Khaki Cropped Trousers and a Love Sewing Mag Star Make!

It's been a busy week with a couple of great sewing hits! Here's the first success, a new pair of summer trousers in khaki green cotton.  Cut, sewn and straight into circulation hot off the machine.  They were off to work meetings shortly after this picture was taken, so a smart and sober ensemble for you here.

I've already made these exact same trousers in blue here, and as they are such a great fit it was only a matter of time before they were reproduced.  I love some of the khakis on the high street just now as it is a colour that can be dressed down, or dressed up.  It is a colour that can work with brights or look chic with sober neutrals. So I scooped up a metre and a half of plain cotton poplin from my local market at lunchtime, along with matching thread, and onto the top of the project pile it went.

Of course back in March when I made the first ones, I had a to take a deep breath, grit my teeth and brave the weather in order to bare even a few inches of ankle.  But now we're in balmier months these should see plenty of wear.  Of course the forecast today is a 'high' of 10 degrees and rain, but what the heck, I'm wearing them anyway.  

There's not much more to say about the pattern itself than I have already done back in the last post (see here for pattern details and more about construction).  With the first pair I made, I cut a size 12 and was prepared to let out the seams if necessary as this is a slightly dropped waist that sits below my natural waistline. I always find a 12 to be rather tight on the hips in this style if I get the legs narrow enough, or if the waistline is right then the legs are baggy and too big.  I've adjusted this waist:leg ratio to perfection now with this pattern.  

After much dithering about with various button colours and styles, I decided to choose plain black ones.  Very unlike me!  But I wanted the trousers to be quiet and versatile and not have shouty embellishments this time. Nice, well behaved buttons they are.

The cotton poplin is a tiny bit creasy for trousers.  However it is also really lightweight and summery, as well as being very iron-friendly, so I don't might a bit of late-in-the-day crumple.  I should say, the above photo was taken before I'd ironed that waistband down properly and got rid of those pesky wrinkles.

I had a black zip of the right-ish length, chosen from the various sizes/colours/ages in my zip collection.  The pattern actually asks you to insert a longer zip than you need, and then cut the bottom section off.  So I could have used up any roughly long enough zip of the right colour.  The fly construction does a great job of concealing the zip although for some reason when I was sewing this one in, I didn't managed to get it quite as far behind the fly as the first attempt, possibly because the zip itself was much narrower than most of the others I've used.  (For my blue version of these trousers, I was testing the pattern and so used a very non-matchy beige zip of roughly the right length from my stash.  It is really well hidden and is only when doing something particularly athletic that you can see a glimpse of it!).  I'm not too worried about this one, it is reasonably well concealed apart from the tiny black zip-pull at the top.  

It's lovely to have a tried and tested garment that really fits well and that can be sewn together quickly and easily.  It's also pretty much become a wardrobe stable, so I might even make a pair in black!  How practical am I being just now eh?!  Don't worry though, it can only be a matter of time before you see me prancing around in a pair of eye-achingly bright or busy patterned ones.

But for now, a very wardrobe-friendly khaki set of trews is suiting me just fine.  And a good chance to show off my slightly less sensible new leopard loafers. Grrrr!

Onto the second success of the week and that is, my Colour Block Top made back in March, which was chosen to be Star Make by Love Sewing Magazine this month!  Go me!  I am extremely proud to be in print and delighted to have won a fabric bundle to play around with.  I'm especially pleased as it's a top I wear regularly and so I would also classify it as a 'star make' of my own.

Right, off to defy the weather forecast in my new trousers and shoes.  By pure will and sewing power alone I will banish the rain and summon the Summer.

Can I take your orders? Table Top to Crop Top

In the last post, I wrote about having purchased an old cotton tablecloth from a charity shop with the intention of turning it into something else, possibly using it as a wearable toile to test a shirt pattern.  Charity shops are a great source of fabric for experimenting with for low cost. Well here it is.  Can you imagine its original, humble form?  Those workaday, dishcloth hues are a bit of a giveaway once you know!

