It's A Post About Pants

Due to a startling collection of coincidences I seem to have become obsessed with making knickers. Or perhaps it was an impulse purchase and some enabling by Stephen (who likes it when I make things and loves it when I make odd things) We found one of The Flo-Jo Knicker making kits (go buy one!) at Social Fabric in Totnes and had to bring it home.

The kit comes with a pattern, multi-sized for different sized bottoms, instructions and enough fabric and elastic for one pair of knickers. I should also point out that it came with ribbon for a bow but I'm really not into that so I left it off. It's actually shockingly easy to make a pair of knickers, especially with the kit. The only problem I had is that you really need to stretch the elastic as you sew it down. I went a bit too easy on my first pair. 

Knickers only take about half a meter of fabric and two meters of elastic and they only take a couple hours so I thought it was an experiment worth repeating. I have offcuts that size and old t shirts to cut into gussets so why not. I went back to social fabric for some pretty elastic and went stash diving. 

By my second pair I'd overcome my shyness with the elastic and went for it. I love the contrast of the white elastic and black fabric as well as the unexpected playfulness of the butterfly pattern.

My third pair where a bit more floral and I'm gslad I finally found a use for this offcut because it;s really pretty but not my usual cup of tea at all. I really could keep on making knickers all day (and talking about them) but unfortunately at that point I ran out of elastic. Looks like we need to take another trip to Totnes. 

Me Made May 2014: Week One

Following on from last thursday...

On Fridays I volunteer at the local zoo. Sorting out food, cleaning poo off things. I come home smelling like fish so I try not to wear clothes I like. I do wear wool socks though. Inevitably my feet will get wet and the wool socks mean that they stay warm. These are the Miner's Socks. With the photo taken at the same time as my lunchbox.

TorqEat, of course, on Saturday. Tucking into my indian food in my potato printed cardigan (I didn't wear glasses when I made this. What?). I love this and wear it all the time. It's starting to fall apart now though. I should really think about making another. I think, whatever happens I will wear this until it's nothing but a thread.

On Sunday for knitting group and a walk about town I covered my shoulders with my incredibly versatile, hardly ever off my shoulders Same Thing Only Different.

Sunday I dressed for practicality again and head down to the allotment. Making things a bit more interesting, and keeping the hair out of my eyes, was the chequered headband.

A-line skirt  (this isn't the best picture of it admittedly) made to be a wear everyday kind of thing and really does get worn all the time.

And to round off the first week I wore my reconstructed teletubbies t-shirt. It's just how I roll good sir.

Valentines Sewing

Stephen and I went crafty for Valentines day this year. I asked for two painted Honiton bobbins. He picked two of these herbs; rosemary and thyme. I showed them off to my lace group this week.

I asked Stephen if he's like a camp blanket. He lit up. He helps with Brownies when we have trips away and when we go to special events and he's been building up a pile of badges. We decided on a size, a colour and a colour of binding. It's brown and yellow like the Brownie Uniforms.

Of course making it up was easy. Just sewing the bias binding (this one) to the fleece (this stuff). So, of course, I screwed it up. I'll never figure out why sewing long, straight lines is so hard but it is. Stephen is pretty happy though.

Now I'm off to make Garlic Bread and Tomato Risotto for us to eat...

A little bag with a loud zip

Make up bags are like buses. You wait ages for one to appear and then three come along at once. Generally with toiletries you're allergic too, around Christmas time. Okay less like buses in that respect but you know that when you'll need one they are nowhere to be seen.

An unassuming bag, stuffed with secrets

Which is why I ended up goggling 'zip pouch tutorial' and finding myself here. I dug out some scraps of satin (matte side out) and a bright pink zip. The zip is one of those things everyone has in their stash. It's old, you don't know what to do with it but you might be able to do something with it so you can never throw it away.

For once I'm vindicated. 

