Metallic Rainbow Glitter Shorts!

Hi there, today I am so happy to share with you my latest make because I finally dared to cut into this amazing spangly fabric and I think I found the perfect pattern for it. Those that have been following me either here or on instagram will know that I have been testing skirt patterns over the last month or so in an effort to find the perfect pattern for this fabric. Well, as I was sewing my last piece, I had a crazy lightbulb moment and realised I already had the perfect pattern, tried and tested, and a perfect match; the Chataigne shorts from Deer and Doe.

My first Bruyere shirt and how it nearly went in the bin

Hello there and welcome to my first pattern show off in quiet some time. I've been really keen to start sewing properly for myself again, and by properly I mean making something fitted not just more jersey.

This is the Bruyere shirt by Deer and Doe made up in some cotton shirting fabric which I bought online from Croft Mill.

I actually bought the fabric and pattern for this make in May last year when I was heavily pregnant with Fox cub #2 with the intention of it being a staple part of my breastfeeding wardrobe. Fast forward a year and the reality of the situation was that I couldn't face making all the adjustments to the pattern whilst my body was still ever changing shape.

I'm really pleased to have picked it up now though and got my head around all the adjustments because I just love it and I think one of the main reasons for that is the thought I put into embellishing it, more on that shortly.

Fitting: I had to do a number of adjustments to this pattern; my usual full bust adjustment which is to add a whole inch into the front section and remove an inch from the back because for some reason I have a very small back. I found this a bit daunting at first for this pattern as there are so many adjoining pieces: the waistband and the collar and these would all need adjusting as well as the pleats in the skirt. I'm pleased to say though it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined, my toile of the bodice turned out perfectly. 

Well then it all went wrong didn't it! Somehow when I retraced my new bodice piece to make a proper pattern piece I didn't cut it properly and the bodice was far too big. I was gutted. I spent so much time on the fit and then had planned and bought all the notions I really didn't want it to end up in the bin. Thankfully my very talented sister came to my rescue and suggested I added a neck dart which we then turned into a fake princess seam to remove the bulk. Its not as great as my toile but thanks to her its now completely wearable so thank you Rachel x

Bling: Well i'm sure your keen eyes have already spotted them but yes, I added a studded collar, its frikkin awesome I love it. 

After I started Me Made May this year I realised I had a lot of clothes that I liked but that I didn't love. I decided after that to try and think a lot more about what I was making and how to make sure it really stood out and felt a lot more special. 

I had a number of ideas for this shirt: Holograph star applique, metal collar cuffs, rainbow buttons, glitter but in the end these simple studs won out. I think they really make this shirt and the buttons are such a perfect match for them. Its functional but still a bit edgy. I could easily wear this chilling in the park like today, smart for the office or glammed up for a night out.

Will I make it again: Definitely! I need to test my pattern adjustments properly. I still want to try those rainbow buttons so might try a black dobby fabric or similar. I also have some fabric which I might use to try a dress hack version.

Would I recommend: Yes, its not nearly as difficult to make as I expected it to be and its such a flattering fit ,especially if you are lucky enough to have an hourglass figure like me.


Do you ever embellish your makes? I'd love to see them or hear your ideas.

Thanks for reading and hopefully this will be the start of me blogging on a more regular basis again.

Post Pregnancy Chataigne Shorts!

Ever since having Master Fox I've been desperate to get back in my pink wool Chataigne shorts by Deer and Doe. I love this pattern so much, and getting back into them meant I could justify making up another pair!

 

I made the first pair of these shorts when I was in very early pregnancy and couldn't quiet get my tiny growing bump into my regular shorts. I love wearing shorts, they are so practical, especially when you spend a lot of time sat on the floor. You can wear shorts in cooler months with tights or in the summer without, so versatile.

 

I cut these shorts out and half stitched them up about 9 months ago in some mad hope I was going to fit into them soon after, well that didn't really happen and so they have been sat under a pile of stuff on my sewing table ever since. I decided after making my Mimi blouse that I needed a nice quick make and spotted them sitting there looking sad so here they are. It turned out it wasn't such a quick sew (there is a lot of ironing in the making of this pattern!) but I'm glad they are finished just in time for the arrival of spring. 

