Handmade by Carolyn

Hello! :)

So what’s new here? Just a colour, really. My Issey Miyake pleated top (vogue 1142) used to be a cheerful daffodil yellow, and now it is a murky-lurky, swampy, toxic-waste shade of green. Definitely far more me ;) Hoorah for dye!

Cassie was doing a wardrobe reno: an apricot cardi plus some black dye equals a new chocolate cardigan! and asked if I wanted the used black dye-bath for anything before she chucked it out. I barely gave it ten seconds of thought, just grabbed this top. It’s not that I can’t bear to waste a teeny bit of dye that might still have some oomph in it.. oh well, yes, maybe there’s that too. But I really liked the top and wanted to get it into circulation more. Yellow is one of "my colours", but the brightness was just not working with many bottoms… and furthermore since I’ve planned a very subdued autumn/winter wardrobe for myself then the bright yellow top would just continue to not work. And on a psychological note, not that I’m overthinking this or anything! but I think maybe brights are just too daring for my personality? I’m a bit of a mouse and perhaps bright yellow should just be limited to infrequent miniscule doses in my life.

Ha! I reckon I’ve officially just overthought the whole thing, which is hilarious considering that I didn’t think at all before plunging the top into that dye-bath! Lol!

Anyway, now the main thing is that now it’s going to go quite well with the ivories, browns and greens of my swap.

Details:

Top; Vogue 1142, yellow silk over-dyed in a weak, already-used bath of iDye in Black, original details and my review of this pattern here

Skirt; my own design modifications to Vogue8363, cream curtaining fabric, details here and my review of this pattern here

below; before...

I'm very happy and pleased that my Mum agreed to let me photograph her wearing her very recently completed hand-dyed-embroidered-and-stitched creation, and to show the pictures here on my blog ...
thank you so much Mum!
This is Mum's third Alabama Chanin project, and the first completed one... she has very nearly finished a more wintery skirt and top but has put those aside for a little bit in order to make something with the flavour of summer. She wanted to have something to wear now!

Mum hand-dyed white cotton jersey in three different shades of pink for her top; pale apricot pink for the under layer, a deeper apricot-rose pink for the upper layer, and a true pink- pink for the neckline binding. The floral design is her own, and she made a stencil using dressmaking paper from Jackson's but does NOT recommend this; it buckled and was apparently a nightmare. The design was rollered on to the upper layer in slightly watered down, regular household paint applied with a small roller. Mum used double thickness Gutermann's upholstery thread to hand-stitch the floral motifs, all seams and the flat felling of all seams; and pink stranded embroidery cotton for the cretonne stitch to secure the neckline binding. We had some debate on whether the armscye seams should be stitched down to the sleeves or the body?? a quick recce of the Tshirts in the general vicinity seemed to indicate that there is no convention here but men's buttoned shirts are to the body so this seemed like a good example to follow.

The pattern is the Tshirt pattern from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin, with the neckline from the tank/dress pattern, and short sleeves. Before launching into all that time-consuming embroidery Mum wisely tested the pattern and found it necessary to make small adjustments for fit... both of us loathe muslins and generally avoid them like the plague and yeah, it does seem ludicrous for a basic Tshirt in a forgiving stretch knit, but an Alabama Chanin project is kinda exceptional. It doesn't take long to run up a test Tshirt on the machine using a long basting stitch, and is well worth the effort. And could save lives!! Well; at the very least, a tantrum :D
Thank you so much Mum!

Just to provide further proof of my predilection for unusual clothing ... please allow me to present my new skirt.
This skirt is the love-child of four old pairs of jeans. They were a bit battered but in favourite colours, and had fabric in some areas still in pretty good knick. Charcoal denim (Cassie's), olive green corduroy, olive green moleskin and chocolate moleskin (Craig's). The chocolate moleskins had previously been nibbled away at to produce the Brown parliament.

The skirt pattern is another offspring of Vogue 8363; yes, the very same as my previous big baggy pockets skirt. Quite different, yes?! That's the beauty of a well-drafted good basic pattern like this one, you aren't limited to the plain unadorned versions, which obviously have their place in any well-rounded wardrobe too! but my point is that you are only limited by your imagination :)
I thoroughly enjoyed making this. For a start it's re-using old unwanted textiles, always an activity dear to my heart. I am in the fortunate position that when my family is tossing out cruddy old clothes they tend to lob them my way first.
And I love puzzles, and making this skirt was a fun puzzle. This was a joyful and totally engrossing project where I happily zoomed along, cutting out on the laundry floor, up and down, rushing to the sewing machine, the iron; slicing and piecing away without any thought to time passing. Bliss...

I used the pattern variation that allowed for front slanted pockets, and made whole skirt front and whole skirt back pattern pieces from newspaper, re-drawing the side seams on both front and back to be just slightly more flared and A-line than the pencil lines of the pattern although not quite as pronounced as for my big baggy pockets skirt.

I unpicked and re-used the waistband from the charcoal jeans and made use of its resident buttonhole although I sewed on a new flat button that won't dig into the small of my back when I'm sitting back in a chair. I also re-used the waistband of the chocolate jeans to finish the lower hem, putting its button and buttonhole at the front. It wasn't long enough to do the full hemline of the skirt, so I made a filler piece and a few extra belt loops and repositioned all the belt loops to distribute them evenly and hide the joining seams. I also saved the fly front off the olive green moleskins and re-used it for the skirt closure at the centre back, although retrospectively I'm not in love with this. It's quite a bulky fly with a heavy duty jeans zip, but I guess the look of it is in keeping with the whole cobbled together, rough-and-ready look of the skirt.

I cut the patches so as to keep lots of pockets from the various jeans. The skirt actually has eight pockets in total!... in addition to the two regular slanted front hip pockets that I sewed as part of the pattern; there are two patch pockets, three welt pockets and one curved side pocket in it. I only did this for fun, for the aesthetics of them, but they are all still functional.

