More Pomonas and another puffy shirt

Hello January sewers! 

This is a summery shirt I've been thinking about and got round to making last weekend. I do like this aesthetic - sort of cowboy/Victorian flounce. Which seems to be a thing - I've seen nice examples popping up in my desperate-to-sell-me-stuff Instagram feed. Gross how they know just what I like.

Following on from my last puff-sleeved shirt, this is self-drafted, using Simplicity 8523 (view B) as a bodice block (it's a really simple top pattern, which was one of the three used at Ray Stitch when I did my six-week introduction to sewing course about six years ago. I think it's a great one for building on - just two front darts and apart from that a really simple block). 

From there, I used the bigger armscyes and sleeves I'd drafted, but made a v-neck and shorter sleeves for this blouse. I also drafted a collar and put buttonholes in the cuffs for some simple ties. 

I love this shirt! It's one of the times (which thankfully are starting to outnumber the other times) when what I imagined and the finished object are the same! 

The trousers are another pair of Anna Allen Pomona pants! I sure do love these guys. Nothing to add to these from my previous pairs, but these are in medium weight denim and have proved really useful for colder weather. Their bagginess means they're friendly to having layers of tights/socks stuffed under them too.

Fabric close-up! The shirt fabric is a lovely thin cotton from Merchant & Mills, with buttons from the ever-reliable Textile Garden. Both stash, now happily married together.

So it's a pretty thin, summery shirt, certainly not up to this weather. I'll have to wait for warmer times to wear it... a lot of waiting happening, these days. I certainly feel grateful to have sewing to keep my mind occupied.

Thank you for reading! Until soon!

Puff sleeves, suits and chickens

 Hello Christmastime sewers!

I've been sewing a lot since the pandemic began, but the blogging hasn't been so good - I do want to keep track of progress though, so here I am with a puff-sleeved self-drafted shirt! It's in an ikat from (I think) Merchant & Mills a few years ago. I used Simplicity 8523 (view B) as a block and went from there - I made the armscye bigger, added a button placket, and lengthened and massively widened the sleeves. It was all pretty fly-by-the-seat-of-pants in terms of drafting, but I think it's turned out really well and I love it! This is actually the third iteration - I'll post the others soon.

The buttons are from lovely Textile Garden. Trying to show the big armscyes below - lovely and roomy! (I'm wearing the shirt with some old True Bias Hudsons in slub cotton jersey from Organic Textile Company).

I made some trousers from this ikat last year, and now with the shirt I have a jolly suit too. The trousers are also based on the Hudsons, sized up for wovens, and straightened out in the legs - this was before Anna Allen released the Pomona Pants pattern, which is my go-to at the moment for stretch-waist trews.

I really like it as a suit like this with the shirt open - with the shirt done up it's a bit clown-in-pajamas for my current tastes. But when that look comes in sometime in 2021, I'll be ready.

I also thought I'd show a couple of the Christmas presents I sewed this year. These are chickens for holding plastic bags - I based them on a plastic-bag chicken my mum gave me a while back, and I'm really happy with how these came out. My original is in jazzy stripey cotton jersey - I think these more "realistic" colours work better.

CHICKENZZZZ and suits!!

Reeta V - good grief!

 Hello my fellow sewers! Here I am to show off my FIFTH Named Clothing Reeta dress! 

As I said in my last posts about this dress, I never felt I loved it on me - until I took off the collar, then suddenly I could get on board with this - Reeta IV was a hit. And when I saw this Merchant and Mills linen check, I saw them together.

(Please do enjoy this dress/rug combo, not at all a happy accident but a carefully planned out photo concept.)

Like my other four (!) versions, I cut a straight size 38, with no adjustments apart from to leave off the collar - I added a facing instead, as I did with Reeta IV. But instead of the grown-on batwing sleeves, I reverted to the old sleeves and used the slash and spread method to widen them, a little at the bottom, but more at the top, to get a puff sleeve cap. And I put in some thin elastic round the arm bands to get more puff. REETA V - THE PUFFENING.

I haven't much of a stash these days, and find it easier now to browse fabric online, and identify possible patterns to match them to. I feel like it's stopping me being overwhelmed, though it also takes away the more spontaneous kind of sew.

I used Prym 15ml self-covered buttons for this, and really like how they look.

Without a belt - I'm thinking of making a self-fabric belt for this, as I like the uninterrupted check here, but don't like the floaty structure on me so much.

Yaaay! Let us all sing together:

Reeta I, you were no fun,

Reeta II, you I outgrew,

Reeta III, no good on me,

Reeta IV, I did adore,

Reeta V - now YOU'RE my jive!!

They call me Unmellow Yellow

Hello sewers! 

Next up in my list of "Nowhere to go, so this fancy thing shall I sew" is this yellow dress! I originally bought this double gauze from Merchant & Mills with a modified Fringe Dress in mind - I wanted to copy Catherine's beautiful version. But giving it some thought, I realised that much as I loved the dress on her, I don't think it's a silhouette I'll wear. Whereas this tried and trusted hack has been a winner for me in both blue and white.

I haven't anything to add about this dress after my last two versions - the only difference I made was to round the neckline, which I think gives it a more 40s feel. I just love a button-through dress so much! Will I ever tire of them... Plus because I ran out of buttons the gape at the front matches the back, so it looks a bit jumpsuity from some angles - bonus! 

