Time passes so much faster than you think!

It feels like today’s make should have happened so much earlier than it did. I love my first Sallie jumpsuit and wear it a lot and each time I wear it I think it’s time to make a new one and yet it’s taken me almost 3 years since my first one to make this one. However I’m glad I did. 

Each year I make myself a new birthday dress and I decided to mix it up this year with a birthday jumpsuit. The closet case files Sallie jumpsuit is a pattern that gets less airtime than some of Heather's other patterns which I think is a shame as it's such a lovely pattern.

I used this petrol blue viscose jersey that’s been in my stash for years. I think it came from fabricsforsale. I didn’t quite have enough of the fabric for the jumpsuit so the lining is pieced together from some other jersey scraps. It’s a party on the inside of this jumpsuit!  I've worn this jumpsuit in pretty solid rotation since I made it and the only negative point is that the fabric still leaks colour really badly, I have ruined a few other items by putting them in a washing cycle with it.

 

I made a couple of alterations to this version from the last one. Instead of using elastic to stabilise the neckline and shoulder seams, I just used strips of a woven fabric. The neckline on my first version stretch out a little and doesn’t sit completely flat. While using a woven to stabilise the neckline made it easier to get a flat neckline, there is no give to it while pulling it on which feels a bit wierd when the rest of the jumpsuit is so stretchy. The other alteration I made was to use a slightly wider elastic than recommended as I only had wider elastic in my stash and I wanted to get this done. It’s worked fine. Apart from that, I followed the instructions entirely.  I think I probably need to take it up a bit though as here I'm wearing it with heels and it's still pooling around my feet, the pattern is clearly designed for Amazons!

 

This is the ultimate secret pjs outfit. It looks pretty elegant but is so easy and comfy to wear.  Perfect for summer events! I may have taken this to the limit by essentially having a nap in it in the park!

 

Me made May 16 days 1-8

Two posts in one week!  It must be May!  I'm going to start this week's round up with a refashion, partly to save those of you who follow me on Instagram from total boredom and partly because I love it. 

I started with this jumper; a men's Asos  lambswool jumper.  It had a couple of moth (or something) holes and was too big. 

I started by pinning to bring the arm holes up to what might approximate my shoulders and pinning in the sides. I also put in bust darts which for future reference is a mistake in a fabric like this. 

I wanted a copped jumper so removed the ribbing, took a chunk off the length and then reattached the ribbing.  I found that serging the ribbing back on resulted in a very wavy join so I then topstitched the seam.  It's not really visible as the fabric absorbs the stitches but makes the whole jumper sit more pleasingly.

 I also wanted to try out the hi-low thing which is everywhere and I've never been a big fan of but thought might work well for this jumper.

The next step was to darn and embellish. I knew I wanted a bit of excitement on my jumper. One of my friends has a great jumper with similar gems on the front and I shamelessly ripped it off. The gems were from simply sequins and at £10.95 for a bag, they added considerably to the cost of my refashion. However I still have loads left for other projects.

You can just about see the darning in the above photo.  I feel like it's seriously overshadowed by the bling and this was exactly what I wanted.

You're not getting to see this jumper on as obviously the second I finished adjusting a lambswool sweater, the weather upped its game and I didn't fancy wearing it in the 20+ degree weather we've been experiencing.  I'm totally not complaining, even if I do have to wait a while to wear my new jumper. 

So on to the daily round up:

Day 1: lady skater dress. I've not made one of these for a while and I think it may be time for another! 

Day 2: feather plantain t-shirt (unblogged)

Day 3: Ultimate trousers and thrifted top

Day 4: refashioned jumper skirt, Angelica top

Day 5: Sleeveless maxi lady skater (unblogged) This is the point at which I started to fail at the photos.  Seriously it took 5 days!  I'm sure this will pop up again this month though as wearing it made me remember how much I love maxi dresses.

Day 6: My Jade skirt and a Dolores top, complete with photo bombers who are apparently better at posing for photos than I am.

Day 7: Carolyn pyjamas
I was super hungover this day so did not fancy getting a photo but I enjoyed having my lovely pyjamas to feel sorry for myself in!

Day 8: ultimate shorts (unblogged) and vintage tie top

Right, thats my week-see you all again next week.  I'm loving seeing everyones round ups.

I made pyjamas!