The tablecloth was part of a charity shop, scrap fabric haul that I purchased for £2.50 (that was for all the fabric I could stuff in a carrier bag); and this was a basically white square of fairly loose weave cotton/linen type fabric measuring just over a metre.  It has a pastel coloured check design woven through in pink, yellow and blue with a wide panel around the edge. I knew when I saw it that this well worn table covering would look and feel great as a summer shirt.  There was no doubt that this modest table dressing had seen better days though, perhaps having served some hard time in a cafe or as a picnic cloth.  I had to cut carefully around some worn through patches and unravelling threads.  But you simply cannot purchase by the metre the kind of fabric that has the patina of years of washing and wearing, leaving behind such a super-soft texture. 

I used Simplicity 8090 for the pattern, zoning in on view D (the left hand photo on the pattern sleeve below) as it offers a shirt-type, pull on cropped top that can be squeezed out of absolutely minimal fabric .  I cut a size 12 in view D after doing some quick body measurements. The top is actually a faux-shirt, in that it has no front opening placket at all, just a v neckline with a closed front seam.  It has an collarless neckline and an interesting deeply angled seam on either side-front.  You can if you wish add decorative front buttons to make a more convincing shirt-like look, although I've chosen not to add buttons for now.

The sleeves were supposed to be elbow skimming, but as you can see I was eeking them out of extremely limited remaining inches of fabric, and so I ended up with a slightly shorter version.  I did try to think a bit creatively about where the coloured panel of the table cloth edges would lie on the finished garment, and I'm quite pleased with the result, even though the options for fitting the pattern pieces on the cloth were fairly few.

One of the issues with a well worn piece of woven fabric like this, is that is has warped quite considerably, probably due to frequent hot washing, with the check pattern now somewhat uneven.  I cut the back section on the fold from the centre of the cloth rather than cutting two pieces (I didn't want a centre back seam as instructed by the pattern). Partly this was to save a couple of inches of seam allowance and partly because the top doesn't really need a centre back seam, unless you're introducing the centre back tab as one of the design details.  Again I left this tab detail off, as I was looking for a minimal finish.

The wandering weave is clearly visible in some places and required some careful lining up at the centre front especially.  Eagle eyes will notice more success in some places than others!  But its still better alignment than some off-the-peg garments I see.  I used the smaller pink and white squared check from the centre section of the cloth to form the larger back section of the shirt where no matching was required, and used the woven panel edge of the cloth for the front pieces.  These broader stripes at the centre-front add a nice design detail with the stripes running down and mirroring each other, bringing the colours to the fore.

There is a facing around the neck and down the front v shaped neck opening.  This is under stitched and then I loosely tacked it into into place at the end, stitching in the ditch on the seams to keep it from rolling inwards.  This makes for a nice clean edge to the neckline.

The sleeves went in very easily and the soft fabric moulded into shape well.

This fabric could easily take a little steam from the iron and a bit of heat for a neat sleeve head.  I think this cloth has been no stranger to a hot wash and press.  It has taken the heat, and stayed in the kitchen.  I'm quite pleased with the pattern alignment on the sleeve.

I love the design of this particular top, with one really deep dart at each side front section, and a swing back.  It is quite sticky-outy at the hemline when worn, even with this drapey fluid fabric.  A crisper more structured fabric would probably produce quite an architectural shape.  The dart in the front is a nice feature when cutting into the check.

The back is made entirely from the centre section of the cloth, making it a contrast to a more colourful front, with only the square check design.  Each square has a little waffle-like weave in the middle.  And if ever there was a piece of cloth with a back-story to tell, then I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when these threads were in their original use during breakfast, lunch or dinner.  What conversations took place over the years this was spread between hungry diners?

Especially as I think this particular species of tablecloth looks as though it might have been privy to less genteel, delicate chitter chatter and more hot gossip in a local caff, punctuated with ketchup and a strong, sweet cuppa!

If you remember back to the last blog post, I wrote the whole back story of this table cloth.  A friend and I had attended a high street fashion show which was brilliant fun and gave us a catwalk level view of some of the most popular styles of this spring/summer season. Some of the styles had been put together from vintage and second hand pieces as well as high street, high fashion and I have been becoming more and more interested in looking into where our clothes are made and how they are sourced, right from bolt of cloth to clothes hanger.  Now I know I could never give up my high street purchases.  But I love the fact that I can mix it up with up-cycled, redesigned and rediscovered clothes and fabric.

