Butterick 4247 - A Green Handbag.

 I have been sewing a bag lately. My current handbag is on the way out - the straps are starting to break. 

I bought this pattern back in 2005 when I first had the bright idea to sew a bag. Better late than never I suppose.

                I used all fabrics from my stash  - this is printed linen that was in a large plastic tub of patchwork fabrics I bought last year for only $15.

The lining material was also included in the tub. I modified the pattern to include pockets in the lining and added a concealed zip flap at the top . I interfaced the bag with remnants of fleecy - the stuff that is fluffy on the inside and looks like knit on the outside. I was going to throw out the pieces because they are too small to sew any clothes with but I read about this tip to use it for interfacing bags and it is great. Really adds weight and thickness.

I finally managed to find a use for these charms  . The sewing charms I bought 20 +years ago and the tea charms on a holiday in 2006 . I found them irresistable but had no idea what I would do with them.

I used some very old and very  heavy metal buttons for the bag feet - I remember playing with these buttons from my Mum`s button jar when I was a little girl. ( Just to clarify - Mum gave me these I didn`t nick them !)

Pattern Review is having a handbag competition which was the push and the shove I needed to finally make a bag.
Cheers Janine.

Topkids No. 23 - Birds of a Feather Flock Together Shirt .

Birds of a feather flock together - having made tops for my youngest and eldest daughters out of the same hummingbird fabric. However I think they would rather be plucked , quartered and roasted before they were seen together in them !

My daughter wanted a simple sleeveless button up collared blouse - we saw heaps of this style on our school holiday shopping trip and lots of bird prints too .

I pulled out all of my old Topkids pattern books and found a pattern I could convert to what she wanted.  

This one is issue 26 from Spring 1993 ! I used to absolutely love my topkids pattern books . They are like burda magazines ( with the same kind of instructions and no diagrams ) but the patterns are almost exclusively for children. I made dozens and dozens of the patterns and had only a handful of the Big 4 patterns for my children. I loved the magazines so much they were a part of my fire plan ( after grabbing children, pets, important documents, etc etc if there was time I would take my magazines- that is a bit sad but hopefully other sewing fanatics would  understand .)

I have always wanted to sew this pattern but my daughter did not want the interesting parts of the pattern - the shaped hem and added flaps with the extra buttons.

The pattern has you finish the neckline and armholes  with single fold bias binding ( made of self fabric ) . I also was able to do french seams everywhere  so I think my youngest daughter was pleasantly surprised by the end result . She certainly wore it right away when we went to friends for tea  and she was quite happy to pose for the blog  ( I didn`t even have to twist her arm or anything else for that matter.) If anyone has young children and babies I would  recommend getting old copies of these if you see them. The baby clothes are seriously cute .

I can now also say that having sewn more chiffon I am no longer afraid of it .

Well now my blog is starting to look like an Alfred Hitchcock movie I must leave the last word to Bob the Second.

Honestly while the girls got on with the serious business of pecking and scratching Bob POSED for the camera.

Cheers Janine. P.S My family are back from France and it is wonderful.

Simplicity 3786-Hummingbirds for a Honey Top .

 

   Last school holidays my eldest daughter spotted this bird printed chiffon at Spotlight and loved it  and since then has been reminding me to sew this up. This school holidays I have been trying to do 'nice` things for my eldest and youngest daughters as my middle DD is in France with my DH.
So I finally sewed up this tunic - hmmm , top homemade by Mum , trip to France with Dad  - yep that just about balances things up !
   Just to ' quickly ` explain about the trip - my eldest DD went to Japan for three months a couple of years ago on an exchange programme and since then our other daughters have been muttering that this is  not fair . Then my middle DD said ` Just give me the money .` and my eldest DD said ` That`s not fair ` and I said `I am most certainly not just  giving you the money ` and then my husband said he could go to France with middle DD and I said ` That`s not fair ` ( only joking about the last bit ) .

Simplicity 3786.

   Anyway I have now sewn Simplicity 3786 four times so I have it down pat although I have not sewn it in chiffon before. However, soaking the fabric in a gelantine mixture that I previously blogged about , using a walking foot, lots of sharp pins and  lots of pressing ended up helping alot . Once the little pintucks and the mandarin collar are sewn this is a very easy top to sew. I used french seams where I could but otherwise sewed the side seams and armscye with double row of close stitching and then trimmed the excess fabric very closely ( and carefully ) to the stitching. I took in the side seams by several cms and added narrow ties because this is a loose fitting top and she wanted it to be slim fitting .  We added some non - functional buttons to the front which match much closer in real life than the pictures  show  . In case you can not tell I highly recommend this pattern.

