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What I gave...

5 January 2009, 13:56

The tree and the outdoor lights are all taken down, the chocolates have been scoffed, and the last of the pine needles are being hoovered off the floor… My Christmas sewing was in overdrive this year, but it’s not until now that I really get to see how everyone liked their gifts!

My neighbour Jamaica was telling me months ago how impossible it is to find the cute little jersey balaclavas her 3 year old daughter loves, so she lent me one to copy after I had a good look at it. It’s really just one pattern piece, cut four times (two in each fabric) and sewn together along the back/top seam and also on the lower neck seam. You can see the pattern piece in the side photo on the left below (the right photo is the front view with the hole for the face). Then I connected the two around the face hole, turned them right side out, and serged the bottom edge together and left that raw (like the RTW one, which is just peeking out below on the left).

All in all, this little balaclava took no more than 5 minutes to cut and sew together out of scraps I already had lying around, and these apparently sell in Denmark for 30 euros! Since I’ve got my own pattern piece now, I made her promise she’d not buy any more and just come and tell me when she wants more! I delivered this one on Christmas Eve (as per the Nordic tradition) and I can’t wait to see her in it once they emerge from the warmth…

Next up is the black knit dress I made for my Mom. If you’re a Pattern Review member, than you may have already read my review but if you’re not a member, you can have a look at BWOF 09/2008 #135 here.

She absolutely loves it and went out and bought shoes and a belt to wear with it and already wore it out to the Nutcracker ballet and New Year’s Eve, so I think that’s a glowing endorsement!

You may also remember the Hannah Montana polo dress, top and leggings I made for my niece Megan. I’m happy to say that the fit on the dress and top are perfect, and even though the leggings are tight like I expected, they’re not quite as bad as I thought!

I hadn’t even thought to combine the leggings with the polo dress, either!

Another little gift I threw in for my Mom and Megan were more of BurdaStyle’s free sleepmasks, with “Granny” embroidered on one and “Megan” on the other. My mom has ben sleeping in Megan’s room when they stay there, but doesn’t get as much sleep as she’d like when the lights are left on all night!

This was a big hit at Christmas, with Megan saying that maybe she won’t even need to leave the lights on as her mask is so nice! The only alteration I made to this to make it kid-sized was to use a shorter length of elastic, so this might be an idea for another “light sleeper”…

And it’s also nice to see my Dad is still making fantastic use of the santa suit I sewed him two years ago – does he not make the best Santa Claus ever??

(Yes, that is a genuine white beard, beer belly, and jolly red nose! He’s also the family photographer for that side of the Atlantic…)

And since this is a bit of a holiday roundup post, have a look at this Christmas cracker joke I received!

It almost makes up for not getting any of the sewing kits in our box of crackers (as pictured on the back)!

As for my holiday sewing, I’ve been working like an absolute mad woman on my unfinished (and untouched since August!) winter coat for the last few days straight, but I’ll have more on that later… I am determined to have a ridiculously warm coat by the end of the week to combat the subzero temperatures we’ve had for the past three weeks straight!

Tags: kids, xmas

Comment [2]

Here's to 2009!

1 January 2009, 15:40

Here’s hoping I’m as productive in 2009 as I was in 2008! (Click the composite photo to zoom in, and have a look in the Gallery to read more about any of them…)

(Here’s 2007’s roundup, for comparison)

Highlights of 2008 include:

• Buying a serger and learning to master knits in the month of July


• Making a full tuxedo suit out of vintage wool


• Getting engaged and deciding what to do with my Granny’s vintage gown to make it mine


• Discovering Goldhawk Road (thanks, Anwen!)


• Making my first ever swimsuit


• Appearing in Burda WOF/burdamode magazine and big London papers The Daily Express and Metro!


• Making a man’s shirt to be proud of


• Using pattern companies I’d never sewn before: Patrones, Marfy, La Mia Boutique, Jalie, Knippie idee, and Prima


• Sewing much more for other people


• Recycled/upcycled/refashioned more


• Writing a project to be published in an upcoming book

I don’t keep track of yardage used vs bought like some sewers, but I thought I’d try my hand at a year-end tally of finished garments. The only unfinished objects are my winter coat and that Jean Paul Gaultier Patrones skirt from way back in February, which I don’t think is too shabby overall!

By my count, I believe I made:

• 26 tops


• 9 dresses


• 11 pairs of trousers


• 6 jackets


• 3 skirts (which really surprises me! I could’ve sworn I’d made more!)


• …and a lot of other things like swimsuits, fascinators, sleepmasks, pillows, placemats, etc

I’m not much one for resolutions, sewing or otherwise, but here’s to bigger and better things in 2009!

