How to make self-drafted elastic waist circle shorts/ cullottes

So these are really the same as this pair I made years ago but with an elastic waist, because I need to have clothing with elastic waists for my impending operation.

I am trying to make a few wearable items that will not be too un-stylish. I will after all have to wear this kind of clothing for at least 6 weeks and do not want to be stuck in track pants that whole time.

These are really simple.  They are 4 quarter circles made with the waist part big enough to go over your hips.

A rectangular waistband to hold some 1 inch wide elastic makes the waistband wide enough to go over the hips and pull on easily.

If you use one of the online circle skirt templates here https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mood+circle+skirt+template&qpvt=mood+circle+skirt+template&FORM=IGRE


and the crotch shaping from any pair of trousers then that is how to make these. You can even draw round an existing pair of trousers to get the crotch shaping for this because it does not need to be super accurate since you want an unfitted style. My fronts and backs are also identical so a very easy pattern is used here.



Here is a quick diagram - its not to scale and just a sketch but should give a good idea what you need to do. You will need to be more accurate with the length than my drawing is but this is as I said just a  sketch. Fold your fabric into 4. You can either make a paper pattern or you can use chalk to draw straight onto the fabric. Some of the links I gave above also have downloadable templates you can just use as the waist pattern and then measure down to get the desired length.  If you measure regularly all the way round from the waist circle you can make the hem the same length all the way round quite easily. You cut 4 of these tho I suppose you could omit the side seams and cut on a  fold in which case you will only cut 2. Mine are 53cm long so about 51cm after hemming because I overlocked the edge and just sewed a single hem. the fabric is a thin cotton intended for curtains. Its surprisingly wearable. I came across most of a roll of this a couple of years ago and am using it not as curtains ( not really my style) but for my muslins because its actually quite nice cotton and does not feel too bad to wear. Its a good way to trial patterns as well if you come across something like this. Its 100% cotton and is poplin weight or dress fabric weight - and very cheap and because I have probably about 30m of it it allows me to try things out and make a second version etc and end up with a wearable muslin. I made the original trial of my self drafted Street Sweeper copy of The Vampires Wife dress with this fabric.

 

To sew up I sewed side seams first to make two legs then sewed the crotch seam and then added the waistband and hemmed. 

I pinned carefully for the hem because its a circle and tends to wrinkle if you do not pin first. Its a pain because of the length of hem and this is a big circle, but well worth the extra effort pinning it. 

Finally I added the elastic inside the waistband channel. Of course you could add this first and then stitch it firmly in place but personally I intend to wear these when I am sick and recovering from a hip replacement it was not worth the bother of stretching and sewing in place etc. I seem to nearly always break a needle when stretching elastic waistbands and just could nto be bothered when making these. I will probably recycle afterward my operation because I prefer to have less fabric in my waist. They do work well though even though I am not mad about the fabric.

And of course if you make a waist band to fit you you can have a non-elastic waist like the first pair I made. You just cut the waist size to fit your waist and not to go over your hips and follow the directions to make it as long as you wish.

I made these yellow culottes so long ago - right at the start of my sewing adventure. They are really why I blog. I put them on the burdastyle.com website and later they got pinned all over the place which inspired me to start to sew more and blog about it. 

So here are the photos of these shorts / culottes:

All in all I think these are OK and they are wearable despite the curtain fabric and being self drafted with no actual pattern and I expect they will make me slightly less frumpy when I ahve to wear elastic waisted clothing for 6 whole weeks!

Bracken

DIY Natural Carpet Freshener - Stench-of-Dog remover

The house smelled very "doggy" when I came home on Friday. Well if you have a dog, and I have two dogs, it usually does, but Friday was hot as have been the last few days. In fact apparently the hottest days ever recorded in the UK. Anyway Stench- of-Dog was extremely strong.

I have a very large rug in the lounge but otherwise we have hard floors which does keep much of that dog smell at bay because I mop everywhere.

