Butterfly T-Shirt

 Just a very quick post to show you my butterfly T-Shirt.

This was made with one metre of fabric bought for silly money at FabricLand in Bournemouth during a recent trip to stay with friends. I was generously surprised by our host taking me just 10 minutes down the road to the Fabricland Warehouse and this was one of 6 peices I bought.

The fabric is super stretchy and it feels very comfortable. I like the fact that it hugs me and is the length I like my T-shirts to be as well as the sleeve length being right. This could only happen when you draft and sew for yourself.

Sewing my own clothes is a great hobby, not only can I now make clothes that fit and feel comfortable on me but I have a unique outfit for a fraction of RTW.

I do have an issue though and that is to do with inspiration. I subscribe to BurdaStyle and My Image magazines and follow a lot of bloggers and vloggers who all show of their latest patterns and makes.

They are all very young though and trying to find age appropriate designs is not simple.

I was reminded of this when I found a great pattern in the latest bi-annual issue of My Image. The pattern looked great and I had the perfect fabric, a silver grey crushed velvet. It was a bomber jacket with ribbing at the waistline, cuffs and neck edges.

I have made the garment and although it's not perfect, it turned out pretty much like the picture in the magazine and I am pleased with the fit but I will be 70 years old later this year and I wonder if I should be wearing a bomber jacket or am I just in denial?

Nauty Cross Body Bag

A bag with a nautical flavour. This was a free giveaway pattern for a limited time from So Sew Easy that I downloaded after watching the video tutorial that went with it.

It was really easy to make but like most bags the huge amount of time was taken in cutting out the pieces and fusing interfacing. To be honest I left out fusing the lining as my fabric for both the outer and lining were quite stiff and I didn't want to add too much weight.

I bought the nautical fabric from The Fabric Man on one of his Friday visits to Redhill Market at a stupidly cheap price and I'm so delighted with the result.

The idea of making a bag that was meant to be smaller than my previous one was to stop me carrying so much which was making it heavy.

I don't think I have a lot, keys, wallet, glasses and cellphone mainly but it seemed to always fill up [probably overnight while I was asleep!] with things I never remember having added to which, I'm sure most of my female readers, will have also experienced.

However, although this bag looks a lot smaller I've still managed to accommodate everything from the previous one although it does feel lighter to carry - or is that just my imagination?

Well the design is very professional and all the pieces went together as they should and I'm very happy with the result.

I have made a wallet from this blog site before and that was equally well designed so I wasn't surprised at the way this came together so well.

As you can see the closure is a magnetic clasp and the front navy blue pocket is deep enough to keep membership cards and receipts without them falling out.

The back of the bag has a secure zipped pocket and the space behind is also a pocket but with no closure.

Taking a photo of the inside proved a little tricky but I hope you can see the space left even after my keys, tissues, pen and glasses have been stowed away in their appropriate pockets.

The strap is very sturdy and can be unclipped although apart from putting it on another bag I'm not sure why you would want to take it off.

With my success I also made a self drafted Bum Bag.

I've recently joined a group in our local park in Reigate for some fitness classes and I realised that I need somewhere to keep my car keys and a small amount of cash for a coffee in the cafe afterwards. Actually the coffee hasn't happened yet as I'm so exhausted after the hour that it's all I can do to crawl back to my car!! Still it's getting easier so it must be doing some good!!

Anyway, I had an old bum bag that was a horrible faded red which I took apart and traced around to create my pattern. I then stitched my new bag and used the straps from the original. It turned out rather well for a test so as I have some of the nautical fabric left I think I'll make another bum bag to match it.

I have no excuses not to get fit now....

Lining Trousers

I've always wanted to see what a difference lining a pair of trousers would be. I decided with a white / cream crepe that was see through that I didn't have a choice. Time to experiment.

I made the trousers with my SFD Body Blueprint and then cut out the same again in a satin lining fabric leaving out the pockets. Once I'd made up the outer pair I then made up the lining and pinned then both together at the waist. When I attached the waistband through both layers the lining was then attached. It was a lot easier than I had imagined it would be.

But now I needed to test the wearing of them. We have had some really hot days here in the UK and a white suit seemed appropriate for a meeting I wanted to attend. Would the trousers prove to be too hot and sweaty? I was so pleasantly suprised to find I not only looked cool, I felt cool. The satin lining felt super sexy against my skin and the outer fabric couldn't stick to me so it hung well and prevented any show through. A very cool result.

The waiscoat was made from the surplus fabric and apart from tending to feel a little like an Elvis lookalike competition entry, it's not too bad...

The welt pockets I am delighted with as I seem to have conquered that tricky little technique as posted in a previous blog

Certainly the butterfly fabric I used to make the shirt brings it to life. I bought this from the Fabric Man who has a stall on Friday Mornings in Redhill market. He mostly has a huge variety of cottons at very cheap prices but this has a slight stretch which made it perfect for a fitted shirt. I already had the exact colour for the contrast which broke up the garment from being completely overwhelmed by butterflies.

I didn't take a close up photo but I did embroider a butterfly on one of the collar points. This turned out to be a stupid mistake on my part. I found the butterfly and matched the threads to the shirt. I carefully marked the centre on the collar exactly where I planned to have the butterfly at a 45 degree angle, so far so good. I then centred the design exactly over my marked centre point and stitched it out. So what is wrong you ask? Well I hadn't taken enough notice of the fact the design was already at an angle so by marking and placing the design at an angle I have ended up with the butterfly straight on instead of slanted. Only a little thing but it matters to me.

Oh well, back to the drawing board...

I do have a T-shirt and a cross body bag that turned out better than I had hoped so that'll be in my next blog.