86: Black and yellow leggings and 87: Sports top

  I really wanted to have a go at making some sports type of clothing. This is yet another pair of Butterick 5788 leggings pattern.

You can see the other versions here: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/62-gingham-along.html and here:http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/38-side-panel-leggings.html

This time I have used stretch black lace over fluorescent green/yellow with black lycra for the main back and front centre panels.

The top is not a sportswear pattern but I did not own any so I used Butterick 6134. The top as you can see here is meant to have a funnel neck which I was quite keen on but things did not quite turn out as planned.

 

I scrapped the first top and made a second, because the first example came out all twisted. Unfortunately after getting it all together reasonably well ( its still not perfect but its wearable), I realised the front had a fault in the lace just below the neck. Well you cannot really have a more noticable place to have a problem so what to do?

You can see here how bad it was and no way could I get away with just leaving it. So, I carefully cut a lower neckline and still managed to keep the back neck higher than the front. I am quite pleased with myself about this hack in fact since usually I would make a mess of something like this but it worked really evenly.

I cut it lower and added a strip of faux leather which is an offcut from a different project. It works quite well and I think gives nice touch.



This is the back view. I think its acceptable though maybe I should have made the ankles a bit tighter. The leggings are kind of trouser-y rather than dancewear-y. I wore this just once so far and despite it being freezing and snowy on Saturday it was lovely and cosy. Also I have not yet seen anything like this outfit in any high street shops which makes me very happy when I am wearing it!

Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog,

Bracken

 

Bodycon, Sportswear and Vintage Patterns

Feeling a bit brave and reckless I bought several vintage magazines off ebay:

I bought two old (vintage?) german magazines. One a Neue Mode 07.1992

Which shows how to make clothing from the then popular tube fabric which was polyester and was textured due to being gathered up with lycra. I cannot tell you what the text says or what that fabric was called but it was everywhere in the 90s and early noughties. It was the bodycon fabric of the 90s and I loved it. I still own a couple of dresses made from it which come out every now and then but are looking a bit tired and faded now. Everything was made from it though, swimwear, shorts, leggings, skirts, tops, you name it..................


I also bought a Burda Moden 04.1988:

This has similar designs. Again I cannot translate. I really like the simplicity of these designs though!

My German is not very good but just from the photos and sketches and my knowledge of the clothing I owned then I should be able to copy most of these designs. Also I never find that Burda gives good directions anyway and so far I usually just end up winging it and working out for my-self what they are talking about. I suppose it is down to it being translated from German into English and everyone knows no language truly translates into any other language. There are always expressions and words that simply do not exist or have even a similar meaning in a different language.

Anyway I am hoping my sewing knowledge, small though it may be, will mean I can work out how to make these patterns despite my lack of languages. I do not have this tubular fabric in my stash but I do have quite alot of the currently available textured polyester and lycra fabric which would work. The designs will need  a bit of tweeking but since many actually cut the tube on, for example, centre back like the pink top here:



they are do-able I think. I know you can buy tubular fabric but my aim really is to add a bit of interest to my wardrobe with the fabrics from my stash and not to buy more fabric. I love a lot of these type of designs since they are so easy to wear in summer.

Has anyone else had any experience making any of these kind of patterns either now or when they were current? I am grateful for any advice or tips you may have.


I have also now bought a La Mia Boutique magazine. This one is in Italian and I have no understanding at all of Italian whereas I do at least know a small amount of german! My Italian in fact consists of being able to order coffe with milk and sugar for my parents when we went on holiday when I was bout 8 years old so it is hardly going to help me understad any of the sewing directions. The patterns tho are fab! I paid 81p for this ( UK money) or 1 Euro. With delivery it was only 4 Euro. Honestly I do wonder about companies like Newstand. I can buy a magazine from Germany and it costs less to get it sent to me than if I buy a magazine from Newstand in the UK. 

 Of course with all of these lovely vintage magazines I still need to hone my sewing to a level where I can actually work out what exactly I am doing because I am finding that right now my skill level is such that I am struggling with lots of english "easy" patterns. Ah well. At least I can dream of making some of this stuff.
Thanks for reading

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