Anyway I need to deal with this as a matter of urgency. If you have read my books you will know I am interested in natural products. I usually make my own cosmetics - lip balms, face creams, cold process soaps, room sprays etc. I sell them at festivals. However I also dabble in DIY household cleaning products. This is a new recipe for a very quick to make carpet freshener.

2 Cups of Bicarbonate of soda
5ml lemon essential oil
5ml grapefruit essential oil.

You can use any EOs really but you will need quite a bit. A few drops will not help with removing that doggy smell!

You can of course add more essential oil or use a fragrance oil instead.

Use a spoon to mix together very well. If you do decide to use your hands you should wear gloves to stop the essential oils from burning your skin. If possible you should also really wear safety specs just to ensure you do nto get any of the bicarb or essential oils in your eyes.

Spinkle on the carpet as you would a commercial product. Maybe work in with a dry cloth in a circular motion if it has also had something spilled on it because bicarb has some cleaning properties too but it will not clean heavily soiled carpets. You will need something stronger for that.

Leave for half an hour or so and hoover it off and yes the room smells lovely and the carpet no longer smells distinctly of dog. Its a very easy recipe and you can adapt as you wish.

Enjoy

Bracken

Ebay bargain: Burda Style 1990s and early 2000s magazines

 I only go to ebay occassionally these days because I try not to buy what I do not need. Well I went for a quick look and found someone selling 23 early 1990s and 2000s Burda style magazines. They were going for a starting bid of just £1.00 and £1.90 postage. The photos of the insides of each mag were impossible to make out so I decided just to risk it and put the minimum £1 on each. Then I pretty much forgot about them till a couple of days before when ebay sends me a message sayng I have been outbid - by 20p. So back to ebay I go and put a bit more on them all. I cannot choose which to go for since there are no decent photos and there is nothing on any of the Burda websites that is that old. I really do not expect to win them all and its impossible to know which one I would like best.

So the auctions end. I try not to look so I will not be tempted to add more bids which really I cannot afford but cannot help it. In the end I pay £1.40 for two for the magazines, £1.41 for one of them and £1.00 for each of the others. The person selling them very kindly combined postage for me to £15 and I now have 23 new ( old) Burdas.


And you know what ......... having flipped through them they are quite different to the English versions produced now. They have loads of sewing patterns ( as expected), knitting patterns ( rare these days), crafts and recipes galore. You do get the odd recipe, craft project and knitted item in the current issues but these ones have whole sections for crafts and recipes and include knits along with sewn items int he main section of the mags.

Well I was quite interested as well to decide I totally agree with the many bloggers who have written about the "golden age of Burda"because these mags are so much better than the ones I own from my subscription from 2014 onwards. I am so impressed I then went and bid on two more for 99p each. The problem with these was they were 2 different sellers so I had to pay the full postage for each making them £3 and £4.90 but still not terrible.


In fact I am so impressed by these old second hand mags I am seriously wondering if I should go through all my newer ones which I bought new, either singly when they came out, or on a subscription which I have now cancelled because I do not want every issue it seems, and maybe sell a few of those that I have found to be uninteresting.

Also interesting is the fact a lot of what is in these is currently in the high street fashion shops!

Anyway my main reason for blogging about this find is to let poeple know it may well be worth your while taking a risk and buying some very old Burdas.  

These older mags are not online. There are no digital patterns so you cannot use the internet as I quite often do like an index.This is the real downside when buying older magazines and it is definitely a downside.

If you buy a new mag the fact is that with a newer Burda you can visit Burdastyle.de, .com, .co.uk, .ru, .fr etc and look up for example #09/2017 and you will find out what is in that magazine. This is very helpful to locate something you know you own without having to trawl through every mag in your collection to find it.


With these I must literally sit down for a while - which is probably good for me (well being and all that) and I do not do enough anyway - and read them. Other than this small downside - because I do use the internet like a library and I do not usualy actually READ my mags - its well worth the small amount I paid for this massive pile of magazines and patterns.

I am very excited in fact and currently planning which to use first and what to make.

Bracken

TVW new dress and did I get the neck wrong?

There is a new The Vampires Wife dress out. No I am not going to make something similar to this one. I am making dress number 4 in the next few weeks though.