The fabric is some black striped cotton type fabric. I'm not sure exactly what to call it, it was donated to me from my sister in law but its got a lovely sort of tailored look to it which is why I thought they would work really nicely with this pattern. It was only a small amount of fabric so it was nice to make something with some structure with it. I tried really hard to match up the stripes where I could and its not a bad attempt as far as that goes. Sadly its near impossible to to take good pictures of black clothing so I had to brave the early spring sunshine in my eyes to take these photos.

 

I did have a nice happy accent with these shorts though. When it came to sewing the waistband I realised that I had forgotten to cut one of the facing pieces. Because it had been sat on my desk for so long I've no idea if the piece got lost or whether I didn't cut it but all the fabric scraps must have gone in the bin so there was no more to be found. What could I do to fix it? Cut the facing from some lovely contrasting cotton of course! So I picked this lovely Michael Miller Anchors Away By the Sea fabric which I have had in my stash for ages. I really like this little detail now, the inside makes me smile :)

I could make a million pairs of these shorts, in fact I could pretty much use every piece of fabric in my stash on them... cherry print sateen shorts, jade sateen shorts, striped shorts, pink anchor shorts, the list goes on!

I found time to make a whole dress!

 

Woo Hoo! I got my sew on! So, as I wrote about in the last couple of posts, I decided to bite the bullet and instead of waiting for all the maternity weight to drop off I jumped in and made a dress which fits my current size. Why did I do it? simply put its because the weight is not shifting as fast as I would like and I'm fed up of having nothing to wear that I fit into! Too small for maternity and too big for my regular wardrobe. I wanted something a bit nicer to wear that wasn't a pair of leggings and an oversized cardi for a change.

As part of my recent fabric splurge I bought this very cheap striped cotton sateen from ebay (it was like £3.50 a meter or something stupid) so thought sod it, at that price it doesn't matter if I don't get that much wear out of it. 

The dress is a hack of the top part of Cynthia Rowley 1873 (which was free from a magazine) and the skirt from the belladone dress by Deer and Doe. I didn't like the skirt that was part of the Cynthia Rowley pattern but because of the stripes I needed something with a pleat rather than a circle skirt to keep them straight. The belladone skirt pattern worked perfectly. I had to do a bit of playing with the darts and pleats to get them to sit in line with the bodice but I'm really pleased with how they came out. It also includes a cheeky pocket which I love (even if it does accentuate the hip).

I REALLY tried with this dress to get the stripes to match across all pieces, which I wasn't far off, but I could hear May Martin in my head the whole time I was doing this telling me that it's a shame that they are slightly off. The perfectionist in me really wanted to pull the thing apart and re-sew the seam a fraction of an inch to get them perfect. Thankfully the realist in me took over and made me realise that it had already taken me three weeks to do about four hours of sewing so it just wasn't a sensible idea. I think for the meantime I just have to accept that having something wearable is the end goal, not something which is a thing of perfection. Also, sleepless nights are not very conducive to perfect sewing!  

 

I have learnt a bit about fitting to my new post pregnancy shape as well. Needless to say, my bust has grown, and so has my waist. So taking these measurements (and the finished bust size on the pattern) I cut out my new size, which graded from a 12 in the bust to a 14 in the waist (this scares my pre-size 6 waisted self) and stitched it up without any bust adjustment as it didn't imply I needed any with this new bigger size. Well, turns out, just because my bust and waist are bigger, it doesn't mean my back has grown, turns out my back and shoulders are pretty much the same as they were before. Next time I need to do a bust adjustment and grade from a smaller size in the back and shoulders to a bigger size at the bottom. The result of this is that the neck and shoulder lines are a bit baggy, but that's nothing a good cardigan (which I never don't wear anyway) won't hide. Thankfully the bust darts are sitting ok on this.

So despite the things that bug me about this dress, there are a few things I am really proud of. Firstly, I did my first bit of topstitching to make the facing stay to the inside. That stuff actually works! Who knew, and it was very neat. I am really pleased with the movement of the pleats and darts to get them to line up, the side seams aren't perfect, but they are pretty darn close, and finally, the pockets. I love that these babies are done with a different fabric, it just takes away from the dominant stripe a bit. You can probably guess I did this on purpose because the thought of trying to match the stripe across the pocket as well just made my brain hurt, but I do like the outcome. The fabric was some of the free polka dot cotton which came free with the first issue of the new Simply Sewing Mag. Thankfully I still have enough left to make the headband pattern from the insert.

