Ch-ch-changes and Finished FESA item

Sit down... I have a confession to make...

I made the first pair of trousers on my Fall Essentials Sewalong list a few weeks ago. They are a grey chambray cotton with 5% linen blend. And now it is time to confess a little something... I have given myself an extra challenge in my FESA sewalong as I am expecting a baby! He or she is due in January. So I am about 25 weeks now. This was an unplanned surprise, so much so that I had given my maternity clothes away. To someone who lives in Poland - too far away and costly to post them back. I had also given away the cot, moses basket, car seat, highchair attachment, most of the baby clothes...etc, etc, are you seeing the situation? The only big item I still had was the pram.

So recently I have been thrifting and buying second hand things for baby. I managed to buy a beautiful cot bed (actually much nicer than our old one) from a friend of a friend, and a first stage car seat from another friend. I have been buying bits and pieces of baby clothes in the charity shops.

I cannot afford to be buying maternity clothes though. I just allowed myself one pair of second hand maternity jeans on ebay. They are at that stage where tend to fall down all day resulting in me permanently hoiking them up. I keep reminding myself that soon they will fit.

I have been lucky in that I happened to have made quite a lot of loose tops like Simplicity 3835 and my portfolio dress - these have been great to wear in this mid stage. BUT I am aware that at some point I may need a little extra space in my clothes.
So, I decided to start with maternity trousers. My trusty gap charity shop jeans saw me through to 22 weeks but just are too tight now. I searched for maternity patterns and to be honest the big pattern companies don't have many. I read some reviews of Easy Burda 8376 and decided to use this one as a good basic trouser pattern. Any pregnant readers out there, believe me, these are so easy to make. Only five pieces.

Seriously, this maternity sewing is great...no zips, no buttonholes, no waistbands. I loves it.

The trousers have a jersey panel that goes over the bump and they have a simple casing and elastic waist. I used an old t shirt to make the panel. The panel looks to me like a teddy bear's stomach but it is super comfortable. When it came to cutting out the trousers, being the meanie that I am, I tried to squeeze the 2 metres required from 1 metre of stash fabric. It worked but only just and I had to make an extra casing for the back from another piece of spotty scrap fabric. To give them a bit more length. They are just, just long enough but only because I have short legs! My only concern is that they won't be warm enough in a month or two. So I am thinking of making another pair in some winterish fabric, I am also thinking of using the jersey panel pattern piece to refashion some pre-made trousers into maternity but I just haven't seen any charity shop trousers I like recently.

However I liked making the trousers so much that I made some grey wool mix winter shorts from the same pattern. I have almost finished these. The photo shows the side pocket detail. I used the left over fabric from making my Uniform Project dress last year.

I am in love with these shorts even if I will look like a strange gender-mix of pregnant woman and school boy. That is weird I know. But they do look a bit like my son's school shorts. I will just have to make sure I don't wear them with a school jumper and satchel.

More sewing for others

I have been doing a fair amount of sewing but no blogging recently. I have several items almost finished to share but most recently I have been doing more sewing for others:

A birthday tee shirt for Little I's friend whose favourite colour is green and a bag for her to keep treasures in.

The teeshirt I did at the last minute, well an hour before the party. A new sewing shop opened near me and I really wanted to like it. I live in a sewing shop desert. The owner was lovely and helpful BUT she sold me fusible interfacing that was ironable-fusible on one side when I had asked for fusible on 2 sides- bondaweb type stuff. Eeeek.

I didn't have time to go back and change it before the party, and so I just used the interfacing for the tee shirt applique. I think it is going to fray more now though than it would have done with the double sided stuff.

The new shop is five minutes drive from my house, located on the edge of a small industrial estate, and has loads of patterns and fabrics and a bit of haberdashery. There were lots of useful lining fabric (I bought some grey for a skirt I am in the middle of making) and some pretty floral cottons (didn't buy any, thinking of the stash I already have). There was quite a bit of fabric that was not my kind of taste but which made Little I gasp and say things like
" Ooohh, look shiny rainbow, glittery,stars material...ooohh pink princesses material....! " (Can you imagine a world styled by four year old girls?)

