So for the last week I’ve been ill, having ME this is a fairly frequent occurrence, but this time I had some kind of stomach bug as well, so far too sleepy and painful to post. All better now though.
However….
The weekend before last I went to my friends birthday party in Hitchin, a small town in Hertfordshire where we used to live!
As well as a load of unusual wool (my friend is a knitter) and a bottle of booze, I made the birthday girl a cushion I’d been promising her for ages, and finally got round to making….
the back….
and the front…..
I found the fabric panels on etsy from an american seller last year, and thought they were so kitch I just had to buy them. There were three sets, one went to my boyfriends brothers girlfriend, one is staying with us (which I haven’t made up yet) and one went to my friend whose birthday it was…
It is exactly the same size picture as an actual face, as demonstrated by my friend..
I had no idea actually how many people would be up for drunkenly snogging a picture of the president of the U.S.A 🙂
In other sewing news, I have made a massive mistake!
I bought this fabric from Ditto fabrics, an amazing shop in Brighton I’ve had many happy purchases from in the past. This time however I decided to buy something that wasn’t printed cotton online, massive mistake!
Looking at the picture on the website I assumed it was the sort of thermal stretch knit you use to make thermal undies or nightwear, the cut out pattern looks very small, and I assumed it was quite soft and would be perfect to make a set of thermal pyjamas. I adored the last pair I had, only I’ve never seen any in colours that aren’t pale pink or baby blue since, which is not really for me, and I don’t count as terribly practical.
So I was so excited to find this and make nightwear in colours I really liked. I bought 3 meters of the green and three meters of the burgundy colour way .
they arrived…. and immediately I realised the scale of the fabric was completely different from what it looked like in the picture…
It is a lot bigger pattern repeat than I was expecting, and the knit although stretchy is much looser and courser, a bit more like the sort of thing you make hippy tops from than thermals.
I washed it, and it hasn’t helped..it is far too course for next to your skin and I wouldn’t feel comfortable having such big holes on something I was naked underneath.
It is entirely my own fault. Ditto fabrics offers samples of their fabrics before you buy if you are buying online, and I have a free rail ticket that I could have used to go to Brighton in person and see if I liked it, and I did neither of these things.
It is very frustrating though, I have two three meter parcels of these knits and I have no idea what to do with them. I don’t want to make a hippy top (zigzagged exposed seams and contrasting colours) and I am rather fat so I’m not sure 3 meters will make any of my dress patterns. Because the fabric is so course it has rather a vintage feel to it.
So can anyone suggest what I might do? Or a pattern I might use?
I really want to put it to good use now I’ve bought it!
It looks like it would be nice as bedjackets or lounge jackets for around the house, with ribbon ties. I would wear a dress made out of it – in fact I have something in very similar material in pink with short sleeves that are gathered with elastic. I wear it over long-sleeved scoop necked t-shirts from Uniqlo’s Heat-tech range and leggings. If it would help, I could tweet you a pic or something.
Thanks, sorry its taken me so long to get back, I’m still a bit ill!
Yeah, actually you are spot on, it is exactly the sort of material classic bed jackets were made of.
However as I already have a higher number of indoor shawls,ponchos and frilly things that you wear in the house to keep you warm than I ever wear, I’m probably not going to make on of those…they are cool though..actually I did look, and I couldn’t find a cool vintage pattern for one on etsy in remotely my size.
As far as a dress goes, I think I’ve found my perfect pattern, I just have to wait till it arrives, its just a bog standard 60’s shift dress, but its designed for jersey fabric as well as stuff with no stretch in it, so I hope it works! I saw a lot of very nice donna karen patterns whilst I was looking, but I think I’d have the same problem with them as with what you are describing, I have to keep it very simple round the tops of my arms because I’m a completely fat person and its stretch knit, so any kind of fancy details is a total no-no….
I am still haunted by my second ever sewing project, which was my first (And only) using jersey…I ended up looking like a giant marshmallow with elasticated bits that poofed out and doubled my size.As I haven’t used a stretch fabric since, I’m playing it very very safe with this one.
Thanks though! 🙂
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. ?