Upcycled Shirt/Apron and an Ergonomic Oven Glove!

Having large selection of Japanese Pattern Books means that there are quite a few that I haven't sewn from.

 

'Cotton Friend' is a more unusual Japanese Pattern Book in that it resembles a magazine rather than book format. I would have loved to subscribe to a Japanese pattern magazine like this, but I can safely say that won't happen unless I get around to doing a Japanese language course!

 

 

 

Sometimes, patterns stand out & are put on the mental, never-ending to-do list. This apron pattern from 2010 is one that I always thought was a clever use of fabric. It came to mind when I found the perfect shirt fabric for an apron and oven glove set that I wanted to gift to a friend. Lack of understanding Japanese is usually no barrier to sewing from Japanese patterns and this magazine is exactly the same with excellent diagrams.

 

 

 

I cut the apron from the back of the shirt, utilising the shirt yoke as a detail for the top of the apron. I adapted the pattern by using less shirt fabric than the pattern suggested because I didn't want the apron to wrap around so much.

 

 

My clever daughter came up with the simple idea of adding a button to the apron to hold the matching oven gloves as she thought it would be easier to find the oven gloves when they were needed!

 

 

 

 

When looking for a ribbon for the hanging loop, I found a perfectly coordinating (more like camouflaged) ribbon from Jane Means - the beautiful Whitby Striped Ribbon . It picks up all the colours in the paisley fabric - a design from Portabellopixie.

Perhaps I should have titled this post 'Spot the Ribbon'!!

 

 

Oven gloves always seemed badly designed and uncomfortable to use. I thought a lot about the design and having sewn the mitten pattern in the Oliver + S book 'Little Things to Sew' I decided to adapt it to create a thumb section for these double oven gloves.

 

 

The two major changes involved in using the Oliver+S pattern were lengthening the thumb portion of the pattern and adding a lining. Because of the thumb design, there is only a small amount of padding/wadding needed in the palm section of the pattern.

Adding binding helps the glove come together easily.

 

 

These oven gloves turned out very well. I could do with one of these myself and the only improvement I can think of is to move the thumb section more towards the centre so that it can fit both the right or left hand easily.

I'm not sure if a bottle of wine would have been more appreciated as a house-warming gift, but my friend seemed delighted with the set.

 

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From Refashioned Men's Shirts to Children's Clothes

 

Sewing during summer holidays needs to be in short bursts, so refashioning fits in with what little sewing time I have. Previous shirt refashions that I've blogged are a dress & waistcoat, a sailor dress, a denim dress, waistcoat and a knit top & skirt, all children's clothes.

 

The inspiration for these recent remakes is The Refashioner 2015 series by Portia at the Makery blog.

 

 

I started with this shirt as I loved the fabric. This is the only shirt I've upcycled for an adult to wear!

The pattern is 'pattern k' a lovely fitted blouse from Sato Watanabe's Basic Black by Tuttle Books. I previously sewed this asymmetrical top from the book.

 

 

 

I removed the collar, and stitched the collar stand, so it looks like the stand-up collar in the book. I cut the sleeves off at the armhole, shortened them, reshaped the armholes and the sides and added front and back darts for shaping. It still needs hemming, but is a now a perfect shirt for Autumn.

 

 

There's no 'before' picture for this one, and no pattern was used, but a mans polo shirt was recut to use as a school top for my daughter. I kept the collar as it wasn't too big and resized the rest of the shirt using another top as a guide.The little pocket was added to hide a logo of a sailing ship - not part of the school uniform policy!

 

 

 

Then I got a bit more creative. It seemed that there should be enough fabric in a shirt to sew a boys pyjamas, but I needed to find a way of avoiding buttons, so it would be comfortable to wear.

 

 

 

 

This is what worked - After cutting off the sleeves, I folded the shirt in half, half the front and half the back and turned it upside down. The pattern I used was the Oliver&S Bedtime Story Pajamas / Pyjamas pattern because it has a one-piece leg pattern. The pattern fit easily on the shirt fabric.

 

Cutting a shirt this way would also provide plenty fabric even for some adult-sized shorts.

 

 

The waistband was cut from the yoke, though not on a fold, so it had to be pieced.

 

The legs were cut from the sleeves without I picking the seam and using the lower part of the leg pattern as a guide only, to get the length correct.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sewed the pyjamas, mostly following the pattern instructions.

