Category Archives: adults

One for all and all for one

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You know I like mixing fabrics. And colours. And patterns.

I don’t even remember if I ever made a shirt just out of one fabric. But I am sure some of my clever readers will remember everything ever shown on this blog and know the answer to that question, so please do not hesitate to post it beneath.

I usually use a contrasting fabric for the sleeves

very rarely I do a contrast hood as well – in fact I think that should become the norm, I don’t know why I do not always do that, it looks much better, maybe I never have enough of the contrast fabric, again the clever ones of you will know.

See, the pink one looks much better.Pictures aren’t great though, I know.

Sometimes, I do even front and back in different fabrics. Well, once. It was custom made.

The benefit of this mix and (sometimes) match method is that you usually end up with rather big pieces of scrap as you do not actually need the whole width for those little children shirts (especially if the amount of fabric indicated on the pattern is usually calculated for a whole shirt) – sometimes there is enough left for, lets say a skirt for a grown up who would otherwise never have chosen that fabric. But back to the title of “one for all”. And back to my enormous project list for this autumn.

I bought a lot of sweat this season. And a pattern bundle for hoodies for the whole family.

Meet Toni by schnittreif. A comfortable hoody for the whole family with my favourite feature of a longer back. I hate getting cold at the back. Or at the derriere.

So far I made the boy version. Which is not worn. Apparently the sleeves feel funny.

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I love those fabrics, not keen on the hood lining, seemed ok in the soft light of the building site light bulbs.

For the girls version, you’ll have to wait. A dress was requested instead, stupidly altered to tunic midway as the fabric seemed too hot for a dress.  So, the girls A-line hoody is actually not a Toni but a pattern from klimperklein.

img_5465-2 img_5453-2Still really cool fabric. And luckily more than enough left to make a skirt for a grown up who would never ever choose such a fabric for herself. But if it is a left over, you have to use it up, haven’t you.

But first a closer look at the two hoodies:

joined in unusual harmony

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close up of the hoods, I like the cross over in the girls version more:

The sleeves. Toni features a extra ribbing whereas klimperklein is “only” folded up and stitched with a stretchy contrasting stitch. Looks surprisingly similar somehow:

The two grown up versions will have to wait a little (well, I don’t know if there will be a daddy Toni, I haven’t seen my husband in clothes warmer than a T-Shirt since I made a woolen jumper for his wardrobe for him).

I got a new dress instead. Carol by pattydoo. Meant to do that since ages. It looks cool, super comfy and extremely breastfeeding unfriendly. Which is why I haven’t made it before. Now we are only feeding when I feel like it so why not wearing dresses sometimes (and at home it doesn’t matter anyway)?

I am afraid, I can not show you any pictures of the dress when worn so please click on the link to see how it is supposed to look. I really like my new dress, don’t get me wrong but I do think it makes my tummy look a bit big and wobbly in pictures (the camera’s fault, not the tummy’s) plus my resident photographers are currently busy with lego building work, so it is “dress on hanger only” this time. But as clever as you readers are, you will manage to imagine the rest.

I like the contrasting pockets and the low waist. Oh, and the little rectangle for the belt button holes are actually hiding a little mishap (others might call it hole). But doesn’t it look a bit like a belt buckle? A bit?

I have used a cheap summer sweat as this is only the trial version. I think a proper, slightly heavier sweat will actually make it more suitable for me and my tummy.

Plus imagine just the skirt part of the dress with the leopards! That will look so cool. Initially I thought only the dark navy with the yellow dots as side panels however I might not actually have enough of the yellow left and it might just become a proper mix up of both leopard fabrics and the dots as pockets only.

The clever reader will by now be wondering where the baby item is if this post has anything to do with its title (It actually hasn’t, I’m afraid, no fencing, no horses, no silly hats).

Any if you are by now thinking “I don’t get any of these tasks. Am I not the clever reader she is referring to?” then all I can say: Apparently not 😉

And as I have by now probably lost most of my offended readers, I can finally tell you that there will be a big secret revealed next time. And it has to do with the baby’s new coat. Which is far to thin for october in Austria by the way. No one has told me it would be that cold already. Anyway. Big secret coming up. Not to be shared with the whole wide world, only with those few followers who simply can not be chased away. Watch this space.

 

I am done here

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Since a while I had in mind to use either the left over’s of my dress

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or a green Hamburger Liebe cotton which I have used for the lining of a bag for a former friend

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to make a Frau Aiko by schnittreif – a wide blouse, surprisingly matching to what I have in mind for my two layered breastfeeding top. Well, I haven’t got enough fabric for any of those. Which is annoying because I really don’t want to buy any new fabric right now.

So I made a Langeness panelled skirt instead. With a contrasting border. I meant to use the same contrasting fabric than for the dress in the first picture. But guess what, not enough fabric left. So I had to rummage through my boxes again and realised that a plain lilac cotton was actually the winner. And that I have enough to have a go at Frau Aiko, too. I know I know, a monochrome piece. Hard to believe. Well, you always need to try out new things! I might one day even make something black!

