10 things

• Graham and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.  We went camping again - and Olivia insisted on doing a photo shoot of us snuggling up on a bench together.  She took close to 400 photos, just by holding the button down on my phone camera and telling us to smile.  There was just one I liked.  We took an anniversary selfie instead, which I am much happier with.  Sorry, Olivia!

 

• The children and I went to Brick Lane, ate pakoras in the sunshine as we wandered around, and came home with a huge bag of bagels for the weekend.

 

• Cam likes his bagels with kippers for breakfast.  I like mine with avocado.

 

• I did my first parkrun in my new running club t-shirt this morning.  Rumours that I chose this club because I find the shade of blue on their shirt particularly pleasing, are entirely false.

• We have a new dishwasher.  It is so quiet, it purrs.
• Olivia sewed herself a top.  This is the first time she has done any dressmaking, and I was so impressed with the results.  She did everything herself, and all I did was explain some unfamiliar terms on the pattern.  The pattern is the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress/Top, in the age 12 size.  It comes out quite short on her - she is a couple of months shy of turning 12, but is very tall.  She is keen to make another, and add a few centimetres onto the length.

 

• I did some dressmaking too, and made myself a new dress - another Lisette Portfolio dress.  It has a seagull ribbon trim on the hem, which I bought in Whitby, and contrast fabric inside the pockets.  It may be my most favourite dress I've ever made for myself - or it may just be that whatever I've made most recently is my favourite.

 

• I am keen to make more clothes while I am still on my long summer holiday.  Perhaps the Lisette Diplomat Dress, which I have the pattern for, but have not yet made.  Or maybe this Everyday Skirt?
• My sister and her two small girls came for a visit.  The littlest cousin was completely unfazed by the two big teenagers thrusting their cameras at her every time she smiled, did something cute, or moved.

 

• I made 22 raspberry madeleines yesterday afternoon.  There are only five left this afternoon.

    

10 things

The nice thing about getting an exciting new job in ITU, is that nothing really changes:

• I made a new top.  It was meant to be a dress, but I failed to adjust for the fact that I am much taller than most Japanese women.

• I love it though, and have bought more fabric so I can make myself a dress version.

• I discovered that the best place to take a full legth photo of myself without balancing on the arm of a sofa or having to tidy an entire room first, is the changing room at work. 

• Basil is back in the kitchen - I run my hands through it when I stand at the sink.

• I like these tiles at Aldgate station.

• Graham is listening to James Brown and treating us all to funk.

• I have been running - but not enough.  I miss it.

• I baked brioche rolls, and Graham made a tarte au citron. 

• The washing machine couldn't read the label that said the pillow was washable.

• When it's sunny, and I am not at work, I cycle over to the Olympic park with a quilt and sunbathe.    

A top in blue voile

As well as the children's exams, I am also starting a new placement and embarking on the nerve wracking process of job hunting at the moment.  

On a day off on Monday I decided the best thing I could do to create some calm and light relief in my week was to embark on some sewing.  Inspired by all the beautiful clothes appearing in my Instagram feed for Me Made May (and especially those put up by Liesl and Suse), I cut into my precious piece of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voile and made myself another Lisette market dress tunic.  I wear both the ones I made earlier in the year constantly; they look so good with trousers and a cardi or a scarf.

The voile is sumptuous - soft, drapey, feminine and luxurious.  It is also surprisingly non-sweary to sew with.  It feels as though it should slither all over my table, but it doesn't.  Pleasingly I also found a length of narrow velvet ribbon which my grandmother had given me, in exactly the right shade of yellow to match the centre of the flowers on the fabric, so I hemmed the top with that.

A happy few hours sewing, and a luxurious-feeling new blue top.  I just wish it was easier to find a place in my house to take full length photos of myself (and a clean mirror!).

