Star Wars T-shirt

 

This t-shirt was literally YEARS in the making!

Following the success of our first trip to Disneyland in 2017, we planned a follow up for 2020. Oops.

I didn't need new clothes, but my husband did, and I also knew that we would be able to visit Star Wars Land, which opened since our last visit. He is a big Star Wars fan, so I got him a Star Wars t-shirt, which happened to come with some pyjama pants.

I figured that the pants would have enough fabric for a t-shirt for me, if I pieced a seam through the centre. I used the Kirsten T-shirt pattern from Maria Denmark. I got this through a newsletter signup many years ago, and I've made it twice before. Here, and here. I chose this one because I could fit it on the tapered trouser legs, and it has integrated sleeves, so less fabric needed.

Here it is, laid out on the pants legs. The print runs both ways up, so I didn't have to worry too much about pattern matching. 

After I got everything made up, I had a few errors to sort out. I don't know what on earth I did with the neckline. (This was three years, and an international move ago.) Did I turn it around and add this panel to the original front neckline? Probably. All I know is that now, that pieced section is at the back. 

I had a dreadful time with the neckline trim. This is the point where I put it away, and thought I would never resurrect it. The movers shipped it for me, and we re-booked our trip for November 2022, so I thought I might have another go. Even better, my overlocker and sewing machine worked in our new country, with a power converter!

I thought about doing three different colour trims, for the neckline and two sleeves. There are flashes of red, blue and yellow in the black and white. I thought it might add a nice pop of colour. But in the end, I went for the easiest option and trimmed the neck in the same fabric. I had to unpick this once because it was gaping too much. 

For the sleeves and hem, I just overlocked the edge and zig zag stitched them down. I shortened the hem a lot, which helps it skim my tummy better. Things always ride up on my hips and create fabric folds in my middle section. Above the hip, but below the waist, is the right length top for me. 

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I like how it is not obvious Star Wars at first glance, but not hiding either, and I always love taking something unwanted and turning it into something wearable!

Ruffle Cold Shoulder Top

When one is a tween, it becomes more important to have a wardrobe of “fashion” choices in one’s clothing. When one is the youngest, and therefore has more clothing than anyone, of a shorter lifespan than everyone, one’s mother is not taking her to the mall for new clothes.

Instead, the poor child gets offered an upcycled ruffle top from an old sheet. Thankfully, she loves it!

The fabric is an oldie but a goodie. Honestly, this sheet has been upcycled more times than the Von Trapp family’s curtains. I used it for my first Sorbetto - which then became the lining for a Sorbetto Dress - and this particular piece was previously a ghost costume, which will not be reprised. It is a cotton sateen in a high thread count with a lovely light blue-ish colour. I call it Eau De Nil.

For the pattern, I Googled a ruffle top tutorial and came up with this one from We All Sew. Sometimes, my linked tutorials and calculations get lost over time, as websites are upgraded or overhauled, so I'm going to re-write the good ones again on this blog. They are linked too, so I've given credit.

The ruffle is 2 x the circumference of the shoulders and the bodice is supposed to be the bust circumference. I don't really get how this would fit over the shoulders, even on a very busty woman, but especially for a child. After I had cut the bodice, I had to piece another panel through the middle back to make it fit over her head. I also didn't get the armholes large enough, especially to allow her to wear the ruffle on her shoulders, so I had to unpick the bias binding from these and re-do them much, much larger. That was a pain.

My order of construction was:
Cut out two pieces of fabric, one for the ruffle and one for the bodice.
Piece another section into the back of the bodice
Slit two armholes and cut away a small width of fabric. Mine ended up being 20cm long, from the top.
Finish armholes with bias binding.
Finish hem of bodice and ruffle.
Attach ruffle to bodice, using overlocker to finish edges.
Fold over to make elastic casing.
Thread elastic and sew up final hole.

Costs:
 Fabric: £0
 Thread: £0
 Pattern: £0
 Elastic: £0
Total: £0

The dress that wasn't

Sometimes a fabric that speaks loudly about what it wants to be doesn't work out at all. The dress-that -became-a-shirt was wanting to be a long sleeve shirt dress from the second I saw this rayon in Spotlight earlier this year.

