Thursday, January 23, 2014

Jungle January - Zebra Inspired Maxi

You guys, I have broken my maxi-dress virginity! And I think I might be converted...

Anyway, to make this maxi I used my knit t-shirt block to draft one. I took the block, changed the armholes to have a slight racer back, changed the neckline slightly, and then extended the sideseams to get a dress that was the width of the fabric. I added a bit extra ease from the waist down so that I would have a nice amount of ease through the hips, and just kept that line going.


The fabric is a funky stripe that I picked up in the Clegs boxing day sale a bit over a year ago. The way the stripe has been knitted has given it this uneven look, which I really like. I finished the neck and armholes off with some leftover black jersey, and easy done! A new dress!


Hurrah! On hot summer days at home, expect me to be wearing either this or my Portrait Dress!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Bouncing Birthday Shorts!

It seems to be a fairly common occurrence for sewists to make themselves a 'birthday dress', which I think is a really nice idea. Except, for what I had planned for my birthday this year a birthday dress just wasn't going to cut it.

You see, I had a Bouncy Castle at my birthday party. I've wanted to get bouncy castle since mid-2012, so have had a fairly long held plan to have one at my birthday this year, since I was reaching a year ending in zero so figured that was a good enough excuse.


So instead of a birthday dress I'd like to introduce you to my birthday shorts!

You probably recognise the fabric, as it's the same that I used for my Roisin Dress. I was careful with my cutting layout and cut the dress and shorts out at the same time and easily fit both onto the 2.5m I had of the fabric.


The pattern is the Ruby Pattern from Burdastyle, with some alterations. I left off the button placket pieces and just stitched up one side seam and put an invisible zip in the other. I included the fitting changes that I did in my last version of the shorts, and then some additional ones (that interestingly I had already identified in the post about my last ones); I made them narrower in the leg tapering them in slightly, also made them smaller by taking in the side seams, and took a little more out at the centre back. I also made these the finished length of the other ones, but without the cuff. I added the back pockets, but didn't bother with the pocket flap.


I've worn these shorts so much since I finished them, not just on my birthday, and they're a massive success! I've actually already almost made another pair in another fabric and have at least one more pair planned. 

Hooray for shorts!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Seeing Spots - Finished Quilt



This quilt has been quite a long time in the making. I did the quilt top back in November 2011, and started quilting it then, doing bits and pieces of the hand quilting over the following summer, but then it got put aside and not picked up for a long time.



However, I recently finished the quilting on it, and then eventually got around to getting some fabric for the binding and doing that, and now it's finally finished! Hooray!



Not much to say that hasn't already been said, but I do adore the hand quilting on this one. The matching threads on the front make a gorgeous pattern on the back!

Oh, and incase I come back to check this in the future, I chose bamboo batting for it, which is really lovely and soft, and was fine for hand quilting with,



This one has pride of place on my couch, for snuggling under when I need a little extra warmth.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...