Sun hat for child Burda style magazine #145/06/2014

 

This is a sunhat made for a child. Size is for a 52cm head. However the pattern is for a 50cm at biggest size so I cut it a little larger to take that into account and to ensure everything still fitted together right.

Its reversible because you may as well make it like that. You have to line it anyway though could have an inside seam but its not difficult to make this pattern reversible.

Its a Burda magazine pattern from an old issue I bought used but with intact patterns, from Ebay.

The pattern is #145, 06/2014 but the Burda version is not reversible. Instead they sew in lines around the brim to make it stiffer. Small person had a baby hat I made with a lining to match the outer so I decided this time to make that a feature and make it reversible. And this works well.

This is the issue with this pattern which has just 3 pieces to trace and is very easy to make larger if needed.

Unfortunately its now chucking it down with torrential rain here but thats England! We will get some sun at some point I expect.

Have a great week and thanks for popping by,

Bracken

Jeans finished -prototype

I finished my jeans! 

My jeans don't have a fold over hem. RTW jeans do. To do that would make them shorter than I wanted so they have an overlocked edge to prevent fraying and then a twin needle hem because the fabric contains lycra so stretches. In fact they are a bit too stretchy.

So, I think a stretch stitched hem will be better then a normal straight stitch. 

Unfortunately they do need a belt.

My jeans don't have a hammer in button. I could have added one but my difficulty comes with making a decent button hole not the button being hammered or sewn on. Both require a button hole and none of my machines make good enough button holes. 

In fact the next machine I buy it will by a priority it can make a decent, professional looking button hole. Until then though I have what I have and it's not made such a bad buttonhole in the end. I ended up using my old Brother 3 step buttonhole machine and then hand sewing to reinforce it after. 

However since I recently dropped a dress size by accident I suppose that allows me to put the weight back on. I probably will do. I have the opposite problem to my best friend in that I have difficulty staying in a safe weight range whereas my friend is often dieting. Both are problems according to the health professionals. These days you are meant to fit a certain range in weights and reality says that's not always easy. In both directions!

I am quite happy with how these turned out though they took me ages to finish.

And they are actually ready to wear this spring. England often has cold weather in the morning  in May but is warm at midday.  And May sometimes switches between snow showers very occasionally and more often cold rainy days mixed with scorching hot summer weather. So overall these will work for my spring trousers I think taking all that into account.

And they will be good for Autumn too.

I got held up finishing these by the belt loops. I forgot them. Put everything away and then realised and had to wait for the next sewing session to get them done and added to the jeans. That's done now which is good because as I already said these need a belt to stay up!

I really feel happy to have finally got these finished and I achieved something rather than just the same old leggings and tops I make. I do need those of course, but its good to stretch yourself sometimes and make more difficult things. I will be making more of these. 

Thanks for popping by and visiting. See you soon because I feel I have my sewing mojo back now so I need to get a few things done before it again becomes difficult.

Have a lovely week,

Bracken

Thai fisherman trousers

A few days before Christmas 2024 I had a small package containing this fabric sent through my letterbox. I opened this package and my immediate thought was this is not mine! 

I never sent for this. 

The address on the package was mine and it was addressed to me. Then inside I found a letter and a calendar for 2025! 

Well when I read the letter it was from Pound Fabrics and they had sent me this 2m if lovely cotton fabric as a gift for being a faithful customer. I was so shocked. I have been sewing (and blogging!) for years. No one has ever given me fabric before. I have won a couple of competitions but might have done that if I had not been blogging about my sewing. 

One was with the Monthly Stitch which I was an avid member of for years and the other was Minerva Fabrics. I think there was an element of luck both times really. I still wear the garments made for both these competitions.

Anyway, this is my very first gift of fabric and thank you so much Pound Fabrics for thinking of me. 

I have been buying fabric online since probably about 2010. But not large quantities of fabric purchases until the last few years when I began to blog my sewing adventures so since 2015 really I have been regularly buying fabric. Wow! 10 years!