I wanted to make more dark background florals, figuring they would be easier to wear. I loved the muted pinks, greens and blues in the foliage and then I spotted that there are two tiny birds hiding in there and I feel in love with it all over again! It is identical fabric to my Alex Birds Shirt, which seems to be a polycotton blend. Despite this, the fabric drapes nicely and is cool to wear.

I decided that a summer dress with long sleeves would be just the thing, our English summers typically being mild but not hot.

I really admired Sewaholic's Nicola Dress with it's soft drape and feminine lines, and decided that I could get pretty close with Simplicity 2447. I really like wearing my sleeveless version and wanted to try adding the sleeves for the look I wanted.

I cut View A in a size 8, without the bib, and lengthened it by 6 inches. I tapered the skirt sides out and removed the scooped hem. This is almost exactly what I did with the linen version, but I changed the construction order a bit. I added a double yoke and used the "burrito method" for attaching the yoke. (I forgot to put the right side facing outward for the lining, so I only got pretty seams, not a pretty facing.) I tried an inward double box pleat, but there wasn't enough fabric in the pleat to make it truly noticeable. I attached the sleeves so that I could flat fell them. Then I sewed up the sides and sleeves with flat felled seams too. I regretted not adding side seam pockets, but this was serendipitous because I would have had to remove them for the shirt.

One element of the construction that I didn't pay attention to, but has affected the finished garment are the two different weights of interfacing that I used. I chose lightweight for the collar but I had some ready cut strips of "waistband interfacing" that I used for the long lengths of button bands. This was much heavier, almost equivalent to my heavyweight interfacing and because the button bands meet the collar stand, it is noticeable. I was sorry that I did this, the collar could have handled a heavier weight. It does, however, seem to lie evenly, something which my other two versions have not done.

I lost a bit of motivation to finish this. I cut it out in June, went away in July, sewed the button bands to the side seams, unpicked them, added the sleeves, decided it looked like a kimono, started another project, and finally made myself finish it - one step at a time, and a sprint to the finish.

Then I tried it on.

It was OK, but not great. Far too frumpy and Granny-like. I tucked it into my jeans and liked it three times more. So the next day, I cut off 34cm and created a faced hem on my new shirt. 

I really like the feel of the fabric, and I love the way it drapes into the cuffs. I didn't make cuff fastenings, I just measured a distance as small as possible that I could still get my hand into. I pleated two knife pleats to fit the sleeve into each cuff. 

Costs:
 Fabric: Spotlight, £20.00
 Pattern: Minerva Crafts, used previously, £0.00
 Notions: 
   Black thread, £1.90
   Interfacing: scraps, £0.00
   Buttons: old shirt, £0.00
Total: £21.90

Rayon Birds Sorbetto

I made this Sorbetto out of the remnants of a current WIP. The weather is hot, so I decided to finish this first and get myself a new summer top.

The fabric is a rayon that I got in Australia. I am trying to buy florals on a black background as they are more wearable as dresses than my usual choices. In a top this is more unusual.

For the Sorbetto pattern, I traced out the full size pattern pieces so that I can lay them flat and get the most out of the fabric. I left out the centre pleat as this is meant to be a scrap buster, and the pleat is very distinctive, and completely lost on a print. I think I need to raise the shoulders by half an inch, and I also need to add a centimetre to the hips.

With a small amount of fabric to work with, I had to cut the back piece upside down, and the length is as much as I could manage. The birdies are very secretive, so I don't think anyone will notice the odd one upside down, and I tried to compensate for the length by doing a faced hem, which gained me an extra cm. I actually think this is the perfect length for me.

I did french seams, but then I unpicked the bottom to create a side split so I had to cut the seam allowance. This isn't very tidy, but it will do. I had to hem around the split and create a bar tack over the cut edges. Without a short waist adjustment, I need the extra space at the top of the hip.

I hand stitched the neckline facing down. I was on holiday, so I took it with me as a hand sewing project. I stared on attaching the hem facing by hand, but didn't bother to finish it, and completed it by machine back at home.

