The Saraste Top and Another Trip

 Hello, what a funny week it has been. What with the heat, I hope you have all kept yourselves well.

This week I made my first make from the book Breaking the Pattern that I bought a while ago, it does seem a bit of a faff about tracing all the pieces for the patterns when I have so many patterns already but I do like to try things out.  Also I made this into a much bigger job than it needed to be by making it into a refashion of a man's shirt. 

The Saraste top does require more fabric than you would first think for a little sleeveless top, because of the shape of it and the panels plus ruffles.  So I disassembled my shirt then thought oh, there is no way enough fabric to make this!  However I don't like to let things beat me so I set about using every last bit of the shirt, including unpicking the double yoke bit at the top of the shirt back.

•  I made the ruffles with lots of little pieces sewn together then top stitched.  This did also mean that some of those pieces were on the cross grain. I aslo only did the ruffle to the front panels.
• The front side panels are in two pieces.
• The back side panels are four pieces sewn together.
• I utilised the button band to save fabric there.
• The collar stand was carefully unpicked and re-used.
• The bias binding was some that I made previously from an old duvet cover.
• I placed the ruffles a little higher to further save on fabric required.

I don't think the joins are too obvious and of course you could see it as a design feature;)

It pays to think things through and not give up I think, I have made  two short videos for youtube showing the process if you would like to see exactly how I did it.

See the videos here

                                                                           Part one here

We went away at the end of last week in the caravan to the east coast and stayed just outside Scarborough on a lovely site, we stayed from Thursday to Monday and it was just as well because with monday being the start of the heatwave my dogs would not have coped I dont think I would either in the caravan.  So fortunatley we were back home just as it started to get hot, we had a lovely break and visited Scarborough, Whitby, Staithes and Bridlington while we were there. My sister in law lives at Bridlington so we got to visit her too.

I did not take as many photographs as I usually do as we visit this area alomost every year and I am sure I am just doubling up on the pictures so just a few this time.  The reason we visit so often is because not only do we like it but also because it is inly a few hour drive away.

Staithes is very pretty but only small, it was very busy on the day we visited but well worth a look if you are ever in the area.

The views below are from Whitby at the top, because you can't go to Whitby and not do the steps up to the Abbey.

We got absolutely soaked through in Scarborough on Friday as it rained on and off all day on Friday, it was umbrella up jacket on then ten minutes later boiling, jacket off sunglasses on!  So at least we dried quickly inbetween downpours. I bought the jazziest umbrella from a charity shop and my husband said I am not holding that, it had a design of a woman all the way around holding up her hands to the rain as if in praise, very 60's. Well the rain came down and he held it. 

Thursday I went to lunch with a good friend of mine, she had suggested a new restaurant on a farm and it catered for me with Gf and vegan options it was very nice.  I managed an image of my pudding before I tucked into it.  (It is sorbet on top)

I hope you all have a lovely week. Take care.

Autumn Dress £1 Refashion

 Hello everyone I hope you are all having a good week, I got off to a wobbly start but I am feeling better today and i have a few things on the go as always I am keeping busy.  I have made a skirt for a video and unfortunatley my phone was not behaving and it came out dark so I have to remake and redo the whole thing! This time of year is not great for filming, I also made another dress and video and that filming seesion came out a lot brighter so I have uploaded that to youtube, more on that in a minute.  I am reading a lot, working on another bag and planning a few Christmas makes so afew things to keep me busy here.

First of all is the dress I will tell you about the dress I have just finished, now I am not big on buying expensive patterns myself as I like to make my own but the covers can give you some great inspiration from time to time.  In this case I saw the image  for The Alexa dress a while ago and just saved it, the pattern is expensive and it is not that different from a  number of dresses I have made before but the combination of details and fabric worked well so it caught my eye.