Two new tops

It feels like a long time since I made any clothes for myself.  When I checked on my blog I discovered that it was indeed a long time ago - May 2012, just before I applied to University and started my nursing course.  Dressmaking takes time - even the simplest piece of clothing is a challenge to make in one day when you've also got to cook tea, take someone to ballet, clean out the chickens, draft an essay and read a couple of articles on diabetes.  I used to set aside whole days at a time to making new clothes, but I just can't do that any more.

So I've approached it differently.  I took my time, did a bit of pattern tracing one day, and had a happy few hours choosing fabrics the next day.  Then I had a couple of days at University and some more studying at home, before I spent another few hours pinning and cutting the fabric out.  The next weekend I sewed everything together, and finally finished the hemming as I waited at the station to pick up Olivia a few days after that.  Of course I can still make clothes when I am working or studying.  It seems obvious now I write that, but having been given the luxury of staying at home the last few years, it took me a while to understand how.

Over the past few weeks I've made myself two cotton tops.  I used the Lisette Market Dress pattern, Simplicity 2211, which I just discovered is now sadly out of print.  I bought the pattern when it came out and just hadn't got round to making it.  I made the first version exactly as the pattern directed, except that I left off the strange fake button placket down the centre front.  When it was finished and I wore it for a day, I had a number of issues with it.

• it has rather a boxy shape on me - snug around the hips and too roomy around the waist.
• the puffed and gathered sleeves look too babyish on a woman of 41
• the interfacing I used on the contrast fabric around the neck and sleeves, left the top feeling a little too stiff at these points.  The neck is very high anyway, and the interfacing in it made it sit very awkwardly on me.

Version 1 - not bad, not great

Hemming the first top, waiting in the car to pick up O

So, I embarked on version 2.  This time I left off the interfacing, left off the cuffs at the bottom of the sleeves so that they were no longer puffed, and took the side seams in at the waist and out at the hips.  I also bound the bottom edge with ribbon rather than hemming it.

I am delighted with this version.  Leaving off the interfacing made the process of putting on the neck much more sweary, as the fabric really takes some serious manipulation in order to lie nice and flat.  However, my patience (and swearing) paid off as the resulting neck is still neat and clean, but much softer to wear and somehow a little more casual too.

Version 2 - much better tailored to my shape, and with more grown-up sleeves

Thick, richly embroidered Swiss ribbon

For both tops I used fabric that I absolutely love.  The first one uses a wonderful spring-fresh quilting cotton from Amy Butler and the second one is an insanely patterned printed cotton which I bought in Switzerland in 2010.  It has little scenes of Switzerland on it, including my favourite - a tiny fondue pot!  The ribbon on the hem is also something I bought in Switzerland - a traditional Swiss, floral, embroidered ribbon.

There will be a third version too - incorporating all the changes I made for the second one.  I am just dithering over fabric choices at the moment.  A home made top deserves distinctive and beautiful fabric, and one of the reasons I love making clothes is that I end up with something you would never be able to buy in a shop.  I wear jeans a great deal, and their plainness is off-set nicely by a fancier top. 

This term at University we've been talking a great deal about how we will cope with the stresses of the job once we qualify, and one topic that keeps coming up is that of hobbies and interests outside nursing.  Mental wellbeing is something I wrote about a little bit on this blog back in October last year, and I now consider my mental health much more than I used to.  I am beginning to realise that although I love having new clothes to wear, I actually love dressmaking just as much for the creative challenge it provides.  All the measuring, adjusting, fiddly lining up of notches, pinning, overlocking and stitching requires just enough concentration to take my mind off whatever else is going on around me.  And now that I spend my working hours in a uniform with a high polyester content, the importance of beautiful, well-made clothes in natural fibres becomes even more significant.

The best tailor's chalk in the world, ever

Ready to set the sleeve

A kimono for my niece

I have another new niece on the way.  It is The Year of New Nieces, because Miss A arrived in early February, and Miss M is due any day now.

