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.

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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.

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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.

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I have knitting to show you. I have a new embroidery book that I want to share and I have endless ideas for summer sewing!

Enjoy your Friday!

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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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The pattern is called ‘Faye’ and I bought it as a Ravelry download. I really like it. It fits great and I love the short row shaping in the ribbing to give fit around the back of the head. It’s a bit dark so I thought I would whip up another for spring. It is still pretty cold here some days.

I used Cashmerino Aran again. It took just over a ball for the hat and then half a ball for the pompom. I made no modifications and will probably knit it again sometime!

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Finally cracking on with my tartan kilt. I got the whole thing assembled ok and tacked down all of the pleats. I started to topstitch the pleats when I realised that this is not going to work. The pleating is slightly curved and despite my tacking, was impossible to keep aligned exactly as I machined it. I let it sit for a while and then yesterday, decided to look up a youtube video to see if anybody else had the same problem. Whilst searching, I came across a very simple video of someone hand-stitching kilt pleats in place. It gave a totally clean finish so I decided to start again and do it this way. So far, so good. I can stitch two pleats in one quarter of NBA basketball so two games will see me to the end.

So, the new tools. I wouldn’t describe myself as a gadget person. I’m lucky that I often get very useful presents for Christmas and my birthday and consequently, rarely go on the hunt for those little things. However, recently, I have felt in want for some things to help me in my sewing.

On the top is a large clear ruler. I think it is 18″ x 3″ with marks throughout in both directions at 1/4″ intervals. There are also markings for 30, 45 and 60 degrees. I find it difficult to align pattern pieces absolutely along the grainline. I use a combination of a measuring tape and short ruler with varying degrees of frustration. This new ruler has a good weight which means I can move the piece very slightly underneath it.

The blue tin on the left is a tin of silk pins. Pins are funny things. I have two sets of pins – the long dressmaking pins I bought before starting the drafting class I took about five years ago, and the quilting pins that I use when sewing knitting together. When working with fine fabrics, I find that even my dressmaking pins leave holes. Sometimes they press out but sometimes they don’t. I suppose it doesn’t really matter but if I’m going to shell out for an awesome fabric, I’d like my finished garment to look as good as possible.

The weird pliers-like implement to the right of the silk pins is a pattern notcher. I noticed when making my spring pants that where I had cut my pattern notches, it significantly weakened the seam and caused a lot of fraying. I read up about this gadget and figured it would be worth it considering that I am sooo slow at cutting out notches and very bad about tidying up the million triangles that result. So far, so good.

Second from the right is a gauge. I think it’s more of a quilting tool but I am abysmal at marking hems. This gadget has a little red notch that you can move as a visual aid. It only cost me about £2 and was worth every penny. No more wonky hems! Then on the right is a little box of glass headed pins. I have a huge problem with my regular dressmaking pins – I have no nails because of the piano and it takes me ages to pick one up or take out of fabric. As my sewing has increased, so has my frustration. These pins were about £2.50 and I thought I would try them out. Verdict? I’ll never go back. The glass heads aren’t affected by iron heat and are easy to grasp. The body of the pin is just like my old pins so there is no compromise.

Nerdy, no?! The rulers and pins I got from an English shop called Cotton Patch. The notcher I found on Amazon.

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The weather has finally warmed up enough to make wearing the pants an option some days now. They have pros and cons: they’re amazingly comfortable and pliable (you can see that they already look a bit looser from having been worn a few times), but they wrinkle and tend to pick up fluff. As for the blouse, here are the details!

Pattern: Alma blouse by Sewaholic.

Fabric: Cotton poplin from Murphy Sheehy’s. I used about 2m because I wanted the full-length sleeves. The trim I got from Rubanesque. The total cost was somewhere in the region of €20-25. I didn’t have to use the trim but I think it’s nice and was happy to pay for something unique.

I made a few modifications. I (thankfully!) made a muslin first, cutting a size 2. The fit at the neckline and shoulders was great but too fitted throughout the body. It was only a bit – I could still squeeze in and out without needing a zip – so when I cut my actual fabric, I cut 2 for the neckline and collar, and 4 for everything else, including the armholes. This was a good adjustment.

Putting the trim was a pain. At first I wanted to use some piping because that’s what I had to hand and I thought it would be nice. It was but I didn’t really know what I was doing. In a desperate attempt to smooth out lumps, I trimmed my seam allowance too closely. Then in an attempt to salvage that, I topstitched the whole thing. It was a mess. Thankfully I had just enough fabric left over to cut another collar. Then, using this excellent tutorial on applying trim to a peter pan collar, I carefully got my new trim to behave itself. It wasn’t that hard.

As you can see, the collar lies pretty well. I have had all sorts of nightmares with peter pan collars. I think they are so pretty but my narrow shoulders don’t work well with something so curved.

The only other thing I think is worthy of mention is the cuffs. The instructions for the placket and cuffs is pretty limited. It’s fine if you’ve sewn them before, but if not, watch out! Look up a youtube video before progressing. It’s not particularly difficult but the diagrams are not at all clear. I discovered when I finished that I don’t even need to open the cuffs to get my hand through so if I make another long-sleeved version of this, I will probably leave off the cuffs altogether. Nice to have the option though.

I love to see how blouses with collars lie underneath a top layer such as a cardigan or pullover. Such photos are hard to come by so I thought I’d start the ball rolling maybe! Here is a very typical I’m-a-piano-teacher outfit.

So, two thumbs up for the Alma pattern! I’m looking forward to sewing up some other variations.

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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.

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Anyway, it provoked me to consider why I was feeling a bit worn out and not like I was accomplishing anything. Inevitably such thoughts lead to making a long, long list of all the tiny things I have been putting off – little pebbles adding up to very large stones in my pockets. Since our return, I have been busy. Setting up roaming on my phone, organising the many facets of opening an Etsy shop, ordering little bits and pieces I kept remembering but not tracking down, cleaning, purging, sorting – the spring clean we all need at least twice a year.

My little reward today was flowers. I do love flowers. I’m too much of a sometimes gardener to grow my own and anyway, I like being able to choose my fancy at the florist.

Pictured also are pattern pieces for a pair of pants. There is a ridiculous story to go with these so I’ll save it when I have something material to show. The photo below shows the skirt I’ve been working on.

I cut it out before we went away but didn’t get around to it. It came together very quickly even with obsessive line-matching. Only the lining to hem and then it’s done. And I’ve been using up my leftovers from the cotton doilies. Somehow cotton doesn’t seem quite right in my hands with the temperature outside hovering below 5C. I’ve been working far more on my pink sweater since getting back and have already completed the body and started a sleeve. It fits great.

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