Burgundy floral wide leg trousers

 Yes a change from blue!

Another pair of the full length wide leg trousers, this time in a burgundy floral. Although I originally bought the fabric for a blouse the colour was a bit too dark up round my face so decided it would be good as trousers instead.

Again these are adapted from New Look 6438 D with an altered crotch curve, slash pockets and an elastic waist.

The fabric came from Economy Fabrics in June 2023.

Blue Floral Dress

 

This dress is made from a lovely viscose (rayon) fabric in a rich blue which I bought in a charity shop 2 years ago.

The community chorus I sing with have a summer engagement and asked us to wear blue for it. So that prompted me to get the fabric out and work with it. The large scale print seemed best spread out over a dress.

The main dress is from a Prima magazine April 1998, with sleeves from a different dress in the May 2010 magazine, and front ties I drafted myself.

NOTE: Prima is a UK monthly magazine. For subscribers it includes a free sewing pattern. If bought in the newsagent then there is info on how to get the pattern. I have been a subscriber for many years.

It works quite well under the jacket.

Floral Challis Blouse

 

I used Simplicity 9200 with a few tweaks.

I lengthened the sleeves, added a bound slit and buttoned cuffs. I also put the buttonholes slightly closer together and used more buttons.

The pattern does not have you interface the front band, but I did as the fabric is so lightweight.

The fabric was quite tricky to handle. I pressed the fabric, then laid it out on a table with a lot of weights, carefully cutting the larger pieces with very sharp shears. For the smaller pieces I cut them out of interfacing first, then fused the interfacing onto the back of the fabric pieces once I'd made them as straight as I could. I then cut round the interfacing.

For an accurate collar I traced the stitching lines onto tissue which I placed on top of the piece when sewing.

Floral blouse

I had a remnant of this fabric left from making something for Auntie J and there was just enough to cut out my favourite shirt pattern with long sleeves, cuffs, buttoned pockets and etc.

I wasn't able to even attempt pattern matching, but did try to have pleasant looking sections for the collar ends and pockets.

I made it just slightly oversized as its a viscose with a slight crinkle texture which I think would shrink up slightly after washing, and maybe not always need ironing. I did have to iron it to cut out, so we'll see how this one works out!

Pattern Information.

This is my current favourite shirt pattern. It is adapted from a shirtdress pattern which was in the March 2020 Prima magazine (UK women's magazine).

I have shortened the length to a shirt length with curved hem. I have added patch pockets from another Prima pattern, and pocket flaps from a big 5 pattern. I also make the cuffs deeper and have a continuous lapped placket instead of just a gap in the side seam.

Black Vogue Cardigan Jacket

This is the 4th black jacket. I used a floral black sweater knit with horizontal stretch but no vertical stretch to make the jacket from Vogue 2989

Palazzo Trousers for a friend

 

Just finished making these super wide leg trousers for my young friend C. I did a toile a while back in an old duvet cover, but only just got round to making this pair up.

C bought the fabric from Pound Fabrics. It's 100% polyester but pressed well, should keep the vibrant colours and be easy care.

This is based on the Simple Sew Palazzo Trousers, heavily altered. I've altered the fit for C, changed to an elasticated waistband and redrafted the pockets so they have a front scoop (like the picture) rather than inseam (as the pattern really is). About the only thing that's the same is the width of the legs!

The fabric has a visually strong vertical print, but didn't seem to be directional, so to get this placement the fronts are cut in opposite directions to get the mirror of the print. I've done something similar with the back. The waistband is cut from one of the floral strips. I think its worked out really well.

I needed 1 3/4 inch (4.5cm) elastic for this casing but only had 2" (5cm) in my elastic box. So I ran it through the overlocker to cut off 1/4" and it fits neatly.

Travel Robe

I made a lovely lightweight dressing gown (aka bath robe) in 2016 and its been great for trips, especially when staying in other people's homes with shared bathroom facilities.

I can't find it, however, so presumably left it hanging on the back of a bathroom door on some trip.

Over Christmas we are staying with multiple family members, so I thought I could use another one.

The fabric is a red and white floral print polycotton. It was quite narrow but as I had plenty I was still able to get the robe out.

I don't love it as much as my earlier one, but it'll serve the purpose nicely!

Travel Capsule Wardrobe for South Africa Garden Route

Do you remember me sewing things for my Start With A Scarf Wardrobe? I used those clothes along with a few RTW pieces as a travel capsule wardrobe for a trip to South Africa's garden route. I even took the scarf with me though I didn't actually wear it!

I also took footwear - walking shoes, walking sandals and silver flat sandals as well as sunglasses, underwear, PJs, socks and toiletries. Everything packed up into the packing cubes nicely. DH and I both had some clothing in each other's checked luggage and spare undies and top in our hand luggage (rucksacks), though we didn't have any issues with our checked luggage.

I did wear everything, and as we were away 3.5 weeks, we visited a laundrette half way through and had a service wash done of some items (underwear, socks, tops and dirtier bottoms/layers).

All my bottoms and layers were plain colours, as were some of my tops, and I stuck to a colour palette of black, sage green, burgundy and pink, this let me mix and match whatever was clean and suitable for the weather that day. We had rain, sunshine, heat and cold, so lots of different combos were in operation!

