Butterick Sew Lisette B6183 Blue Chambray 70's pants

 Sometimes I see a pattern and I just know it's going to work and Butterick B6183 was one of those patterns.  It's by Liesl Gibson under her Sew Lisette brand.  The pattern cover photo features a cropped version of these trousers but full length are my preference, I don't really suit a cropped pant, especially a wide legged one, but I can work a flare!

The fabric is a light denim bought as a long length remnant from ebay a while ago.  It's twill weave but more of a chambray weight in a glorious 70s shade of mid blue.  I did make a test version in some grey poplin and I tweaked the pattern slightly.  I shortened the leg by 1" at the length adjustment point.  I took in the lower crotch a tiny bit and I shaped the straight waistband slightly- see the modifications lower down.  Otherwise, size 12 and the fit on my 27" waist and 36" hips was pretty good.  Obligatory booty shot...

The waist sits just below my natural waistline and I thought it might be a little restricting but not at all.  They are incredibly comfortable.  I don't have many trousers in my wardrobe and I've been keeping an eye out for a pattern I can make repeat pairs from and I think this is it.  I don't suit a tailored or skinny leg.  My legs and hips are curvy and the flared shape balances them and makes me look taller.

The construction is straightforward and quick too.  I love topstitching on relatively plain clothing so I added a few extra lines-double lines on the pockets and wider parallel lines on the hems and waistband.  The clogs are low wood brown nubucks from Lotta of Stockholm, I followed the seconds section every day until these came up!

I have no straightness at the waist on my body so I shaped the waistband to prevent the gaping that I got with the straight waistband on the test pair.  I created a small dart at the right side of the waistband where there is no fastener.  This is ½"across at the widest point and starts and stops at the seam allowance on each edge.  Once the long edges are brought together it make a slight slope on one side of the waistband.

On the other side, which overlaps above a concealed zip with a large hook clasp fastening, I drew in half the dart to shape the edge to replace the straight seam.  I only did this on one of the edges as this covers up the other!

If I am having a bloating sort of day, I just undo the clasp.  On a normal day it is comfortable fastened.

A used a little Liberty lawn lining from a salvaged shirt on the pocket facings...

Despite my rather static facial expression, these are happy pants!  The length works with low clogs and flat sandals although I would probably avoid wet weather, I don't want wet, flappy flares.   I am wearing it with one of last years Belcarra tops.

 I really love them!  What trouser pattern would you recommend?

August at Village Haberdashery

Annie has been busy with a least minute pop-up shop at Festival of Quilts last week but whilst she was hauling her stock to Birmingham and back there has been a stack of new arrivals at Village Haberdashery and there are some amazing colours to seen amongst them!  Annie and Caroline are busy updating their shop inventory festival so if something shows out of stock, check with them as it may just be waiting to be processed!

Let's start with the much awaited Tiger Lily from Heather Ross.  I've been seeing glimpses of this from bloggers who picked up samples via quilt market and there's a few prints I have my eye on!

This is only a selection, at the moment there are a grand total of 21 different prints in stock- only 12 shown in this picture!  I love the colour variety from pale low volume style pastels to the deep grassy green!  There are also three prints on a 54" wide lawn.

You can find all the Heather Ross Tiger Lily quilt cotton prints here including build a bundle, the lawn fabrics here and co-ordinating Kona solids here.

Lotta Jansdotter's new Lucky fabrics have just arrived so be prepared for more saturated colour! 

Annie describes them as stash builders, I think of them as jumbo prints as the patterns are on a large scale.  These make me think of the Bella Mountians duvet cover I designed for Annie a few years back.  Mine is still in regular use!  These prints would work beautifully with this pattern!   

Think of these next fabric range as a moment to rest the eyes amidst the blast of colour!  Nature trail is a pretty floral/cute animal mix from Bethan Janine for Dashwood Studios which captures late summer perfectly.  The standout fabric for me is the border print which is perfect for a simple gathered skirt or little girl's dress.  You can see all the other prints here.

This range also works well with a new Cotton+Steel basic, Sprinkle.  This pic came from the shop twitter feed!  See more on Sprinkle later in this post. 

Alison Glass's first Handcrafted fabrics brought a whole new look to batiks and were incredibly popular.  There was even a mini-quilt swap on Instagram featuring only those fabrics!  Handcrafted 2 the sequel has arrived with a repeat of some designs, some new additions a fresh colour selection.  Village Haberdashery is the first shop in the UK to have this range!

You can also see Annie showing all the prints in a handy video on Youtube.

