Simplicity 1693

When your kid shouts out “Ooooh Mum are you making me a new nightie?” when you are in fact making yourself a new top, it does kinda diminish your enthusiasm for the project pretty quickly!

                                        
Admittedly, I did intend this to be a knocking around the house top, and I had a whole heap of this fabric, and it has turned very hot all of a sudden, so all up I am not too disappointed that Miss C thinks this fabric is better suited to sleepwear!
                                                           

Here are the details:
Pattern
Simplicity 1693. I made View C in a size 12.

Fabric
                                        
Vintage cotton print from the stash. It has quite a crisp handle, even after prewashing, which I don’t think is necessarily the best kind of fabric for this style. A softer fabric with a better drape would probably work better.

Notes
I didn’t need to do any fit alterations for this pattern, which I am really thrilled about. I bought this pattern on sale a while ago, with the intention of it being a good basic pattern that I could use for summer. The fit is great, the wide neckline is very flattering and there is good coverage over the shoulder.
I changed the elastic casing detail to a waist frill, see my review here, and while I am mostly happy with this, I don’t think that the placement of the frill is really in the right spot for me, and I am not sure if it needs to be higher or lower.

Err.........taxi?

I have cut out View E in a wide stripe so it will be interesting to see how this one will turn out.





 


Never too old for grunge maxi dress!



 As promised, here is the maxi dress from a couple of posts ago. I decided not to sew elastic in the waist and just use a belt to cinch it in. I like it with the belt, but I also like it without, especially for those really hot days or to pop on over my swimmers when we head to the pool.

Everyday styling

Back view



Too much Christmas pud styling!



Footy playing styling!

Here are the stats:
Pattern: Simplicity 7127
I made a few alterations to the pattern. Lengthened the dress to ankle length, this meant reducing the flare a tad so that the pattern piece would fit on the fabric. Omitted the pockets, used a grey marle ribbing to finish the neckline and armholes instead of bias binding and took the side seams in by 1.5cm as my fabric was a stretch instead of a woven.

Fabric: Vintage blue and white knit. Most probably some kind of cotton blend. This was a huge piece that I found at my local op shop. It was about 3m for the princely sum of $3, and I still have enough of a bit left for a tank top or a mini.

Sewing: Not much to say about this really. It is just two shoulder seams, two side seams, finishing the neckline and hem. I did everything on my four thread overlocker, except for the hem and topstitching, which I did on my regular machine.

All up, I am pretty happy with this. The dress cost me less than $5 and I am sure I will get a lot of wear out of this. I didn't prewash the fabric though, so I really hope nothing scary happens when it does go through the wringer!

Not skinny enough

I am talking about my pants of course! These were made using Vogue 8837, and the pants in the Vogue pic are much much skinnier than mine!

                               

I was after a skinny, stretchy pant with an elastic waist, that was a bit more substantial than a legging. I don't know about you, but while I love the look and comfort of leggings, I always feel that there is not enough fabric between me and the world when I am wearing them! I don't mind so much at home, but I always feel a little exposed if I wear them out of the house.

                                                 

And I really only chose to use this fabric to make my first pair because firstly, I had it in the stash, secondly, its black and white and will go with just about everything in my wardrobe, and thirdly, it is a very similar stretch to some denim that I have that I will use for my next pair. I am considering the option of dyeing them though as they are so very loud!

So while I am feeling a bit meh about these, they will get worn quite a bit and I will definately use this pattern again.

The full pattern review is here and in other news, the maxi dress is done, I am just dithering over whether to sew elastic to the waist or not.

Oh, and if I am looking a tad more surly than usual in these pics, that's because they were taken between dinner and bath time, not my finest hour for looking my best! And, if the tone of this post seems a little more surly than usual, it is past 11pm and the twins have only just gone to sleep!

Grunge......the second time around

Kate Moss! Seattle! Flannie shirts! Black skinny jeans! Doc Martens!

Old grunge............ pic from onthisdayinfashion.com

What were you doing in 1991? And more to the point, what were you wearing?
I was a freshly minted design graduate, dressed in secondhand, too big ripped jeans, with a $7 flannie tied around my waist and black lace up boots bought from the army surplus store, sweating it out in the moshpit watching Nirvana at the very first Big Day Out in Sydney. I guess you could say that grunge was my hey day, in much the same way that baby boomers think of the ‘60’s as their glory days.
So it has been interesting seeing grunge turn up on the catwalks again.

