Black top with puffed sleeves

I decided I should be a bit more adventurous when I made this top. I keep buying very nice and unusual patterns but then cop out and make something ordinary and boring. Wy I ask myself? Because I am a coward? Well this black fabric is so basic and boring I decided to go for it and make something is bit more adventurous and risky and it truned out to be  a very good choice!

 I made this black top quite a while back now and was very unsure about whether I would ever wear it. Even with it being black but in fact it is so versatile and wearable despite that its got very strange sleeves.

Not so sure these are really called puffed sleeves but I could not think of a better title. They are puffed on the shoulders as well as ruched up the arms so they take quite a biyt of fabric.

They are kind of leg-of-muttonish. This top is made from Butterick 5562 view B and made in my never ending ( so it seems right now anyway) cheapo polyester crepe. This as it tunrs out is robably a good fabric choice because its quite structured ad the polyester has body.

I used the reverse of this fabric as usual since so far it has made this somewhat horrible fabric wearable. Its akin to the fabric of lots of high end sportswear clothing anyway. I really cannot tell the difference, so not probably most peoples choice of fabric for this top but needs must and I have to find ways to use what I bought so why not thinks me.


I am sure alot of other people would not agree with making this particular top from thios  particular fabric, but it works for me at the moment and eventually I will use all this stuff up and buy no more. I refuse to chuck it out and in the end for winter fabric its warm, and easy wash and wear for work.
The cheapness also means I am able to have lots of clothing which it seems where I work is expected of me. No one wears the same stuff week after week which is my alternative if I stop making things from cheap fabrics and bought them cos this stuff even vies with the likes of Primark for cheapness.


I get two or three items of clothings for about 99p in most cases - not including thread or zips tho.

Anyway back to the actual pattern: Hopefully you can see here how unusual the sleeves actually are. They have elastic to gather them down the length of the sleeve and the top of the sleeve is pleated. The pattern says to gather but ever lazy me I decided to just pleat which is kind of more victorian to my way of thinking.


I have had this pattern absolutely ages and to be honest bought it for the weird sleeve variations but never until now got round to making any of them. I just stuck with the basic version of view 4 which means missing out the fancy collar on that view which means that without the collar  you get a basic boat neck T.



I have made several very basic boat neck tops from it for example these tops here:http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-faux-leather-t-shirt-with-mesh.html



and these multi media T shirts made for The Month Stitch Stash Smash challenge here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/10/multi-media-t-shirts-tms-october-2017.html


So far though until now that is, I have copped out when it comes to actually making one of the tops I bought the pattern for. Because this is black I decided to go the whole hog so to speak and make the extreme version of this pattern with gathers and rushing and yes I have decided I love it. Its turned out a very steam punk top but also very wearable in that I have worn this out and about at weekends as well as to work.

So heres the photos which show just how wearable this actually is:

Here I wore it over Christmas with my Tom Ford inspired gold leggings, plain basic black leggings and my goth skirt. I have also worn with wide legged trousers to work but never got a photo of them but was was very nice to wear to the office for a very subtle change of look.

It does work really well with my Goth skirt too!

Anyway this top just goes to prove its time I stretched myself a bit more and started to make the weirder patterns I have collected.

This particular top works for all occasions and I just cannot get over the fact it took me years to get round to being brave enough to make this because of the stupid pictures on the pattern envelope.

In this case I bought this pattern even though the pattern picture on the envelope has a photo (or drawing) of something which is actually totally not at all me and quite unwearable, and I bought this because the line drawing or diagram of the tops shows some brilliant looking structural design.

But then because of the pictures I was put off actually making this. But those pictures do not mean it cannot be made in a fabric you can wear for normal work life or even just for the wekeends.  I knew I liked those diagrams. I liked the design enough to buy the pattern after all.

I need to make a New Years resolution this year to try to be more adventurous in my actual normal wardrobe because I collect all these lovely but a bit weird looking patterns and they cost money to buy and this top proves I should be making more of them up instead of just collecting them. I need to be braver.

 Have a wonderful 2019 and may all your dreams come true!

Bracken

Gold dress for Christmas

I have made this pattern from Burda 5 times before so its a very quick make  since I know what I am doing and I very much like wearing it.

Its versatile in that despite being off the shoulder ( singular as in on only one side) I could still wear to work if I had the right occassion since its still a very covered up look. Though then I would add leggings. And its really comfortable to wear which matters at Christmas. I do not constantly feel like I need to adjust my neckline which I find happens with lots of off the shoulder looks. This dress just kind of settles to where it should be and is therefore easy to wear.

I bought this fabric in the summer as a large remnant and its a stretch with a coating of rose gold. This was a cheap fabric of unknown fibre from the remnants bin in a  local fabric shop.
The gold does deposit a bit as you walk around so there is a bit of excess glitter which tends to fall off on the floor and furniture whilst wearing but at Christmas there is glitter everywhere so who cares. I did pre-wash the fabric though and it survived so may last a while but I really do not know about that.

