Ribbed pencil skirt from a free pattern

 

 

This is a basic skirt made from what I had left from making my T shirt dress. I downloaded the pattern some time ago and have meant to make one for a while so its ideal having some stretch lycra ribbed fabric to trial it.

I have never before made anything from the Sewhouse7 pattern company but this worked well and everything matched up as it should, which I like in a pattern company so I will check out some of their other patterns I think. They have quite a range of patterns and some I really fancy making. This skirt pattern comes in two lengths and is free.

I made the longer version.

This ribbed fabric is possibly a little bit lighter weight than it could be though will be good for a summer long skirt but I reckon it might work better in a slightly thicker fabric. The ribbed grey was available and really I wanted to use it up rather than stash such a small amount. I cannot say how big the piece I used was because it was a weird shape and I had to cut from the piece I had so I never bothered with their cutting directions. I just matched SG and cut out. It worked anyway.

I reckon I will make another of these in sweatshirting because that would make for a nice warm winter skirt. As a trail this is great and will make a lovely summer skirt. This fabric is a bit thin for winter.

You could easily use this pattern for a side slit skirt as well so its a versatile addition to my pattern collection and wonderful its a freebie!

I think you do need lycra in the fabric for this one though because it would go out of shape otherwise but its a really nice basic skirt pattern and of course you could easily cut it down to mini length too.

Its worn here with my navy self drafted ( and ancient!) top. I have bought some new fabric to make some more of these self drafted tops because I have worn them so often and for so long. I have yet to get round to them but they are such a fast make I really need to do that.  

Thanks for visiting my blog, and hope to see you again soon,

Have a great week,

Bracken

Upcycling my favourite ( worn out) tracksuits

I am very pleased with this outfit.

Quite a few weeks ago I realised sweatshirt shorts sets were in. I actually bought some  RTW ones for someone else in my family and then totally seperately decided its time I replaced my own favourite glitter tracksuits for new ones because they were pretty much worn out. They work for summer though so I decided why not upcycle them into shorts sets. I have two sets of these glitter tracksuits. This is just the one set I upcycled. At least so far anyway!

I made some new Lekala track pants a few weeks ago and then eventually got round to sewing two new sweatshirts - more on them when I get round to wearing them. Right now its far too hot for warm clothing so I have yet to wear either of them. 

So, my original intention was to send my old tracksuits to a charity shop/ thrift shop. So to recycle them. 

But, and this is a big but, my glitter tracksuiting fabric is not the usual cotton polyester mix of most sweatshirting. Its ( allegedly because I never had a lab test it) cotton, lycra and lame. I believe the lame bit because at the airport I was stopped because my entire body showed up as metal!

But I never put the cotton bit to the test before. Now of course if you use procian dyes on polyester/ cotton the effect is very pale if it does anything at all but on cotton it should come out bright. I love a bit of tie dye and also not only are sweatshirt shorts sets in but so is tie dye. Not that I actually follow fashion usually, but when you like it, you like it, so I am going to be on trend this summer!

So it seems, yes, the suppliers tell the truth because this fabric dyes really well so it is ( probably) cotton.

Well how can anyone with an interest in arts and crafts and/or sewing, resist such a challenge?

I chopped the trousers into shorts then soda ashed the top and bottom in buckets and then did the tie dye and this is how they turned out.

 

I had to soda ash the two parts of the set in 2 buckets due to the size and to ensure they were well soaked. Sweatshirting is a bulky fabric.

 I do not have a container big enough to use as a dye bath yet but I am looking out for something larger because this is certainly a great way to update old clothing. And bearing in mind the set I updated is so worn its no longer any good for winter, but its great for summer. Well a UK summer. In another country ( such as Spain, France or somewhere warmer) it would probably be good too, but you may only wear the top in an evening or in the rain but even then a good way to get extra wear from an old suit.

So this is not a warm outfit anymore but I do love the set. I love the style of hoody and the "shorts" are great. 

My only dilemma is should I leave the hem of the shorts raw and let them fray? 

Really I cut my shorts quite long but might leave as crops anyway. I quite like this length.

I have another grey glitter tracksuit I can still play with thats in a similar state to this one so I think perhaps I will turn the other one into shorter shorts but wear that one as grey glitter for now because I know from previous experience its very easy to go over board on tie dye and then you have nothing to wear that is not tie dyed. 

That may sound fun, but life is easier when you have some boring plain stuff to mix in with your tie dye. I suppose if you live at festivals then everything tie dyed might work, but not in my life as it is right now. A small amount like this set though to mix in with my other clothes will be brilliant for this summer and maybe next autumn I will actually recycle these. I know really I should do. 

I have this rule that for everything new I make I am meant to dispose of something old. Right now its not quite working!

 But then, morally, we should all use our clothing as long as possible and not put the strain on our planet with early disposal when there is still wear left, so upcycling something for another season has to be the way to go if you can make it work. On this occassion, yes, I am going to make this work for me and its turned out so fun! 

Just as an after thought, if you were after a free sweatshirt and shorts pattern I had a nice one land in my inbox recently and its free from here: https://www.moodfabrics.com/blog/category/free-sewing-patterns/

Have a lovely week and thanks for visiting,

Bracken

Grey basic T-shirt dress

 

I have been going for lots of grey fabric over the last couple of years. Not sure why really. It is good for work clothes but I find myself drawn towards grey a lot even when in shops looking at RTW clothing. I liked grey in my teenage years too so it has happened to me before. But I keep telling myself grey is soooo boring! 

How can this be?

Do I really want to make grey clothing?

Well I do want to make clothes I want to wear and that I can feel confident wearing and thatI put on and go out in and do not feel self concious in so I suppose if I am honest yes I do like wearing grey. And that is that. 

Does it make me boring? 

Well maybe. Though I like to think there is more to me than how I look. 

This T shirt dress is not really shown at its best because I wore a cropped top under it, which I never realised until writing this post, you can see. Ah well never mind. I will get better photos at some point because I reckon I am likely to wear this a lot. In fact Iintend to make more in some other fabrics. 

Unfortunately as you can see we are about to repair our patio hence the bag of cenent in the back ground which I forgot to move. So all in all not the most artistic blog post I have ever written. Some of the slabs rock when you walk on them so best we repair it sooner rather than after one of the familly hurts themself.

Sometimes I really do not feel comfortable in bright trendy prints. I love them but I want to feel comfortable and what I can handle wearing really does depend on my mood. So yes there is a place in my wardrobe for lots of staples of grey. 

The thing about grey clothig is besides it goes with absolutely everything,  but also it definietly gives me the confidence to go places and do things and not feel conspicuous and even the most extrovert people need to blend in sometimes. Not that I am particularly extrovert but I am also not so shy either.

This is a nice ribbed lycra fabric with viscose and cotton so its soft as shold stay in shape. Its a grey marl:

 

I made the pattern before but as the pattern sleeve shows as a top so not as a dress because this is a hack of this top pattern:

This was actually make number 6 of my original 100 garments. I never intended to carry on blogging after I got to the 100 because it seemed like loads when I started to blog but once I got there I carried on blogging because I enjoy it. No idea just how many garments I have made now. I lost count years ago!

 

The last week other than this Tshirt dress I have not made much. I managed to locate some new patterns I want to make and download a few and have traced a couple as well but this is my only make so far.  The thing with sewing is you canot just sew. You have to find a pattern and prep it and wash the fabric to preshrink, buy thread to sew it up, buy zips etc etc. So it seems I go through periods where I make ( sew) loads but then I have these "breaks" where I am prepping for my next make.

 

Have a great Mayday and hope to see you here again soon,

Take care

Bracken