Purple Raine

I love purple.  Not sure if this is a case of 'always have', but I do.  I prefer the blue end of the scale, and when I my local fabric shop had a sale of 50% everything, including the bargain basement fabrics (they seem to be a mix of really of cheap tat, and fabric that has just been cleared off the shelves to let other fabric on), I was all over it like a rash!  Unfortunately, the content labels are usually ripped off, so it is a bit of a gamble as to whether you have a bargain or not.  However, at $2.50/m, I picked up a few yards!

First of all is this lovely purple rayon jersey.  I made a skirt, top and longline cardi (and there is still 3 or 4 metres left!  Purple underwear anyone?!

Sorry about the pics - this was the best that I could get even after touching them up.  The light is really funny at this time of year - you think you have it sorted and it is nice an bright . . . . and then the colours don't play nice.

The skirt is Simplicity 4221, and I have made this many times.  It is a four gore, elastic waisted skirt.  Very easy to make, and with a full lining it feels lovely to wear!

The top is Kwik Sew 3752, which I've made before, in fact, I've made this 'two piece' dress on a couple of occasions, and it is very easy to make and wear.  I made a cowl/polo neck (not really sure how this would be categorised!) because I do like something round my neck, and it also stops the neckline stretching out if I misjudge the band length for the neck!

The cardi is my trusty McCalls 6168 and as the jersey is so soft and drapey, the sleeves are a little on the long side.  I'll probably push them up my arms a little so all is good!

It is pretty hard to see the details of these garments due to them all being the same colour - I probably could have just wrapped the fabric round me and the photos would have looked the same!  So to prove that I did do some sewing, I took a couple of pics with some trousers:

And I also tried the cardi with some Summer Lagenlook (a little creased, seems like these garments have been in the closet a looooong time!  And oh boy - look at those legs!  Milk bottles eat you heart out!!

I'm not sure how long the fabric will last - if it will pill, but until then, I will enjoy wearing it as it is very snuggly!  I did change the neckline a little - I cut out the regular pattern pieces, and rather than face the cardi I just added a 3" strip of fabric, folded in half lengthways to the front and neck edge (on the wrong side), folded it to the right side and edge stitched it down.  A nice finish that I am happy with.

After making three purple garments, whey not make another?  It made sense as I had the thread in the serger!  So I cut out and made a another Simplicity 2154.  I have a few of these that I wear regularly to work, or with jeans and it is a great little top.  I did make a purple one a year or so ago - but made a total hash of the buttonholes and I don't wear it!

This fabric definitely has a large percentage of cotton in it, and the front looks a little like a rib with the wrong side being smooth.  There wasn't so much of this for sale - but enough for this cardi, and probably another 'fabric light' top!

I used some cute patterned ribbon for the button-band (teapots and tea cups!)

And look, I had a helper!

Little Nico is still trying to work out how this household runs.  No doubt he finds it quite amusing!

Do you have a favourite colour?  A passion for purple perhaps?

Adding to the TG Wardrobe

I am happy to say that I have been wearing my TG (Tina Givens) wardrobe as often as possible - I am still struggling with what to wear when it is cold or wet (fortunately that does not happen very often at this time of the year), so the clothes have had a good workout.  One interesting result of this was that it identified gaps, and what I needed to flesh out the collection.  So I made a few more pieces . . . .

First off was another jacket from the Phoebe pattern in a light blue linen:

The only changes to this version was that I made self covered buttons and used the raw edged bias binding on the front, as well as the hem and neckline.

By now I was on a jacket drive . . . . and I made one in white linen with some metal buttons.  This time I faced the front edges with ribbon:

And what was that you could see peeking through on the first photo of this jacket?  Yep, you are quite right . . . . a dusky rose skirt (Simplicity 4221)

I should mention that my twin is somewhat skinnier that me - ans when I wear this it does not bunch up so much at the waist . . . . !

I managed to use up a scrap of Bemberg fabric for the lining part of the skirt, and free-hand pleated three widths of fabric for the underskirt frill.  It gives a lot of volume, but also adds weight.  If I make this again, I will not use so much fabric for the frill - but as I had serged and triple stitched the frill on - it's not going anywhere!  I used snap on poppers and ribbon to gather the skirt up, and all in all I am very pleased with these garments.  I know that I will be making at least two more garments - a pair of light blue pants to match the blue jacket above, and another off white jacket.  I did make one previously, but I did not put in a back seam, and I really need one to make the jacket fit me better.

What have you been up to this month?

