24 Mitred Corners

...aka 6 napkins.

My mother in law gave me this fabric for Christmas, suggesting napkins would be nice.

The fabric really is lovely. I don't know what it is, but it is thicker and softer than any other quilting cotton I have used before. A non-white napkin should also make sense for every day dining, showing less marks and laundering easily.

Taking the hint that our table manners need some work, I ate my pride and made the napkins (geddit?). I did sneak a little bit of fabric for a top secret project, so I only had enough for six rectangular napkins. The 1.2m gave me napkin dimensions of 46 x 37cm

My corners are not perfect, but I did try hard to get them nice. There was way more ironing than sewing in this project. But once I got into a rhythm, they were pretty quick.

They look lovely with my Moda fabric tablecloth. 

Here's to elegant family meals.

Felted Letterbox

It's a bit extravagant, to have a whole blog post devoted to one tiny bit of needle felting. But it looks sweet sitting there, so I thought it deserved a photo. It is decorating a welcome-to-the-UK present.

A Cashmere Delphine Skirt

I'm powering through my to-sew queue with the help of Tilly and the Buttons patterns! After my Coco Sweatshirt, I traced off the Delphine Skirt from Tilly's book, Love at First Stitch and made it that weekend.

This is the third pattern I have made from the book, and the last in my queue. Based on my Mimi Blouse, Megan Dress, Coco, my measurements, and the finished garment size, I cut out a size 4. Should have made a 3, it has come out too large. 

The pattern was very straightforward, it is an amazing beginner skirt because all the shaping is at the side seams. No darts or pleats to slow you down. I left out the waistband because I have a short waist, and I wanted the top of the skirt to be at my natural waist. I added a lining so I just attached the main fabric to the lining. I did understitch, and top stitch them together, so there is a lot of reinforcement in this area. It was also a bit of a pain to unpick when I needed to pinch in at the side seam, but I did it (on one side, anyway).

The fabric is a cashmere/wool/mink blend that I got at the Knitting & Stitching Show last year. I got a meter of it, intending to make a skirt. It is lovely and soft and has some drape, but has enough body to show off the A line too. I am not sure if it is terribly durable, but it is lovely to wear.

I got the lining at the same time. While I love the colours and pattern, it is the most enormous pain to cut out. Thankfully, the pattern is geometric and actually follows straight lines. That gives me an outside chance of cutting on grain. I literally have to line up every circle with the selvedge and a quilting ruler, along both the warp and the weft, and tease every single circle into place. Thank goodness the pattern pieces fitted on to my cutting mat without me having to slide the mat around under the fabric.

I had a brown zip in my stash, so I used that instead of an invisible zip. I am pretty pleased with how it went in. Not too much wobbling about. I hemmed the skirt with some brown hemming lace that I bought in Canada a few years ago. I shortened the length because this colour is a bit tricky and I will always wear this with tights.

Costs:
Pattern: £4.50
Fabric, 1m: £12
Lining, 1m: £4
Zip, stash: £0
Hem lace: £0.79
Thread, stash: £0
Total: £21.39

Coco Liberty Sweatshirt

As lovely as Liberty Tana Lawn is, to sew and wear, it is not that practical in our cold, wet climate.  Liberty print, in a sweatshirt fabric? Now that has potential! Until I move to the Far East, fleecy fabric is most welcome.  Inspired by Charlie's lovely Liberty print sweatshirt, I combed the internets to find some Liberty sweatshirt fabric of my own. 

The fabric is lovely and snuggly, the outside has stood up well to washing, no pilling at all, and it is a dream to sew. I have no trouble with skipped stitches, which I usually struggle with in knits. It is kind of strange in the stretch: there is almost no stretch side to side, but it does stretch a little along the warp. It is almost a woven in terms of low stretch, and I have had a bit of strain on the seams when I take it off.

Pink brights secured, I had to decide on the pattern, it was between Tilly's Coco and the Grainline Linden. I chose the Coco for 3 reasons: 1. the set in sleeve is less casual than a raglan, which is more "me", 2. the dress and top are both part of the pattern so I wouldn't have to guess when switching between the two, and 3. Tilly is a UK-based designer and buying local makes me feel good.

The pattern was very simple, I only used 4 pattern pieces, including the roll neck. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough fabric for the dress version. (I should have, but my 1.5m piece was cut very crooked and came out at a true 1.1m). The top is probably more versatile, and I did (sort of) want a sweatshirt.

The fitting is absolutely fine, I made my two usual pattern adjustments: 1 inch off the waist and 1/2 inch sway back.  I didn't have quite enough fabric so I took about 1/2 inch off each sleeve and this length is more than long enough for me. I kept the side splits, which I need with such a low stretch fabric, but I took about 1 inch off the hem length.

I didn't need to sew with a zig zag stitch, I used an ordinary stitch on the sleeve hems.  I was finally going to use my twin needle for the hem, it worked beautifully on the scrap fabric, but I broke it on the final run. No more twin needle. I just used two rows of straight stitch. 

I increased my stitch length to 2.75, but I didn't use a walking foot because the bulky fabric didn't fit into the lower clearance.

I am very happy with my finished sweatshirt. I have worn it a lot, it does everything I want it to: keeps me warm and looks interesting and not sloppy.

I still have some substantial scraps left over. I'm thinking I can pair one of them with navy for a raglan sweatshirt, and another can probably fit a child as a cosy skirt.

Costs:
Fabric: £40
Pattern: £9.50
Thread: stash
Notions: none
Total: £49.50