Sew Darn Tired

It's a long time since I've put up a post but I have been sewing a bit.  First up a pair of Indigo togs from  Sinclair Patterns . This was a voucher that they gave for a gift bag for the Spoolettes Frocktails 2023. So made in Feb this year. I used remnants of dance lycra - bright green back, hot pink front and white straps and white lining. I loved them. I put a clip in the back that isn't part of the pattern - not hard to do I just snipped it and sewed each side of the clip on.  The Indigo is a great pattern and I liked it because it has regular and full bust options. I really loved these togs. They fit well, were really comfortably and were bright and happy. I only got to wear them a few times. I left them on the hook on the back of the pool door and called them to say I'll get them the next few days (I'm a member and go every Sunday) and they told me they'd hold them at the desk. I went in and after a lot of back and forth and days of not knowing what happen...

I've used this New Look pattern again. I have a pair of the pants nearly finished for me but the star of this show is the orange merino waterfall cardi I made my friend.  My  first one  was for me, made from some lovely linen knit. This one was for a special friend who lives most of the year overseas. Her favourite colour is orange so when I saw orange merino last year at the Fabric Store for $10 per metre, I knew I was getting some for her. I made her a merino Kwik Sew 3977 (as I did for my Mum and sister) and she loved it but it was a little big but perfect as her onboard jumper in a lovely royal blue merino with a tiny stripe through it at wide intervals. (I know a jumper is different in other places - we call a cardi a jumper). So when I went to the Gold Coast where she and her husband live when at home, she saw my linen one, tried it on and loved the style. It was a quick sew and the trickiest part is the band that runs around the hem and waterfall front. I use...

The little girl next door had a birthday and a little while ago I noticed she was wearing a mint coloured t-shirt with a pineapple on the front.  I had a scrap of the pineapple rayon I made my niece pj shorts and kimono  last year which was a perfect match so I whipped her up a little skirt with pom poms on. It fit perfectly and just as well as that was the last of it. I had to make a kind of tier as it wasn't quite wide enough but a bit of elastic sewn on with the overlocker and then folded and topstitched and there it was.  She loved it and put it on straight away... I love it when kids do that!   It was also my birthday recently and my above said niece brought me this lovely bouquet of flowers which I may add are still in good shape and it has been a couple of weeks. Lovely... but the sewer's bouquet... well that's just perfection and lasts much longer. Ta Da! I present the sewer's bouquet...a bunch of merino pieces!!!! Goodness what a n...

These are the fab four... a charcoal one, a purple (one of her colours) with coral/orangey back (not her colour), the rust red one and the taupe one. I thought I'd show the four singlet tops I made for my niece in more detail. They were made from scraps of merino knit that was from the fabric sale I went to a few weeks ago. It is a lovely slubby merino and behaved very well. I traced the pattern - pretty easy for a singlet - front and back. The original has bindings on the armholes and neckline but I didn't have enough fabric for binding for the armholes. In the photo above I cut two fronts or backs at a time. You can also see the leftovers were not much - I had to cut the neck bindings out of those tiny scraps. The fabric was also about 5 cm shorter than the original top (and serendipitously just wide enough). The original tip was very long on Zoe's body (she's a stage manager and does a lot of bending and stretching so for work wear it needs the length)...

My niece loves very basic but quality "adventure" type clothing. She has a basic merino singlet in black fine merino that she loves but it has been discontinued by the adventure clothing company. My mind went 'ding' and I remembered the scraps of merino I bought at the fabric sale for $2 for the lot. I  got the singlet from her yesterday and cut out a pattern this afternoon and sewed one up in three hours. The colours above are not very representative, but they are her colours. There is enough for three more singlets. I made the pattern a bit shorter in between the armhole as she is short bodied like me. I think for $2 I can take a chance. She said she wouldn't like the red one but it's more a rust than the red it appears here and I think she'll like it. If not it will be a good trial of the pattern and if she still doesn't want it, I can use it. The black one is the bought one. I literally had enough to cut the front and back out and piece ...

I had this top cut out before the Burda top made recently but avoided making it. I don't know why - maybe all the pleats at the neckline? I've made this top before in a heavier knit in a tunic length and i call it my cycling top. I wear it with leggings when we go social cycling. I made a size 10 then and made a note on the envelope that it was big in the back and shoulders so of course I noted it and then cut out a 10! It's made from a textured pure merino knit that is more summer weight and bought on sale at The Fabric Store a couple of years ago. I also made two infinity scarves out of it - on for my niece and one for my cousin's young daughter for her trip to Canberra during the thick of winter. The back neckline only is finished with bias binding - I made mine from some scrap from the pjs I made a while ago.  The feature of the bias came in handy as the back was big so I threaded some elastic through it and it pulls it in on the shoulders for it to fit b...

I have been sewing and I finished a top yesterday from a pattern that my friend sent from the U.S.  - Butterick 5203 (bottom right with long sleeves). I used a fabric from my mother's stash and I wore it today for a friend's birthday celebration had at the park. Did I get a photo? No, of course not. So no photo today. I really like this pattern. It was easy and even though it is for woven, I made it out of some 1970's wool mix ponte type fabric.  Maybe in a few days.  It's a good pattern. I didn't think I'd like the points; I hated handkerchief hem skirts in the '70's or '80's or whenever they were popular. I have some woven fabrics I'd like to try for summer.  I also have some red wool out for that cape below too, but that's not till I finish the Ottobre jacket. Remember these tops below. I made them for Alex for Christmas in UK last year. I hadn't seen them since but Alex brought them from his Dad's for our little mi...