I still don't utterly love this pattern. It is too boxy to be truly flattering on my, but in a drapey fabric, it works out very nicely, and as a free pattern, it's pretty amazing.

Birds / Alex / Rayon / Navy Shirt

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this pattern, the Alex Shirt from Sew Over It's e-book, My Capsule Wardrobe City Break.

I love that it is a super easy shirt pattern, it's extremely quick, and it eliminates all the fiddly bits of shirt making. What I don't like is the very large sizing, and the casual dropped shoulder. I am wondering if I should put on my big girl pants and get a proper shirt pattern. But I don't wear a lot of shirts, so I don't feel like slaving away over making complex details in my sewing time.

That's why, when this rayon wanted to be a shirt, I reached for Alex once again. I got the fabric at Spotlight in Australia in April. It was on sale for just under $12 a metre, so I got 1.5m for a shirt. I also got 2.5m of a black with pink/green/silver florals.

Learning from my previous Alex Shirt,  I sized down from a 10 to an 8, leaving the collar and neckline as a 10 (this because the 8 was cut away in places when I cut the 10). I also added interfacing to the under collar. Next time I would interface the tips of the sleeve tabs too. The final change I made was to skip the pockets. They would have spoiled the drape and the pattern of the fabric.

I found the instructions for enclosing the yoke seams very confusing. It says to twist the edges, but doesn't say in which direction, or how many times. I used the "burrito method", detailed beautifully in Grainline's Archer sewalong. I'll be using that for all yokes from now on. In such a thin fabric as this, I didn't even have to roll it up, it just sat nicely inside the yoke, and it was fun to have it spill out afterwards.

This pattern doesn't work so well in a fabric that has an obvious wrong side. The lapels aren't faced, and the one piece collar means that the wrong side shows where the neckline opens. I fortunately/accidentally managed to have a bird at each point of the lapel, so the lighter colour saved the look of the neckline, but if it had been the navy background, it would have showed the wrong side badly.

The rolled up sleeves also need a fabric that doesn't have an obvious wrong side. I added cuffs to the sleeves, so I can turn these up and then fasten with the sleeve tabs. I didn't gather the sleeves into the cuffs, nor did I make button plackets for them. They are just the same width as the sleeves and are 5 inches, folded over. I like wearing the shirt with the cuffs rolled up once and then gathered into the sleeve tabs.

I set the tabs much higher than the pattern calls for. I can't understand why the pattern has them so low. It would roll them to about bracelet length, which is a bit pointless since they could be rolled to this length and not need fastening. I noticed this before I did the buttons for my white shirt, so I sewed the buttons higher up the sleeve. They are not on the anchor point of the tab, just floating on the shirt. For this one, I placed them much higher up, and the buttons are sewn on the re-inforced part of the tab.

I had four small navy buttons in my stash so I spaced them through the front. Five would have been better, there is a bit of gape between them. I didn't make buttonholes, since I will never wear this shirt open. So much faster! I had two larger, non-matching buttons that were close enough to each other that I could use for the sleeves. 

I shortened the hem by 7-8cm, so I can still tuck it in, but also wear it untucked if I want. I find the City Break hems much too long. This photo shows the shortened hem. Imagine if that was 8cm longer.

Will I make another Alex? My head says no, but if I get another drapey patterned fabric, it might be too much to resist. 

Costs: 

  Fabric: 1.5m £10

  Pattern: used previously £0

  Notions: 

    lightweight interfacing, stash £1.13

    navy thread, used previously £0

    buttons, stash £0

Total: £11.13

Blush Bamboo Molly Top

I am so excited about this blush bamboo. I realise that it is not a great colour for my skin tone, but it is too pretty, and soft, for me to care (much). 

I got it from Fabricana in Vancouver. I can't resist taking an afternoon to go there when we visit once a year. They have lovely fabrics, at much better prices than in the UK. In advance of a visit this summer, I thought I had better get on and sew a few things from last year's stash (or the year before). This is the first, and it has been top of my queue for many months now. 

I have two bamboo fabrics, this one which is printed with tiny black swallows, and a plain blush. I decided to use the print for a top and the plain for a cardigan. I find the plains too clingy to wear easily. This stuff shows every lump and bump.