So despite being 'only' a wearable toile and an experiment to see what this pattern might look like, am in inordinately chuffed with this little top!  It is deliciously soft fabric that feels lovely and cool for summer days and the cute, cropped swing hemline is just right for high waisted jeans.  

Not too much chance of showing flesh unless I'm really stretching up high (not unheard of admittedly, especially when lifting the small adventurers up or down from trees, climbing frame etc). 

I think this also counts among the more practical and wardrobe friendly items I've made the year too. No retirement any time soon for this hard working cloth.

Catwalk VIP to Charity Shop Hop

When my friend Michelle asked a few weeks ago if I'd like to go 'VIP' to a fashion event, there was always only going to be one answer.  I've never been to a real live catwalk show before and although I've always taken a huge interest in what goes down the runways from the world of high fashion and couture, it's always been a you-tube experience for me, not being a celeb-style fashionista and all that.  

It was Nottingham Fashion Week, and there was a live catwalk event on Saturday, showcasing an edit of the high street looks right now, ranging from Primark to Jaeger, Whistles to H&M, open for a modest ticket price for anyone to attend and get a taste of the Anna Wintour experience.  There were also a couple of vintage and pre-loved items on show too from local shop, Braderie.  A real mix of styles for men and women included themes like nautical luxe, botanicals, think pink and monochrome, gave us a flavour of this season's popular looks.  There were some classic pieces too, including the ubiquitous wedding outfit inspiration ('tis the season after all for the wedding guest outfit quest) and a section showcasing boho looks and festival inspired styles.  Boho, gypsy style is not my bag I admit, (even so I thought one cropped, bottle green lace jumpsuit just looked just wrong on every level to me) but most interesting to me were the different ideas on styling.  

I loved this combo below.   Simple Breton stripes, bomber and narrow jeans for him.  Gorgeous pleated red midi skirt for her with a sports-luxe style cropped top and bomber.  With some tweaks (taking the quite so cropped top out of the equation) I already have a similar skirt that has been unworn and unloved for some time, so may be resurrecting it and blatantly copying this look.

Also these caught my eye.  Pleated satin pantaloons anyone?  Not sure what they are actually, (plus fours?  knickerbockers? breeches?) but I thought they looked really fresh and I could visualise them a bit more grown up with a little fitted jacket on the top, rather than denim.  

The jury might still be out though.  They might bring to mind a Vivienne Westwood 'pirate' punk vibe, but I'm willing to concede they may be veering more into Gem from Swashbucklers, children's tv presenter territory (for those who have CBeebies aged kids). I have no idea if I could even begin to make these, I mean where to start with pleated-all-over trousers?  But I'd be tempted to have a go.  Even if they ended up in the kids dressing up box.

So what did we do next?  Track down the best pieces in the high street shops for a retail splurge?  Raid the racks of contemporary pleated plus-fours?  No, we hit the charity shops.  Oh yes!  Thus inspired we had a happy afternoon nosing around the thrift shops in Hockey, Nottingham.  One of my favourite haunts for vintage and pre-loved clothes, there is always a good chance of finding real treasure here.  

Sue Ryder offer a whole dressmaking section of their large shop too, which is packed with vintage patterns, fabric, trimmings and sewing ephemera.  A whole haberdashery in itself, with buttons and ribbon, lace and thread, bolts and scraps of fabric as well as books for inspiration.  I could quite honestly have run amok here, for this reason alone.

A dangerous, trunk load of temptation indeed!  And more so because the shop assistant encouraged me to take as much as I could stuff in my bag.  I came away with £2.50 worth of an eclectic mix of quite large scraps, and also a few nice lengths of black cotton poplin and lining materials.  Some pale pink satin moire and 70's style printed cotton flannel also made their way into the swag bag. Most notable though was this huge length of what I am pretty sure is sari fabric in grey poly-mix.  I love the smokey shades and drape and although it is a bit damaged, there are at least 3 metres of it with a nice panel design on either end, so plenty to play with.

Another good find lurking in the trunk was an old, faded linen table cloth. Clearly having been washed a zillion times it has a lovely soft and worn-in feel to it.  If I can manage to squeeze a little summer top or shorts out of this former table cover I will be very happy.  More of that another time.