A few weeks ago I shared here my charity shop bargains for £1 each and among those was a floral dress, too big with buttons down the front.  I immediatley thought of this pattern and had the idea to recraete it form the image in my mind.  My only mistake this time was not to take a before picture of me wearing the dress prior to dismantling it.  I am very happy with how it turned out and have included the video link below. There was just enough fabric to create the frill details and switch around the collar, it now has a full zip up the back and all the buttons from the front and the cuffs will be saved for another day!  I wore it at the weekend and it made me happy that it has new life and looks just like the pattern.

See the video here

If you do decide to watch I would love it if you left me comment there.

So the original dress was too big and had a shirt style front, button down with long sleeves with button cuffs.  I took off the skirt, turned the bodice around, cut a new neckline at the front, cut away and saved the collar which was then trimmed and cut the sleeves to elbow length.  The bottom of the sleeves were cut into strips to make the frills, these were then gathered and put back on. (oh I also took in the upper sleev to make them more fitted. I darted  the dress bodice at the front from bust lines to waist and also at the front neck as it was roomy.  I re-attatched the collar backwards then pleated it to the neck by hand.  I stitched the skirt bottom back on with added gathers to fit and added a back zip.

I am really happy with the neck effect especially as I was really winging it here and had no idea how this would turn out.

#

I think this fabric is just perfect for Autumn and also really cheery, I love these thrifty makes they are the reason I began sewing as a teenager and they always make me smile. 

Below is the image of the pattern cover that I copied....

 

So what about you, do you ever just copy the pattern images? It is very satisfying to just work it out for yourself.  Let me know in the comments below if you do this and what you have made.

 Well have a lovely week, take care.

Art Gallery Fabrics Pyjamas

 Hello, I hope you are all well I am having a lovely weekend because now term has ended for the summer hooray!  I have been sewing and filming, we had a potter in the charity shops on Friday but I have to say I am finding the heat way too much at the moment as I am still struggling with my chest after being ill.  Everything seems to take it out of me at the moment so hopefully I will be fully fit really soon.  I don't want it dragging on through the summer.

Here is my make for minerva, some super comfy pyjamas in cotton jersey, I have had them on already and they really are lovely and soft.  The pattern is kwick sew K3382 and the pattern does state woven for the bottoms but I made it all in the same fabric and it worked out well.

I thought I would make a few practical things, so these fit the bill.

On Friday when we were out I got a few bargains from the £1 rail in the charity shop, these are for refashioning I have already made the shirt into a blouse and that can be seen on my YouTube channel 

Sewing by the Tracks 

I am trying to do mainly refashioning on there and also showing how sewing can be done on the cheap, the thing is I hope the ideas keep on coming.  I tend to refashion my own clothes when I get fed up of them too so it won't always be stuff from charity shops.  I like to make sure the fabrics keep evolving into something else while ever they are still holding up.

Also from the charity shop I found a lovely little teacup and saucer, I don't drink from a cup and saucer but it was just too pretty to pass up.  It is currently in my sewing room and I think I may try and recreate the design on to something, not sure what yet.

The books in the background were also bought for 65p each, a bit of summer reading I think one of them is a YA book but I don't mind that now and again. 

Well I hope you all have a good week and a re able to make the most of the weather. Take care. 

Refashion

 Hello I hope you are all well, I am just recovering as I have been ill again! I am really starting to think that working in school is hazardous to my health because of what I pick up there. So now I am feeling a bit more human I have just done something I have been meaning to do for ages and that is put some videos on you tube.  I have done a few for Minerva that won't be live until later in the year, but I wanted to do it for myself too focusing on using up scraps and refashioning etc. 

I want to show how you can sew for very little which is what I have always tried to do and had to do when I first started as a teenager.  Hopefully these will be helpful to people who don't have money to spare for fabric and patterns but want to get sewing. 

 Hopefully you will have a look, like, subscribe and comment as a newbie I have only three views so far and they are family. I have uploaded one on how to make a t-shirt from two old ones here...

T Shirt Refashion, Thrifty Sewing Tips - YouTube

So they were using two old t-shirts that used to belong to my boys when they were younger but quite baggy and a couple of holes at the bottom.  It made a little fitted one for me I like the effect at the sides.

