Orange briar

At the Brisbane Sewist's High Tea I managed to score a copy of the Megan Nielsen Briar top.  I decided to make my 'wearable muslin' from a sweater knit as I loved the idea of the long length in a sweater.  I bought this gorgeous orange sweatshirt fabric from Spotlight and went for it.

The first issue (and probably the major issue) is that the sweatshirt fabric has very little stretch.  I cut the medium size which corresponds to my measurements and the only change I made to the pattern was to shorten the sleeves slightly, a very usual pattern alteration for me.

First up I discovered the fabric was not going to have enough stretch to use the fabric for the neckband.  I was kicking myself as there had been matching ribbing at Spotties but I hadn't thought to pick it up.  However a stroke of genius and a bit of searching, I found I had a small piece of ribbing left from making my Stylearc Maggie jacket.  It is a grey/charcoal stripe and I really like it with the orange sweater fabric.  The piece I had was actually a bit shorter than recommended but this ribbing is from Crafty Mamas and is great quality (similar to this one), so stretched and sat beautifully.

I had a fit issue in that the sleeves were very tight and the top was tight across the bust.  I let the side and sleeve seams out and that helped but it is still a bit snug and you can see I have a classic need a fba crease happening.  However the fabric does not have much stretch so that was part of the problem I think.  I will have to look at again if I make another one.

I wanted this orange fabric as I wanted to wear it with my knitted honey cowl on the cold week-ends.  

Well I love this for casual week-end wear.  It was nice and warm around my hips and bottom when we went to the Hampton Food and Wine Festival recently and my DH even noticed how many other people had 'imitated' me by wearing tops with the high-low hemline. 

I will probably make this pattern up again but will need to consider a FBA and look at the stretch of my fabric.  A quick simple sew that gives a cute result.  Ciao for now kittens!

Tania cutlottes

I have finished my Tania culottes from Megan Nielsen patterns.  I had been seeing a few nice versions of this pattern around the web, but when I got my new bike I was spurred to make my own version.

I made mine 20cm longer (instructions in the pattern to do this).This meant that it was a real fabric gobbler so it took me a while to source a fabric that would have the right drape and cost to make a trial of this pattern.  I eventually found fabric at the Lincraft sale.  It is called a rayon acetate gingham and is not wide (about 112cm) and I bought 4m and used about 2.8m to make this skirt.

A link to my review is here, but basically it is a great pattern.  Choose your size according to waist size as there is plenty of room for hips.  The instructions are reasonably detailed.  About the only part which is assumed knowledge is inserting the zip but exact placement is specified.   My only suggestion to anyone is to mark front and back pieces well as there are no notches or anything to help you differentiate them.

A really comfy bike riding skirt...

My only extra was to add a tab inside the waistband.  This makes the skirt easier to zip up as you can close the tab to hold the top of the zip together while you do it up and it adds that extra bit of sturdiness.

As I lengthened the skirt, it looks just like a full skirt when out and about so I felt quite comfortable to stop in town for a coffee, check out the hot rods on show in the main  street...

and the First Coat artwork...

I am entering this one in the Pattern Review New to Me pattern Co. contest.  A bit of fun and good timing as I bought the pattern just after I got my bike but took awhile to source some fabric.  Ciao for now...