It's just a bit of silliness really, but I like off-beat random patchwork-y stuff like this :)
Inspiration? Well, I've pinned like a tonne of this sort of thing... this Isabel Marant dress, this mystery jacket, and also Yoshimi's jeans from a few years ago. Also, while I was busy laying down patches and switching around different shapes and sizes, this cottage kept popping into my head. Now a cottage probably seems like an off-the-wall (ha!) inspiration for a skirt, but let me explain; superficially, the re-cycled nature of the materials is an obvious commonality between the cottage and my skirt, as well as artistically, in the random and irregular grid of their design. And in purpose, pockets in clothing have a correlation to windows in architecture. Pockets and windows are a visual feature of a thing, but also a functional component of that thing; specifically as an opening to/in their respective objects but not the entry point to that object.
So in that vein; can one consider a pocketless garment to be like a window-less building; and are zips and button-bands akin to the doors/gates of a building?
Discuss in one thousand words or less and submit by the end of class.
(only joking)
Sometimes I think it would be lots of fun to have a group to discuss and dissect clothing and fashion theory; like a book club, only far more frivolous.
(sigh) A pipe dream...
This skirt is another swap item.

Details:
Top; top "a" from shape shape by Natsuno Hiraiwa, white cotton, details here
Skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, made from 4 old pairs of jeans, my review of this pattern here

I have a word of advice for anyone considering putting leatherette piping in a garment.
Don't.
There, I think that just about covers it ;)
Haha, I'm kidding... but seriously now, leather/ette detailing is pretty hot right now and adds a smart urban edge to the most ordinary of garments, so I made some to put into my latest project.
It's fiddly but I think it'll be worth the effort.
Some thoughts:
When sewing around a sharp corner, clip into the corner before pinning the next section in place, and sew each section as a separate little seam.

Same goes for sewing around a curve. Go slow and check everything is sitting just as it should frequently. There is no shame in hand-cranking the machine, stitching just one stitch at a time! Those needle holes are permanent.

Obviously when sewing in tight corners and curves, pick a nice, long-enough section of the piping with no joining seams. No point in making it more difficult for yourself than it is already. Only use those bits on long, straight easy edges.

Leatherette does not fold into a sharp edge or point, and even on the bias will not naturally stretch out smoothly around curves either, like a woven fibrous fabric would. But it does give a nice, softly rounded edge when turned out. I like the bluntness, am very pleased with the contrast in textures and think they'll lend a certain je ne sais quoi to the final garment. Hopefully. :)

I have made a winter coat for myself! It's a dark charcoal woollen trench with the seaming and edging accented in pale grey/ivory/bone pleather piping. The charcoal wool has a light gauzy check woven throughout; itself with a teensy houndstooth pattern woven in each window. Clever. Seriously, I often wonder how they make these fabrics. Who would have conceived a thin houndstooth gauze, woven tartan-style into wool?

The pattern is McCalls 5525; my third version of this pattern. This is such a great pattern; I completely love it! It's so versatile. Each of mine is quite different from the others; my first version is a smart but pretty-ish thing for winter and early spring, the second one I like for winter evening functions when I want to look glam. I don't know what function this one will fill yet. I would like it to be a just throw on over and go with anything and be instantly warm kind of a coat; but we'll see. The piping is a bit distracting. Hopefully I'll find it good for something :)

I bought the fabric a few years ago from a shop called Wool on Collie, in Freo. At the time it was mostly a knitting and crochet shop, with a very small token offering of fabrics. I bought it on a mad whim. The leatherette is from Spotlight; and was also bought on a mad whim. Me and my bold plans. I have to confess that the leatherette piping tested my patience and sorely depleted my fun-meter once or twice. And I feel like unless you get up really close and have a good nosy squizz; you can't even tell that the damn stuff is leatherette. Should I have gone for some easy-to-manipulate fabric? Well, what is done is done; and I've learnt new things. The plus is that there's quite a bit leftover, and I have some idiotic plans for it.... which may or may not eventuate ;)
The coat is fully lined in black acetate lining fabric from Fabulous Fabrics. The pale grey, slightly streaky buttons from Fabulous Fabrics are a fortuitously perfect match to my leatherette. A lucky find!

I'm pleased that my coat is finished, but I was feeling a little flat about it at first. Y'know when you spend hours and hours meticulously fiddling with something and then aren't sure whether you even like the thing at the end? Yeah. Although I actually like it a bit more after seeing these "another person's view" pictures of it here. It looks a little better here than I thought it did in the mirror. I'll admit to almost hating it in the few days since I finished it, and only hauled myself into it to take pictures out of a sense of duty to my swap.
Maybe it's just that the forecast is 29C today and I feel like a right dork putting on a thick winter coat.

Details:
Coat; McCalls 5525, charcoal wool with leatherette piping, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 7303, ivory wool (old)
Camisole; Country Road
Shoes; Vitulli Moda; bought in Melbourne

To the bat cave! Long coats look satisfyingly dramatic in a gust of wind...

This is just a bit of silliness really; remember I said I had some idiotic plans for my leftover off-white leatherette? well I just hopped straight into it. This is a new skirt, leatherette with red stitching to delineate the seam lines, baseball-like. Yeah I know, kinda weird; and I'm still wondering if I ruined the skirt with that stitching! but it's just a bit of fun really. I figure if I absolutely hate it down the track I can always pull out the baseball stitching :)

I used this picture to help me

source

The pattern is Vogue 1170; my fourth iteration of this pattern. I chose it because it had lots of seam lines! and I made it as long as I possibly could given my small piece of leatherette. Actually, this is a good skirt for a smallish odds and ends of fabric; surprisingly good considering its flippiness. It's only the two large front-and-back pieces that take up the most fabric; the smaller pieces can be cut out of edges and corners and other off-cuts. I left off the pockets and fully lined the skirt with cream polyacetate lining fabric; and I cut the waistband a lot narrower and on a curve to follow the curve of the skirt top. This resulted in a much better fitting waistband than the original straight one, imo. Also, I've learnt my lesson from my previous leatherette skirt where I found the leatherette kinda icky worn against the skin; and cut the waistband facing in white linen. Much nicer!

The stitching is in red silk thread, which I've had for years... er, 21 *blush* but who's counting! :D a leftover from knotting Tim's quilt; and a small portion in matching red topstitching thread, which I ended up having to buy new (grrr!) when I didn't have just quite enough of the silk. Don't you hate that!!
I did the stitching in two passes, first time you do alternate halves of the "wings", and the second pass you finish off the other side of each one.

And because a baseball skirt needs a baseball tee, I made one; just because :) I used two old Tshirts from my refashioning bag.