The leg had to be pieced together and I didn't want that inside seam to be uncomfortable. The simple solution was to sew the seam on the outside and cover it with ribbon. The ribbon is a vintage blue stitched ribbon from janemeans, which was a perfect match for the shirt fabric.

Not a perfect pair of pyjamas by any means, but not bad for zero fabric cost and a quick sew. There's also a 10 yr old boy who loves that these were sewn especially for him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ribbon Dresses & How-to Select Ribbons for Sewing

The inspiration for these dresses came from a few sources, particularly the Great British Sewing Bee, Kids Clothes Week & a series on sewing from Japanese sewing Books!

Kids Clothes Week at the end of April gave me the push to start sewing the dresses but it was the wonderful series on sewing from Japanese Pattern Books that helped me decide to sew a Japanese pattern. I used a pattern from this book, bought from an excellent eBay seller. The fabric for these dresses is quilting cotton, the blue is from Oliver&S and the yellow/lime fabric is from Heather Bailey.

I loved the BBC's recent TV series about sewing and watching Lauren's approach to adding details & embellishment on the Great British Sewing Bee confirmed my own love of adding fun elements like ribbons, facings and other details to what I sew. The haberdashery and fabric showcased each week on the show (and linked to by the Sewing Directory) was impressive, in particular all the beautiful ribbon which was supplied by Jane Means.

I had fun picking ribbons for these dresses, so I listed what I consider important when I'm selecting ribbons, though it may be obvious!

How to Pick and Choose Ribbons for Sewing:

There are no simple rules for selecting ribbon types and colours when sewing dresses like these.

• Ensuring the ribbons are pretreated (eg by washing) in the same way as the fabric is important, so that the finished garment will be washable.
• Picking a theme is helpful, especially here as so many ribbons were being used. I chose striped ribbons for one dress & the other has spotty ribbons (see above).
• Deciding on ribbon colour can also be complicated, but keeping with Colour wheel recommendations, I like to keep to 3 main colours. These can be complementary or contrasting - as you can see below I initially considered raspberry as a strong contrast.
• Focusing on colours in the fabric that can be matched is also a good start.
• Use ribbons to highlight a specific feature. As these dresses have square hems, I chose ric-rac and decorative ribbon to create a focal point on the garment.
• Personalise and add fun elements, especially when sewing children's clothes. These dresses were for two 6 year olds, so the music and dog ribbon were added to personalise the dresses to the girls interests.

 

Trust your instincts when choosing ribbon colours for sewing projects. Lay your ribbons out on the fabric for a day or so. Swap, move and change ribbons around until they begin to look and feel right to you. Aim to enjoy the process, rather than putting yourself under pressure to find the 'perfect'' ribbon. There really is no 'right or wrong' ribbon!

 

I used quite a selection of JaneMeans ribbons on these dresses, but also included details like Liberty bias binding, flat-felled side seams and ........

....... an exposed zipper. These have been around the fashion world for a few years, and I've finally decided I like them! I've seen them sewn a few different ways in tutorials, but generally followed this tutorial from BurdaStyle

I love the simplicity of these dresses, which look like a regular a-line style, when hanging.

However the unusual shape isn't fully evident unless the dress is being worn, or is spread out fully.

I sewed the lime-coloured dress first to help me with sizing for the blue dress (for my niece). The lime dress ended up being a little short so I sewed up leggings for my daughter to wear with the Riviera pattern from the Sewing Clothes Kids Love book.

 

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Bubble Dress in Liberty

I've 'mentioned' before how much I love sewing dresses, but it's the little baby dresses that I enjoy the most, and bubble dresses would be the favourites.

This dress wasn't on my list for February, but a friend recently had a third baby girl, and I couldn't resist sewing such a tiny dress (6 months).

The fabrics are from Liberty and probably not colours that would immediately come to mind for a baby girl. However, I had sewn dresses for my friend's two older daughters in June of last year, and decided to use these fabrics again. I suppose the dresses really are much too matchy!!!

For a little difference, I sewed on a beautiful dusky pink/raspberry stitched grosgrain ribbon from janemeans which picked up colours from both fabrics.

I found a template for a dress card, and just had to add a little stitched ribbon to that too.

 

 

The pattern is from Ottobre 6/2012#7 and it's the first time I've used it.

When deciding on patterns for baby dresses, I usually pick those that will be comfortable for the baby to wear. This baby pattern from Ottobre is the one I have used the most, here, and here though trying to tie the ribbons with a wriggly baby might be difficult!