I did buy a length of fake suede in emerald green and some brown fake suede off cuts. Don't worry, this is not the latest FESA wardrobe plan. Nor am I going to the Birmingham Bloggers meet up in fancy dress. I'm making T a Robin Hood costume for friday night's cub camp. We googled Robin Hood costumes (found a strange flickr group devoted to men who like to dress up as Robin Hood, let's just not go any further) and found a simple one that met with T's approval (he is not keen on dressing up) so I am spending my sewing time making it now. It is basically a tunic to wear over his normal khaki green trousers - no way this boy would wear green tights! But I have had a request for a pointy hat as well.

We only had one week's notice about the costume which is a little short don't you think?? T is very excited as this one night and one day camp is his first cub camp. I can't believe he is old enough and brave enough to go. I may cry into my cocoa on friday night - this is my just desserts as before I had children I used to be so unsentimental and laugh at soft-hearted parents.

Ottobre Love Autumn 2011

Quite a while ago Ali blogged about using patterns as blocks and having

some pattern books which can be adapted to make a whole range of different clothes. I have found that Ottobre magazine sometimes delivers on this score. The subscription is 15, 90 euros per year which gives you two magazines. This comes to about £13.84, so under £7.00 per magazine. A bit more than Burda magazine but the sizing and styles of Ottobre are more to my taste and fit than Burda.

My copy of the Autumn Winter Ottobre magazine arrived a few weeks ago. It then got lost for about ten days after a hasty tidy up before guests arrived. I was happy to find it again on Monday. I had started to question how carefully I had checked the recycling box before it was emptied.

Reading this Ottobre makes me wamt to sew knits. Sadly I have no knit fabric in my stash, but happily I am going to Birmingham's rag market in October so I plan to write a Ottobre based list and look for some affordable knits.
Lots of these items are of the wardrobe staple variety rather than the "wow" sort. For instance, the turtle neck would be ideal to wear with layers in the colder weather.
I have one ancient GAP black ribbed turtle neck that has been mended many times. Definitely time for a me-made replacement.

The everyday t shirt speaks for itself, though it would present a new challenge of buying ribbing. Maybe its the changing season but I have a yearning to make these cosy trousers for home.
I have never been a big fleecey casual clothing wearer but a good zip up hoodie is ideal for cosy evenings and pulling on for going to school pick up.

I am also intrigued by the idea of making this wool knit duffel coat. I just don't know if I could find or afford to buy the fabric for it. I am going to have a good look though on the forthcoming Rag Market meet up.

Finally, I have to say it is a "no, no, no" from me for this coat...it just makes me think of a butternut squash in its shape. What do you think? This would look good on a little girl but I am not sure on a grown woman! Nice tights though.

There are also some great vintage style dress patterns in this magazine...I will show them next time.

Remake and mending

Such a gloomy morning today. It is our first proper rainy morning since school went back. Windscreen wipers on, anoraks for the kids. Despite his anorak, T looked soaked by the time he got to the school gate. He is of course at eight too old to carry his bumble bee umbrella, though Little I was happy with her lady bird one. "Everyone will think I am a giant insect". I noticed one of his friends with a smart rocket patterned bottle green umbrella. Not too toddlerish at all.
Anyway I am feeling a bit cheesed of with the rain and ensuing gloom. Do other people feel fed up with all the detritus and mess around? I am no great shakes at house cleaning but sometimes a big clear up makes me feel much better. Over the course of the summer holidays things got more and more chaotic here.
I have been fixing and mending, I was so fed up by the mess everywhere in our house, that I decided to tackle The Piles....first up the school uniform pile. Little I starts school in January but we had been given a pile of old school clothes (a year ago!) which I had dragged out from under the bed to see what was there. Added to her brother 's old school sweatshirts and PE kit (t shirt, shorts and plimsolls), plus my summer car boot haul, she only needs me to buy the grey socks and black shoes. Hurray for other peoples' cast-offs. I have to make her a PE drawstring bag but have promised to find some pink fabric. So, I decided to sort and name it all now so all we need to do in the Christmas holidays is buy the shoes. As it is named, each item goes in a shallow plastic box under the bed so all the school stuff is in one place. I have been sewing name tapes in which is apparently a rare and archaic act these days. I like sewn name tapes though, apart from anything else they are re-usable, so in the longterm save money. Once I sat down in front of the tv with my pile of clothes and name tapes it only took two evenings to do.

