City Stroll Wrap Skirt

So, I've been meaning to make this skirt for ages, and finally did towards the end of the summer and have been getting quite a bit of wear out of it.  It is the Liesl and co City Stroll Wrap skirt which has a curved hem and pockets and a neat hem facing.

Worn with Sewaholic Oakridge blouse
 

I made mine in a fairly lightweight organic corduroy form organiccotton.biz in a teal colour which I bought a few years ago.  It's ok, but I think I would go for a slightly heavier fabric the next time.

Worn with Made-by-Rae Josephine blouse.

The pattern itself is very straightforward with great instructions as per all Liesl & Co patterns and the pockets give it more interest and, of course, are very practical.

The facing on the hem also gives a lovely neat finish and a little chance to use a co-ordinating fabric.  The one I used is one of the Atelier Brunette rayon's which worked very well.

I was thinking of lengthening the skirt, as I thought it might be too short, but I made no adjustments at all and I think it's fine especially now in the autumn with thicker tights.  It's been a surprisingly useful skirt (I wasn't sure to be honest, it maybe seemed a bit novelty)  and even had a trip to Reykjavik earlier in September.  So, all in all I am really pleased with it and will be aiming for a slightly heavier version for winter.

Even fine when sitting down.
Coffee stop in Reykjavik.

Liesl & Co Gallery dress

So this is the Liesl and co Gallery dress, I bought the pattern when it first came out but have been deliberating over it since then, but now that autumn is well and truly in full swing I thought it would be a good transition dress to see me into winter.

The fabric I have used is from Clothspot, it is a damson suiting fabric, a mixture of viscose and polyester and is light to medium weight, which has a black thread running through it too.  I think I can layer up with a fine polo or crew neck top when the weather gets colder.

The dress has an inset front placket, I used some Liberty for the facings (some leftovers from my hubbies shirt, which is a paisley tana lawn called Bourton), the burgundy in it is a great match.

At the back there is an inverted box pleat, which gives a little detail, and the curved shirttail hem is slightly longer at the back than at the front.

There are also in-seam pockets, I also used the Liberty for them so they aren't too heavy.  you can just about see a little peak of it in the photo.

For the dress version, there are full length sleeves with a button cuff.  The method of attaching the cuff is nice and neat and worked very well.  I have a bit of a phobia of making buttonholes, the pressure of getting them nice and neat.  The horror of getting to the end of a project and then for your machine to chew it up at the buttonhole stage!! But, thankfully this did not happen, phew!

And how is it that no matter how many buttons we have in our stash, you still never have the right ones and have to take a mad race to your local haberdashery to buy some.  They didn't come out that well in the photo, but they are a wine and pink mixture, quite pleased, it's all in the details, isn't it?

So after all my deliberation about making it, do I like it?  Honestly, I'm not sure,  I think it's the sizing, I made a straight size 14, but I think I should have blended it to a 12 from the waist down, there just seems to be an awful lot of fabric down there.  The pattern itself has some lovely details and finishes and as it is Slow fashion October I took my time with it and generally I'm pleased with it.  I guess time will tell as to how much wear I get out of it.

My Weekend Getaway blouse.

It's my favourite time of the year again, that 'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'.  I love the arrival of autumn, to me it has always had a feeling of a fresh, new start.  Maybe it's the association with the new school year, but I love nothing more than putting summer clothing away and deciding on the autumn/winter attire.

Since I embarked on the combination of the Ten Item Wardrobe and theproject333 a few seasons ago, it has made be very selective about what I include in my wardrobe.  Each item has to really WORK for me in every sense, that is, colour, size, style to suit both me and my lifestyle.  I will expand on this a little in a separate post, but one of the pattern designers that I love is Liesl Gibson who has a few lines of patterns, namely the Lisette range (for Butterick) and the Liesl & Co patterns.  Nearly everything I have made from these ranges fits me well and I get a lot of wear from.  

So this pattern, the Liesl & Co Weekend Getaway dress/blouse pattern has a lot to live up to.  I have made it in Atelier brunette viscose fabric called facet.  It's a geometric type print in a navy and black print purchase from misformake.  The pattern itself has been out for a while, I just thought I should give it a go.

I made it in a straight size 14 with a full bust adjustment of 1/2 inch (really well explained in the instructions) and I think it's a pretty good fit.  It's a very straightforward make.  Perhaps this fabric isn't the best for showing off the details of the pattern, there are pretty shaped pockets, cuffed 3/4 length sleeves, and full front facing and a back pleat.  It all blends in a bit too well with this fabric, I think plain fabrics would show the details off better.

