Ottobre singlets

I felt a little bad yesterday when my daughter told me the only singlets that kept her warm were the two longer ones. She has had the other ones for quite a few years and because they fit width wise, I thought they were fine.

Rather than procrastinate, I whipped out my Ottobres and traced, raided my remnents, cut and sewed these singlets for her. The pattern is #33 from issue 4/04.

I have made these singlets many times before but since it has been awhile and I thought that the length of the bindings would not be as bad as I remembered. The bindings, im my opinion, are way too short and need to be a few cm longer.

The white singlets will be dyed at some stage, when it warms up a little more during the day.

Another My Image cowl top

This was my last piece from the retreat-at-home weekend.  This dark green knit was also from that big fabric binge from the other week. I am not known for sewing fabric up as I buy it, so using up three pieces straight away must be some kind of record for me.

This was an odd piece of knit fabric – only 112cm wide. I ambitiously thought I would be able to get a tee and a skirt out of this piece until when I realised how narrow the cut was. I was lucky to get a long sleeved top from it, though I guess cowl necks take a little more fabric.

The mystery fabric is lovely and stretchy so perfect for this type of top. I love this colour so much, it is the colour of my first ever tee stitched in year 9 (that tee was sewn mostly on my Mum’s 70s Elna, and I couldn’t sew the sleeve hems well since there was not free arm and I had never heard of a twin needle). I used some regular thread cone and thread in a bobbin as nothing in my somewhat extensive overlocking thread collection remotely matched this shade.

Nothing else to say but this is a great pattern and perfect for drapey fine knits.

Jalie 2449

This is the second garment I made on my retreat –at-home sewing day. The fabric is again from my binge. It is a lovely knit but it was not the colour I was imaging. I have never worn anything this colour but it grew on me and I thought it would be perfect for testing out on a new pattern.

I sized it up by one size and straightened the side seams slightly by using Kwik Sew 2874 as a guide. I decided to have the neckband wrap all the way around the top. To find out the amount, I lined the front and back pieces at the shoulder seam and measured by how much extra the back piece extended. I also added length to the neckband (the length of the piece cut off minus a couple of centimetres that that the neckband wouldn’t jut out – I could have worked out what percentage Jalie used by measuring their original pieces along the stitch line but I went with the quicker method of just winging it!).

I really like how it turned out – so now I have another jumper option when I am in the mood for sewing some more. I am on a bit of a knitwear kick since that is mostly what I wear in Winter and I felt I needed a bit more variety. Plus they are easy to sew.

It was a very Jalie day for my today. I wore the jumper, a tee and jeans, all from Jalie patterns.

Kwik sew 2874 - zig zag knit

This is the first a three garments I made on Saturday. I was having a bit of a sewing weekend while my fellow Crafty Mamas forum friends were having a retreat.

I have made up this pattern before, but in view c which is designed for colour blocking. I finally got around to tracing of a version where I did not have to overlap and pin pieces together. This is view A with view C neckline.

After not buying fabric for quite some time, I had a huge binge the other week and ended up purchasing over 20m of fabric (plus I won a metre from Lisa @ Crafty Mamas). Just now, as I was calculating my purchases, I gasped. The worse thing is I broke my rule and bought some of the fabric online from a place where I told myself I wouldn’t buy knit fabric from. I was searching for more sweater knits and couldn’t seem to help myself.  

The husband thinks the fabric is hideous, but I thought it would be nice and bright to wear in Winter.  Seeing as I recieved numerous comments today, from both the staff and students at school, I would say the husband doesn't know what he is talking about.  He now admits the fabric looks better made up!

The fabric is a result of the first part of my binge (the other pieces haven’t arrived yet).  I have no idea what sort of knit fabric this actually is, nor the fibre.  I spent a lot of time cutting since I decided that I was going to cut it on the cross and it was hopelessly off grain, if knit can be off grain. I had to cut one half of the pattern at a time and then flip over and the sleeves separately so that I could keep it as aligned as possible.

I think next time I will make the sleeves slightly wider at the wrists. They are fairly close fitting and I am unable to push my sleeves up for washing hand and so on.

Blue burda pants

Wednesday was my only free day this week and I made full use of being at home to sew these pants. The pattern is the pants pattern from the 1/2009 edition of Burda Easy Fashion magazine. 

I was inspired to sew these blue pants after seeing a pair of green pants on the Mod Cloth website. Seeing as my Winter staple consists of grey and black pants, these blue ones are quite a leap forward for me. I think they will be fun to wear on a bleak Winter’s morning.

I used the pants block drafted by Steph  to alter the pattern. The alterations are so easy to do and the fit makes the pants fit spot on. I am not sure if I overdid the crotch by scooping it out some more but the fit is very comfortable and I like what I see when I look in the mirror.

I have also taken inspiration from the Colette blog  (Are your clothes made to last, How to sew a blind hem ). I blind hemmed my pants as per usual but I turned the hem under for a cleaner finish. Normally I have my overlocking showing inside. When I was sewing the pants, I also was extra mindful about finishing it as well as I could to ensure long life and staying power in my wardrobe.

This is the last weekend of my holidays. I want to work on making an outfit for the boy for a costume party coming up. And I want to dye some silk knit fabric. I have to spend some time thinking about what else I could make in the next few weeks. That is one of my favourite things to do.

Sheath dress with sparkle

After my last projects of the basic knit jumpers (thanks for the comments) I felt like I needed to break out of my comfort zone and stop being so practical every once in a while. I wanted a dress to wear to church in Winter (we go on a Saturday night). I envisioned a sheath dress that could be worn under a cardigan or jacket but have enough ease that I could wear it like a pinafore. Hmm, is that sounding too practical again. I do try to put thought into garments because I actually want to wear what I have made on a regular basis. I chose the charcoal metallic fabric that has been in the stash forever because while pretty, it is just too dressy for my lifestyle.

 The pattern is from an old Burda WOF magazine # 112 from 5/05 with the neckline from an even older mazine (#110 from 12/01). The dress has princess seams, a boat neck and it fully lined. I had to take the seams in from bust to waist at the front, and in the waist area at the back to create some waist definition. Taking in the side seams just created wrinkles I probably could have taken it in all the way down to the hem, but this was enough for me.

I finished this up on Saturday afternoon and was very happy about it. However, when I went to put it on, I realised I had forgotten to understitch the left back section and it kept flipping out slightly. When I got home from church, I had to hand understitch that section becuase it had been bugging me. I can't believe I missed that.

It is probably a little dressy for my church, but I will wear it anyway. I felt a little chic wearing it with a cardigan last night.