Me Made May 2015

I, Carole of www.thepatternhack.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I will endeavour to wear at least one item of me made clothing at least five days per week for the duration of May 2015'

I'm very excited about this. My first time joining in with MMMay!!

Why only five days? Most of my me-made clothes are made with work in mind, and I don't make many clothes for the days I'm at home doing housework. I was hoping to have knocked up a few pairs of ginger jeans as well but I'm having fitting issues. I think I'm the only one as blog post after blog post of gorgeous ginger jeans keep appearing. But I have more denim for another attempt so hopefully before MMMay is finished. 

Watson Bra

So I have been on a bit of an underwear making binge over the last few days. I have made a few pairs of knickers - fehr trade Lacey thong, Seamwork geneva, ohhh lulu grace pants. Then I got to thinking about a matching bra. Wouldn't that be nice?

So many gorgeous Watson bras from Cloth habit have been popping up on my blog reader and Instagram, so I decided to join the fun. 

This is my muslin, made up in 36 C. The fit is pretty good but I'm going to try 36 D as well to see which is the most comfortable

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out 

I even managed to do the pointy bit in the middle though my edge stitching is shite. 

This is a great pattern, quick to make with fantastic instructions and sew along. There will be many more. 

Seamwork Geneva 

Ohhh Lulu Grace Pants

Fehr Trade Lacey thong 

Making my own underwear is strangely addictive so I'm off to make some more 

Thanks for reading 

Simplicity Cynthia Rowley 1688

A few weeks ago I saw the Coco jacket that Kelli from True Bias made. I had a family celebration coming up and I fancied something similar in cut to wear. Well I actually fancied flying over the New York and stealing her jacket, love the fabric that she used. After googling the Coco jacket pattern and realised that Simplicity 1688 had similar style lines, rounded front neck edges, three quarter length sleeves.

I made up View A using some cerise crepe that I bought in Dublin last year and it's lined with some cream and black polka dots mystery fabric which I think came from Abkahan fabrics in Liverpool.  

I modified the pattern to include facings around the back neck and the front edges. The pattern has the lining that comes right up to these edges and I thought a neater finish would be achieved with facings. I also added some shoulder pads and a pleat in the back lining piece.

The front edges tend to curl out which is a bit annoying. Not sure what is wrong. Is it cut off grain? Is the interfacing too heavy? I would appreciate any advice. 

Up next ..... I am currently trying out the famous Ginger Jeans pattern. I have made up the high rise skinny leg version which looks good standing up but I find the front digs into my stomach when I sit down. Think they might be a bit too high so going to try lowering the rise an 1".

Thanks for reading 

Play dough recipe

Hi ya  

Slightly off the usual topic but this is more for my reference. I found this recipe for play dough ages ago somewhere on the internet. Now everytime my boys ask me to make some play dough, I'm off searching for the scrap of paper with the instructions. So to make life a little handier I will share it here and then we can all use it. 

That's

1 cup of flour 

1 cup of warm water 

2 tsp cream of tartar 

1 tsp oil 

1/4 cup of salt 

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and gently heat until it all starts come away from the sides of the pan and into a ball. 

Remove from the pan and knead for a few minutes. Simple! 

Leave it plain or add the food colouring if your choice. We have fun mixing up colours. We have even made it black with gold glitter. 

Hours of fun for them and maybe a bit of sewing time for me. 

Thanks for reading. 

SBCC Manhattan Trousers

Hey folks ! 

I made Trousers! I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt the item of clothing that strikes fear into the heart of many a sewer. I really need some trousers in my wardrobe. I have two pairs of trousers suitable for work but neither of them are a great fit. I pretty much don't even look at trousers or jeans anymore when I am shopping RTW. I am just about 5 feet tall with short short legs, big hips and thighs and a swayback that means all trousers usually gape at the back in a very unattractive way. 

I had the Clover by Colette, Manhattan by SBCC and Thurlow by Sewaholic in the stash. I thought the Manhattan would be the best place to start as I seem to fit the petite curvy model that SBCC design for. 

I made up a muslin in cotton sateen ( I really don't like cotton sateen, I always  feel like it is clingy and attracts all the fluff)- anyways I started out with size 12 and 27" inseam. The fit wasn't bad at all. AMAZING 

It need tapering in along the outseam and inseam, probably ending up more like a size 10 everywhere except at the widest part of my hips. I also took in the centre back seam to remove gaping here. 

The pattern was easy enough to follow along with except the fly instructions. I think the pieces for fly facing and fly extension are mislabelled which left me a bit muddled up. Beth from SBCC messaged me on Instagram and she is going to look into it. 

I made up my final pair in a grey and blue wool ( I think) check fabric that I got in Michael H fabrics in Dublin. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Even managed pattern matching 

They are a few wrinkles in the back which I'm not sure about, I don't think this style needs to be tighter but are these wrinkles too much or are they needed ??? 

Overall I am very pleased and have plans for more. Navy and black to start with. Then who knows maybe even Ginger Jeans! The thought of have jeans that actually fit is very exciting. 

That's the Anise Jacket from Colette as well but I think this post is long enough already. Maybe some other day. 

Thanks for reading 

The cutest thing I have ever made!

Trying out posting from my phone as it is months since I posted anything at all. I have been sewing quite a bit but find blog writing and photos a bit of a chore. That said I think keeping a blog would be a good way to keep track of my sewing.

So this is an outfit made for my niece. From Burda magazine 09/13 dress waistcoat and leggings in size 74. 

The dress is made from chambray from Truro fabrics. The dress has a yoke bodice and a gathered skirt. I left off the pockets and added some cute stripy buttons down the back 

The waistcoat was made from an old grey jumper of mine , lined with red jersey  from an old maternity top. I added pockets made from the sleeves, using the ribbing from the bottom of the sleeve. I embroided a cat's face onto one of the pockets. Cute !!!

Lastly a simple pair of leggings. The original pattern had a back yoke and side seams, but I removed these to make it easier. 

So there we go, the photos might not be great quality but some photos are better than none 

Simplicity 1653

Simplicity 1653 is a mock wrap dress pattern for knits with three different sleeves and two lengths to pick from. It is also one of the Amazing fit line of patterns. 

To achieve an amazing fit, different bodice pieces are supplied based on cup size. By using your high bust and full bust measurements, you can work out which is the right one for your size. There are also options for different skirts based on slim, average or curvy. Although a little confusing at first glance, it is well explained in the instructions how to select the correct pieces.

I started with size 12 for the shoulders and arms, grading out to 14 (cup B) at bust and 16 at the waist and hips. 

Simple enough construction with 1" seam allowances in places to allow for better fitting. The instructions have you baste all these seams wrong sides together so you can fine tune the fit. I skipped this bit as I felt removing basting stitches would be a bit of a pain, so I winged it.

The wrap is quite flattering. The pattern instructions have the dress knotting on the left  side though I have wrapped them right around and knotted on the right in these photos. I realise now that this is probably not the most flattering. 

  

 The armsync is quite low and on my next version I will raise this up about an inch. Just need to figure out how on this raglan sleeve.

I have plans to make a long sleeve version in grey John Kaldor jersey that I have stashed away. 

Hopefully in time for the Curvy sewing collective wrapalong 

Thanks for reading