I present to you my first single welt pocket. It’s my second, actually, but you know where they say to slash the opening for the pocket but DON’T cut through the other pieces? That’s what I did.
Which is why you do a practice one first. It’s actually pretty straight forward and I love the finish. These are for the jeans I cut out before we went to Madeira but didn’t get a chance to sew up.
I have a lot of things to take photos of – my pink jumper, a shawl I finished and blocked over a fortnight ago, socks…and a polka dot top and my kilt, shown below.
I’m happy to have indulged my kilt whim as I learned far more than I expected from it! The top I have looked forward to making and it was a fun, quick project. Looking forward to showing both.
I also sewed up a muslin for my Mum’s blouse. Sorry about the poor light, it’s been dismal weather.
I need her to fit it on before I cut out the actual fabric. I measured it and it should be in the money but best to be sure! And so that we’re all on the same page, THIS is the fabric (not the other one, Mum).
Nice, isn’t it? It’s a polycotton I got in Murphy Sheehy’s last summer but couldn’t find a pattern ‘perfect’ enough for it. I’m training myself out of that. Sometimes, you should just use it. Anyway, this works out in Mum’s favour! It’s definitely her colours.
The other thing I have to show you is this funny little thing I’ve been meaning to make since I got Bertha (my bike). I finally found clips in Hickey’s the last time I was there and made this up in about ten mins.
It’s a piece of elastic inside a cotton casing, attached to two clips…and it works like this…
It keeps my coat over my knees when I’m cycling, with still enough leeway to put my foot on the ground when necessary. In windy weather, my coat flaps open and when it’s raining, results in a very wet lower half. I’ve been using it constantly and it works perfectly. The clips were about €3.
I apologise in advance for the photos of wrinkled fabric. I wash fabric as soon as I buy it so that it’s done. It is unbelievable how much fabric can change after the first wash.
I was really looking forward to sharing photos of a sweater and a shawl I finished recently! When I went to upload them just now, I found that I must have deleted them by mistake 
So today, I’m going to share my plans for summer knitting and sewing instead.
If you follow me here, you’ll probably have noticed that this year, I’ve made a lot of work wear – lots of skirts, blouses and plain sweaters. I have gotten particularly good wear out of the skirts and blouses. I like to wear this combination to work because even with a less formal fabric, like polka dots or floral print, it looks well. Previously, I shunned blouses because it was so hard to find one that fit comfortably. Now that I can make them to fit, they are my favourite thing to wear. Coming to the end of the school year, I now realise I actually have very little casual wear that I’d be happy to wear in public. Rather than spend my time sewing light tops that I get to wear very little (which is what I did last summer), I’m going to sew some casual things that I can wear all year round.
First up: some Archer shirts. When this pattern came out first, I was sceptical. Thanks to the glory that is the internet, I’ve watched people from all over and with all different shapes sew this up with success. I think I will follow suit. It will look good tucked into high waisted pants or wide-legged pants, loose over tight pants and shorts. Here are my fabrics.
The bottom is a plain denim chambray I found in Hickey’s. I have been looking for a year for a nice chambray. I would prefer something a little bluer but the light drape of this is perfect. I’m looking forward to doing lots of detailed topstitching with this fabric.
The middle is a butter-soft cotton lawn I found in Murphy Sheehy’s. It’s got insects on it. Yep. If that’s not the perfect fabric for a summer holidays shirt, I don’t know what is.
The top is something I have refused to put away since laundering: a habotai silk that I ordered from Britex Fabrics in San Francisco. It wasn’t cheap, but it was on sale at about $20/yard, which is pretty good for any kind of silk. I have never seen a silk print of this kind before and I love rope print. I dream of a blouse that will waft over a pair of shorts or posh up a taffeta skirt.
Summer is meant for skirts! I have a good few summer skirts already so I will probably concentrate on wearing them. However, I got the pattern for the Hollyburn skirt and I’d like to use this ridiculously old fabric to make it.
I bought this in Hickey’s before 2005. I loved it so much but didn’t know what to make out of it so I bought a ton. Thankfully, the Hollyburn takes a ton and the style will definitely suit this. The colour scheme gives me lots of options in terms of what I can wear with it. I think I will probably give the Moss mini skirt a go too. I have made so many skirts by now that they tend to be a quick make.
Other definites include a white cotton shirt and khaki canvas pants.
The khaki pants has been a long-term plan. I found the fabric for very cheap in Murphy Sheehy’s. I made a pair of Juniper pants (a Colette pattern) in heavy black cord and I wear them all the time. I have them all broken in just right, I’m happy to answer the door and pop to the shop in them. This khaki canvas is lighter than the cord and I think the colour is more summer-appropriate. The white cotton is a sort of gauzey shirting that Murphy Sheehy’s tends to keep in stock. It is ridiculously wide (I think nearing 80″, about 2m) and very reasonably priced (maybe €8/m). I have two metres here. If I was able to squeeze a fitted blouse and a loose shirt, that would be great. I made a Liverpool blouse out of the same fabric last November and it has softened into one of my most comfortable makes yet.
Other honourable mentions include Colette’s Laurel (shift dress – I’m hoping to salvage the dress from this post) and Iris (shorts – I love the pockets on these and I have something very specific in mind).
