Birthday skirt

 

Today is my birthday and I have spent several weeks on and off trying to get round to finishing this skirt. Its very 80s but not frilly like most 80s raras. The frills are all cut circular.

This is made from
 coated stretch indigo cotton bought a couple of years ago with no idea what to do with it but it was ridiculously cheap.

The pattern I got free back in 2013 when it was released at Burdastyle.com where you can now buy it. You cannot get this pattern from burdaastyle.co.uk but interestingly in this pattern there are 4 variants of skirt and you get them all. You can buy two views from burdastyle.co.uk and two from burdastyle.com but you cannot see a picture of the other two views on each website.

http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/tiered-mini-skirt-032013

 Hopefully this will make sense. Anyway if you locate one of the variants you also get this pattern.

 This is the side where I decided to add rivet tape. I was intending to use black lacing but in the end I never got round to buying a black lace so used this rainbow one I bought several years ago. It is meant to have an invisible zipper but I never had the right colour so used the rivet tape I bought at some point because it might one day come in useful to have some to close this skirt. It works very well though probably I will eventually buy some black shoe laces and replace this rainbow one.

The skirt was intended to have just hems on each frill but when I overlocked the edge with an intention to twin needle stitch the edge under I marked the coated fabric with the foot of the machine so I then tried to turn it up twice. This just looked terrible and did not lay right so I undid everything and added lace to the bit I damaged which covers the problem area on the top frill. I then added lingerie lace to the rest of the frills and along the top frill to tie it all together. Because the lingerie lace is meant to lay flat it does not like my circular frills so I ended up cutting the pink embellished ribbon and knotting it. It works. Very well infact though is definitely not a skirt for work!

Its worn with a vintage Tammy top and a vintage OMEN top both from the mid 90s.

Have a lovely day,  I intend to do my very best to!
Thanks for dropping by,

Bracken

What next?

Well I finished my 100 Garments quite a while ago now and then Me Made may ended.

#MMM had a strange result this year where I have not stopped doing #MMM since but although I have not been taking photos each day I have still been wearing MM despite May ending.  I have a couple of photos but was not very dedicated since I never realised this would actually alter my  habits so completely.

I do not feel I quite tried as hard as I should have for #MMM17. Wearing me made has become the norm rather than being new to me. I make clothing and I wear what I make. That is now what I do and I enjoy it. This photo was taken on Friday 9th June. I am wearing both my flares
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/pin-stripe-trousers-mmm17-day-15.html
and my blue top.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/92-pale-blue-top.html
Possibly it is because I never got round to wearing a large number of me-made items in May so have kind of made up for it since.It was kind of an anti-climax this year. It has meant I have got some new inspiration or aims though which I need if I am going to keep on blogging. I love it but without material it gets difficult so now I MUST make in order to have a reason for blogging. Yey!


Anyway, my conclusion after another Me-Made-May is I need to wear me-made all the time. Not everything because unlike for example Hand Made by Carolyn
http://handmadebycarolyn.com.au/ 

I have yet to learn to make shoes so I am not likely in the near future to be able to wear 100% me-made but I am going to aim to do this.I am feeling very inspired by Hand Made by Carolyn who wore MM for an entire year. Mind you I am far from being able to accomplish this to the extent of Hand Made by Carolyn without my learning to make my own shoes. I must admit this is a current interest although I have yet to achieve this. I have to try making shoes soon.

I am seriously interested in using flip-flops to make some shoes. I have seen these at several locations around the web.
http://makeanddocrew.com/crochet-boots-flip-flops-pattern-video/
They look make-able and wearable. This I might manage. I have yet to collect all my tools and supplies but I am intending to attempt this in the next few months.

The one thing I found with #MMM17 was I have no MM work trousers and to be honest very few RTW work trousers so want to make at least two pairs by December 2017.

These are the Tshirts I have been cutting up.

I also need to some items for my partner. He needs them. I tried a couple of tops recently - more on that later.

So these aims are pretty easy I think to accomplish. They will take a few months but I should manage to do them.





