this is my wearable muslin made from a freebie mystery fabric. out of curiosity i tried a burn test - i think it’s probably 100% cotton. i did a reasonable job of matching the stripes (on the facings as well as at the side seams), but the topstitching is a bit haphazard, i’ll try to keep it at 1/8 rather than 1/4 on the real deal, which will be her birthday party dress. at the moment i’m thinking reversible, one side in the fab embroidered cotton, other in pink linen/cotton with appliques cut from the embroidered stuff.

it went together pretty well without the aid of much instruction. stef did a great job at translating, though she was lost on a couple of technical terms, but it turned out they were pretty minimal anyway (i.e. even briefer than ottobre). i’m glad i did as instructed with the straps and sewed them right sides together then turned, rather than folded under and topstitched as i’d have been tempted to, as they’re not at all stiff. otoh i’m less pleased with the end result of the pleats. again it has you sew the strips rst and turn. i did this with a minimal SA but it still left me very little room to manoevre when i came to attach them to the hem. it also left a ridiculously thick wodge to sew through, especially a the side seams where i was sewing through 17 layers :eek:. while it gives a good weight to the hem it’s pretty stiff.

i won’t have the same problem with the next version as the pleats can just be sandwiched between the layers, so no need to turn a very long tube either, should make a quick pattern even quicker.

on the whole i’m really pleased with it. it seems to fit about right and i’m quite fond of the fabric now too. i found it ratheralarming at first.

i demonstrated admirable self control when my fabrics arrived - i didn’t open the parcel until i’d finished the skirt. i knew as soon as i did my head would be too full of new plans to concentrate on finishing it.

if you’ve ever wondered how much fabric you could buy for the price of a second hand overlocker (i’m sure we’ve all been there lol) well, now you know. i don’t feel even slightly deprived now. the stars of the bunch are the wonderful koalas which will be a winter jacket, the oilily style turquoise flower print which is a medium weight knit described as sweat tricot and the floral embroidered orange cotton that i think is destined to be her birthday party dress.

once again very impressed by the fabrics and the speed of delivery was phenomenal.

this is my absolute favourite of nanny’s knits. the colour’s fab on madam (very blonde, big blue eyes) and the style’s really cute and funky. it took all of 5 balls of debbie bliss cotton cashmere. it’s a wonderful yarn, really soft and silky but quite heavy too, nanny said it was lovely to knit with. it’s machine washable at 30º but i’ll handwash to be on the safe side. it’s a good size, too, age 2-3 it just fits now but it’ll be a lng time till it’s as trim as the one on the pattern picture.

not too many hitches after the ‘on the small side’ realisation. this was generally a nice pattern to sew - no awkward waistband to do. i mainly chose this pattern because it uses so little fabric as i’m hoping to get a pinafore dress out of the same stuff. i just love the fabric, it’s a super-soft babycord from my original MS stash, the colours are totally gorgeous (difficult to show in the pix, maybe a little more muted irl). it was lovely and easy to work with but was slightly more delicate than previous stuff i’ve used and i got pulled threads from the pins in a couple of spots, hopefully not too obvious.

i love the fact that it’s lined, though i did find that the lining turned out a lot smaller than the outside, think i should probably have staystitched the waistline. i used leftovers from my frilly skirt to line and found it slightly more manageable second time around. steaming the excess fullness from the hem definitely made a difference, though i was still left with a few ugly tucks. i topstitched too close to the zip so it doesn’t quite go to the top, but i think that was the only other hitch.

i felt confident enough to stray from the instructions and hem before i pressed the pleats, i took the chance to practice my blind hemming again, since i thought the stripes should hide it a little. while it doesn’t look as prominent as a topstitched hem, blind it definitely aint (evidence). i wasn’t confident enough to go it alone when the instructions decided to stray though. i managed to totally lose the issue half way through - still haven’t found it. massive thanks to faith from the ottobre english list who so kindly typed the whole lot out for me!

of course much as i adore this skirt it’s totally impractical - a skirt that has to be ironed every time it’s washed is so far out of place in this house it’s ridiculous. i was wondering about stitching in the pleats - i’m sure there’s something about running stitching along the line of the pleats in my sewing book. i wondered whether i could just sew the inside pleats so if it didn’t work out it would barely show, but it still gave a bit more structure… ? comments welcome.

it turns out it’s waaay too big - lengthwise and around. i made the smallest size (92) but it seems a fair bit bigger than her other 92 skirt, possibly down to stretching during construction, i’ve still got the pattern pieces handy so i’ll see whtehr that’s it. i’m a bit worried that by the time she fits it lengthwise she’ll be out of nappies and might have nothing to hold it up. and i so want her to wear it cos it’s lovely

feeling a bit intimidated by the interlock that came with my michas stoffecke order: these tips might help my nerves.

the pleated skirt from 4/2003 (?) is coming on apace, just have to cut and add the lining. just tried it on madam for size and she said she liked it cos it was “all toothpasty” - i think shewas referring to the stripes

the margaret islander method looks like a dead quick way of doing it but i’d have to set my brain to work on how much sa it takes.

