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 Bit of Re-fashioning

Another day, and I had to think if it was Friday or not all the days are becoming a blur. My husband is still on a mix of homeworking or in the office, today was an office day.  I did manage to get to the local nursery today and  three grow bags were purchased along with three tomato plants and two strips of impatience.  I thought I would buy a couple of things that will flower soon as my home grown  plants are many but a way off flowering just yet.   I transplanted three courgettes to one grow bag, the tomatoes in another and I am using the  other for planting up as they had no compost.  The whole world has to been to the garden centres in excitement you see so it is slim pickings!

Me made May day 15, half way through and this self drafted dress is just right for in-between weather.  I made a slim tube dress in red jersey to go under it (for modesty as the broderie anglaise  has holes and I didn't want it to be see through anywhere) this means it is a bit warmer than a usual summer dress.

This afternoon I decided to cut into this hoody, my son gave me this one as the arms are too short for him, he got it from a charity shop so it is double recycled.  I have worn it around the house when it was cold but it is ridiculously large on me and I have thought all along I would re size it.  So I thought I would experiment with it, I love my denim jacket pattern and wondered how it would fare in jersey. As this is already in my possession I  thought why not.

Now this pattern will not fit all the pieces on here once it is taken apart so there may need to be a few contrasting scraps of other jersey fabric in the mix.  I did not have enough fabric for  the separate under arm panels or front side pieces.  It will be interesting to see how it looks and either way good or bad I will share, it is only intended as an indoor cardi but will be useful to practise on for future upcycling attempts.

There is also a  mans shirt and a ladies maxi dress both from the charity shop rail in my fabric box waiting to be turned into something this summer.  Maybe another shirt dress with two colours so that may  be coming in the next few weeks.

Both my sons have gone out on a bike ride this evening and that is three times this week, it is so nice to see them doing things together now that they are grown up.  Everyone seems to be enjoying getting outside, I passed the stunt park yesterday and I have never seen it so busy, I know social distancing but try telling children that!  Which could stir up another conversation but I will stop there, I think we are all well aware how sensible young children will be on returning to School during a global pandemic ;) do you think??

That is all for today bye for now.

Comfortable Sewing

As dressmakers we often make things for best, or at least I do and that is something I have done over the years but have been trying to remedy in more recent years.  When I first began making my own clothes at sixteen the focus was always on an outfit for a Friday night out and not having much money being able to flick through  the catalogue and copy expensive dresses was such a thrill. Handmade and sew your own clothes was not such a movement back then so I was something of a novelty among my friends.   As  I got older and moved out I  no longer went out as often but I still used to save clothes for best and that was a bit of a waste.  This month is at the very least pushing me to wear all my clothes that I spend time on rather than wearing the same things. I have even adopted the system of turning the coat hanger the other way when I have worn something so I can try and wear something different each day.  It will be a test as some things are for the winter and I won't be wearing those clothes so it will be interesting to see if I can make it through without duplicating.

Now at first I thought I may be a little dressed up for around the house but now I think why not? Why is it ok to get dressed up to go out but not when you are at home with the people you love the most. So there, hopefully this will inspire me to wear what I want whenever I want in future.

Today I am wearing for me made May 2020 day14 my first mock jumpsuit, the fabric only cost about £6 in total for two metres and it is a cotton challis.  It was self drafted and to be honest the trousers  are a little low slung now I know I have a bit of this left somewhere so I could probably remedy that by putting a v shaped yoke in the top.  I will give that some thought  because I have worn it all day for gardening and dog walking and it is super comfy.  That is probably a good reason to solve the only issue with it to make it perfect.

The trousers are flat at the front with an elasticated back panel and belt loops, there is also a tie belt (I do love a tie belt).  The top was just cut from an existing vest top and faced with bias binding.  I am still wearing it, it's like wearing pyjamas but a bit smarter.

 Here I am contemplating my trainers.

I have spent quite a bit of time outside again moving on plants and we even tried our local nursery as I need compost and grow bags but it was packed with a very long queue so we took one look and drove away.  Maybe I will try again tomorrow, here are a few little plants out in the beds. They don't look much now but if they are like last years they will quickly fill out. 

Four little ones in there.

Five plus in this one as they were close together in the pots I planted them in and I didn't want to disrupt the roots so we will have to see how they fight for space.  There is certainly room for them to spread out.

I moved this pot that I planted up onto the wall and I am now hoping it doesn't blow off.

No making to  show for the day today as I have been doing other things, I always feel a bit like something is missing if I haven't sewn something.  Anyway I am going to say bye for now as it is nearly time to go outside and clap, back soon.