My most recent crafting endeavour is in recycling old Tshirts into a wearable cardigan. So far I have not made much. I got the idea from a Wool and the Gang video but cannot now find the link. It may be a YouTube. I am unsure. They cut up old jeans into strips and knitted them. I am doing the same thing but with old tie dyed Tshirts.

This is a quick preview of the eventually to be made cardigan - assuming I eventually finish it:

To make the yarn you need to cut the old Tshirts into strips. I know people used to make rugs like this in the 70;s. I remember several aunties having a go at rugs from old rags.

To make the yarn,
I open up one side of the Tshirt, cut out the sleeve  and cut off the hem. I save these because I reckon they could be usefule later. I never can throw fabric away!
Then I cut going round and round the Tshirt. I am cutting strips approximately 1.5 - 2cm wide. I have included the overlocked seams rather than cut the strip at that point and just knitted them in, though this may be a bad idea. I will not know till I wear it. Hopefully it will not fall to bits on me! Its knitted on 10mm needles using stocking stitch and I have pulling all tied ends to the front to give it a boho look.

I think it will look good once finished but as anyone who visits my blog reasonably often will know I am a slow knitter so it may not get finished for a while yet. It looks wearable though if you fancy doing something similar.

So other than dreaming of making shoes and attempting to knit I have been very unproductive these last weeks.   I find myself in need of a challenge now I got to 100 garments and am seriously considering men’s clothing since my partner has an increasingly shabby collection of clothing whilst mine has been enhanced considerably in the past year due to my 100 garments project.

I am aiming to achieve these goals over the next year or so. Again like when I began blogging on 100 garments I have absolutely no idea how long this will take to achieve so the time frame is open ended. So here are my aims:

Finish the jumper,

Make mens clothing

Make trousers I can wear for work 

Boots or shoes from flipflops.

Oh and if you do have a go at making a cardigan or anything using this idea please let me know because I would love to see what you made.

Thanks for visiting,
Bracken

 

#MMMay16, Day 20, I feel very "punk" today!

 Today I decided to wear my lovely tartan leggings

10: Tartan leggings with both versions of my self drafted top together. 7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making
This top has exposed seams though you could wear it with them on the inside just as well but I like the slight punk feel to the exposed overlocked seams.

I am actually wearing two tops in different lengths both made from the same pattern and same material just the self-striped fabric has the stripes going in different directions on each top. It was just an experiment and until today I have never worn both at once but I like the effect so may well wear them like this again.

I feel very "punk" today!

Reggie-dog has photo-bombed me again! This dog just loves being photographed. Honestly he rushes in as soon as my partner gets the phone out and starts taking photos.

This outfit I really like. Should have tried this outfit sooner because I have been struggling a bit with #MMMay. Still thats the point isn't it?

Thanks for reading and see you soon.........

Bracken

42: Loads of mesh dresses and none for me!

These are for an event happeneing next month. I have made 8 long sleeved size 14-16 of these, 6 sized 10-12 and they are all for other people!

 The sleeveless long maxi-dresses I have made 8 of in size 14-16 also for an event for next month.

 They have a side split which you can just about see here. Would be ideal as beachwear in fact.

I am intending to make one of the shorter long sleeved version of these for me but none of these are actually for me hence I am not modelling them.

Thanks for reading

Bracken

#MMMay16, 06/05/2016 Day 6

 Today I wore my red dress that gave me so much hassle and stress not so long ago now

13: Red dress or long top

 and here:

13: Red dress re-visited

With one of my Dark blue self-drafted punk tops, here:7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making

Although the dress is a bit " going out style" its also great with a top over it and trainers. I really like this combination and intend to wear this outfit again.

My red dress:

This dress is surprisingly confortable despite being an almost off the shoulders style and is great on a cooler day in May with my navy top.

Have to say though, I am already struggling to decide what is wearable for this weather that is me-made. Its only day 6!