Anyway the end result is that my eldest DD loves her new top. While I was cutting this out my youngest DD said that is pretty fabric and luckily there was a sizeable remnant that is already cut out for another ( different ) top for  her.

Cheers Janine.

StyleARC Abby Cardy Meets Animal.

I whipped this little number up over four weeks which is pretty sad really  !  This is by no means anything to do with the pattern . I really thought I had been sewing more than what reality indicates but life has been very busy . I really am missing sewing and reading all the sewing blogs  . Anyway I would highly recommend this pattern. I will definitely sew this one again in a plain fabric.

 

I used a remnant knit  left over from my Butterick dress I sewed last year for my muslin  . I only had enough to sew the short sleeves unfortunately .

As with all Style Arc patterns there are no detailed instructions.There is the list of steps involved and one small diagram showing the centre back neck/ shoulder  and where the facing attaches. The pattern pieces are quite well marked though.

It is a very simple cardigan to sew however  so the lack of detailed instructions does not matter  but if you were completely new to sewing it would be a challenge.  

 I really like the end results - unlike some other drapey cardigans it does not have masses of fabric at the front , the fit is great and it can be styled in several different ways. Also I was very impressed by the service I received from this company - the pattern arrived the week after I ordered it and the costs were quite reasonable.I also really like the small swatch of fabric they include - this really helped with my material selection .  I will definitely buy more patterns. ( I also have the Peta Pants patterns and have sewed a muslin - another happy success !)

I hope to get more sewing done in the next month - I have been on a prolonged break from work and go back to the real world in a month. Also I have lost my nocturnal foot warmer for the next 4 weeks - my husband and middle daughter have gone to France while I stay home with the oldest and youngest daughters - sigh .We are expecting some extra special souvenirs - well they better or else !  I don`t know what the or else is yet - hopefully we won`t have to think of something ;)

Kwik Sew 2694/2900 -Remnant of a Remnant Top.

It feels good to be back on the bandwagon so to speak- selfishly sewing for me !
I have been doing some boring sewing - sheets, pillowcases and a swing seat roof cover.
This was very good for stashbusting but not so good for my sewing psyche.
However I did manage to use the OLDEST piece of fabric from my stash in doing so  - 2 and 1/2 metres of garbadine in exactly the same grey that primary school boys have their pants made of - see why it was in the stash for so long . When I got married I inherited this fabric from my new husband - see my husband came with a dowry - free fabric - how could I have not married him. Pity the fabric was ugly but beggars can not be choosers -lol. ( If you want to know I have been married 22 years and the fabric was at least 6 years old when I received it . )

So I have eventually gotten around to sewing the remnant knit from my daughters knit top( from my last post )  that in itself was a remnant from my eldest DD`s knit skirt !

My tatty Kwik Sew Pattern - 2694.

I used Kwik Sew 2694 but added in the long sleeves from Kwik Sew 2900 and also added a band around the front/back pieces . I choose KS 2694 because the front upper and lower bodice pieces are only small - perfectly  suited for my scraps. I only had enough fabric to cut one sleeve and the lower front  bodice and one upper front and the band . I really liked this fabric and was determined that I should get a garment out of it somehow ! A few weeks ago my Mum took me to Darn Cheap Fabrics in Heidelberg , Melbourne. I didn`t have my remnant material with me so I had to make a guess as to what would match  relying on my memory ( that can be dodgy sometimes ). I bought some dark teal mesh and although it doesn`t match perfectly I think it blends in quite well.

This pattern is very simple to sew - I made this top over the course of a week in about 6 easy sewing sessions including cutting out. I doubled the mesh where used for the back, one sleeve and one upper front - this eliminates the see -through factor and makes the top a bit more snuggly warm. Before sewing the garment I stitched the mesh together at the tops and bottoms of the pattern pieces and then just treated them as one piece of material.
I have previously sewn Kwik Sew 2694 twice before - the upper front is a bit revealing - I have to wear those tops with a camisole underneath . Adding the front band has eliminated this need. I simply cut out two long rectangles 5cm wide and sewed them together. Then this long rectangular piece is folded together - wrong sides together - and attached to the garment ( after you have sewn the upper fronts to the back ) right sides together. I then zigzagged the raw edge , ironed this and top stitched the band on the main garment pieces. Also as I was attaching the band I stretched this fabric slightly to snug up the front bodices.
I would highly recommend this pattern although it is getting pretty old now.

