Category Archives: Uncategorized

the Fridgetown hand warmers

23/07/2021 8:34 pm \ 9 Comments \

I’ve made a new pattern! along with the help of my beautiful partner in crime of course, Cassie… it’s for a pair of handwarmers, yes it is quite a simple pattern, which is why we’re debuting it for free, however the “twist”, if you like, or maybe the beauty of it is all in the construction, because you end up with a nice pair of double layered hand warmers with all the seam allowances and raw edges hidden neatly inside.  It was a little bit of puzzle working out how to do this, but I think it works out really well and I’m quite pleased with the process!

The pattern is available for free here.

CAROLYN_CASSIE_Fridgetown_Handwarmers_A4_letter

For this one, I did not do illustrations to accompany the instructions, instead I did a youtube video tutorial which I think illustrates the process much better.  It can be viewed below or on my youtube channel.  Jacqui commented asking about how to find my channel, the direct link is up above in the top right hand side bar of this here blog, if you’re interested..x 🙂

To make the hand warmers, you need a piece of stretch fabric, at least 80cm (32″) in length by 50cm (20″) in width, with the stretch going in the widthwise or 50cm direction.  For all three pairs that I have made, I used merino knit, that I bought from the Fabric Store, one pair in colour Vanilla, two pairs in colour Ochre.  This is all leftover from various Nettie winter tees that I have made recently.  It’s actually the ideal fabric for this design in my opinion, thin and lightweight, deliciously warm and cosy, and of course, beautiful quality.

The name? haha, well the name is our little joke… my parents live in Bridgetown, which regularly gets the lowest temperatures in Western Australia.  So a few winters ago this installation gave me a laugh… and it was the first thing that popped into my head when i was thinking of a name!

The pattern is free here, however it’s also available for a very small fee in our Etsy shop… unfortunately you cannot put up free things in Etsy which is why a small charge had to be added on to it.  We wanted to put it in our shop too, just for the sake of consistency and to have all our patterns represented in one place…

Anyway.  We hope you enjoy the pattern!

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pretty green ebony, bibs, masks

04/07/2021 11:23 pm \ 3 Comments \

I’ve made lots of Closet Core patterns’ Ebony tees and dresses for others and this is the first one for me!  I finally used this absolutely beautiful, delicate grey/green wool knit that I bought in Tokyo, one of of our trips over there.  It’s beautiful stuff, with an almost lace-like texture to it, but unfortunately it had developed a few little moth holes over the years since I bought it.

So I fixed these up with some carefully invisible mending.  Yes, I know visible mending is all the rage nowadays but personally I like my mending to be of the other sort if possible.

See my ghost-like hand up there?! The knit is very sheer, so I fully lined my Ebony tee using the leftovers from my recent Forest Nettie, from two posts ago… I had just enough to squeeze the Ebony pieces on for a lining!

 I stitched the outer and lining together around the neckline, and under stitched using a wide, shallow zigzag stitch.  I also handstitched them together at the underarm points, just to anchor the lining inside secretly.

This is the latest thing in my use-12 challenge for the year, where I’m making a little capsule wardrobe from 12 pieces selected from my stash.

I’m also wearing this skirt from Vogue 8363, drastically modified, and self drafted tights

In the last week we had another mini lockdown, and I kept myself busy by making some much needed things for Theo…. bibs!

These are made using the piece from Butterick 5583, and the fabrics are all scraps and leftovers from other projects.  One of them is from one of Cassie’s old skirts, another two are from Craig’s old shirts, and one of the boys’.  The other cute prints are all from the leftovers from Craig’s surgical caps, fabric originally from Spotlight.  The backing is thin cotton towelling, that I already had in my stash too.

Some of them have completely useless, but also completely adorable little pockets.  What can I say, I couldn’t resist!

I made 10 in the end, and I also made a few masks for Cassie, just in case she wants to match her baby.  Masks are newly compulsory here again, after a few months without them, so it’s becoming more necessary to have a little supply on hand…

I’d made a few more for myself as well during me-made May, which fell on the tail end of our last period of compulsory masks; here are some of my favourites.  These are also from out of those cute surgical cap leftovers.  I have successfully and completely used up all these fabrics now, yay!  The pattern is from Trend Patterns…

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3 merino netties

30/06/2021 10:43 pm \ 1 Comment \

To be perfectly honest I don’t know why I keep calling this a Nettie because I’ve rejigged it so much it literally has zero of the original seam lines left…

… anyway!  above is my new sweater/ tee in the Fabric Store merino knit, colour Vanilla; I made it using (sort of) the Closet Core Nettie pattern and added a short wide turtle-neck collar… I love this tee so much! even though honestly I don’t really need to make another white or even white-is top as long as I live.  I don’t care I still love it!

