Handmade by Carolyn

Florencia and Jana (by email) both asked about the lapped, flat-felled split side seam, thank you for asking! Since I finished all my Christmas sewing today... and, can I just say; Whoopeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I had time to get out some scraps and show how I did them...
Bear in mind that a tiny bit of the wrong side of the fabric will show in this technique, so it is best confined to fabrics where this doesn't matter.
To have this feature, you have to plan ahead and cut an extra little extension, or tab, on the outer edge of either front or back; about 11.5cm in height for a 10cm split. I randomly chose for the front edge to have the tab so as to flat-fell the seams towards the back as my own convention; but it looks equally fine either way.

Stitch the side seams to level with the top edge of the tab.

Press the side seam open above the split, at the same time press down the seam allowance on the un-tabbed side and leave the tab un-pressed. Snip the untabbed seam allowance to the endpoint of the previous stitching.

Fold under and press the untabbed seam allowance below the snip, and stitch.

Trim the remainder of the untabbed seam allowance to half its width, along the entire length of the seam.

Press the tabbed seam allowance over the trimmed seam allowance, and wrap the raw edge around the trimmed edge of the other side to enclose it, the entire length of the seam. At the same time, press the tab under along the same line to the lower edge. Pin in place.

Stitch the flat-felled seam, stopping at the top edge of the split.

If necessary, trim the tab; then turn under the raw edge and press. Stitch.

To strengthen, stitch a short row of horizontal back and forth over the top of the split. Alternatively bar-tacking, or narrow, closely spaced zig-zagging can be used at this point.

Hem the lower edges. Remember: the underside split is hemmed facing out, so mind you don't accidentally stitch the hem on the outside on this side! I almost got caught here the first time!
Finished views: below left, the inside; and at right, the outside view

This year I've made an army of salted caramel choccies to give to everyone. Salted caramel is the flavour of the minute around here. So hot right now! It's funny, a few years ago the very thought would have provoked ewww!'s, but now everyone here is jumping happily on the salted caramel bandwagon and totally digging it. I do too :) I fudged together my own very simplified version. They seemed to work OK. Actually, unfortunately? they are delicious; too delicious. I had to gift-wrap them up really early to keep them safe :D

Now it's only one sleep to go, so please allow me to take this opportunity to wish everyone who reads my blog a very joyous Christmas and a safe and happy day filled with plenty of laughter and love... and maybe a bonbon or two ;)
Cheers!

Salted caramel bonbons

1 cup whipping cream
2 cups white sugar
200g sweetened condensed milk
30g butter
2tsp salt
about 300g dark chocolate, for coating

Dump everything, except for the chocolate, together in a saucepan and stir constantly over a low heat until all the sugar and salt are dissolved. If it seems like it might start boiling take it off the heat immediately and keep stirring to dissolve.

Once dissolved, allow the mixture boil without stirring, for about ten minutes, or until golden brown, and a little bit drizzled into a bowl of cold water goes nicely chewy and caramel-ly.

Immediately place the saucepan in a sink of cold water, to cease the cooking process.

When it has cooled down a little, pour it out onto baking paper, and when cool enough to handle, cut off chunks, roll them into a ball and dip into melted chocolate using a skewer.

Finish with an extra sprinkling of salt on top.
These quantities make about 45 bonbons, give or take.

I made a little tank dress with a matching top for Cassie... I'm hoping these will be very useful and versatile items in both her working and her weekend wardrobe. The two pieces can be worn together as a smart/casual ensemble; also either the tank dress OR the loose top can be worn with a pencil skirt and cardigan to work; the tank dress can be worn alone or as a tunic with with jeans as a casual weekend option, or as a petticoat underneath a sheer dress; and the top can be worn with shorts or whatever. And imho the colour is absolutely glorious with her strawberry blond hair!!

I bought the rich orange cotton-poly mesh from Tessuti's in Melbourne during our weekend away together, and both pieces are self-drafted. The tank dress is a pretty simple silhouette; but sewing it together was like an exercise in spatial thinking. The fabric is completely sheer so I made it double-layered, both layers are completely sewn together before the whole dress was finally pulled right side through a gap in the lower hemline, which was hand slip-stitched closed as the very last thing. Meaning, all the seams are enclosed between the two dress layers. I was so pleased when it worked out successfully! The fabric was lightweight enough that the whole thing could be bunched up and pulled through a 10cm gap quite easily. The outer layer is 6cm longer than the inner layer, so the joining seam sits on the inside of the dress, 3cm from the lower fold.

below right; the finished dress was pulled right side out through the short gap in the hemline joining seam at lower right, now hand slip-stitched closed,

The top is also self-drafted, and loosely based upon the shape of the pieces in a very simple top that I've had for years, designed by a Melbourne company, tutte which seems to be no longer around. Basically, the front and back panels are straight rectangles, and the side panels and sleeves are cut as one piece each, on the fold at the top of the sleeve/shoulder: like capital T's with the downstroke as the sleeve.

I cut the neckline as a gracefully curved scoop, extending and joining the front and back panels at the shoulder, and added double thickness "flaps" at the lower edge of the front and back that enclose the raw edges. I hand-stitched the side panel lower edges and and sleeve hems in a narrow rolled edge, and finished the neckline with a long strip, stitched on the right side, turned under and hand-stitched around the inside.

Details:
Top and dress; self-drafted, in slightly stretchy cotton-poly mesh. I think it could be this stuff...

My Christmas present to my boys this year is a tailored shirt for each one; in pin-striped linen with contrasting white collar, cuffs, and buttonbands, and a double welted breast pocket with looped button closure.

Three shirts in addition to Cassie's outfit and Craig's birthday shirt. Phew! These have kept me super busybusybusy, nose to the ~~grindstone~~ sewing machine for the last few weeks since we got back from Melbourne! This is the first year I've made three long-sleeved shirts for Christmas, the past few years I've made things a little easier on myself by slipping at least one short-sleeved one in there. The cuffs and little sleeve plackets are quite a bit of work, and a short sleeved shirt feels almost quick and easy by comparison. In the past I've always given each item I make its own post, and particularly because of the amount of work that goes into a highly tailored item like a man's shirt, I kinda reckon they deserve a post each; but this time I just couldn't with that. It's all been just too much!