Then I tackled some of my mending pile, first up was my Portfolio top.

I had made it from Simplicity 2245, view C and a limited amount of stash fabric. I have been wearing it but felt it was just a bit too short for me though so I added a contrast band in brown and white polka dots from the scrap pile.

Next up...my 3835 tunic top had a large and getting rapidly larger hole in the lower centre front. I sliced the bottom five inches off below the hole and then reattached it without the hole. Sorry no before photos to explain what I did. I had worn it out in the summer with the hole which horrified my friend's clothes conscious eight year old daughter. She will be pleased to know I have mended it.

I added purple cord to cover the seam and to give the top a bit more ...something...structure? The purple cord was the cord I had taken from my bumble bee cardigan refashion.

Finally to cheer myself up today I am wearing this new pendant. I made it with Little I and her aqua bead set.

Okay, more clearing up to do... more photos to follow. Hope you guys are feeling more cheery today.

Bumble bee cardigan

This is my bumble bee cardigan. It is dark purple and mustard stripes and started off life as a sweater with short sleeves and a cord threaded through a casing at the bottom hem. The cord made it quite baggy. To me there is something counter-intuitive about a short sleeved sweater or cardigan. I mean, I am either cold enough for long sleeves or too warm for a sweater.

I bought the sweater at easter in a charity shop near Exeter. At the time my mum said I would look like a giant bumble bee if I wore it but I ignored her and bought it. (Do we all ignore our mothers like this?) I had not planned to wear it as a a sweater as I don't particularly want to go out dressed as a giant bumble bee. Are you surprised at that?
It had an open neck and four press studs at the top. It has been lying in my to-do pile since easter and last week I finally took scissors to it. I just sliced it up the centre front and then zig zagged a tiny hem on each side. I left the original four poppers as I liked them and their detail. I think it is mainly a cardigan for wearing open anyway and for layering up. Despite my short sleeved cardigan reservations I like it and how it adds a pop of colour to the greys I have in my wardrobe. (Worn above with me-made anna tunic and me made nora tee shirt from Ottobre magazine, Autumn 2010)
This refashion is shared at Recycled Fashion Finds

Self stitched September catching up

Thursday 8th September - Simplicty 3835 made with charity shop curtains.











Friday 9th September - Simplicity 3835 made with Amy Butler fabric

So, another catch up with September pictures. I have tried to wear skirts and bare legs the last couple of days while I still can. The Amy Butler top I made last week. I had the fabric in my stash and the colours fit with my autumn FESA planning. Simplicity 3835 is so quick and simple to sew up. It is my no-brainer, pattern block to sew when I want to have a wearable top quickly. The top hangs slightly stiffly as it is quilting cotton
and so the sleeves puff up a bit too much at time. But the colours and pattern compensate for the awkward fabric.

Saturday 10th September - Me made stripey tee (Sew U Home Stretch), me made denim skirt (Sew Hip Magazine Summer 2009), me made jersey scarf

I am excited about the response to our Birmingham meet up...excited and a bit of trepidation. Sunday 11th September - Me Made top from Simplicity 2295 with vintage lace trim from stash. Self drafted skirt. Both fabrics were from my bin bag stash.

High Noon in Birmingham

Yes, what a catchy title. Scruffybadger and I have been planning a little bloggy meet-up/fabric shopping expedition to that glittering metropolis Birmingham. The date is Saturday 8th October, rendezvous at New Street Station, 12 noon.

Our plan is to meet up and go the Rag Market to check out the fabric and haberdashery stalls. There is also a fabric shop nearby. And of course some lunch and chat.
Lots of victorian architecture, museum, art gallery plus the new Selfridges and Bull ring development. If you are into RTW bargain hunting there is a big TK Maxx outside the station. Oh and canals...did I mention canals? Well, there's canals.


It would be great to see other bloggers on this meet up. I seriously would not recommend driving into Birmingham if you have not done it before. New Street train station takes you right into the city centre so is much much easier. If you are interested in coming along, just leave a comment with your contact email and we will be in touch with meeting place and details.