But this new dress shows a neck with no facing.

My dresses all have a facing. Not so sure if this is different to the usualy neck though. It could be.

Suzy Cave rings the changes with each new style. I may make dress 4 with this type of bound neck though and save myself the trouble making a facing.

Here is the new TVW dress which arrived in my email today:

This dress is called "The whle lotta trouble" . Great name. I love the bottom frilland sash but not the sleeves. Still its worth watching what is happeneing with TVW dresses. My obsession has still not ended though I have now managed a break of quite a few weeks since making Version 3.

Bracken

Sugar skulls pencil skirt

I so much enjoyed wearing my spider print pencil skirt so much I decided to use some more of my stashed fabric and make this version.


Its a cotton sugar skulls print. I bought 2m of this a few eyars ago and it has been waiting for me to find the right garment. I reckon its got a kind of summery hawaian look to it so fits well with this style of summer skirt. There isabout a meter left for something else - maybe a top?

I originally thought this fabric was multi-directional and yes it is.

 However, after cutting out it seemed to look better the opposite way up so I reversed the split - as in its on the right side of the front skirt on on the left hand side.


 Other than that small thing its exactly the same pattern as the orange skirt.

 

 There is a tutorial on making these skirts here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2019/07/river-island-pencil-skirt-copy-tutorial.html 

I added some elastic braid to the seam above the opening in this version. It is  sold as wedding elastic. I did not have any small buttons so used pearl beads. I suspect the paint may yet come off these when they are washed so I may have to replace them at some point.

Bearing in mind I had to hand sew these and there are 22 of them thats not such a good thing but there - what you have to go through for fashion eh!

I bought this elastic braid stuff ages ago beacuse the pattern directions for this steam punk dress 

use it down centre back on the bodice. I decided not to use it in the end when I made that dress so I still have a few meters of it and have not till now found an excuse to use it. 

I did consider adding this all down the opening. I think this would look good. The problem is I suspect besides the toil of having to sew on so many small beads to match the elastic side I would probably have problems with catching the beads and ripping them off when wearing so just added this to one side of the seam so it gives an illusion of being an opening. Its decorative anyway and I do love a bit of frogging which is what this elastic braid is mimicing.If you want some of this I bought it pretty cheap off ebay. I do not remember the original listing but this is similar here.

Anyway heres the photos:

Just love the gothic door!

In case you were wondering these pictures were taken in Straford-upon-Avon.

Thanks for visiting 

Bracken

Review of Holland and Barrett new ethical products - Ethique

Firstly this is my own view only so I am writing to share this if you are interested in sustainability and have concerns about the many so called ethical products available on the cosmetics market.

I personally am particularly interested in vegan products having been a vegan since 1995 though I admit to a variety of lapses along the way. Generally I am vegan and most of the time since 1995 I have been a very good vegan. I am just a bit rubbish with for example milk chocolate and admit to a number of lapses over the years mainly around Christmas time. This is not excusing myself but explaining I am not claiming to be perfect here. I have been vegetarian since 1973.

I was quite impressed that finally H&B had got some proper shampoo and soaps in stock - as in solid no waste ethical products.

They look really good and I was very tempted to try these when I was offered a trial pack of each type in my emails. There are two Ethique trial packs both priced at £10.99 and ideal for holidays etc hence my sudden interest.

 

Don't they look pretty too?

Very want-able. However me being me I had a closer look at these before I bought them. I always check everything because I do not trust any cosmetics company. By the way these are vegan if you were wondering so better than many other products but read on...................
I did not bother analysing every ingredient. Most are familiar to me, because as I said, I check this sort of thing every time I buy anything. Even with products I have bought before because product ingredients change over time, so what was vegan one month may not be six months later so I generally know what most of the ingredients are without looking them up.