This next selection of fabric gives me the biggest smile because at last we all get to buy Karen Lewis's amazing Blueberry Park prints in all their colourful glory.  We will need a little patience as this is a pre-order offer.

If fabric shops can get pre-orders in advance, they can offer more to their customers as they have a guaranteed order to place with the fabric company reps - at least I think this is how it works!  There are 75 different fabrics in this range which is more than most shops have either space or money to stock.  Pre-ordering bundles like these is one way to give customers access to all the prints.  They are on offer too.  A good option if you want to maximise colours is to go in with a friend, buy a bundle each and then cut each fat quarter in half so you have fat eights of everything!

There are ample pretties and bursts of colour with the latest Cotton+Steel collections.  Melody Miller's Picnic has instant appeal with the giant apples and picnic baskets!

Rashida Coleman-Hale's Zephyr range is a quieter mix of colours and prints but they have really grow on me, Annie has a lovely selection here:

The new Cotton+Steel blender print, Sprinkle is a winner and comes in a lively selection of colours

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Annie has made a Cotton+Steel new selection video which is a great way to get a sense of print scale and colours. Enjoy!

Zakka Workshop: Purse Kits Review

A few years ago, clasp purses were all the rage.  I made a few from teeny and tiny, to middle and clutch bag size so when Zakka Workshop asked me if I'd like to try out some of their new Purse kits I was happy to do so.  Their kits contain a metal frame, paper string, an instruction booklet and full size pattern templates.

They sent me some kits and I got to work!  To make a purse with one of their kits you will also need fabric, interfacing or fusible fleece and a strong glue like Gütermann textile.

The little rounded 'Spare Change' purse on the left was an easy make.  I followed the instructions to the letter and  although some steps are a little fiddly, as they often are with small items, it was straightforward.  Then I went on to the Vintage Clasp Wallet which has an internal pocket and I had a few hiccups following the instructions so here are my observations!  All the purses have a fold-out instruction booklet with a mix of photographic instructions of one side and detailed diagram and text instructions on the other. Sometimes there are photographs as well as diagrams and texts for a particular step and you can choose which you would rather follow.

I also found that sometimes this adds to confusions as the photographs can be from a different purse than the one you are making and the instruction is not strictly relevant!   I found this on the vintage clasp purse at step 3a As with their other patterns and kits, Zakka Workshop have adapted and translated  the patterns from Japanese sewing books that are often now out of print and this explains the occasional mismatch.  They are aware of this and will change it if it goes to reprint.  It is definitely confusing especially if you are new to purse making. 

I noticed on all the patterns that fusible interfacing is listed in the materials.  This makes me think first of interfacing like Shape Flex but the instruction photographs show fusible fleece on some purses and fusible interfacing on others.  I used Shape Flex with the little purse and fleece with the larger vintage clasp purse and both worked.   Cutting out lots of layers of interfacing outer and lining is a bit if a pain so  where I could I block fused interfacing and fleece and that reduces the cutting.  I also traced the pattern template onto freezer paper and pressed it onto the interfacing/fabric sandwich.

There were a couple of things I noticed on the pattern pieces.  On the Vintage Clasp Wallet, the pattern pieces need to be cut on the fold and this isn't explicitly stated on the pattern pieces - instead the fold line is indicated.   If you are using a single direction fabric design for the purse outer like I did , you could do like I did and cut two outside sections adding a quarter inch seam allowance at the fold line and join with a seam.  The base of the pattern is a little confusing.  The seam allowance is left off and I wasn't sure where to cut so I checked with Lindsay at World Book Media about this , her advice was

"When you cut out the pattern piece, you do not cut out the square. Instead, you just cut out straight along the seam allowance line (refer to attached photo labeled Pattern Piece)."

You can see where this is in the first pic in this post.   I had already cut out along the lines and the purse still worked out fine!

Both purses were offered to my daughter and I haven't seem them since which must be considered a success!  You can find the kits at: Zakka Workshop.  If you are in the UK, I have seen Zakka Workshop products at Sewhot so maybe they will be stocking these kits.

Cataloguing Kona Solids

I plan to use a lot of Kona solid fabrics in my Farmers Wife 1930s quilt-along blocks and when I looked at the piles of fat quarters and half yard I had piled in to a drawer I realised I needed a system.  I do have an old Kona card from years back - many new colours have been introduced since then - they are a bit of an investment but there's no denying they are also very useful.  Plush Addict currently have one on offer if you are looking...

Many fabric shops will add an identifying sticker label to solid fabrics which is a great help.   I don't like to leave these on the fabric though for fear of a sticky mark so I write the colour name on the selvedge at both ends using a Pigma Micron fine permanent maker.  When I use the fabric, I try and keep this bit of selvedge attached.

