When work requires corporate wear, weekends in casual gear take on special significance. Up until recently I've focused on work wear at the expense of leisurewear.
At the Stanwell Tops weekend, my fellow Aussie blogger Ann of Cherrypix lent me her Ensis teeshirt pattern from Papercut patterns.
This pattern is highly recommended. The shape and fit is great. But its key strength is as a scrap buster. The version I'm wearing includes left over ponte from a skirt I made a few years ago. Ponte works really well on this pattern, giving good structure to the neckline.
The two versions on the dummy (of the plastic variety!) are refashioned from scraps and old garments. The orange and blue striped fabric was leftovers from a toddlers outfit that I made for my now 22 year old daughter! The navy merino is from an old store bought wrap dress that was worn so little the moths attacked it. I managed to recycle the bottom half of the sleeves and unpicked sections from the skirt to make the body. Not quite enough to finish the bottom, not to worry, a scrap left over from my orange merino debacle did the trick. The black and white version began life a decade ago as a singlet dress and as I've aged has become quite unflattering. I still love the fabric so with some deft unpicking and the addition of lightwear knit sleeves cut from the body of a very old cardigan both garments live again. For this garment I used only the top section of the pattern to shape the neckline and arm hole, and cut joined the separate sleeve pieces into a single pattern piece.
Now I'm looking swish, I'll take my dog for a walk around the block.
Happy sewing!
I recently had the pleasure of a weekend away at Stanwell Tops sewing with fellow Australian Sewing Guild members. I completed three garments and made quite a bit of progress on the blouse that I'm working on in the picture above.
One of the garments I've decided is a wadder, an orange merino wool version of Vogue 8669. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the pattern but it is so under engineered that it doesn't flatter. I'm in the process of salvaging the fabric to make another version of the Ensis T-shirt by Papercut Papers.
The skirt and top (my saffron robes!) pictured above were completed at Stanwell and I'm very pleased indeed. The skirt is my standard self drafted pencil made up unlined in ponte purchased from Clegs in Melbourne. My only misgiving is that I didn't centre the pattern repeat. It isn't noticable when worn but screams from the photo!
The top is my first attempt at McCalls 6513. It is a lovely fit and the only alteration I'll make for next time is to taper the sleeves more. I'm considering a little reverse sewing on this one too - I love it, so why not take some extra time to make it perfect!
I'm focusing on the top half at the moment - casual t-shirts, blouses and jackets - and have a number of garments in various stages of completion. I'm usually much more regimented with my sewing and drafting. You know finish one garment at a time, make things that add value to the existing wardrobe rather than create the need for new items to match. But I'm having rather a lot of fun...and that is what counts.
Meanwhile happy sewing!