All three shirts are made using Burda 7767, with the personal fitting modifications for each of my men that I've fine-tuned over many many shirts. How many of these am I up to?? Must be over 30 of them by now, I think.

Craig's is a white with purple pin-stripe and brown-y purple buttons, Tim's is a charcoal with white pin/stripe and black buttons, and Sam's is a white with blue pin-stripe and caramel-coloured buttons. All three pin-striped linens are from Tessuti's in Melbourne, bought during my recent girls' weekend away with Mum and Cassie; and all the buttons are from Fabulous Fabrics. The white contrasting fabric is a silk/linen mix bought from Fabulous Fabrics. I've totally hoarded this lovely and quite expensive stuff for aaaages and had toyed with bravely cutting into it for one for my own SWAP projects, but decided that my boys deserved the best... (deep breath, must learn to let go of precious fabrics) Fortunately I should still have enough to make something for myself. Bonus!
All the seams are flat-felled; I used my own tutorial for flat-felling a curved seam to get a nice finish along those sleeve caps. Craig's shirt has a long curved hemline because it's more business-like, and the boys' shirts both have straight hemlines with a lapped split side seam.

My review of this excellent pattern is here

So for this past year I chose to forego all RTW clothing and only allow myself to wear things that I had made myself. All my clothing, including underwear, bathers and raincoat, hosiery and socks; everything had to be sewn or knitted by me. The only exceptions I allowed were shoes and boots.

I drew each of my daily outfits in my Fashionary, thus keeping track of the wearing tally, if you like, of each item of clothing.
So, the quantitative assessment: I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that yes, I analysed all those funny little paper dolls, itemising all my clothing worn this year along with adding up the number of "wears" that each item received this year. I plugged my results into an excel spreadsheet, which is to say that I sure don't expect anyone apart from me to be the slightest bit interested in the nitty gritty, of course! I just did that bit for fun.

But to summarise, the most worn items in my wardrobe this year are:

White Tshirts, by a country mile. I have 3 identical white Tshirts, and each one alone got more wear than any other top in my collection. Skirts: my ivory curtaining skirt (left) ; my refashioned, little denim skirt (right), my midnight blue, over dyed corduroy A-line skirt (centre). Re-dyeing that blue skirt really did give it a fabulous new lease on life, elevating it to the third most frequently worn skirt in the wardrobe. (left) Oversized peppercorn cardigan and (right) chocolate cotton cardigan.

My army jacket was the second most worn item in my wardrobe this year... love that thing! My ivory cotton cardigan and the blue bell-sleeved top also came in pretty high.

Dresses, from left; the Aquarius dress, Japanese cotton sundress and the sew bossy dress. Statistically, the sew bossy dress squeaked out on top, but actually all of my dresses got a heck of a lot of wear, even my winter dresses; with "wears" spread pretty evenly across the board. I wore 28 dresses this year... sounds like a LOT I agree, but actually 9 of this number have already move on to either the scrap bag or the Good Sammy's. None of these three, but.
Jeans: The frequency of wears for my jeans is quite low; I'm very much a skirt/dress wearer, with tights for winter. I think I really only need a new pair once every two years or so. The purple flares got the most wear.

Shorts get about the same wearing frequency as jeans. My hot pink linen shorts are firm favourites, which is interesting since they felt like a very whimsical and possibly crazy addition to my wardrobe at the time! 2013's two favoured scarves were both simple, unhemmed pieces of jersey knit, for summer a light and breezy ecru, and for winter, a long long raspberry. Please tell me, if a rectangle of fabric is enough to keep me happy then why o why do I knit so many scarves?
Tights; two pairs of plain black wool tights, and my paprika tights got a lot of wear too.

Um, underwear; yes, well all of that got worn too...
Obviously some of my more recently made items did not get a look in, and their usefulness will not be apparent until after next year; but this can't be helped at this point.

Now for the qualitative assessment: Going into this project, I wondered whether I would feel needlessly restricted by not allowing myself to wear RTW this year. That was dumb, since I have absolutely masses of me-made clothes and didn't feel lost for choice, not at any time. However, and these thoughts have been with me from the very start of my totally me-made journey, ?four? years ago: I do admit to ebbing waves of uncertainty about my sanity. I mean, making all my own clothes seems both silly and masochistic sometimes, even to me, a battle-hardened convert of several years. When I look at and admire other ladies' outfits it would not even enter my head to judge them on whether they made it themselves or not, and yet, I do judge myself quite severely on this basis.

But whether it's good/sensible or not, I'm in the habit of making all my own now, and would find it hard to buy clothes in a store. I would feel too guilty, believe it or not. I've successfully brainwashed myself. I'm in two minds whether or not to actually act on this. Whether to continue as I am, or to rehabilitate myself, so to speak... maybe see if I even am capable of buying something.
Yes, I do realise how very silly that sounds.

If I've proved anything at all to myself, it's merely that making all your own clothes can be done. Be your own sweatshop, yo. I am. I can, and I did. Which has precisely zero significance at all, to anyone, anywhere. And yet I feel strangely proud of myself, nonetheless.
Will I keep this up next year? well yes and no.
NO I will not be regaling the blog with fashionary pictures any more. And I will be happy to welcome back into my life some of my old RTW items I've had for many years. That amounts to some Metalicus Tshirts and a petticoat, a handful of Country Road camisoles and a few cashmere cardigans, all very high quality items and all years and years old now. I also have a few scarves that have been given to me as gifts by family, that will enter rotation as of tomorrow. Black tights! The two woollen pairs I wore this year have both sprung holes in the toes. I think I could spoil myself and just buy these from now on, at least.
However, YES, in that I think I will continue to keep tabs on my clothing next year too... just because I found it really interesting and a useful exercise in future wardrobe planning.

