Back when I went fabric shopping in Hong Kong with Vicki one of the things I absolutely fell in love with was a woven monochrome wool, a bit like houndstooth but more like stars (or at least, more like stars in my eyes).
I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to turn it into a coat, and found myself stood with Vicki in the baking heat trying to figure out how much material I’d need for a winter coat (a very strange experience I must say).
I settled on three metres, but, when I got home and remeasured the fabric, I discovered a fatal flaw in my plan; I might have been talking in metres but the shop owner was definitely listening in yards! That left me with 2.7 m of fabric – not a shabby amount but not quite as much to play with.
Then I started looking for the perfect pattern. I found it, it was glorious.
Over the last few months I’ve been noticing something strange in amongst my usual sewing projects. Namely that there’s been things that haven’t been made by me for me. It seems that – unwittingly – I may have become an unselfish sewer.
Clue 1 – Christmas waistcoats
It started off casually enough when, building on our Christmas card, I made matching waistcoats for the boy’s brothers for Christmas. Yes, it’s a gift but well, they’re part of a joke, nothing more. Plus I’d already made a white one for the boy, so making two more wasn’t much of a hassle.
My brother is a lover of loud vintage shirts and I figured what could be better than a loud vintage shirt chosen by your sister but a loud vintage-esque shirt made by your sister? This train of thought led to my making a Negroni shirt for him for Christmas using the most insanely loud Liberty fabric I’ve ever seen from the rag market (and man do I love that fabric).
It was a dream to make up and even more of a dream when, on Christmas day, not only did he love it as soon as he opened it but it was a perfect fit (I’d been a bit worried about making something without any measurements).
As for the particularly professional photos with this one, my brother’s a DJ and he also runs amazing events in Bristol, so the fact he wore the shirt to one of their events is pretty much the highest honour I could ask for!
Clue 3 – Secret Valentine’s Exchange
In mid-January sign ups went live for this year’s Secret Valentine Exchange. I’d not taken part before, but I know a lot of people who really love it as a swap, so thought I’d get on board. Besides, it’s not really selfish sewing if you’re going to get something in return, right?
My gift went to Nina, and based on her love of orange and blue and her frankly awesome knitting skills I made her a knitting needle roll using this tutorial from Guthrie & Ghani. The chambray was in my stash from my shirt dress, whilst the orange came from a single fat quarter. I made the piping out of some bias binding I had. I also sent some yarn and knitting needles, because you can’t have an empty needle holder or needles with nothing to go on them!
The boy’s sister-in-law has just had a baby, making me an auntie by proxy, so of course I sewed something up for the little baby, I mean, he’s so cute (baby not boy) that it would have been cruel not to. Plus, I already had the bib pattern from the sewing I’ve been doing as a part of The Big Sew (which, yes, is also unselfish, but shh, or rather, click through and find out how you can help!) so it wasn’t even like it was that big of a deal. Honest.Verdict
It seems it’s confirmed. I am a handmade gift giver, no two ways about it. Still, given that my next few projects are all for me, I don’t think the title will stick too hard!
A loose-fitting button up blouse with pleated sleeves and altered by me to have a pussy bow collar and piping on the yoke.
Is it blue?
No!
What’s the fabric?
A flimsy material (not very good with technical terms….) that’s white and covered in teeny red polka dots
What’s the pattern?
I used the same pattern that I used for the blue blouse, but followed the instructions in the book to add the piping on the yoke and this hack tutorial on the collar
Where’s the fabric from?
The Fancy Silk Store in Birmingham
What was good about making this?
Managing to get the hack to work and figuring out how to do the piping
What was bad about making this?
The fabric was slippery which made it a bit hard. It also took me a while to figure out how to do the piping without actual piping. I ended up getting bias binding, sandwiching it and trimming it down. Looked pretty effective though so ultimately a plus.
Would you make it again?
I’m not sure. I like the softness of this blouse far more than the previous one, but with both versions they’re pretty low cut on me so I have to wear them vest tops underneath. If anyone has a suggestion for an alternative feminine blouse that I could make that has a slightly higher neckline it would be much appreciated!
It came together pretty quickly, I was impressed with how clear the Colette instructions were, I liked the boat neckline
What was bad about making this?
I’ve since learnt that Colette model their bodice on a c-cup. I am not a c-cup. This explains why I had the usual issue of the dress being way too big on the bust, even though I graded this pattern before starting. However, as I wore it with a belt, this hid quite a lot of sins! Also, setting sleeves was quite a big learning curve!
Would you make it again?
Yes, but I’d use a fabric with more drape and I’d also learn how to do a SBA