Have a look at this:
Ingredients:  
Pinkalicious - Solid Shampoo for Normal Hair Sodium coco-sulfate, sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, aqua, decyl glucoside, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, stearyl alcohol, glycerin, lactic acid, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, cetyl alcohol, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit, caprylic/capric triglyceride, Citrus paradisi (pink grapefruit) peel oil, sodium isethionate, limonene*, parfum^, behentrimonium methosulfate, mica, ci 77891, ci 77861. *Component of essential oil, ^certified natural. Wonderbar - Solid Conditioner for Oily or Normal Hair Cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, behentrimonium methosulfate, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, glycerin, caprylic/capric triglyceride, parfum^, benzyl alcohol, panthenol, dehydroacetic acid, aqua, coumarin*. *Component of essential oil, ^certified natural. Bliss Bar - Solid Face Cleanser Sodium cocoyl isethionate, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit, stearic acid, aqua, decyl glucoside, cocoyl methyl glucamide, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, glycerin, maltodextrin, sodium isethionate, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit powder, benzyl alcohol, cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar) gum, kaolin, dehydroacetic acid. Sweet Orange & Vanilla - Butter Block Caprylic/capric triglyceride, stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, Theobroma cacao seed butter, Orbignya oleifera seed oil, stearyl alcohol, hydrated silica, tapioca starch polymethylsilsesquioxane, lecithin, sodium lactate, tridecane, parfum^, Citrus aurantium dulcis peel oil, aqua, undecane, dehydroacetic acid, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate*, limonene*, linalool*, citral*. *Component of essential oils, ^certified natural fragrance. Pinkalicious - Solid Shampoo for Normal Hair Sodium coco-sulfate, sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, aqua, decyl glucoside, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, stearyl alcohol, glycerin, lactic acid, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, cetyl alcohol, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit, caprylic/capric triglyceride, Citrus paradisi (pink grapefruit) peel oil, sodium isethionate, limonene*, parfum^, behentrimonium methosulfate, mica, ci 77891, ci 77861. *Component of essential oil, ^certified natural. Wonderbar - Solid Conditioner for Oily or Normal Hair Cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, behentrimonium methosulfate, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, glycerin, caprylic/capric triglyceride, parfum^, benzyl alcohol, panthenol, dehydroacetic acid, aqua, coumarin*. *Component of essential oil, ^certified natural. Bliss Bar - Solid Face Cleanser Sodium cocoyl isethionate, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit, stearic acid, aqua, decyl glucoside, cocoyl methyl glucamide, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, glycerin, maltodextrin, sodium isethionate, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit powder, benzyl alcohol, cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar) gum, kaolin, dehydroacetic acid. Sweet Orange & Vanilla - Butter Block Caprylic/capric triglyceride, stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, Theobroma cacao seed butter, Orbignya oleifera seed oil, stearyl alcohol, hydrated silica, tapioca starch polymethylsilsesquioxane, lecithin, sodium lactate, tridecane, parfum^, Citrus aurantium dulcis peel oil, aqua, undecane, dehydroacetic acid, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate*, limonene*, linalool*, citral*. *Component of essential oils, ^certified natural fragrance.

So a long list of mainly pretty good for you ingredients. I know many companies reckon behentrimonium methosulfate is safe and it is derived from vegetabe oil. Its marketed as a really good hair conditioner because it does not wash off the hair so coats it and leaves it feeling soft and conditioned. And thats the point! It coats the hair and does not wash off. Many people have reviewed this ingredient and such as this link below have worries about this ingredient:

 https://healthnwellness.co.uk/organic-cosmetics-with-toxic-substances-how-to-spot-them-and-avoid-them/

"Quaternary ammonium salts

In organic cosmetics, quaternary ammonium salts are forbidden, except for certain labels which allow BTMS (Behentrimonium methosulfate). These are irritants and they are non-biodegradable. This silicone substitute is often present in shampoos and conditioners for its detangling properties. Avoid the following, because they stick fast to your hair and skin and can smother it, just like silicone:

• Behentrimonium Methosulfate"

NON- BIODEGRADEABLE to me cannot mean sustainable!

Of course you cannot trust everything you find through Google and these are from a health shop - ie Holland and Barrett. so I looked a bit further. The following table is from here https://www.ewg.org/guides/substances/604-BEHENTRIMONIUMMETHOSULFATE

EWG are based in the US. EWG = The Environmental Working Group and their

"mission is to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, we drive consumer choice and civic action.