The final paper dolls... :)

15th-20th December
from left:
white top "b" from shape shape, white linen shorts
polka dot dress
pistachio linen top, "map" skirt
Sagittarius dress
sew bossy dress
"white trees" top, little denim skirt

21st-26th December
from left:
grey/green layered skirt, white PM Tshirt
map skirt, top "b" from shape shape
sew bossy dress
giant polka dot dress
red dress
"white trees" top,hot pink linen shorts

27th-31st December
from left:
pistachio linen top, map skirt
sew bossy dress
top "b" from shape shape, embroidered yellow shorts
Sagittarius dress
red cotton dress

Separate from my rather nerdy previous post, on the last day of the year I like to reflect on my favourite posts, one from each month...
January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

A sewing summary...
Number of garments made, counting each set of 1 bra+ 2 undies as one garment: 64, including 9 items for family
Knitted garments: 4 hmmm, it's been a slow year for knitting (blush) However, it was nearly all from stash; the only new yarn I bought was for my Hunter Miette and I think I redeemed myself by knitting it up straight away
re the Stashbusting:
Garments sewn from new fabric: 20
Knitting from stash: 3! out of the 4 things made :)
Garments made from stash fabric: 31
Not exactly drastic reductions in the stash, but it gets me an A+ in my stash-busting pledge ;)
Refashioned garments: 9 Another 3 were rejuvenated with dye

Favourite garments: Faux leather jacket I might not have worn it a tonne yet but I really LOVE it and am rather proud of it :) I also really adore my Panellist dress.
Any fails?: I just haven't worn my bright roses top at all. There's nothing wrong with it and I don't hate it or anything. I just don't reach for it *shrug*
The biggest thing for me this year was doing a screen-printing course; I LOVED it, and have printed eight pieces of fabric; seven of which have been sewn into garments already. My favourite self-printed project is a toss-up between my poppies lingerie set and the beach-y polka dot dress.
So that's it for another year! Thank you so much to everyone who reads my blog and takes the time to comment, I am so very grateful and appreciative of all you gorgeous sewing- and fashion-loving peeps. We who sew tend to do so on our own, so the big ol' fantabulous internets has been pretty good for our socialising, yes? ;)

See y'all in 2014!

Hello!
So! after hours (and hours... and hours...) of aeroplane and in-front-of-the-TV stitching, I have finished my first AC project(s).
This is the mid-length skirt and the fitted tank top, both from the book, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. The two are actually just one pattern, a full length dress pattern, which you cut off at the relevant places to make either a skirt or a top. Or a tunic or a dress.
Great idea, by the way. I love the economy of one all-inclusive pattern. Means you only have one thing to store, but about a zillion "making" opportunities in there. OK, to be accurate there are eight garment possibilities from the one pattern, but surely at least a zillion wearing and layering combinations to be had.

My skirt! I'm so pleased with it! It is totally hand-quilted and stitched in the reverse appliqué technique described in the book; using a top layer of lightweight deep olive bamboo/cotton knit, bought originally from Potters Textiles years ago, and the base layer is a thicker and more stable dirt-brown cotton jersey from KnitWit, also bought years ago. These are my colours, yo :) I also used some of that same brown cotton to make part of Tim's hoodie, here.

The stencil pattern is Anna's Garden from the AC book, enlarged 306%. I applied the stencil to the olive fabric using a small foam roller and regular household paint, as described here. The thread used throughout is a brown/grey Gutermann's upholstery thread, although Spotlight ran out of my colour (grrr!) so a small portion was done in the same colour of Gutermann's topstitching thread. Top-stitching thread is kinda OK stuff but I really prefer the upholstery thread; much smoother and less prone to the strands separating from each other.
All the seams are hand stitched too, and felled by hand. I had initially toyed with machine stitching the seams; but of course after all that hand embroidery I knew I had to finish off properly.... This took a blink of an eye compared to the embroidery side of things, so I am so pleased I opted to "do it right", so to speak. I like the way the felling shows upon the right side as a row of dimples; barely hinted-at stitches along the seams.

I finished the waistband with chocolate brown fold over elastic, bought from Tessuti's in Melbourne. This stuff is extraordinarily expensive here and pretty hard to find in Perth. Believe it or not; this colour is the closest match that I've found... anywhere.

My top: I actually do have a matching deep-olive-and-dirt-brown fitted tank top printed, planned and ready to go, but as soon as I finished the skirt I had a Vision; only the plainest of plain white tanks would be the absolutely perfect-est accompaniment to this busy busy skirt. I had the immediate compulsion to make such a thing.

I bought the white cotton jersey from KnitWit, and made up a very simple fitted tank; no frills but still constructed in the Alabama Chanin way, so stylistically it matches the skirt really well. The seams are stitched and felled by hand, and the binding applied with herringbone stitch. Although there a visible knots aplenty on the inside of the skirt... unavoidable! I went out of my way to hide them on the inside of the tank top, concealing all the knots inside the layers of the felling and binding.
Neckline and armhole binding and seams: below left, right side view; at right, inner view with felled seams

Fitting-wise; I raised the back neckline of the tank and made the shoulder straps a little wider also. In my early experiments, I sliced a biggish sway-back wedge from the pattern which affected both the tank and the skirt pieces.
Time-wise; the tank top took, like, one day at the most? while the skirt has taken weeks! Although I would like to add more Alabama Chanin pieces to my wardrobe, there is no danger that I am going to get addicted to this technique. It is basically identical to hand-quilting and I have made enough quilts to know I can only take so much of that. My left pointer finger needs time to rest and recuperate. The tip of that finger has skin like a rhino now. Seriously.
Obviously I am thrilled to bits with my first Alabama Chanin project, and the second! however there will be one little hurdle; I'm going to have to force myself to wear the skirt and not treat it like a museum piece. I'm having visions of unwittingly sitting down on a patch of oil, or brushing against a spiky bush or someone carrying a glass of red wine tripping and falling in slow motion in my direction.... aaagh! The stuff of nightmares! ;)

Details:
Skirt; the mid-length skirt from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, hand-embroidered and stitched cotton jersey in two solid colours
Top; the fitted tank from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, hand-stitched, white cotton jersey
Sandals: Franco Burrone, from Marie Claire

White tops, and particularly if lace or broderie anglaise or any wildly impractical snowy stitch-festival are part of the equation, have always been a weakness of mine. Not just during summer but any season. One of my earliest pins as a freshly minted Pinterest-er was this Isabel Marant top. It was immediate love at first sight. The perfect summer top; feminine and chic, cool and blowsy, romantically pretty and casually easy-breezy. I wanted one, and began plotting...
At first I thought to re-create the style using plain white cotton and finding some sort of broderie border to attach to the lower edges. Then during my long weekend away in Melbourne with Mum and Cassie I chanced upon this fabric in Tessuti; white cotton voile with beautifully intricate broderie anglaise borders already in situ. One selvedge had very wide embroidered borders, and the opposite had a narrower border in the same design. Utter perfection! I used the deeper edge for the body of the blouse and the narrower edge for the sleeves.