The one thing I’m setting my knitting sights on is Kate Davies’ Ursula cardigan. I have been dying to start a new colourwork project because it has been soooo long! I received a very generous voucher for This is Knit for my birthday recently. My voucher, this cardigan and me – it was destiny! I’m excited for this.
I am going to continue with being very strict about working on only one project at a time. I have just finished two sewing projects in quick succession. Before I start on anything I’ve talked about before, I’m going to sew my Mum a blouse for her birthday. I’m using this Amazing Fit pattern and I’ve already cut out the muslin. These are particularly detailed patterns so I am really looking forward to working my way through this one.
I made these in the hopes that they would encourage Spring along. No joy yet, though if today is anything to go by, the April showers part is well underway.
Pattern: #122 from Burda 1/13. This is a reallllly basic slim-leg pants pattern, perfect for woven fabric, and one I’ve noticed that they repeat in different guises frequently. So if you missed that issue, chances are they’ll have it again soon – this month’s issue has a model very similar and also includes shorts and capri-length pants.
These pants actually started out as a different pair cut from a vintage pattern I bought online a while ago. They seemed similar but have pockets and so decided to give them a go. In my experience, the sizes I buy for vintage patterns have been exactly on the money, fit-wise, so I didn’t bother to make a muslin first. Yikes! Although the waist (I guess you could call it that) and the hip both fit ok, the crotch depth was a bit long. I noticed this when pinning but figured it would be ok, it didn’t seem too long. However, I did not take into account just how deep the waistband was. The two together meant that the pants came up to my boobs! Holy cow! Thankfully, it turning out so big meant that I definitely had enough to cut the Burda pattern out of the existing pant legs.
Fabric: About 2m of Tilda cotton from the inimitable Rubanesque. Did you know they’re hiring at the moment? Get your CV in!
I had already interfaced the waistband from the previous pants so I just used that instead; it fit perfectly.
I had to make a few tiny tweaks to the fit of the hips but otherwise, it came together easily. I went on a bit of a perfection-fest with the top-stitching. Usually in wool pants and skirts, I hand-stitch the waistband down on the inside. It does give a nice finish but my main motivation for doing it is more that I am afraid of my top-stitching not being very good. I have been following the Archer sew-a-long over at Grainline Studios. Her discussion of top-stitching made me realise that this is something that’s never going to go away and that the sooner I figure out a way that works for me, the better.
So! I tried out a few different feet to try out various visual guides. I became quite confuddled about sewing at 1/16″. It got to the point where I wasn’t actually sure what I was striving for. Before taking out my attempt for the fourth or fifth time, I decided to measure. Turns out what I had been attempting was more along the lines of 1/32″. Insane! Impossible to handle and barely distinguishable from any sort of distance. I went back to my usual presser foot and, using a combination of moving the needle position and the 1/8″ guide on the foot, achieved a reliable 1/16″. Hallelujah!
It’s nice to be able to learn something from a project I’ve already made before. I hemmed the pants to 27″ leg and they’re pretty much a perfect length. For my last pair, I was forced into making them shorter due to fabric constraints, so this was satisfying. The fabric is really soft and comfortable and I’m looking forward to wearing these alot over the next few months.
I hope everyone’s enjoying the long weekend! I’m sitting out in my shorts and flip flops with a coffee and my knitting, squeezing every last drop out of the sun! Next week I go back to cycling in 5°C weather.
Here’s what I’ve been working on this week. First up, some crochet doilies.
I find the whole Japanese zakka ideal very inspiring. When I saw the new Debbie Bliss book for home in This is Knit, I knew what I wanted to bring with me on holidays. I have a lot of crochet motif resources myself so I spent some time perusing and settled on this design from a Japanese magazine. Lisa and Eimear helped me pick out the colors.
The yarn is a Rico Essentials cotton and I used a 3mm hook. These turned out a really nice size so I can use them as coasters, tea pot mat, that kind of thing. They were really easy to pick up and I could complete one in less than an hour.
My main project has been this.
I didn’t like how the Pomegranate sweater was going. The lace chart, though beautiful, was to fiddly to follow without total concentration. I realised after putting it down to consider my progress that, really, all I wanted was a plain sweater in this colour. I immediately cast on for a top down raglan à la Barbara Walker. I’m at the waist now.
And the sewing FO for today is the Madeleine blouse from Deer and Doe.
I’ve had the pattern for ages and have been dying to try it out. It’s perfect for light fabrics – I used a cotton voile from Hickey’s. I made some modifications. For a start, I cut out at least 2 sizes smaller than the recommended size after checking out the finished measurements. This was a good idea!
There are a lot of gathers. I did the ones at the shoulders but did pleats instead at the cuffs. You might notice, too, that I didn’t do the collar like in the pattern. I thought it would be too fussy for what I wanted. I also didn’t have interfacing light enough for my material so I just left it. I used my bias tape maker to great effect and made enough binding for the neckline and the little bow. I didn’t have quite enough to tie the bow so I just sewed it in place by hand.
Paired here with my denim shorts from last summer, it’s a nice outfit for the weather today.
Home tomorrow! I’ll bring as much sun as I can…