Worn with my Closet Core patterns Pietra shorts in BamBam cotton drill from Spotlight, and ye olde self-drafted tights

二 … another new sweater/tee; same pattern, same fabric in colour Marsala.  Worn with my outback wife V 1247 skirt, self-drafted tights

三 … below; same pattern, this time with a bound neckline, and the same fabric in colour Forest.  Worn with this little wool tartan skirt, fabric bought in Tokyo during a holiday there… boy that feels like decades ago now!  I wish I could go back some day!

below, closer to actual colour

So; I had bought all of these beautiful thin merino stretch knits from the Fabric Store online during one of their sales… I had this idea once upon a time of making a tee in every colour in their range but just to do it bit by bit, buy maybe two new colours per year.  I don’t know now if I’d still do a tee in every colour…   since we moved and I had to finally own up to the fact that my stash is GINORMUOUSLY HUGE,  so I’m kind of on a mission to use up my stash before buying anything else at all.  And now with the completion of these three new tees, I’ve successfully used up nearly all the merino in my stash, which is kind of amazing! Yes, I said “nearly’ I still have about another sweater’s worth of the ivory leftover, and small leftover amounts of marsala and mustard left too, oh and also the forest, but the forest is thankfully already cut out and well on its way to be completely, and gainfully, used up which is totally awesome news.

oops, almost forgot! the last, forest, (sort of) nettie is the next in my use-12 fabrics challenge that I set up for myself at the beginning of the year… yes, I got a bit behind with this for a few months but I hadn’t forgotten it!

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Tali Tali Sandhills

22/06/2021 1:18 pm \ 17 Comments \

I thought about holding off on posting anything about this ensemble until later on, like after the exhibition and I had some pictures of it actually IN the exhibition but … well obviously decided no!

I was thrilled to be invited to participate in FrockOn this year, a collaborative exhibition between Flying Fox fabrics and Ikuntji artists group; an event that aims to highlight and celebrate the work of indigenous artists in Australia … Essentially indigenous designed and printed fabrics were supplied to sewing peeps like myself and we were expected to turn it into an ensemble for the exhibition.

I received 2m of this print; “Tali Tali- Sandhills” by Alice Nampitjinpa.  The design depicts the artist’s Tjukurrpa the Tali Tali Dreaming in reference to her country in Western Australia… you can read more here, and even purchase some of the fabric if you so choose…

The print is in khaki and cream on black linen and I really threw my all into making something truly worthy of this really beautiful print!  I just wish I got to keep it! a few peeps on instagram suggested I buy more of the same fabric and make another set for myself, but honestly, I don’t know if I have the creative stamina to do that.  But anyway!  Here it is, in the spirit of continuing to document everything I make, sewing wise on this ol’ bloggeroo  … 🙂

I made the top using V1486, a Nicola Finetti for Vogue design … (this pattern previously made here) I love the boxiness of this design and thought it went so well with the clean, very straight and fitted lines of the skirt… the back closes with an open ended zip and I was pretty determined to use a gold zip, the nickel colour did not look good at all… however the gold one came only in a 75cm length so it had to be shortened. This is always a far fiddly-er process than you imagine and I’m always terrified the zip pull is going to be on the wrong side or fly off the top! A solid wedge of hand stitched upholstery thread at the top provides a good thick stop though.

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I cut all internal facings from plain black linen and made bias binding for edging throughout from khaki cotton batiste … I think this looks quite smart on the inside…

I made the skirt using V1693, an Issey Miyake for Vogue pattern that is sadly long out of print… (this pattern previously made here)

I really love how the asymmetric details of this design play up the jaggedly stripes against each other in such an interesting way, adding a bit of a visual twist to a print that is already quite dramatic!

I made bias binding of khaki batiste to bind inside edges and flat felled the side seams of the skirt inside… I found the perfect blotchy khaki buttons in my stash, and handstitched some “made by me” labels inside both pieces, these are cut from the same khaki cotton batiste and handwritten using a laundry marker…

I am SO EXCITED to see the exhibition virtually in July and to view all the art and textiles work by all the artists involved… it was an honour to be invited to contribute in just this small way …  It was very scary to make that first cut but once I’d committed to my chosen designs it was a hugely enjoyable process to work with such special fabric.  I posted it off back towards the beginning of the month and just hope it gets there ok!  Still slightly terrified!

