Simplicity 2153 - Lemon-Lime Linen Anorak.

Two posts in one day !  I love this casual anorak pattern from Simplicity and then found this lovely hefty soft citrusy coloured linen in the op shop for only $5 - bargain. I thought it would be perfect match for my pattern and it was with caveats.

First of all finding an open ended zip to match was really hard - in the end I found a kind of matching one in a small packed to the rafters haberdashery shop near my Mum's house. However it was 10cm shorter than what was specified for the pattern. I thought about using buttons or adding a placket to conceal a non- matching zip. Then when I came to cut out the fabric I did not have enough ! The tag said there was 2 1/2 metres which is exactly what is needed for the anorak. On closer inspection the tag had 2.1 metres with the 1 crossed off and 2 written down so it looked like 2 1/2 metres. So I had  to shorten the body pieces by 10cm which meant the zip was perfect .
Once all that palaver was through, making the jacket was easy. It is an unlined zip front jacket with 3 collar choices and either sleeveless or with sleeves. There are optional draw strings at the waist and hem and a couple of different pocket designs.

I had to use the smallest collar option and added a drawstring at the waist , the diagonal pockets and tabs at the sleeves and shoulders .

The jacket has enough room to wear over a jumper and is nicely shaped through the middle helped by the adjustable drawstrings .

I really enjoyed making this jacket as much as I like wearing it . The linen package also came with some coordinating plaid which is used extensively inside the jacket- the bias binding along the front facings, the drawstring channel , yoke lining ,  the hem facing ( to get the most of my jacket length ) and pocket linings.
Apart from having to shorten the jacket by 10 cms  I added a yoke lining and added the totally non-functional lining / buttons to the functional pockets. I also shorted the sleeves by 2-3 cm but I think I might need to take off even more -they are quite long .

I found this cool idea on Pinterest to add a lining to the pocket and button up the top part of the pocket

My only complaint about this pattern are that the front facings seem to end in no-man`s land on the yoke so I would change that next time ( oh and the sleeves are quite long ) .

Overall I highly recommend this pattern - It is a great design that you can personalise in so many ways. There are definitely going to be more of these in my wardrobe  - hopefully a winter version if I can find some appropriate fabric.

Happy Sewing Janine. Costings. Fabric - $5.00 op shop . Pattern - $16.00 . Notions - zip $2.50, thread - $3.25, cord and stops - $4.60 , buttons - stash . Total - $31.05.

National PJ Sewing Month.

I couldn`t resist adding in the tag Handmade for a Sweet Little Girl to my teenage DD`s PJs - she did at least appreciate the humour. 

Well it is anyway at my house.
I have sewn more PJs than the number of full nights sleep I had in the first 5 years of my children`s lives. No exaggeration - they were terrible sleepers - hopefully nothing to do with their nightwear !
So I am very tired of sewing that same style easy but plain pattern . Therefore I took an opportunity to make something different - Grainline`s Lakeside PJs .
I only made the bottom part . They hardly took any fabric at all so I was able to squeeze these out of a small remnant less than 50cm I think . I used ready made bias binding because I did not have enough fabric to make my own and the pants took just under 2 metres .
Despite being a bit more challenging than my usual PJ fare they were still relatively easy, the only really tricky bit being the side seams where the bias binding is .
I made size 8 and my youngest daughter loves them. They are comfortable but do not have that excessive ease that the Big 4 patterns can have.  I can see more orders coming in for these from the other DDs .

The longer pair of PJs are a UFO . Now I don`t do UFOS - my projects either get finished or chucked out . This is my youngest daughter`s UFO - so short into her sewing career and already accumulating UFOs ! I have been gently reminding her we could finish these pants up ( OK probably nagging is a better term ) so when she wanted to buy more nightwear I just went and sewed these up myself - only took an hour. The fabric is a Japanese double gauze we bought in Tokyo in 2013 and much too cute to waste - Japanese do cute really really well. In amongst those pink flowers are little panda bears . We used a very old Burda pattern 8785 for the pants - the usual PJ pattern but with added bands at the leg hems and a matching contrast waist band. Again I like Burda for the fact that their patterns fit well .

So 2 new pairs of PJs and now I can get on with the real important business of sewing for myself .