We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment.  "

I think I prefer to trust them than to trust H&B on this one.

TABLE FROM EWG SITE

Evidence Health issue Level of Concern Source Asthmagen (allergic) moderate AOEC Asthmagen list - AOEC European Union Ecolabel program data shows this substance has high chronic toxicity to aquatic life some Detergents Ingredients Database - EU Ecolabel European Union Ecolabel program data shows this substance has very high acute toxicity to aquatic life some Detergents Ingredients Database - EU Ecolabel Asthmagen some AOEC Asthmagen list - AOEC A peer-reviewed publication reports quaternary ammonium compounds cause reproductive toxicity in animals. some Vanessa E. Melin, Travis E. Melin, Brian J. Dessify, Christina T. Nguyen, Caroline S. Shea & Terry C. Hrubec. 2015. Quaternary Ammonium Disinfectants Cause Subfertility in Mice by Targeting both Male and Female Reproductive Processes. Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.). A peer-reviewed publication reports quaternary ammonium compounds cause reproductive toxicity in animals. some Vanessa E. Melin, Haritha Potineni, Patricia Hunt, Jodi Griswold, Bill Siems, Stephen R. Werre & Terry C. Hrubec. 2014. Exposure to common quaternary ammonium disinfectants decreases fertility in mice. Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) 50, 163-70. Causes serious eye damage Only in: Household Cleaners some GHS Data from ECHA Website - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Causes skin irritation Only in: Household Cleaners some GHS Data from ECHA Website - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) causes serious eye irritation Only in: Household Cleaners some GHS Data from ECHA Website - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) The European Union Ecolabel program reports this substance in inherently biodegradable. low Detergents Ingredients Database - EU Ecolabel

So anyway having found out all this I thought I would share it with you so you can make an informed decision as to whether you want this so called ethical product.

Personally I will not be buying it.

I have written a review about this on the Holland and Barrett website but I suspect they will remove it because it will stop people from being informed about their NON-SUSTAINABLE new product which of course they will want to sell lots of.

Bracken

River Island pencil skirt copy tutorial.

I got an email from River Island this week and it featured this skirt in several different colours.  I fancied wearing this for summer but do not want to pay out £26 for this. Its an elasticated waisted skirt with a pull cord and self covered buttons.The buttons will be the problem for me. I do not have a kit to make them so will probably need to use normal buttons but this skirt seems otherwise pretty simple and very good for summer. Also ideally I want to make this this morning to wear later today to the local village Scarecrow fair that is a yearly event. Mine is just above ankle length which was intentional. You can make this any length though and its very easy so why buy one?

This is written whilst actually working out how to make it so please forgive the present tense in the text. I usually write in past tense but that is due to it already being made so its a historical project whereas this really was as being made.

I spent some time yesterday evening trying to work out how its made. I think it does have side seams but no real shaping. Its a pull-on tube skirt made from woven fabric. The buttons are just for looks ( I reckon because I have not popped into a store to check). I suspect there maybe mock button loops but I will find out later when I eventually get to River Island to have a better look at this skirt in the flesh - so to speak.

So my analysis of how to make it: 3 pieces.
Back, front right ( left in photos) and a smaller left panel then 9 buttons down the joining seam. Elastic round waist and a pull cord to secure and to make a feature. Easy? I reckon so.

Anyway I intend to have a go at making one of these.

Time to make this about 2 hours including cutting out.

You will need about 1m of 116cm wide fabric for a size UK 8-12 but more if you want it baggier or for a bigger size. A wider fabric will obviously make it easy to use these basic directions for a bigger size. This is a particularly narrow fabric. Most fabric I buy is about 140-160 wide.This is 116cm wide.  You also need 2.5cm wide elastic.

This version has a contrasting panel so you could even use some scraps for this skirt: 

So where to begin?

