Scrap Sunday: Accept who you are

Posted on 12/07/2015 by atelieroursonne

Yesterday, I was accused of being obsessed by scraps and of only buying fabrics to produce scraps!!!! Can you believe it?! This is obviously not true! At all! If I ever bought new to have scraps than I would obviously just buy remnants like these that otherwise would die a lonely death in a shelf. So really I am not only saving a poor piece of fabric but also supporting the shop owner in her attempt of decluttering. And it has definitely nothing to do with me wanting to have more scraps… but now, thinking of it, I have just tried to save one of these pieces. After complaints from my personal stylist that my maternity T-shirts are all white, black or, even worse, grey, I thought I’ll try to adapt a normal pattern to my recent body shape.

So, I used a pattydoo sleeveless top pattern for the first time and made it a few inches longer and the front a few inches wider around the middle. So far, so good. I think that went reasonably well, still a bit room to stretch. And I am also thinking that it will be fairly easy to just take away all those inches next summer. Otherwise it would have been a bit of a waste because it happens to be a beautiful Hamburger Liebe fabric.

I have also adjusted the top section as I know from previous experience with any bought standard sized pattern that I seem to have unreasonably narrow shoulders. So all necklines will be too wide, shoulder straps will slip down from my weird shoulders and it will just not look like something that was made especially for me. So I also decided – without having used this pattern before – to narrow the neckline and to just take the shoulder straps a bit more in. Before you are getting all clever and “you shouldn’t alter without knowing the pattern bla bla bla”, I can inform you that actually I was right, in fact, I should have taken them in even more.

So, this is the status quo, I am having mixed feelings of how to proceed:

Well, the picture is actually not great, not sure if you can see all problems. No 1 is that the neckline is still too wide, No 2 is that I haven’t done a great job with the binding, I should have stretched it more and then it would pull things together much better. I have managed to arrange the front okish but as you can see, then it shows at the back

Obviously I could get away with it but I know that every time I wear it, I will be super consciously trying to constantly arrange things. Not really worth it. I am relatively new to this type of shirts and elastic bindings. I wish I would have invested time in research as I think closing the seams before putting in the bindings would be much neater. Not only would I not have the side seam showing on top of the binding but also, I would have seen how it fits and would have been able to make adjustments before finishing the binding.

Now the armhole binding is locked with a overlocker seam and the neckline is also blocked by a shoulder seam. If I want to open things and do it better, it will get really complicated. I am considering to pull the straps up and add a new seam, that could actually work fairly well, it just might get a bit thick at the shoulder seam.

The only other option would be to dismantle to whole thing and I am not sure if I fancy that. I do however like the idea of my patterned not so boring maternity top and would make another one. Not sure if I should make something with sleeves though as I am currently staring into torrential rain.

Well, I guess there would be one other option, which would also sort out all future pattern problems…. plastic surgery to broaden my shoulders.

Oh, and if you think that buying a huge piece of remnants is cheating on Scrap Sunday, I would like to point out that we have been busy making fabric mosaics for the end of term cards:

I still think this is actually the best way to use up scraps. Except that you are only using tiny bits so it is really something for people who want to super efficiently use up every single square inch of their fabrics.

Scrap Sunday: Personalised mismatch

Posted on 06/07/2015 by atelieroursonne

It might not quite be Sunday anymore where this post gets written but that is the beauty of the www. It is still Sunday somewhere. And it really isn’t my fault. I couldn’t publish this earlier as I hadn’t handed it over yet.

Anyway, I finally made a bag for a very good friend. She didn’t get anything for her birthday this year as no one over the age of 10 did because I had been so busy with other things. So I thought, now that I have more time again, I will make her a little present for her doula “graduation”.

I have tried to chose fabrics in colours that she would like. Not easy as I only seem to own very bright colours (in case you haven’t noticed yet) and she loves subtle green-turquoisey colours. Seriously, this is the best I could do.