The pattern I used is top X, from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori. A big oversized loose T-shirt/peasant blouse thing, slightly gathered into a narrow neckband with a faced front split.

A plain and simple top with very little shaping, designed to showcase to best effect a gorgeously bordered fabric. I only very slightly altered the side edges of my pattern pieces so the motifs and the scalloped edge would match up seamlessly.

The shoulder seams are French seams but for all the seams within the embroidered borders; I just overlocked the edges, stitched the seams then pressed them open; that broderie is just too thick with stitches to attempt any fancy seam finishes!

So; a nice easy project but I still had to steel myself to take the scissors to my fabric. That awful first snip! Of course, ruining beautiful fabrics is terrible and the fear of that can spiral you into major second-guessing, but maybe it's worse to hold back forever and never allow yourself take the chance on making something beautiful with it. Give yourself permission to try... that is why you bought it, remember?
I have to repeat that to myself, like a mantra, every time I'm faced with special fabric that I totally and utterly adore. And I'm so relieved that I didn't ruin this lovely fabric!

Details:
Top; top X from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, broderie anglaise cotton voile
Skirt; Vogue 7303, lime print cotton
Sandals; Misano

I wrote this tute just before Christmas then completely forgot about it ...! anyhow

This is a pocket often used as the back pocket on mens' trousers although of course you can add one to whatever garment you wish... in this case I have used for the breast pocket on a mens' tailored shirt.

Measure and mark the position of the welt pocket. My welt pocket measures 13cm x 1.5 cm (5 1/8" x 5/8"). Cut two strips of fabric equal in length to the length of the welt pocket plus two seam allowances, and equal in width to twice the height of the double welt; in this case my strips measure 15cm x 3cm. Also cut a strip of fabric on the bias for the loop closure.

Stitch the bias strip, and cut the stitching threads leaving a long length, at lease as long as the bias strip itself. Thread the long end through a needle, and with blunt end leading, pass it through inside the strip. Turn the strip right side out.

Press the welt strips in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and place pins in each to mark the length and width of each welt. In this case, a length of 13cm and a width of 7.5mm.

With the pressed folds of the welt strips facing out and the open raw edges towards the middle; put these pins in exactly the same pinholes as those previously made to mark the welt position. Arrange the welts to lie smooth, flat and straight.

Stitch the long edges of the welt, in an exactly 13cm long line, positioned exactly 7.5mm in from the folded (outer) edge of the welt. Note; the folded edge is the visible and therefore the important one here; the accuracy and precision of your stitching MUST be relative to that outer edge).

Fold to snip into the centre of the welt. and cut to about 1cm in from the start and finish of the stitching. From this point, snip outwards in an inverted arrow shape into the very corners of the welt.

Turn welts to the inside and pin the loop closure in position to the seam allowance of the upper welt, at the centrepoint. Stitch.

Pin the pocket piece to the lower welt seam allowance, and stitch exactly over the previous stitching. Press down.

Stitch a button through both thickness of fabric; the shirt layer and the pocket layer, for stability, using the loop closure to determine the position of the button.

Fold up the pocket piece and pin to the seam allowance of the upper welt. Stitch exactly over the previous stitching and press.

Complete the box of stitching around the welt by catching down the little triangles at the outer edges. Continue stitching down the sides seams of the pocket.

Finish raw edges by overlocking or zig-zagging. You can also finish by binding with bias binding; I tried doing this for the pocket of one shirt, the purple pin-stripe pictured below. It looks real nice but it made the pocket feel kinda bulky and stiff. I would probably just stick with the overlocker in future.

Hello! I'm wearing a new blouse.
It is the Tao, by Tamanegi-Kobo. I've seen lots of lovely Tamanegi-Kobo designs made by Yoshimi, and then during me-made May saw even more worn by Japanese ladies, including the adorable and very talented designer Miho. And since I loooove Japanese designs I just had to try one out!
On a crazy spontaneous whim I added a funny little swoosh-shaped welt pocket. I had finished sewing the blouse, tried it on and just thought; hmmm, pocket... I had some scraps left over, the bobbin still had some of the pale grey thread wound on. I had recently pinned this dinky little welt pocket. Snap decision. I just decided to go for it. I think it turned out quite cute!

The Tao really is a very lovely style, loose and artistic, comfortable and still very feminine and flattering. I'm still getting used to pdf patterns, I don't mind them as long as there aren't hundreds of pages to tape together. The Tao is 24 pages, which is do-able. The collar is a petite little thing, stylistically matching the boxy cropped feel of the blouse, and I think it looks equally sweet buttoned right up. Normally I don't button my blouses right up to the collar stand, 'cos I'm a laid-back Aussie beach bum, but I like this one both ways.

I made the blouse out of, believe it or not, a stark, optic white linen/silk mix from Fabulous Fabris, the leftover piece from after I had cut out the collars, cuffs and button bands for the boys' Christmas shirts. But since I've made two white shirts in hot succession recently, this one was always going to get a dye-job. I stitched it up using a pale grey/brown thread, and once I'd finished sewing it and prior to chickening out, quickly gave it a light wash in a very weak dye solution of Brown iDye. Giving it this subtle and rather delicate shade of pale pinky/cocoa brown. I think this is a colour quite flattering to my skin tone. :)

Details:
Top; Tamanegi-Kobo Tao, white linen/silk mix dyed with a teeny amount of Brown iDye
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, details and my review of this pattern here

My review for this blouse pattern is below....

Pattern Description:

The Tao is a loose-fitting, button-front blouse; with two collar variations, wrist cuffs and a continuous sleeve vent, cut-on sleeves and a long wrist-to-wrist yoke.

Pattern Sizing:

Size 36-42. I made a straight size 38.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?

Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I could not follow the Japanese written instructions, but the illustrations are quite clear and helpful. The seam allowances are clearly marked.