Thanks for visiting,

Bracken

25: Red faux leather trousers

Well I have been busy this week but sowing not sewing. As in sowing cabbage seeds. I will add a picture later of my babies that have come up so far.As well as sowing seeds I also potted on my cucumber and tomato babies which I sowed back in February. Once they get bigger the cabage babies can go out into a cold frame where they can grow on which is good because I am rnning out of space to sow any more seeds. Because its still frosty here my tomato plants will not be able to go outside even in a poly tunnel til at least May so I need to nurture them inside until then.  Other than sowing this week I mostly just did more house decorating - I tiled the bathroom! Have yet to do the grouting but it is looking good. I did make just one item of clothing although not original really since I made yet another pair of faux leather leggings similar to my 19: Green leather look leggings
These ones are red and like the green faux leather the red is very stretchy. Here they are:

Again they were easy to make. The pattern is just three pieces: front, back, and waistband with elastic waist. They were simply overlocked and then twin needle stitched on the hems. I love this particular pattern since it makes leggings that are so easy to wear. However I have now made 4 pairs! Three faux leather and one pair of 10: Tartan leggings
Time for a new leggings pattern I think else my 100 hundred garments is in danger of being 100 versions of 3-4 patterns!

Not sure what pattern I will use next but watch this space...............
Thanks for reading and have a lovely week,
Bracken

Being Authentic. My new challenge.

Being the "authentic" you seems to have become an aim for lots of people recently and rightly so. I can completely identify with being yourself. I also have drifted away from the way I want to be in order to "fit in". In order to do the mundane jobs we do most of us have to "tone it down". But, I  need to make things I like to wear and recently I seem to have been making stuff that is a bit "girly" in a way that doesn't feel like the real authentic me. It is a case that I have found a pattern and followed it. It has increased my skill level but some although not all of my sewing has been a bit unlike me if you see what I mean. I do not want to be an everyday clone and that is my reason for making my own clothing in the first place so why am I just following a pattern and making stuff that doesnt feel right for me? It is not the pattern. Its my lack of daring. My lack of imagination that is my problem.

So my aim is to define and make things that are really ME. That probably, if I am honest, means punking everything up a bit. Or maybe more Goth. Either way I am sure that cannot be so very difficult. I just need to be a bit more imaginative while still challenging myself. Really most so called alternative fashion is simply made from everyday patterns. Its just the mix of fabrics and extras such as lace or studs that makes the item alternative. Punk and similar clothing simply uses lots of colour blocking and segmented patterns. I love a lot of the steampunk patterns around right now but I also need to be a bit more mature about things because I am no longer young so could end up looking a right idiot if I do it wrong or go too far. 

Having said that though, why should I have to dress boring just because I am no longer a teenager. Well of course I shouldn't have to. No one should. Famous people manage to do it and are expected to do so. When we are teens we all dress like rock stars. Its just what you do when you are discovering yourself. A small number of people manage to do this all their lives but for most of us life simply does not allow us to look how we feel inside. Or not if we want a career that is. Only a very small number of people manage to keep their own "style" past the teenage years. Well I am not having it anymore. I wanna be me again. It is just case of making my own look and making it work for my life as well.  

So now I am challenging myself to make clothing that reflects who I am rather than just follow a  pattern. But that also does not mean making unwearable items of clothing. So for the rest of my 100 garments I am going to aim to reinvent who I am and to become who I am inside again. But still maintain a liveable wardrobe that I can go to my normal boring job wearing and not upset my boss. I just need to find my own style again and live it.

I seem to have been collecting patterns now for about 5 years. I have a wonderful and huge stash of fabrics as well as patterns. I started with really good intentions to make them all but it seems I collect far more than I really get round to using. I have now stopped my Burda style magazine subscription as well because again I dream of making far more than I really manage to. I seem to always have an idea of what to make in my head but I simply do not have enough time to make everything I desire. Sadly!

Since all these patterns take up lots of storage space and I live in a very small house, I have decided to make a list of the items of clothing I most want to make in the next few months so I can look back later in the year and see how many if any I actually manage to complete.That way I do not keep getting magazines out and messing up my home whilst I ponder what and if I am making this or that. I need to be organised so I am making a list to keep my sewing on track.