Then I used a shirt a mans large one from a charity shop and a maxi dress a friend gave me to make a shirt dress with a few details.  I am really happy with how they  both look but still not comfortable in front of the camera filming. If you watch and have time please leave a comment I would love to know what you think, or do you have any filming tips for me?

Shirt to Shirt dress Refashion, Frugal Sewing - YouTube

I don't know how often I will do this but initially I thought I would do a few to get things going, I have no idea how people get views as there is so much on there.

Part of doing this is also getting over my fear of it, I made the banner ages ago, made another video and filmed it the wrong way and just generally worried about negative feedback. So I am over that and as I don't much energy for much else at the minute I thought it is now or never!

Have a lovely week everyone, back soon.

Burda Top from Maxi Dress Refashion

I have had a fun day of sewing today, I got the shopping done first thing and with that out of the way I could get on with my refashion.  This is my first pattern to try out from the Burda June issue and I thought I would try it out by refashioning a thrifted maxi dress that I bought for £1 some time ago.  The dress is a size 16 so I had an idea I would be able to cut out the top pieces from further down the dress where there is more fabric.  It only just did it as I wanted to save the bottom border for the frill.

             

It has taken me quite a bit of time mainly because of the frill as I had to join the pieces together that matched, the ones you can see in the image with the little petal shapes. After a number of joins I then chose to edge the frill with a fine zig zag on a small stitch as I didn't want a turned under hem because I thought that would look too bulky.  So as you can already guess I started following the instructions then did things that I thought would work better like this hem.  One thing that did annoy me was that I could not find pieces a, b or c for this pattern on the sheet!  As it is just the frill and belt I could guess at the width and length and do my own thing but if you were new to sewing  this may  prove tricky, maybe it is just my eyesight, there is a lot on those sheets. 

One thing I did manage to salvage from the original dress was the tie belt, I just cut that in half and made the ties for the back. That was the only quick job as the rest I made from scratch, this was not your usual chop the bottom off refashion but rather chop it all up and start again.

After cutting the pieces out of baking paper I had a bit of jiggling to get the facings out of the fabric so they did not lay straight on my scrap pieces but rather at an angle, this has not affected the finish of the top though.

There was surprisingly little fabric left after I had finished probably because the top of the original dress just had spaghetti straps so not a lot of fabric at the top and then of course that deep border.

When I bought this dress for the fabric I had no idea what I would use it for but it just shows if you wait the right project will come along.

When I had trimmed these pieces down for the frill I used the in between pieces to make the binding for the arm holes.

This just gives it a bit of interest on the inside too so I am very happy with that little detail.

I am happy with the fit so now I know that the sizing for the patterns in the magazine are accurate I will be able to confidently make more items without worrying that they are poorly sized.  I never make mock ups before I sew I usually just jump straight in.

Now we just need the sun to return so that I can actually wear this, here is the original top from the magazine and it looks much warmer where she is...

As you can see I chose to make my frill much narrower than this as I felt it would look better on me.

Well week one of June and that is one project complete from the magazine, if my fabric doesn't come in the next few days I may have to hunt around the house for something else to refashion!  There is a charity shop mans shirt that I bought, not sure what to do with that??

Well bye for now and enjoy what is left of the weekend. 

                                                 

Hoody Refashion Reveal

Hello I have had a lovely day messing about with my refashion project, it has been so relaxing I think mainly because there is no new fabric involved, or timescale and it has just been evolving as it went along I suppose.  Beware  many photo's coming up, so here is the finished jacket/cardi or whatever you want to call it and it now fits perfect.

What are those flowery bits of Amy Butler fabric doing at the front I hear you say, well let me explain as this jacket has been something of a Frankenstein project when I cut up the original hoody there was not enough fabric to cut many of the burda pieces in full.  As a result I have pieced bits together here and there.  I didn't want a join showing there at the front so I thought I would embellish it a bit.

Here is where I had to patch on an extra bit of fabric before cutting out the yoke as I didn't have a big enough piece of blue jersey for both sides after cutting the under arms.