This bubble dress pattern is ideal for baby presents and easy to put on & take off because of the length of the zipper

 

 

I generally avoid zippers on little clothes as I imagine they could be uncomfortable for a small baby. This pattern has a zipper, so I added a placket to the pattern to cover the zip on the inside.

It's a rectangular piece of fabric, about three times the width and 3 cms longer than the zip. I sewed it in, while attaching the lining to the zipper using the same method as for this Liberty dress. The placket is crooked! but at least it's on the inside! For a first attempt, it worked and should be very comfortable for the baby to wear

 

I was particularly pleased with how the ends of the ribbon were aligned at the centre back!

For the older sisters, I made some hair ties using a free pattern from Oliver+S.

 

Perhaps it's from watching too many old films, but the idea of a dress presented in a box has always appealed to me! A shoe box, lined with tissue paper, was the perfect size for this dress. The logos were covered with washi tape and I tied some more narrow stitched ribbon in a bow to add to the fun of opening it!

 

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A Belated Date with Alice

 

This is a catch-up post and I'm glad to say that it is not about a Halloween costume! However, it was sewn for the Pantomime season, which 'ahem' finished in early January.

Perhaps it's not too late to be posting this costume. Burda magazine always have great costumes in their January edition for Carnival season in some countries, and there are even a few costumes patterns free on the website.

My daughter gets a birthday gift of tickets to the pantomime every year from her godmother, and it has become on opportunity for me to get creative!

I sewed the apron first (my own pattern), thinking that she could wear it over one of her other dresses. She tried it on, before I added ribbons, and it looked like she was wearing a nurses apron, so I also needed to sew a blue dress.

 

For a quick make, I decided on the 2+2 pattern from Oliver+S.

 

The fabric is a stretch velour, so I adapted the pattern by adding length, omitting the neck ties and back buttons & cutting the back on the fold. It worked surprisingly well!

It still looked like what nurses used to wear, so I decided to add a splash of red. Using a red gingham ribbon from janemeans, I sewed a very simple ribbon appliqué. I folded the ribbon in a heart shape, pinned it to the apron and sewed it twice, once on the outer edge of the ribbon and then on the inner edge.

Another strip of gingham ribbon was attached to the end of the apron. To make it a little more 'Alice' I could have added ruffles to the sides of the top of the apron.

With a petticoat underneath and a bit of practice tying the bow, she managed to look very Alice!

 

Couldn't resist ..............

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

White Rabbit: [singing] I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello, Goodbye". / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

Alice (2000) (VG)

The White Rabbit: Please don't dawdle, Alice! We're very late, indeed!

The White Rabbit: [to Alice, reprimanding her] You've taken your sweet time!

 

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Colourful Teacher Gifts

 

Last year, for teacher gifts, I made the Mother & Daughter Totes from Oliver+S which is one of their free patterns. I'm not sure why I didn't make them again this year, but this pattern on Sew4home caught my eye.

It is a Roll-up Makeup Brush Case, made with a wipe-clean lining. Most of these type of patterns have square corners, but I liked the curved corners and the Sew4home website gives a template for this.

 

It's a lovely easy pattern and what took me the most time was joining the bias binding on the outside.

This is the inside of one of the rolls with some mini brushes inside

and opened out to get the full effect.

I used a very varied mixture of fabric from Stenzo, Hilco, Moda, Farbenmix, Patty Young and laminated cottons from Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner.

 

I've had a lot of fun making these, matching and mis-matching colours of fabrics, bias and ribbons. I have 2 more to make and that will be the end of my assembly-line sewing for a while.



 

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Sewing with Ribbon - Straps for a dress/tunic

After my last post I got a couple of e-mails asking about sewing with ribbon, and specifically the straps of the O+S Swingset tunic.

It seems a basic sewing technique, but I remember before I started using ribbons, not knowing where to stitch, and being afraid that I would ruin the look of the ribbon, especially some of the patterned Farbenmix ribbons.

Below are some of the general points that I follow when sewing with ribbons, and the pictures are of how I sewed the straps of the O+S Swingset tunic with some ribbon from janemeans

PRE-TREAT:

• As the ribbon is being used on a garment that will be machine-washed, Pre-Treat in the same manner that you will treat the finished garment.

• First I zig-zaged the ribbon ends to prevent fraying. Some ribbons are loosely woven, and are more likely to fray - as in the picture below. The Music ribbon is much more tightly woven.

• Then I washed the ribbons at 40*C and put them in the dryer. If the ribbon is going to shrink, this is the best time for that to happen.
  