Originally, I thought I should make at least one pattern from each magazine I have collected but I have found I like lots in one and none in another. Hence cancelling the subscription. Also besides very similar patterns from one year to the next a lot of Burda patterns are just not my style at all. I will probably still buy the odd magazine but will just buy those I want to make something specific from. Burda do lots of repeats too it seems. For example:

Drop waist leather skirt pattern from 09/2015:



Drop waist tartan skirt pattern from 09/2014:

 

The only difference I can see here is one has a back zip and the other has a side zip!  I have both of these magazines and other than that they look identical in construction. There are lots of other examples as well. So having realised this I reckon I will look at the previews I get from burdastyle.de and decide then whether or not to buy a particular magazine.

But I also need to get my head round making things that I WILL ACTUALLY WANT TO WEAR! Not just "Oh I like that!" and end up making something I will never really have the lifestyle to wear which is what I have done with some patterns. I am seduced by the magazine image and it does not really fit in with my life so will rarely be worn no matter how lovely it is. 

For now I want to make these items:
At least one more huge hoody similar to the 15: Burda style 01/2016 hoody
I love to wear this despite making it in a naff fabric. It was always meant to be a muslin anyway but I find I am still wearing it lots and I need to make one or maybe two good ones. I am thinking a mesh or lace fabric without the pocket and a patterned fabric with the pocket.


I also have some lovely ladder mesh fabric which I want to make into something. Punk styles would really work with this so I may just stick with a quick easy top similar to my
7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making

It will look kind of jumpery I reckon and will be very wearable.
Then I want to make some more of the 19: Green leather look leggings 
because I have loved wearing them even to work. But I think maybe in dark red and black faux leather.  So thats several quick makes I want to do, where I have already traced the pattern. I also have some light brown faux leather ( no idea why I bought this cos I hate brown as a colour) and some almost metallic jeans-blue faux leather but I am not too sure I want to make these trousers in either of them so need a new project for them. Maybe a leather dress?

Or maybe this top:





I think it would work in leather, but that also brings me to a sportswear kind of look. I am kind of hankering after a sportwear look right now. Probably because it is spring. I do not want actual sportswear but something with A 90's feel so colour-blocking and maybe piping.  Maybe black and a flourescent in colour blocking. I have not quite made up my mind as yet. So what I need to find is a raglan sleeved top or dress pattern since I think that is the look I want to go with right now.

I have a  raglan sleeved patterns such as this from Burda that could be made with or without the colour blocking:

I might have to chop the hem a bit shorter though for the look I am after since I am thinking more tennis-ey but not quite as short as a tennis dress and I also would like a top or two in a similar style. This would make a reasonable raglan sleeved top I think. Maybe even keep the A-symetrical hem if the bottom panel was missed out. I am very short of nice tops so that should be high on my list.

I also need some kind of jacket. I have had several jacket patterns out on my work table but so far not made any of them. I even washed and dried some fabric but I think first I need to decide what I want. Like; do I want a leather jacket, a peplum jacket or a coat?
I am considering all of these:

But along the sportwear line I also like these :


I can see matching leggings for the Burda young 7140 too. Or maybe a short skirt?  Maybe in a double sided fabric. I have some that is magenta one side and black the other.Kind of a ski look but not as warm as ski wear since I am after all in the UK and even in winter it is rarely that cold.


On Pinterest  I have a "bags, hats, scarfs, shoes, cuffs and gloves" page
https://uk.pinterest.com/brackentracy/bags-hats-scarfs-shoes-cuffs-and-gloves/
and I keep going back to this kind of thing:

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/535013630712771303/

 

I love mitts because I suffer from Raynauds syndrome so I often have very cold hands even in summer. And air conditioning is torture for me! I work in real life in a cold office with air conditioning or in a lab. The lab can be stupidly hot or very cold. In the lab usually I have to wear rubber gloves anyway so really I want these for when I am sitting typing in the office. Because I work with mostly very average boring ( clothing wise) people I cannot really get away with anything too outrageous but these I could wear. I have some fabric off-cuts of grey stretch velvet left over from my 21: Burdastyle 01/2016 112 track pants or lounge pants which I think would make some lovely mitts. All I need is some stretch black lace and I am pretty sure I have some hidden in my stash somewhere. Maybe this should be my next make!
  