 

So in the end I have made myself a cute little dress which I can wear out and about, despite a few flaws and problems along the way. I hope you like it and can forgive me my little sewing faux pahs, at the end of the day, I have decided I don't care ;) 

Upcycled Pure Wool Chataigne Shorts (and probably my new favourite pattern!)

This post might be a bit picture heavy, but its worth it to see my fwuffy cat come and join in the shoot!

Moving on... this pattern is a winner and definitely my new favourite. Will you get mad at me if I just keep making various versions of this for a while? Its probably going to get a bit samey right? Personally I LOVE a good pair of shorts. They are so comfortable to wear, you can sit down without worrying about anyone seeing your knickers, look good with or without tights and they are also great under short dresses to keep a bit of decency.

About the Pattern:
Pattern: Deer and Doe Chataigne (chestnut) Shorts
Size: 38
Material: Pure Wool thrifted from a charity shop skirt
Alterations: Absolutely zilch! 

 

This is my first pattern from Deer and Doe and I was a bit worried that sewing a pair of shorts might be a bit complicated, I mean you need to make seperate legs and everything, but this was actually a lot easier than I suspected. The pattern packet is pretty, the instructions are incredibly clear and the pattern was simple enough yet well drafted.

I normally don't have any fit issues when I buy off the rack shorts so I didn't make any adjustments to this pattern and they turned out perfectly. This will definitely not be my last Deer and Doe pattern purchase *runs off to drool over the other patterns...

The first time I saw this pattern on the website I knew that I wanted to make these in a pure wool. I prefer to wear a pair of shorts with tights and I thought using a wool would make a really versatile garment which I can wear right into the coldest of winter months. However, pure wool fabric is not the cheapest to get your hands on. Having never sewn with it before, or used the pattern I didn't want to spend a fortune on the material, so whilst I was recently browsing some of our local charity shops I found a very long, rather large, very pleased pink pure will skirt which cost me a mere £6. It still had the shop label in so the thing was practically brand spanking, except I assume it sat in someones wardrobe for a while. Looking at it I could tell that if I unpicked all those pleats I was going to have one quiet large piece if material to work with. This turned out perfectly and I had more than enough to make up the skirt.

 

You can still see the pleats in the front (close up anyway), but do you know what, I kind of like the little reminder of where the material came from, and I am sure after a few washes these will be out completely. Also, check out my invisible zipper below... is pretty invisible right! so pleased with how much better I am getting at inserting these things. It turns out you really won't get sucked into a black hole and the world won't end if you have to try mastering this! Its really not as bad as all that.

Do you have a favourite sewing pattern that you just return to over and over? Or one that just fits so perfectly you were really pleased with it. I would love to hear all about them. You never know, they might then become one of my, or another readers new favourite as well.

Favourite Sewing Tools - Thread Snips

 

 First things first, I should announce the winner of my little giveaway as my lovely friend Stevie as she was the only one who actually commented you silly people :). Well done Stevie, now I really do need an excuse to see you. 

I don't have a major amount of stuff to wow you with today, so whilst I am working on my woolen shorts I thought I would share one of my favourite sewing tools with you. These little beauties you can see above you are called thread snips. I honestly had no idea they were even a thing until I got given this little pear a number of years ago by a friend and they really have been wonderful. They are very simply just for cutting off all your loose threads, not complicated, not difficult to use, just a little bit of simple engineering. They are also incredible cheap. They are really handy to just have by your machine as you are sewing along with a project so you can get rid of all the threads quickly and easily. They are also really good at getting rid of those pesky ones which end up on the right side of your sewing!

 

 

Shorts update: As you can see from the picture above I am getting on really well with the shorts. The pattern is so easy to sew up, and here was I thinking a pair of shorts would be quiet complicated! I am now just at the stage of doing all the hand finishing off. I can't say I am a huge fan of this bit, anyone who knows me knows I hate hand sewing with a passion, but its nice to have a bit which can be done in front of the tele! I should definitely have these ready to show off to you all on Friday... watch this space.

 

And finally, as you will remember me saying we went to see some of the Worlds Strongest Men on Saturday lift some really heavy shit!  It was a really good day out and we both had sore throats by the end of the day from all the yelling and participation we did! 

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Let me know what you have been up to, have you made anything yourself this weekend? I would love to hear about it.