OK, I thought that this is what a baseball tee looks like; but imagine my disappointment when I googled images of baseball players to see that they actually don't wear this sort of two-coloured raglan-sleeved tee at all! but instead have a big baggy short-sleeved top, sometimes with a close-fitting long-sleeve top underneath. NO raglans to be seen. Confused! So; why is a tee like this known as a baseball Tshirt, when actually it is not?! I would love to be enlightened. Anyhoo; I made it from from my own custom pattern, using an old raglan sleeve tee to help get me started and then fiddling and fine-tuning to fit me. The embroidered motif on the front of the blue Tshirt, I positioned on the back of the new Tshirt. It was either that or cut it in half, and even though my new tee is a cobble-together job, doesn't mean it has to look like one!

With the neckline binding; I cut strips from the sleeves of the cream tee and joined them to get one long enough to do the neckline. And this time I cut and joined the strips on a diagonal edge: you can just barely make out the join in this picture. This gave such a vastly superior finish to my usual method of joining on a straight seam! and I can't believe it has taken me sooooo long to work out this might be a better thing to do. Up until now I've used a straight joining seam, and the bulkiness of all the layers in that bit make for a slightly bubbly and bumpy bit at that spot on the neckline. So I hide this by positioning it at the back of the neck somewhere; but if the seam is on the diagonal, like here, then there is less bulk and very little bump issues. Don't know why it's taken this long for the lightbulb to go off, but better late than never :)

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1170 with minor modifications, off-white leatherette with red decorative top-stitching; my review of this pattern here and my tips for working with leatherette here
Tshirt; self-drafted, made from two old Tshirts
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

Meggipeg alerted me to the fact that today, 24th April, is Fashion Revolution Day; thank you Megan! and it was lovely to finally hang out together, in person :)
So I am wearing my dress and my cardigan inside out for the day.
A year ago today the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing 1133 people and injuring over 2500 more. Fashion Revolution is suggesting that out of respect and acknowledgement we wear our clothes inside out to display the hidden inner workings; the labels, seams, hems and bindings that seamsters labour over. If you bought your clothes readymade there are more things you can do; outlined here.
Generally I stay away from political and social conscience opinions here on my blog, although in person I can be quite the bore on a subject once I get going! Don't get me started! However the issue of ethical manufacture of consumable goods, particularly clothing; is dear to my heart and one of the primary reasons why four years ago I started down this rather bizarre path of eschewing ready-to-wear clothing entirely and of making with my own two hands just about every item of my clothing that I possibly could. I don't know if it was a sensible or reasonable decision; but it felt like a good idea at the time and years later it still does, so I'm going along with it, still. I can make my own, so I do. It was my own decision and I know not one that another person would or could make.
Wearing your clothes inside out for a day may not seem like much at all in the scheme of things, but may make more people aware of the questionable ethics of "fast" fashion. A day of tweeting to brands may make a difference, and I hope so. People may treat it like an amusing distraction in an otherwise uneventful working week, but any action that makes people think twice is a good thing. For me, I do think about the ethics of clothing manufacture a lot but the reality is that the greatest hardship I will undergo today is going without the use of my pockets. Also, maybe someone will point out that my clothes are inside out, but probably not. People are quite polite around here :)

Details:
Dress; dress M with minor modifications, from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, red cotton, details here
Cardigan; knitted by me, Jo Sharp fitted cardigan in Soho Summer dk cotton, colour Calico, details here
Scarf; a strip of cotton jersey
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

I have knitted a cardigan. And weeeeeeee! this is the final thing in my eleven piece swap. Finished... hurrah!
The Miette is designed by Andi Satterlund, and is available as a free download here.
Such a great little pattern. Clearly I love it a bunch since this is my second version in less than six months *blush* and I used the exact same wool too; Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran. This time in colour Gold, 360036.
Actually, the truth is that when I went in to buy the wool for my first Hunter/Forest green version I dithered and agonised for ages between the two colours. Like, for so long it was embarrassing. I loved them both. Finally I chose the green, obviously; but the golden mustard kept haunting my thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I knew that it hated being left behind. It really wanted to come home with me too. Really, it did.
In my original swap plans I had proposed not a cardi but a jacket; in a really nice mustard, open weave fabric which was a Christmas gift from Tim. But the closer I came to Cutting The Fabric, the more doubt crept insidiously in. The fabric is really very nice. I was bound to ruin it. And thinking about it; I really prefer wearing knitted cardigans to jackets, most of the time. I remembered the Gold wool. The colour is identical, and perfect. Aha! Swift justification for an acquisition!! I raced joyfully, but hastily, to the wool store. What if it had sold out? But there it was, patiently waiting for me. Clearly, it was meant to be. Thus; I made a cardigan instead of a jacket.
And I still have my lovely mustard fabric, which I think would rather be a skirt. Some day when I get up the courage to take the scissors to it. :)

Details:
Cardigan: the Miette, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran col. 360036 Gold)
Top: the loose drapey top from Drape Drape, in rayon/linen knit, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1170 in ivory leatherette, details here and my review of this pattern here
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes

SWAP!
I have had a mammoth dressup-and-selfie session. Aaaaagh! How do models do it?! Please excuse any grim, loopy, vacant or otherwise weird facial expressions that pop up randomly amongst the following pics.
The good thing is that I am even more confident now that I have made a fairly cohesive collection and everything goes together pretty much as it should: and most importantly, I actually like it all and know I will enjoy wearing everything. The former is never a foregone conclusion, so that was a particular relief. :)
To summarise: the eleven pieces comprise three 3-packs; that is, three sets of three items that go together; and two wild cards. My three packs each have one skirt and two tops, and my two wild cards are a dress and a coat.

All the things: and each is linked to their original construction posts.

The Alabama Chanin 3-pack:

1) a fully embroidered mid-length skirt;
2) a fully embroidered fitted tank and
3) a plain fitted tank;

The first two are hand-stencilled and -embroidered and all three are completely hand-sewn, and all patterns are from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. The midi skirt was the most major and labour intensive item of the entire swap, the embroidery alone taking hours upon hours of my time. I couldn't even tell you how many ... LOTS! just about sums it up, I think! The embroidered fitted tank looks deceptively little but was also quite major, coming in second place in time consumption. I'm almost too scared to wear these two pieces! but I'm pretty stoked with them. The little white fitted tank was a spur of the moment decision, a substitute for a different sleeveless white top that I had initially planned for the swap. It was relatively quick and easy, and I've already worn it a few times.