The second treasure that I unearthed was in Oxfam; this navy blue short sleeved shirt.  I'm not usually drawn to cute prints or novelty fabrics.  They look nice on other people, but they're just not my style.  This shirt with a mandarin collar and embroidered design came home with me for a whole three pounds sterling, and I love it.  It doesn't have label, apart from a small tape inside showing fabric content (rayon), but it has been nicely constructed and well cared for.  

I mean, who could resist a shirt with tiny, Chinese gymnasts on it, perfecting their poses in cross stitch?  Well not me.  There are even flying birds, splashing fish, temples and mountains in the embroidered design, mirrored perfectly on either side.  Sweet.

I think I was drawn to it partly because I was wearing my Chinese, panel print Rigel bomber jacket on the day.  (What was I saying about not wearing novelty fabrics?  Ok, clearly that's a big fat fib then so I take it back!)  I wore this bomber particularly to the fashion event as I wanted to show off something I had actually made, and to fly the flag for handmade garments and recycling fabric in a world of fast fashion.  There has been much talk recently in the online and offline fashion world about bringing more attention to where our clothes come from, who made them, what conditions are like for those people and where fabric is being sourced.  Fashion Revolution was asking people to question, back in April during their week long campaign to raise awareness, "who made my clothes?"  It's a good question.  Even for those of us that can say proudly "I did" for some of the time, it does prompt further enquiry into where fabric comes from and how it is made, dyed, shipped and sold on.

This little golden jacket was made over a year ago, was the first thing I ever blogged about that I'd made myself, and is constructed from a satin bed spread.  Don't get me wrong, I love the high street and don't think I could ever make from scratch my entire wardrobe.  But I absolutely support home-making, up-cycling, reusing and remaking as part of the every day mix.  

Now, pairing this with a breton stripe may be a pattern clash too far for some I accept, but a classic breton goes with anything right?  It seemed like a good idea at the time anyway, early in the day with the sun beams beaming and spring in the air.  That was before it dropped about 10 degrees and started snowing again by lunchtime.  Oh dear, clearly a bit of a wardrobe fail there on my part.

So altogether (blizzard conditions aside) a great fun and a very inspiring day, from catwalk to charity haul.  Ever made or re-designed something purchased from a charity shop?  I'd love to know!

Heatwave Ahoy! Palm Leaf Dress, Simplicity 8055

Happy Bank Holiday! Now call me an optimist, but I'm ready for dress that says 'heatwave'!  It might be early days in the calendar for that sort of outlook, but frankly I'm so over having to do multi-multi-layering, lugging around a coat and taking a scarf and hat everywhere just in case.  I am well and truly hankering for the days when I can grab just a dress and a light jacket and be out of the door.  I've had a taste of early summer sun last week and it's just this sort of dress that, in my imagination, I'll be grabbing when real summer days arrive.

This is a new pattern release from Simplicity for spring 2016 and the pattern includes a dress with two different sleeve lengths (as well as the option of a long line or short a-line jacket).  I chose to make up the dress with the longer length sleeves, just on the elbow (ok so I confess I'm not THAT much of an optimist, I want some arm coverage against the spring chill, and if only to save myself the effort of fake tanning my Persil-white upper limbs).  It has a back vent, soft pleats at the neckline and raglan sleeves.

I bought the fabric and pattern together during a week away on the English coast after Easter and perhaps the sparkling blue, north sea and merest hint of warm beach days to come inspired me to purchase a couple of metres of this tropical, palm leaf print fabric.  As it was the end of a bolt, I actually came away with 2.8 metres in all.  It's a reasonably substantial weight viscose with a pattern of deep blue and sea-green leaves on a white background with blue flowers.  I've never worked with viscose before I don't think, or at least can't remember ever have done, as I usually like to work with cotton, linen, silk and wool as my first choice.  However I think this will be perfect for a quick and easy everyday dress and hopefully this material will withstand being thrown in the washing machine regularly too.  I was interested to see how it handled and was pleasantly surprised, viscose is a really nice fabric to work with.  The drapey-ness meant it was quite wriggly on the cutting mat, and when sewing up though, so I did use a lot more pins than usual to keep it still.

