Finished Memory Dogs (and a bonus)

These are for family members on DH's side to remember his SIL who passed a few years ago.

Her daughter asked me to use two of her mum's embroidered sweatshirts to make 2 memory dogs, one for her sister and the other for her daughter. 

The green sweatshirt had a few bits of embroidery which wouldn't fit onto the tummy of the first dog, so the second dog has a butterfly on its tail and I also made a surprise gift for the requestor to remember her Mum.

There wasn't enough fabric remaining for another dog, but I did manage a hanging heart with a wording, a scrap of the original embroidery and a label from one of the sweatshirts.

She was pleased with the photos of the dogs, so I hope she's happy to get them at the weekend, and likes her bonus heart :-)

For construction I had two sewing machines both with a jersey needle, one with pink thread, the other with turquoise and constructed the dogs in parallel. The pattern is Kip the Keepsake Dog by Funky Friends Factory.

Wording was embroidered on my Janome Memory Craft 200E and then the pieces cut out afterwards.

The heart was self drafted. 

Taupe Linen Mix Shorts and Culottes

I had some linen mix fabric in my stash, a fine herringbone in dark brown and ivory, with an ivory and ginger stripe in it. Overall the fabric reads as a taupe colour (grey/brown) with a slight self stripe.

The shorts are knee length, and may need shortening a little, I'll see how they are to wear.

The culottes use the cropped line on the pattern and have longer slash pockets.

Both are adapted from New Look 6438, with my crotch curve, an elastic waist and slash side pockets.

BLOUSE FROM LAST YEAR

Very pleasingly they work beautifully with the blouse from the co-ord set I made last July, which will expand its wear considerably.

Kip the Keepsake Dog

This is my test dog from the Kip the Keepsake Dog pattern made from old hoodies of mine. I purchased the pattern from Funky Friends Factory.

I have been asked to turn two sweatshirts into Memory Dogs for some of DH's family.

My first one has a few wonky bits, and a some unpicking was required, but I've got a better sense of the how the animal goes together now.

Wish me luck with the next steps.....

Butterick 4659 UFO

Recently (when looking for something else) I came across a bag with two unfinished blouses in it. In both cases I'd hit a problem with them (many many years ago) and put them to one side.

Here's the first one. I remembered the pattern as the sleeves are quite distinctive. It is Butterick 4659, I think I have cut View B in a size 22.

Pinned to the blouse was a scrap of paper which said :-

    Tried the top on, 2 issues

    1 - understitching shows

    2 - remove fabric from centre front / front facing (see shaded area) and a little drawing.

    Back not bad maybe needs deeper seams at waist line.

So I'll need to start with trying it on to see how the fit is now. This could go back as far as 2007 as I can't find any mention of it on my blog. The pattern is dated 2005.

Fortunately I kept the scraps with the garment so I could use them if needed.

The second is another turquoise stripe and is much earlier still. I originally made a skirt from this fabric. You know the style two rectangles pleated or gathered onto a straight waistband with a side zip one side and a pocket the other.  And then made a shirt with what was left, only didn't have enough for the collar, so it's an oddly pieced thing I never got to work. It all has no overlocking so must predate my first overlocker (mid 1990s). From the length of the waistband on the skirt I must've been in my late teens (late 1980s). I remember unpicking the skirt some years ago in the hope I could finish the shirt. My aim would be to make myself a shirt of some sort from the bits as best I can.

Black wide leg trousers

 

As before these are adapted from the trousers in New Look 6438. I've got two slant pockets and a hidden invisible zipper pocket as well.

These will be nice to wear with the various blouses which have black in them and which don't work too well with other coloured bottoms.

Love Notions Melody Dolman

I bought quite a few patterns from the Love Notions May sale. The first one I've sewn up was this test of the Melody Dolman from an old duvet cover.

I'll wear it a bit to see if I like the body length or not.

The sleeves on this have a much bigger opening than the Bellissima Blouse which I found a lot more comfortable.

Bellissima Blouse

The May Pattern for the weekend sewing club was the Bellissima Blouse plus some extras for Club members.

I made the classic blouse in some soft cotton fabric liberated from Auntie Joy's stash. I interfaced the collar and collar stand with Vlieseline H180 (lightweight fusible interfacing).

I found the grown on sleeves uncomfortable, so recut the shoulders from my TNT shirt pattern and added some banded sleeves.

I'm happier with it now, but am unlikely to revisit the pattern

Navy Wide Leg Trousers

Last summer I made a few pairs of wide legged trousers and culottes adapted from New Look 6438 Views C and D. The ones made in viscose (rayon) were particularly good for hot sticky days. So I bought some plain viscose fabric in navy and black from Pound Fabrics to make some more to expand my options.

(excuse the weird flash detail, they are a mid navy all over.)

These are the navy ones, which got worn on the hot days when I was away. In this version I did add a hidden side zipper pocket in the right side seam, hand for a key, card etc.

The changes I made to New Look 6438:

I wanted elasticated waist trousers, so I omitted the back darts and replaced the shaped waistband with an elasticated one.

I also wanted pockets so drafted up some simple inseam pockets, and an optional hidden zipped pocket.

I have a non standard crotch curve, so used another pattern I have altered a lot for fit to alter the crotch on these, I extended the front and back crotch depth slightly, and raised the back waist. The result is very comfortable for me.

