Sort of skorts refashion

Hello everyone!

So sorry for the delay in postings... I'm pretty sure you'll have heard this excuse floating around but we had a summer! I mean... a real honest to goodness summer with warm weather every day :-0 What with keeping up with watering the plants (which have gone mad in this weather... im sure they're twice the size than any other plants I've grown before) and keeping up with all the relaxing in the backyard/ bbqs/ games of scatterball, both sewing, and blogging about sewing have taken a back seat.

Also... we went to Barcelona! Now I know this may seem strange seeing as me and Mr T have been together for about 9 1/2 years, but we'd never been on a proper holiday abroad together for longer than a weekend. So this year, after our now both having jobs which involve using our brains (the cheek of it!), and pushing to get the wedding invites out (now sent! Arg... it's really happening) we have exhausted ourselves and therefore we really needed a break. We had a great week in the sunshine and now feel super relaxed. So that's you up to date!

Now for sewing, I needed some quick makes for summery weather, with all the nice weather we've been having I had a good idea of what I needed, shorts! I find it really hard to find flattering trousers/shorts. Problems being, they're either far too tight, making me feel very aware of my shape/body, or way too lose, not fitting to my waist/hips. Now I know there's nothing wrong with my shape/ body, I just know that it's quite curvy, and I just don't want to feel bootilicious when I'm walking about... I wan't to be comfy.

I bought the below jumpsuit a few years ago...

and it definitely fits in the super big category:

It's super comfy, I've had it quite a while, and I have worn it quite a bit. But it had fallen out of rotation, the little lapels made it feel kind of formal... but because it's big it felt kind of casual, so the time to wear it never came up. Her below is not impressed:

 So! it was time for a refashion. Not something I do very often to be honest, though it's something I should do more, as I've recently been buying quite a bit of clothing. I think it was the move to Manchester, the shops are so much more diverse here in comparison to Edinburgh. I'm bound to find something I like. It's rather dangerous for the wallet, especially as we've just got back from holiday... plus the wedding.

So anyway getting back to the sewing, my I'm chatty today. I started by wearing the jumpsuit in front of the mirror, the crotch was so low on these they were practically hammer pants so I pulled them up a little, and marked my natural waist line, cutting across the middle (ensuring the buttonhole and button where about 1" below the cutting line). I then tried them on with a belt to make sure he height was right:

Ooh look at me getting all posy in the garden he he. So they fit right yay! I then measured my waist, and the top of the shorts. I used this to create two open pleats in the front, and smooth ones in the back.

I didn't really have any material that was going to blend well with the material of these shorts so I decided on a contrast fabric, tying in with the spots on the pockets. And I used one of my orange apple buttons. I bought these for my georgette mathilde, but the orange was just too bright, perfect for these summery shorts.

They were so useful on the holiday, and I know I'll get loads of wear out of these super sort-of skorts. Plus I still have the top part, and I'm thinking of adding a contrast dress to the bottom, two refashions for the price of one!

I've still got a couple of pre-holiday makes to show you, but I've got secret wedding things to do so I might be a little quieter in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, here's some pics of me jazzing it up in the back yard, by the bin :-) Happy summer!

I made my man a tie!

Hey folks, I done made my man a tie :-)

You proud? Selfless sewing, not even for a birthday. Feel like I deserve extra props for that one. This came about when I bought myself the last of the roll of a red, blue and white check to make a skirt (now completed... love it!... I owe you a blog post on that one). I had seen the 'gentleman's tie' pattern on coletterie, and mentioned in passing to Mr T that I might make him a tie (if he was lucky... and I ever remembered etc etc) This must have stayed with him though because when he saw my skirt fabric he said... that would make a nice tiiiee (the lots of vowels indicate excitement and intrigue). Now I know for a fact it would be another lifetime until I found some more fabric he would want a tie from. He denies it constantly but he's pretty fussy when it comes to his clothes. So (completely selflessly) I decided to sacrifice some fabric in the name of a tie.

Mr man likes his ties pretty thin so I traced one of his favourite ties onto the main lining (the long thin pattern piece). There wasn't a lot of difference in size so I just folded over the excess inside the tie to give it some bulk. I cut it on the bias as well to show all the colours and the check to its best.

I added in some floral underneath too, I did make it myself after all, had to sneak some floral in there somewhere. Confession: I first cut out this lining in a very manly black and white, but I cut it wrong side up (three times... doh!) So I resorted to the florals. All I can say is that fate (read subconscious) intervened.

Have you basked in the glory of some selfless sewing recently?