Sunday 26 June 2016

54: Self -drafted floral yellow top


I made this top about two years ago from the same fabric as the Bowie pants/MC Hammer trousers 51: pattern hacked yellow african block printed baggy Bowie trousers and the circular cullottes http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/circular-shorts-or-cullottes.

It was raining lots today so I took the photos inside hence they are a bit dull. The top is made from the left over bit of fabric from the other projects. Because of the shape of fabric I had left I made grown-on sleeves which are a bit bat wingish.


 Also the neckline is on the fabric fold so there are no shoulder seams just two side seams and a hem. The neck-hole is simply cut out of the top and has a facing. 


I curved the hemline similar to a shirt hem.


This has turned out to be a surprisingly wearable top so I really should make more in this style. It was also one of the easier and simplest designs I have even sewn.
Thanks for visiting my blog
Bracken

Friday 24 June 2016

53: wide neck off the shoulder over top



This is another version of Bursdatyle 01/2016I  which I made twice before here 24: Red lace hoody - Burdastyle 01/2016 and black faux leather leggings and here 15: Burda style 01/2016 hoody
I started making this just after Christmas. Originally I cut a lining since the fabric is very loosely woven and tends to stretch so I thought it would wear better and last longer if lined it. I did not want to lose the loose weave feel by using interfacing all over the pieces which I think was my only other option. I have actually seen blogs where people use starch to stabilise delicate fabrics. I have never done that but with hind-sight maybe it is what I should have done with this fabric. Anyway, I actually cut this top out with the hood which ended up being attached to the pixie dress here:
When I started to construct this the neck edge stretched so much the hood would not line up where it was meant to. This was despite my following the pattern and gathering the neck. The lining of course did not stretch and the outer did so everything just went wrong. In the end I took the hood off, removed all lining and undid the front and back top neck gathers. Then I simply added a ribbed crew neck and serged everything. The cuffs are also ribbed. I was not sure if this would work to save this top or if I would have to cut the pieces again into some other kind of top but in the end I have ended up with a very wide neck on/off the shoulder top which is ideal at this time of year to wear over other clothing like a light weight cardigan or jacket.


I did not hem as such but just serged the edges.  I really like the fabric since it has a lovely drape but possibly would have worked best as "arab" style square scarves though how many of them I would want I do not know. A wrap could also have been a good option. I suspect these garments will not last that long due to the dropped stitch frayed effect which runs right through the fabric in the stripes. In the meantime I shall just enjoy wearing them as much as I can knowing at the least I managed to salvedge my disasters into two reasonably wearable garments. I still have enough of this fabric left for something else too but I have yet to decide what to do with the rest of it.
Thanks for reading
Bracken

Thursday 23 June 2016

52: Pixie festival dress from fabric scraps




This was made from fabric scraps left over from a  couple of other things I have made but have yet to blog about. The fabric is very difficult to use. It stretches despite being just a woven. Its a very loose woven which I like very much but does not work for quite a few designs I tried hence I ended up with a dress that never worked and lots of left over bits. I originally had the idea this fabric would work best with a lining but the outer stretched and the lining didn't and it all looked terrible so I took it appart and started again with no lining and just added bits to the hem to make it pixie-ish. All the seams and edges are overlocked.

 

The hood was taken from the pattern for the
I actually attempted to make the hoody from this fabric but it did not quite work out. More about this in my next blog post!




Anyway for a disaster this turned out surprisingly wearable and realy did feel like a good festival dress.

Thanks for reading
Bracken





Wednesday 15 June 2016

51: pattern hacked yellow african block printed baggy Bowie trousers


I made these trousers while ago now from a slim leg trousers pattern. Probably I should have worn them for #MMMay16 but I never got round to it. The fabric is African wax block printed batiqued cotton fabric which is I think just lovely. If I could have found more of this fabric I would have bought it. I have seen similar on Ebay but usually it is quite expensive. I bought this from a hairdressers in Coventry, UK. Sadly the hair dresser closed down shortly after when I went back to buy more.