Anyway, I made the skirt, all easy peasy lemon squeezy. In fact a bit too easy peasy lemon squeezy so I decided to set myself a little challenge…. by misplacing the zip.

IMG_5224Impossible to fold down the facing (Lilac) along the seam. What to do? I tell you what! Embrace the problem and turn it into a feature! So I folded the contrasting facing about 3mm over the seam, pressed it flat  and topstitched it to make it look like a piping.

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I love those little details. Especially when they are in contrasting colours. But who will ever see that “piped” waistline? Well everybody if you are going to team it with a crop top. Or no one.

There is only a slight problem. I love the look but actually the whole waistline is a bit on the loose side already. And there is still hope that my waist will find its way back home at some point. But I really don’t fancy to remove the whole facing to be able to take the skirt in. What can be done? I guess chocolate is the only solution to this problem.

I finished the skirt yesterday and was proudly wearing it today.

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The main skirt has a round hem. But the border is supposed to be cut as a straight rectangle. I am not convinced that this is a good idea as it gives it a little baloon effect and I am just not sure if that works in this particular case.

But anyway, so I was proudly wearing this skirt to an amazing the “event of the year” kind of party when beforementioned former friend approached me and said “Oh, I love the outfit. Did you make it?” “Yes”, I said proudly just wanting to go into detail (feeling very touched that she must obviously have recognised the fabric) when I realised that she was talking about the baby’s outfit! He was wearing some random swedisch high street discounter things! What a disappointment! On so many levels. And shock! What is the purpose of my existence? If a shop bought random baby outfit wins over a handmade skirt? I am guessing it can’t be writing a sewing blog. Last week Brexit and now this! Clearly some changes are needed. I am done here. We will be moving back to Austria! Oh wait, there is no need to rush into this, lets have some informal talks first to get the best deal out of it. And in the meantime I will hop over to RUMS to see what other crafters have created this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Why the working title “Have you ever pressed a prefolded bias tape open?” needed to be changed to “The danger of the seam ripper”

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Time for a little Me Made May update. I did manage to wear me made outfits three times this week, but there hasn’t been much variety and I have realised that I can not really combine those items with anything else. The wardrobe remains unsorted but it really has to be done until next Thursday.

So I have mainly been busy working on a dress. I was looking for  a breastfeeding friendly dress. I have used “breastfeeding friendly” a few times in my last posts but what does it actually mean? It is just a normal piece that allows to breastfeed a child without taking the whole thing off. My prefered choice is the two layer look, one up one down. Obviously with a normal dress this would be a bit difficult….

So, I was looking for something with buttons and found The Vintage Shirt Dress by Sew over it.

I bought a lovely vintage-y fabric with cherry print in Goldhawk Road but ended up making a very quick calico version first to not waste the trial fabric and to see if it would actually fit me. As usual, the dress would have been too wide at the shoulders and I also decided to make the skirt just a tiny bit narrower to even out the different sizes my body actually needs. I also decided to use a plain colour for the colour and the facings as I had seen one lovely version somewhere on Pinterest. As it turns out my alterations let me cut out so much more effectively that I saved roughly a meter of fabric.

But enough talking, let’s have a look. (Note: I had to use the self-timer with the camera balancing on some books)

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So it is definitely a wearable trial version but lets use it to improve the next version. I am not sure about the green collar.

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I think black would have been better but guess what, I do not own black fabric.However, the buttons in black just show it would have been the better choice. Plus, I am not sure anymore if a contrasting collar is really what I want.

The waist is a bit too high, after the photo session I pushed down the belt to where I think my waist really sits and I liked the look much more. So I might make the bodice an inch longer and the skirt a bit shorter.

The finish of the armholes with the bias tape at the inside was new for me. When I read the description I got confused and decided to follow step by step. Apart from cutting my own bias binding. I felt that would be a waste of that lovely fabric. I realised that my shop bought bias binding was slightly wider than the requested 4cm so I decided to trim it and ended up pressing the bias binding flat to make sure it had no more folds! (Title No 1), then I trimmed it and followed the instructions from there.

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I really don’t like it, I am not sure if it is only my fault, there was a lot of tension on the binding and I am not sure if it would be that easy to slip stitch it. I might try again on a little sample before ruining the next dress 🙂

I guess you are by now really excited to learn the reason for the danger of the seam ripper title, so if you feel you are strong enough, here it comes:

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I had just finished the second button-hole and opened it with the seam ripper when I slipped and slashed the whole dress open over a length of about 4cm. Great.This has been my first ever button hole accident and I usually cut it open with scissors. Sometimes huge fabric scissors. Never ever anything has happened.