I also wondered to myself if another reason I reached for this pattern rather than tracing and cutting the Fringe Dress out was something particular to this time. Sewing is my favourite hobby - absorbing, stimulating and satisfying - BUT, I wouldn't call it soothing or restful. Do other sewers feel this - is it a hobby that becomes more relaxing as one improves? I find I'm sort of white-knuckled most of the way through the process, I think waiting for a mishap, even though they are almost always rectifiable... As well as joy and pride in finishing something I like, there's also RELIEF - is this a common feeling?

This was my first time working with double gauze - I'm mad about the colour but I didn't LOVE the fabric itself  - maybe it's not the greatest fit for a structured dress like this - it might prove a little lightweight. Only time and the million cocktail parties I'll shortly be wearing it to will tell. Oh, wait...

Thanks for reading! x

Lounge suits you!

 Hello sewers!

After I'd made my first two pairs of Pomona Pants, I started craving a white pair! Having absolutely nowhere glamorous to go doesn't appear to have stopped me making outfits for these fantasy occasions. My first two pairs of these trousers were the wide-legged View A - these guys are the slimmer version, View B. 

Two-pocket butt! This is cream corduroy from Ray Stitch - I'd imagined them in denim first but couldn't spy a white fabric online that I fancied enough. Again I made the size 10 without adjustments.

Once I'd finished these amazingly practical trousers (they got dirty while I was sewing them. They're getting dirty because you are looking at this photo of them) suddenly a full suit seemed in order! After much jigsawing though, I realised I couldn't get a full jacket out the remains of my fabric - and I'd got the last of the bolt. So, a waistcoat plan was born!

No jacket required - naturally.

I used the Grainline Studios Morris Blazer - which I've made several times before. I left off the arms, and cut the armscyes slightly bigger once I'd sewn it up - I just eyeballed it. Then I finished the armscyes with bias binding. I hadn't enough cream fabric for the back so used a denim twill I had - which is much more smart-waistcoat canon anyway. There were a lot of happy accidents with this waistcoat, and I think it works a treat!

In my mind, with the full outfit and gold colour jewellery I look like either a ballroom dancing teacher or a croupier - both are looks I feel really good about. When I described this outfit-in-progress to a friend she suggested it might end up more lounge piano player - it could've happened. I don't know - I love it, in any case. Utterly impractical sewing encore!

Thanks for reading!

My Pomonas

Hello sewers!

It's been over a year since my last post. The first seven months was because I moved to Florida to do a comics course, and had to leave my sweet, sweet sewing equipment behind. And then of course the pandemic happened. Once I came back to the UK I started sewing a lot - it's definitely been a helpful hobby when I can't concentrate on other things (a fairly constant problem these days). I thought I'd start blogging the backlog - it's nice to keep track of the things I make, plus I still enjoy seeing other people's makes and blogs. 

As soon as I saw Anna Allen's Pomona Pants I was keen - I love an elasticated trouser! This is a lovely burnt orange needlecord from my new favourite shop, the wonderful Cousette. It works really well for these trousers - it's fairly light, but keeps its shape and I think it looks great. There are lots of other lovely colours on the website...

I opted for one front pocket and none at the back - I miss having side pockets although the line of these is lovely. I sewed up a straight size 10 with no adjustments. I guess there's some excess fabric around the crotch area, but I think it shows up more in these photos than in real life (also, I think I'm a weird stander!!?) I love these trousers and have worn them an absolute ton since making them a couple of months ago. 

Thanks for reading!

Miró Spoonflower skirt and Desmond Roll Top Backpack!

Hello sewers! 

Earlier this year I spent a weekend with some friends living in Mallorca. We had a morning at the Fundació Miró Mallorca - it turned out to be my favourite kind of gallery/museum, based in the artist's home and with a sense of what it was like when he and his wife Pilar lived there. It was an artist's idyll - his studio in particular.

I made a picture with my own Miró cat hard at work.

I've been wanting to have a go at designing my own fabric for a while, having been really inspired by Katie, Katie and Emily, and many of the other lovely designs by sewing bloggers. I knew I wanted a really big abstract print, so with Miró in mind I had a look for a likely painting, and made a repeat pattern in Photoshop based on this one below.

Joan Miró Spanish Dancer, 1926.

My Photoshop design.

I ordered a metre of Spoonflower organic cotton jersey with some kind of skirt planned. I used the bottom half of the Nettie Dress pattern and added a black band with 2" elastic for the waist. I didn't bother to hem the bottom - this was a pretty quick sew but I just wanted something to show off the print. And it came out like this!

The top is the Nettie Dress top, sewed quite a while ago and happily a good match! Recently I went with my friends Ella and Eve to see the Van Gogh at the Tate Britain, and this wall on the stairs seemed the ideal backdrop for some blog pics!

Looking at the photos I worried about the absolute baboon-bum effect of the pattern placement - Ella assured me it's fine IRL, but actually I don't much mind either way. 

I'm looking EXTRA pleased here because I also get to show off my best make ever - my Desmond Roll Top Backpack! 

I love it very much! I wear it every single day, and having it with me gives me a lot of pleasure. The pattern was a treat to use - really well set out and with excellent instructions. I got the fabric and notions from The Cloth House and from Kleins - it didn't end up at all being a cheap project, but I really love it and it feels like it's going to last me - so I'm glad I made the investment in good fabric and notions.

A million backpack photos! So much bliss!

Red bums and red backpacks all the waaaay!