Anyway, I found pound fabrics after a particularly bad experience with one of their competitors (Pound-a-Meter - steer well clear of them if you don't want to get ripped off is my advice!). But Pound Fabrics have been reliably brilliant. Even then I never expected to get a Christmas present from them

Perhaps really I should have written publicly about this closer to Christmas. I did say a personal thank you at New Year, but wanted to wait until I found something to make before writing a blog post about this. 

Well this really is the perfect fabric for this project.

I have been planning to make a pair of these trousers since 2008 when I came across the ( then free) instructions for the Easy Breezy Wrap pants from Laupre who I think may now be on Etsy.

Whenever I considered making them I just never had the right fabric. Until I was gifted this that is.

And the thing about these is they are super simple to make and wonderful to wear. I have plans for a few other pieces of fabric currently in my stash in fact because now I know how to make these I want more.

You can wrap frontwise as these are or backwise for a different look. I will be going with the easiest way which seems for me to be frontwise wraps. 

I did do a couple of alterations to the original pattern - I added a channel to the top of the front and back panels and then made straps to thread through and so mine have pullords rather than sewn on straps. I like this better. Its more adjustable than sewing the ties to the tops of each piece. I also made these much more gathered than you perhaps could do. Laupre says a 12" overlap. I have much more than that but will just adjust as needed depending on my fabric because you might as well use all the piece if you can. That stops small pieces ending up for years in my stash and makes for a nice loose fit with lots of overlap and therefore modesty. I do not fancu flashing my knickers to the world when the wind blows but thats just my own feelings on this. 

I have to say also the instructions are great and if you wanted to make these I would recommend this seller.  There are also some YouTube videos on these as well if thats your preferred method of making.

So here I have a double thank you to make to Pound Fabrics for the 2m of lovely fabric and to Laupre for the generous sharing of the pattern/ instructions back in 2008.

Have a great week and thanks for popping by my blog. 

Bracken

Tiger suit

It's not really a tiger suit as such but tiger print lounge wear. I have worn both the and bottoms together twice so far though and it feels fine to do so. Usually with animal prints I only handle one item so this is a bit different. No idea why though!

I wanted a wide leg tracksuit.

The trousers are not quite right. I hacked the Lekala track pants onto the Mood Sewciety Jamesia pants with the result the pockets are too long or too large or just too far down the leg. They are OK but when I do this again I will use the Lekala track pants as the top with the wide Jamesia leg at bottom instead of transposing the pocket onto the Jamesia. 

I think that will work better. Otherwise the trousers work well and I expect only I will see what's wrong with them.

The top pattern us a new one I recently bought from a charity shop. Despite being second hand its uncut and was a bargain at 99p.

 It's McCall's M8144.

I think the two patterns work well together. I actually finished this in time for UK Mother's Day when my son took me on a train ride on a vintage diesel train. I just never blogged about this before. Lack of time. Life seems very hectic right now. 

Thats not the same as the Mothers Day the rest of the world seems to have. Ours was exactly a Month before Easter. There's a rhyme " Mothering Sunday, Curds and Whey, Palm Sunday, Easter Day" with each bit referring to one week. It was a fun day out anyway going on the train with my son.

This is a nice cozy suit for the british spring weather which can be very varied.

I made it exactly as directed. It's pretty easy but a very nice top pattern with funnel neck, slight cowl and raglan sleeves. I seem to have a current liking for high funnel and polo necks. This is more of a funnel. 

The sleeves were too short so I added Feyr Trade's thumb hole mitts from the Make your own Sportswear book.

 

That's worked really nice. I might just lengthen them next time but this is really my muslin. 

We have lots of sun right now but the mornings are icy cold warming to about 15 degrees C at lunchtime so this is a nice outfit for the time of year here in the UK. The rain we get in spring has already started too so I suspect its going to be a good outfit for our variable weather and May might be supposed to be warm but it can also snow here so at least I have a nice cozy new outfit now in case that happens. 