When Heather released the Carolyn pyjamas I thought it was super cute but felt that I was unlikely to wear a full set of formal pyjamas. However when all the pyjamas that I do wear started to fall apart, I thought I might dip my toe in the pyjama making world with some pyjama bottoms.

I wanted to use a strawberry print cotton that I've had in my stash for years. It was a part of a coupon that I bought in marché Sainte Pierre a few years ago. I have used some of it for smaller projects over time but I really wanted an item of clothing made from it.  However my slightly saner side, the one that tells me not to dress like a toddler dissuaded me. However, I figured I could get away with pyjamas.

My Dad had bought me the patten for Christmas, I was excited as it was my first closet case files paper pattern.  I traced off a 14, grading to 10 at the waist.  I was tracing off a bunch of other indie patterns at the same time and inevitably made some comparisons between them and I have to say I was disappointed in the quality of the tissue pattern, I found it very flimsy and easy to tear and thin which made tracing off more difficult.

I probably could have got away with a 12 overall and a 10 at the waist as I ended up taking the legs in a bit and you can see there's still quite a bit of fabric pooling under the bottom.  I added 2 darts in the back to adjust for some of the excess fabric I had there due to the difference between my waist and hips.  There's still quite a bit of excess but if I had taken any more out I wouldn't have been able to get them on over my hips.

The way I've 'styled' (I'm using this term loosely) these makes it look like an outfit to wear in public.  However, much as I like these, they're not going to be worn outside of the house, I just wanted to take advantage of the first glimmering of spring and take photos outside.  I need to find myself some good outdoor locations again now the weather is, sort of, improving.  However, since it started to snow about an hour after I took these, I may not be planning too much time outdoors in the near future.

I am now getting to a stage where I'm starting to have a largely handmade wardrobe and actually it's felt really nice to have such a pretty, handmade basic item.  I'm really tempted to make the full pyjama set now, I can totally be elegant and classy for bed!

Bow backed Nettie

Hi all, I hope you've had a lovely weekend.  We've had, what I suspect, is the last of the summer sunshine which has made everything very cheery and I've been able to relax and enjoy catching up with some friends.  At the risk of becoming a Closet case files fan girl, I've got another Closet case files pattern to show you today; a Nettie dress.  I love my previous Nettie dress and bought this fabric to make another, months ago.  I found it on the Birmingham rag market, on a trip with my boyfriends family.  They were very long suffering as we did a tour of the market and Barry's. I got the stripey jersey for my boat necked lady skater on that trip too.

This time I wanted to make a Nettie hack that I had spotted on Tilly and the buttons a while ago, the bow back was really calling to me.  I used the tutorial that Tilly had posted but obviously used the dress version of the Nettie pattern.

The bow is not lopsided but it's surprisingly difficult to photograph a back!

The guy who sold me the fabric claimed it was a cotton jersey but I'm not sure I believe him as it doesn't feel like any cotton jersey I've ever seen.  Although I haven't been bothered to do a burn test to find out, I think I'm dressed in 100% poly ponte!  This fabric has very little stretch which means my new Nettie is definitely not a dress to wear on a body-conscious day.

I got my boyfriend to take some pictures of me in this on a lovely walk around Morden Hall Park.  It was such a perfect autumnal day and we got some lovely pictures.

Also some daft photos where we established that I am  not suited to being a model, you should have heard me whinging about the sun in my eyes and uncomfortable lumpy bits of the tree poking into me.  Clearly I am not prepared to suffer for my art.  

I wanted to enter this dress for the 'dressed to the nines' category over on sew independent so we also took some photos once I was ready for an evening out.

Belt from New Look and sparkly shoes from Dorothy Perkins.

If any of you reading are following the Sew Independent 2015 contest could I make a polite request for your vote!  Have a lovely week all and happy sewing.

Sallie jumpsuit

When Heather first released the Sallie jumpsuit I went crazy for it and bought it almost immediately.  However the summer was really busy and I didn't do as much sewing as I would have liked so I only got round to making it now.

I used a cotton jersey that I bought a few years back at Marche St. Pierre when I was in Paris.  I think that it's such a great fabric for this jumpsuit but I should have paid a bit more attention to pattern placement (as usual) as some of the circle bursts are highlighting areas that are not necessarily my best features.

The pattern is really well drafted and the instructions really clear, however, I need a giant post-it note to myself to me that I should not make garments that I haven't tried before on my overlocker.  I made a couple of really silly mistakes when sewing this up and unpicking overlocked seams is the worst!  In fact it's so awful that this poor jumpsuit got put in the naughty corner for a couple of weeks while I huffed and played favourites with other, non-overlocked projects.

