Theo Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Handmade by Carolyn

green Quilla and some small T-shirts

17/05/2023 1:07 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made some new things… actually I’m always making new things but am seriously behind on blogging them. Bad me!

First up; a new little top for myself… this is the new Fibremood Quilla pattern, I and I love it! It’s super cute in my opinion, very easy to make and uses a very small amount of fabric. Is that a good thing? well pretty wonderful when you have lots of small leftover cuts that you wish to “gainfully” use up, like I am.

something I should mention: several times I have had to go back and lowered the necklines on a few of my fibremood makes, retroactively; because I’ve found them to sit quite high in general. So this time I proactively lowered the neckline by 5cm on this and I’m glad I did! it doesn’t feel too low at all and is in fact very comfortable. Something to bear in mind!

I used a raw silk hessian from Le Stash… this is leftover from when I made this green dress.

I stitched with green thread of course, but didn’t have any matching cotton for the bias binding nor green overlocking thread, so used white for both of these so there’s kind of a match-matchy situation going on with the inner seam finishes. This is quite a pleasurable sight to my eyes.

This top has a reverse pleat going on with the front/back panels and side panels; so I thought I’d share how I do the hem in this circumstance; the pattern just has you hemming as usual, but I’ve always found you get a sharper pleat if you doit like above. You need to snip the seam allowances at the hemline point so the hem seam allowances can wrap out the other way around the side seam allowances. Yes, sounds like it makes no sense but it does if you’re doing this sort of hem, trust me. Because I didn’t have matching overlocking thread, I just did a zigzag stitch to finish the raw edges in the hem allowance.

This gives you a nice, permanent fold at that point and enables the pleats to sit the way you want them too.

oh, see that cute little T-shirt Theo is wearing in the above pic? that’s the one I blogged about in my previous post. I’m happy to say he loves wearing it as a regular T-shirt and not just for pj’s!

Also, since Arthur’s T-shirts were a tad on the small side I made him a few more… These are made from out of two of Tim’s old T-shirts and also some more of that tomato red cotton jersey that Theo’s top is made from; that I’ve been using up lately. There will be some more things from this stuff appearing very soon, once I get around to modelling and photographing it. It’s actually finally all gone now, hurrah! and I have moved onto other fabrics!

Extras: yes, I made those jeans, using old jeans and the Closet Core Jenny pattern, previously blogged here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: arthur, fibremood, own design, quilla, Theo, top, Wardrobe Refashion

pj’s

02/05/2023 8:13 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh man! I have been unable to post here for quite a while and was starting to wonder; could this be the end of Handmade by Carolyn…? Fortunately my clever husband worked the problem out. Then I wrote a whole post and posted it, and it just disappeared, poof! into the ether. So upsetting! I’m going to try for a second time, so hopefully this time it will not!

Pj’s. I’ve made a few.

Firstly, for me, I used my namesake pattern, the Closet Core Carolyn PJ’s for my pants and a Burda pattern, 10/2009, 121 for the top. Sometimes I think I should make the Carolyn top as a pj top too, but I really prefer my pj tops to be buttonless. As well as saving buttonholes for a shirt that I will wear awake, and out of the house. Well, buttonholes are an effort!

I know I pledged to not buy any new fabric until I’d used up my stash, and I had to buy some flannelette for these, which is a little bad but not really because I really needed new winter jammies. I managed to use up every last scrap by slapping some patch pockets on the front of the top; which makes me feel very thrifty and virtuous, so it’s all good in the end. The white flannelette was already in my stash, leftover from a previous jammie-making venture. Both from Spotlight.

Next up; I made pj pants for Cassie, and mini matching ones for Theo. So cute that they can match each other! Cassie’s are the Closet Core Carolyn pattern, and I left the front open at her request, just in case she decides to go though another pregnancy in the next few years.

I added a press stud at the waistline and a drawstring so they can still be closed easily. The drawstring is attached to a bit of elastic threaded through the back of the waistband. I cut out and stitched in her Spoonflower label… oh I forgot to mention! The print on the fabric is her own design in her Spoonflower shop, printed on fleece from their range. We were using this small length as a cot blanket for when the kiddies slept over, but it’s outgrown that function and needed up cycling. So now it’s pj’s!

Theo’s matching pants are Burda 9436 modified slightly to be pj bottoms by eliminating pockets and adding elasticated cuffs, and his little red raglan T-shirt is self drafted. It’s cut from a massive “remnant” that I bought from a Morrison seconds sale, once upon a time. When I say, remnant, I mean about 6m although I’ve been too depressed to ever actually measure this. I don’t know what I was thinking, buying it; honestly. I must have been mad. It’s my current intention to use up this remnant as soon as possible… I’m making good headway too, results to appear here soon. I hope!

Next up, for Arthur. For the pants, I used the same Burda 9436 as for Theo, lengthened because he is much taller; and grey sweat shirting fabric from the stash. The two little T-shirts (same self drafted pattern again) are made using his Dad, Tim’s old T-shirts. Yes, I still have some of these left! and actually it’s getting quite hard to cut Arthur sized T-shirts from adult-sized T-shirts, believe it or not; so I’m planning to power through all the T-shirts pretty quickly now.

Lastly, and completely random I know; I made some lemon macarons because I had lemons, and because I kinda wanted to prove to myself I was still capable. Very very pleased with how they turned out!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: arthur, burda 10/2009;121, Carolyn, Closet Core patterns, macarons, own design, pyjamas, Theo

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 sweet little raincoat

20/05/2022 10:54 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a cute little raincoat for my grandson Theo; and I think he looks so adorable in it!