Its the same fabric I used for my cullottes here: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/circular-shorts-or-cullottes

I was actually inspired to make these by David Bowie pants from the 1970's. I owned a pair as a teenager similar to these though these probably are more MC Hammer than how I actually intended. I cannot right now find a photo of what I was trying to achieve.

To make them I used a Burdastyle pattern for narrow leg trousers. I cannot remember which one since I actually made these in 2013 according to my camera photo dates. My hacks are certainly far from professional but this did work.

Here is how I hacked the original pattern ( pretty inaccurately!):





 Then I drew round the bits:


 

I then did the same for the front but kept the front pocket identical to the original pattern. Unfortunately, I never took a photo of the front of the pattern when I hacked it but its pretty similar to the back but with the pocket bits cut out. This is the one thing that doesn't quite work because the pockets kind of stick out at the side. Also, if I repeated this I would make the ankles wider since Bowie trousers were more of a gradual taper but its not a bad job really and they are nice colourful unusual summer trousers to say the least.

I pleated round the front waist and added a flat waistband, but elasticated the back waist and I added two ties as a belt ( this bit is not usual for Bowie trousers but just seemed a good idea). The two ties are thin strips which I tie round the front. They are attached at centre back. They were made from scraps and are a bit bodged so have a raw edge which is starting to fray. I am better at making this kind of thing these days! Possibly I should also have added some belt loops to hold the ties in position but they do work reasonably well without and I have no more scraps of this fabric left.

This is the front of the trousers with pleats at the waist and a flat waistband. If you click on the picture you can see where I had to unpick and re-stitch but have yet to pull all the loose threads out!





This is the back with three rows of thin elastic in three seperate casings and the ties sewn on centre back:


This is how the trousers look with the ties done up:


I am not too sure how well you can see in the photo above so here is another showing how the ties go:


 
 The elasticated back:


Close-up of the side pocket:


 Anyway here are the photos:





My MC Hammer pose!


Thanks for visiting my blog,
Bracken

Monday 6 June 2016

50: 05/2015 Burdastyle trousers 114/115

One thing that happened with doing #MMM16 was that I found I need loads more trousers. Well some trousers would help because I have none that I want to wear for work that are me made. I have one pair of red jogging pants made here:
and also just one pair of me made summer trousers and they are very much a bodge so I prefer not to wear them except at weekends.
The second thing I learned from Me Made May was that most of my Me Made clothing does not really go together very well. So I need to do two things.
  • I need to make lots of bottoms because I have only really made dresses and tops. 
  • I also need to make lots of tops that go with them because then it will make life much easier when I am in a hurry to get out to go to work.

I bought this fabric from IKEA ages ago.  Five meters of it. I washed and ironed it and then its just been sitting there waiting. Well this is my new summer cotton and I am intending to make an entire collection of clothing from this fabric so that everything will pretty much match with no worries what I can wear with what. At the same time as I bought this fabric I also bought some plain bright red cotton so I shall co-ordinate with that and hopefully have a red summer this year.

These were an easy pattern to make and I winged it all the way and never bothered with the instructions. Usually I think I am better off not reading the Burda instructions anyway because they just make an easy pattern very confusing.

I did not actually gather the cuffs but the ribbing works anyway and gathers the ankles in and round the waist the gathers are very uneven and badly done. I know it was a mistake not spending just a tiny bit longer to make them correctly but they actually look fine despite all these small errors and I really like them. I intend to make loads more trousers possibly another couple of pairs. These are very wearable despite really just being track pants.

The shirt is ancient. It started out a pale green which I overdyed yellow and then I dip dyed it red. I think it was from New Look but it was back in my undergraduate days and was probably bought new about 1996 so its been around in various colours for years. I like it with these trousers at least till I can make a top to wear with them.

Thanks for visiting
Bracken