Its a very simple to sew pattern and I intend to make a few more tops like this when I get more appropriate fabric. Right now I have nothing I can use that is not already cut into something else. I would like a few of these though. The pattern has 3 sleeve options so I might try a different version next time.

It was very fast to make this and not expensive because its a bargain basement fabric from Pound Fabrics at £2 a meter. I bought 3m. I wish I had bought more! This is the orange colourway. It also came in brown, and grey and white. I think they just have the orange now though, but if they get more of the grey I will be buying more because its a nice warm jersey. They described it as heavy weight. I do not agree. It's quite thin but is warm and cozy. It's not sweat-shirting and works well on this kind of outfit because the fabric has a almost sweatshirt weight to it. But its a knitted acrylic jersey with lycra. It's perfect for all sorts but I only have small bits left. I am seriously wondering if I can squeeze a second top from it but probably will not have enough for this pattern. Maybe with contrast sleeves? Something to look at another time anyway.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Take care

Bracken

Winwick Mum sock pattern Schafpate Yarn socks

These are my new socks. They took a long time to knit but I got there eventually. They seem shorter to look at than all my previous socks but fit fine when worn. Maybe it's an optical illusion due to the colours. Anyway they fit really well so I am happy with these. I  think with socks I have to just accept they take me ages to knit. But I love my hand knitted socks so its something I want to carry on making despite they are all really a very basic pattern. I have just started a pair for my other half and have spent a long time working out the stitches for his much bigger feet. I do not as yet know if they wil fit him but more on that later.

The toes are possibly longer and narrower than my previous pairs but seem ok when on my feet.

Definitely not quite perfect toes!

I also realised I have been doing SSK wrong for my entire knitting career after watching a Youtube video so have slightly changed my method. If you need to see it there are loads of videos on Youtube for this so I won't point to any particular one because I found several that were very helpful. 

This yarn is surprisingly economical because I have probably got enough left for a second pair - maybe a little shorter or just do contrast heels and toes. I do not usually have so much left. 

And these are so colourful! 

Thanks for popping by my blog and have a great weekend

Bracken

Purple loungewear /PJs bottoms for hospital visit

I made these for a hospital visit like my blog title says. These are the first of two pairs I have planned in this fabric and I want a couple of tops too and hopefully some co-ordinating daywear for when the nurses want you to get dressed. That will mean it all matches and so dressing is easy. I have available a total of 6m of this fabric - a 2m piece and a 4m piece which I bought due to loving the first piece. 

A few years ago I had to have a total hip replacement in my right leg. It was very successful - for a while anyway until the left leg started to deteriorate. I could even sit cross legged on the floor with the kids. Then suddenly I had problems again. They fixed my right leg wonderfully. I hope they do as good a job on my left leg because now I am waiting for the op for that leg and it seems every week that passes I get more disabled. Not that I am really disabled because the surgeons will fix me. I have confidence they will, but having a problem does mean it starts to get in the way of what you want to do.

I went on the NHS list last August so hopefully by this August I will get done. For want of a better way to express this!

Last time I made a huge error though. I made two new pairs of PJs for the hospital visit but they were in a woven poly cotton fabric, But when I had had the op my leg swelled so much they wouldn't come off. Well they did eventually but it was difficult and painful. Its ok when you first come back from the op but a few hours later you swell so I could put them on fine but later they were restricting my now swollen leg. 

So this time I am being sensible ( and I know what to expect of course) so I am making stretch jersey PJs instead of woven cotton ones. That should do the job and make me comfy. I also want tops to match and some RP culottes because that way it will all match and be easier to change from bed wear to day wear cos they ( the nurses) like for you to do that. I intend these clothes to also be nice lounge wear for recovery too and since I also need a double partial knee replacement ( both knees!!!!) which is probably due around December I am hoping these will serve me well. Don't ask me why I have such joint issues. I have absolutely  no idea other than I used to be very into sport. They have yet to detect a reason and to be honest I don't really want to get too over analysed because who knows what the doctors might find. All tests have come back negative and so far they found nothing. 

The top I made last year. At halloween,  though it is an every day top not a halloween top despite being a bit spider webby. I wear it a lot and have been considering a second top. 