the possibility of turning a hobby into something that pays has been playing on my mind lately. something to do with the size of that michas stoffecke order perhaps but also finding there are many people based in the netherlands and germany who sell hand made roos clothes on ebay and similar stuff through online boutiques, something i don’t think happens - or i’m just not aware of - in the uk. whether this is because the market just isn’t there is the question you’d need to answer.

in any case it wouldn’t be something i’d consider doing before i’ve a lot more experience and expertise, but it’s an interesting idea to mull over in the mean time while i’m clocking up the sewing hours. this discussion on pr and the associated chat transcript are essential reading.

been having a wonderful couple of days looking at historical and vintage clothing, prompted by a discussion of vintage underwear on pr. it’s wonderful to look in detail at actual garments to see the construction methods and the change in fashions that i only have a scant knowledge of. erasofelegance.com is a huge resource with hundreds of links. interesting too to follow the processes involved in construction: démodé vintage sewing blog.

it took until i’d joined and pleated the whole thing before i realised i needed 2 skirt panels for the pleated skirt from 4/2003, and not the one i’d done. even when it narrowed down to the width of one trouser leg i was still thinking “blimey her stuff really is a lot smaller than i thought”

so much for being set up for life with fabric and patterns. to ease my pain at missing out on the serger i decided to spend the money it would have cost on patterns and fabric from michas stoffecke again. that’s a lot of fabric . i ordered various summery things with orange to co-ordinate with the stuff i’ve already got, then a new bunch of blues, because i love her in blue and all the knitting nanny’s been doing is purple for some reason (reason being that was my pick of the sale yarns), so i want something that will actually go. i also got some winter bits and pieces that were on sale, so she should have a couple of jackets for next year. i also got a rather expensive but irresistable knit so i can make a cross-over top for me.

the patterns are entirely down to spending the morning drooling over sanna’s creations: roos 2085 (for the apron) and 2088 (for the trousers and raglan sleeve dress). i quite fancy trying my hand at a reversible apron, though i should probably try it as directed first. the only roos review i could find on pr (spookily posted today) doesn’t rate the instructions very highly, so even having a german sil on hand to translate might not be enough.

i love shopping almost as much as i love getting parcels

wow! this took 3 hours from start to finish, tracing and everything. that also included ripping a load of stitching on the shoulders. i didn’t have a clue how to go about stabilising the seams, first i tried stitching some firm interfacing in with the overlock stitch, but it wasn’t solid enough and came to bits when i tugged on the seam. after lots of unpicking i used some of the brushed cotton from the pjs, just straight stitched in, then ran another row of straight to keep it from showing on the right side. seems to have worked fine.

i had a bit of a battle with the clear elastic too. i couldn’t stitch it in straight at all, the presser foot kept scooting over it, elastic went one way and the fabric went the other. in the end i hand cranked it all around the neckline. i didn’t quite follow the directions here - i finished the neck before putting in the sleeves or sewing the side seams, which was a very good idea as i could work on it in the flat. i also didn’t stretch as i basted down the elastic as i didn’t have enough hands. the finish is reasonable, and the only problem is a slight flaring out on the bends that might have been down to not stretching during basting (i did stretch when i sewed it over on the right side) but equally might be because i turned it down too close so the elastic is folded over a little.

i used my machine’s stretch version of the 3-step zigzag for the neckline and hems and the overlock stitch on the seams. the overlock is pretty good actually, the trick is to go as fast as possible and hold the fabric at quite an angle. didn’t get any problems with the edges curling under, and managed to keep it from veering off the edge which it really wanted to do.

this project has got me raring to go with more knits, which is fortuitous since i’m currently in negotiations over a secondhand serger. it looks like i won’t get it as it’s out of my price range but this has whet my appetite and i’m dreaming of a machine that can handle stuff like this without me having to fight it most of the way.

haven’t tried it for size (did the smallest, 92) but it looks pretty good compared to one of her rtw tops - there looks to be enough stretch to go over her head (it’s cut higher on the neck than i expected). if anything it looks to be a bit short in the body - another case of short and wide ottobre fit perhaps.

oh and the fabric is the exact same one featured in the magazine, one of my michas stoffecke buys. i think it’s cute but not overly so and i hope it’ll appeal to madam. it’s lovely and velvety soft and bloody well should be for the price.

edit: duh! have just realised i shouldn’t have sewn the reinforcing tapes in between the shoulder seams but on top of them. then there’d be no worrying about them showing through on the right side. well all educational i guess.

ps i tried to post the above edit as a comment but it wasn’t having it. will have to look into whether the spam blocking is actually stopping all comments…

to save having to repeat myself i’m going to post my stuff on pr and keep stitch for my baba stuff ramblings. here’s a link to my review on the skirt. i was really pleased with it overall, and i’ll just have to hope that no-one pays enough attention to notice how unruffled the top of the two ruffles came out.

the skirt i’m making for me is nearly done - well, the basic skirt itself is on the way, but after it’s done i have to add the trim, which will probably be my undoing. this page from vintagesewing.info should be helfpul when it come to gathering the ribbon trim. the site has a whole 1920s sewing course which will be really interesting to delve into when i have some spare time.