimes be a bit of a hot-button topic.. I’ve been seeing sewing peeps on instagram lately saying that they usually leave off pockets?! and that they hate them?! amazing! but well to each their own. This is why we make our own clothes, yes? not someone else’s. I personally, love to have pockets, so I set about plotting how I could add them to the skirt.

I cut my waistband at my regular size, but cut the skirt pieces a size bigger than I would normally go for to allow for hands in pockets. I also cut and put in slanted pockets, and added darts to the skirt front and back to bring in that extra width to the waistband. Instead of a zip, I made the skirt closure to be part of the pockets, as per this side-opening-over-a-pocket tutorial that I published previously here. It’s quite a good method for adding pockets to a skirt actually 🙂

Added bonus is that my skirt fits really well now too, thanks to the darts!

I bound the edges of the pockets with some other brown cotton from my stash, which appears mysteriously to be grey in these pictures, but honestly it’s a deep black/brown. I used the same brown cotton to bind the hemline.

My top is, of course, my usual modified Closet Core patterns Nettie. This time I used my twin needle to finish the sleeves and hem, instead of bands. I used thread from stash also rather than go shopping just for new thread, and the close-ups show how it doesn’t really match very perfectly… but honestly, the difference doesn’t show up quite that much! Actually, all the close-ups here make the different browns look shockingly different, far more so than they are in real life!

Of course I added some of my new date-stamp labels. Love these!

the caramel corduroy at the top of the skirt was leftover from these jeans, and the two middle cotton canvases were leftover from my Blanca flight dress and my Issey Miyake trousers… the dark brown, lightweight cotton corduroy that I used for the frill at the bottom was not a leftover, but one that Cassie had bought for me from Tessuti during a trip she took to Melbourne one year. And, as mentioned, I bought this acorn merino last year.

Taking into account that I do have some leftovers still; these two pieces used up about 3m of fabric from my stash… meaning this outfit brings me up to 13m for the year! 17m to go!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, crystal, fibremood, Nettie, own design, pockets, skirt, top

Cassie’s work wardrobe; finished!

30/01/2022 4:41 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Phew! I’ve finished the capsule work wardrobe that I’ve been making for Cassie over the past few months…! Most of these things have been previously blogged, and I’m just rounding up here with the last three pieces…

item 1; limoncello top; based upon NewLook 6483, with widened shoulder line, and slimmed down body. I did have a small amount of leftovers that I hoped would be enough to get a skirt out of, but actually it wasn’t… *sad face* but hey, the plan was just for a top and it is a pretty one after all! Fabric from Spotlight, button from stash.

I finished the armholes and neckline with pink cotton voile cut on the bias, simply because I had no yellow or even yellow-ish fabric that would do… The same pink voile was used to make the little skinny button loop in each of these two tops.

item 2; pale pink top; same NewLook 6483 pattern, but a narrower shoulder line, same body as pattern. Fabric from Spotlight and the same pink cotton voile used to finish the armhole and neckline edges. btw, I did a tutorial on how to do a bias binding finish like these, here

item 3; pink “banksia” skirt; based upon my heavily modified Vogue 8363. I know I always cite this pattern, but I think I really shouldn’t because I really have modified it so extensively that you couldn’t make this skirt using the pattern, actually. Fabric is a beautiful Jocelyn Proust print from Spotlight, and it’s lined using a pink lining fabric from my stash.

We bought these fabrics together last year, back when we first started planning her back-to-work wardrobe as a new Mum, and I estimate that with the lining, and not including a small amount of leftovers that I *think* I can squeeze a little skirt out of, or maybe “something”: I used 2.5m to make these items; bringing my yearly total up to 4m at this point;

but in addition to that….!

Cassie and I are working on a new pattern right now, and I have used another extra 4m of some of my “junky” fabrics recently in sewing samples and testing garments. I may or may not actually wear some of these at some point, but I hope to wear them a few times, at least! Anyway; even though I haven’t blogged those things, my real “fabric used” total is actually up up to 8m and in my #use30from stash challenge: I have 22m to go!

Thoughts! I have some… this is more like a diary entry, more than anything else… so I know this is besides the point really; but I popped into Spotlight the other day to pick up a zip and was sorely tempted to buy some fabric! It was really hard to just walk out with my zip! but I’m determined to use 30m first. Ideally; I would love to get my stash down to a very small amount of beautiful fabrics that I’m really excited to use, rather than being full of donated fabrics that I didn’t choose for myself, or buy, and really don’t “want” to use at all, to be perfectly honest. I don’t want to just toss things out willy nilly though, and am really keen to use the 30m from my stash gainfully.

That’s it! See you soon!