• Iron the ribbon to ensure it is smooth and not crumpled. This will make sewing easier.
  

MEASURE THE STRAPS

• Measure the width and length of ribbon needed, to ensure you have enough to complete the project.

I chose the ribbon for this project because the colour matched perfectly with the fabric. But I had to fold the ribbon in half along it's length, to make it fit the width of the pattern piece.

It is also possible to use a narrower ribbon (1/4 of the width of the pattern piece) for these straps. Then the steps below would not be needed.

If using a narrow ribbon, ensure it is tightly woven, otherwise it will pull through the stitching where it is attached to the bodice, and will not stand up to any wear and tear.

SEWING THE STRAPS

• Change your needle before sewing the ribbon. A new needle will prevent damage, by not leaving large holes in the ribbon and by not pulling or tearing the threads of the ribbon.

• Match your thread carefully to the colours on your ribbon so that the thread blends with the design on the ribbon

In the picture below, yellow thread is in the bobbin to match the yellow strip on the back of the ribbon. Orange is the top thread which matches the orange line of colour near the edge of the ribbon.

• Because of the width of this ribbon, I folded it in half to make it fit and to provide strength and structure for the straps.

I sewed the two sides of the ribbon together. A long stitch works well for applying most ribbon, and I sewed slowly near the edge of the ribbon.

If your thread colour is matched carefully to your ribbon, the stitches will be almost invisible.

I also sewed another row of stitching near the folded edge of the ribbon. This gives more structure and support to the straps and keeps them lying flat.

There are 2 rows of stitching on each folded ribbon below. The orange stitching is particularly difficult to see, which means the colour of the thread doesn't interfere with the design on the ribbon.

• The straps are attached as per pattern instructions. Use a smaller stitch length when attaching them to the bodice to hold them more securely.

• Make sure they lie the same way/ direction. I wanted the dark stripe on the ribbon to be seen, so I placed that side of the ribbon against the main fabric.

And these are the finished straps. The topstitching around the edges of the bodice, also make the strap attachment more secure.

There are many other uses for ribbon in dressmaking (e.g. hems, waist stays, seam finishing), but the pre-treating, new needle and matching thread colour - as described above - are always necessary, especially if using ribbon for embellishment on the outside of a garment.

 

I hope this helps. If I think of anything else to add, I will come back and edit the post.

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Instant gratification ..... Of the sewing kind!

Late last night, I decided to buy my first 'digital' Oliver+S pattern. I have downloaded patterns before e.g. from Burda and Stitch Magazine, and the matching and taping together of up to 30 sheets of A4 paper is time-consuming and annoying to put it mildly. Also, the layout of downloadable patterns is not consumer-friendly at all. For example: the first picture is of pattern pieces for dolls dresses, some of which could easily fit on one A4 sheet, instead of being spread out over 4 - 6 sheets.

As there was a sale for Oliver+S digital patterns, and I only wanted to make one part of the pattern, I decided to go for it. I bought the Swingset Tunic and Skirt.

I was completely, pleasantly, and wonderfully surprised! The download was quick. I opened the file to find that the pattern pieces are placed so that they take up the least amount of A4 sheets possible. Because I only wanted to make the tunic, I had to print out 7 (just SEVEN!) pages. Each bodice and bodice lining piece was on a page of it's own, so a LOT less sticking together of pages is necessary.

After that it was a case of the planets aligning! An order of ribbons from JaneMeans arrived in the post this morning. And that was it, once I decided on the Liberty fabric, and to use the orange ribbon for straps, I just had to sew the pattern up.

I lengthened the tunic to dress length, and added a slight a-line shape to the pattern piece for the lower part of the dress.

Using the ribbon for straps, saved some time and turned out very well. I also added velvet ribbon at the curved seam of the bodice, because it was just lost in the fabric and is too beautiful a detail for that.

The Liberty fabric is a Tana Lawn, so is very lightweight. The orange ribbon at the hem provides some structure to the dress. These ribbons were bought from an English company JaneMeans that I only heard of recently. Though their business is gift-wrapping, they are a great source for ric-rac and velvet ribbons, which can be hard to find.

 

Because I made this dress so quickly there was no time for 'consultation' with my daughter on fabric and colour choices which is what we usually do, but I knew she couldn't resist 'Minnie' for the lining!

There are still a few bits to finish - the inside lining, ironing and adding buttons, but she didn't want to take it off this evening and told me she loves the colours.

I even forgot to tell her that the fabric was designed by Lauren Child of Charlie & Lola fame!!

 

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