Here you can see the blue under sleeve, and did I have to patch a bit under the left arm to make the piece big enough, yes I did, ha ha! Told you it was Frankenstein's jacket, it's ok it is hardly noticeable.

The centre front panels are in two pieces but where I remade the pockets and added the blue I found that when I re-attached them I could line them up so it sort of hides the join.  If you look the pocket ends at the navy blue the line continuing across the front to the zip is the join.

There wasn't enough rib for the new jacket style even though the original was really big. So I made these folded strips of jersey from the offcuts and added them at each side.

I kept the back of the jacket all one piece but it had to be recut further down to allow for set in sleeves as the originals were raglan.  This means there are also little triangular details on the shoulder at the back too.

The under side of the collar is blue fabric scraps, I had to cut down the zip after I unpicked it and then line up all my bits on the front.

I handstitched the zip in first and don't worry about the messy seam I will cover that in a minute.

Here I covered the inside of the zip with jersey scrap fabric to make it neat, I am tempted to go over all the inside seams like this or is that going too far?

Just now though I should have taken a before shot of how big it was on me doh!

I hope this has been useful for showing you that you can take old clothes or charity finds and play around with them.  If you don't spend much you have the chance to learn a lot from doing things like this, all the while keeping in mind that it is ok if it goes wrong.  I am aware people go on expensive dress making course and are ushered down the road of buying the expensive pattern you will be making with the expensive fabric!   Wow what pressure that must be, I think you can't beat practising on old clothes, sheets, offcuts or whatever else you can lay your hands on.  As you can see I still like messing about like this after all these years, if you don't spend much you can view it as play and learning without the pressure.

Now under my re-fashion I have on todays me made May day 17, a self drafted skirt (sale fabric) a self drafted t shirt from a pinterest idea I saw (remnant fabric).

That is all for today I hope it wasn't too much with all the images, have a lovely week. 

Jacket Re-fashion Progress

Quite a nice day today and it felt almost normal, my friend called to pick up her birthday present she didn't come in just stood on the drive and we had a chat at a distance for ten minutes.  My husband and I had  a nice walk in the park and a stroll past the Greek pop hut that has appeared locally, after I noticed they had a vegan option my husband went back minus the dogs to stand in the socially distanced queue.  The food we had was nice and it felt like we had a treat.

For me made May day 16 I have on another mock jumpsuit that I made with Minerva fabric last year, this one I adapted a new look pattern for the trousers with a self drafted darted vest top.  It is comfy to wear.

This afternoon has been spent trying   to make the Burda jacket with the hoody re-fashion, there has been a lot of jigsawing bits together as there was no way I could get all the bits out of the hoody.  It would have been easier to size it down and embellish it but that would have been too easy wouldn't it?  I have used a bit of navy sweatshirt scraps but I didn't have much of that either so the yokes on the shoulders have a little triangle addition in the corners.  It is all one big experiment so I am completely relaxed about it.  Here is a peek...

Here that front panel is in two pieces due to lack of bit pieces, it is also upside down and I have already topstitched it across and down.  So that had to come off, see I said I would show the bad with the good.

Here one sleeve on as you see the under sleeve is also blue, the pockets that came off were quite small for a big hoody I have added a blue panel to those too.

I need to unpick the fabric from that zip as I just cut it off yesterday when I was in a hurry to get cutting.  At the moment I am undecided what to use for the front panel that the zip will go on, also I have cut a very small collar due to lack of fabric! If it doesn't work out it may be a tiny mandarin collar, we will see tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.

A Ruffle Sleeve Top from a free Pattern

I am always interested to see what everyone else is making and this week I spotted this lovely top from a free pattern.   I bought the duvet cover from a charity shop because I loved the fabric, when I saw this pattern it was the perfect.    I have had to make a few adjustments as I checked the measurements and this indicated the size I needed, I measured myself to be double sure but it came out really big so there has been some tweaking and I will explain that below.  Here is the top and I think the fabric works well.

Now in my image here there is a tie at the bottom and that is not on the original pattern ( I always have to tweak things you see!)  The original hangs away from the body and I just thought it needed drawing in a little and this was my way to do it.

