Holiday Sewing… And Fabric Shopping Plans!

I have been quiet on the blog for quite some time due to work and generally being busy with life.  However, I have still been sewing a lot and have attended a course at Morley College one day a week which has been amazing and I have learnt so much as well as making some new sewing friends!

So … for now I will just show my basic makes for holiday, ie, easy to wash and wear with minimal care.  We are going away for 3 weeks with a small luggage allowance so I’m trying to mix and match clothing!

This is a hack of the Scout Tee, I just cropped it and added a 9″ peplum which is almost double the width of the top (not quite double as I didn’t have enough fabric)!

As you can see there is a seam down the front, this is because I cut it out late at night after a long day at work and I accidentally placed the shoulder curve on the fold thinking it was the front neckline, anyway, it turned out ok!

Next up, another Scout Tee hack with a dipped hem at the back (and no centre seam!)

I love this fabric, such pretty colours, Tilly and the Buttons used it in some of their kits for the Zadie dress.

I also made a knit top from a Stoff and Stil pattern, it’s supposed to be for a woven but I wanted a knit of ease of wear and I love the sleeves with a slight gather at the shoulder and the bell shape.

Apologies for the messy kitchen and lack of head, my photographer was doing his best under pressure to get back to the world of Zelda!

Hopefully I will get back into the groove and catch up with my massive backlog of finished garments .. just need to get all the photos done!

 

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Hand Made Holiday Wardrobe

I’ve had a fabulous summer, a family holiday in Croatia and a week with just me and the kids in Cornwall with some friends.  The British summer has been fantastic where we are and it seems to have gone on for ever!

Now back to reality!

Before we went to Croatia I planned to travel light and have a mix and match wardrobe as we were traveling about for the first 10 days, staying a few nights here and there so having easy to put together clothes would make life easier and we didn’t want to have a lot of luggage to carry around.

I’m not usually very good at being organized but I was quite impressed with myself!  Before going I made 4 t-shirts, 3 Scouts and 1 Concord, a Groove Dress, Mecury Trousers, refashioned an old maxi dress into a skirt and I had some summer clothes I made for last year’s holiday.  I didn’t get a photo of everything as I kept forgetting but  here are some … I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Refashioned maxi dress and Scout Tee

Concord Tee and Mercury Trousers

Faye Skirt and Scout Tee

Mercury Trousers and Scout Tee

Scout Tee dress

Groove Dress

Hope you all had a good summer!

“It looks like a £70 Top!”

I’ve been away a while, but all back to normal now!  I have been doing bits of sewing here and there but nothing major – life gets in the way sometimes …

I have been on a bit of a sweatshirt mission for some reason, maybe it’s the change to  autumnal weather!  I’ve made a Jasper sweatshirt from Paprika Patterns, two Fielders from Merchant and Mills, and 2 Lindens from Grainline Studio!  I made all of them on my fabulous overlocker which made them really quick sews, I only used my sewing machine for some top stitching round the neck of the Lindens and Fielders. Here’s the Jasper …

I used some great quality fabric I bought in Stockholm which is so soft it’s like stroking a cat! I really like the fit of this, it has princess seams which makes the bust fit and on the drafting, from size 8-12 it’s a B cup and size 14 onwards is drafted for a C cup which makes perfect sense as not many size 14+ would be a B cup.  You’d think more designers would cop on to that fact!

The neckline is very flattering, it’s supposed to have a tab thing that buttons down at the side of the neck but I left that off and I think it looks better like this.  It also can be made in a tunic/dress length and have welt pockets into the front princess seams.  There’s also the option of a hem band and cuffs.  I love sweatshirts and the cosy comfort of them but don’t like the bulky, blokey look that some RTW have.

I think I will be making another of these and maybe one for my Mum!