One slight problem you will notice is my hem which does not quite lie perfectly flat. Possible because I have not pressed due to worrying the gold will come off if I do and I also hate ironing! Its twin needle stitched and the rest of the dress is overlocked. Anyway my hem is not too bad and only a sewist will probably notice and it should wear in eventually I think so I am going to just live with that one.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas,

Bracken

Gold leggings inspired by Tom Ford RTW 2018

I made the longer view of McCall's M6173 leggings pattern because its easier to wear them with boots as well as trainers and I also quite like the ruched ankles when I have made this view before. Though to be honest on the last few pairs I have not actually bothered to use elastic to ruch them but just allowd them to ruch when wearing due to the length. I have found they work just as well in most fabrics because the tightness stops them riding up at knee level. I expect that is the reason for the elastic really to keep everything in place but since the last couple of pairs work fine without the extra step and I am in a hurry to make these I left that bit out. So far they feel and look fine.

We had some problems getting decent photos of these leggings. You cannot see just how shiny and glittery they are so you will just have to take my word for it I am afraid. I even attempted some very strange poses to try to show the shinyness. Never mind. They are glittery believe me.

There is a slight downside with this fabric: its the glittery stuff which makes them metallic that does drop off around the house but over the festive period with decorations depositing glitter everywhere this is not going to really annoy me.

I am really pleased with how these leggings have turned out because the fabric was just bought with no idea what to make -  I just liked it and it was a good price. I have still got some of this gold fabric left over which I am considering what to do with because its a very glittery festive fabric and just asking to be made up into something. I kind of think if I am ever going to use this fabric it must be for Christmas and New Year so watch this space for what else I make from this!

Wishing you a very wonderful Christmas

Bracken

Leopard velvet skirt and top

A few years back now, in 2014, my brother died. There was nothing really wrong with him. He just went to sleep on Wednesday evening and never woke up on Thursday. The doctors investigated but they never found a cause. It is the perfect way to die really. No pain, No fear. Terrible for those who you leave behind because there is also no warning but I take comfort as do we all who knew him in the fact he was happy and was without fear and pain which most dying people must feel. 

Sometime afterwards I had to clear all his stuff out of his flat and whilst being very upsetting it was also very sad because he had all this new clothing which he had bought but was saving for “a special occasion” and really rather than save it he should have just worn it. But then he never knew he would never get to do so. Since that time I have come to realise I also used to save things for "best" which really means not wearing them. I no longer do this and have made an effort in recent years to just wear it all. After all why save it? I too could just die one night before I wake in the morning. Clothing is meant to be worn and enjoyed, not stored.

This also applies to my fabric stash which potentially is also clothing. I have some lovely stuff in my fabric stash. So my aim a few months back was to stop expanding my stash and to get round to making things which is what I have been doing since then. So far its been quite successful too because I have made some very wearable nice clothing since, and as I clear out my fabric stash I am finding some lovely stuff that really I should be wearing rather than saving for some time in the future that may never come.

I had just a small piece left of this lovely soft leopard print velvet or velour fabric and decided to un-stash this piece. I already made a top with a leopard print front which I like but is actually not very comfortable. That's the black fabric though which was the wrong choice and is probably better suited to a bodycon type of garment. I made this  top at the start of my sewing journey so considering that, its OK. I do still wear it but its not as warm or comfortable as I hoped it would be.

I also made some PJ pants/ yoga pants a few weeks back which left me with a small piece of fabric so I then made this skirt and top. Unfortunately, they do not really work together because I inadvertently changed the direction of the nap so the velvet runs down in the skirt but up in the top. This makes them look like they are made of different fabrics. Its slightly annoying because of the obvious - that worn together I have a dress or the look of a dress and separately I have – well separates. So could have worked out a bit more versatile than they did but hey ho!

Despite that I love them both. I had to make slightly shorter sleeves than I normally do for the top which is made from McCalls M6612 and despite my cock-up with the direction of the pile (nap) its still a nice top which I suspect will get worn lots this winter. AND they are both on trend so bonus or what!
The skirt is just a tube skirt with elastic waist, so no pattern used, but its still a great easy fast make and I will wear this a lot I expect.

I still have atiny bit left but not sure yet what I will do with the last bit of fabric. Its not really big enough to make a garment so I am putting the small bit back into my stash. My stash is shrinking well now though. 
So my 2m of stretch leopard velvet fabric has actually been very good for me and made lots of nice clothing. 

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

I have missed this dress for so long

Anyway I decided to recreate another dress from I reckon about 1983-1984. This second dress was originally from Birmingham Rag market and cost a staggering £20 for a 100% cotton dress with skulls hand bleached into the fabric. It was lovely. It was actually full length ( maxi) but I chopped to just above the ankles since I prefered that length at the time. So when making this I decided to copy the originally ( badly made for £20) design.

So I hacked my 2m of fabric as best I could to give me the 2 rectangles for the bodice and the 2 rectangles for the skirt. Then the original had a very low V back. It was just cut out in a  V and when I hacked the hem I added criss-cross bits at the back which at that time were pretty common on V back tops and dresses.

