A wrap cardi for New Years Eve 2024

 

You can see the lighting is horrible here. Its been raining most of the day and its a grey dark dismal day and behind me you can see where the road has started to flood.

Well its 31st December and its New Years Eve. We had a crazy busy day visiting relatives again. Sometimes I really wonder about the holidays and if its worth all the rushing around. Well its nice to see people of course but so much rushing and so much stress.

But then I suppose when otherwise do we all get to see our famillies?

The hat is the Isolation Hat and I really love it so should maybe make it part of my New Year resolutions to knit a new one in a different colour. My hands were freezing. I should have worn gloves.

Anyway this top was literally whipped together just to use as a light weight cardigan. I will wear it again later with a long skirt when we go out so this is a very quick post because its New Years Eve and I am going to have fun. 

This top was sewn up from very forgiving scuba - that of course is also warm. I do not much like scuba but I had it in the stash and want to get rid of it so its top of my fabric list to be used. Topping that is its also black. Perfect!

Its worn over a short dress and ( shock at least for me!!!) RTW leggings. Well they were cheaper to buy than make so this year I bought 6 pairs of these black leggings which are from H&M and are fleecy on the inside so perfect for winter. At £7.99 a pair I could not make them for less so it was sensible to just buy and of course that also allows me more time to make more interesting items. They are my first RTW leggings since 2013. Maybe I should see how much their basic sleevesless vest tops are as well? 

Anyway I made the dress ages ago but still like wearing it and its was perfect for a daytime visit to relatives where I end up crawling round on the floor with small children.

Tonight is time for a party though so we are off out later. Just time for a quick blog post!

Pattern is the same pattern as for my velvet wrap top.

I wish you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2024 and heres hoping the world has Peace and Love for 2024.

Take care

Bracken

A second wider A-line skirt

This skirt is made from the second piece of fabric I was miss-sold - though I ended up keeping for free, so I really cannot keep complaining about this. I still would never buy from the company again but still..............this will be a very wearable skirt for Christmas and New Year. This version has more fabric and therefore more movement than the previous two did.

 

The patchwork print is nice and I even had someone compliment this when I wore it to a large department store the other day while shopping for presents so I was very happy with that. I never told the woman I made it myself. I also have the scrunchies I made from this fabric and was wearing one to match when I was shopping. And she noticed!

Anyway its the same Burda pattern as I used for the last two skirts but I added width to the CF and the sides to make this more flowy and it seems to have worked.

You can see the last two skirts here and here.

 

The waistband is just flat and has elastic but since it actually fits the waist you do not need to stretch the elastic other than to put on or take off the skirt so the waist has no gathers and no zip which makes it a comfortable garment for holidays when your waist probably is going to expand a little due to all the feasting. Its the same as one I saw in a high street shop a few weeks back.  

I have  a wide vintage belt somewhere that I repaired a while ago and a corset belt I made. I will have to find them out for my next wearing of this skirt because I think it would look good with either of them. 

Its worn with my scuba top so the entire outfit is very cheap fabric that actually I probably would never buy again but it works and its best I think to use up what you paid for even if you do not like the fabric. I do not like scuba but having paid for it its going to be worn. It does also make for warm winter tops. I am unlikely to buy more scube unless its to make wetsuits from because its the stuff they use for the side panels etc hence the name but these days its mainly used it seems for clothing. Ayway I have tried making clothes from it and I am not a fan so will probably not buy any more. I have a bit left over from this top which I actually made some time ago so I intend to make another top of some sort from it to keep me warm this winter then after that I am done with scuba as a fabric.

  

Ok so anyway I now have 3 new skirts for my holiday wardrobe and mixed with my existing clothing they will definintely make me feel a bit more in the mood to party.

Have a great Christmas and if you do not celebrate then enjoy the time anyway and wishing everyone everywhere joy and peace for the holiday period.

Take care and Happy Holidays

Bracken

Tidying the work space

I have done quite a lot this week but not much thats really challenging.  The objective was actually to tidy up a bit so I can have a familly Christmas in a few weeks, and I had stuff absolutely everywhere where we want to have the dinner, so I need to get it all under control. I have done quite a bit of sewing this week, if you add it all together as part of this tidy-up. But its all smaller stuff. It was all fun though and thats half the point really.

The skirt I made left me with lots of weird shaped scraps and I do not feel inclined to make anything thats difficult or needs to be hard wearing like tops or leggings due to the poor quality of the velvet fabric so I decided to make some simple but useable scrunchies. 

That got rid of some of the fabric. 

I also got given a dressing gown ( to cut up) a few weeks ago but to be honest I did not want it since I have loads of stashed fabric and do not wish to add to it right now, so I was going to donate, but a familly member asked if I could whip up a small blanket for the kids in the car. 

So...........

This is made from the back panel of the dressing gown and a patchwork of pieces of velvet  from the skirt, for the front panel. I reckon it should be warm and its cost nothing since really its just an upcycle. Have to say I am dead pleased how this one worked out. I will find out if they like it tomorrow.

Then I spent ages sewing up parcel bags. Well no, this is not original because I made some of these last year as well and then it was a new idea, but I needed more, having given them all away and we only had the two we used to gift to each other last Christmas. Maybe we might get some of them back this year?

We will see. I know some of my older relatives just disposed of them as they would wrapping paper, which did annoy me, but they are over 80 and do not seem to get the idea of living sustainably. This year they will get normal paper wrapping.

Talking of which I bought this wrapping paper from Tesco and yes great they have got rid of the plastic wrapper but by using paper stickers to "control" the roll they actually achieved total wasteage of the end 20cm-ish which is terrible and surely the complete opposite of sustainability, because this 20cm of wrapping paper will never even get used. Its completely impossible to just remove these stickers to use the end of the roll so not only have they ripped every one off they have wasted resources as well. 