I chose the Molly Top from Sew Over It, My Capsule Wardrobe, City Break because it is a brilliant drapey knit top pattern. 

It was very easy, but I sure did dither about cutting into that fabric.

A few notes to remember, and mull over another day:

I had 1.4m of fabric and I could have used as little as 1m, without nap. 

I struggle with the seam allowance on the overlocker. I cut a size 10, and I overlock with almost no seam allowance. I have gone back and re-cut the paper pattern to a size 8 to account for this. There is still quite a lot of ease in the pattern. But in this very drapey fabric, I am happy with the fit of the top.

I mixed some sewing machine threads into the overlocker and used pink for the two upper needles. The loopers had black thread, which didn't show through on the right side at all. Only pink shows at the seam, so I'll definitely do this again, rather than buy more overlocker cones.

I added 1/4 inch to each side of the lower arm pattern piece and I am very happy with the width of the sleeves. I wouldn't want them any narrower. 

For some stupid reason (laziness?) I shortened the waist on the front pattern piece, but not the back. The back has fabric pooling where it is catching on my hips. Fixed the paper pattern now.

Bad neckband

I had to remove the neckband and reduce the width by the amount of the seam allowance. It was standing up, but the re-do made it sit flat. I kept the extra seam allowance on bodice neckline.

I removed 5cm from the hemline and just left a small 1cm hem. I overlocked and then zig zagged the hem.

Costs: 
 Fabric: £16.16 
 Pattern: used previously £0
 Thread: new job lot, £8.69
Total: £24.85

SOI Alex Shirt, White

Another make from Sew Over It's ebook, My Capsule Wardrobe, City Break. I was actually planning to make the Erin Skirt first, but instead have made the Molly Top and now the Alex Shirt, and Erin is still languishing in my queue.

Please excuse the weird picture angle. I struggled to find a location with enough light for the shirt to show up and no nasty background mess. In the end, these shots looking downward with the lawn as the background were the only thing that worked. I hope it is obvious that these are looking down, and not that my legs are half the length they should be!

This shirt jumped up the sewing queue because the weather got nice, prompting me to think about some Liberty Poplin that I have stashed, intending to make this pattern. I decided to make a wearable toile of this first, using an old white sheet, and this is the result.

I cut out size 10 with no changes to the paper pattern. The style has a lot of ease, so I didn't bother with my usual short waist adjustment. I did cut a 1/2 inch sway back adjustment out of the fabric piece, at the centre of the back pattern piece (below the yoke).

This is a great shirt pattern if you want to make a shirt, but skip a lot of the complicated steps. Of course, some people love tailoring and shirtmaking, but if you're like me and want shortcuts, this one has them in spades: one piece collar, one piece sleeves, no sleeve cuffs, no button bands, no lapel points. But it still has a nice yoke, good looking collar, pleat in the back and a shaped hem.

I really like the way the yoke comes together to enclose the seams, but it took me a bit of figuring out to get the twist right. And a bit of unpicking. The photos in the instructions are not that clear. Stay stiching is not mentioned, but would probably be a good idea. Of course, I didn't.

I didn't particularly like the finish for the top of the pocket. Folding over the top edge twice leaves a raw edge at the top, once the sides are folded in. I folded that inside, but the notches created another raw edge. For future, mark the notches with chalk, or an outside notch. In future, I would make the top of the pocket completely differently by sewing right sides together and turning to outside, with a point at the top. I would also remove 1cm from the bottom pocket edge. I think they are a bit too long for me and are giving me a saggy boob effect. It's amazing how much pocket size and placement can change the appearance of your body. (Learned that from jeans pocket discussion on Closet Case.) I also didn't manage to effect the rounded corners on the bottom pocket. Mine are straight sided slants, which is fine.

I put the collar on upside down. But only realised this after I had topstitched it closed. It would look worse to unpick and re-do, so I have left it as is. I attached right sides together, it actually goes on to the wrong side of the shirt to top collar piece. Instead of slip stitching down by hand, I topstitched it down. It fitted well - hooray! The collar pieces come right to the edge of the lapel, so not matching up would be very obvious. So much so, that it would be wise to stitch each side separately, working from the outside to meet in the centre. My fabric stretched out slightly on sewing, so I have a tiny pleat on the inside collar seam at the back.

