I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend! We get a bank holiday Monday here for May day. I got someone to fill in for me at the organ on Sunday so I had three whole days off. Unthinkable. It turns out that I really needed it. We didn’t really go anywhere but we did lots of little things. It doesn’t feel like I did a lot of sewing but I must have, because I finished this blouse. I’m putting it with a finished-in-April skirt.

The blouse is a vintage pattern that I made again with modifications. The skirt is self-drafted. About the blouse!

I used 2m of Tilda cotton from Rubanesque. It is so pretty I literally became weak at the knees when I set eyes on it. I knew it had to be a spring blouse.

I modified the collar to make the tips rounded because I felt it would suit the print better.

I also adapted the cuffs to make them rounded and open. I had to pare down the shape of the sleeves because I didn’t want them too wide without a placket and closure. I sacrificed the tidiness of seaming the sleeves and then enclosing the seam into the cuffs for sewing the cuffs flat with all the top stitching and them seaming the sleeves. It looks fine from the outside. If I were to do it again, I would probably suffer through topstitching the cuffs with an already seamed sleeve.

The buttons I salvaged from another unwearable blouse. Now, for the skirt! I dug out my drafting notes from five whole years ago and drafted this up. I pity my younger self as I took the drafting course without ever having sewn any sort of clothing! It made a WHOLE lot more sense this time around. Unfortunately, when I was cutting out my pattern pieces I managed to chop off the side seam allowance and only discovered when I could barely get the skirt on. Thankfully I was able to salvage it through some manipulation of the darts but gosh! Never again! I basically made up the pleat bit by holding my muslin up against me and saying, ok, I’d like my pleat to go from about here to here and be about this long. Turns out, that’s kind of the way to do it.

My mum helped me get my pleat to behave itself. I did myself no favours in the way I’d hemmed it but I will know for again!

I actually made this skirt to go with my cape. The skirt I originally made was just the wrong shape. As you can see, it goes very well now with the straight skirt.

It is a peculiar outfit! It is a bit dull for a bright May day such as today. Maybe later in the summer with hot pink tights? I should probably just wear the cape with jeans also – although I put it on Sunday and Alb asked me if I was going to meet Batman :/ He does not see capes as a proper item of clothing unless for dressing up. Isn’t that what clothes are for anyway?!

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Can you tell I’m sort of a separates gal?

First up, the blouse. A straight forward vintage pattern I picked up on Etsy. It has princess panels in the front and required no fitting whatsoever.

I used just over 2m of cotton gingham (woven as opposed to printed) from Hickey’s for about €20.

I really like the collar and stand; I hand sewed the stand down for a better finish and it worked. I also used Jersey snaps instead of regular buttons which is super quick, if a bit loud.

Here’s a better view of the panelling. I used the opportunity to cut my panels on the bias so I didn’t bother trying to match the pattern.

The skirt is another Cambie skirt, made using the same wool and lining as my cape.

Pockets!

I used very, very old black lace to hem it. I bought this lace back when Rubanesque had their tiny little shop on Sth William St. Years ago.

Easy enough makes but both filling out needs in my wardrobe. Extremely happy with the fit of both so I expect to get lots of wear out of them.

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By Irish reckoning, today is the beginning of Spring… Just because we say it is doesn’t necessarily make it so, but it’s nice to think it anyway. With that in mind, please disregard the fact that I am wearing leggings and socks in the photos; it is too cold for mere tights today.

This skirt came about quickly. A combination of being sick of being sick all the time, working the rest of the time, cold weather and feeling exhausted all the time. I went to Murphy Sheehy’s for lining and came away with this and a beautiful muted plaid which I hope to make this weekend.

Pattern: Ginger by Colette. I didn’t think I’d make a third one but going through my skirt patterns, this was the best match.

Fabric: 75 cm of heavy weight wool. It has a thick weave but is very soft to the touch. There are flecks of purple, cream, white and blue throughout – this is true love. I used a white acetate I had leftovers of to line it and a zip I found in the drawer. So, just the cost of the fabric then, €18.75.

Nothing really of note in the construction. I spent as long getting my overlocker to do a rolled hem for the lining as sewing the rest of the skirt.

You can see that I used bias tape for the hem. I started out by making bias from a few leftover scraps but it turned out far too thick to use, so I found enough leftover binding in the the drawer to use instead.

I was a bit of a smarty pants and measured very carefully before putting in my zip. I still basted it in but managed to avoid the usual misalignment of the waistband seams.

That’s it! I finally have a skirt to go with all my dark navy, grey and purple sweaters.

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Here’s a glimpse of what I completed over the weekend. On the left, my birdie blouse. On the right, the fur cape complete with satin ties and velvet trim at the neckline.

The current work in progress… My third ‘Ginger’ skirt. I bought a mere 75 cm of thickly woven wool and was delighted to find I’d squeeze one out of it.

The weave, hand, colours and heft delight me. All that remains is to attach the lining.

I’m clearly stalling on the jacket because I have to trace the pattern! I think I’ll bite the bullet tomorrow.

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It was one of those weekends that wasn’t a weekend. I had to go to a funeral in Kerry so I got a lift down Friday night after work with another girl who was also going. We drove back Saturday and then I worked Sunday morning. Back to school today so feeling a bit weary! Anyway, I have this great new skirt to wear.

Pattern: The skirt part of Sewaholic’s ‘Cambie’ dress.

I don’t work in such a formal environment that warrants a dress like this so I figured I’d get more wear out of the skirt part.

Fabric: About 1m of charcoal wool suiting from Murphy Sheehy’s, about €15. Lining is that lovely teal peacock feather one I showed before, think it was about €7/m. So total cost about €25 including the zip.

What I love about it is the shape and the slash pockets. They lie perfectly flat but are still functional.

The pieces fit together perfectly and it was very, very easy to make. If you’re interested in doing the same thing with this pattern, just omit the bodice part – even the waist band is included.

Even though it turned out well and it fits nicely, it’s still not fantastic. Two things are not so good. Firstly, I decided to make bias binding to finish the hem using the Colette method from the book. It works amazingly well! But I made the binding too narrow which made it difficult to attach and finish. It’s ok but it could be better.

Secondly, I used my serger to put a rolled hem on my lining. Despite much experimentation, the finish is not very good. Upon reflection, I think the lining is just that bit too heavy for a rolled hem and a normal narrow hem would have sufficed. I also marked the hem for serging completely arseways so it is short and wobbly.

These are not make-or-break problems, rather things that I can improve on next time.

I’ve picked my jacket pattern and hope to have a little free time to trace it and make a muslin this week. Already dreaming of mid term!

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