Saturday 22 August 2015

Reasons to be cheerful ....

Who'd of thought one of life's enjoyments (Blogging) can get so easily pushed, swept and pretty much banished, when  the great old life itself takes over!
There's has been lots of sewing during my latest abstinence... but not a lot of photo taking, which really tends to hold the whole blogging process up.
So without further adieu and pardon me please - I'm going to cheat a little and cram in a collective trio of makes, so a longer post than perhaps it should be. After completing my first Made-Me-May, it revealed a distinct lack gapping hole in the trouser depo! Why?... I have know idea, so the task was set to plug the said gaps and giving me reasons to be cheerful...

First up, these funky palazzo pants in a great geometric design made from cotton viscose bought last year sometime; the colours were a little different for me too.. The kids were all " Errr mum, have you turned all hippy or somethink!" Pattern choice was McCalls 6965  previously made the shorts last year here and from these, I knew that the crotch would need to be lowered a little, (approx 1cm) call me fussy but it just takes out the feeling of a cheese-wire constantly been pulled up through your butt!  At least I found that out on the shorts- these pants eat up a whooping 3 meters of fabric! 
They feel lovely and swooshy to wear especially on the odd few summer days (lots of humid ones..cheers) that have been bestowed on us here in England, for keeping cool.
The top, the simplest, yet most effective tank pattern ever, adapted from a pattern I can't recall right now but have used it so much now I really need to make a block pattern for keepers - I bought a length of this weird slashed stretchy floral, but when I really looked at it - well you couldn't imagine a whole item in it ..that would be crazy 
Next up and in complete contrast, were these cropped and tapered pants from Butterick 5614, Fashioned in a stretch cotton drill; I call these my Cath Kidston pants...the floral design reminds me of her style.  
I particularly like the smooth  clean lines of this pattern, although generally I do find myself searching for a pocket, boy you soon get used to having them around! As the fabric has a nice amount of stretch, they're lovely and comfy, the waistband does comes a little high though - which is 1)great for bending and not showing next weeks washing but 2) not sure if a tad "mumsie"? ... some adjustments in lowering this would be on the cards next time- Oh and the other thing ...stretch drill doesn't it bag after some wearing, don't you find? 
A couple of minor digressions to the finished article, included seam detailing, any excuse to play around with the new cover-machine :) and the bottom slits were closed to gain a more tapered look. Overall, happy face and would/will make a gain.  
The top - McCalls 7127- super easy to knock-up and super easy to wear - another gap filler from MMM15 ... a red top! - this ponte-roma jersey is from my store @£6.75 p/m and an absolute dream to work with, I promise you not - also available in a dark grey and winter white - NB- the red does bleed a bit on first wash. 

Cover-machine stitching!
Final reason on the cheerful radar left me in the pink! Classic semi tailored/casual shorts in cotton drill were on the cards for this summer, a rummage through the old pattern stash, yeah Butterick 5649   seemed perfect for a baby pink cotton drill and to jezzaz it up a wee bit, trim with Windham plaid from the studio.  

This was also a first for a fly front and have to say reasonably straight forward (Fluke I'm sure) again although please there is a little piece that says "hmmm mumsie waistline" ?

Tee-HEEEEEEEE shirt -love this top and will defo become a staple - although any followups won't include bust darts...so wished i followed my instincts of "who puts bust darts in a jersey top" just no need. 
there we go then folks - some of my summer roundups that provided reasons to be cheerful! 
Amanda XX