For the inside I took a different approach. I wanted to create a more personal feeling and was looking for a calendula theme in my stash. Initially I was thinking of the fabric of the dress I made last year.

I think those flowers would have been perfect calendulas (not from a scientific point of view) but also far too big for the inside of a rather small bag.

So this is what I chose.

It really really doesn’t go at all with the outside fabrics but as I said, it was for personal reasons. Not sure, if she understood that these are meant to be calendulas but she will now 🙂

And then, as matching the fabrics didn’t matter anymore I looked for another souvenir type of fabric and decided on the strawberry fabric that will remind her of my children.

Mega mismatch mission completed 🙂

Learning from mistakes

Posted on 29/06/2015 by atelieroursonne

With the end of the (school) year being so near and the associated imminent closure of our nursery, I am getting quite nostalgic. To avoid being depressed I thought I’ll turn this rummaging in the past into something positive by looking at the things that went terribly wrong (don’t get too excited, nothing to gossip, I am just talking about craft projects, the actual purpose of this blog) in order to learn something from it.

left of 2 sleeveless cotton Little Rascal

eyepatch for a pirate

attempt to mend trousers

jersey raglan shirt

dungarees in the most colourful cordoruy I could possibly find

right of 2 itchy woolen jumpers

This is actually a random selection, I guess there would be many more but I haven’t always taken pictures.

What is wrong with these things? I am glad you’re asking. I was thinking hard and long about it. They haven’t been worn EVER. Or just a few times in some cases. And what they actually have in common: They were all made for the same person. Who will always try on things happily whilst I am making them but just politely says: No thank you! when they are finished. Have I learned from it? No, I haven’t.

I have just stupidly made a beautiful jacket using a klimperklein pattern. Or rather e-book with lots of step by step instructions.

You might think that this is a really nice jacket and that anybody would love to wear it. Well, you’re wrong. “No, thank you. Maybe I’ll wear it tomorrow!” Still polite but making me hope for another opportunity which won’t really happen is actually rather cruel. Do I sound bitter? No, don’t worry. I am totally over it. Really. And let’s face it, there is another very important thing that all these things have in common. It was always me choosing the particular project and even fabric. Not once I had actually been asked to make all this useless stuff. So I guess, the only person to blame is myself.

So lets quickly look at the bright sight. The e-book is amazing, it offers lots of choices, different pockets, with or without lining,….

I have in fact made already a second one, same concept but different fabric and size. And this one actually gets worn a lot (fabric chosen by the jacket owner)

We’ll see if I have learned anything, next project will be something made of a fabric bought on request. I’ll keep you posted.

PS: I just got a picture of the birthday boy. He liked the pick and mix shirt so much, he did not want to take it off at night and slept in it 🙂

Scrap Sunday: Pick and Mix Shirt

Posted on 28/06/2015 by atelieroursonne

I meant to make a present for a little boy and all I could think off was that boys of a certain age don’t really need bags anymore. I was still looking through my boxes and actually found two big pieces of patterned jersey, left overs from shirts for two small boys.

As I am a big fan of the pattydoo shirt with raglan sleeves and usually make the sleeves in a plain colour, I would have had just enough for a shirt in either of the fabrics. But I was unsure which one would be acceptable for a 5 year old, so I asked the birthday boy himself…. who wanted a shirt made out of both.! An idea which hadn’t come to my mind yet. That will make it even easier to use up scraps in the future 🙂

So to make the pix and mix even more complete, I decided to use two different colours for the sleeves and the lining for the hood and whilst I would normally think that these two fabrics don’t really go together, I am really pleased with the result. Somehow children look always good in handmade stuff. Which then makes the handmade stuff look good 🙂

There is actually just one thing to remember when using this pattern: Considering that my children are rather slim, I think the pattern is on the slim and also short side. The shirt in the picture is size 122 which is usually the size that should fit the model if not still be a bit big. And actually I wouldn’t say that the shirt is too long (maybe the sleeves, but not the body).