I’ve made some more things to add to my little make12/capsule wardrobe….
I think I got this rather smallish scrap of very nice damask upholstery fabric from my friend N when she cleared out her stash… I fell in love with the pretty ocean-blue colour immediately and the scrolling curls in the damask reminded me of seam foam… I thought there might be enough for a little skirt. And there was… JUST!! as in, I literally had the smallest quarter handful of scraps leftover after I’d finished with it!
I started out by cutting my skirt block as well I could. This left me with a micro-mini that would barely cover my knickers in wearing, so I put my university level mathematics to good use, calucating the exact width I could cut the side pieces into in order that they could fit around the entire hemline of the mini evenly and making maximum use of the very limited area. And I think I did it! I found that I could have a little bit of extra width on the last pieces to be cut, and I used these at the centre back, where I think it’s nice to have a little bit of extra length anyway. So there is a very subtle high-low hemline going on at the back too, as well as a slight curving out of the centre-back seam which give the skirt a little “kick” at the back.
With a basically finished skirt, I realised I had a small rectangle leftover that I thought would be big enough for a pocket facing, so I slipped a little pocket in the horizontal skirt seam.
It has the aqua damask at the back of the pocket, for a nice uniform look when you peek into the pocket on the outside, and the remainder of the pocket is made of the cream coloured gingham I used for my recent little top, which I’ve just now realised I haven’t blogged yet Whoops! I will get to it! it’s a prototype for Cassie’s and my newest pattern which we are working really hard on getting out very soon, I hope. Anyway, the pocket lining is from the scraps from that.
Due to lack of fabric, I finished the hemline and the waistline of the skirt using a bias bound finish… this was cut from an old shirt of Craig’s. So really, the only thing I had to buy new for this project was the zip! I hand stitched the bias bound hemline but the waistband I topstitched on my machine. The pocket is handstitched on the inside to the skirt. I love both my labels; this green one is Japanese, organised for me by my friend Yoshimi.
pocket in action… and boy do I miss my white wall in the old house!! I had to borrow this one from Cassie 😀
Next up!
I’ve had this too-big-to-throw away scrap of yellow cotton jersey leftover from when I made last year’s mini-skirt and I thought I’d be able to get a little T-shirt out of it. However I was too optimistic! and no matter how creatively I arranged it, even a little top was not going to happen. Well, maybe it could, but not without horizontal seams like I did in the skirt and in my opinion, in a jersey this is just not a good look.
Anyway, obviously I turned to my favourite old standby for smallish cuts of jersey fabric and made a set of underwear… I used my old favourite the Watson pattern by cloth habit, and managed to get two pairs of undies for one bra, which is my preferred ratio.
I did my usual adjustments to the pattern, like fully lining the bra as outlined in more detail in this post here. Also, I always cut the front of the briefs to be one piece to incorporate the outer crotch, so as to avoid that awkward horizontal seam at the front. All elastics and bits and pieces were already in my stash, and the little white bows were recycled from an old, also me-made, set from the past. I always recycle the bits that I can!
These are the second and third things in my make 12/capsule wardrobe that I proposed for myself, using all fabrics/notions from my stash. I kind still kinda wish I’d had enough of the golden-yellow fabric to make a top, because I really like the idea of a yellow top in this particular capsule, but I suppose I can still make a top at some stage in the future. Obviously I’m going to wear the underwear a lot, so it’s all good really. I’m super happy with the little skirt too, it’s exactly the kind of thing I will wear both winter and summer. I’m pretty happy it has a pocket too!
Details:
Top; from Burda 4/2014/115, details here
Skirt; my own design, old leftover damask from a friend
Shoes; made by me, details here
Underwear; the Watson pattern by cloth habit, leftover yellow jersey
hello!
You know how sometimes you make something and you just put it on straight away and don’t want to take it off? Well, that is how I feel about this new top! I absolutely love it!