 

A Holiday and a Summer Wardrobe

We have had 3 wonderful weeks away and it has been an amazing trip. (If you just want to get to the sewing, scroll down!)  Firstly, we flew to Stockholm, which is a beautiful city, loads of things to see and do, if you have kids I would recommend the Viking Museum and the Abba Museum, both are very interactive and great fun! It also has a great fabric shop, Tygverket, where I bought a few meters.

Then we went to Lake Vattern for 4 days – very tranquil and peaceful but if you are a city person like me, 4 days is probably enough!  On to Gothenburg, which was also fabulous.  We then drove to Copenhagen and had 3 days there, unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but on a sunny afternoon we did a boat trip round the city which was fun, some very interesting buildings.

Finally, we went to Croatia for the last week and it was gloriously sunny and such a beautiful, cultured and sophisticated country, I would definitely recommend it.  I found some great jewellery shops that sold pieces made by local designers.  I particularly liked the design of Midzo, and bought a couple of pieces.

On to the sewing!  Obviously, whilst away I didn’t do any sewing but I did wear all the things I made, so here they are …

My “hurry up and take the photo” look

This is a dress I haven’t blogged about, I love the fabric, it has trees with colours coming through like a sunset, bought from Rolls and Rems on Seven Sisters Road.  Its a mash up between a Scout Tee, Grainline Studio, and the Coco Dress, Tilly and the Buttons.

Aeolian Dress, I said to the Mr “its about the dress, not me”, so he cut my head off!

Penelope Dress and another “hurry up and take the photo” look

Scout Tee and Trousers from Sewing Bee Book

I can’t tell you how much I love these trousers, I wore them so much on holiday and they are so comfy and cool (as in temperature, I don’t kid myself I look “cool”!)

Well, that’s it, it’s good to be home and back on the blog! (And “Bake Off” is back on TV yay!!) Please leave a comment by clicking the “comments” box at the top of the page, I would love to hear from you.  What have you been up to this summer, or winter, depending where you are?

 

A Holiday Wardrobe!

 

I have made several things for our up coming holiday – only 1 week to go!!  First of all these Hawaiian print trousers.  I made these using the jumpsuit pattern from the Sewing Bee book (a fantastic purchase – so many patterns from one book – and great information about fabric choice etc). This is the pattern hack of the jumpsuit which you can make into trousers by tracing off the lower waist line.  I LOVE this pattern, for lots of reasons.  A) It fit me right from the pattern with no adjustment at all (I usually do a FBA (I know this stands for Full Bust Adjustment but for me its a Full Bum Adjustment ha!).  B) It has no zips or pockets so is quick to sew up. C) It has an elastic waist so no fitting issues there and the design is loose and roomy so no worries with fitting at the hip either!

I love the fabric too, which was a cheap find on ebay, about £2 per meter I think, and I used it as a toile to check the fit but they are totally wearable! I tried to take a back view myself in the mirror which was not easy! I wanted to show the back as I think the fit is really good.  I’m a RTW size 14/16 and I cut out a 14 which was perfect, the waist band was a bit loose so I just cut off 2″ of elastic and redid it and it’s fine.

The top I’m wearing is yet another Scout Tee!  Made from a white cotton/poly mix with some stretch.  I wanted a couple of basic tops for the holiday that I can just wash and wear easily.

 

Not the best photo but I had no photographer that day!

I also made a pattern hack of the Coco Dress by Tilly and the Buttons with a flutter sleeve pattern that I got from Muse Patterns – they sell a Knit Sleeve Pack that can be used in knit garments, its excellent value at $3.

 

 

 

 

I look a bit odd in this photo but it was about 34 degrees and I was feeling hot and bothered!

 

The flutter sleeve!  I also made a Coco Dress in a fabric with trees and sunsets but don’t have any photos.  Hopefully I can get some pictures of all my outfits in action when I’m on holiday!

 

Just love this fabric!

If you’re going away, have a great time, if you want to comment, click on “comments” at the top of the page, it would be great to hear from you!

What to Sew…?