  

Details:

Top; Vogue 1486
Skirt: Vogue 1693
Sandals; my old faves from Zomp boutique

boy I really kinda wish I still had it looking at these pictures now.  I actually REALLY love it!

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cool new top

23/04/2021 11:27 am \ 6 Comments \

oh hey! I made a new top.

This is the Harmony pattern by FibreMood; and I really loved it upon first sight; the interesting, sailor-inspired bib collar and slightly old-fashioned sleeves with a wide, buttoned cuff.  I think it has a vaguely Edwardian air about it and I am totally on board with this idea!

I used a beautiful silk/linen mix that I bought from Fabulous Fabrics ages ago… btw, I’m on a use-my-stash-only kick, since out move when I realised just how much fabric I have.  Spoiler alert; it’s a LOT and I seriously want to get my supplies down to a much more manageable level.   Like, to about a quarter of what I have now!  Yes, very embarrassing, I know! but there it is and I’m making good headway, believe it or not!  Yes, I know I haven’t posted much here lately, but I’m making a lot of toiles for Cassie’s and my new pattern and I’ve managed to harvest/cull quite a bit in the process.  But, I’m getting sidetracked here… back to my top!

You’re supposed to gather the bodice into the bib, and also gather the sleeves into the cuffs; instead I carefully measured and folded mini pleats in these areas which I think suits my quite crisp fabric a lot better.  I really love doing pleats in lieu of gathers, actually and have done it in quite a few garments in my time.  I won’t call it “age-appropriate”, because I’ve become wary of that divisive term in recent years so I will just describe it instead as “personal-style appropriate”.  That’s better!

The design actually uses an unexpected lot of fabric, and I didn’t actually have enough… I solved this problem by cutting the bib facings on the selvedge, and joined them in the middle.  This enabled a much more efficient layout of the pattern pieces and of course you can’t even see the facings anyway!

The pattern advises you to put buttonholes on the shoulder closure; I did stitch them on during the making but I unpicked them when I realised buttoning and unbuttoning up on my shoulder like that was going to be pretty darned awkward; and I installed pretty pearl-headed press studs there instead.  The sleeves have self-fabric looped button closure too, but they are wide enough I can easily slip my hands through without having to fiddle with those, and the cuffs can stay firmly and securely buttoned the whole time.  I used pearl look-alike buttons here.  Yes; all of of this from my stash!  I’m so glad I could finally “marry” all of these items together into one pretty garment!

 

 

Details:

Top, the harmony blouse pattern by FibreMood, ivory silk/linen
Trousers; the Sasha trousers pattern by ClosetCore patterns, stretchy cotton denim, more details here
Shoes; made by me using a Shoe Camaraderie kit, details here

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progress on wardrobe capsule…

10/04/2021 12:04 pm \ 2 Comments \

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

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black stewart tartan coat

13/02/2021 2:30 pm \ 9 Comments \

Oh my gosh, I love this new coat so much!   I’ve been in the process of making this for quite a long time now.  It’s been a sort of long term, high quality sort of a project, squeezing little bursts of sewing in between making raincoat toiles… so many raincoat toiles… and finessing the grading of a raglan sleeve.  For a raincoat, natch.  Making this coat has been “fun” simply because just simply following a pattern already written for me feels like a holiday by comparison.

 

I got this fabric from Minerva, and it’s GORGEOUS.  So gorgeous in fact, that when it arrived I just kinda froze, creatively speaking.  You know when you’re so terrified of ruining the fabric you can hardly bare to even take the scissors to it?  I couldn’t settle upon a project for a while.  Finally, I decided a coat was really the only worthy choice. I frolicked amongst the coat options in Le Pattern Stash, and finally settled upon this one I’d used before, Vogue 1537.  My first version of this was for Tim and Kelly’s wedding! and I really really love that one too!

I even did the double welt buttonholes again too; they were just a tad more challenging in this thicker, felt-like fabric, but the challenge was actually quite enjoyable.

During the cutting out, I was initially going to go with the super strict, thou-absolutely-MUST pattern match or else thou shalt be cast out from the sewing community, never to darken that doorstep again, thing; which I personally have definitely been a part of, no judgement for that.  However, at some point I just decided I didn’t want to do that this time.  I wanted something more creative.  So I re-assessed and cut the side panels on the bias, and the pocket flaps and under-sleeves, and recut the pockets.

Fortunately I had enough leftover that I could do this! and I was able to cut some of the smaller pieces from some of the old, bigger pieces to make this happen.  In the final coat, nothing “matches” in the traditional sense, although everything IS symmetrical, at least!