I fixed it quickly with two layers of interfacing in between main fabric and facing and then I panicked and zigzagged over it. Maybe I should have thought about other options first. It is not too visible but there might have been a more discrete option. And it is just one of these things, no one might notice but I know it is there.

Up until that incident I thought this might actually be the dress for the baptism not just a trial version. But now that there is this mistake sitting on my waist, I will just keep thinking of it and that zigzag line with eventually burn a huge hole into my dress. We will see if I consider it suitable for the school run. I would definitely get a few looks. After all they only know me as a trousers and top kind of person. I definitely like making dresses much more than actually wearing them.

But enough of me, I’ll send this over to RUMS and will then have a look if others have made things to wear or trial onlys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Oh dear, oh dear

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I have looked into ticket prices to move to the north pole for the rest of the Me Made May challenge and decided it might be cheaper (and healthier for the baby) if I stayed here and actually made a few items to wear for the rest of the challenge.

I think I mentioned a while ago that I am experimenting on the perfect breastfeeding top. I am thinking of a loose double layer top where the bottom one has two slashes for easy access. This is still in progress, I struggled with neatening the edges of the slashes properly and threw it in a corner. In the meantime I decided to order a schnittreif pattern that I had seen on a blog somewhere. When browsing their shop, I bought other patterns too. Some of them are extremely unsuitable for breastfeeding but I guess I will stop at some point.

Anyway, I decided to make first a Frau Emma to see how it goes before I will make the much cooler Usedom. I think, whilst those two might not be the perfect breastfeeding tops, they are at least breastfeeding friendly as they are loose and can just be pulled up. Which is why I made my trial Emma even with a loose hem rather than a ribbing. I started with it last weekend. First, I took my measurements to see which size I’ll need. Let me just say that my measurements have changed slightly over the years, pregnancies and children….

The good news is that all of a sudden, my chest measurements are about the same as my hips. That sounds a lot like an hourglass figure. Which is the ideal female bodyshape in my opinion. So, I am two thirds there. Hurray! Lets have a look at my waist then just to confirm! Oh, the same number! Is the measuring tape broken? No? Hmm. So, what does that make me? A stick? (sounds slightly more flattering than barrel or drum).

Anyway, I made a Frau Emma, size L, using a cheap viscose jersey from Shepherds Bush. It is just a trial but if if works well, it will actually be a nice top.

Hmm.

IMG_4828It is not flattering, that’s for sure. I think I should have made it a size smaller. But the hem is not cool. Easy to pull up the shirt but not cool.

IMG_4835I used contrasting pink for the sleeves and for the hem line seam. The orange of the 80’s skirt looks much cooler. Great, now my 6 years old is cooler than me.

I am also not sure of the neckline.

IMG_4837Actually, I am sure about it. I am sure I don’t like it. It is not the patterns fault. It is me. Maybe I liked it better when made with an even thinner material, possibly woven fabric. The ruffle is too bulky for my liking. But lets move on.

I am usually quite a fan of those loose tops with a stretchy and tight hem. Which seems to be called “bubble hem”. Right. So I quite like bubble hem tops. Except that they are always a bit short and keep coming up. Which is bad in combination with those low waist trousers. I don’t like them. They expose my kidneys to cold draft. I am an old, uncool woman. I don’t like that. I want warm and cosy kidneys. (I have recently invested in two Japanese belly warmers. They are nice. But I would just prefer long enough shirts and high enough waistlines. )

Anyway, I thought, I might give it a go and just cut a hole into the existing hemline to insert an elastic.

IMG_4845Not too bad from the front.

IMG_4844But still too much material at the back. Which I take as a definite sign for a size too big.

As I was experimenting and the shirt was now in a rather unexciting state, I wanted to take it a step further and replaced the existing hemline with a wide-ish stretch jersey to make it more jumperlike. This would have been one of the initial options of the pattern anyway. Except that there would have been a cutting line about 6cm higher than my hemline. I decided to just cut off those two cm where I had stitched the hem to make it longer.

I measured the needed width by putting it actually around my hips. I needed to really stretch it when I stitched it to the grey fabric.

IMG_4865Which doesn’t look great as you can see.  Another sign that large was actually  a size too big for me. Thankfully.

Normally I wouldn’t wear it like this. It is not meant to look like a mini dress. So:IMG_4851 IMG_4853The back still looks wrong. And actually it is too long now. Ha, who would have thought. I’ll leave it as it is for now. But it will probably still only be something I want to wear at home or to exercise.

If I used the pattern again, then definitely size M and with a waistband. But to be honest, I am not sure if the ruffled neckline and I will ever be friends.

Next step will rather be the Usedom. And I guess I will go for size M this time.

For now, I will just quickly put this online. Wow, two posts in one day.

But there is not only Me Made May – in the German blogging world there is RUMS on Thursday, where female bloggers show off what they made for themselves. So I guess, I should always do my MMM posts on a Thursday and link it with RUMS to then see what others have made. Off we go.