Tags:

Comment [9]

Purple silk Patrones blouse

29 December 2008, 14:44

What better to round out my current purple and grey kick than by using up the silk charmeuse leftover from Pip’s purple pyjamas! I used the Toypes top pattern, #76,
from Patrones 261 (borrowed and traced from my Patrones benefactor, Zoe), which I’ve had languishing in my pattern catalogue for nearly a year now.

I had just enough fabric to make this top and a full lining, though I opted to leave out the tie waistband and instead just lengthen the bottom by two inches to compensate…

The front pleated section gave me a bit of trouble, as I’d never done pleating like that before, and the pattern only provided the finished panel size. So I took a strip of scrap fabric and experimented a little with my ruler and different pleat widths until I got one where the folds overlapped and covered the earlier pleat’s stitching. Still, it was a lot of work but I’m pretty pleased at how even they turned out, even though it’s not perfect.

I also really love the neckline and wide-set sleeves here (it was really windy during this photoshoot so the sleeve doesn’t usually fall off my shoulder like that!). It’s so wide that anything but a strapless bra will show, but the triangular shape of the sleeves is just lovely, and was very easy to sew. I’m not so certain about the gathering across the back, though – it tends to bubble out into a strange shape unless I’m standing straight, so if I make this again, I’ll probably change the upper back piece to omit the gathers.

As I mentioned above, this is completely self lined, so the lining is almost identical to the exterior, with the exception of the pleated panel, which is plain here.

In the middle photo you can see how the lining meets the zipper. Normally I’d just stitch this by hand, but I’m beta-testing a pattern for a new pattern company, and in their instructions they have you machine stitch the lining to the zipper tape from the wrong side, which seems so obvious now! So I tried out this technique and I’ll honestly never go back to hand stitching here again! Though I couldn’t escape handstitching the inside hem, so thank god I’ve got long holiday days to sit about with a needle and thread…

Oh, and if you spotted my new shoes above, you get extra points! They’re United Nude, and James picked them out for me. I love them!!

I made this top to coordinate with my grey high waisted wool trousers (as seen in the photos above!), my grey skinny jeans and also my purple wool sweater as part of Pattern Review’s Endless Combinations contest. And now I’m finished with the wardrobe so you can see the finished garments in my competition entry below!

Tags: patrones, silk, top

Comment [7]

Pink guitar pyjamas

26 December 2008, 18:35

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the boat, all the creatures were stirring, especially Melissa at her sewing machine and Bosco with his catnip mouse!

We were invited to breakfast on Christmas morning at a neighbour’s and she kept saying how we should all just come in our pyjamas for some bucks fizz, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, so I thought it’d be fun to whip up some brand new pyjamas to wear! Christmas has always meant new pyjamas to my mom in particular – growing up, she and her brother and sister would always wake to find a new pair at the top of the stairs which they’d then be expected to change into so they were wearing new PJs in the christmas photos! I didn’t take it that far (I changed into the blue silk cocktail dress in time for dinner!), but it was awfully nice to wake up and put on new, comfortable clothes!

I used two patterns for the pyjamas, neither of which were actually meant for nightwear… The long sleeved top is 08/06 #104 (which is now reprinted as Burda envelope pattern 7892) and the bottoms are actually leggings from KnipMode 03/2007 #11.

Both are made using the incredibly soft pink retro guitars waffle knit from Crybaby’s Boutique. It’s killing me that I only bought 2 yards (and these used every last scrap, believe me!!), as it’s now sold out and I really wish I’d bought 5 or 6….

I cut out and sewed together the whole set in one afternoon, mostly using my serger on a 4-thread overlock stitch. Both were really easy to construct – the leggings were just two pattern pieces and an elastic waistband, and the top was essentially a long sleeved tee with some front seamed sections. The only major change I made was to add 4” cuffs to the bottoms of the leggings because they were really short when I tried them on! I can’t stand capris, so I used a few scant scraps from the remaining fabric to elongate the legs, which actually looks intentional in this style…

The other change was to eliminate the seam allowance from the top’s neckline and use some mauve twill fold over elastc (FOE) from MacCulloch & Wallis along the neckline.

It was my first time using FOE and it wasn’t too difficult providing I took my time and went slowly to make sure my stitches were catching on both sides. If I had mauve thread, I’m sure it could look even better, but for pyjamas I’m not too fussed on the details!

Tags: bwof, knipmode, knit, lingerie, xmas

Comment [4]

Patrones grey wool trousers

22 December 2008, 13:45

My high-waisted Patrones grey wool trousers are now finished! You may remember from last week that I was so excited to have made my first ever welt pockets and also working with curpro fabric for the lining for the first time, too, but now you can see the finished article, too.