The front has a slight shaping for the neck and the shoulders are slightly angled. Thats it.
Its a shapeless sack dress of a one size fits all type but with a belt becomes a proper lovely comfy darling dress which I already love.






Without belt to show the actual shape

Then with a belt:

With hindsight I should have added a seam centre back to get a better finish. The original dress did not have this. It also did not have bias binding on neck and armholes but I decide the badly made 1980s look with folded over and wrinkly necks was not what I want this time round so bias binding it is. In a bright yellow because it tones with the print ( and I have a whole roll of it). If I had some plain black cotton I might have had ago at adding the bleached skulls but this skeleton-party Día de Muertos fabric does OK and it will not make my hands sore😊.

Trouble now is I did not have enough fabric to make it long enough for what I was attempting. I thought originally this would not matter but when I put it on I wanted it longer so I sorted through my too large stash and found a skirt which was off a second hand dress I bought from a jumble sale ages ago. I made the Christmas fairy from the bodice of this dress so its been around for a while so a bit stash busting here as well which is bonus.

I carefully cut the bottom off the skirt and hoped not to have to hem it since it was already hemmed and then pinned around and carefully lined the centre panel up to centre panel of my skirt and shortened the hem bit slightly. Sewed it, overlocked it. Sewed down where I had cut it so it lies flat and yes looks fine and I can get away with that. Tried it on. Wonderful length but I sewed it with the good bit perfectly to the centre of the back not the centre front so end result I have a less than perfect front and perfect back edge to my skirt.

But really who is going to know other than me?

And when am I going to wear this anyway?

I mean I am going to wear it but it won't be a work dress. It would make a great halloween dress in fact but you can bet on one thing I will wear this along with bike jacket on a weekend when I do not care what the world thinks because no doubt about this one. I love it.

Maybe the fabric is slighty too childish ( yes it is!) but I am still going to wear it.

I am going to use the Burda Style Obi belt pattern to make a black satin belt for it too because I am thinking that maybe my low-hip-slung-studded-belted look from the 80s may not quite cut it right now even though its the right type of dress for that!
As you can see a RTW corset belt works really well tho!

Anyway doesn't matter. I like my dress and I am going to wear it. Its that wonderful thing about making your own clothing. Once you have enough of all the basic stuff you actually need to make you can really start to play.

 Thanks for visiting 

Bracken

Black glitter skirt and long mitts - all upcycled from a winter sweater

Stash smashing has become quite an obsession for me this month. I have lots of second hand clothing in my stash as well as new fabrics because I often find the print or weave is lovely on some old clothing thrown away by a relative or even bought from a  thrift shop so I save it. Some of the thrift shops have sales as well and sell items for 50p or £1.

So, thinking of a new winter wardrobe made from my stash I decided to make a skirt from an old sweater - originally bought from Primark for Christmas when I was very strapped for cash, this was never comfortable but I do love a bit of glitter. Its about 10 years old now.

Easy to make into a skirt, chop off just below the sleeve, overlock and hem then thread with 1inch wide elastic. Sorted.

And there is a very quick pair of wrist warmers here too!

For them I cut a hole for my thumb, overlocked and thats it!

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Oki dress - Moon Goddess

I made this pattern previously for the The Monthly Stitch Indie Pattern Month 2018 but in stretch black canvas. I prefer the first version because until I made this dress I had no idea the grainlines on the pattern are wrong.


Its too late now because I have made this and I do still like it but its not right at all so I am pretty P**sed Off if I am honest because this is special fabric bought from Ikea as a limited edition a couple of years ago and I cannot get any more. 

 I did my first ever proper exposed zip on the back of this dress too. I am reasonably pleased with that although its defo not perfect but you have to begin somewhere and it does work so thats OK>

 

I never had enought to pattern match which is also a problem but the fact the grainlines are out - see the sleeves! is terrible and very disapointing and I spent a lot of time lining everything up to make it work out as best I could because I knew I would have some mismatches pattern-wise anyway but never realised when I made the black dress that the grain arrows on the sleeves are completely wrong. 

The sleeves are weird obviously because thats the whole point of the pattern so I never realised till I sewed it all up.

Its still wearable and I still like it but yes this is disappointing. Its what you expect from a Big Four pattern rather than an indie designer. Tho why I think like that I have no idea. But anyway if I want to make this pattern again I will only use plain fabrics as of now because I do not think my brain can cope with sorting this out with the weird pattern pieces.

So yes I do like this dress but its far from being a big hit with me. Its just too imperfect and the strange part of this imperfection is I expected to have it imperfect but that was down to me not being an expert with exposed zips and knowing it would not be pattern matched with this print would show( it does!) but its the best I can manage but to have the grain lines out thats just crappy! And not my fault.

Will I make another? Yes probably in a sweatshirt type fabric in a plain colour because I think it would work. Never again in a  print tho!

Thanks for visiting and I hope this post helps someone else with the Oki Lola pattern!

Bracken