Or maybe first for spring I should make some cullottes before they go out of fashion again since I did make a pair when I first went back to sewing but have never made any since. These were my circular cullottes made with my own pattern:

I think maybe some more like these next:
from Sasha on Kollaboro.

If I made them in Khaki and wore with tights( maybe stripey tights!) that could be a nice spring look and I could wear that to work.

First though before I can make anything, I am aiming to spend an afternoon just tracing loads of patterns since I have found I am most productive when I trace several, cut several and then sew them up as and when I am able to.
So my list looks like this:

• raglan sleeved tops - colour blocked
• dress also colour blocked
• cullottes
• mitts
• jacket
• hoody x2
• leggings in red and black faux leather
• sports wear jacket - Burda Young 7140
• leggings with side stripes to match 7140
• short sporty skirt

So that gives me 10 key items to aim for. That is not including any repeats since I want two pairs of trousers and two hoodys. So what to make first?
Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you have time. I love comments!
Bracken

 

7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making

Having made my warm black top I was going through and re-organising my fabric stash mainly due to complaints from my other half about the amount of space I am taking up storing it all.

Anyway I have 6 metres of this really nice navy knitted fabric. Probably fibre is acrylic. Its got a self-stripe which is quite wide. I bought this because it was a bargain at £3.68 with no particular idea what I would do with it. Then yesterday I had an idea because I am loving playing with my overlocker. I made two tops with the stripes sideways on this one and a second one with longwise stripes. I only took photos of the one though since they are identical really.

There is no pattern for these. I just cut rectangles and then angled the sleeves but this Burda pattern is very similar if you wanted to make one of these. You could also make an easy dress by this method by just making the rectangles longer.

http://www.burdastyle.de/burda-style/schnittmuster-unter-1-eur/longshirt-u-boot-ausschnitt_pid_1519_7181.html

I decided I wanted exposed overlocked seams on the outside edges though. Its that "old punk" bit of me I suppose! It would also work with the edges inside. In the end I have worn it both ways. There is a certain advantage to having something you can wear the right side when its inside out or right side out because there is never a wrong side.

1. First of all to make this you need to measure yourself.
2. Then some maths: for example for a 36 inch (91.5cm) bust: half of 36 = 18 (46cm) and add a bit on for comfort so say 2 inches (5cm) = 20 inches (51cm)+ seam allowance giving in my case 21 inches (53cm) wide ( if you want it baggy maybe up to 6 inches (15cm) so would = 42 inches (107.5) + seam allowance, but remember then you will need shorter sleeves)
3. I cut out the pieces: front and back (identical rectangles are 20 inches (51cm) wide each and as long as you want. Mine were 29 inches long (71cm).)
4. and two sleeves - also rectangles 20 inches (51cm) wide but angle in slightly at the wrist to make the sleeve narrow. Mine are 28 inches (71cm) long so that I can have either very long sleeves for keeping my hands warm or I can fold them back.
5. then overlock/serged the shoulder seams. 
6. Then I overlocked around the neck and checked it will go over my head. It was a bit tight so I simply made it bigger by over locking again and cutting off the first lot of overlocking. 
7. Then I added the sleeves by pinning the centre of the sleeve to the centre shoulder seam and overlocking all the way accross. If you want exposed seams you need to check you have both seams on what will be your right side. 
8. Once the sleeves were attached I serged the side seams and sleeve seams together. I am very happy that all the fabric stripes actually matched up perfectly despite my hap-hazard method of making. 
9. Finally I serged all the hem edges and thats it. Finished.

It took probably about 30 minutes to cut and make each top. Since the fabric is thin I think they look great over patterned T-shirts or tops and I can layer them under thicker tops like my Warm black top I made a few days ago. I may make a few more of these types of too since I really enjoyed wearing one of them today.

Thanks for reading

Bracken