Summer Skirt - a New Take on an Old Favourite

I needed to make a skirt to complete the challenge for the Spring 6PAC on Artisans Square, and although I was a little hesitant about how a skirt would suit my burgeoning Lagenlook aesthetic, a skirt was made. I used Simplicity 4221, a pattern that I have used many times before for more 'dressy' skirts. I like a swishy skirt, and this 4 gored skirt that flares towards the hem, was just perfect. As there is only one pattern piece, I like to wear this design with a full panel front and back, and one on each side, rather than having a seam centre front, centre back and over each hip - and that turned out to work perfectly for my LL version. I knew that I needed two layers as the bottom layer would peek though, and I did toy with the idea of making two different skirts so that the underskirt could be worn with other outer skirts, but in the end, I went with the one skirt.

Yes, I know, would have been good to have taken a pic of the skirt on it's own . . . . . .

Here you can see the skirt in 'formal grown up' mode - lovely white linen, mid calf length. And here is the under layer.

I used some off white Bemberg lining as the top portion and a textured white cotton for the bottom portion. I cut the pattern off about 11" from the bottom, and that made the Bemberg portion, and I then cut three widths of fabric, 12" deep for the frill, and 'roughly' pleated it to make the inner layer. Simple right? I then joined both pieces at the waist, served the elastic onto the wrong side, folded it over so that the elastic is on the inside, and sewers it down with a triple zigzag stitch. Now I really wanted this skirt to be Vogue 9114 but didn't have the pattern, and I'm not sure how the bunching works, so for my skirt, on the four seam allowances, I attached a small piece of ribbon with a 'Babyville' popper/snaps. One was placed at 3" and the other at 12" - I didn't want the Bemberg showing through when the snaps were attached to each other.

I hemmed both layers with raw edged bias binding for that TG finish and top and edge stitched all the seamlines. I like the faux 'flat felled' look and ai think it adds a smart, professional touch.

So now I can have a plain skirt, or any combination of the four snaps attached . . . . . Here are a couple of views:

I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this. I think that a black version for winter would be fun, or even a plain coloured outer skirt with a really wacky coloured pleated piece underneath. This pattern is a bit of a fabric suck - about 2m for the outer layer, and 1m for the frill on the inner layer plus some lining - but it is really worth it. It would be a great usage for some leftover fabrics (for the underlayer anyway!)

I am glad that I made a skirt - as you can see it looks great with a dusky rose Zelda slip that I made at the weekend.

How about you? Have you made any garments through gritted teeth, that you then loved when you completed them?

Comfortable Dressing

I love to read blogs and see the fabulous clothing that my peers are creating.  There really are some talented people out there, making the most gorgeous clothing.  I then (order the patterns and) wonder whether some of these designs would suit my lifestyle and comfort level.  Because I am all about comfort.  So having recently made a semi fitted dress, and a cute houndstooth skirt, I thought that I would make one of my rayon jersey skirts, and pull on tops.  The fabric is from fabric.com and I like the sweater weight (65% rayon) as it washes and wears really well.

The skirt is based on Simplicity 4221 (it is out of print, but it is a simple 4 gore skirt with an elasticated waistband), and the top is based upon Kwik Sew 3752.  Firstly, I have a patterned skirt and a plain top:

Ha!  I just wanted to show the sleeves.  As wide as they are, they are a fraction of the size on the ones on the original pattern!  I also rather like a polo/turtle neck rather than a round neck.  I find that it keeps the neckline shape much better, and it is very snuggly!

I then made another top, exactly the same pattern, but out of the same fabric.  It makes a great two piece dress that I feel very comfortable in:

 

So there you have it - some great separates that I can wear to work and also feel comfortable in!

The question now is - what to make next?  As the weather is now beginning to turn here in Alberta, I think I may may a fleece cape from Burda . . . . if not, it will be something else!

Happy Sewing :)

Box Bags

I love bags - handbags, shopping bags, wash bags - they all hold some inexplicable excitement for me, so I thought that I would make up a couple for my travels.  I find them so useful - they hold my knitting (I am a sockoholic), wash kit, electronics etc., etc.,!

First up I thought that I would use one of the fat 1/4's that I received from the lovely Phillipa of Gloria & Me as part of the Spring Swap this year.  I couldn't resist this gorgeous seaside fabric:

And this is what it became!  

A lovely little 'box bag' with iron-on batting for structure, 

And fully lined in a great, co-ordinating Amy Bulter fabric.

As you can see I bound the inside seams - I have seen (and made) some of these bags with overlocked/serged seams, and that seems such a shame - if you are going to line the bag - let's make it look good inside too!

And then I made another one.  From some more Amy Butler fabric

Love it!

I showed these to Mr. SDSC and he laughed.  Somewhat perturbed, I asked him what the problem was, and he said that he found it funny (and endearing) that I never make just one item - I make multiple versions of the same items.  Now then, let's think . . . . Sorbettos, 4-gore skirts, Singer Shapely Blouses.  OK, he may have a point!!  Oh, and I have since made another 4 of these cute bags - two I have given away, and two more are tucked away in my suitcase . . . . .

How about you - are you a 'multiple maker'?