The Ivory 3-pack:

4) Vogue 1170 skirt in ivory leatherette
5) the loose drapey top from the book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato, in ivory rayon/linen knit and
6) Tao blouse, by Tamanegi Kobo, white silk/linen dyed pale cocoa brown

I'd originally planned for my big baggy pockets skirt to be the "bottom" in this group but changed my mind in favour of this twirly little leatherette skirt instead. I swapped out my swap, haha! Reason being that I ended up making the other skirt a quite long midi-length skirt, so it has a very similar silhouette to the Alabama Chanin skirt; this one is very different in length and style to my other two swap skirts and so I decided it adds a bit more variety to the mix. OK, I admit I realised that only, like two days ago; when I wore it together with my brand new cardigan! Revelation, and last minute change of plans! Fortunately I made it within the swap time-frame so it fits in with the rules. The ivory cowl neck top; I'd originally planned a long-sleeved Tshirt but the fabric was so thin I made the decision to make a double-layered, sleeveless top instead. The pale cocoa blouse was initially planned to be made with patched-together pieces, all dyed in slightly different shades of brown, but I decided that would be a bit too OTT so I made it plain. So retrospectively, this is rather colourless and undramatic little group, but y'know what? I'm very happy with all three pieces, and even more at how they will work beautifully with, like every single thing else in my wardrobe.

The Autumnal 3-pack;

7) patchwork skirt adapted from Vogue 8363, made from old jeans
8) hand-knitted Miette cardigan, a design by Andi Satterlund, in aran tweed yarn and
9) top X from the book Stylish Dress Book, by Yoshiko Tsukiori, white broderie anglaise

The sludge-coloured patchwork skirt, well yes, it is pretty eye-catching and more than a bit weird I admit that, but man it's so comfy and I feel pleasantly kooky and a bit avant grade wearing it too. The white broderie anglaise blouse; from the very first I've loved wearing this nice summery breezy thing! and something like this can be a nice transitional item, worn with more wintery skirts just as the weather starts to cool off just a bit. I really like the contrast of the delicate white broderie anglais against rough, sombre, rustic patchwork of the skirt. The mustard cardigan was supposed to be a jacket, but I'm relieved I went for it as a cardi instead.

The wild cards;

10) (out of print) Vogue 2438, an Issey Miyake designed dress, chocolate brown pin-striped cotton, and
11) McCalls 5525 trench, charcoal check wool with ivory leatherette piping.

Both made entirely to plan. I've worn the chocolate dress a few times; it's a simple and comfy, and quietly unusual. I like it more and more each time, and think it's going to be a long-term favourite :)

As well as the 3-packs, I took some photos of other combinations just to show how everything goes well together. I only took the one photo above with the coat, but that's OK; it's a coat and so it will just get tossed over everything when it's cold. Otherwise, I think I've covered many of the possible wearing combinations of everything. I might have missed one or two, but yah, I'm OK with that. I kinda OD'ed on playing dress-ups yesterday and so I can live without photos for a while. Phew!

So! This swap is finished. Please imagine that spoken in the same tone as Poltergeist's "This house is clean".

A post mortem... Well, probably it was good for my self discipline to be sensible and methodical, instead of my usual habit of haphazardly and whimsically making whatever my flighty self desires on the spur of any random moment regardless of whether or not it goes with anything else in my wardrobe, ahem! And I sure do have plenty of autumn/winter things to choose from now! ;) I really like all the things, and so it's funny to me that some of them I probably wouldn't have chosen to make without that plan. Meaning, maybe it can be a good thing to force yourself to plan and add "usefully" to your wardrobe.
However, since sewing is my creative outlet as well as a purely practical means of clothing myself, then wild, thoughtless sewing maelstroms are kinda balm for my soul. And so I reckon it's OK to indulge occasionally. Within reason, of course. ;)

The very clever Heather of Closet Case Files has released another pattern, this one is a must-have basic, the bodysuit, available here. Named Nettie, after the totally gorgeous Nettie of Sown Brooklyn.
Of course, I say "must-have" and I didn't actually have any. But I'm rectifying that now since everyone knows that bodysuits are super useful and way superior to a tucked in tee when it comes to winter warmth. So good to have that thermal layer underneath everything else. I used to have a few bodysuits years ago which did hard duty all winter long but I don't know if they've gone out of fashion favour? or what; because they are pretty darn hard to come by nowadays. Even patterns for bodysuits are pretty few and far in-between.
Thank you so much Heather, for asking me to test the pattern, and for filling this gap in the sewing pattern world! :)

Hmmm, seven Netties... seems excessive for one person? well they're not all for me. Occasionally I make things for other people. Occasionally ;)
The instructions stipulate to size up if you are tall or if you think your fabric is a little firm; and yes indeedy; this. My first version was in a mystery black knit with just a medium stretch, bought in the Morrison remnant sale, and it turned out a little er, bottie-baring for me! Fortunately I have a petite daughter who can absorb into her wardrobe everything that is too small for me. :) And then I went up a size for me.

The red, orange, green, pale taupe and white coloured Netties are all in a super stretchy viscose/rayon knit from Fabulous Fabrics; and for this stretchier fabric I didn't need to lengthen although I did cut the sleeves at the size up. The fit is snug and fabulously comfy.

The white long sleeved tee is for my niece; her measurements matched the smallest size on the size chart and so I just ran it up quickly to test the fit. It was on the tight side for her too; so when starting out I do recommend erring on the side of too big, just to start with. You can always shave a bit off!
For the crotch closure I used strips of black snap tape; leftover from my Issey Miyake tucked dress. Obviously it would be every bit as quick to hammer in a coupla snaps though. Really, the Nettie is a wonderfully quick and easy project, the kind of thing you can run up to wear an hour later. The hardest part of making the body suits is finding scraps of woven for the crotch bit to match your fabric! I had nothing matching my green so used self fabric stiffened and stabilised with fusible interfacing.

I did something a bit different with the sleeves on my green one; I made them super long and put in a little thumb hole, finished with a band just like the neckline. Built-in hand warmers!