It is also worth remembering to make the fold over button bands as neat as possible. I love the simplicity of the pattern in that the button bands are not separate pieces and not interfaced. Just hem the front pieces and you're done. But they are visible on the outside as they form the top lapels. Mine are neat, but not symmetrical. One has a deeper hem than the other. If I'd thought it through properly, I would have stitched the hem side up and controlled better for the distance from the edge.

I tried flat felled seams for sewing up the side seams. Hilariously, I managed to do two different versions, one with the right sides together, the other correctly with the wrong sides together. I carried on and flat felled the right sides one, and what do you know? I like that finish better. The edge is on the inside and is a much neater finish.

This shirt pattern would not work for making a sleeveless version. I didn't realise earlier, but it has a dropped shoulder seam. It makes the shirt more casual and it is quite cute, but definitely not suitable for hacking off the sleeves. I was glad I did French seams for the sleeves as they are visible when they are rolled up. Which they always are. I really like the sleeve tabs, but the lack of any kind of finishing at the cuff, means that it looks like a lab coat with the sleeves unrolled. The line drawing is a bit misleading, it looks like the sleeves gather into a cuff band. They don't, just hemmed. A gathered cuff band would need a button closure to enable them to roll up. Cute, but not suitable for the simplicity of this shirt pattern. I'm thinking about putting an extra button higher up the sleeve, so that I can roll the sleeves to above the elbow, as well as below. I placed my existing button much higher than the pattern calls for, and it is not re-inforced. I hope it holds without anything to anchor it on. In a future make, I might put a little square piece with a cross, same as the sleeve tab, but higher up, for a second button. Or just attach the tab higher.

The hem instructions should be a little better. The pattern says overlock, then turn up once and sew. I wanted a better finish than that, so I turned up twice, without overlocking. I kept it as narrow as possible, and it has come out perfectly. Probably better than I could manage with a bias facing. If someone sews enough to have invested in an overlocker, they can probably manage a tiny twin, or rolled hem.

The buttons are my favourite feature and actually saved the shirt for me in the end. The shirt is so large and shapeless, that it was looking extremely like a lab coat. I have a large supply of mens shirt buttons, but they looked way to shirt-like on this. I wanted a casual, summer shirt, not a quasi-business shirt. So I decided to do completely the opposite of corporate, and use non-matching blue/turquoise buttons. This part was actually pretty fun, choosing all the little blue orphan buttons from my button jar. They are different sizes and shapes too. I have absolutely no idea where any of them came from. I love how they instantly make the shirt look super-casual, and more nautical. I had two the same so these went on the pockets and sleeve tabs. But mixed up, of course! If I couldn't have anchor print fabric, I have blue buttons.

I used Lisa's trick and didn't sew buttonholes for the buttons, I sewed them through the two layers of lapel and fastened the shirt shut. It is so large that it easily pulls over my head.  But... I might go back and change them to buttonholes. A white summer shirt is a great layering piece, and no buttonholes means I can't wear it open as a beach cover up, or half open over a vest or t-shirt.

Finally, the fabric: it is an old sheet, a woven cotton sateen. It has a lovely checked waffle weave, and after the centre of the sheet wore out, there was still lots of usable fabric around the edges. So much for soft sheets, my crappy ones last over 10 years and the expensive high thread count ones wear out super fast.

I used this for a toile of the pattern, but it may be my only version of this. I'm definitely not using the Liberty for it. On the plus side, the lack of shaping means the fabric is not spoiled by seams or darts, but on the minus side, it is so large and billowy, that a busy print will be way too much of a good thing. Liberty is going to be a sleeveless shirt, or shirt dress. Got to have some skin to break up all that ditsy floral.

The final verdict is mixed. With no shaping at all, this has come up very big. I've drawn in some shaping through the side seams for next time. It takes in some of the blousiness of the shirt. But I do like the shirt and I am glad it is in my wardrobe. It has some lovely design details, and it looks a lot more tailored than it is. It might even become a summer staple for me.