The notches that you need for piecing and pleating points can be seen clearly and easily, but I did think the Japanese character markings looked a little chaotic, repeated for each of the sizes and heaped on top of each other. There are two collar pieces: one the under- and the other the upper collar; if you’ve made a collared shirt before and so know that the under-collar is supposed to be a touch smaller then you should have no trouble working out which piece is which.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

It looks so pretty in the photographs on the website, and I like the loose artistic shape. The style is really pretty and a very nice feminine alternative to the traditional style of button-front shirt; and easier too, in fact, since you don’t have to insert the sleeves! The prim little collar looks sweet, both unbuttoned and also when buttoned up all the way to the top.

It is a pdf pattern, which I am slooowly getting used to, old-fashioned thing that I am ;)

Fabric Used:

Silk/linen mix

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I added a little asymmetrical swoosh-shaped welt pocket ;)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Definitely! andyes :)

Conclusion:
Oh, I love it! I’ve used Japanese pattern books before and this is the first time I’ve made a “regular” Japanese pattern. I’ve made it in a summer-weight linen/silk mix but I think it would be equally appropriate and just as cute in a soft comfy flannelette for winter.

It might be a good time to introduce a new thing I've been doing lately… well, a new blog actually! It's a daily outfit blog, with basically a no-frills photo of the ootd *, and when applicable, the ootn *, with a very brief summary of the day's weather for an indication of how weather appropriately I am dressing. I created it at the beginning of the year and have been updating it daily, and had considered keeping it private; but then I just thought, oh, what the hey. I actually like looking at daily outfit blogs myself but then I am a bit of a nosey parker about other ladies' outfit choices ;)
Last year I drew all my daily outfits in my Fashionary, which was both fun to do and also I think turned out to be quite helpful for the end-of-year analysis of my style preferences and how well my sewing is serving that, and as well I just really enjoy looking back through my little book at the year of outfits. I was inspired by The Makeshift Project, and actually I still enjoy going back and looking through Natalie's blog every now and again.
My new blog won't be like a real fashionista's personal style blog since almost everything I have is home-made and my style is quite, um, maybe unaccessorised? would be a good way to describe it? I'm going to continue to wear as much of my own handmade clothing as I can, although there might be some specific situations this year in which I am unable to be completely strict about that rule. Like right now for example!!
I will use it for analysing my style and wearing habits again.
It's currently called Handmade by Carolyn too, since, well I dunno, I guess I'm a creature of habit and pretty unimaginative, but maybe I'll change that if something more interesting occurs to me :)

* #ootd; outfit of the day: #ootn; outfit of the night

Obviously I'm not in Australia here…. :D we've been visiting Japan, and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing my friend Yoshimi again. Thank you Yoshimi, it was so lovely to spend time with you and to meet your gorgeous family too. It was lots of fun!
Sorry for my silly photos here. Snow is still such a huge novelty to me, you see. I can't stop marvelling at it. It seems like such amazing and magical stuff! and maybe it puts me in a kinda loopy mood ;) I never even saw snow until I was in my late 20's, and first put on a pair of skis at the age of 36. Meaning, I'll never be anything more than a really slow and cautious skiier, but I still love it! My quads are killing me, but!!
Now for the point of this post: hand-warmers. Bright ones! Highlighter hand-warmers! These are brand new, fresh off the 2mm bamboo dpn's. I lost my ultramarine blue arm-warmers last year, I've searched and searched and searched, in vain (massive sad-face). No time for moping but; I needed some more, pronto! These were cast off in the nick of time to be pressed into immediate service…. :)
They are basic tubes knitted in the round with a gap for my thumbs, using Morris and Sons 4ply merino wool. The colourway, Sheen (col419) is kind of a whoa! in-your-face colour, like a hi-vis construction worker vest. In my present surroundings though, I'm considering that to be a plus. If I get stuck and incapacitated in a snowdrift I can just stick my arm up, and the arm-warmers will be like a beacon for the rescue crew. In-built safety feature!

Ahem; and now, a silly little haiku…

Neon hand-warmers
on tatami mat. Empty,
Momentarily.

Hmmm, okaaaay then…. Poetry has never been my forte ;)

Details:
Hand-warmers; knitted by me
Beanie; knitted by me, details here
Thermal top; Kathmandu, neckwarmer; Kaos (both old items I've had for years)
Ski pants and boots; hired

Hello! In further knitting news I have also just finished a comfy new jumper recently. The pattern is the Hayward, by Julie Hoover, and the yarn is Noro Ayatori; a wool/silk mix, in colour 19; a beautiful variegated collection of raspberry pink, grass green, warm pinky/ivory, mint green and hot chilli pink. The yarn was a birthday gift to me from the lovely Yoshimi; thank you so much Yoshimi!

When I was trying to decide what pattern would be worthy of this eye-catching yarn, I remembered an elegant Hayward Yoshimi had knitted for herself and I have to admit I seriously wanted to copy :) I enjoyed wearing my new jumper for the first time on our recent day out in Tokyo together.
And actually Yoshimi also wore her own Hayward that day too!

I think this is a very chic style; I like the loose and wide boxiness, the wide unstructured boatneck and the curling up lower edge and neckline. It's soooo supremely comfortable!
I knitted mine pretty much to the pattern, the only change I made was to the neckline: I kept all the top stitches live without casting off, and once I had sewn the front back and sleeve pieces together; knitted in the round around the neckline using all live stitches, for 4 rows before casting off loosely. I did this mostly because I'm lazy and loathe picking up stitches, but really it makes more sense to do it this way since, well c'mon it is so much easier and as well makes for a much smoother seamless look at the neckline. My jumper is size 48" (34-36" bust) and I found it necessary to have eight balls of the Ayatori to complete the jumper with stripe matching at the sides and to have the sleeves identical to each other.
I had already started knitting this last year so unfortunately I cannot include it in my SWAP wardrobe; but it's going to go very well with all my planned olives and ivories :)

Details:

Jumper; the Hayward in Noro Ayatori yarn,col 19, the pattern is available here

Beige high-necked Tshirt (under); Metalicus

Jeans; Burda 7863,white cotton denim, details here and my review of this pattern here

Ski gloves; had for years, can't remember where they're from

Snow boots; I bought these from Big KMart in the US, 13 yrs ago! while we were living there :D We come across snow so rarely I expect these will last me forever!