Coat

I took a Craghoppers lined waterproof jacket with hood and pockets. In the pockets I had gloves, beany hat, tube scarf/buff and a lightweight peaked cap. These fold up small, but were great for protection from the sun (peaked cap) 

Bottoms

I took seven bottoms, perhaps it could've been slightly fewer. They were

Black stretch woven trousers, worn on all flights and over the joggers on cold morning and evening safari drives.

Dark grey slim leg joggers, worn for relaxing in the room/cabin, one night as PJ trousers when it was cold and as thermals under the black trousers.

Black stretch jeans, worn for evening meals and some around the town days.

Stretch woven tan shorts, worn a lot on the hot days. The internal zipped pocket was great, though banged a bit on my leg when I put too much in it.

Black culottes skirt, an alternative to the shorts on hot days.

Olive green Craghoppers trousers. Worn for hiking with a belt but not good for a boat trip - the fit isn't  right when sitting.

Sage green stretch woven trousers. Worn for wine tasting, some evening meals and etc. Fit not right on these either.

Layers

2 lightweight fleece jackets from Craghoppers (one burgundy, one pink), and a self sewn cardigan in sage green. I wore all of these but could've probably managed with only 1 of the fleeces + the cardigan.

Shirts

I took 4 shirts, 2 self sewn (sage green and floral) and two purchased Craghoppers in Pink and Regatta in Burgundy check. More shirts would've been good and the ones with pockets were more useful. The floral shirt was worn the most and washed twice (once by hand, once at launderette).

3/4 sleeve tops

Wore all of these and washed them too.

Short sleeved tops

Useful as layers under the shirts, as well as self sewn I took quite a few RTW t-shirts, mostly from Decathlon.

Summary

Overall things worked well. Secure pockets were definitely useful. My self sewn items worked out quite well. My RTW pieces have been bought over the years and were not expensive. I have pieces from Regatta, Craghoppers and Decathlon. The better my sewing gets, the less RTW I wear :-)

Skirt and tops for a friend

 I'd picked up a remnant of floral jersey, which made a beautiful skirt for C.

For this I used the skirt pieces from the Simplicity 9473 skirt. I stitched elastic to the top and flipped it over, stitching it the ditch at the side seams to secure. I also added some inseam pockets from another pattern.

To go with it I made two t-shirts from the Closet Core Tee pattern

which if worn tucked in, give the look of a dress

I've used the 18D front with an elbow length sleeve for both of these.

Cotton floral shirt

For this version I used the pocket pieces I'd used on the olive green shirt, only twice this time. These are large enough to be useful without being too large (as per the previous floral blouse).

I used a 100% cotton fabric which I bought from Economy Fabrics in June this year.

The buttons are shell buttons from the button drawers. Fortunately I managed to find a dozen all the same size.

The pattern is Prima March 2020 cut off to blouse length. I've also added a continuous placket for the opening rather than using the sleeve seam.

Travel accessories

When I bought the fabric I used here, I loved the colours and print. It wasn't very practical for garments though due to the stiffness and sheerness, but its worked well for travel accessories.

I have made a draw string bag, which can be carried rucksack style, a drawstring shoe bag (with a stitched divider down the centre) and and zipped bag for use inside a suitcase.

I had previously made 3 other zipped bags so its shaping up to be a nice collection now.

The shoe bag I made in February didn't draw up well as it went against the lines of the fabric. I remade it into a zipped bag and made a new shoe bag in the opposite orientation.

Floral Shirt

 

Here's my latest finished project, a floral shirt with oversized pockets, collar and cuffs, giving it a slight 70s feel.

The fabric is a floral cotton lawn in shades of green and pink which came from Auntie Joy's stash. It was a very odd shape with a large rectangle cut from one end and an irregular diagonal the other. So I did need to cut some parts single layer. The collar, cuffs and pockets were cut from the remaining scraps and I managed to find a dozen suitable shirt buttons in the drawer.

For the pattern I used the shirtdress pattern from Prima March 2020 cut down to shirt length. I added a wider cuff, a bound placket and a couple of pleats. The pockets were adapted from Simplicity 4231.

Its a fun project using things I already had.

Poppy Print Dress

 I've been sewing for my friend C again.

This is a cotton fabric printed with a poppy design.

The dress is based on View A, in Size XL.

I made a few changes

- flared the back by moving the centre fold 2.5" at the bottom.

- added a notch for side pockets (this finished 14" from the hem and about 7" long)

- added sleeve extension, to give a bigger cap sleeve

moved the tuck and ties down by 3.5"

I did not do the french seams as this wouldn't work with side pockets. I used self binding on the neck facing.

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Updated to add I made a floral version of the same dress for C.

For this one I narrowed the neckline by an inch on each side and raised the back neckline. Otherwise it's the same as the last version.

Yellow floral culottes with pockets

Yellow floral culottes with pockets. They come to just below the knee and look like a little skirt when I stand still, but then you can see the legs when I move. I plan to wear these with a plain pale blue, grey-green or ivory tshirt.

These use my basic elastic waist trouser pattern with inseam pockets I drafted myself, and for this pair the legs widened as much as the fabric allowed. The pockets are from a scrap of ivory fabric.

Long sleeved floral blouse

 

I had two pieces of this cotton lawn so was able to cut the long sleeved shirt with cuffs.

I used the same pattern as with the previous shirt, but just curved the back hem down a little, for a slight high-low hem look. I've used burgundy buttons, stitched on with burgundy thread which gives a lovely subtle detail.