Monday, 25 January 2021
Sewing for others: Ribbed Jersey Shirt
Thursday, 21 January 2021
DIY Ruched V-Neck Top
One of my favourite things about making your own clothes is the ability to transfer different design features onto any kind of garment. This can be anything from an exposed zip to gathers, all of which help the final outcome feel a bit more interesting. The idea of a ruched neckline is a detail that I've wanted to try for a while. I've enjoyed making several ruched tops before (a grey one and a multicoloured one) but with the gathering going the entire way down the top and, having noticed this done several different ways on ready to wear clothes, I chose to reuse the same technique but to achieve a different look.
Ruching the fabric was actually fairly easy to do. I used a piece of 1/4" wide elastic which I held stretched out on the wrong side of the fabric and sewed down the middle of. When you let go, the elastic goes back to its original length creating this gathering effect. It's quite fun to do and surprisingly simple to achieve. Because the elastic that I used was narrow I can't really feel it either which is good.
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Tilly and the Buttons: Stretch - Freya Turtleneck
I've finally got round to making myself a black turtleneck top, the kind of simple top that I wear a lot. This top has been at the back of my mind for what feels like ages, but seemed to always get overtaken by more spur of the moment projects. After making a pair of cream Lander Pants I needed a top to pair with them, and my black turtleneck plans found themselves at the top of my sewing queue once again

Monday, 4 January 2021
Cream Corduroy True Bias Lander Pants
I've made another pair of Lander Pants - woop! This was definitely the pattern of 2020 for me, not necessarily because I made lots of pairs but because I discovered how much I like it. I actually bought this pattern ages ago (I think it might have been on sale somewhere at some point?) but didn't get round to making it until last January, when I made a black denim pair. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed wearing them and went on to make a gingham pair in the summer which I also love.
I knew that I wanted to make another pair, this time a pair which was long unlike the other two which are slightly cropped. I hadn't yet decided what kind of fabric to make them out of but my mum and I enjoyed a trip to Higgs & Higgs just before the second lockdown. It's such a nice fabric shop as it's essentially their warehouse which is open to the public, making it amazing to look round. I last went in 2018 (you can see what I bought here) and have wanted to go back since. I didn't buy as much this time, leaving with a grey rib to make my mum a top and cream corduroy to make myself a pair of Lander Pants.
I hadn't planned to make a pair of corduroy Landers but I had been toying with the idea of making some cream trousers. The fabric that I found was so lovely and made my plan fall into place, specifically to make a pair of long Lander Pants. Higgs & Higgs have quite a large selection of corduroy fabrics but there was very little of the colour I liked left on the roll. I've had a look on their website and can't find the fabric that I used, it looks a lot like this one but the two shades of cream in the shop were slightly different. There was only 1.3m left on the roll and they wouldn't be getting any more in as it was ex-designer. I really wasn't convinced I'd be able to get a pair of Lander Pants out of 1.3m if they were long and included the pockets, but after hesitating over the other shade of cream and also a tan colour I decided to try and make it fit. If there wasn't enough fabric, I'd make a pair of shorts instead.

I really love the details on this pattern, especially the front pockets which I was really keen to add so luckily there was enough fabric. What I like about these pockets is that fact that they're different to most jeans pockets making the finished make more interesting.
Sunday, 27 December 2020
Top 5 Favourite Makes of 2020
Tuesday, 15 December 2020
2020 Sew Down
