A simple bag

Very often the simplest things are the nicest.

This is a denim tote bag with boxed corners, sewn last night using instructions from Bend-The-Rules Sewing.  I made it for O to give to a friend for her birthday this weekend.  Who doesn't love a bit of denim and red polka dot?

Simple pleasures.

An outrageously pretty Japanese blouse

I've been having adventures with a Japanese pattern book this week.  I bought this book last year from Tikki in Kew.  I have no idea what the title is, because I can't read Japanese, but the subtitle is "Homesewn summer wear for girls 120 to 150cm tall".  I hope the title is something snappier.

The patterns inside are what counts, however.  I truly love every single one of them.  Something that I particularly like is that there are patterns for dresses, trousers, skirts, shorts, tops, shirts and camisoles - truly something for every possible occasion or mood.  O agrees because when I asked her to mark which ones she'd like me to make for her, she put a post it note on every single page.

I started with this sweet blouse, which also has a dress version.

I decided to start with this blouse, because I think the dress version, made with the capped sleeves of the blouse, would make a wonderful school summer dress this year.  I've made the blouse first as a practice run for the dress.

This is the first time I've ever made anything from a Japanese pattern book before, but I wasn't too intimidated because there is a wealth of information on the internet about how to do this.  The tutorial I mainly used was this one from The Purl Bee, but I also found the recent series by Kate, at M is for Make, really helpful.

I spent roughly three times as long drafting the pattern as I did sewing. 

The patterns do, inevitably, take a long time to get right.  You need to trace them, add seam allowances, adjust them as necessary (for example there are in fact no pattern pieces for the top in this book, just pieces for the dress, with recommended adjustments for the top), and then label them.  But I went slowly and none of the process went wrong - I think I may even have learnt the Japanese symbol for sleeve! 

Japanese patterns - like Ottobre ones - work in cm, rather than inches, which is an absolute delight after years of sewing American patterns in inches, which I just find so counter-intuitive.

The blouse was incredibly quick to cut out and sew - barely two hours from start to finish.  The top has no facings which makes life much simpler and quicker (and yet, still looks neat and finished inside as every single seam is overlocked).  There were also very few pattern pieces to work with.  Just two sleeves, two front pieces, one back piece and some bias tape.  Really very simple indeed - even with absolutely no knowledge of Japanese whatsoever.  I just followed the illustrations, which are very clearly drawn, and I had no moments of puzzlement or swearing when I sewed something in back to front or upside down (which happens to me surprisingly often when I am dressmaking - much as I love it).

And the finished article?  Well, I just love it.  I find it outrageously girly, pretty and summery, all at once.  I know it will get worn and worn, and I'll end up making a whole pile of them.

When O tried it on, I found I'd made the elastic on the cuffs too tight, so I re-threaded it to make it a little looser.  There may have been instructions somewhere that told me what length to cut the elastic, but if there were I didn't understand them, so I had to guess.  I also guessed how much to gether the neckline by, as there were no notches to line up.  But both the sleeves and the neckline turned out beautifully so I can't have gone too far wrong.

O loves it too, and said she'd probably wear it all year round, with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath in winter.  Clever girl - that would look great as well, of course.

The fabric I used is a Cath Kidston haberdashery fabric which I know from experience is very stiff until it has been washed a few times.  This blouse would look more floaty in a voile, or lawn or soft linen.  I think one in a plain buff-coloured linen with a bright flash of bias tape around the neck would look wonderful, but I can see that the jazzy Cath Kidston fabrics are more to an 8 year-old's taste.

If you, like me, have been dithering about whether to take the plunge and have a go at making something from Japanese pattern, then I would absolutely urge you to give it a go.  If you've even made one or two items of clothing from a regular pattern you will be fine.  I found I rather enjoyed figuring out what to do - it was just tricky enough to keep me interested, but I promise you, there was absolutely no swearing whatsoever!

Quilt progress

It's as if I am destined to make this birthday quilt in a record quick time.

On Friday a delivery van arrived with a fat parcel full of fabric for the quilt back.  All the way from California to East London in four days - amazing.  I bought the fabric from Fabricworm - who has an incredible selection of gorgeous fabrics.

This is the Village Path pattern in Saffron, from Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels collection.  I especially wanted this particular fabric in this particular pattern and colour, because I knew from making O's strawberry quilt that flannel on the back of a quilt is very cosy, and the colours of Anna Maria Horner fabric are incredibly saturated and rich.  Just what I wanted, and worth ordering from California to get exactly what I wanted.

The fabric arrived just an hour and a half before I had to pick up C and O from school - just enough time for me to cut it, sew it back together the right size, and then layer and pin the whole quilt on the front room floor.

The colours in this picture above are awful - you wouldn't believe that I took this picture in front of our huge bay window at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon!

And then last night, with everything layered and pinned, I could start quilting the leaves onto the centre panel.