To those who showed an interest in the swoosh welt pocket on my Tao blouse; thank you :) and it was my take on this welt pocket for which Patty wrote a very in-depth tutorial. The fabric I used for my blouse is quite light-weight; allowing me to devise a simplified method as follows ...
Sketch the shape of the welt. Then accurately trace the two halves onto a small piece of the fashion fabric with plenty of room around each, and including the overlap on both sub-sections. You could also just trace the shape in entirety, making it as a one-piece welt. With hindsight that would be a bit easier; but anyway it does look kinda cool as a two-piece welt...
Lay another scrap of fabric under the traced sections and stitch along the top curve, extending the stitching well past the pencilled lines to allow for seam allowances.

Trim, grade and clip seam allowances outside the stitching, turn out, finger press the curves out, and press flat.

Using the original sketch to check for placement, pin the left-hand welt into position over the right-hand welt. Open out the left-hand half and stitch it into place onto the other half; exactly over the previous stitching.

Determine where the welt pocket is to be sewn on the garment; mark its position. Cut a strip of iron-on interfacing big enough to cover the area of the welt, and apply this to the wrong side of the garment to stabilise.

Cut a rectangular piece of fabric for the pocket lining and trace onto it the welt shape, using the sketch from the first step. Position over the stabilised section of fabric where previously marked, and stitch garment and pocket lining together, following the perimeter of the traced welt.

Snip along inside the centre of the stitching, and out into the corners and turning points, grade and clip curves. Turn the pocket lining through to the inside of the garment, finger press out along the stitched curves, and press flat.

Pin the welt in position behind the pocket opening, and top-stitch along the short sides and along the lower curved edge.

Inside, trim the lower edge of the welt. Being careful to keep the garment free, pin the pocket backing piece to the pocket lining. Stitch around the edge, finish the edge either with overlocking, zig-zag stitching or pinking.

Last step, from the right side of the garment, top-stitch through all layers along the upper curved edge of the welt.

C'est fini :)

Hello! we have just returned from our totally marvellous family holiday to Japan! and I've had the last few days to thaw out and wash everything: the washing machine has been going strong 3-4 times a day and now the small mountain on the laundry floor has just about disappeared. Yay! Now... something I like to do is to look back at my travelling wardrobe and do a little retrospective "did it or didn't it all work out OK?" analysis, so here goes...

Time away: 

15 days 

Where to: 

Japan 

Season:

 the middle of winter. The expected temperature range was from rather cold to Really Cold. Snow. Blizzards, for real!

Expected activities:

Our holiday was divided neatly into two distinct parts requiring two very different sets of clothing, a City part and a Skiing part. First, a week of city-based walkabout and shopping, some rural sightseeing and including one day of bicycling; for all of which I wanted to look reasonably smart and put together amongst the fashion savvy people of Japan. Followed by a week of skiing and generally hanging out in a snow-laden village; requiring heavy-duty ski/snow gear.

Colour scheme: a safe and easily mix n' matchable collection of wintery neutrals; greys, black, chocolate and creamy ivories, with just a few warm and cheerful colours thrown in there just to lift it all a bit

What I packed: (each highlighted garment is made by me and linked to its original construction post, unhighlighted clothes are RTW)

 (left to right; top to bottom)

The "smart" city stuff:

grey wool coat

ivory denim jeans

black corduroy jeans

lightweight charcoal cardigan, khaki cashmere cardigan

(middle) Noro striped knitted jumper and (below that) 2 "thin" ivory thermal tops

(at left, below coat) 4 LS woollen Tshirts; ivory, burnt orange, dk red, ivory turtleneck

3 prs hand knit socks; red, dk blue, blue

chocolate leather gloves

fluoro green knitted handwarmers

(below) black leather boots (for the city), red thongs (to wear to and from the hot tub), sandshoes (for the country and cycling)

chocolate leather handbag

blue bathers (for the hot tub)

The ski stuff:

cream knitted beanie

charcoal knitted beanie

red fleece neck-warmer, hot pink head-band, ski goggles, charcoal ski jacket

cream knitted moebius scarf

4 "thicker" thermal tops, 2 thermal leggings

skiing mittens, 2 prs liner gloves, 3 prs ski socks

snow boots

not pictured; winter jammies, selection of underthings, toiletries bag

Thoughts:

Above is how it looked all packed away; the trip involved several very tight connections 'twixt trains, buses and planes so I was pleased that it all was quite easily and quickly transportable up and down escalators and staircases and in and around multiple train stations. On the right is my check-in bag, and I always carried with me my handbag which tucks up under my arm quite securely and unobtrusively, and the other small black bag contained my little travel camera and a sewing/knitting project so I always had something to occupy my hands in any long travelling or waiting situation... and there were plenty of those!

Speaking of my sewing project, it's very nearly finished...!

Thankfully the clothing selection worked out extremely well! I think I packed quite light but I still felt like I had a little variety, I liked my outfits and was warm and comfortable always. All my daily outfits can be seen on my ootd blog (15/1/14-30/1/14).

I hired ski pants so was spared the bulk of those in my bag. So that was a bit of a "cheat" since I wore those ski pants constantly during the second week! I also never had to pack my grey coat, since I wore it travelling. Two pairs of jeans was an indulgence, but it was nice to have a choice.

Having lots of thin Tshirts and tops was absolutely brilliant!! for layering; I always wore two or three layers so I could peel one off if I got too warm, which happened, um... once? twice?! Also an outer or middle layer could be worn as an inner layer on another day, minimising the dirty laundry pile. 5 people and laundry facilities only available in the second week; makes keeping washing to a minimum a Very Good Thing.

Shoes are always the bulkiest things; those snow boots! I stored my 2mm bamboo knitting needles in them while travelling, to keep them safe from snapping. That is, to keep the bamboo needles safe, of course... I didn't even wear those thongs once, oh well, they didn't take up very much room.

So there was a little space for souvenirs, including some fabric! I bought four pieces of fabric, and a Christian Dior plaid cashmere scarf from a little secondhand shop in Kyoto. That's the first RTW I've bought in years and years! AAAAUGH! but it is secondhand so I'm still within my wardrobe refashion pledge.