Costs:
 Fabric: upcycled sheet, £0
 Pattern: £4.67 (1 of 3 in book)
 Thread: stash, £0
 Buttons: stash, £0
Total: £4.67

Watercolour silk Poppy top

Wow. I finally got this top made! I have been hoarding this fabric ever since I bought it. It is, by quite some order of magnitude, the most expensive fabric I have ever bought. I fell in love with it, in Vancouver, two summers ago and I had to have it. But only one metre.

In truth, I think I like having the fabric more than I like having the top. I love the colours and the paint swirls through it. I think it is gorgeous. But it doesn't really suit me when worn. The large scale of the pattern shows up all the colours together when flat, but when it is made up, this effect is lost. I got the print placement wrong too. The deeper colours, especially the small section of black suits me best and I didn't manage to get this near my face. Instead, I have this nothing section up near my face. The colours in it are absolutely beautiful, but they blend away when worn. I was quite limited with placement options after every placement ended in having one of those purple circles or pink flowers right in the middle of my stomach. Not pretty.

With only one metre, it was going to have to be a top. I decided on making a top by using the bodice from the Sew Over It Poppy Playsuit pattern. I got this from Simply Sewing magazine, back before I even really knew much about Sew Over It. Now, I am a big fan of Lisa's and think her patterns are really lovely. Still, I'm unlikely to ever make a playsuit for me to wear. The girls, maybe. But I kept the pattern anyway.

It won because it has so few seams, with none at all in the front. Not even darts. I knew I wouldn't be able to turn out a beautifully finished work, so I wanted to hide this as much as possible with no seams and all about the fabric. I skipped the turn up cuffs and the centre back seam. The neckline is open enough that I can pull it over my head fine. I made the 10/12 size and I didn't bother with the short waist or the sway back adjustment because I was making a loose, flowy top. If I was to make this again, I would go down a size, it is just a bit too loose for my taste.

I treated the whole cutting out very carefully. I traced the pattern out on to newspaper so that I could cut it flat. I added the hemline from the Sew Over It Molly Top. With the whole thing laid out flat, I felt much better about cutting out. I sacrificed the kitchen table to cut out without moving my cutting mat around underneath. Good thing we haven't upgraded it. It's pretty scuffed already, and it cost only about twice as much as the fabric. The peace of mind about moving the fabric around was worth it.

Once I had it cut out, it was pretty quick to sew up. I did French seams for the shoulder seams and side seams and rolled cuffs for the arms and hem. There is a facing around the neckline. I rolled the hem of the facing, but it was way to wavy, so I overlocked it in the end. It worked much better. I did topstitch the facing down to the neckline. I felt really, really bad topstitching silk. But it improved how the facing sat so it does look better. I had a 70 needle, so I used that. There are small puncture marks in the fabric, but no pulls. 

The finishes are not marvellous. There is a lot of pulling around the neckline and the hems are neither smooth, nor fluted. Just wonky. But it is wearable, and now that I have seen the photos, I like it better than this morning.

Costs
 Fabric: 1m (Fabricana) £27
 Pattern: Poppy Playsuit (Simply Sewing Mag) £1
 Notions: no new.
Total: £28

Sew Over It, Molly Top

 

As soon as Sew Over It released them, I loved the patterns in the e-book My Capsule Wardrobe: City Break. Five great patterns that I can absolutely imagine myself in any of them.

Funnily enough, the Molly top / dress did not grab my imagination. I would have put it bottom of the list. I didn't like the dolman sleeve and the extra bit at the end. But I watched Lisa's You Tube videos and decided it looked much better on. I particularly liked her floral version where you can't even see the sleeve seam (about 5 minutes in).

Molly is actually a great little pattern. The negative ease at the bust and the flowy waist and hem are very flattering. It also goes together SO FAST! I sewed the whole thing together in one evening. Add another evening for cutting out and one for finishing and this was a record for me.

I used my overlocker for all the sewing so there was no going back on the fit. I made a straight size 10 and the sizing was perfect, aside from my extremely short waist. I had taken 1 inch off the waist, and done a sway back adjustment of 1/2 inch, but it is still pooling at the back. I have gone back and altered the paper pattern again, to make the short waist 2 inches. Yikes!

