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January Makes

Amy PLeave a comment

Well, hello there! Been a while.

Dipping my toe back in the old blogging waters and doing a quick up-sum of my January 2025 makes.

Knitting is in short supply these days, unlike the halcyon days of the early to mid 2000s, so all of these are sewing. I find it keeps my attention better because I spend less time actually making and more time wearing!

A plus sized woman with cropped pink hair and glasses wears a long sleeved t-shirt with another t-shirt draped over half her body to show the similarities.

First up was trying to mimic a ready to wear t-shirt I have but making it in a non-plastic fabric. I chose the Copper Creek Anything But Basic Tee (Plus) pattern. I went up two sizes to get the fit I wanted and I really like the result I got. Fabric was just some cotton mix I had in my stash for a while. I’ll be making three more versions in various other fabrics so stay tuned for those.

A plus sized woman with cropped purple hair wears a long sleeved, above the knee, dress in a black and white circles print.

Next up was another wearable mock, this time the Nomi Dress from Sew Over It in a mystery jersey fabric from Abakhan in Manchester. I added pockets, of course, and I love the fit and how comfortable it is, but I wished I’d lengthened the skirt by a couple of centimetres.

A plus sized woman with cropped purple hair wears a long sleeved, below the knee, lantern-shaped dress in a black fabric with a detached cowl in the same fabric.

I then made another dress, the Mimosa Lantern Dress by Sinclair Patterns. I had some problems with all the overlapping size info on the A0 print but managed to battle through that, nearly running out of fabric and having to cut the back upper skirt in two pieces, and the wobbly large longitudinal seam of the skirt. However, it’s very comfy and the pockets are nice and roomy. I made the cowl detached so I had the option and flexibility to add or remove it.

Flat lay of two pairs of high waisted knickers with plain colours on the front and back and the side panels in floral/leafy prints.

Lastly I made another four pairs (only two pictured) of my beloved Panel Undies by Rad Patterns using a variety of different jersey scraps and lovely picot elastic from Cloth Kits.

(LOL! These were from February. Sorry! I’ve a lot on my mind right now and have no idea what month it is!)

And that’s it! See you next month. Hopefully.

Plateau Joggers

Amy PLeave a comment
A plus sized woman standing in front of a pebble dashed wall and a blue painted wooden gate, wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print. She's hamming it up and flaring her hands out to the side like she's in a musical!
Life is a cabaret, old chum, so come to the cabaret!

Ta Da! Presenting the Plateau Joggers from Closet Core Patterns, part of their Montreal Collection. I was lucky enough to be able to test these back in January and I don’t think I’ve stopped wearing them since.

A plus sized woman standing in front of a pebble dashed wall wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print. She is looking off to the right and is adjusting her hair. Her right hand is in her pocket.
Why so serious?

It’s a shame the print I chose is so busy because you can’t see the cool wrap-around pocket detail, but I plan on making another pair in a plain fabric, so stand by for that!

A plus sized woman is wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print. There are three photos in one image showing her putting her hand into her pocket in stages.
Pocketssssssss

Pattern(s): Plateau Joggers from Closet Core.

Fabric: cotton/elastane floral print jersey from Minerva (from stash).

Notions: Gutermann thread. Waistband elastic. Cuff elastic. Braided drawstring. All from stash.

A plus sized woman standing in front of a pebble dashed wall and a blue painted wooden gate, wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print. She has her left hand in her pocket and is turned slightly away from the camera.
90s album cover

Notes/Modifications:

  • Cut a size 16 with no modifications (it was requested as part of the test to make as few adjustments as possible).
  • At the time I made these I measured as a “17” but opted to cut a straight size 16 because I was at the “zenith” of my usual size range and my fabric was a medium-weight jersey with about 40% horizontal stretch and 10% vertical.
  • Graded the seam allowances at the waistband before I top stitched them down.
  • Opted for buttonholes for the drawstring over metal eyelets due to the weight of the fabric.
  • Reinforced the buttonholes with knit interface and a scrap of the jersey on the back.
  • Used a special buttonhole stitch on my machine designed for knit fabrics.
A plus sized woman standing in front of a pebble dashed wall and a blue painted wooden gate, wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print.
Kind of camouflaged with the pebble dash!

The adjustments made by Closet Core from the tester version to the final version are as follows:

  • General adjustments to grading to ensure consistency between all sizes, particularly from knee to ankle to taper leg.
  • Shortened leg 0.75″ (2cm)
  • Adjusted shape/depth of crotch, corrected/trued front and back legs at crotch seam allowance
  • Adjusted seams at front pocket to help prevent gaping
  • Adjusted back rise (longer and more curved)
  • Removed some ease from side seam and rebalanced leg.

So keep this in mind if you see my version and aren’t sure whether or not the fit would work for you.

Further thoughts:

I really love how these turned out and I’m planning on making the shorts version soon, possibly another trousers version in jersey and possibly another pair in a woven (cut two sizes larger to compensate).

A plus sized woman standing in front of a pebble dashed wall and a blue painted wooden gate, wearing a plain black t-shirt and elasticated cuffed joggers in a very busy floral print. She is pointing her left foot towards the camera in a mock kick.
Can I kick it? Yes I can!

Note: I received compensation for participating in this test sew. All views and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by this payment.