The Victory Trousers (April Make!)

Hello, and sorry I've not been posting. I have been away (within the UK) quite a bit, and squished some sewing in, but not shared here.

I have also been working on things for an Advent Swap with my sewing friend RealAle but can't share those until after she has opened them in December!

So I will do a couple of posts to catch up with what I can share.

Today I'll share the Victory Trousers from The Weekend Sewing Club by My Handmade Wardrobe.

This was the Pattern for April 2026, and I did make them during that month

For my version I did a full tummy, full butt and low butt alteration. They sewed up well, but I keep trying to put my hands in the buttoned openings thinking they are pockets!

I tend to wear my tops out, so the button detail is rather obscured. So I am a bit on the fence about these ones. 

Any ideas how I could add some pockets at the front/side to make them more wearable? 

I suppose I could open up the side seams and add in some simple side pockets. I have got a bit of the navy cotton twill left that I used to make them

Fabric Shopping

I've been fabric shopping, thought I'd share here what I bought, hopefully fun for you but also helpful for me later when I sew it up.

Rainbow Fabrics ran a pop up shop in a hotel near the railway station in Nottingham. So I went along and bought 2 metres of pinky burgundy stretch denim and 3 metres of viscose print fabric.

I am planning to make the pink denim into a denim jacket.

The printed viscose will become trousers/culottes and a shirt which can be worn together or as separates.

They packed it up in a nice reusable tote bag.

I had a really fun time.

I then walked from the train station area, along the canal through the new pedestrian area (where Broadmarsh shopping centre previously was located) up into the main shopping area to pick up toiletries and home items and also visit the two fabric shops in the Lower Parliament Street area.

These are Creative Craft Corner in Queen Street (I often go there but didn't buy anything this time).

And the new Boyes at 20 Lower Parliament Street.

In Boyes I bought 2 metres of table covering fabric in sage green in a print called 'Honesty Leaf' for the kitchen. I've already cut it to fit the table, but have a bit left over which will become a bag.

I also purchased 2 metres of sage green knit fabric - 70% viscose 30% acrylic for a top for me.

Earlier in the week my latest Pound Fabrics order had arrived, so I'll record that here too, and no more fabric shopping for a while now :-)

Far Left 3 metres of Plain Navy stretch cotton for hiking trousers

Second left 3 metres of Elephant Family Polycotton in green for a shirt for me.

Second from right 2 metres of black viscose poplin for summer trousers

And finally far right 2 metres of navy viscose poplin for summer trousers

(I've previously made summer trousers from the mid blue and olive viscose poplin so wanted to have some more plains to go with various summer tops.)

And the elephants, well that's just because I love elephants!

I also got some thread a new sewing gauge.

Blue camo long sleeved Tee

 

Men's Crew Neck Long Sleeve T-shirt from Tiana's Closet

This is a FREE Pattern

https://tianascloset.com/index.php/2021/02/03/mens-crew-neck-long-sleeve-t-shirt-free-pdf-sewing-pattern/

Whale Print Shirt

 

A casual shirt for DH featuring an all over print of whales.

The fabric is a polycotton from Pound Fabrics. It's narrow so I had to order some extra.

The pattern is Simplicity 1493 in an XL with the sleeves made a little shorter and slimmer.

It is a surprise birthday gift so I hope it fits well.

Waterproof Over Trousers

 

Waterproof over trousers for DH to when when out hiking in the Peak District.

The brief was a zip in each leg so the trousers could be put on without removing walking boots.

I used the Men's Thomas Track Pants from Love Notions in a single colour and unlined. I added much longer zips than the pattern indicates and put pocket slits in which I bound with faux leather.

I found the waterproof fabric difficult to sew, but with a jeans needle, lots of clips and perseverance we got there!

I waterproofed the leg seams with Aquasure, allowing time between steps for the gel to cure.

Another UFO completed

 I've got navy on the machines at the moment, so picked out an old UFO to complete.

This was originally cut out (in 2008) as the bag from Simplicity 4699 from the leftovers of this jacket made from that pattern.

I decided I was not likely to use a short handled tote bag, so instead changed the construction to have 2 tabs coming out of the ends of the bag and a single longer strap, as well as a zipped closure. I plan to use this for choir as its large enough for an A4 folder and a few other things.

I would advise not leaving the pattern tissue pinned to the fabric for 18 years. They were rusty and hard to remove!

Zipped jacket upcycle

I thrifted this jacket from the £1 rail for the zips but then thought I could enlarge it to fit me.

In the end it turned out to be a lot more work than I'd originally imagined!

The original jacket had had the sleeves shortened and neatly hand stitched in place. This meant they were too short for me. So I added cuffs in pink knit fabric.

The jacket was too small so I added strips of pink fabric into the sides of the body and sleeves. To do that I had to unpick the white binding round the hem. The front and back hems had a very deep scoop, which I didn't like at the front, so I unpicked the zip and made the curve less exaggerated at the front.

I cut some binding strips from my pink athletic knit and attached them round the hem. The white binding then looked odd, so I unpicked the binding round the hood and replaced it with pink and also bound the front opening. I put in a different zip down the front in a pinky burgundy shade.

I removed the white drawstring and replaced it with a pink shoelace.

I did debate making a pink chest pocket to cover the logo (siksilk) but had run out of steam by this point!

An online shot I found of the original jacket