 

And only one way to get in

The New Black Floral Skirt

I recently replaced a skirt. To put it better: I recently replaced the skirt. It was an a-line skirt made from a black satin with floral embroidery. I bought the fabric from the market in Huddersfield and made it up on my sewing machine when it was brand new and the most expensive thing I'd ever bought. An honour only recently taken by my Vitamix.

Shown here with my Tulip Top

I was a beginner sewer and keen to cut corners. My seams were... not entirely straight. I couldn't press in my room. My hem was a mess. In a lot of my earlier skirts I'd just turn up the selvedge rather than do any sort of edging treatment. Putting those skirts on now is an embarrassment. I hope nobody ever sees the inside.

The problem is that I made these skirts to wear them as quickly as possible. Which is fine until I find myself wearing them six years later. I mean if I'm going to wear a skirt out after putting it on almost every week, often twice, for six years I want to be proud of the damn thing.

Spot the difference

I picked out a cute floral baby cord and cut using my old skirt as a guide. I pressed meticulously. I turned and stitched my seams because it's less messy than a zigzag and looks darling in the baby cord. This time I did my hem by hand so nobody can see my shameful stitches.

Is it really wrong to be in love with your seams?

I'm in love with this one and it will be interesting to see, when it wears out, what I'll find to criticise  improve about my sewing in the future.

Fox Skirt

I found this cute knit fox patten when I accidentally went into the fabric shop in Totnes. It was far too expensive for me to buy too much of and far too full of foxes for me to not buy any so I went for half a metre and decided to make a skirt.

I was apparently practising my grumpy face that day

I cut it out in a basic A line shape and started stitching it up. A couple months back I saw a post about (amongst other things) hand stitching knit fabric on Ysolda's blog. When I read her description I was inspired to hand sew something of my own. So I cut out a simple A-line shape and stitched it up with gratifyingly large stitches.

Satisfying to make and it has foxes on it!

Liberty

Title is both for the fabulous fabric and the fabulous feeling of being out and about after a stomach bug. Hello world, I'm back.

I managed to get some sewing done while I was off sick. I want to make this clear: most of the time I spent lying down, napping off nausea, and being generally quite gross. There was, however, a small bit of time where I could not stand without ouch but I could competently sit up. Which isn't something I've been proud of since I was an infant. I was also a worrying mix of stir crazy and sleep deprived which made me courageous enough to cut into the lovely Liberty print I've been hoarding  for a year now.

The fabric of champions: Liberty Print fabric brooch

So why does this fabric mean so much? It isn't just the high price tag. I've spent more on craft materials. But then it is the high price tag, I bought it last year. Last year when I didn't have a job or, I assumed, any prospects. I'd been accepted to represent Girlguiding UK at a conference and I'd promised myself four things out of that trip to London: a burger the size of my face, some new shower gel, krispy kreme, and a metre and a half of something pretty from Liberty.

I agonized for about an hour deciding what fabric I want. Should I buy some trimmings as well, what about a book? Okay just the purple and chocolate brown ribbon, looks like a dairy milk. So this fabric? Do I take it to be cut? Am I allowed to touch it? What do I do? [Anyone else get fabric shop anxiety or is it just me?]

and a scarf...

It took me a long time to work up the courage for that one and a half meters so I knew whatever I was going to make from it had to be awesome and wearable and that I should use every last scrap. Sometime last year I settled on a dirndl and last week I finally did the maths. Today I wore her for the first time.

Verdict? I love the fabric, I love the drape. My gathers could have been more even, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided my waist was that big but I'm in no rush to take it in. I hand stitched the hem and zip in place for a neat finish and because I could do that lying down. It added a couple of hours of work but the neat finish can not be denied. Although possibly ruined by my slightly wonky top stitching on the waist band. I can fix the faults if they start to bug me but right now I'm enjoying wearing it as is. I imagine it will creep into my wardrobe often.