The pattern comes with multiple variations; a high, mid and low back neckline, and a high and low scoop front neckline, and with long, elbow-length and short sleeves, and a body-con dress. And obviously you can slice it off at hip level too and just have a tee. So much choice! If I'd had the dress option earlier I totally would have made one of these too...
I made some with elbow length sleeves and some with long sleeves, and some high neck and some scoop. I made them all with a high back neckline just because winter is around the next corner here, but I think a high front neck/low scooped-back neck Nettie would be an absolutely stunning summer evening option; worn with a huge oversized flouncy skirt, hair up in a bun. Imagine!
Also, I reckon if you made it with a closed crotch and a scoop neckline wide enough to allow you to step into it then the Nettie would work beautifully as a dance or workout leotard too. The sides are quite low-cut allowing for full bottom coverage and minimal chance of a wedgie wardrobe malfunction.

OK, I'm now baulking at posting a picture of myself in the pale taupe one sans outer layers; with my skin tone the overall effect is just a bit too er, nude?! but I have worn here it in a daily outfit already :)

Thank you for a fantastic pattern Heather!

Hello! I'm wearing a new dress. The cool fingers of winter are tickling at the edges of our days so obviously I had to make a light and fluttery, floaty white linen thing for myself. It was only logical * :D
Actually, the truth is that I made it a while ago now! when we were still getting very hot weather and I have worn it several times already. The pattern is the Zsalya from Kate & Rose patterns. Kati emailed me to ask if I would like to test one of their lovely new range; thank you so much for the opportunity Kati! It was so hard to choose just one! The Zsalya is a dress or top pattern with two sleeve variations, and I made the dress with short sleeves.
I knew straight away I would love this design. It has no closure, you just slip it on over your head and it is easy breezy, and as cool as. In all senses of the word. :)
The sleeves are quite cute. I like how they are tightly gathered in at the top which lends them a sweetly pert and boxy shape, and they have a pretty petal-shaped hemline.

The neckline is so clever. I think it's my favourite feature of the dress. When I first looked at how open it was I considered putting in a little rouleau loop and button closure, but you know what? there is absolutely no need. Gape-age just doesn't happen, thanks to the clever design. The crossover yoke is open so you can get your head through quite easily, but once the dress is on it all sits nicely flat and closed with a safe and demurely high neckline. Clever!
I edged the neckline with a patchworked strip of bias cut cotton scraps; this was simply sandwiched between the yoke and yoke facing before stitching them together.

I made my dress in a handkerchief grade linen from Fabulous Fabrics, and the patchwork border is comprised of various scraps from previous projects. I was inspired by this image. About once in a blue moon I actually find a need for those bitsy odds and sods of leftover cottons that are pretty much good for nothing, that I hoard like a crazy old fabric-obsessed miser. This was one of those rare occasions. Vindication!

The patchwork panel is backed with a white linen facing to stabilise it.

I added in-seam side pockets :)

Really, even though it looks blustery as all get-out in these pictures and it was, it was also quite insanely hot and muggy on the day I took them. So a loose little linen number was actually just what the Fremantle doctor ordered! I was getting bored with all my summer dresses so it was nice to have an excuse to make a new one. Summer dresses are such fun, both to make and to wear. And even this late in the season it's always nice to have a fresh and new-ish summer dress waiting in the wings of the wardrobe over winter :)

* Mr Spock, of course

Details:
Dress; the Kate & Rose Zsalya dress, white linen with patchwork details
Thongs, Havaianas

I am notoriously bad at tossing out old scraps of fabric. Particularly if I really really like the colour.
And I really really like olive.
So; after finishing my patched pockets skirt I still had some promisingly largish pieces of grey-green corduroy and olive-green moleskin leftover, and I unearthed from my "useful scraps" bag the remains of a different pair of grey-green corduroy pants that both my boys had worn at the age of eight to ten or thereabouts. Yeah, I keep stuff a long time. The knee areas were a bit thin in them all but there was still some nice sturdy fabric to be had there. And the colour!

oh ok I agree, doesn't look very promising...

So I've made a little skirt; just a casual knock around kinda of a thing. It is patched together from three different fabrics but it still looks quite plain I think since the colours are so similar to each other. I'm pretty chuffed with it! Of the pluses of working with old unwanted textiles; it's green, it's economical, you can sew to your heart's content unfettered by fear of failure. If you're reworking with the constraints of an old garment it exercises the ol' brain cells a bit. And so a successful outcome feels like a mega bonus!

The boys' old cords had kinda cool, oversized patch pockets on them that I've always liked and kept because I thought they might come in handy one day. I used these pieces with the pockets still in situ. Some of the leg fabric of these pants had previously gone into making the Green parliament, here. I also added some oddly shaped patch pockets to the back of my new skirt too, just because the back was a bit boring-looking without them.

Technically speaking; I used the upper skirt pattern pieces of Vogue 1247 to cut the waist to hips part with the waist-shaping darts but the overall shape of my skirt is more A-line than the pattern. This is pretty much my favourite "little skirt" silhouette at the moment.
I used an invisible zip in the back, an old button harvested from something else long forgotten, long ago, and plain white cotton to face the waistband, I made a bias strip of the same plain white cotton to finish the lower raw edge, turned up the lower edge once and stitched in the ditch by machine to hem. I reckon this is the best hemming method for thick fabric since bulk is minimised by only turning up once and a bias strip looks a lot neater and prettier than overlocking. Also if you are short on fabric you can still get a nice deep hem without losing length off the skirt. .

Details:
Skirt; my own design based upon Vogue 1247, made from three old pairs of jeans
Shirt; my own design variations upon Burda 7767, deep olive linen, details here
Thongs; Mountain Designs

this picture just because it made me laugh... o well hello there!

Hi peeps; new blouse!
Amity of Lolita patterns emailed me a few months ago asking if I would like to test their new blouse pattern, the Olive. Thank you so much Amity! I lurve trying out new patterns! I finished it a little while ago and have been sitting on it; awaiting the go ahead to Reveal. And ta da! Apparently I'm part of a "blog tour". This is a new thing for me. No, I hadn't heard of a blog tour before either. It's kinda exciting :)
The Olive blouse is a fitted blouse with a waistband, pleated peplum and elbow length sleeves. It has two variations; view A has a draped chiffon overlay, vertically aligned flounce and a rolled chiffon flower on the front, also with or without a little gathered frill on the sleeves too. View B is, literally, the no frills version. Closure for both versions is by invisible zip in the side seam.