Fortunately I have managed to finish the matching embroidered tank top to go with my skirt. Hurrah! for plane trips and the resulting enforced hand-sewing time! I'm so happy with the full ensemble; I like how it looks like a full dress, and that if I choose I can break it up into the separate components. The pattern is the fitted top from the Alabama Studio Sewing + Style book (Natalie Chanin), and is made from the same fabrics as the skirt; a thickish, cafe au lait cotton jersey substratum (KnitWit) with a dark olive, lightweight jersey overlay (Potters Textiles), the latter stencilled with the Anna's Garden stencil from the same book as outlined here, and top-stitched with Gutermanns topstitching thread.

I took a slight swayback wedge out of the tank pattern.... looking at the picture below I could possibly have gone further with that, oh well, next time. Otherwise it has the same width shoulder straps and the same low rise of the back neckline as the original pattern. The stitching throughout is in exactly the same style as the skirt; with all seams stitched and flat-felled by hand, and the neckline and armhole binding sewn on using herringbone stitch.

My Mum wanted to know if the jersey fabric loses its stretch though being embroidered; it does lose a little, but not all of its stretch. The fabric also shrinks ever so slightly through the process of quilting the two layers together. Not drastically, but if your muslin is skintight then I reckon this is definitely something to bear in mind.

OH BTW! a little tip I forgot to mention before... when the pattern pieces have been cut out and stencilled, stay-stitched and are awaiting embellishment; the very first thing I did was to tack a scrap of paper to each piece as above, marking the centre front or centre back of each piece, as applicable. The pattern pieces for both tank and skirt, are actually all so similar to each other that I think this is an essential precaution!
Well, was it was worth all the hours of hand-work? But of course. I'm not going say otherwise now, am I? ;)

Actually, seriously, I totally love my AC pieces and it was no biggie to make the tank top; each pattern piece is quite small and manageable and the embroidery can be knocked off in a couple movies or a short plane trip quite easily. A little tank top is not really the sewing marathon that the midi skirt is. I'm even feeling optimistic about taking on another Alabama Chanin project...! (gasp!) um, well... in a while. Maybe, hehe. Well, I should really, I bought a whole lot of beads while Mum, Cassie and I were in Melbourne, in a zealous fit of enthusiasm, so hmmm. (blush)

Details:
Top; the fitted top from the Alabama Studio Sewing + Style book, hand-embroidered and -stitched cotton jersey knit in two solid colours
Skirt; the midi skirt, same as above, all sewing details here
Sandals; Zomp, from Zomp shoes

I've made a new dress. Part of that swap-eroonie.... which does seem like a vague dream from the distant past now; but actually upon which progress has happily been made. *gasp* *self back-pat*.
My new dress is from an old Vogue Issey Miyake pattern, Vogue 2438, hailing from maybe the late 90's? I think? I don't know for sure. If someone does then please feel free to enlighten me! I bought it through ebay. The dress is basically a giant, almost shapeless sack of a dress that achieves shaping with a few darts and two big strategically placed folds held in place with snap tape. You are supposed to arrange the snaps to make the folds more or less pronounced, as desired. Pretty cool concept, huh? This is in the same vein to another Issey Miyake dress I have, of black jersey, and is perfectly representational of my desire to make things that look kinda ordinary on first sight but on closer inspection turn out to be just a touch weird and slightly "off". Those of us into clothes often see the link between our fashion choices to our personalities; and I think that description pretty much sums up me in a nutshell too ;)

it's asymmetrical so the side views are a bit different

there are also darts down each side from the underarm to the hip

This dress is supposed to be made in stretchy fabric too, but scandalously, it is not. It is a thickish woven cotton, deep chocolate brown with a cream pin-stripe, bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne about three years ago. I was so in love with my vision of this particular dress, in this particular fabric that I was just like; oh, recommended fabrics, pfft. I know I know, such a rebel, tut tut. The recommended fabric is generally like a primary tenet of dress-making; that thou shalt ignore at thy peril and risk of permanent exclusion from the hallowed halls of sewing Utopia.
O woopsie. *blush*
Well ok, I didn't just gratuitously leap in and go for it helter skelter; I did measure to check feasibility. I sized up, and also altered the snap tape placement to accommodate my shape; in a little bit in at the waist and out a little bit at the hips. And it all worked out. In fact it is pretty much exackertackerly just how I wanted it to be, so I'm happy!
the back tuck is on quite a slanted curve

Details:
Dress; Vogue 2438, chocolate/cream stripe cotton
Shoes; Perrini, had for so long I've forgotten where I bought them now.

... with bonus skirt.
It is an unusual skirt, admittedly. That's OK. One description could focus on the fact that it is softly creamy in shade, ever-so-slightly crinkly in texture, interestingly layered in construction, and easily breezily comfortably summery as a whole. Another could point out that it is made of flippin' curtaining off-cuts for crying out loud, and features ginormous flappy saddlebag things. Well let's not over-romanticise, hmmm? But I like it, nonetheless. And I don't mind curtaining fabric; in fact, one of my most useful and reliable favourites is another curtaining skirt..
I started out with Vogue 8363, a plain, waist-banded pencil skirt with simple variations; and altered it to make it a bit more A-line, cutting the side edges like so; both front and back. And then added my little added designer-y flight of fancy in the form of those big wrap-around bags.

They are basically sacks; like envelopes or pillowslips, that are sewn within long long extensions of the narrow waistband. These cross over at the centre back, wrap around my hips and tie loosely at the front. The skirt closure is the regular kind, by invisible zip in the centre back seam.
I was inspired by this skirt. Does anyone else have a go at actually doing something with their pins? I have pinned LOTS of things, but have only followed through on nutting out making a few. I have big BIG plans for making tonnes of things from my random unbridled pinnings; but the same ol' story; so much inspiration, so little time. And there's only so many clothes that one can in all good conscience add to one's wardrobe. Striking a balance is key, my friends, striking a balance. However I do feel pretty good about this particular skirt since it's pretty much a freebie; made from the off-cuts of Cassie's curtains. I'd found the absolutely perfect thick calico curtains on super special in Spotlight. Correction; the fabric was perfect but the top had been made as pencil pleat curtains, which I loathe and detest with a fiery passion. So I bought them too long and cut off the tops, keeping the hemline intact, and re-sewed the top edge with my preferred triple pleat curtain tape, so they match nearly all the other curtains I've made for our house. And was rewarded with a few pieces of leftover fabric... which I have now put to good use ;) Double, no... triple win!