I used the leftover remnants of Waterproof Oxford from my own Mundaring raincoat, originally bought from the Remnant Warehouse; and borrowed one of his hoodies to gauge the size he would need…

I actually based the design on our Mundaring raincoat pattern too! just a much simplified version with a zip up front, sans plackets; the hood has a self facing rather than a separate one, and I just put simple patch pockets on the front rather than the more complicated, weatherproof zipped ones on our Mundaring pattern. Also, his has no weather flap on the back, just a straight back. The length was determined by the length of the zip!

I sealed the seams using a wet-weather gear sealing wax stick, sourced at BCF.

It is fully lined with a soft white cotton jersey, for comfort and warmth, and added a white linen hanging loop. All the raw edges and seams are hidden neatly away between the shell and lining layers.

It was so cute when he put it on! he toddled off to his toy box and retrieved a little wooden elephant puzzle piece, and we spent the next fifteen minutes putting it into a pocket and taking it out again. As it turns out, pockets are utterly fascinating!

I estimate it used around 0.5m of the leftover raincoat fabric plus about the same of the white cotton jersey too. Or 1m in total … So in my dumb little #use30 challenge; I’ve used 23m of my stash. Just 7m to go!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: own design, raincoat, Theo

some more stuff…

29/12/2021 12:50 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carolyn

just a few more things! I’m trying to get everything that I’ve made this year, also blogged this year, and so far there have been a few things that have fallen through the cracks!

I made another romper for Theo recently. It’s the same design as the previous few I’ve made for him, just sized up a bit so he can wear it through into autumn.. Seems only fitting, given the very autumnal themed fabric, don’t you think?

Oh! The fabric! it’s very special! It is designed by Cassie herself, called “Autumn tree swirl” and is one of the suite of autumn designs that she has in her Spoonflower shop, here. This is the organic cotton jersey.

I also made another top for Cassie’s new work wardrobe, that I’m working on for her… the fabric is the same inherited vintage suiting as the skirt I made for her recently, here. and the pattern is NewLook 6483. Such a great pattern, I’ve made it loads of times for myself and she has a copy of the pattern for herself too. She wanted an oversized look so I cut a size 12, but I think it turned out a bit too oversized though… so will go down to a 10 next time,I think 🙂

I made her skirt too previously; using my heavily modified V 8363 and crackle printed cotton drill from The Fabric Store in Melbourne, bought during one of our girly trips over there… aaah, happy times. I wonder if we will ever do something like that again…??

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Cassie, New Look 6483, own design, romper, Theo, top

baby swing for Theo

28/12/2021 11:47 am \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

… and the last Christmas present I made this year was a baby swing for Theo.

I’d made one for Arthur last year and it’s been a big hit; he loves sitting in it and being pushed, for quite lengthy periods at a time, actually. Speaking from personal experience here, ahem …!

Tim cut the dowel for me and I ordered some of Cassie’s own fabric from her line on Spoonflower. Of course this was all meant to be a surprise, but obviously the designer gets notified of every sale they’ve made, and the buyer’s name too, so it was not much of a surprise in the end! I like to think she didn’t really know exactly what it was going to be in the end though 😉

This is Cassie’s zebra crossing design, available here, and I ordered it on the lightweight cotton twill base. I had to keep this little bit from the selvedge and pop it on somewhere, obviously 🙂

I used the same pattern I used for Arthur’s, reproduced here. It’s based on this one from the blog The Thud, but mine has different measurements, everywhere! Also I added the safety belt and two cushions to mine, again; one flat cushion to sit in the bottom, and another fat, bouffy one for a little back support.

The “fat” cushion is stuffed, elsewhere I used double layered wadding throughout, and was careful that the print faced “up” everywhere possible.

I had just barely enough fabric from my order of 1m to cut it all out, and had to do a little creative piecing on a two corners of the flat cushion to get it out, I don’t think my piecing is too heinous, but in any case it’s going to spend most of its time squished underneath a cute baby bottom.

Again, if I get a good picture of Theo in his new swing, I will certainly update my blog post here and put one in… I do know that he loves swings so I can’t wait to see him jiggling about happily in this one!

HERE HE IS!! SO CUTE!!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: swing, Theo

a cute little outfit for the little guy…

23/10/2021 5:28 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a new little outfit for the littlest guy in our family! isn’t he the cutest?!! of course I am not in the least bit biased, hehe

The little romper is self-drafted, the same pattern I used for the bumblebee and the sloth rompers made previously. And now he has a panda romper… hmmm, what animal should this sweet child become next, I wonder?

Yes I went to the trouble of changing between white and black thread because, of course…

Actually, there is a tiny design difference… Cassie requested that the romper be made even more clownsuit-y, if that was at all possible. So I added a little pleat in the crotch area, this adds a bit of extra volume without ending up with a complete straight line at the bottom…

The panda patch is an iron-on from Spotlight; I ironed in on and the also stitched it on too, just because I don’t actually trust the long-term adhesive capability of these things to be honest. Before stitching, I also pressed a layer of lightweight iron-on interfacing on the inside of the romper underneath it too, for stability.

I was really pleased with how neat the grandpa-placket closure turned out at the back!

The T-shirt is the same pattern I used for the ones I’d made previously for both T and A too, in this post here.

That little smile!! Totally melting my heart!!

Striped fabric is leftover from a T-shirt I’d made for myself previously, I think originally from Fabulous Fabrics, and the green fabric and panda patch is from Spotlight. Although they appear “new”since they are not leftover from anything I’ve made previously, they both are actually from stash, because I bought both of them quite a long time ago, seduced by one of those treacherous 40% off everything sales that Spotlight has periodically. I’m not falling for those again, trust me! at least until I’ve used up my current stash. I’m a changed woman, I promise!

oh, I also made some soap.. this is my favourite buttermilk recipe, outlined here; and I made a video

I hope you like it!