So, I did make view A, with the overlay and flounce. Although I left off the flower and the sleeve frills. The sleeve cap is pleated into the arm scye with six teensy little pleats. Tres cute, non?!

My measurements put me at a size 6, however a quick recce of the pattern pieces decided me to size up to an 8, and I am glad I did. It is quite close-fitting. Linen is a fairly unforgiving fabric with zero give to it however, so I reckon if I was using something like a stretch sateen then the given size would probably be fine.

OK, so that's what my blouse used to look like! It can be seen from the very top picture that it looks a little bit different now. It's been de-flounced. Sadly I've realised I'm not a flounce kinduvva person. I de-overlayed it too. To replace the flounce I made shaped button- and buttonhole-bands for the left bodice seam. This is fully functional and fully button-and-unbuttonable but since I still use the invisible zip to get it on and off the button band is effectively decorative.

I really like mine with the button band, sort of casual and therefore more suited to my fabric choice; a fine-grade white linen from Fabulous Fabrics, the same fabric I used for my patchwork Zsalya dress, with white buttons also from Fabulous Fabrics. I think it's still quite feminine looking with the sleeve length and the pleated peplum. but has a certain something else to it now, I don't know what. Dentist? A rumpled one, after a long hard day at the drill. Yes. OK, I'm totally on board with that. A little known fact is that I do actually have dentist blood running through my veins.
Anyway, whatever it is, I do think it turned out very "me"!
But I jest. Seriously now the blouse is a classic style and so therefore quite versatile and would work with lots of fabrics. The jazzy style A in satin or silk would be a very pretty evening blouse and the plainer style B in sateen or crepe would make a very smart option for work.
Since I acknowledge that I do have about a zillion white shirts I am toying with the idea of dyeing it. Or maybe not. I'm dithering.

Details:
Blouse; modified Olive blouse by Lolita patterns, white linen
Skirt;skirt "m" from shape shape by Natsuno Hiraiwa, dusky pink linen/cotton, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

It's too early for pruning, technically speaking. Purists would tut.
But I figured the rain was just about to decimate them anyway. It was a rescue mission.

So; y'know that moment when you're poised in the act of clicking the shutter on your perfectly lovely and Hallmark-worthy still-life of Blooms with Pretty Tea-cup ... ?

Hello! I am getting started on my next Alabama Chanin project.
Yes, an authentically executed Alabama Chanin creation is a big time commitment but I really enjoyed making my 3-piece set and it is nice to have a hand-held project to work on slowly, something easily transportable that doesn't require much space or special equipment or a lot of thought but that you can just pick it up and get on with, a little bit at a time.
I'm using some hot pink jersey knit from my stash, bought in the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of my trips over there with Mum and Cassie, I've forgotten which one now. Probably the previous one, hmmm... Actually, I had pulled this fabric out in the early planning stages of my recent SWAP and marked it as a definite; that was before eyeballing the rest of the long term stash residents that I was keen to sew up and realised that colour-wise, it didn't fit in at all.
And it still didn't. Really, hot pink? I don't know what I was thinking. My current way of thinking wrt my wardrobe is to have it mostly subtly and/or autumnally shaded, and while in theory I like hot pink, in reality I was just like; ah, No.
So, step one; wash, soak and dye the fabric. I used a small shake each of iDye in Brown, Yellow and Chestnut in the dye-pot. Sounds hideous? well I did do a small sample first and thought it a huge improvement. So that was a go. My fabric was a slightly variegated hot pink and became a slightly variegated rusty-purply raspberry.

Cutting and Printing: This is where things got tricky... I received an email recently from Carolyn in Florida, asking about the curl factor of jersey and how did it affect the Alabama Chanin technique. Well, in the case of this particular fabric as can be seen in the photo above, the curl factor was extreme and the edges of my fabric curled up so badly. And they just would not lie flat by themselves. From a screen printing point of view this is disastrous. I wanted to have my screen print go right up to the very edges of the fabric, and so the edges just had to lie as flat as possible. So for a quick and easy fix-it I just used regular household sticky tape to tape just the very edge of the fabric down to my backing newspaper, just inside the seam allowance and immediately prior to printing. Not a pretty or elegant solution, but it worked pretty well!

Printing the fabric seems to have tamed the curl quite a lot too! The seam allowance for Alabama Chanin designs is small, like 5mm or so, so you do need to print right up close to the edge. I've found from my first project that I prefer to have my embroidery right up to but preferably not within the seam allowances, though.

I will say; if your fabric does curl very badly I can see the case for printing then cutting out. I do have my reasons for preferring to print after cutting out; reduces waste of expensive printing ink since you're only printing what you are using: heckuvva lot easier when manipulating the smaller pieces to get a very good placement of print. That last point is my primary reason for doing it this way, and I'm still glad I did cut out first. I guess this is something that the individual will have to decide for themselves when embarking on a project like this :)

The Stencil: This time I chose the Abbie's Flower stencil from the book Alabama Chanin Studio + Design, by Natalie Chanin. I enlarged it by approximately three times using the good ol'-fashioned method of drawing a grid on the design, then drawing a bigger grid on your paper in which you painstakingly copy each little square on the bigger scale. Like we used to use in primary school; from back in the dark ages, before photocopiers. Ha!

I thought the overall motif was still a bit small and my least favourite part of printing is placement of the screen for repeat printings. I mean; if your motif is larger in area then you decrease the number of times you have to re-place the screen on your piece of fabric; and the less placement the better, imo. So I ad-libbed putting more motifs from the Abby's Flower stencil around about and added in a few random leaves and curlicues of my own too, until my stencil covered the maximum area I could get on my screen.

The embroidery technique I have chosen for this project requires keeping the printed motifs intact in the final garment, so I needed to print the motifs in proper fabric paint instead of the discardable house-paint that I used for my first project. I used Permaset water based Textile Printing Ink from Jacksons, and mixed a deep oxblood red/brown colour using orange, crimson and a bit of green.
My green had a few chunky bits in it that didn't mix in properly, and I really like the few areas of streaky green that showed up in the screen print. It's almost a pity that they will be mostly covered up by my embroidery!

