Legging and Autumn thoughts

I've made some navy blue leggings to wear with a purchased dip hem tunic. Definitely a Saturday look but fun none the less. I used the leggings pattern from January's Burda magazine and found they are very fitted, and a bit long. I have a 5cm elastic casing at the waist (and its right up at the waist) and a 6cm hem, this was without adding the suggested 3cm hem allowance. The picture shows scrunching on the models ankles, and I was getting this look before the 6cm hem. I also used a size 44, added 1.5cm sa and then sewed at 1cm instead for a little extra room. These are snug, though I do have chunky legs. Unhelpfully Burda say to use very stretchy fabric, and mine seemed pretty stretchy, but whos to say what actual percentage stretch they expect.

I've also been captivated by ejvcs Autumn sew along 2011 6-Piece Autumn Collection (6PAC) sew-along (August - October) and have planned a multiple piece wardrobe in brown/cream/orange - all from stash. I realise its only July, but we're not having a very hot summer, I have plenty of summer clothes plus some great fabric and accessories ready to go for Autumn. 
My current plans are

ONE  jacket – brown tweed

ONE skirt – brown tweed

TWO underlayer tops – one leaf print, one cream

TWO overlayer tops – cream cardigan, brown cardigan

ONE more bottom – brown tweed trousers

Extras

Leaf print dress

Brown tweed waistcoat

Orange knit top

Leopard print showercoat

But we'll see what actually gets sewn.

Sewing musings

Slightly random thoughts.....
I bought a leopard print shower curtain on sale, thinking to turn it into a shower proof poncho/raincoat - sure I saw something like that in a recentish Burda magazine.
I have several trouser/waistcoat combinations which need a VERY girly blouse to make them wearable for work. I'm thinking drapy fabric, gathered sleeve heads, ruffles or soft bow at the neck.
I have a forward head, broadish shoulders, chunky arms but slimmer torso - home sewn jackets don't fit well. Maybe I've learned enough now about my alterations for the forward head to try jackets again.
The jacket from Simplicity 2250 interests me because its simple, and should let me play with these alterations without being too frustrating. I always thought I needed a small bust alteration, but that seemed odd as I am a B cup. Turns out the excess fabric at the front was because of the forward head and not so much the bust, which was a revelation.

Saturday Shopping

Mum and I went shopping today which was great fun. We both had some vouchers to spend and also bought other things too. We had lunch out and afternoon coffee as well and then went back to their house and had dinner with my dad before I came back home.

We had a lovely time shopping, and I even managed to convince mum to get properly fitted for some bras.
She had been wearing 42B's but in fact is a 38C. We'll see how she gets on with the new ones as she was finding the proper band rather tight. She did look hugely better in the new bras though.

I came home with homegrown vegetables, home brewed wine and a new top which didn't fit mum, as well as all my purchases so am feeling rather treated, especially as I didn't have to cook all day.

I bought a canvas picture for the house as well as a quilted mattress cover for my bed.
The other items were classic bitter chocolate shoes and bag - really for the autumn, a pair of side zip navy trousers, a textured knit top in lime green, a floral print scarf in brown/cream/orange, a purple fleece jacket, white cami with built in bra and a boost bra in nudetone.
So now I better just stay home and cook/sew/garden/do laundry and keep away from the shops!



I've been making poor food choices since I've been living on my own and gained a bit of weight. So I need to eat a bit more salad and a lot less pizza. I'm planning to do some cooking tomorrow to have some healthy things in the freezer for work nights.

Plans for the mad print fabric are still percolating but hopefully will progress tomorrow.

Patterns and style

I did the quiz at Shoedazzle, just for fun and am apparently 'Refined, Cultured and Classic' which is a slightly interesting result. Probably because I picked the more wearable pieces and shoes.
I'm not planning to buy from them due to being in the UK, but its nice to have ideas.

On a sewing front 'Sew' magazine had a free Cynthia Rowley pattern, sadly my copy did not have the correct pattern included. Happily when I emailed complaining they very helpfully sent me the right pattern which arrived today. This was good customer service and made me happy!

Plus it now means I have both Simplicity 2250 and Simplicity 2281. I'm not much of a woven dress wearer, but perhaps a Refined, Cultured and Classic girl should have one or two......

Interesting knit top styles: what next

I enjoyed making up the striped top. My first garment sewing this year. I wonder what would be fun to do next? I have some crazy fabric I've wanted to make into a dress and if there's some left over, which there often is if you're not too bothered about sleeves, I might be able to sneak a knit top out of things too.