Now here is my ` happy` problem` - I used up all my remnant knit but in buying the  teal mesh I asked for 1 1/2 metres but the sales assistant was very generous and gave me what was left on the roll - over 3 metres ! So now I have a remnant of the teal mesh and now I will have to buy more fabric to use up this remnant ! I know - lucky these are the `problems` I face.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy. Cheers Janine.

Simplicity 4076 - Wild Horses ......and Mushrooms.

Wild Horses will not drag my daughter into modelling this top for my blog. Nor will love nor money. I have tried threats, bribes, cajoling and even down right begging.  I have ( eventually ) learnt not to bother asking anymore. Daffy is so much more obliging so she will be modelling again.

Last year my eldest DD came home from a day in the city saying she wanted to sew a maxi skirt. After I picked myself up off the floor and I showed her my only pattern for such a skirt - a lovely Issey Miyake design. We toddled off to Spotlight and my daughter found this lovely Sorrento dry knit . Usually when I visit Spotlight I only find kacky prints in garish colours . The maxi skirt was a fabric hog so there were large remnants which I wanted to sew into a top for myself. 

However in a fit of motherly madness I offered to make the remaining fabric into a top for my daughter and she said yes !

This is Simplicity 4076 , arguably the most reviewed pattern on Pattern Review. I have made this four times now but this is the first time making this view. I had been put off by reviewers saying the ease was excessive for the draped front but I did not find this at all. I changed the sleeves from the long bell shaped ones to tapered sleeves and also added little loops and buttons to the gathered side.

In the end there were remnants of the remnants - enough to make into partial top using some co-ordinating mesh to fill in the missing bits - I will try to sew this next . So I get to have my cake and eat it too. Talking about food  ....... I discovered the above ah , um unusual mushrooms on my daily doggy walk . I wonder if they are edible - perhaps I could make cream of mushroom soup ! I just thought I would add in that last photo for a laugh. Cheers Janine.

McCalls 6110 - Feminine Feathered Frock Finally.

This dress has been in the making for a LONG time . I normally get a bit tired of projects that go on too long and  I mainly enjoyed the process but I am glad it is over .

This is McCalls 6110 - gathered bodice, racer style back, upper front band and gathered skirts  with a tie . I did not add the apron thingy.

Made of a sheer feather print georgette from Ebay  , bodice interlined with a  very fine cotton bastiste and the skirt portion is lined with sunsilky from Lincraft.
I used a few tips and tricks researched from the internet, Threads and Australian Stitches to make life easier in sewing this slippery fabric.
I pretreated the fabric using unflavoured gelantine - this definitely helped alot in the cutting and sewing . ( you can read my previous post for details about this ).
I used paper underneath the fabric whilst cutting out as well.
I used sharps needles instead of the universal type.
My sewing machine I am currently using has a built in walking foot which I think helped .
I interlined the bodice with bastiste which reduced the slipperiness .

I like this pattern overall although it is very loose fitting - If I make it again I will make the  front narrower . The front is not too low and revealing and the straps and racer back style hide bras. It is a good balance between not being too frumpy or too tarty I suppose( I am a bit old fashioned I admit ). I hope I don`t get in trouble for this but the back also covers up my middle DD`s scars from spinal surgery.
I really like the construction process - the inner seams are completely enclosed so it looks pretty on the inside as well. There is a bit of hand stitching involved but I don`t mind this.

This is the front inside portion.

Inside the back of the dress.
Overall I think this is the nicest garment I have ever sewn. About 98% of this dress could withstand a thorough stickybeak  from other sewists ( my machine rolled hems are a little wonky in one area ) and sewing this gave me great confidence in my skills. If I take the time to do the extra little steps it makes a difference and these extra steps are not hard in themselves - only time consuming.
Normally I like to see clothes on a real person so Daffy the Duck(t) tape model will have to do for now ( She is new by the way - very exciting for me .)

Now I am very sorry to be moribund but I can`t help but write this. It is my nature and my job to reach out and try to  help people. Just over two weeks ago our bestest and dearest friend took his own life. I will never really be able to make sense of this .He had financial problems but they were short term only and not bad enough that he would be bankrupted . We knew he was unhappy and he was receiving help from professionals and his many  family and friends who loved him and supported him  but we did not realise how deeply distressed he was - he did conceal it well. There were some subtle signs but only in retrospect did they become significant and no one person had access to all the  signs to put them together . BTW he was married with three children aged 15 to 20.
So if you are having trouble then reach out and get help and tell someone how you REALLY  feel.
If you know someone having trouble then reach out to them and let them know there is help .
Suicide only makes things worse , not better . Family and friends never recover fully from this and sometimes go on to develop their own problems. Sorry about that.
Take care and cheers . Janine.