My print placement was not perfect: note; it never is! and after I'd finished I noticed a few largish gaps that stood out visually in a not-good way. So the next day I mixed up a teeny bit more paint, cut a new, very small paper stencil of two leaves and carefully printed in a few of these in the gap areas. The design looks quite irregular so I think it worked out very well. They stand out like a sore thumb right now because they are a deeper colour but I'm thinking they'll probably blend in OK once I get embroidering :)

I really really wanted some navy blue tights. Basically I have two, yes, two! navy blue corduroy skirts for winter, and a coupla hand-knit cardigans including this one which are mainly midnight blue and which I want to dig out and wear more, quite a lot of other navy blue stuff too, ahem *blush* and so matching tights seems like a Plan. Man, I'm getting so sensible lately.
Anyway... *ten minutes of sewing later* DONE!
Well, apart from the fact I had to go back to the fabric store twice, but I'm not counting that. No, I'm not. I had a small disaster wrt the fact that you really should check twice before laying the pattern piece down to really make sure as in beyond reasonable doubt that the degree of most stretch is going to be horizontally; or around your legs. More importantly, around your hips. Because if you get it wrong you might not be able to get your brand new freakin tights up over your freakin hips. But let's not dwell on that now. The past is in the past and I'm moving on.
I have tights.
Fabric is a rayon/viscose from Fabulous Fabrics. It's fabulous, warm and with terrific recovery, and my second attempt is perfect.
Actually I do have several other new things to show here, but my photo-taking and documentation is dawdling. I'm taking part in me-made May, which has become kind of like the unofficial Annual Seamsters' Convention, albeit a virtual one. I'm in the Flickr group, and I'm trying to spend a sensible amount of time on it all so blogging-wise I'm pacing myself. New things to appear here very soon.
Later dudes!

Tights; my own custom fit pattern, details and my tutorial on how to make your own custom fit tights here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, navy blue corduroy (made from old jeans) details here
Top; loose draped top from drape drape by Hisako Sato, white crinkly jersey knit, details here
Cardigan; hand-knit by me using Patons 8ply wool, to a Patons pattern, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

I think every year I seem compelled to make for myself one skirt in some extremely garish shade. This year isn't get away scot free either.
I bought this brilliant daffodil yellow pin-wale corduroy from Spotlight a few years ago. And I apologise for my painfully predictable choice of another Vogue 1247 skirt.
So, I put some thought into thinking of something new to write about the pattern here. I've used it a lot so clearly its got a lot going for it and so it shouldn't be hard to write some fresh and original new praise for the pattern. Truly I wish I could expound long and freely and with poetic abandon upon the multitude merits of the humble Vogue 1247 skirt. But the well of words has run dry. So my love just has to be expressed wordlessly and in the mute evidence of the sheer number of them that have rolled off the sewing machine.

OK, lining. I can say something about that. I wanted to line it, so I could wear it with tights during winter. So, when in Spotlight recently I checked out the lining situ-bar. It was poor. But they had something called Dancetime Satin which was both cheap and a not-terrible colour. See, here's the thing; my most favourite-ist skirt lining of all time has been the ivory satin I used in my curtaining skirt; another Vogue 1247. It's been a sheer joy to wear this skirt, every time, and part of it is in the quiet hidden luxury of the rich lining with its sheen and its cool slipperiness. But there's satin and then there's satin.

Like a fool, I fell for a low price.
I have some hard-won advice for everyone; do not ever, under any circumstances, EVER, buy Dancetime Satin. Unless you are planning to set fire to something quickly.
Dancetime Satin is like demon's spawn, put on this earth in order to torment the unsuspecting home seamster. Truthfully.

Really I should have given up on it, sought out some regular polyacetate lining from Fabulous Fabrics. But I struggled on with the Dancetime Satin lining, and because there was some leftover I made some bias to finish the lower hem.
I'm hoping it proves itself nice to wear, at least.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247, lengthened and lined and more A-line, yellow corduroy, my review of this pattern here
Top; the twist top from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, charcoal ponte, details here
Tights, self-drafted, black merino knit, details here, and my tutorial on how to make your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

Not that the back view of this skirt is particularly noteworthy, but I've realised I've pretty much never provided on my blog a back view of this Pattern Magic twist top. I love this top. I want it to last forever.

Fulfilling a need rather than a want, I made another lingerie set for myself. It's not speccie* but just a bread-and-butter everyday set, with a Tshirt bra and two pairs of matching plain undies. The fabric is a strawberry pink cotton/lycra blend from the Fabric Store in Melbourne, bought for the specific purpose of a new lingerie set but I was a little shocked when I dug it out of my stash. The colour was a bit more er, pink! than I remember. I'm sure it used to be a lot closer to my skin colour. Honestly, I swear it got pinker while it was sitting marinating in my stash. Seriously!
Anyway.

The bra is made using KwikSew 3300, modified by adding in foam cup inserts within the layers of the cup and hand-pickstitching the cup to the inside layer. The two pairs of identical matching undies are both the bikini bottoms of McCalls 2772, another old favourite that I've used for all my undies. It has a nice high-cut leg that I think I prefer to the boy leg cut. I have a small handful of boy-leg style undies and I find I'm always itching to hoist them up at the sides all day. Maybe I should wear a boy-leg more to get used to them. Get out of that rut. OK, next time. Maybe ;)
This is my favourite sort of style; a plain and simple little set, easy and comfy to wear with the perfect amount of padding and structure to keep me happy. Basics. Comfort food for the smalls drawer. :)
However;
I'm boring. I know I'm boring. I'm boring myself too! My new set is not exciting. Well, are basics ever exciting? This was definitely a cake exercise, not icing. I want to make icing now. I think I need to break away from the tried and true and make a more wow set next. I'm actually investigating a few different bra patterns *gasps*

*"speccie"; spectacular

I've made a dotty little cardigan :) Yes, it seems like I'm turning out new stuff everyday, but the truth is that some of my recent items have been finished for up to a few weeks or more and it is just my photo-taking that has been lagging. Not the pink lingerie, which I really did only finish yesterday. But certainly this cardigan and my yellow skirt. I have me-made May to thank for kicking me into action, photo-wise :)
I bought this coffee and black polka-dot knit fabric in Tokyo while shopping there in January with Yoshimi and Cassie. I can't remember the name of the store but think it was Yoshimi's favourite knit store? The fabric came in several colour ways, each of which I loved! at first sight! with a passion! and it was soooo hard to pick just one. I spent ages and ages, dithering over the gold, the teal, the purple, the coffee. Obviously coffee won in the end, but there was inner angst at leaving the others behind. The store owner gave us each a pen and a lolly, just for shopping, or maybe to thank me for leaving at last ;)

I bought another absolutely divine burnt-chocolate knit at the same store, another hard-thought out decision. Seriously, the fabric shopping in Tokyo is too fabulous for words. I would so love to go every year!
So, I like polka dots, but I particularly like them if they are either :
A. a bit randomly placed
B. irregularly sized and
C. a bit splodgy and undefined in their outline
Yes, yes and yes. This one ticked all the boxes!