My fabric, that I am using is an orange spider print which I have owned for quite some time. It was an end of roll remnant that has a slightly faded bit where it was folded on the centre of it. I never realised when I bought it. It was off ebay and I gave the seller a very good review which had I realised there was a faded line through the middle I would not have done. It was still very cheap though for 4.5m so probably still worth it. I do not mind buying seconds so long as the seller is honest about it. I think it is a Rose and Hubble print from memory.

Being orange and light weight cotton I reckon it will make a really nice summer skirt.

So here is my design:

 

So I folded my fabric and cut it to 84cm in length, then cut in half down the fold. This means I have now cut out 2 rectangles 84cm long and 58cm wide. One of these is the skirt back. See diagrams above............

Then cut one of the rectangles in two so you have  2 smaller rectangles that are 39cm wide and 18 cm wide - this is the front. Both should still be 84cm long. I guessed where to cut the front so if you cut it slghtly narrower or wider would probably still work. The split though is off centre on the original design from RI.


A strip for the waistband - 10cm wide and 58 x 2 cm = 116cm long ( or the width of my fabric).
3 more strips for the waist tie or pull-cord. I will have to join these to get the length I need. Mine is quite long but from the photos o the River Island site so is the RTW version so this is up to you. You do not actually need the waist tie since it has an elastic waist.

Now to sew it up.

First sew up side seams. Then over lock them. Or zig zag, or even just leave raw.  Sew up the slightly off-centre front seam. I should have overlocked each bit here seperately cos you do not want them joined even in the overlocking cos that will make it harder to hem it. So ideally you want to finish the front edges first then sew up the seam which will be easier. I was just sussing out how to make this though. I sewed mine 31cm long from the top edge. It was a guess and worked, but check on yourself. It will need shortening or lengthening depending on your leg length etc. And of course depending on how much leg you want to show.

 Then I pinned the hem on the split. I suppose it would really be much neater to hem this with folding it over twice rather than overlocking but I am on limited time here and need to wear it in a couple of hours.

 Sew the centre split hem and press. Sew bottom hem. Pin waist band on. I pressed the centre hem of waistband in and left the opening open.

 

I butted the two ends together. You could be more professional but I am as I said rushing this......

Sew around the waistband to secure: 

 I then overlocked the top and the edges together for speed so its neat but not yet very strong. I also sewed just slightly to one side of the centre seam but it does not matter as you will see.........

 Topstitch the edge down. This makes it strong and stops you seeing the overlocking where the wasitband front is still open to receive your elastic and pullcord.

Now join the three rectangles of pullcord together. You could interface these. I didn't. I folded over twice to make strongish and then sewed on outside and folded the ends in for neatness as I went along. You could if you forget to fold in the ends just knot them. I have done this before and it looks OK. Trim all cottons so that when you thread the elastic and pullcord you do not get tangled.

Thread your elastic through the open ends and through the channel and secure it by sewing the ends together either by machine or by hand. Then over the top on the outside thread your pullcord. Then by putting the pullcord over the elastic you will nto see your elastic when wearing this.

You can just glimpse the elastic in the middle here under the pullcord but once worn will nto see this at all.

I then added some small black buttons which I have in my inherted button stash. These are OK because I have no time to buy more and they will look fine. Maybe not as good as the RI covered buttons but still OK and I do want to wear this in a couple of hours time. I only have 7 buttons so this must do. The RI skirt has 9 buttons. But then this is a very fast make and the button sewing is possibly the slowest bit of this skirt making. And the most tedious bit!

So here it is on

And my lovely dogs just had to get involved........

 

 I am happy - this is a good summer skirt made in about 2 hours, and a reasonable copy of the RI skirt I was sent via my emailnewslatter - at least from pictures on the website. I will try to pop into an RI store this weekend to see how similar it really is in real life and update this post once I find out. Either way its a fast simple to make skirt that is comfortable to wear, shows a bit of leg, costs very little depending on what fabric you use to make it, and I reckon could be made as a mini skirt or ankle length, and in just about any fabric - so denim, cord, or velvet for winter too. Seriously this is an easy make. Hope you enjoy.................

Bracken