I bought deep petrol blue lining from Fabulous Fabrics; which is not a colour that appears anywhere in the tartan but interestingly looks absolutely perfect with it, imo.

I also bought dark blue buttons from Fabulous Fabrics.  They were a nice blue, and had a lovely surface design on them too, but I eventually decided they were completely the wrong blue.  So I painted them with black enamel paint, which I’ve previously used to blacken shoe soles, etc.  Now I think they look amazing!

These photos – in fact, this coat! – are kinda funny/bittersweet for me to think back on now, because this coat is the last thing, and these are the last blog photos I took in our old house… the one we’ve lived in for the past 17 years.  A bit sad, but I love our new house so much and am really excited to make it our home!  I’ve been re-homing LOTS of stuff so we can fit into it… our old house was a five bedroom, three bathroom family house, and out new one is a three bedroom, two bathroom.  Quite a difference! and I’ve made the downsizing process much harder for myself, by filling up each of the children’s wardrobes with stuff as they’ve left home and vacated their rooms.  I kinda had the attitude, well I have the storage space, so I may as well use it!  Bad policy… because now I’ve had to be extremely ruthless in streamlining all our things.

Also weird because I lavished such a lot of care and attention on this coat and it was such a HUGE project for me time wise, I’ve run out of things to say about it… hmmm, strange!  So I guess I should just stop rambling.  In short though, I really really love it!  I honestly think it could be the best coat I’ve ever made!

Details:

Coat; Vogue 1537, using this black stewart tartan wool coating
Dress; Vogue 1351, white crepe, details here
Sandals; akiel, from an op shop ages ago

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Theo

25/01/2021 11:00 am \ 15 Comments \

… so first post for the year! the most exciting news of all for us is the arrival of our darling little grandson Theo; Cassie and Daniel’s baby boy.  He’s very little right now so he is extremely busy eating and sleeping… in fact, more sleeping than usual since he was a tad on the early side.  I’m so proud of Cassie how she has coped in difficult circumstances… Mum and baby were sent home from hospital only a couple of hours after birth, and coming from a generation that was typically spoilt with about five days in hospital for your first baby, this is pretty shocking to me.  She’s doing amazingly well!!

Anyway, I made little onesie for Theo, just before he was born; in fact I gave it to her at his baby shower which was held just barely a scant week before he arrived actually.  Man, things went so fast… anyway, here it is!

O course there is a little story behind this… a few years ago, Cassie made a few workout tank tops for Tim and Sam for Christmas pressies.  She drew the screen prints and printed them herself, and then sewed up the tank tops too.  She gave one each to Tim and Sam, and I’m not sure what was the story with this particular one but it has sat unworn in the fabric stash every since.  She can’t remember now either!  Maybe it was always an extra?  Anyway, I always thought it was such a thoughtful idea of hers, and it’s a pretty cute and clever print too.  Couldn’t possibly just let it continue sitting there!  So, I dug it out, and in the tradition of babies in this family; I made a little onesie for Theo out of it.  The pattern is my own, I just had to make this one a bit bigger, because the writing on the back would not fit on the smaller size I’d made previously for newborns.

Pretty cute, huh?!

I’ve also made a much-needed, new maternity dress for Cassie, the same design as the white one I’d made previously.   I had a few … issues… with this one, suffice to say stripes are always a nightmare and even when you think you’ve accounted for all stripe contingencies that may arise, a new one IS probably going to crop up and surprise you.  Ok, guess I may as well go into it… somehow, despite careful measuring and checking, I STILL somehow managed to hem the dress with an extra stripe along one side seam than the other.  Honestly thought I’d cut them the same, but well, turns out I had not.  I had to cut off the old hem and make a new one.

The other disaster was that I somehow managed to stitch the separate tank front INTO THE WAIST SEAM! thus rendering it useless for its intended purpose as a maternity dress.  DOH!  This required unpicking the seam plus the overlocking, because OF COURSE I overlocked it before I’d noticed!  in what is actually quite a delicate fabric, and well, fixing up the whole shemozzle.  So, for a simple little make it ended up taking most of my day, which I can ill afford right now, to be honest, but at least it got done.

And she looks lovely in it, so it was all worth it actually.

I’ve finally finished another very long-term thing recently too… for me! and am hoping to get it posted in between packing boxes and organising some minor work done for our new house as well as this, our old, one.  Oh, and of course our new pattern, which is far more challenging to finish now that I’m on my own with it, since my helper has her precious new baby to attend to.  Aaahgh, my head is going to explode…

Onwards and upwards!

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