Inespiration

Today I’m joining a group of international sewists posting makes that are inspired by the  talented ray-of-sunshine that is Portuguese blogger Ines of La Folie Sewing Booth.

Ines sews outfits for herself and two daughters and always makes good use of knit fabric, with a particular appreciation of Nosh Organics. She also lives in a much warmer climate than I do so I thought I’d make an outfit with fabrics I know she’d love but sew them up to suit a British winter (so I could actually wear them!!).

This year I’m making a concerted effort to make some clothes that will make me like winter dressing. I love the ease of putting on a dress or jumpsuit in summer, and love how I feel wearing them, but come wintertime I feel distinctly unenthusiastic about layers and trying to coordinate them while staying warm. To address this I’m trying to make clothes that I know will work together rather than just individual pieces that I like.

The Pencil Skirt

The pencil skirt is self drafted using the same pattern block as I did for my refashioners pencil skirt but reducing the size to create negative ease for a knit fabric. I also removed the back centre seam as there was no need for a zip and added elastic in the waistband.

The fabric is denim sweatshirting in dark green from Nosh. It has a nice weight and structure to it, so whilst being comfy to wear is not quite as unforgivingly clingy as most jersey fabrics.

I used the blind hem stitch on my machine for the first time which really made me wonder why I hadn’t before. I almost always sew a hem on a skirt or dress by hand but the blind-hem stitch was a nice compromise.

The 3/4-Sleeved Tee

The tee that shrank started life as a truly voluminous number from a pattern in a Japanese sewing book (which I used to make this top). However something about the volume combined with the lovely Suhasu print jersey (also in dark green and from Nosh) made me worry that if I stood still for too long in December people might start decorating me with tinsel. I kept the bateau neckline but cut the original sleeves out and replaced them after recutting the armscyes and body for a slimmer shape. As a result the arms ended up just slightly too tight resulting in a little pulling across the upper chest and arm but not enough to really bother me.

The Turtleneck Tee

Whilst being a massive fan of 3/4 length sleeves, sometimes they’re not quite warm enough, so for those days I used the Hepburn Turtleneck pattern from Itch to Stitch to make another top, this time out of charcoal grey jersey, again from Nosh.

Using the measurements suggested on the pattern I graded between a size 4 at the chest and waist to a size 6 at the hips. I also added about an inch to the length. Next time I think a straight size 6 would be better.

The Sointu Kimono Tee

Cotton jersey might be comfy, but it isn’t always cosy enough, so for the last item to be mixed and matched I made a Sointu Kimono Tee by Named Clothing in a thick wool mix sweater knit from Simply Fabrics.Its a simple pattern so was another quick sew. I used the overlocker for all the seams and a walking foot on my sewing machine for the hemline and neckline for which I used black jersey for binding.

If you want to see what others have made on this day of Inespiration have a look at:

Sewing Like Mad  |  Needle and Ted  |  Just Add Fabric  |

Coffee + Thread  |  Groovy Baby and Mama  |  Bless, by Tone  |  S is for Sewing  |

StraightGrain  |  do guincho  |  In a Manner of Sewing  |  My Cozy Co  |

Chalk and Notch  |  Petit à Petit and Family  |  Huisje Boompje Boefjes  |

Pequeno Mundo a 3  |  Craftstorming  |  Fairies, Bubbles & Co.  |

As It Seams  |  Made by Sara  |  Pienkel

 

All Nosh fabrics used if the post were kindly gifted.

Advertisements