I've been thinking for a while about what to make her.  A June or July baby doesn't really need a kicking bag like a winter baby does, and I also had an urge to make something I hadn't done before.  Eventually I decided that what every summer-born baby girl needs is a floral, lace-trimmed kimono.

The pattern is from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross - a book that is certainly the most used of my many sewing books.  I added vintage lace, which was given to me by my grandmother, as an additional trim onto the bottom.  I like the idea of passing a little bit of lace trim down to a fourth generation.

All I need now is the baby, and some greedy-Auntie cuddles with her.  I can't wait.

Summer sundress minus the summer

I finished the second of my summer blue tops last night, and this morning balanced precariously on another chair in front of another mirror to take photos.

This is made from the same pattern as my last top, but at full length.  This version has lovely deep pockets, and a sweet A-line shape which I adore.

There's still nor much sign of summer warmth here in London, so it will be a while before I can wear it without a pashmina around my shoulders and leggings and a jersey top underneath.

 *A special Thank You to my friend Kristina, for so generously giving me the fabric, which is a really calming Amy Butler print from a few years back. I am delighted to find it matches my favourite blue pashmina so perfectly! xx*

Three blue tops - one of which is red

I'm making new tops for the summer - because I fancied doing some sewing over the weekend and also because I yearned to see something different in my wardrobe.

Pattern adapted from Trapeze sundress in Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross

This red spotty top should have been navy blue and floral.  The fabric which I used as the trim, should have been the main fabric and the red spots should have been the trim.  But as I pinned and cut the beautiful blue fabric so enthusiastically, I failed to notice that I had pinned the front piece with the wrong edge against the fold.  When I unfolded it I realised what I'd done and that I had wrecked the whole metre of fabric.

I stared at what I'd done, willing the fabric to knit itself back together as if by magic and present me with a whole, uncut piece again.  But I don't have those sort of powers, and the blue fabric remained ruined.

Fortunately I had plenty of the red spotty fabric, so I switched things around and it became red with blue trim rather than blue with red.  I like it, and I've cheered up now.  I will wear this all summer - it looks great with jeans and I have cardigans and long sleeved tops which match it.

But...it still should have been blue.

I'm taking MUCH more care over the cutting out of my other blue tops-in-progress.

The pastel, scalloped fabric in the picture above is going to become a summery sundress with nice big pockets.

This very precious, and strokably lovely, Anna Maria Horner voile is going to become a floaty, raglan-sleeved top.  I will check about ninety-five times before I cut it out that the pieces are on the right way round. 

I will also remember to add seam allowances before I start cutting, because I will be using an Ottobre pattern where the seam allowances are not included.

I WILL remember.  I will.  Definitely.

Delightful dilemma

Which is cuter and more strokeable?

My new niece's sweet little tummy, kept warm in a tank top knitted by her Auntie Nancy?

Or her little feet, waving around vigorously, and kept toasty in tiny cashmerino socks also knitted by her Auntie Nancy?

I couldn't decide.

A tunic for Spring

I wanted a new top, so I sat down and made one.  Sometimes the simple, non-dithering approach works well for me.  I started cutting out the fabric at 8pm, and finished the last stitch of the hem at 1am.  G was away so I had rubbish tv and some good podcasts for company.

This morning I am incapable of taking a decent photo.  I am sporting dark shadows under my eyes but also a funky, slightly psychedelic, new tunic top.  I'm happy.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sewing notes:

The pattern is the Portfolio Tunic from Lisette (Simplicity 2245), which I have made twice before.  This time I left the collar off and finished the raw edge with bias tape, because the collar comes out very high.  I much prefer the lower neckline this way.

The fabric is quilting cotton from Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms range, and I think the colours and swirly flowers are very reminiscent of the 1960s.  The relatively heavy weight of quilting cotton works very well with this pattern.  The previous two versions I made were from much lighter cotton lawn, which are cool for summer but crumple more easily and don't hang quite so well.

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!