Mending and Making

A quick  bit about todays  me made May first, another self drafted dress this time with set in sleeves the quick and easy elastic waist with ties and a lovely strawberry thief fabric ( not liberty but it looks like it).

I have seen fabric like this at twenty pounds a metre and more but this one was seven pounds a metre so much more affordable.  I would say where from but I can't remember, online I know that much.

My husband has walked down the back of his jeans, he does this a lot rather than have me turn them up when they are new he insists on wearing them too long until eventually there is a tatty bit at the back.  They had reached the point where they had to be sorted but due to the nature of the rip it didn't leave much to hem as you can see here I have had to cut up to the torn part and taper it a litte.  I had some other denim scraps so I have cut some thin strips that I joined to the hem to give me something to turn up.

After I stitched the strips on I overlocked them in navy and then turned the hem very close to the join.

Here it is on the right side and fortunately we have hardly lost much length just the amount that should have come off before they were ruined!

So that was one job done then there were a few holes that needed attention.  This style of denim is distressed but the trouble with that is they go through quickly on the faded shabby parts.

I patched them on the wrong side and then stitched on the right side too where the denim may fray out.

Here are the little holes on the right side, I don't quite get why it was distressed in this way to begin with just random bits on the back it is a bit odd.

My making for today was a new bag for myself, I have cut out two, one for me and one for my Etsy shop both different of course but using the same foxy fabric.  I decided to do this today as I keep collecting these little bits of fabric and then I am loath to part with them, so I thought I would do two styles and one is for me.  

So this is a gift to myself, it is a bit autumnal I know but I just loved the colours, the other one is almost finished and that one is grey with the fabric on the diagonal. 

What have you all been up to? Maybe a few have returned to work or managed to get out for a little longer in the fresh air.  Keep yourselves safe whatever you are doing, back soon. 

The Freya Top

Yesterday I finished my Freya top from the Till Stretch book and I am really happy with the fit, it gives a choice of necklines one of them being a cowl.  I originally cut the neck as it is for a roll neck but I felt this was too high for me and may drive me a little crazy, so I unpicked it and halved the size then stitched it back in.  Much better for me at this size, although if I made it a bit looser I am sure it would be great with the higher neck for winter.

I opted for a size three and the length and fit are very good but you do have to ensure that your fabric has the correct amount of stretch to get the accurate fit.  This will become a staple of my wardrobe and I will be adding more of these for the cooler months when I see the right fabric at the right price of course.

So here is my me made May day 11, I have paired my new top with another self drafted skirt, fully lined with a side zip.  This skirt has been in my wardrobe a good few years and I love the bird print, birds feature quite a lot in my clothes.

I tried the top on my mannequin before I made any final changes to the sleeve and hem but to be honest it was already looking good, so a very accurate fit for me on this one.  Just a tiny hem on the sleeves as I do have long arms.

 Here it is with the higher neck before decided to shorten it, if you didn't want this style of neck at all you could always turn a narrow band to the inside and topstitch down, this would create a flat round neck.

My trusty brown baking paper on the go here again, I have made little white sleeves for all the patterns have made from this book then I intend to print of some of my images of the finished garments to stick on the front of them.

I have had a lovely day of making today, it is a gift for a friend of mine and I love it so much it will be hard to part with it.  Due to this fact I am unable to share it yet just in case she sees it on here and her birthday is this month.  I will have to try and remember to share it later.   It was one of those projects that just fell into place, the perfect fabric was spotted the other day and then it arrived today earlier than expected.

There has been some mending going on too and that is always very satisfying, I have a few images of that saved too.  I am currently working on my husbands laptop mine is in my techy sons room as he adds a new ssd, I am worried about lost documents and photos even though this is his job.  We really do rely on our computers now don't we and feel a little lost when something goes wrong.

That is all for today, stay safe.

My Favourite Burda Jacket

Today I am layered up for me made May 2020 day 10 with tights and a jacket to leave the house, yes I left the house to go shopping.  Who would have thought that the weekly shop would become an event, but it is and with a cold, cloudy day a jacket was required.  Something of a change from yesterday.  I made this jacket a few years ago I think it is Burda Young 7018 and I have since made another in cotton, it is a lovely pattern and I used a really good quality black denim for it.  Originally it had a pink and white Paul Smith cotton lining it, now that is still in there but has since been covered over with a slinky blue lining that slides much better over clothes.   The added lining now makes this quite a warm jacket while still looking smart.

The dress I made quite recently and is a simple sew top pattern lengthened into a dress.  Another favourite style for its simplicity.

I managed to get on with cutting  out another pattern from the Tilly stretch book,  this time the Freya sweater.  The fabric in mind for this is a textured jersey with a stripe, I bought the fabric because I like red and it was inexpensive.  It was also destined to be a long sleeved top as my aim is to start adding a few more basic bits that can go with skirts  as my pattern mad brain will always lead me towards the prints creating unmatchable separates!  There are two skirts in my wardrobe with red in so  this top will fit right in.   I will share more on that tomorrow.

This book has proved to be really useful and I will have a look out for her other books, as I mentioned before I got it from the library and then lockdown occurred and we were given a long extension on all the books we already had out.  Due to this I have had this book a while now although I did read all of it the first few days and made plans for what I wanted, it has been nice to keep revisiting it and having another  browse.   I own a Japanese pattern book that is lovely to look at but the patterns in that one are very faffy to trace off as there are so many lines!  Also all of the clothes come out much smaller than the sizes stated.  So if you are looking for a book for a gift or to treat yourself the Tilly stretch book is a good one.   My only slight modification is to make the sleeves a little wider on the patterns.

We have a viewing empty space this evening, as I have said before we don't follow many t.v shows as they are aired but we have been a fan of Sunday evening Homeland, what will I fill that with?  

Well I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend and are ready for the week ahead, I have just watched the update on the virus situation and it doesn't seem too much is changing just yet, just keep doing as we have been and keep smiling.