With regards to the pattern I found it on the sara project blog and I love her version that is also in a white print, go and have a look at her blog if you are not familiar with it.  The free pattern is from Peppermint magazine website so you can also have a look around on there.   It is twenty eight pages of printing!  So that is why I am not always a fan of printing off patterns.  I thought I would give it a go as it is good to share these things with the community when you find them and I know a lot of people need a pattern to work from.  

Sticking it all together is a job in itself but if you think of it as a jigsaw it can be a gentle activity;) 

It is clear I will give it that, everything was there I know once before I printed one and there were bits missing (but not from this source). 

I used the recycled duvet cover and I love using these as you get so much fabric from one, it is just a case of keeping your eyes open for one with a good print that can be worn.  I have loads of fabric left and the other side is striped.

I wonder what I can make  with the stripy side?

As I was saying it came out big size wise so it is a lovely pattern but be prepared to take it in a little. I also moved the darts up on mine and made them a little bigger, we are all different and I think dart placement is specific to each person so that is not the fault of the pattern.

When it was finished I wanted it to sit closer to the body so I cut a long strip of fabric about 4cm wide to make a tie for the bottom.  I also cut a little semi circle where the tie would sit and hemmed it.

I did that over to one side as that is where  I want it to tie.  I then folded it in half and began stitching it to the bottom allowing some to hang over each side.   Then I folded it towards the inside and stitched it down to hide the raw edges.

I find doing it this way gives a nice finish to the bottom and it removes the need for overlocking etc.

So I hope this was helpful if you fancy giving it a go but want to add something extra, I would love to see what other versions everyone can come up with.  I will leave you with one final shot of one of my dogs phot bombing earlier!

Scrap Busting T-Shirt

This make today was a bit spur of the moment, I started looking through my odd scraps of fabric to design a new bag and then saw a charity shop t-shirt I bought for the fabric and another scrap in the same colours.  I instantly thought they should go together to make a new item and set about cutting up the t-shirt.  It has been in that cupboard for about a year and a half, I remember thinking what did I buy this for? Well again it was another thing  just waiting for inspiration, I have to say I love the work of Marlies Witjes at Made by Liesl. She is always finding inventive ways to use up every last bit of fabric and her bomber jackets are a work of art!  So this little project today was inspired by her work.

It is all jersey fabric so it will be comfy to wear, I do find I end up wearing the jersey items more than anything after all we all want to be comfortable.  The piece on the pocket is scuba from a dress I made a while ago.  I am so pleased with result I have been having another look to see what else can be cobbled together but nothing else is jumping out in the same way.  Also a lot of the bits I have clash or would be too busy together.

The make was easy I just cut the bottom off  the  existing charity shop t-shirt  then cut up the sides as well.  I lay the top part on the fabric to make the shape for the top half of the t-shirt and just cut grown on cap sleeves.

As you can see here the top of the original t-shirt was a bit fussy, it also had a tie that went around the waist.

When I have the top part cut I always fold it in half to check it is the same on both sides, I also had to do a bit of trimming on the bottom so that the pattern was level.  The pocket I just guessed and cut a shape, I hemmed that first then pinned it on before stitching it to the shirt front.

I almost forgot to mention that I made some binding for the neck with another bit of leftover jersey, I cut that so the embossed strip was laying horizontal not lengthways in the biding pieces.  The idea was it would be folded to the wrong side but it looked good showing so I topstitched it to stand up.

A good fun make I think and a bit of reuse, recycle in there too.  I will have to get to that bag idea later.

One thing I have decided in light of reading Atomic Habits is that I will have set days for blogging. After a bit of thought I have decided on Tuesday and Friday starting this week, I know that because I have committed to it I am more inclined to stick to it.  There was also a comment that James Clear made about his own  blog and that was to just show up and post, and also that often he would put off because he didn't feel things were perfect but the act of getting something out there keeps the momentum going.  He worded it better than that but you get the  idea, I'm not sure how this works when on holiday but I will deal with that at the time.