Terrible Tesco!

After all could they not have used cellophane ( which is made from plants) and just add a couple of small rings to each end so you can use the whole of the roll?

So anyway I have been busy this week but have nothing that impressive to tell you about. I do, now, have a much tidier area though, and by next weekend when I finish clearing up my crafting mess we will get the table ( and the bit under the table) back for the Christmas dinner. And I am of course cleaning as well! So thats two jobs done towards the holiday.

Have a great week,

Thanks for popping by

Bracken

Velvet long skirt

 

I decided because I liked my bias cut skirt so much I would make a second version. This is also bias cut which was quite difficult on my small table and with this velvet fabric but I think its reasonably on the bias. It seems to hang ok anyway.

I also decided my first bias skirt, while being very pretty, and definitely it belongs in my wardrobe, but its not really warm enough for winter. I will probably wear it between Christmas and New Year, but not to go out in. Even in doors in the warm, I will need leggings or tights underneath that skirt, so I want a second versio I can wear out and about and not totally freeze whe I do that. I think this will also still need warm undergarments/layers but it should be much warmer than the snakeskin silky version.

The fabric is just about the worst quality cheapo velvet you can ever get hold of. I bought it from Pound-a-Metre (UK) and was completely ripped off because it was described as being dancewear fabric. In fact Paypal gave me the money back and I ended up just keeping this fabric. So ultimately this is a free skirt -other than time making and thread to sew it up.  I have not ever (nor will I ever in the future) bought anything from Pound-a-Metre since then because this was not the first time they ripped me off. It was just the time I decided enough is enough and fought back. Keeping the fabric is a bonus - just to clarify they told me to keep it.

Nowadays I buy from Pound Fabrics - not much is actually £1 ( though actually neither was this fabric I am using for this skirt) but it is exactly as they describe it. It arrives fast ( Pound-a-Metre used to take 3 weeks to send it out let alone for me to receive it) and its always perfectly cut - so far. So I am very much a fan of this Pound Fabrics company and no, I do not get anything for saying this. Its just what I feel. 

Anyway this fabric and a second colour of this as well is still hanging round in my stash and its time to use it and I think for this project it should work ok. Also because its such a low quality and I only want this skirt for the holidays this year it does not matter too much if it just goes totally out of shape. It has zero lycra and virtually no recovery as well as being a  knit which stretches loads so I have very little hope of this lasting long but it seems criminal not to make something from the fabric. So long as I get to wear it a couple of times that will be worth the time and effort to make the skirt. Especially since I already traced the pattern.

So I used the same pattern as for the previous snakeskin version and made it 93cm long. Thats a bit too long really. It was supposed to hit just above the ankle bone! 

Its cut on bias despite its a knit, which in this case was easy since I have a full 3m of this fabric.

 

It was not actually that easy to sew but maybe its down to being a knit cut on bias? Once sewn its actually quite a nice skirt and I will be wearing it. Well when you see a fabric like this piece to be honest, even if it works, its not defiite it will be worn, but yes I like what I made from it.

Its worn with the "Favourite Jumper" I made a couple of days ago and yes I think it will be a favourite jumper despite my dislike of the actual pattern I used to make it.

Take care and have a great weekend

Bracken

Ellie and Mac Favourite Jumper Pattern

 I bought this pattern when I came accross it about two years ago. I bought the fabric shortly after to make this jumper but I never got round to actually doing anything with this pattern until now and having finally got my Brother overlocker up and running as its supposed to I decided its time for this top.

First the pattern is a bought pattern from an indie company - as in yes I paid for this and to be honest until I put it together I had no idea how badly its designed. Its not like any other pattern I have ever bought and this is supposed to be an actual compay who sell patterns. Well its less professionally designed and harder to put together than many free patterns that amateur sewers around the world give away for free and I would not buy a second pattern from this company at the current time.

Sorry Ellie and Mac but this was a big disappointment!

You can see here that it does kind of go together but its hard to line the bits up and if you had never ever put togeher a downloaded atter this would be difficult. I have put together loads and it still was not fast and usually they are easy to just line up with arrows or dots or some kind of shape to match to know you have the pattern piecec dead on. Here there is a grid but its all very vague and not very professional at all for a so called pattern company. 

It does not seem to have layers and you end up wasting paper - though I can cope with that one and often use bought and free patterns with no layers. But it does take a while to put together and it feels hit and miss as to where you attach the next sheet so you are constantly guessing if its positioned right.

However, I do like the end result.

 

I added the cuffs onto my sleeves to extend them and sew as one piece because I did not fancy the cuff effect so my sleeves are Uber long and in one section. I overlocked and hemmed the edges and missed out the band at the bottom as well and just hemmed the edge there too.

But and its a massive BUT I had to hack the neck because its awful. I paid for this because of the neckline yet ended up with a top I could have made using several previously owned and used patterns. 

I actually wasted quite a bit of fabric cutting the cowl neck out twice in different directions to make it work. It did NOT work!

In the end I chopped it down and made a tube and sewed that on to the neck but lets face it any reasonable sewer can do this with no pattern. All you have to do is ensure the neck fits the neck hole and sew.

So I ended with a wide band at neckline which has side seams. Usnally these kind of sweater necks do not. They are one contiuous piece but I had already cut the annoying thing out twice and wanted to avoid wasting more of my fabric because I really like this fabric. I think I have enough left to make some matching flares but thats just an idea right now.

So here is my version of the Ellie and Mac Favourite Jumper Pattern. 

Its a very warm and stylish winter top and has already been worn so I know its going to be a big part of my look over the holiday period but other than Ellie and Mac give away loads of freebies, I have to say I will not be buying from them again at least not in the near future.

Have a great week, See you soon..........

Bracken