Corona Blanket

I just call it that way. Finished it for Junior, Young Lady asked for one too so already in the making of the second.
100% wool yarn (200m/100g), hook size 5.
Zigzag pattern, super easy crochet.

In the making

Look who´s hiding

Stashbust April-May

Lockdown week 10 - I´m getting tired of this to be honest. Most of the sewing I do is really just mending knees of pnats as my kids tend to kill these super fast.
The few pieces I made in a month or so -

3/4 leggings for young lady Ottobre pattern

Jersey dress with, Ottobre

Matching shorts, Ottobre

The only dress I made for myself was on my dressform for more than a month only waiting to be photographed. Burda pattern, 5/2019, neckline both at the front and back hacked. Finished as a V-neck.

Front

V-neck with bias binding

Back

How To Make Face Masks

Super easy and fast face masks

Video here

Pattern here

Instructions here

And the result -

Carneval

I love making carneval costumes. Almost every year since I have kids I've done one or two.
This year only Young Lady wanted me to do something for her. Yep, a Frozen dress.
 So I came up with this (sincere apologies for not ironing) -

The long cape is detachable and the dress is made of silk. The iron-on patch was her idea (I was strongly against, but hey, she was wearing it not me). If course we bought a wade and gloves so she had all she needed to look like Elza.

Time for Long Sleeves

I got bored of the ones I had - and didn´t want to start spending money on these either. So I made 2 using a raglan sleeve pattern of Burda 2/2010.
The angel wings for the white one are originally iron-on patches but I always hand sew these patches to make sure they won´t come off after wash #3.

Front

Back - the angel wings are iron-on

The striped one is made of rib jersey. This is just a simple long-sleeve T-shirt pattern I have since ages and done gazillions of it.

 I didn´t literally mean the patch but it became the reality. I tried to bind the neckline with the rib fabric and failed miserably. I had to rip all of it out (didn´t want to just cut it off as the neckline would have been too deep then) and replace with fold-over elastic.

February Summary

First time using Simplicity patterns - they´re simple but somehow I cannot get used to having the seam allowance already included. I grew up with Burda - there you always have to add it. 

Anyhow, jersey dress (wool/poly blend). I opted the zipper out as with strecth jersey it´s really not needed. Sizing started at 40 for this one which is a bit too loose for me so I had to take in at the side seams. At the bust I just did a bit deeper folds and no adjustment on the back. Normal sleeve length.

The fabric was a really cool one - had to play a bit with the layout to make sure it actually looked good. There´s a slit at the back and no lining.

Simplicity 6/2019 Model 3

I also did a long sleeve T-shirt with a V-neck using again a Simplicity pattern. I won´t use this pattern again for sure - I prefer Burda for long sleeves. This one was too loose for size 40 (even with taking in the sides). I did learn though to finish a V-neckline which was fun. I did a short sleeve version of the same pattern to see if that one would be better. Nope. I´m still looking for simple short sleeve patterns as I´m really running out of these lately. The fabric was a cotton/poly knit blend with an asymmetric pattern so it was pretty hard to make it look ok. I´m not totally satisfied with this but it´s very comfy for home at least.

Simplicity 6/2019 Model 21

I followed Lynda Maynard´s instructions  to finish the V-neck.

A Statement Coat - Vogue V9040

I got a Bluprint coat making class with Steffani Lincecum (Craftsy back then, actually) ages ago (thank you Heather Dawson) and always been wanting to actually make it. Last year I´ve met the fabric of my dreams for this particular coat - 2mm wool felt in radiant turquiose. I also needed some really nice lining so first I bought a silk/cotton blend in black which turned out to be a bad choice being too light to match with the relatively heavy felt. So new order, new fabric - still a silk/cotton blend but a bit heavier and in a very nice matching color.

Earlier this year I made the time to start making it. I expected sweat and tears but surprise-surprise - the pattern is close to perfect, the notches matched and there was no misalignment with the lining either.

I did size 14 - the sizing was totally different to what I´m used so I went after the ready dimensions. I think in a lighter fabric I might go one size down.

Hello extra inner pocket - this is part of the class, not included in the pattern

Last Makes of 2019

I was not too much into sewing this month. Kiddos asked for stuff with their current fav characters so I got them matching fabrics and they both got what they wished for (both Ottobre patterns)-

Pyjamas for Junior - had to add some white  jersey as I only got 1m of the Mario fabric

Elsa dress for Young Lady - original was designed for wovens but they didn´t manage to convince me to use another pattern

Sleeves have contrast facing - not sure if she´ll ever flip it up

Few Months Passed

And I kept sewing.
Charity Xmas stockings - 80pcs total. Fabric was a donation for the purpose. They made underprivileged kids happy as they got filled with sweets for Santa´s delivery -

Pillowcase for autumn with embroidery. Patterns from here, here and here.

Jacket for myself, however this time I skipped the front darts (unlike here).

Pattern Ottobre 5/2013

Hongkong finish involved a lot of hemming by hand

Simple raglan long sleeve from leftovers. Note to myself - next time I will not fold the lace in half for the neckline.

Stashbust for Kids

Kids are growing fast - Young Lady needed a pair of lighter pants and she ended up getting an extra dress of leftovers. All stashbust :) Good thing is I used all the patterns at least twice before so all of these went pretty quick. A tweak here and there so it doesn't look exactly the same at all times.

Ottobre pattern - 4/2013

Ottobre 4/2014 Banana Sweet - opted out the hoodie and the front placket

For the record

I keep sewing - here are my last makes.

Dress with leo print -

Pattern Burda 5/2019

Yes, this is the back

Red dress which I always wanted to have. Pattern Burda 10/2011. The embroidery on the bottom took longer than sewing the dress itself (17 minutes each+prep). This is stashbusting too!

And a pair of jogging pants for Junior. He kept telling me he didn´t want me to sew for him as it always looked like home-made. I bought some ribbing and a few patches. When it was ready I asked him how it looks - and these pants passed the test.

Other Makes

I did some stashbusting in the past few weeks as well - here´s the list -

Skirt cut on bias, totally simple A line

Dress for Young Lady Ottobre 3/2013 Flower Hexagon of leftovers

And the bonus sleeveless top (non stash). The original pattern was with facings on both back and front. I didn´t have enough fabric so I just used some stash bias binding on the edges.

Ottobre pattern hack

Weary Morning

Going one morning to the office (one of the offices I need to go regularly) a colleague of mine had a remark about my outfit (and my whole appearance) being too dark. I tried not to hear it. He was persistent and said again later in the day. Even asked why. He was not trying to flirt - I´m almost sure he´s gay - just likes to make these remarks - including calling me young lady even though I have a few years on him (he´s being sarcastic). 

This was the dress I was wearing - I made it back in 2013. That day I had  it on with light grey tights and red shoes. Not sure how much the fact that I had to hit the road before 6am and that we were just back from holiday added to the whole impression - I assume not as much as the dress. It was a beautiful morning.

The coincidence was that the same morning I was thinking the dress is getting a bit old (6ys of service) and I started to see some pilling on the fabric as well. 

So I went to my stash I hoarded lately and picked up the latest Burda. Made this to show off next time in the office.

Pattern is Burda 5/2019. I keep screwing the back, here´s how it looked at the beginning -

And here it is fixed (yes, I had to remove the zipper). Now the patter is also somewhat aligned.