Details:
Skirt; a modification of Vogue 8363, thick calico curtaining fabric, my review of this pattern here
Top; the loose drape top slightly modified, from drape drape by Hisako Sato, white crinkly cotton jersey, all details here
Sandals; Franco Burrone, from Marie Claire boutique

I’ve made a couple of new tops lately :)

I've made this design once before so I knew I'd like this new one too. It is a modified version of the loose draped top from drape drape, by Hisako Sato. Modified in that A; I removing a wedge of the width in the neckline drape both front and back, so I could fit both pattern pieces onto my small-ish piece of fabric, and B; this time I made it as a double layered top, since my fabric is so thin it's thisclose to sheer. This was a rayon/linen remnant bought from the Morrison’s fabric sale, a grey-ish ivory/bone colour with a very subtle, paler, knitted-in stripe which barely shows up at all in the pictures!

It's a basic; but I think it will be quite good with all three of the busy, feature-laden skirts I have made for my autumn/winter swap. The thing I'm most pleased with is that I got all the seams of the top enclosed inside the two layers; and only had to hand-stitch one short bit of the hemline closed after turning it all through, right side out.

I’d made Cassie's Christmas dress the same way only a few months ago, but I still had to stop and think step by step, how to do the double-layering! so I took pictures and am writing a little how-to on my method so I don't forget for next time. Appearing here soon :)

lingerie straps; essential in this design

The next top above: I'm very meh about this one. It's amazingly boring and unprepossessing given that making it has been a freakin' saga and a half. This is version two; I first made it as a very big and very loose tunic-y style top. Valuable time and energy and a piece of fabric was dedicated to making a rather hideous top. So I fixed it. And re-made it into a marginally less hideous top. Yay!

this is the least revolting "before" picture ...

I think it's that the fabric, a knit remnant from Potter's Textiles was just not suited to an oversized silhouette, being both heavy and weirdly clingy at the same time. The combination as a whole was instantly frumpifying, like a hospital gown; or looking like you had to borrow your man's ratty Tshirt from his gym bag in the car because you've ruined your dress, or something. The exact opposite of chic.

In anticipation that some kind people might express approval of the "before" version, please know that these are the very least offensive pictures, and let me point out that any vestiges of appeal are probably due to the fact that my hand is in a pocket/on my waist, giving it an appearance of shape that it did not have. Other photos where it's hanging straight and loose had the hospital gown/grotty man's gym Tshirt vibe.
So I cut out of it my much more fitted, regular tried-and-true custom fit Tshirt. It's still pretty blah but least I don't unequivocally hate it now.
I'm thinking it will be ok for warmth or whatever during winter. Heck, another layer's another layer. We'll see how it goes!

Details:
Ivory top; the loose drape top, from the Japanese pattern book drape drape by Hisako Sato, ivory rayon/linen
Chocolate top; ultimately, my custom fit Tshirt pattern, chocolate jersey knit
Shorts; Burda 7723, charcoal stretch gabardine, details here and my review of this pattern here

This is a method for sewing a double layered sleeveless dress or top in such a way that all seam allowances are enclosed within the two layers. This could be used to create entirely reversible garments as well as simply giving a nice and neat inner appearance. It is also useful when using sheer fabrics like mesh and very fine translucent knits to make a self-lined garment.

Cut the front and the back pieces with a 4cm hem allowance, and cut a front lining and a back lining, identical except with a 1cm hem allowance each. This will give a garment with a folded lower edge and the lower hem seam hidden inside 3cm from the fold. If a different hem allowance is desired then cut accordingly; or if the joining seam is desired to be right on the lower edge of the garment then cut the linings to be the same length as the front and back pieces.

(This particular top pictured has a straight folded edge at the upper neckline; but the method is just the same as if the linings were separate pieces that needed joining all round, since that neckline seam is the very first to be sewn... )

Pin the back to the back lining along the neckline edge right sides together, and stitch. Trim stitched seam allowances, turn right sides out and press flat.
Pin the front to the front facing around the neckline right sides together in the same manner, and stitch. Now for the front only! also pin the armhole edges of the front to the front lining and stitch. Leave the shoulder seam open and unstitched. Trim stitched seam allowances, turn right side out and press.

Open the back/back lining piece at the shoulder and wrap it around the front/front lining at the shoulder edge, all right sides together, back piece to front piece, and back lining piece to front lining piece, aligning the neckline seams. Pin all four layers together, ensuring the front neckline edge is abutted hard up against the neckline edge of the back/back lining. At the outer shoulder edge continue pinning the back to the back lining down the armhole edge, keeping the front free.

Stitch the shoulder seam, pivot at the outer shoulder edge, and continue stitching the armhole edge of back to back lining. Trim seam allowances, and pull the front piece out and through, turning the back/back lining piece right sides out and press flat.

Now open out the pieces; and pin the front to the back and the front lining to the back lining along the side edges; aligning the underarm seam exactly. Stitch side seams in one long seam; from lower hem to lower hem. Press seam allowances open.

Lay the outer layer over the inner layer wrong sides together aligning the side seams together and press again.

Separate the outer layer from the inner layer again and pin the lower edges of the outer to inner layers, right sides together and aligning the side seams. Stitch, leaving a gap of around 12-15cm, or big enough to stuff your garment through without stretching out the fabric too much. Use something long, skinny and padded to press the seam allowance down; I know there are proper thingies for the job but I generally use something like a rolled-up flannel.

Turn the garment back right side out through the gap left in the lower hem.

Inside the garment, press down the seam allowance of the outer layer to close the gap in the hem and pin in place. Slip-stitch the gap closed invisibly by hand, being careful to keep the outer layer free.

Voila! There are absolutely no seam allowances showing; anywhere!

Lapped flat-felled split side seam

Salted caramel bon-bons

Cassie in burnt orange

Three pin-striped shirts

The Year of Handmade; a summary

2013, a retrospective

Alabama Chanin skirt and tank

Tear drops top

Double welt pocket with looped button closure

Cocoa Tao

ootd blog

Sheen green hand-warmers

Hayward, in Noro Ayatori

"swoosh" welt pocket

Japan, skiing; a travel wardrobe

Alabama Chanin; a tank top

Issey Miyake tucked dress

Big baggy pockets...

some tops

enclosing all seams in a double layered top/dress