I lengthened the top of these to give me a looser fit by adding a  yoke. I know my body will swell after all and want comfy trousers for the op. I did this before with this pattern which is the free yoga pants pattern from  if only they would nap.  The yoke is just an elongated wasteband really but it works. This time I made the yoke shorter and perhaps really I do not need it so I may not do this on version 2 of these. I really wish I had more of this fabric because I love it despite its slippery to sew. I made my green tops from this, green dress and grey circle top. Last time I looked they had no new stock of this at Pound Fabrics but I am keeping an eye open so I can buy it if this comes back in. 

As for these ops, well I honestly think it's best to be cheerful about these kind of things. After all once these ops are done I should be able to cycle again. Running is frowned on cos it's high impact and so shortens the joint life but cycling is encouraged. I got given a bike the other day too. 

It's a Muddy Fox. It needs a bit of TLC but will be perfect for recovery so once these loungewear clothes are finished maybe I should consider some cycling gear? 

It's been a while since I made sportswear but I enjoy it and it will give me an incentive to fully recover because I know needing both knees and one hip operating on is going to be challenging for recovery of either because the one is a problem for the other. You need a good hip for knee recovery and pain free knees for hip recovery. I will not have this. But it can be done and really I am still quite young so it's do-able. Or so my consultants in both areas assure me. I believe them. It's probably my own active lifestyle caused the problems anyway so once they fix me I just need to get back on the bicycle and get going. Cycling is the best exercise for both knee and hip recovery so being gifted this bike which is much better than my ancient one is fantastic.

At least once the ops are done I should find life easier. I even find sewing difficult right now because you need control over the joints in knees and hips to do it. I actually sew far less than say 3 years ago due to the fact it hurts. I cannot wait to be able to get back up and sewing how I want to again. 

Hopefully over the next few weeks I should have a few other purple items to co-ordinate with these trousers to show. Thanks for popping by and have a lovely Easter holiday whatever your religion.

Take care

Bracken 

Hoody Jacob 116cm tall age 4 to 6 years

I know a 110cm is age 4 to 5 years so I am assuming a 116cm tall is 4 to 6 years. There is no 110cm in this pattern but then a larger hoody will work OK on most kids. I am as you probably guessed from what I wrote, after making some age 4 to 5 years clothing. The problem is the child the clothes I want to make that size for is in a 2 to 3 years at the momrnt. We plan ahead! 

We already have probably enough of 3 to 4 years clothing stored ready in a box. We will need some shorts and undies. 

That is we have enough winter clothes because small person will go up a size usually in September and assuming I can upcycle the current long trousers ( 2-3 years) into shorts and crops and the sweatshirts into short sleeved summer tops for next year.  Thats planned next spring cos right now he's still wearing 2 to 3s. 

H&M tracksuit cut down on sleeves and legs to summer clothing.

 By shortening trousers to shorts it does not matter the legs became too short or in tops sleeves too short because the waist and body actually still fits the size above .  This way you can get two seasons from the smaller size. So the above is 18-24m but by shortening it fits a 2-3 year old!

This is also working with Asda and Sainsbury's kids clothing though I do not yet know if Tesco or Morrisons will work because I have none to try but its certainly worth considering before you rush out and buy summer clothes in the next size up. Thats how we are doing it right now. I recently decided to take the linings out of winter trousers such as Next lined combats and h&m lined jeans giving summer combats/ jeans and if you cut carefully you can make a pair of loose fit trousers or pj bottoms made from the lining- just needs hem bands and a waist band. 

Next RTW winter lined combats with linng removed making them summer trousers and a lining that can become either comfy summer joggers/ shorts or a pair of PJ trousers - by adding cuffs and waistband. 

The below were me-made and I did alter the waistband to give wider elastic but otherwise just shortened. And hemmed. I am not completely sure but I think these were actually 12-18m. But they are bigger than much RTW and baggier. The red might even by 9-12m. They currently fit a 2 year old. May not get to the end of summer but they are fine and quite loose on small person at the moment. And he's a 90th centile so not a small kid!