To stop myself buying duplicates, I started a spreadsheet in XL with the official colour name, my own description if needed, how much I had, plus a column at the end to tick if I wanted more.

It makes me feel organised in an otherwise slightly chaotic crafty space!  

Thank you for the amazing response to the #fw1930sqal announcement.  I have a lovely group of guest bloggers who will inspire you with their blocks and share their different skills, techniques and fabric choices.  You do not need to use 1930s style fabrics -  you can use whatever you like!  If you have an a  system for cataloguing your solid fabrics, please share!

Boats at Sea Factory Dress

I've been wearing this dress off and on since June and meaning to share it ever since.  I make most of my clothes with a specific activity or day out in mind.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, this dress was made for a local weekend away where I knew we'd be doing a fair amount of walking and spending time on the beach.  I wanted something practical and comfortable and the large boatprint needed a relatively simple style.

I returned to the Merchant and Mills Factory dress pattern which has proved more versatile than I thought!  This time, I left off the pointed collar and the pocket from my original style alterations as I thought they would clutter up the print.  I used a scrap of Oakshott cream coloured cotton for the simpler collar and most of my time was spent on balancing the print.

The photos are a little adhoc.  We had just walked along a coastal path and the rain had stopped so I asked my daughter to take some quick pics on my iPhone, the setting was too good to pass up!

The fabric is a very good quality linen, maybe there's a little cotton in there too.  Light to medium weight and sufficiently opaque not to need lining.  I bought it for a song at an outdoor market but Pin It and Stitch have been selling it and so have Patch Fabrics.  For pattern matching, I tended to rely on matching and tracing bits of the design on the pattern paper.  I cut the bodice and the skirt so that the print looked continuous down the centre line.  The placket was the hardest part as although it looks integral, it is added as a separate piece as on my previous Factory dress.  As before, I followed the placket instructions in David Page Coffins Shirtmaking book which has just reappeared online at a normal price so I am guessing it has been through a re-print!  

 Both my altered factory dresses have been summer wardrobe stalwarts: airy and comfortable and a great shape to showcase the fabrics involved.

Last year, the Alder dress was my top choice of pattern - I made two;  this year it has been the Factory dress.  Do you have a top dressmaking pattern for this summer?

My Small World QAL: Part 4

Lisa from Vintage Modern Quilts is your host for constructing part 4 of My Small World.  She has some very handy tips on templates, seam allowances, appliqué and a whole host of general tips that will improve accuracy and the overall look of your quilt.  She's also being posting on Instagram as @vintagemodernquilts and the hashtag #mysmallworld will show you everyone's progress

I found this quite a straightforward section and whizzed through it quite quickly.  I am trying to repeat some of the fabrics from earlier sections and as ever I try just to concentrate on the block I am doing at any one time whilst keeping an eye on the bigger picture from time to time.  

For the clam shells, I used a mix of freezer paper/starch and tip of an iron to turn over the raw edges- double layer freezer is even better- just iron another layer on top of the paper so that there is still a waxy side underneath and paper side facing you - and Mary Dugan's method of layering and hand sewing the clam shells to a base. I did stubble a little keeping them aligned.  Having pencil lines on the back of the base of the actual size of the finished section helped. 

 I am now prepping for parts 5 and 6 and the finish line is in sight.  Katy Cameron has some excellent ideas on how to deal with the green section in part 5 and save a bit of fabric!

Final Week: Finishing The Little Joys Quilt

It's final week of the Fat Quarter Shop Little Joys quilt along, the 'Present' or 'Season of Giving' block.   and I managed to get my sashing done and plan exactly how to finish this project off.

The finishing instructions are here.  I am going to make the quilt top into a fabric cloth for work.  I run music classes for children from 0-4 years and come December, I will be well into my Christmas themed classes and there is much covering up/revealing of items so this project will be perfect for that.  

The green and white print (top left) is the backing and I will sew the top and backing together- maybe just using the grid formed by the sashing, just enough stitching to hold the layers.  The I plan to make prairie points for the edge in the red dotty print: Penny has a great tutorial on this.  I also wanted to bring in pink print that I wanted to show more of so this will form a binding strip between the prairie points and the cream fabric- I also plan on rounding the corners.  This video shows the effect I am hoping for.  Thank you to Daniar, Kimberly and the other staff at The Fat Quarter Shop for providing me with a kit and for offering a rather charming and quick to make pattern, designed by Elea Lutz who also designed the cute prints. I now have to get this done, just so I can feel extraordinarily well prepared for December!