Why Bother Making Jogging Bottoms?!

Well, I’ll tell you!  Firstly, Happy New Year!!

As a curvy girl with a rounded bum I always need to buy the size to accommodate my arse.  This usually means that there is loads of spare fabric round my waist, which makes me look like I have a bigger tummy, especially with thicker sweatshirt fabric.

Making my own means that I can grade between sizes and eliminate the extra bulk – always a plus!  Especially after my Christmas excesses (although I have started my Couch to 5K programme ha! day 4 and going strong!!)

The pattern I used is Anima from Papercut Patterns.  The fabric I used for this first tester pair is some cheap jersey from Ebay and to be honest its a bit too thin but I like how they fit.  I made a mini pair for my son too with the same fabric but I was told no pics allowed of him!

I used some ribbon to stop the pockets from stretching out – I always cut off the ribbon loops you get in RTW tops and use those!  I made them on  my overlocker except the top stitching on the pockets.

For my next “proper” pair I will take in a bit more from the waist and use thicker sweatshirt fabric, this:

It’s a sweatshirt fabric with a ripped denim print on it, I did think about making a dress from it but decided that would be a bit too much but jogging bottoms will be great!

Nearly finished – just the waist band to attach!

Hope you all had a good Christmas and are brimming with sewing schemes and plans!

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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!

 

Ercol! A New Stash Storer

I follow several sewing blogs and it has been interesting to see other people’s sewing spaces and how they organise it.  The spaces have been very varied from a small secret space on a boat by Melissa Fehr, cleverly designed and hidden away.  To a massive “sewing cave” by Diary of a Sewing Fanatic, to a lovely bright sewing area by Scruffy Badger.

Whilst my sewing has been very sporadic lately, I have organised my sewing space a bit more and it is now much easier to find things!  Previously I have had fabric shoved into various boxes and cupboard spaces which meant that I often forgot what I had as I couldn’t see it all in one go.  I have wanted a dedicated fabric space for ages but I’m fussy and I wanted my beautiful fabric to be kept in a beautiful place!  Luckily, on a local “sell and swap it” website, I found this lovely Ercol sideboard dating from the 1960s.

I know its not everyone’s cup of tea but I love it!

The bottom shelf is for jersey and knits, the top shelf for lining fabric.

Woven fabric on the bottom shelf and facing and elastic on the top.

The bottom drawer holds patterns that are too big to fit in my pattern boxes, mostly Style Arc patterns and PDF print outs. I also store carbon and tracing paper there along with tailor’s ham etc.

It feels so great to have all my fabric in one place at last!  Now just to get on and do some sewing …