Seems to me many RTW kids clothes are a con!

The dungarees I made last year become long enough with the elastic removed and hems let down. I will add a new narrow hem to these in the next few days. I do not think I blogged these one but I will be doing the same to the red flying saucer ones I made. I made these with 3 button straps. They will need the longest length but should still last for this summer, or most of it I think.

It seems most RTW kids clothes have similar waist sizes for 12 to 18m and 2 to 3 years so the trousers etc from last year easily upcycle to this years summer clothes meaning small person has huge amounts of clothing. And we save money and use the clothing much longer before we pass to charity.

Having loads of clothes though is going to be good for a holiday if he goes on any this year. I measured the 3 to 4 years RTW clothing against the 2 to 3 years and again the waist size is the same so it's just length is different meaning next summer I can simply upcycle the 2 to 3s again. Jeans become cut off shorts, no hem needed. Tracksuits become cute shorts suits or crops. Sweatshirts get short sleeves. 

The current winter long sleeved t- shirts that he is wearing right now will soon become short sleeved summer tops and later lose the sleeves completely to become winter vests next year. I am debating with myself whether to just shorted the 2-3Y sleeves right now or wait a bit. The thing is we have 3-4 years too which he could go into if it does turn cold and its really very tedious altering kids clothing like this so I need to get my act together before it gets hot - usually in May. Incidentally to make the same T shirts into vests last winter in some cases I had to remove the neck band as well but we went from 18 to 24m to 2 to 3 years and I think the head hole was bigger in a 2 to 3. There seems less, if any difference by 3-4y. 

So anyway that's what I have been doing. Loads of very boring, tedious upcycling of children's clothing and really because all I did was cut trousers/sweatshirts off, overlock and hem them it's really not worth a blog post. Though is worth a mention if it inspires people to save money and do the same.

So I have just made this sized 116cm Jacob hoody from the Made by Oranges B-Trendy patterns.

Due to lack of fabric the hem and wrists band are cut the opposite way. That's actually the direction of most stretch. Fabric was cheap which is probably why the stretch went the other way to that expected. It should work anyway. I made a top and trousers already and both have been nice to wear this winter. 

 It's a trial so made from scraps just to try out. I added thumb holes using the Feyr Trade pattern as a guide, just making the thumb hole piece much smaller. But that's the design I went with. I do not know if I made the wrists too big yet but will find out when small person grows. Since that's a couple of years I won't be making loads of these with thumb holes! 

I do want to get ahead though so i intend to make quite a few of these and needed to check the pattern seems about right size wise for a 4 to 5 or 6 year old. I think its about right going on the few things we have currently. So i shall make a few more sweatshirts in this size now.

 One thing I will change is either I need to have less hem on the hood edge or to make the hood itself slightly bigger cos as you can see it only just overlaps at CF and thats after resewing and stretching slightly to try and get it to fit. Its not brilliant but is wearable and after all its a muslin made from offcuts from my own top and trousers. 

Jacob is a nice pattern but I found in the smaller sizes its slightly short. Our small person is tall so could be that. Anyway I lengthened this size by 1.5cm. I think that should mean they get worn for a bit longer.

So my next task is to make a few of these to store for awhile till our small person gets to this size. I hate to be rushed when sewing so decided this is how to do it. When small person was born I had great ideas and he grew so fast I hardly finished anything. Now I am making several sizes up which not only means it will definitely be the correct size at some point but also it does not matter so much if the 4 to 5 or the 5 to 6 is what I actually make. It will be the right size. That's what matters. And I have time to do things right and not feel pressured.

 Possibly I may also make some trousers. Like cords or canvas. You know proper trousers.

Currently we have very little 4 to 5s so I am free to make whatever I want. That makes it fun for me. Otherwise it becomes a chore - like upcycling if last years clothes to get more from them. It's needed but its really not fun. And my sewing is meant to be for fun so it needs to be fun if you get me.

Have a lovely week

Bracken