New grunge........pic from thetrenddiaries.com

Even back then I remember thinking that while grunge seemed perfectly placed in the worlds of music and film, it was a much more difficult fit in fashion. In those days it worked for me and my friends as we had no budget for clothes (money was better spent on beer and getting into gigs!), everything we wore was either opshopped or sewn from scratch by necessity, so the idea of paying a lot of money for something that looked thrifted seemed a bit hard to swallow (this article is a good summary of the times and says it much better than I can).
So will I wear it the second time around? Well, I am getting into gear for some spring sewing, and I do have this navy and white stripe jersey fabric that reminds me of that time.
                                         
I am thinking a maxi dress (summer is forecast to be HOT) using this 1976 Simplicity pattern.
And while the younger me would have worn this with a sleeveless denim jacket and scuffed Docs, the older and dare I say more mature me, will probably see how it looks with a skinny leather belt and pretty sandals!

New/old jumpsuit as a cami

I managed to churn out another version of the vintage McCalls that I used for Miss C’s jumpsuit. I had the intention of making a dress, but I didn’t cut the skirt with enough fullness, so we decided to make it into a cami instead, which I think will actually end being much more wearable than a dress.

Pattern

                                                  
Fabric
Vintage cotton check from the stash. The check was way off grain, so I didn’t’ even attempt to match checks on the horizontal, and I could have been a little more careful placing the centre front of the bodice in a better position. I used a little scrap of vintage orange ric rac, vintage seersucker for the button tab and straps, and Miss C chose the buttons from the stash. So all up another stash project done!

So that means I have made this pattern twice in two weeks, and I think I am done.
Do you have a threshold when sewing from patterns? I think sometimes I end up trying to do too many variations too soon, and end up with sewing binge and then I can’t bear to look at the pattern again! So I think I will put this back in the pattern tub for when the twins are the right age for it.

When is a peplum not a peplum?

When it’s a pleatlum! Hee hee!
                                           

This is the first post in my Catching up With the Backlog series.
I made this top on a bit of a whim when we had a flush of lovely warm weather about a month ago. It has of course since returned to being bitterly cold, so this went straight into the wardrobe.
But today the sun shone again, the planets aligned and I had a wee window of time to get all gussied up. For me, that means putting the unwashed hair into a quick bun, cleaning the teeth and putting a slick of lip gloss on!
So the kids got herded onto the verandah, the big kid got free use of the phone camera for a bit and I have some nice new pics to show off!

Pattern
Vogue 8906

pic from Vogue patterns

                                         
I cut a size 10, which seemed to be a tad on the snug side when I got to the side seams, so I sewed the sides using a 1cm s.a instead of 1.5cm and this worked out fine. I think going up a size would mean the top would end up being a bit too big.

Fabric and notions
Some kind of linen from the stash. It is a bit scratchy (even after being washed) so I suspect that it may be a home dec fabric. To counter the scratchiness I used a smooth cotton lawn for the facings.
Vintage buttons from the stash.

Notes
This was a super easy make. The trickiest part is transferring the pleat markings to the fabric, but after that it is all easy peasy sewing. I love the fit, I like the deep V neckline, and I love the peplum that is not really a peplum shape.
I don’t normally wear fitted at the waist tops, but this one is very comfortable and quite flattering. I will definitely make it again. Possibly in a silk, and in a plain colour for a bit of variety.
Now back to the sewing for the kids pile!

New/old jumpsuit for the big kid

Here is Miss C wearing her refashioned grunge era skirt as a jumpsuit ensemble!

The fact that she put it on hot off the sewing machine and didn’t take it off until bedtime makes it a win in my book!

Though there is not much to say about the pattern. It was super easy to make up. And I do love the fact that vintage patterns have only one size. It makes cutting out so much easier!

Pattern
McCalls 6598, dated 1979

Fabric
Cotton chambray that was once a skirt

Notes
I cut the front bodice so as to retain the button placket from the skirt. I am glad that I did this, as the jumpsuit would have been very plain without it.
No alterations at all. The pattern is a size 7, and probably a tad big for this summer, but that means Miss C will hopefully get two summers wear out of it.

Conclusion
I love it, she loves it, there will definitely be more!

In other news, I have a whole backlog of me clothes that I have sewn over the last couple of months. I am just lacking the motivation to actually wear them and take some decent pics.