But most importantly: my drindl

I didn't quite use all the fabric on the skirt though. I had just enough left over to make into a scarf, this one from Amy Butler's in Stitches. I didn't have enough fabric to cut on the bias so I cut on the grain instead. I'm happy. The rest of the scrappy bits I joined together into one long ball of 'yarn' and made a pompom, added a brooch back and called it a flower!

Fabric detail. Also my hem, so proud of those stitches!

Lavender and cursing

I'm going to blog today about my to favourite cushions. The first one is very sensible but the second one is features a pattern from the Subversive Cross Stitch so if you aren't a fan of swearing I'll put that after the jump.  Let's start on the sensible though.

Nap Time

So what about the sensible one? This is a cushion to help me sleep. Since about June and all though my appendix problem, vegan mofo and most of November my sleep was almost none-existent. So I had to do something serious. I do not cope remotely well without sleep. I had no energy, my scheduling became more about when can I make time for naps rather than when can I make time to work on things. I tried the usual stuff:  exhausting my body, not napping through the day so I was tired at night, keeping to a routine. I was still up half the night.

I decided to bring out the big guns. following the recipe in Grow Your Own Drugs I made up a mix of lavender and hops and stuffed it in this hand stitched pillow. I also appliquéd and embroidered on the top of it for a bit of extra magic. So far I've slept soundly every night it's been under my pillow.

Hand made gifts for a gardening friend

We were very happy to learn that one on the trainees at Occombe farm was going on to a different project but very sad to see her go. So we sent her off as only we can do. Hand made gifts. Obviously something from the kitchen, Stephen whipped up a batch of his famous fudge and I set to work on the sewing machine.

Dotty green garden fun

Scalloped Edge Skirt

Quick, before I blow Away!

As I pulled this skirt on this morning I realised that I had forgot to blog about it. My brain seems to be elsewhere right now but never mind, better late than never.When I bought Lovely Things To Make For Girls Of Slender Means back in may I was enchanted by the scalloped skirt in it. Not so much the skirt actually but the background of the picture of the skirt. The gas fireplace and heaps of books and magazines stacked everywhere made me think what my life would be like if I didn't have someone telling me to put away the books. I used to sleep with 10 or so in my bed, can't get away with that now.

Pocket Power

People at home should walk down the stairs sensibly

We went to Chester this year for my birthday. And in Chester there is a lovely little shop with quilting fabric at the back. I wasn't in the market for more than a little bit of fabric (or I was until Stephen pointed out that I'd have to cart it around two cities take it home on the train) so I head over to the remnant basket and in it was this cute little brown floral stuff. I knew instantly that it should be pockets.

Lovely Leftovers

Perhaps it's because I was cooking up some bubble and squeak or perhaps it was just the big pile of fabric stopping us fem getting from one side of the floor to the other but I sat down and cobbled a few things together from my leftover skull and stripe fabric.

Handbag takes a trip to Exeter

I bought a Book: Lovely Things To Make for Girls of Slender Means

It is a testament to my own slender means that it took me a year since this was published to get my hands on a copy. Amazon tells me I bought a copy of Yeah, I Made it Myself back in 2006 it helped me work up the courage to buy a sewing machine and to use it. And it still sits beside my machine. So it stands to reason that I'm a big fan of Eithne Farry's approach but will you be?

Stripy pixie skirt

Unlike the projects I posted yesterday this had an unintentional pirate look. I knew I had to do something different and a little bit showy with this red and black striped fabric. I didn't really feel like playing match up with the stripes, I considered a circle skirt but I thought the keeping it square for a pixie skirt would be much more dramatic.

Chester Cathedral: a dramatic backdrop for a dramatic skirt

Skulls and sewing machines

I've been feeling itchy lately, yes the eczema is acting up again but also I need new clothes! I'm a little dissatisfied with my wardrobe and none of my button up blouses seem to fit any more (I'll leave it to your imagination as to what has grown) So with some prompting from the Boyfriend I sat down with some fabric and got to work.