I've cut dozens of leaves from scrap fabrics in greens, browns, yellows, reds and oranges, and I'm attaching them by quilting their veins, through all layers of the quilt, in perle thread (thank you to Dragonfly for all her late night perle thread advice last night!).  I had a tiny bit of green perle thread in my embroidery box, so I've made a start on the green leaves.  I've ordered a whole load more thread in the other colours I need from Cotton Patch.  I draw the veins on with fade out pen, and then just stitch over the lines.  Already I prefer sewing the simpler oval shaped leaves to the more spiky maple and sycamore style leaves!

Once I've sewn on all the leaves there should be very little of the cream calico panel left showing.  I'll add some quilting to the borders and then think about binding...but I shall ponder more about that later.  For now, there's a quilt to be finished.

What to wear?

Sometimes, when you've got nothing to wear because it is so darned hot outside, the simplest solution is to sew yourself something new.

• This is a version of the trapeze sundress from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing.  I made the original dress in the book during the last hot spell, a few weeks ago.
• To make it into this top, I shortened the pattern to fall at mid-hip, and left off the pockets.
• I didn't put in pleats, as the pattern instructs, instead I put in gathers.  You just need a very small bit of gathering at the centre front and centre back.  I find gathers much easier than pleats.
• The main fabric is from the V&A quilt exhibition collection.  I started with a metre length, and ended up with a fair amount leftover.
• The contrasting fabric is some linen from my stash - I first used it for O's cropped trousers here.  I think it originally came from IKEA - they often have good linens in stock.
• I added some fancy stitching to the shoulder straps - and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
• I thought the front needed something as well, but more fancy stitching might have been a bit much, so I sewed on two little flower buttons.  I'm really pleased with this addition too.
• Made in the evening.  Worn the next morning.  Excellent.

A quilt in an evening

A long evening admittedly, but still pretty cool.

I started it after supper, at about 7 o'clock, and finished it shortly after midnight.  In keeping with the speed of this project, here are some quick stats:

• The top is made from a pack of pre-cut 10" squares of Amy Butler fabrics which I bought from Cotton Patch.  The pack had twenty squares, and I cut five more from my own stash to make a square quilt, five squares by five.
• So it's a much smaller quilt than the ones I've made before.  But the perfect size for a lap quilt to keep you warm while you're watching the extraordinarily exciting ski-cross in Vancouver.
• The back is a £1 fleece blanket from IKEA, trimmed to fit.
• There is no binding on this quilt.  I laid the pieced top face down onto the fleece backing and sewed all round the edge, leaving a gap for turning.
• Once the quilt was the right way out, I machine-quilted an outline in each square, which closed the turning gap.
• I didn't use any pins at all to make this, which sped things up considerably.  The fleece sticks to the cotton very well; it didn't shift at all when I was sewing the top to the back, or quilting the squares.

My favourite part of making a quilt is choosing the fabrics, and the worst part is all the cutting out.  By using a pack of pre-cut squares I lost the fun of agonising over fabric combinations, but I also lost the endless, tedious cutting, and I think this is a compromise I'm happy with.  I won't make all my quilts like this, but I will definitely use this method again.  Quick results are sometimes just what's needed.

I am impressed with how well the different colours of the fabric go together.  Having come from one designer does unify them somehow.  You can see another lovely big-square-one-designer quilt here.

And now there's a satisfyingly tall, bright pile of quilts sitting folded on the back of the sofa.

In a desperate attempt to overcome the gloom of this endless rain, my thoughts are turning to summer camping trips, and I think a few more of these quick quilts would be great to take along.  They could be picnic rugs in the summer and lap quilts in the winter perhaps.

Speedy sewing

My sewing these days is all about the quick projects that I can fit in between knitting sessions. I am on a mission with these socks!

In John Lewis a couple of weeks ago, I found a good simple pattern for trousers for C. The pattern is from Simplicity 3669 for children's pyjamas.

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I love this kind of easy, elasticated trousers. In our house we call them 'house trousers' and wear them as a halfway compromise between pyjamas and getting dressed. Sunday mornigns and camping trips in particular, are all about house trousers. What do you call them? I rather like the American phrase lounge pants - but pants are definitely underwear in this house.

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There are a few rules for house trousers:

• the fabric should be loud and jazzy
• the waist should be at least partly elasticated
• everybody needs several pairs

Both Boden and the White Company do lovely house trousers, but goodness the price! And I also notice, doing these links, that The White Company have got a fraction of the stock they had a month ago.

Anyhoo, I decided this was ridiculous and that I needed to make house trousers myself, so I bought a couple of metres of Amy Butler's Daisy Chain cotton and got stuck in. The trousers were incredibly quick - about an hour and a half from start to finish - and that included tracing the pattern onto greaseproof paper first because I want to make these in several sizes. It also included zigzagging the seam allowance, which wasn't in the instructions but which I think gives a sturdier and more professional finish.

I love them, C loves them, and a pair for O - perhaps with extra ribbon around the ankles - is in the pipeline.

The trousers were so quick that yesterday evening I also made myself a keyring to replace the pretty Cath Kidston one I lost in the Great Key Disaster of last week. The felt is pure wool felt and comes from Myriad Toys - a wonderful new discovery. A quick bit of embroidery and a rummage through the button jar and ribbon box, and I was done. There are SO going to be some more of these made as presents this year.

Back to the socks....