I cut a size 12, as the dress is fairly fluid and unfitted with no sleeve insertion, so I reckoned there would be plenty of ease. I seem to be coming in slap bang between a size 12 and 14 with commercial patterns just now, but as long as it's not a very fitted design, I can usually take in or let out at the seams or darts for minor adjustments along the way.  (I'd still do a full or partial toile for any fitted garment or trousers though, to be on the safe side).

The dress came together in no time at all, with only 4 main pattern pieces to cut and one simple neck band.  Raglan sleeves require very little effort indeed to attach and there are no darts or fiddly fitting processes.   I did decide to line the whole thing which took a little longer and which isn't included in the instructions.  Lining always gives a better finish to a dress I think and definitely feels nicer to wear.  I've used a lightweight polyester lining in off-white and cut it exactly the same as the outer dress pieces.  It's very thin and floaty, so just enough to stop the white areas of the dress from being too transparent in sunlight but it won't drag the dress down too much.

I put the pleats in the top at the neck edge of the lining, same as for the outer dress, and then simply put together the front and back pieces of lining and inserted the sleeves the same as the dress pattern.  I then attached the lining to the dress at the neck band.  You can just see the raw edges of the dress and lining together in this pic, with the neck band pinned in place over the top.  It was quite a stretch to get the neck band piece all the way round, and it actually turned out to be quite a narrow binding in the end.  If I do this again, I'll cut the band a little wider to allow for a bit more seam allowance after it has been stretched out.

Dare I say that it might be a tiny bit warmer to have a fine layer of lining material underneath.  But we're not talking about warm layers here, are we?  Noooo!  Moving on then....


The instructions call for a 20 inch concealed zip at the back.  But when zips come in all the colours of the rainbow, why waste a perfectly good design detail I say.  This one is azure blue and is exposed.  It is also only 12 inches long, as I didn't really need to have a 20 inch opening to get into this loose fitting dress, so just inserted the zip into the top section of the bodice and closed the back seam as usual for the rest of the way to the back vent.  I basted the back seam together first to check I could wriggle into it before finally inserting the zip and stitching.

Another slight alteration, the instructions suggest a hook and eye at the back of the neck, but I've attached a button and loop closure here. Just because, well that thing about liking design detail again, and also I am fortunate enough to have gazillions of lovely buttons to choose from and need no excuse to use one.  This one is faceted blue and has a gold rim with a tiny leaf design. 

I've gone for a hem that finishes just on the knee, as the most flattering and wearable length for me just now.  You could make this dress super short though, as the proportions would look good.  With the loose style and high-ish neck, adding a high hemline to the mix would make this dress perfect heatwave or holiday attire.  Excuse the lack of lower legs and feet in any of these shots, my 7 year old photographer did extremely well, but omitted the footwear!  You can just make out my furry assistant sneaking up at the bottom of this shot though.

So there we are, a tropical, south seas dress, inspired by the north sea coast!  All ready for when the jet stream/gulf stream (or whatever it is that brings a 'warm front' to the British Isles) finally gets its skates on and rolls up on our shores.  Snow this week meanwhile for some of us folk in the UK.

While mooching around York earlier this month on a day out, I noticed lots of botanical prints on the high street, and that Reiss has a number of items in this season that use a very similar palm print fabric, including a sleeveless dress and a pair of slim trousers (I was looking at the 'Selena' print range specifically).  I love their clothes, although it's too high up the price bracket to be everyday wear for me.  But it's nice to use the high street designs for inspiration and to see how they style them with other pieces such as jackets, shoes and accessories.  And experiment with colours. 

I like the idea of pairing my new dress with contrasting orange shoes and or accessories for dressing up.  

I could smarten it up for work with a dark blazer, tan sandals and bag, or soften it for weekend wear with distressed denim jacket and any old pair of flats.  I can see this being a hard working garment indeed in the very, very near future.  When it stops snowing.  Ever the optimist.

April - Precipitation, Patterns and Planning!

There's nothing like spending a week away from the studio to set the refresh button on my sewing plans.  A few days by the sea last week has given me a chance to clear my head of work, house jobs and the never ending, ever lengthening 'to do' list.  Aaaaaand relax!  