I didn't mark any of the notches. Nor did I follow the pattern instructions. I had just made the Coco and this is even simpler with the straight sleeve head. I would say it is a perfect pattern for an introduction to sewing with knits. Or possibly even sewing at all.

The sleeve cuffs are very close fitting. They go some way towards balancing out the silhouette, but come up a little too tight for my preference. I would add in 1/2cm to each side when cutting. The sides of the sleeves are straight, so it would be easy to cut out with a ruler.

The neckband isn't lying flat properly. I am not quite sure why this is. While I didn't cut the notches, just pinned the neckband into place, and stretched it out when sewing, it is stretched almost at its full capacity. I think it might have something to do with the nature of the fabric.

The base jersey is very soft but it has been dyed with the black over the top. It almost feels (and smells) like paint and there is a lot of black on this white. The scale of the pattern is much larger than I thought it was when I viewed it online. I wanted smallish white flowers on the white background. This is a bit too tropical looking. But it was on sale and super cheap and I couldn't be bothered sending it back. I like the fabric better when it is made up into a garment, so I am calling this a wearable toile of the Molly top.

I used my sewing machine to zig zag the hems of the top and the cuffs, but it still doesn't like to play nice with jersey. Thank goodness I have an overlocker now, it makes such a difference to my ability to sew knits. It doesn't feel as precise, but it powers through those knits with no problems!

Costs:
 Fabric: 2m (Minerva Crafts) £9.98
 Pattern: 1/3 of Sew Over It ebook (on sale) £4.67
 Notions: £0.00
Total: £14.65

Summer Doll Outfit

Now that Winter has taken a firm hold of the skies above this rainy, dark island, it is the perfect time to make a summer outfit for those dolls.

This pale blue crochet cotton has been giving me the eye ever since my mother salvaged it from the kerbside rubbish pickup in Australia. It is a lovely weight and colour and I am so delighted that I could take something that was being thrown away and enjoy the process of turning it into something new that will be enjoyed in turn.

First attempt = #fail

Since I didn't know how much was on the ball, I started with a doll hat. Pattern linked from my Ravelry notes. I do like these Elaine Phillips doll patterns, generously given away. The gauge was way off. I made the whole hat with the 2.5mm hook and it came out ridiculously small.
I didn't swatch, I just pulled it out and remade with my favourite size hook, the 4mm. It came out great.

The pattern has the crown continuing to increase as it moves down towards the hat band. This changes the shape into more of a bonnet, the brim re-enforces that effect. I liked the hat much better once I had added the ribbon, which pulled the whole thing in a little more. I left off the last row of the brim because I wanted to conserve yarn. This size frames the face nicely and a larger brim will get floppy quickly.

The Summer Top is made from the same yarn, in the same style, by the same pattern designer. It actually uses less yarn than the hat. Those dolls have big heads. Luckily they don't mind wearing a top that is a bit sheer, but this wouldn't transfer into a human garment without a lining, or a vest underneath.

I upsized my hook again and mistakenly increased too much over the first few rows. I used them up in the sleeve caps, which have 4 fan stitches each, instead of 3. Lucky I did, because the sleeves are a perfect fit, if not a little on the small side.

I added a few more repeats of the shell stitch down through the body, about two extra, to take the top to just below the doll's waist.

I liked the outfit so much, I bought some more crochet cotton (3 ply) to make more! I love this yarn! Every time I discover a new yarn, it becomes my new favourite. Then I buy loads of it so I can have matching colourways to make new things. I restrained myself with just a turquoise and a white this time. Reasoning that the second ball is required to reduce the cost of shipping for both. (£8 for one, £12 for two - should have got three!) When it arrived, I thought it was way to thin and almost sent it back. But when I compared it to the original baby blue, it was exactly the same.

The skirts are made up from some scraps of broderie anglaise that my mother in law had stashed. It was a long, skinny scrap, looking a lot like a table runner. I used 3 widths of it for the skirt and made French seams. I wanted a ribbon tie waistband, but that would be too fiddly for children, so elastic it was. I kept the length below the knee. I'm going to help Big Sis make one of these for her BFF.