Make Nine 2021

Amy PLeave a comment

Here’s my (belated) grid for my own personal Make 9 challenge for 2021.

a three by three grid with text as follows: cardigan, pair of shorts, skirt, dress, various tops (sleeveless, tunic, etc), knitted jumper, pair of trousers, pyjamas (for me and mum), leggings.

I will admit that it’s a little bit more utilitarian than last year!

I went too specific in 2020 and only managed to make four out of the nine (I think). Extenuating circumstances and that, but still, not a great conversion rate!

For some of the projects I do have specific patterns in mind, but I’m trying to keep other things fairly flexible in case (when I do) change my mind later on.

Here are my plans, using the old map grid numbering format:

A1: Cardigan. Planning on making the Slouchy Cardigan by In The Folds in some lovely gothy ripped-and-embroidered mesh jersey.

B1: Pair of Shorts. These will be a trial run for A3 (spoilers) and I’m planning on using Glissando by Love Notions in some vintage cotton with a lovely leaf print.

C1: Skirt. Pattern TBA, but I’ll be using a lovely sequinned and embroidered black cotton poplin.

A2: Dress. Both pattern and fabric TBA but I’d love to make some sort of dress this year.

B2: Various Tops. I’ve got a lot of fabric and patterns to make a lot of tops for both me and my mum. Planning on using Sorbetto, Ashton, and/or Preston Tunic to make some/all. I’d also like to make a York Pinafore so I’ll squeeze that in under this heading, although I may end up counting it as a dress!

C2: Knitted jumper. I know what pattern I’m using for this, but first I need to finish spinning the yarn for it. No pressure!

A3: Pair of Trousers. Glissando, probably, or a repeat of Simplicity 5074 that last year I modified into a pair of “balloon” trousers. I’ve got some lovely black and white swirly print medium-weight cotton for these.

B3: Pyjamas. At least 2 pairs for mum and one for me. Probably. Hopefully.

C3: Leggings. At least 2 pairs of ankle length leggings. I’m going to start with the DIBY Anything But Basic Leggings and see how that goes. I also have the Duathlon Shorts, so may give those a go if I currently fit into the sizing. Plain black and grey jersey for the DIBY ones.

All fabrics are/will be from stash.

I have other plans for things that would be nice to get around to (a large quilts, for example) but this isn’t bad for a start. I’m also waiting to start a test sew for an indie pattern company so I may count that as one of the grids. Cheeky!

A quick FO round-up

Amy PLeave a comment

Oops! Well, when life happens, my blog tends to get neglected.
My creativity and productivity wasn’t sky high in 2020 (I think I had many fewer finished objects than previous years) and I won’t make firm promises for this year, but here’s a quick up-sum of the end of the year (and beginning of this year) projects.

A pair of socks for my dad:

a pair of green striped socks laying flat on cream coloured fabric

24 mini skeins of yarn spun as part of an Advent swap:

24 mini skeins of yarn arranged into a Christmas tree form

 

A cross stitch piece I started in 2018:cross stitch piece un-ironed that says "Home is where the yarn is" and a small motif of a ball of yarn with needles stuck in it

Three pairs of knickers:

a pair of short style undies made in striped fabric

two pairs of brief style underwear in black and striped fabrics

I lost focus quite a bit last year so I’m setting myself some loose short-, medium-, and long-term goals with regards making things. I think I’ll do another Make 9 challenge, but keep it fairly non-specific!

A Six PAC?

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A photo mosaic of 6 images of various items of clothing

Make 9? What’s Make 9?

Of course I’d get distracted from one personal challenge by another. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t!

Over on The Sewing Place forum there runs a series of fun monthly contests alongside two seasonal capsule wardrobe challenges. Very late in the day, I’m joining in with the latter.

The idea is to great two 3-piece capsule “collections”, with 5 new pieces and one commercial or pre-made item. And this is mine!

So, Capsule One, from top left to top right we have:

A photo mock up of a pinafore with black and white circle print fabric
The York Pinafore in some lightweight-ish printed cotton upholstery fabric I’ve had in my stash for years.
A woman standing in front of a pale background wearing a bright red asymmetric top. She has her right hand near her right hip and her left hand is moving up towards her head. She is facing towards from the camera.
My pre-made item is my Japanese-Inspired Top from last year.
Photo mock up of plain black leggings
“Anything but Basic Leggings” in plain black or grey cotton lycra will complete the outfit.

Capsule Two is (from bottom left to bottom right):

Photo mock up of a long line slouchy cardigan in a black textured knit fabric
Slouchy Cardigan in an amazing textured, ripped, mesh jersey that makes my inner wannabe-goth sing.
Photo mock up of a sleeveless top in a bright orange circles print.
Ashton Top in long-stashed waxed cotton print (there are silver sparkles!).
Photo mock up of a wide legged trouser with patch pockets in a swirly black and white print
And the same trouser pattern I adapted to make my balloon trousers, in a lovely swirly black and white printed cotton (in stash for many years).

The fabrics for the cardigan and the leggings are new, but everything else is from stash.

Now for the tricky part. I won’t be able to do much if any sewing until the end of September and the deadline is the second week of November. Can I do it? If you’re a betting person, I wouldn’t mortgage your house on it!