Isn't it wonderfully crazy? It makes me laugh out loud its so much fun.
Hopefully it won't engender that reaction in others when they see me wearing it made up!

I am torn between making something very plain, scooped neck, plain sleeves, wear with a belt style or actually having some seaming a detailing - knit front or black bands to break things up - ideas?
I wonder if a V or square neck would be better than the normal scoop?

Interesting knit top styles: my version of striped top

Here it is..... my version of the striped top with the angled panels.
I've gone asymetric to fit things on to my shorter/wider front.
Still needs hemming but here's how its come out.
In between the black stripes, the lighter stripes alternate between white and pale pink, it doesn't show too well on the photo.
Its just sewn on the 'normal' machine, as despite a complete rethreading from scratch the blasted Bernina 800DL won't sew more than an inch before going wrong. I'm fed up with it, it wasn't cheap and it should sew better than that. If I've threaded it wrongly why will it sew an inch before losing the will- surely it wouldn't make the stitches at all?

More new fabric

I was in Leeds with work yesterday so nipped out at lucnhtime and picked up 2 pieces of nice knits from Jack's fabrics on the market. The Market in Leeds is huge and thriving and has several fabric stalls with quite good prices.
These were both £2.50 per metre and I bought 2m of each. This is enough to make a dress or 2 knit tops.

 

The left side is navy blue and creamy white geometric type print, the right is black and white floral. I like black and white prints becuase they can be mixed with each other and with plain black for interesting looks.

My thoughts on the 'interesting knit tops' is to thread my machines with black thread, leave out fabrics which can be sewn with black thread and let the fabrics and patterns inspire me.

I have a black, white, pink stipe fabric I wanted to use for this top but can't make the pieces fit on my wider and shorter TNT top front. Am thinking (yes that's the whirring noise you can hear).

Pictures: yes we have pictures

So since I still have not found the cable to connect the digital camera to the PC I went and spent money on a Kodak 72-in-1 Card reader that takes the chip card thingy from pretty much any camera known to man, as well as mobile phone SIMs and other exciting elctronic chip type thingies.

I was very pleased that it worked immediately, and so here are some pictures of things.

First up here's a seagrass stool I made mostly with my dad whilst staying with my parents.

Next is the cake I had for my Housewarming party - a gift from my SIL.

But since this is a sewing blog I thought you might be more interested in the fabric I bought relatively recently - all knits. Bought at Leeds and Retford markets.

Interesting knit top styles: New Look 6940

I found New Look 6940 whilst hunting through pattersn, and whilst not exactly like any of the inspiration designs I showed I rather like it.
It has a knotted front and an empire line front, along with a choice of sleeve styles.
The reviews on Pattern Review are varied, though they seem to be mostly about sizing and the technique used for stabilsing the neckline.
I'll need to find a couple of my TNT knit top patterns to compare and see which size I need.

Labelling Stuff

I like labelling stuff. I didn't realise this was considered unusual, I label everything, otherwise how can I know what it is? Well maybe not everything, my kitchen and clothing cupboards are not labelled, though the baskets in the bottom of the wardrobe are.
My obsession with labelling came in handy when I moved. All the boxes were labelled with orange flourescent labels saying whats in them. Sadly I did not write - this one has the camera cable - on whichever one it is but hey ho.
My guests endlessly teased me when I labelled the sandwiches at my housewarming party, but hey no-one bit into a tuna sandwich thinking it was ham did they?
In the sewing room I label stuff. Burda Magazines, Knit fabrics, Scizzors, etc, mostly when stuff has gone away into drawers, boxes and magazine racks I find it helps to know what you have got.
Some of this is becuase I have quite a lot of stuff and try to keep it tidied away neatly (bwah hah hah).
My first proper IT job I was in charge of labelling the computers, printers, wall sockets and patch panels in the computer room (I fixed PCs, looked after the email and trained people too, but that didn't involve labelling). For this purpose I had a DYMO machine which printed out dinky little labels with which to label things. The DYMO belonged to the firm so I left it for my successor when I left.I miss the DYMO and it labelling officiousness. I think I might need to buy myself one....
not quite as essential as you know corkscrews or a kitchen timer (new recent purchases) but still it would make me VERY HAPPY!

