Pauline Alice Bailen Dress

I need a basic white slip for wearing under dresses.  The Pauline Alice Bailen dress fitted what I needed. What is more, it is a free pattern on their website.

Their description:
The Bailén pattern is cut on the bias, semi-fitted with front bust darts and with bias binding straps and bias binding finished seams at armholes and neckline. Easy to make and with two lengths, it can be worn as a dress or a top.

Now if I was to wear it as a dress it would need to have a t-shirt under it.  But as a slip or nightdress, perfect.  

I bought some white satin from Spotlight for this and made my own bias binding from the satin.

The seams are french seams so nice and clean looking inside.

I made a size 44 graded to 46 at waist and hips.  The fit is fine for a slip or nightdress that needs a bit of ease.  However it really gapes around the underarms and if made as a dress would need taking in a lot at the bust, I would need to re-do the pattern to a size 40 at underarm, graded to 44 at bust dart, graded to 46 at waist and hips.  

The next time I make this will probably again be for a slip or a camisole.  Changes I would want to make would be:

• Change neckling to size 42 from underarm to the top of the bust dart - size 44 at bust dart, leave grading as already prepared so size 46 waist and hips.

As this is their free pattern it is meant to give confidence into their sizing, however with this I don't feel I'd have the confidence to buy from them given that the bust sizing is so way off.  If I were to buy I would definitely need to muslin first. As there are other indie designers that I am confident in the fit, I just don't think I could be bothered.

However I have got myself a nice slip and pattern I can use again for a slip or camisole.

Total sewing time was 3 hours and satin cost $10.50 for 1.5m x 150cm from Spotlight.  As it is cut on the bias the dress required the 150cm width - a narrower  width wouldn't be enough.

daffodil quilt accessories

Now that my daffodil quilt is finished I needed some matching pillowcases.  I made these on the weekend and also made a daffodil cushion.

The daffodil cushion is made with a large daffodil applique from Kreative Kiwi.

Cargo pants

Confession time.  I've never owned a pair of cargo pants.  When I saw the Sequoia pants by Itch to Stitch I knew it was time to rectify that.

These were made in a drill/canvas.

Those pockets just screamed "embroider me". I was restrained and didn't do the back pockets, just the side pockets.  This is a free design from Brother, did them as mirror images, so they both went the same way on the legs.

There are tabs inside the pant legs that can be used to gather the pants into this:

I haven't made a waistband like this before, rib knit on the top, with elastic inside it and fabric lower waistband.  The instructions said to check before sewing the final piece that it all aligns  - did I do that - no I did not!, so my waistband is a bit wonky.  However I'll wear tops outside this so it won't be noticed.  It also has a front fly zipper.

There are a total of 6 pockets, 4 of which have flaps closed with snaps, the band inside the pants fasten with snaps and the front fastens with snaps.  I hated those snaps.  They took me so long to try and fasten, even with a fancy schmancy special tool.  The first time I wore the pants when I undid the snap one of the snaps came apart, so I have now replaced the front opening with a couple of buttons.

I know Itch to Stitch patterns I am a size 10 waist and 12 hips, but for some reason I cut all my fabric at size 12 and didn't realise until I came to put the waistband on.  To try to accomodate the smaller size, I left the fabric waistband at size 12 but recut the rib and elastic to a size 10.  It is still a bit looser than it should be.  I also hemmed with a 1" hem instead of the 1 1/2" in the pattern.

Next time I need to:

Replace all those darned snaps with buttons

Redo the pattern from 10 waist to 12 hips.

Check the waistband meets before sewing final step

I am pleased with these pants.  With all the pockets and details they took a lot of sewing, but I would like to make them again as they make a nice smart pair of casual pants.  The pattern also comes with a shorts option so I may make some shorts.

Christmas presents for a 60th birthday

I have a very good friend who recently turned 60.  She loves collecting Xmas decorations.  A group of us put in to get her some presents but I also wanted to make her something so made this Santa from Embroidery Garden.

And I added a personalised tag, a freebie from Kreative Kiwi

One of the other items we bought her was a milliefiore bracelet, she collects antique jewellery.  The box it came in was a bit battered, so I made her a little purse from Kreative Kiwi that we could put the bracelet in.