To refresh your memory, these are a pair of high waisted, wool trousers from the fabulous Patrones 272, by the Jucca brand:

And here are mine!

These are made with a fantastic grey stretch wool I bought off eBay, and I love that they’ve got a subtle pinstripe running through them that isn’t OTT “Wall Street” but just adds a tiny bit of elongation. I’ve found in the past that, much to my chagrin, wide-legged trousers make my 5’7” frame look really short, so I was chuffed to find these trousers that were high-waisted, but with a slim leg (though really, there’s so many high waisted trousers and skirts in this issue that you’re bound to find something with the perfect silhouette for you!). Unfortunately I only had barely enough fabric to make these (one waistband facing piece had to be made up from smaller fabric pieces, it was that tight!) so there was no way I could match up the pinstripes…

Since these were the first Patrones trousers I’ve ever made, I wisely made the decision to create a muslin first. I’m not one for “wearable muslins” – if I do one, it’s really just bedsheets and basting stitches! But it was enough to see that the front pieces were way too small on me, so I had to add nearly two inches to the front overall, tapering that down again on the waistband piece (not shown here).

Strangely enough, the back fitted fine in size 44 (I’m a very standard Burda 42, for comparison), so the alterations were only done to the front pieces. You may have noticed that I also moved the welt pockets from the front waistband to the back, as having tiny pockets on the waistband just seemed like a strange location! And as these were high waisted, I also added sew-in boning to the waistband facing merely to keep the front from wrinkling when I sit down. I do this for everything with a high waist, and it’s really not uncomfortable in the slightest – I honestly can’t even feel it’s there, but it makes such a difference in appearance.

I also did a bit of recycling here – the four buttons on the waistband are actually from an old blue velvet waistcoat of James’s – they looked horrible and stuffy on there so we replaced them with aged sterling silver buttons a few months ago, but they were the perfect fit for this fabric and pattern here!

I made this top to coordinate with my purple KnipMode twist top (as seen in the photos above!), black yoga tee, and also my purple wool sweater as part of Pattern Review’s Endless Combinations contest. I’m still working on the last top for it using the leftover purple silk charmeuse from Pip’s pyjamas…

But for now, here’s my composite photo (click to enbiggen!):

Tags: boning, patrones, trousers, wool

Comment [11]

Early gifts - Electric sheep and birds in my sleep

19 December 2008, 12:47

Sheep!

When my good friends Brian and Sharon heard the news that I’m likely to be spending time in hospital soon, they sent me a parcel out of the blue, with a huge box of crayons and a colouring book (for something to do in a hospital bed!) and about 4 yards of this:

There was a note attached, too: “To make comfy lounge pants”! I’m not one to disregard notes so I reckon I’ll be turning these wee sheep into Jalie 2686 that I recently made in purple silk for Pip. It’s nice to have proper pyjamas when you’re in a situation when they might be seen by other people…

Electronic sewing!

And speaking of Pip, we exchanged gifts last week and she got me the fabulous Fashioning Technology book.

You may remember that my brother bought me the amazingly cool Lilypad Arduino for Christmas last year, but I really haven’t done much with it since the books on learning circuits and electronics are just SO dry. So imagine my surprise when I realised that not only does this book give step-by-step instructions for building cool electronic toys, clothes, and decorations, but that it also teaches you everything you need to know about the electronic components, too.

It starts off with “these are what these bits look like and what they do”, showing you about LEDs and simple circuits and all that, adding a little bit at a time and even explaining how to trouble shoot. It’s really, really well written and I can’t recommend it highly enough if you’re interested in sewing and electronics.

Here are two of the projects they show you how to make, too – earmuff headphones that glow when you’re listening to music, and these finger puppets that whir and light up and buzz and things. Very cute. Really, my only problem with this book is that it wasn’t released soon enough – I could’ve really done with having this last year!

Friday music!

And in “slightly tenuous link to sewing” news, I am absolutely smitten with the special sneak preview I’ve had of the new album from The Bird and The Bee. If you know nothing else about them, let the following photo sink into your consciousness and then love them thereafter:

How can you help but love a band who has a vintage sewing machine in their press photos? Besides being completely prolific (5 EPs and 2 LPs in 26 months!), they’re also just giving songs away! Go to their official site to download a free mp3 of their version of The Twelve Days of Christmas that actually won’t make your relatives go insane from Christmas overload (though IMHO, last year’s release of Carol Of The Bells was even better).

And until then, have a listen to the most infectious song on the new album, Love Letter to Japan. James and I both woke up this morning with it stuck in our heads!