Good dog

I used to have an awesome t-shirt with K9 from Doctor Who on it, it was black, with a silver K9. I wore it to death, and sad was the day when I had to consign it to the bin.

So then I bought a new, yellow t-shirt from Red Bubble, with a nice big K9 on it, but it was kind of yellower than I thought. Very, very yellow. Almost gold in fact (which is what the colour is called so I kinda should have expected it), and I only wore it about twice. At the same time I bought the t-shirt I bought some amazing striped fabric from Spoonflower to make a long sleeved t-shirt to wear under the yellow K9 shirt, but we know how that t-shirt worked out. This afternoon I decided to hack the yellow shirt and make a new version with the stripes. It’s turned out to be my new awesome K9 shirt. Recognise the stripe colours?

The pattern is Ottobre 5/2008 Raglan t-shirt. I traced the size that matched my bust measurement but when I looked at the pattern pieces they looked too small, so I checked and the t-shirt bust measurement was going to end up with about 8cm negative ease! Being too lazy to trace a new size I just enlarged it when I cut it, placing the pattern pieces about 1cm away from the centre folds, and also adding 1cm to each side of both body pieces. I held the sleeve pieces on my arms and they looked way too small too, so I also added about 2 cm in width to those at the underarm, tapering to the actual pattern width after the elbow. I don’t know what Ottobre were intending but the sizing seems a little weird on this one. My fabric is quite stretchy but I wouldn’t have wanted it cut as small as the pattern.

I had 1m of fabric but the repeat of the stripes is quite a long way apart, so even with that much fabric for a t-shirt, I had trouble fitting it on and matching the stripes. I got them to match at the side seams, but couldn’t make them match at the raglan sleeves and still fit them on. So I shortened the sleeves to bracelet length to fit them on and have them at least match each other. I think they look fine though with the raglan sleeve seams not being colour-matched. I did the neck band in the traditional way of seaming it into a circle, folding it with wrong sides matching, and stretching it to fit, which I like for this shirt but did make it difficult to judge how long it needed to be. It was too long the first time and bagged out at the neck so I had to unpick and redo. I like it now though. I used a double needle to do the narrow hem on the sleeves and hem.

Raglan sleeve seam

Side seam pattern matching

K9 himself has been appliqued using Vliesofix. I cut him out of the t-shirt with a few mm of yellow showing, ironed him onto the striped shirt front, then machine zig-zagged all the way around him with a narrow stitch. I agonised over where to put him but I think he’s ended up slightly too far to the left. Never mind. In case you didn’t work it out, the stripes are the pattern of the scarf worn by the Doctor who was played by Tom Baker. He was my first Doctor when I was a small child, watching the Daleks from my spot hiding behind the lounge!

Cheap, cheap, cheap!

The $2 dress – made out of a dress I bought from an op shop, which was actually brand new with tags, but had a ripped seam. It is Ottobre 3/2008, #12, with the back changed into a yoked style, so as to let me take advantage of the skirt part of the original dress being already hemmed and attach it in one piece. The ties from the original dress make good hairbands. The plan is that it will look good with a black skivvy and leggings worn underneath in winter.

And a little striped top I made a few weeks ago out of leftovers from the surf top of a year ago. I have yet to manage a keyhole fastening that isn’t too bulky once the button is put on, so I don’t think I will try it again, my machine isn’t up to it. Much easier just to make the head opening big and stretchy enough not to need a button at the back.

Old-fashioned girl

I’ve had this fabric for yonks, so long I can’t even remember where or when I bought it, but I think it was about 8 years ago. I still really like the colour combinations but somehow it also has a bit of an outdated feel to it. I’m not quite sure if it is outdated enough to be retro-cool or just old, but I’ve decided I don’t care, so there. The patterns are Ottobre yet again. I realised miss 3 has grown so much since last Winter that nothing she owns will fit once the cold weather arrives, so I’m getting an early start on making a few warmer clothes. I also picked up a beautiful velveteen Osh Kosh jacket in the exact same red at an op shop on Friday – bargain!

Obsession

 

I would say I am an on a roll, but it’s more like a manic obsession LOL.Here are some capri pants from Ottobre 3/2009 – black stretch denim with aqua top-stitching. I nearly had a conniption trying to do all the top-stitching, the thread was proper top-stitching thread and kept snapping, even though I had a nice thick needle and had loosened off the tension! Liam’s t-shirt was quickly run up while watching Doctor Who. It is Ottobre 1/2006. I think I have finally conquered getting a good finish on binding the neck of knits, this is pretty much perfect especially next to those chubby cheeks – aren’t they adorable!

The twirly skirt is a full circle, cut using the lines on my cardboard cutting board, with elastic threaded through an attached waistband, for which I actually needed to dredge up some maths and work out the length I needed using pi!!  The frill is about 3 times the circumference of the hem.

Shop style

Laura was coveting a pink tartan pleated skirt, she had described her exact design to me and we were walking through the mall to buy the fabric. Two shops before we got to Lincraft we spied the perfect skirt on a sale rack at Supre of all places. It was just too perfect and too tempting, so we bought it, and with just a tiny tuck it fit!

Later, feeling wracked with guilt about buying a skirt made by poor Chinese slave labour, rather than making it, I decided to make a t-shirt to go with it even though it is usually just as cheap, and much easier, to buy t-shirts than to make them. I even had the exact right fabric lurking in my stash (it looks slightly grey photographed in the sunlight but is definitely black in reality).

I still find knit fabrics a challenge, even after years of practice and knowing in my head that I can sew them fine with a bit of attention to detail. So here it is, a simple t-shirt, but I am feeling rather smug about the shop-bought look of it and the nicely bound neckline and sleeves. The pattern is Ottobre 1/2007, #29, which is actually a leotard, but I just cut off the bottom section, et voila.

Misc.

I have been in an odd frame of mind the last few weeks. For some reason I fell into thinking I couldn’t blog XY&Z because I haven’t got around to photographing AB&C… consequently nothing has been getting blogged. So, here is what I have photos of, the rest will just have to wait!

First, some froggy pants for Milly with a matching T-shirt. I am a bit wary of making t-shirts ‘cos I find it so hard to get a professional finish on the neck bindings with my little old machine, but I had this piece of dark green knit lying around which went with the pants and it is pretty hard to get a green t-shirt for a two year old girl otherwise. It looks black in the photo but is really a lovely forest green. I’m so pleased with how well the applique has turned out. I used double sided iron-on to stick it to the shirt then zigzagged around the edges with my machine. The fabric of the applique is lovely too – it’s from Fabric Tales, a gorgeous Japanese online fabric store.

Secondly, the alpaca jumper for Milly which I promised myself would be finished a week from when I blogged about it, and sure enough it was finished but took 2 months to be blogged. I bought this alpaca a year ago for my birthday and didn’t intend to knit something this big. I didn’t want to make a trip back to Hahndorf where I bought it so I found a red wool that is almost a perfect colour match, although the alpaca is much lighter in weight – can you see the difference? (Actually you can in this photo but not in daylight).

And the last thing I have photos of is this outfit of stripy cuffed pants and matching apron. I had it all finished and ironed ready to photograph. Milly was desperate to wear it, then she weed in it two seconds later *roll eyes*. So through the wash and back on without a press, never mind!