I've also been getting some work done on the house.  I'm tired of sheers and blinds obstructing my view outside, so got my windows tinted.  The beauty of these is I can see out perfectly clearly but no one can see in.

The windows are reflective from the outside.  If you look carefully you can see my cat Sandy, he somehow manages to sneak into just about every photo I take around the house.

The other thing is I've been getting subsoil drainage put in.  During winter I ended up with a pool of water in my back garden.  This is what it looked like mid way through the work.

Since this photo was taken they've removed the extra soil, added topsoil and grass seed.  Unfortunately I've lost part of my garden bed and edging.  Will have to have a think about what to do with this.  It was a tricky part of the garden anyway as it is in shadow most of the day, I had a few plant pots with things in but nothing really thrived there.  Maybe time to rethink and plan a plantless garden.

Below is a close up of the new drain they've put in. 

Daffodil quilt is finished.

I finally got my embroidery machine back and was able to finish my quilt.

The words of William Wordsworths A Host of Golden Daffodils is embroidered around all 4 borders.

I'll not be doing another quilt again in a hurry, if ever.  There are so many things I want to make and this took a lot of time.  Of course if I'd just made a normal quilt without any embroidery it would have been much quicker.

Now I just need to make some matching pillow cases and I want a daffodil cushion and my bedroom set will be complete.

I had a trip to the Wintergardens with some friends for a girlfriends birthday.  The plants are beautiful. Here are a few photos

Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges dress

I've been wanting to make shirtdresses for a while now. There are so many patterns out there I've spent a lot of time trying to decide which to get.  I settled on 2 patterns, the Darling Ranges dress by Megan Nielsen and the Vintage Shirtdress by SewOverIt.

The first one I made was the Darling Ranges in a  lovely patterned denim.

Of course I should have made a muslin or used a cheap fabric before doing the first one.  Especially as this is the first time I've used a Megan Nielsen pattern so had no idea if the fit was right for me.  However I've had this fabric in my stash for a year and have been really keen to make something in it.

I made it in a size M at bust, grading to size L at waist and XL at hips.  The bust and armscye were too tight and it feels tight across the back.  Fortunately it had 5/8" seam allowances so I let out the bodice and lower armscye as much as I could.  It still feels a bit tight across the back.  So next time I need to make the bodice in a L and check that the back will have enough ease, I may need to add another 1/4" down the centre back.

I also lengthened this quite a bit.  I added 1" to the bodice and 3" to the skirt.    The waist still sits a bit high on me so next time I should ad 1 1/2" to the bodice.  As I'd lengthened it quite a bit I used 10 buttons instead of the pattern recommendation of 9.

This was a surprisingly quick sew.  It is self facing with a binding around the neck which sits perfectly in the self facing.  This only took around 5 1/2 hours to sew, though I spent another hour unpicking the bodice and underarm side seams and redoing them.

Some more photos

love pockets

The pattern includes a tie to be added to the back and tied at the back. I'm not keen on ties at the back as they always feel uncomfortable when you sit back and have a knot in your back, so I left this off, it didn't need it.

The sleeves have elastic in them.  I cut the elastic to the recommended length, but really it should have been shorter.

If I can get a more comfortable fit on the bodice, I'm sure I'll make more of these.

Second pair of Airlie Pants

I made another pair of StyleArc's Airlie pants. 

This time I made a few alterations to the pattern.  I lengthened them by 2", did a 1/4" scoop on the back crotch for a low butt adjustments and added 1/4" to the upper thighs, shortened the elastic to a cut of 31 1/2".

These fit much better. You can see there are no tight wrinkles on the back of the legs.

Those pockets were again a problem for me.   The pants just took me 4 hours to sew but I spent 2 hours just on the pockets.  Here are some close ups.

With the pocket frustrations I'm not sure I'll make these again, I may stick with my TNT StyleArc Barb pants.

Last week I went to Home Ideas,  an exhibition centre where home improvement traders have stands.  I spotted this hand basin for the bathroom.

It's not really my 'thing', but nice to see some creative use being made of it.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new car.  I wore all made by me clothing when I went to collect it from the showroom.

Itch to stitch Jacqueline Hoodie, Itch to stitch Uvita and StyleArc Barb pants.