Bits and bobs sewing!

Hello! This is a quick round up of a couple of projects I've finished recently. I made a couple more appliquéd bags for my friend's twin niece and nephew. I interfaced the letters and then they were pretty simple to sew on.

Then last weekend I spent a day with my mum (thanks Mum!) block printing and sewing up cushion covers. We only completed two - we're seeing them more as prototypes! And I'm not sure, what with how labour intensive the whole business is, how much more I'll be doing! 

Either way, I'm going to have some for sale in my online shop, hurrah!

The cushion pads are duck feather, and the finished cushions measure 16" x 16". 

 Purrrrfect to jolly up any sofa or chair!

Jumpsuit!

Hello!

When I first saw pictures of Closet Case Files' new pattern, the Sallie Jumpsuit, I was KEEN. I love jumpsuits and the idea of wearing tip-to-toe cotton jersey. And I knew just the jersey I fancied - a beautiful slub black cotton one from my favourite Organic Textile Company.

Sadly for me spaghetti straps look heinous on me, but I was really excited about the kimono style top. When I'd downloaded the PDF pattern and stuck it together, I started wondering about the trousers. I'm not much for 70s style, and I very rarely wear heeled shoes, so I worried about the long wide trousers. I thought I'd get more use out of a tapered style, and one of my favourite things 

I've sewn are my Hudson Pants. 

So I had a go at putting them together. I followed the length of the rise from crotch to waist on the Sallie pattern, extending the Hudson pattern (about 4" I think) to match. From there they fitted together really well, being the same size at the waist. I left off the cuffs at the bottom, as I quite like them as they are, and don't want it too look too sporty.

Adjustments I would make next time would be to lower the armholes by 1/2" and lengthen the pants rise by 1" for a bit more space... I may have had a few wedgies wearing these guys - but nothing that has stopped me wearing this twice this week!

Thanks to the big v-neck back it's easy to get these on and off, phew! I see from these pics that the bum is bagging after two wears and I don't even care! I really really love this jumpsuit. I'd like to make it again with the adjustments, but I can't imagine doing it in any other colour or in a print - I feel like that might be too much... but maybe if I found some super 80s-style printed jersey, that could be the business!

And what's a jumpsuit good for??

Cat cushion

Part of my pressie for my sister's birthday was this cat cushion! She's brilliant at choosing meaningful gifts, and I am hopeless, but I did want to give her something I'd made this year. I had this fabric I showed in my last post, and I added more cats to have enough for a cushion pad.

It was fairly simple to make - I used a 16" square cushion pad, and cut the fabric to the same size. Then I tacked this (ready made) piping to the wrong side of the cat fabric, and then sewed each envelope closure back one at at time, all with about a 4/8" seam allowance. The back fabric is from my mum's stash, and was a happy match with ALL TEH KITTIES.

In situ - but don't get comfortable kitties, you're going home with Jessie!

A-Frame skirt and block printing action

This is the A-Frame Skirt by Blueprints for Sewing, a site I only found about a week ago and which I've been really enjoying. (I came to it through Beyond Measure, another new-to-me and super blog. Where will it all end?!?) I loved the samples of this skirt on the site, and the possibilities for colour blocking. I chose the A-line version 2, and cut it out in one evening and then sewed it up in a couple of hours.

The instructions are good and simple, and I've now done my first lapped zipper - I'm pretty happy with how neat it came out. I made the pattern in size C with no alterations, and the only thing I added were the buttons on the front - the fabric I chose, although I love it, doesn't really show off the fun pocket panels on the front, so I thought the buttons might help draw attention to them. Plus, I'm starting to think that anything I can put buttons on, I'm going to.

The fabric is really beautiful - it's a crossweave cotton from the Organic Textile Company. It has so many colours showing up from all the different threads, though the overall impression is of a dusky pink - different from the more cream appearance on the website, but I'm really happy with it. I love the fabrics they sell at Organic Textile Co!

I like this skirt a lot, and can see it being useful - I think it'll look nice with some bright tights when it gets colder. I'd like to make it again, and this time use different fabrics like Taylor's done on her samples, to really show off the nice construction lines in this lovely pattern.

I've also started dipping a toe into block printing, inspired a lot by Marilla Walker who gives some great tips on her blog. I ordered some Speedball screen printing fabric inks from Handprinted, which seems a great UK-based resource for fabric printing. I carved some shapes, and cats, out of some Speedycarve which I'd bought years back, and then let loose on some cream and white cottons. 

These were printed with acrylics and a Golden fabric medium - I haven't yet set and washed them, so it'll be interesting to see how permanent this method is.