SWAP Stages

There was some discussion on the SWAP section on Stitchers Guild about the later stages, so I thought I'd report them here:-

SEWING WITH A PLAN STAGES
To make sure that your formula works, choose 2 basic colours,
add a third complementary colour, and make sure the print has the two basic colours in it

Stage 1
2 Pants, in your basic solid colors
2 Skirts, 1 print/check*, 1 solid complementary color,
2 Blouses,
1 solid, 1 print/check*
4 Tops, in coordinating colors,spice it up
Cardigan jacket, basic color

Stage Two
Stage two, you can introduce some new colours here to spice things up,
which in turn leads to more combinations.
Cardigan jacket, 2nd basic color
3 long sleeve tops, coordinating colors
2 skirts, 1 solid, knee length,
1 long print*
1 blouse, print*
2 pants, coordinating colors

Stage Three
all new colors, lighter shades of the contrast colors in stage 1 & 2
2 Skirts, 1 print, 1 dots
2 blouses, same fabrics as skirts above
1 Big Shirt
1 Blazer
1 Pants

I have to say thats it too light on dresses, ie there are none, and a few are worth having.
Also print skirts - I'm a bit unsure about these days, they tend to look old fashioned.
And when a print skirt is OK, somehow when its put with a matching print blouse its very grandmother of the groom to me.
I am probably biased by the fact that I am heavy round the hips/thighs and avoid wearing print/colour on my bottom half, instead going for plain or striped dark skirts/trousers.

Interesting knit top styles: fabric selection, first pass

Since I moved I have been looking out for a church to join. I missed the first few weeks due to sheer disorinetation of being in a new place, then went to stay with friends one weekend and went to church with them (not local). Last week I went to an independant charismatic church with the longest and most rambling service ever. This week with a friend to the village church in her village. The people there were absolutely lovely but they had a very traditional service with the old language which isn't very me. A little bit of a 3 bears porridge problem, I need to find something in between and will be off hunting in the locality.
A plus of going to church with my friend is I got lunch afterwards, and its much nicer than going in on your own.

On a fabric front I went through my other fabric as well and now have 12 knits put to one side that I really like - 4 striped fabrics, one plain bright red and 7 interesting prints.

Yesterday I went back to the old house to collect the old Flymo lawnmower, some china, a mini trampoline and my wellies. I had better clean the grass off the mower and try it out as my lawn has grown rather in the wet weather we've had the last few weeks and I'm going to be bringing the neighbourhood down a notch.

Interesting knit top styles: Fabric unpacking

First up here's the 5 styles I'm exploring in a single slide.
This is because its too hard for me to keep all 5 images in my head at once.
I see from this that they (or perhaps I?) are a bit stripe obsessed.

Today I got the two boxes of knit fabric and emptied them into the sewing room - literally.
It makes quite a pile, though they vary a lot in how much I love them.
I shall go through and refold them and put them away in the cupboard (if they'll fit), leaving out any that made me smile.
Jenni (YorshireLass) is convinced this'll be an enormous pile, and since she's been shopping in fabric places quite a bit with me, and hence seen me in action with fabric, is frankly probably right.
I've still NO idea where the camera cable is so pictures of anything my end is fairly unlikely.

Interesting knit top styles: SG thread

I've started a thread on Stitcher's Guild for this based on my previous 2 posts.

Topic on Stitcher's Guild

My initial thoughts had been just to challenge myself, but I would love for it to be a wider challenge and for people to sew along, hence the thread.
The challenge as I see it, would be to sew a knit top with styling beyond that of a plain knit top and post a picture on the SG thread.
Ideas on patterns etc can also be posted there and people can gain inspiration from each other.

Personally I plan on doing all 5 of those I showed using fabrics from my stash but that is just becuase I love knit tops.

My inspiration pieces are all from CCFashion main page and also from the Sale Section.

Interesting knit top styles: 1

This top reminds me of something from Burda magazine I am sure, and has the mock cami added already which would help address the Burda neckline issues.
It wasn't in the 5 or 6 issues I checked in last night, does anyone recognise it from the last year or two?
My Burdas are not all unpacked yet.

This one seems to be a standard tee with a slightly cowled neckline which is then secured off to one side with a booch or similar. So that would be pretty easy to emulate. The brooch could even be pinned on (depending on the weight) and removed for laundering.

This one is a standard tee other than the seamed front. So I could probably recreate this one by making a full front pattern for a favourite tee and then cutting it up, adding the seam allowances back onto resulting pieces with stripe lines, then just sew up a the front, trim to fit the original front again and make up as normal. Could be a great way to use up strange shaped bits left from another project!

This is a knot front, only with the knot in a different place. This would require some drafting and messing about, but I have several knit knit top patterns already which could be a conceptual starting point.

This one is a fairly standard empire line pattern with some additional bodice overlays. Again would need a BIT of FIDDLING but I think could be done.

Would you like to see a challenge to make one or all of these 5 tops? It might be a good way of getting my sewing creative juices flowing again.