Coordinating Outfits!

When the Child started school I started to get all sentimental about my baby being a proper, grown up girl and not being with me all day.  I have since got over that and am loving the extra time I've got at home.  I'm working three days a week (school hours) which leaves me two whole days to do what I want with, as long as I am back for school pick up at 3.30pm!

    

In celebration of this extra free time I decided to make us coordinating tops.  I let the child have free reign on KitschyCoo's website (pictures taken directly from there) to choose a few fabrics from which I would make the final decision.  As it happens, quite far up her list of about a million different prints, she chose the pink zebras which I am a big fan of.  I chose the grey cameras and between us we chose the grey stripe as a good coordinating neutral.  The grey is not quite an exact match to the grey of the cameras but it is so close and I think works really well.

For the Child's top I did what I always do and used the Skater Dress pattern's bodice and lengthened it to a top length (I added 13cm).  I actually sized up this time to the 5/6 as I have been using the 3/4 for the past two years.  This is a bit big for her but luckily she will grow, and hopefully she will get a good two years wear out of it.  I added a pocket to the front as she had seen a top in the Boden catalogue with stripy sleeves and a pocket which she asked me to copy.

For my top I used the Renfrew Pattern from Sewaholic.  A year ago I did a class at The Village Haberdashery with Zoe making the Renfrew top and it was so useful.  Zoe is an amazing teacher and the Village Haberdashery's classroom is just lovely.  Anyway, I have since made this pattern a couple of times and have made a few alterations to fit me a bit better.  I have traced the size 6 at the shoulders and neck, grading out to a 8 over the bust and waist.  I could probably do with a bit more room in the bust but on the whole I am really happy with the fit. I omitted the pocket on my top as there wasn't an appropriate place to put one!

We wore these outfits for my Husband's birthday treat to the De Havilland Museum in St Albans last weekend, and I didn't feel at all weird wearing a matching outfit to my 4 year old.  Maybe I have become normalised to this kind of behaviour now.  There will definitely be more matching clothes in our future, mostly because I can usually squeeze a child size piece of clothing out of an offcut from something I have made for me.  I just normally make sure we don't leave the house matching, but why not?!  So tell me, would you wear coordinating outfits with your child/partner/best friend/dog?

Zoe's Dolores Batwing Pattern!!

I am so excited that the amazing Zoe has announced her first pattern release (for sale on 3rd October - that's less than two weeks away!!).

I was very honoured to be asked to be a pattern tester and what a delight it was!  I actually took a photo of the glued together pattern pieces because this went together like a dream!  There are only 11 pages to the pattern and I was so excited to glue something together in my tiny room without moving furniture or banging my head or glueing the dog in the process.

I have made two of these gorgeous things so far.  The first is a short sleeved top length which has been so useful and has been worn such a lot. Before I go any further, please excuse the following photos.  My lovely Mum took them for me and she suggested the poses (she says to show the full shape of the sleeves but I think she just wanted me to look daft!), and I may or may not have had a glass of wine before taking them!

I did the entirety of the construction of both these on my overlocker, which was so exciting as they were among the first things I used it for!

The second version is probably not made from the most appropriate fabric but it is still amazing. This hasn't been worn quite so much purely because it is soooo hot!  It is going to be lovely and toasty in the winter and I think will look pretty cute with dark tights and trainers.  

There are going to be so many more of these in my future, it really is such an amazing pattern.  Thank you so much Zoe for asking me to be a tester!

OWOP 2014 - Roundup

Thank you so much to Jane for hosting this year's OWOP, I have thoroughly enjoyed my week of wearing my NewLook 6808 blouses and I was so happy to make a new one which had been planned for so long.  I do sometimes feel like I need a kick up the backside to get round to doing stuff!!

So, here are my photos (I'm sorry, they were all taken on my phone so they aren't great!):

Day 1: My Liberty top made with fabric I won in a giveaway but with the collar removed.  I wear this top at least once a week anyway so I though I would start with it.

Day 2: The same top for a lazy Sunday dog walking, cleaning and mooching.

Day 3: My favourite top with my new skirt which I made in 15 minutes from conception to wearing the night before.  I love it!!

Day 4: My silk/cotton confetti spot with a wine glass collar worn with jeans

Day 5: A newly completed 6808 using old shirts (I have just been donated another pile of shirts by my Dad after he saw what I did with this one - result!)

Day 6: Back to my favourite nautical top and my favourite outfit

Day 7: The shirt version worn a vintage pattern skirt

So, how do I feel about the pattern and the challenge?

• I still love this pattern but looking at the fit I can see I need to make some changes which I hadn't noticed before.  There will be more of these tops in my future so I will spend some time making sure the fit is right.
• I never accessorise!  I don't know why, I know I used to when I had an office job.  I don't have a lot of storage for accessories at the moment so I guess I never see them when I'm getting dressed.  
• I love my blue skirt and I really want to copy it before it gets worn out.  I'm going to miss it when it gets a bit colder.

I have enjoyed this challenge so much and I am glad I chose this pattern.  Thank you again to Jane for organising it!

My OWOP So Zo Inspired New Top!

I have been planning on making this top for a while but it kept getting pushed further and further down my queue until Handmade Jane's OWOP spurred me on to finally do it!

I started with a shirt donated by my Dad which was a bit stained and a bit worn out in the collar and cuffs but otherwise fine.  Completely copying Taking inspiration from Zoe I used New Look 6808 (which is my OWOP pattern) to take my shirt from this:

to this:

I really wanted to make a button back blouse and had thought to split the back like the Deer and Doe Datura Blouse but in the end went for the full button back.  This was so easy to do, I simply laid the pattern piece along the centre of the buttons, cut out one side then reversed the pattern to cut out the other side.  The beauty of this is keeping all the original buttons, button holes and hems - win!

The front of the blouse was cut from the back of the shirt, again using the original hem, and the sleeves were cut from....the sleeves!  This is all I had left after the cutting, a very economical use of a second hand shirt:

For the collar I used a second shirt, this one donated by my husband.  This one didn't have so much fabric on it as it was short sleeved to start with and had a lot of top stitching in random places.  I used the back and both front pieces and again there wasn't much left of the shirt when I had finished.  The collar is the same as I used on this version but instead of cutting it on the fold, I curved off the ends to accommodate the back button opening.

I am really happy with how this project turned out.  I do like the longer length, I don't have many tunic type tops but it was really comfortable to wear to work today and will be excellent for autumn.  I have noticed that the bust darts look really high on this top, I'm not sure whether its the bra I'm wearing or my bust had dramatically travelled south lately but before I make this pattern again I need to check that!