Anyway, it's an easy-going style, relaxed fit, just pull over the head and that works for me, so it is part of my Autumn 2015 Ten Item Wardrobe. The only slight adjustment I might make is to sew the facing up another bit, it is just a little bit low for me, but we're only talking 1/2 to 1", not a big deal.

An addition to my 'project333' has been these lovely oxblood ankle boots, probably the most I have ever spent on ankle boots, but I reckon if you're buying less overall, you're better putting more money into things like footwear, coats etc.  I look on them as a long term investment.

Happy Autumn!

2013 Stitching.

Christmas 2013

I received some lovely 'sewing' christmas pressies this year, the main one being an overlocker from my husband, a little sewing note book and vouchers to my local fabric shop Craftswoman in Carrickfergus. I am a very lucky girl.

So carrying on from my previous post a quick summary:

In 2013 I made:

For others - 6 items (mostly tops)

For myself -  2 skirts
                     1 trouser
                     2 leggings
                     13 jersey tops
                     4 tops (woven fabric)
                     3 jersey dresses
                     2 dresses (woven fabric)
                     1 cape
                     1 zip up fleece

Knitted Items: 1 cardigan  here
                       1 sleeveless cardigan here


Conclusion:

- I sewed 35 garments. 21 in stretchy knit fabric, 14 in woven fabric
- I knit 2 garments for myself.  (Much less knitting this year than normal, probably because of more sewing, but I also too the time to learn some new techniques.)
- I tried to use fabrics that had predominately natural fibres, although not completely (some polyester crept in... eeek!)
- I bought far more sewing patterns than I will ever use. (apparently this is normal for sewists)
- I also bought more fabric & yarn than one person can use in a year and also live a normal life (but at least it will keep)
- I think I am progressing in sewing & knitting.. woo, hoo.

The above box is about a quarter of my sewing patterns (excluding pdf's)

- Even though I have loads of the 'big 4' paper patterns I haven't actually used very many at all, tend to use Indie patterns and mostly pdf's.  Not sure if this is a temporary phase or not.

- Also purchased more knitting patterns than I will ever have time to knit.

- I stuck to my colour spectrum as per Colour me Beautiful for fabric choices, apparently I am a Cool Winter.

- I am moving away from the quilting type fabrics that I started sewing with.  Even though there are some beautiful designs (some of my favourite are Amy Butler, Parson Gray, Anna Maria Horner & Kaffe Fassett) in fabulous colours I find them not quite as drapey.  Although good to see that some designers are producing more dressmaking-type fabrics now too.  Hope this continues.

- I have definitely made more 'knit' clothes this year.  This is partly because I thought there was some big mystique in sewing with knit fabric and felt it was something I should learn to do. (Turns out it's not that tricky) It was also because living in County Antrim there really aren't too many weeks in the year when you can wear those lovely light weight chambray, linens & cottons.... sad, but true.  Also, my lifestyle dictates what I wear, in that mostly I work from home in my job, I also do a lot of gardening & outdoor exercise so these kind of clothes are more practical.

- I bought very few clothes, last January bought a couple of items in the Meandem sale, beautiful merino cardigan and some trousers.  Also some shoes.

So what have I worn most:

Sewaholic renfrew tops (every sleeve length & every neckline, all fab)
Tessuti Anita ponti pants
Maria Denmark Day to night top (also in dress) ... very versatile & suits my shape.
Liesl & Co Cape (Great for the christmas run-up)
Deer and Doe Chardon.  I made this in a mad summery print (pre-blog) & wore it a lot in the summer.

The only thing that was a bit iffy was that dress from the Japanese Stylish Dress Book here although I did wear it in the autumn.

Highlights:

1.  For me taking part in MeMadeMay was amazing.  It was a great focus and motivation and the positive comments from others was really encouraging.  It also exposes you to all those other fabulous things that people sew and knit and other peoples'  blogs.

2.  Starting this blog - a big step, but so far really enjoying.  If nothing else it is a record for me.

3.  New patterns (some in paper form) from Merchant and Mills only acquired towards the end of the year.  These are the patterns I started sewing with so lovely to be back to them again.  Also some lovely patterns by Liesl & Co (some of my successes were with the Lisette patterns)

4.  I also discovered 'vintage' patterns on Etsy and found myself strangely drawn to the '70's.  What's that about?  Maybe because that was my mum's era, not sure.  Even though some are lovely I haven't yet attempted any.

Overall a pretty good year, I think, so next up my Sewing/Knitting/Gardening plans for 2014.

Bring it on!