Swimmin' cats!

I found getting the larger stamp of the cat to print consistently really difficult - it's going to take a lot of practise to make it less amateur looking. I'd like to make some bags and cushion covers from these fabrics eventually, and the handprinted look will hopefully be part of the charm, but they could do with being a little less "charming", perhaps!

This last pic was from accidentally inverting in Photoshop - I'm loving it though, and want to try some white on black cotton next and see if I can recreate this!

Brumby the second

Hello! I'm back with another Brumby skirt. This time I made up a Small, as the Medium even with 1" taken off was too big - this is now on the snug side, so I'm not there yet - I think next time, a S with slight smaller seam allowances will be perfect.

I bought this pretty fabric from John Lewis - again, why?? It's totally not the kind of colours or pattern I wear! I love the two tone print on my last Brumby - I must stick with those from now on!! Plus colour blocking, and plain fabric with nice weaves. 

Anyway, here is the result. I'm happy with the construction and my exposed zipper went in much neater thanks to glueing it down first, a tip I got from House of Pinheiro. 

Better zipper! Although needed to come up a bit further I think.

I had some fabric left over, so I made a dress for this cat that dropped by. 

She's also fairly dubious about the print.

Tote bag to cushion cover

I ordered a print from one of my absolute favourite artists, Neil Sanders, and when it arrived he'd included a tote bag with more of his excellent characters on it. I do use tote bags often, but they get dirty and ruined really fast, which I couldn't bear to happen to these guys!

TERRRANCE!

So now it's a cushion cover instead - a really quick switch. I unstitched the strap, took the bag in 1/2" at each side so that it would measure the same as the cushion pad, 16" x 16", and then made four button holes for the top. Now I can look at Terrance, the big guys, and Peeps, the small guys, ALL THE TIME - which is exactly how often I want to look at them!

PEEPS!!!

Skater dress and tuxedo jacket

Hello! I've been thinking a lot about fabric block printing and painting lately. I'm very inspired by pretty much everything that Marilla Walker makes and sews - wonderful fabric combined with a super and original style aesthetic. I'm always excited when she's done a new blogpost - what did I do before sewing blogs??

So I'm looking online for old sheets and cheap pale fabric to get started with. And in the meantime, I wanted to have a go at making a skater type dress, copying one I saw on Etsy. 

I was imagining a nice drapey white with a shorter skirt, but when I found this weird waffley long-johns fabric at (my now firmly established favourite) Fabric House Ltd on Goldhawk Road, I knew this was the one. The really nice owner there pointed out some weird quirks of the fabric (the makers appear to have abandoned the flower pattern in the centre few inches for some reason. Kind of reminds me of the time I was shaving my legs and got bored after the first one and just left the other). But as he said, at £2 a metre you really can't complain!

Still needs (a)hemming 

I thought the bodice of the By Hand London Anna dress could work, and I did mostly work from that. I brought the slash neck in a bit, and lowered the neckline. Then I dropped the waist a little (which I think was an error actually) and sort of bodged the gathers. I used the skirt I'd already hacked from my last go at the Simplicity 1880. The idea for this dress pretty much hinged on the red/cream combo, and I definitely had a keenness to get my piping on. I bought some cord and used some cotton to get nice thick piping, which went on easily with my zipper foot. Then some stash buttons completed the look. The belt is from a Portobello Road find in a totally copied colourway, another inspiration for this dress.

I see this guy as a very wearable toile, and would like to have another go soon. I rushed it in my eagerness to see if I had enough skills acquired to realise the idea I'd had in my head. I'm hoping that as I go on, I will rush less if I come to trust that I can more or less make the things I'm starting to imagine. With setbacks, no doubt! I'm dreaming lots about a black and white sailor style dress next...

Ahoy! Soon...

I also have a blazer I made a few weeks ago to show. This is a different chap altogether. After making a couple of Morris blazers, I thought the pattern would work really well to copy a truly excellent look I saw photos of Kristen Stewart wearing a good while back which really stuck in my mind for general ace insouciance (though she always appears good at that, jacket or not). 

How brilliant is this look! I see now it's a Roberto Cavalli jacket - I also see, looking at it for the first time since making mine, where mine doesn't quite have the same effect!! Hers is more smoking jacket style, satin patterned radness whereas mine is more... bad prom tux.

Looking hard like Kristen. I'm going to be in Twilight now, probably.

Actually, I just found this pic too - obviously Ryan Gosling couldn't look crummy, but still it's not the look that I was going for! I haven't really found much use for this jacket. But if/when I get invited to prom, no doubt it'll come into its own!