Allsorts!

Hi friends! Are you taking part in #MIYMarch17 on IG? It's really good fun: a series of prompts for things to go and photograph. One such prompt was "Stash Bust", and I proudly took a pic of a skirt I was making for the little girl, using up fabric left over from making my husband some boxer shorts.   This made me realise that those boxers were still in my WIP box (work in progress, for those non-sewers amongst you). And all it wanted was the threading of the elastic. It seemed shameful to have something perfectly wearable not being worn, so I got right back to it.

The pattern is simplicity  8180 which is a good value one IMHO, as it has several patterns (pants, easy shirt and tie) for the money, in both boy and adult sizes; and it's currently half price too, I notice. The shirt figures in my future plans.

The Hubs was game enough to have blog photos taken, as long as they were very close up with no identifying features visible!

These are substantially smaller than "as drafted". The toile I made was like a pair of clown trousers down to his knees! No photos of that thankfully. He wore them all day and reported back that they were comfy; so, a success. I think I will make him a bunch of brightly coloured knickers.

Afterwards, I was left with a little piece of the fabric with which to make something for Small. A skirt seemed the obvious answer. I used a vintage pattern that was donated by a lady to the Brighton Sewing Bee meet-ups. She very kindly donated about a hundred patterns, and everyone there found something they liked.

The skirt is bias cut, and would be great in a striped fabric. I hemmed this with bias binding, which has given it a bit of structure and helped to keep it in shape.

The fabulous fabric is from Fabricland and is available in different colourways. I may well go back and buy more at some point; the eldest suggested it would look good as a shirt for him, and I think he may be right.

The top is also a vintage pattern, this time from Bobbin Along in Worthing, where they often have a few vintage patterns to chose from. I bought it for the tracksuit trousers, but sadly - as with some older patterns - it was missing vital pieces. Never mind, because the top is lovely. This is a wearable toile made out of a top of mine that I no longer wore, which had a small rip so was no good for the charity shop.  It's a lovely thick jersey, cosy and soft. I am really pleased with the fit for her: it's just a tiny bit long in the arm, but I shall not change anything as she grows so fast. I have the most beautiful bunny sweatshirting fabric that she is desperate for me to make it up in ASAP.  But there is a queue so she will have to wait.

That's all for now, folks! Hopefully the next post won't be such a mish-mash!

An Anya bag for my Mummy

Hi friends. Long time no sew! I've been absent lately: lots of volunteering and soul-searching have left me a bit wrung out. Sewing usually helps my mood, but I find if I start when I am tired I just make a mess.

I have been doing little easy bits, like cutting out children's patterns and altering hems, but nothing really blog worthy. That was until my Mum's birthday was imminent, as it was recently, and I wanted to make her something. But what? A trip to M&S revealed that mustard was a key colour this season: it was everywhere, and it reminded me of my hoarded bit of gold denim from the fabric godmother.

A good capture of the colour.

I'd been keeping it for something special, and this was it. The fabric's destiny was clearly to become a birthday handbag! I used the Anya pattern from SoZo, it's such a clever little pattern.  It creates a fully lined beautiful bag with gorgeous pleats and sturdy handles.

Pretty lining.

I had made one before at Christmas for a friend, and I knew it came together nicely and quickly. My friend was very happy with hers.

Silvery sparkly denim version made as an Xmas present.

I knew Mum's bag would look lovely from the second I put in the pleats, so I was thrilled she likes it, and it goes beautifully with her purple winter jacket.

At some point I must make a version for myself. But, in the meantime, I have some mustard denim remnants that I need to use up. Watch this space...