 

What to sew next?  I was given this selection of fabric as a birthday present when I was at my parents’ house, it’s from Fabric Land in Sailsbury.

I used the blue and white stripe for my Aeolian dress, which I have yet to shorten (see previous blog).  I want to make a Scout Tee dress with the pink leopard print – I know NEON PINK LEOPARD PRINT!!  What was I thinking, my Mum looked at me sideways and said “What are you going to make with that?!”

I will use the green polka dot for some wide leg summer trousers, it is a poly cotton mix light suit weight and has some stretch, just trying to find the right pattern.  Maybe the Colette Juniper or the trousers from the Holly Jumpsuit By Hand London.

Image from Colette Patterns website

The plain blue fabric is a scuba stretch that I want to use to make the Morris Blazer from Grainline Studio.  Both sides of the fabric are the same and it doesn’t fray so I thought I would try making it without the front facing and just leaving a raw edge, we’ll see!

Image from Grainline Studio website

The white is for a Plantain Tee from Deer and Doe I think, not very exciting but it will get a lot of wear. It’s a FREE downloadable pattern and it fits through the shoulders and bust then widens out to an A-line, very flattering.

Image from Deer and Doe Website

Scout Dress

I found this fabric at The Cloth Shop in Wood Green Market, North London.  Its a soft, draping poly mix fabric and it feels very cool on the skin, perfect for summer holidays!  I don’t know where the fabric came from but I was told “its a factory remnant from a top quality high street dress shop” and I think it could be true as it has such a lovely feel and drape.

I used the Scout Tee pattern and extended it into a dress.  My days of short dresses are over, so I made it knee length, taking the measurements from my Penelope Dress (see previous post).       Sorry for the really poor image quality, it was taken by my six year old as he was rushing out the door to go swimming. 

 

It has a slight high/low hem, the front hits my knee and the back dips just below as is the design of the Scout Tee top.

 

I made same fabric bias binding to finish the neckline and just top stitched it down.  You can see in this photo that it fits well across the bust and shoulders which gives it a good shape I think.

All in all, I am very pleased with this addition to my wardrobe!

 

Jersey Scout Tee

I haven’t been able to get much sewing done in the last week and a half as we have been away for a family wedding, then down to my parents in Dorset for a few days and then it’s been half term week so entertaining children!  However, I did the obligatory Ikea trip with a friend and her children and managed to pick up some fabric for a couple of summer tops and a dress, yay! Also, for anyone thinking of starting sewing but not wanting to invest a great deal in a machine, Ikea does a good looking machine for about £45 which is a real bargain (not tested it though!)

I did manage to squeeze in a few 15 minutes bursts of sewing here and there and made a jersey version of the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio (I think this is my new go-to pattern for simple summer tops).

I had some ponte fabric left over from my Coco Dress from Tilly and the Buttons, and a Coco Top I made for a friend.  It’s the same fabric but my friend’s was black and white and mine was red and white.  I had a few scraps left and thought I would try to squeeze a top out of it. I cut out a size smaller to allow for the knit fabric and used the pattern strip for a bias neck binding to add a thin neck band, I thought it might be too thin but I think it looks ok.

 

Unfortunately, I had to cut it with the stripes going vertically as I didn’t have enough fabric and the sleeves had to be the red and white but I quite like the contrast.  Also, on the back I cut a yolk with vertical stripes and the rest of the back was horizontal stripes, a bit of a mish mash but heh!  When I pinned the first sleeve in I realised the red and white was true white, the black and white was more cream but I was a bit past caring by then and I think it looks ok, good enough for casual day wear when its hot.

Can you notice the difference in white and cream?! Oh well … (This is the sleeve pinned in, it lies nice and flat now it’s stitched in).

Sorry there are no photos of me wearing this but it is a great fit, not too fitted but with shaping so it hangs well.  I feel good to have made this out of scraps so its “free” really, ha!

What have you made out of “scraps”?  Leave a comment in the link at the top of the page, I would love to hear from you!