This is my entry for the everyday casual contest over on Sew independent.  A jumpsuit is the perfect way of looking put together on a day when really what you want to wear is pyjamas.  However, I did take my Sallie out for a non-everyday outing with my family

 to Kew gardens.

Thanks to my sister for all the pictures of me!  I took all the pictures of ridiculous plants which amused me greatly! 

How great are these?

They had these great Palm/tropical plant houses at Kew which contained many pretty and/or fun plants!

Like this:

Or this:

Happy Monday folks, I hope the rest of your weeks go ok and that you all have secret pyjamas to wear!

A day out with Nettie

When the Nettie dress and bodysuit pattern was released I really loved it however, I was on a pattern diet and resisted buying it.  I'm always on a pattern diet, like most diets it usually fails, however, this time I didn't need to buy it.  I won it as a prize in the repurpose, reuse, refashion challenge!  Winning a prize itself was very exciting but winning a pattern I'd been lusting after was even more amazing.

I made a muslin of this back in November, in a gorgeous deep red. the remnants of which made the ruffle for my refashioned skirt. It was a 'wearable muslin', in that I wore it as part of a fancy dress costume for a 7 deadly sins party, and then never again!

I seem to remember there being more to this costume but by this stage it was probably fairly late and several glasses of wine down. Also it's now months on so my memory isn't as reliable as it might be.  I was meant to be wrath.  I really recommend 7 deadly sins as a theme, it was a lot of fun and people came in some really epic costumes!

However, I made my Nettie muslin up in a very non-stretchy ponte so it was much too tight, and made me look like all my body fat was trying to escape, not a good look.  So this time I used a slightly stretchier knit (although still a fairly stable ponte) and went up a size.

I'm happy enough with the result and I love the colour but a stretchier knit would be a lot more forgiving, I guess I should really pay a bit more attention to the recommended fabric guidelines!  However, I do really like the shape of this dress and am sure that I will make more.  Also I love sewing with knits, they're so fast.  I'm all about the instant gratification at the moment!  I've just purchased the Sew over it cowl neck dress so watch this space for some more instant gratification knit dresses!

I wore my lovely blue Nettie on a day out to Highgate with my mother and sister.

Highgate cemetery has lots of famous people (and non famous people) buried there, including Karl Marx.

 To be honest I'm not sure Karl would approve of the frivolity of this photo, I'm not sure useless, pretty dresses had a place in his manifesto!  By the way, we have not had a heatwave in London, these photos were totally staged, I had my coat firmly on for the rest of the day.  Although it's nice to have sun even if it isn't warm yet.

 I really love old English cemeterys and this one is really beautiful.  It's a non-religiously affiliated graveyard and there are a mix of graves from all religions and non-religions which I find really lovely as it feels really inclusive and it is great to see what people of different backgrounds do to remember their dead.

Anyone else a massive fan of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?  

As well as a visit to the cemetery, we also had lunch and hit the charity shops.  While I wouldn't say that the Highgate charity shops are the cheapest, they have some real quality stuff, I got some great finds:

This has been on my amazon wish list for a while but at £25 I was holding off on buying it.  I got this in the Oxfam bookshop for £15.  While this isn't super cheap, it's still a saving on £10 on the original.   I have just checked and actually this is currently selling on Amazon for £20.40, however, a) i've still saved money and b) my money has gone to a really good cause.  I might do a snapshot or review of this at some point in the future.

I got this lovely fitted Hawes and Curtis cotton shirt.  You should have heard the comments from my family in relation to this shirt, they are not fans of crazy florals. However, I don't care, I'm a bit excited about this very floral shirt and it will definitely fit into my wardrobe.  This was £8.00 from the Cancer research shop.

More florals!  This is an amazing boat necked jumper.  It's made from silk and cashmere which I'm very excited about.  It's lovely and soft and I think it's going to be super warm.  I'm not a fan of the bow, however that will be a super easy job to unpick, maybe my task for in front of the Great British Sewing Bee this week.  This was £14.99 from the Oxfam shop.

This photo is very rubbish I'm afraid!  This is actually a really cute olive cardigan, from White Stuff, which also came from the Oxfam store for £8.99.

All in all a lovely day out, with photo posing, fun company, some charity support and wardrobe renewal, what more could you ask from a Sunday really?