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

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.

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

I am sewing - but not blogging

lately. We´ve had a lot of ups and downs in November and way more paid work than I like. So sewing time was very limited.
I managed to do a few things though  -

Tulle with lace. Easy make of Burda 2/2006

Stash fabric and stash lace

Ruffled sleeves.

Self drafted with FOE - only had 1 m of fabric so I had to play around to make it a long sleeve.

This is what I did at the end. Zero fabric left.

Young Lady´s skirt - she asked for something yellow.

Vintage lace recycle.

Leftover Nicki fabric

Banana Sweet dress of fleece for Young Lady

Hoodie lined with cotton knit leftover

October is gone without me

I had little to no time for sewing. Life´s hard and bills need to be paid. 

I managed to make a long sleeve T-hirt (boring) and a jersey jacket for myself and a pair of leggings (kindof) for Young Lady. No stash used (don´t kick me pls I´ll go and do it myself). I also gave Sew-So Easy´s Wrap Top a try but I didn´t come out the way I expected - not at all. So that I consider a fail.

Pattern Ottobre 5/2013

Transition continues

At least I´m taking pictures now of my September makes - trying to do it when stuff is not in the laundry.

More leggings for Young Lady and a pair of jogging pants. I´m getting very picky to buy stuff for my kids lately and discovered that clothing of 100% cotton is hard to find. At least the basics are easy to sew. Young Lady needs almost a full new wardrobe as she grew a lot.

Ottobre 4/2013 slightly hacked and simplified

Versions of Ottobre 1/2014

Transitional Sewing

I was sewing - not blogging. Now it´s time to start taking pictures. Here are the first ones from September. The T-shirt I made a bunch of times and still like it a lot. This one is done of leftovers.

Young Lady is growing and needs a full new wardrobe. I already started back in summer but there´s a lot more on the list. Dress made of leftovers with pockets and a snap closure at the back. I have no idea how the Ottobre designers thought this would work without a closure. I´ve noticed this a few times already that the neck openings are left a bit tight.

Burda 2/2013 Model 126

Ottobre 4/2017

Back opening with the snap - I had to cut about 10cm-s to make sure it gets over her head

Filling Wardrobe Holes

I love knits. They´re so easy to handle and fast to sew. My last makes are kindof seasonal transition, filling wardrobe holes and partially using deep stash. The white fabric I bought 3ys ago and never had any idea what to do with it - until now. It´s somewhat sheer but I´m wearing most of the times camisoles anyway.

The red one is a viscose-wool blend, very light fabric with a nice drape. Next time I might make a deeper waterfall neck and shorten the bottom.

Self drafted pattern

Clear Elastic

Here´s an addition to my gadget list. I started to use it not long ago and it´s a great little invention for ruffling and such. I also have a ruffler foot but that requires a lot of calculations which I´m not very good at.

Clear elastic is also known to keep shoulder seams stable.

It´s available in many places  - I got it from Aliexpress but it takes a while - so take that into consideration.

So to use it I just prestretch some. It does stretch when sewn so if you miss this step you´re probably end up with something too loose.

Then cut to the size I want my final length to be+5cm for the ends, hold it against the fabric (which needs to be ruffled) and sew (you´ll need to stretch the elastic while sewing).

I usually set my stitch length to the longest possible - 6mm. Then just sew along. The good thing is it stretches and even if you were not 100% precise you still have room to fix. 

Since you´re basting with it when using for ruffling you can just rip it off and remove the basting stitches or if it´s on the wrong side you can also leave it in. I prefer to rip it out no matter what.

So here´s my final piece  for Young Lady - 

Pattern Ottobre 1/2013 Circus Horse