The design is based roughly upon the shape of a favourite RTW cardigan with a few minor shaping modifications. I sewed all seams on my machine then finished the raw edges on my overlocker, and stabilised the shoulder seams inside with Seams Great, a gift from velosewer, thank you Maria!

The neckline band is cut on grain because there is almost no stretch in that direction and I joined the pieces on the bias; a joining seam can just be seen in the top right section in the picture below. I started joining band strips on the bias like this on my raglan-sleeved baseball tee, did it for all my Netties; and it's become my new little "thing" to do because it greatly reduces seam allowance bulk in the band at that joining point and so makes for a much smoother and neater band. I can write a little how-to if anyone is interested?

I finished the hems and bands by hand because I wanted the finishes to be as invisible on the outside as possible. I applied a strip of iron-on interfacing to the quarter of the front band strip that was going to be the outside bit to stabilise it; sewed the band onto the front edge by machine, turned under the outer seam allowance and hand-stitched it down inside.

The buttonholes are by machine though. I practised a few buttonholes on scrap to make sure my machine wasn't going to chew through the fabric before going at it for real. I was pretty pleased that they actually worked out pretty good :)
The black buttons are from Fabulous Fabrics.

Details:
Cardigan; my own design, coffee with black dot knit with only a little widthwise stretch.
Tshirt; never blogged, it's just a plain self-drafted thing in beige jersey
Skirt; Burda style magazine 10/2010-136, (the Karl Lagerfeld skirt) lengthened, black wool suiting, details and my review of this pattern here
Tights; self-drafted, black merino, details here and my tutorial for drafting your own custom fit tights here
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes
Sunnies; RayBan

eleynagomez asked how I made the thumbhole bands on my Nettie bodysuit, thank you so much for asking!
I didn't take any pictures while I was making the real thing but I sat down this weekend and ran up a little mock-up band ... basically it is the exact same procedure as if you are adding a neckline or armhole band to a Tshirt but just on a much smaller scale!

Firstly, when you cut your Tshirt or bodysuit pieces cut the sleeves long enough that they will cover over your hands, as above. Make the Tshirt.
Try on and mark with a pin where you want the thumbholes to sit on the sleeves.
Now, measure around the base of your thumb and cut 4cm wide bands to fit, adding 0.5cm seam allowance onto each short end.

Sew the band in a ring, press the seam allowance open.

Fold in half, long edges together. Cut an on-grain slit in the sleeve at where the thumbhole is marked; make it just a bit shorter than the length of the folded band. It is best to make it a bit short, you will stretch the hole to fit the band as you are sewing. If the hole turns out to be too small to stretch out sufficiently to fit the band; you can always nick the end of the slit a little bit longer while sewing. But if you make it too long to start with then the thumb-band might stretch out and be too loose around your thumbs.

And no one wants *horrified gasp* floppy thumb-holes!
Pin from the band side, since stitching is to be done with the band side up.

Also... important: whenever you do sew a ring or a tube of fabric like this, be sure to always sew from inside the tube rather than the outside; to avoid sewing down the opposite or underside by mistake!

Because it is such a tiny weeny little band; just go slow, keeping an even distance from the folded edge of the band at the left of the needle, and checking constantly to make sure the slit edge is being caught underneath into the seam. Stretch out each end of the slit to fit the band as you go.

If desired, the seam allowance can be neatened by overlocker.

Also, I mentioned previously about sewing the joining seam in a band on the bias... I did say I would write a how-to, but this really only qualifies as a "tip", I think!

When sewing a jersey band onto the neckline or armhole or any aperture really! of a knit garment, I've generally gone for a straight seam just because it's easy.
But because there are almost double the number layers of fabric sitting at that joining seam point compared to elsewhere along the band this area is can sometimes be a bit bulky and you sometimes end up with a slight bump no matter how carefully you guide that seam through the machine. Seriously, getting a nice smooth and even-width band all the way around is often the hardest part about making a Tshirt!
So lately I've been cutting and sewing the join on the diagonal, reducing the number of layers at the joining seam, and I think it's been an improvement with almost no bumpy bit at all!!
It is a particularly good idea for bands like a cardigan button band, on which slight bumps and irregularities in thickness and width are particularly noticeable.

You do have to be careful while sewing that joining seam, since the fabric is on the bias along that edge you have to watch out that you're not stretching the fabric at all while you're sewing that short seam. If you're in any doubt as to whether the fabric will distort during stitching it would help to pin and sew to a backing piece of tissue paper, which can be ripped away after it is sewn.
Later edit in response to an email question; just to be clear, the band is NOT a bias-cut band, it is still cut cross-grain just like you normally would and it is just the short joining ends that are being cut on the diagonal :)

And yes, the thumbhole bands I described above are so tiny it was really too tricky to mess about with bias joining seams and I just cut those on the straight. Choose your battles!

Green pleats, please!

Pink Alabama Chanin T-shirt

Patched pockets

leatherette/pleather piping

Piped trench

"Baseball" skirt and tee

Inside Out

Gold Miette

SWAP; in conclusion

Nettie; by seven

White linen dress with patchwork

Olive Frankenstein skirt

white linen Olive blouse

A hasty pruning before an imminent downpour

Further Alabama Chanin-ing

Navy blue tights

Incredi-Yellow!

Lolly-pink lingerie set

Little black polka-dots

More on sewing knit bands