Oh hello! Those blue blue skies are making me so happy right now, as most of the past month has been more like this:
Oh yay, storm clouds, yes you’re making me happy too… not.
I’ve been making lots of stuff lately and the last two pics feature two of them…. two bucket hats! This is the new Bruno pattern by FibreMood. I made the green corduroy one first and it was a tad too tight on me so I’ve given it to Arthur. It fits him quite well actually! with a little room to grow, and of course he looks super adorable in it too!
The pink one was my second go at the pattern, and this one fits ME, fortunately! I used cotton canvas, leftover from this lovely pink top I made for Cassie’s work capsule wardrobe last year, and it is lined with some very pretty green polka-dot silk crepe leftover from the dress I made for Mum to wear to Cassie’s wedding a couple of years ago… the green one is lined with the same green polka-dot. I know, right… fancy linings are a bit …. fancy?! At least my hair is enjoying the proximity to such luxury.
Next up… I made a whole batch of new black tights. Not fancy at all, but these are literally the mainstay of my winter wardrobe and I was absolutely desperate for new ones!
These are made using my own custom fit pattern, and thin black super-stretch poly from Spotlight… and it’s not even new fabric, I bought a large length of this about three or maybe even four? years ago in preparation for making more tights. Then I just kept putting it off. My old tights got pretty ratty but … you know; I sure got a good innings out of those things. And now it’s also feels pretty good to get that 5m or so of black poly out of my stash!
These are so much warmer than most RTW winter tights I’ve ever had and of course they fit me perfectly, never falling down or sagging at the crotch. They have a distinct front and back so I always stitch a contrasting zig zag at the back, for easy identification when I’m rushing to pull them on on a dark winter morning. Yes it’s a bit rough but effective!
Lastly, I also made a giant beach bag!
This thing truly is GIANT, which is great because beach towels are pretty giant too, usually. I used another newish FibreMood pattern, the Nouria; and cut up an old towel to make it, which seems a slightly cannibalistic thing to do? but I think towelling will be very practical and hopefully perfect beach-bag material. The design used up the entire towel, like it was designed on purpose to do so! which is of course awesome. I’m all for making use of every little bit of fabric, as much as I can! The handles are plain cotton canvas; also from my existing stash. Yay, for using up more stash!
My only slight regret now is that I didn’t choose a more colourful or exciting towel! but this one was there and available and no longer being used, so yay for recycling!
It’s lined with plain white poplin (yes, stash) and I added a few extra internal pockets to reduce the risk of things getting completely lost within the cavernous expanse of the bag… a biggish pocket for a book with a sectioned off bit for a pen, and a phone pocket. And it already has a huge pocket on the outside too, for frequently required sundries such as sunblock and a water bottle.
Craig’s phone is standing in for my own, which had more urgent duties to perform such as taking this picture here, hehe…
SOOOO ready for summer now!! oh and btw, I have even more recently made stuff to share here very soon. Even if I haven’t updated my blog in a while, I really have been making quite assiduously and diligently!
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!
This dress was really just a quick run-up of the pattern to test for fit and to see that it worked. Of course it did! but the trousers fabric was really too stiff for the gathered skirt as in the pattern, so I instead folded the excess fabric into wide pleats in the front. I quite like this effect because it also suits the formal “dress pants” vibe of the fabric too.