Even the rain didn't stop play for long and so with a daily dose of sea air the cobwebs have well and truly been blown away. I've sewn not one single stitch in well over a week, but I have collected some new (and not so new) patterns, one or two lengths of new fabric and the fresh ideas are fast racking up in my mental project pile.  Having some new ideas in mind has also made me revisit the old stash fabric too, and yesterday evening I hauled out four or five pieces of cotton poplin, lawn and some vintage silky fabric for immediate consideration.

I've been away visiting family by the seaside, and managed to factor in a trip to one or two local fabric shops and haberdashery departments on the way.  There is a half price sale of Simplicity and Butterick patterns just now and one of the traditional haberdashers locally (one of the very few left) that still has pattern catalogues and sells paper patterns from the shop, also had a sale of some old stock.  Having done an initial swoop to see what was on offer, I went away and made a wish-list. Then I returned with said list and netted the best of what was available.  It pays to be organised when faced with sale price patterns (or sale price anything in my case) as I could have gone a bit mad here and ended up spending a fortune.  But I kept my choices limited to those patterns that I really liked and were potentially good for remaking, for which I already had suitable fabric, or where a suitable choice of fabric was available to buy there in the shop.  Several that I'd chosen were not in stock, but all of the Simplicity ones on my list were available. This then, was the resulting pick, all Simplicity:

One newly released dress pattern, Simplicity 8055 (with additional coat/jacket) and two styles of shirts, one cropped, Simplicity 8090 and one more traditional, Simplicity 1538 - a good range of spring/summer options I think, and lots of opportunity for making multiples if they turn out well enough.  

Together with these, I bought some viscose for the dress and cotton poplin in simple white for the cropped shirt.  I already have lots of stash material suitable for the other shirt and when raiding my stash pile yesterday, these gems presented themselves as definite shirt contenders.  From the bottom they are: yellow floaty cotton chiffon brought as a gift from India, coral shaded vintage floral in a silk mix, blue and orange shell print cotton lawn, blue floral cotton poplin and pink vintage rose print cotton lawn.

Here's a pic of the viscose fabric for the dress, with zip and thread picked out to go with the blue flowers in the design.  I noted that Reiss currently have a few items this season, including a tunic and trousers, in a very similar, tropical fern print in almost identical green and blue colours but with a random, bright orange leaf.  I might think about including an orange element when I'm putting this together.  Or perhaps leave it to just the blues and accessorise it with other colours? Hmmm....    

I did let myself buy a few lengths of this muted colour fabric below, which I love, but which at the moment could become any number of garments.  I haven't decided exactly what I will make but there are lots of options.  It is a nice medium weight cotton, not too stiff, with an abstract floral print that almost looks a bit camouflage in the khaki and black colour palette.  I'm thinking either shift dress with sleeves, or possibly more trousers in a style like these.  The colours are great for spring and summer to wear with neutrals or brights and the fabric is really wide, so even with just a couple of metres there may be more than one garment to play for.

A charity shop local to where we were staying, that I know sells patterns, was also on my route map and I scooped this one for a whole pound.  I usually get vintage patterns from this shop, but this pyjama set is still in print I think.

Now I have fairly recently purchased a similar pyjama pattern, but I have seen reviews online from others who have already made these Burda ones (the women's version) and it seems to get the thumbs up pretty unanimously as a basic design. I noticed in the shop that it has been cut already and used, although all the pieces are there. Having inspected the contents more closely, it seems to have been altered quite dramatically by someone who wanted to make shorts and also widen the back and arm holes quite significantly.  At least I think that's what they've tried to do!  There are extra bits of tissue taped on here and there and some red pen notes, and the arm shaping looks rather odd so it will require some careful tweaking.  Anyway, I think I can work out where the alterations can be reversed back to the original 'factory settings' as it were.

So back to the ranch this week, tons to catch up on with work (the email backlog alone is ridiculous) and home jobs (how do socks manage to hold so much sand, even when they've been washed!?) and probably zero time to bring all my project ideas into life for the next few days!  So for now just daydreaming of the beach and my future sewing plans will have to do.  

At least with the temperatures creeping up few degrees I've been able to wear some spring clothes and enjoy some handmade garments that have been waiting (shivering) in the wings.  I actually went out in my handmade silk bomber jacket earlier today without freezing to death after 5 minutes and wishing I'd worn head-to-toe woollens.  If this continues, a spring dress may well be next in line.