Liberty's day out

Where should a five-year-old wear his brand new Liberty shirt?

To see prize-winning alpacas.

To exchange gazes with poultry.

To eat his first-ever, much-anticipated bag of fairy floss (in the cow stalls).

To milk a cow.

And see cream churned into butter. 

 To watch the wood chopping from the safety of his Dadda's lap.

And of course, to roll about inside a large inflatable ball on water.

We all spent a great family day at the Royal Adelaide Show, and a certain someone had a pretty fabulous time until of course there were tears and a fair old meltdown and we made our way homeward.

The shirt, which I finished the night before at Clem's insistence, is from the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt & Shorts pattern. I made the size 6 which fits this 5 & 3/4 boy well, except I would add a bit of length to the body next time. Instead of doing a full button front I cut the front piece on the fold and added a small placket up the top so the shirt just pulls on over his head. The placket was actually cut from the sleeve placket pattern piece of my Hawthorn dress! I made it a bit longer so the opening was a bit bigger.

The outfit Clem put together for our day out also included his 'animal and fruit shorts'. "You see, things from up in the air on top, and on the ground down the bottom!" was his logic. Couldn't really object to that.

The shirt fabric is a Liberty Tana Lawn from the shop, and it goes by the curious name of 'Ranga'. It's from their seasonal range. I was cutting a dress for myself from the fabric (you know, shop sample of course) and Clem begged and begged me to make him a shirt out of it too. Eek. He'd better not develop too much of a taste for Liberty! But he loves it, and I love him in it.

- Jane x

Me in the Colette Hawthorn

Spring has come on crazy sudden here. It's been 30 degrees the last two days. Cool change blowing through right now. But today was perfect, simply perfect, for wearing my Colette Hawthorn in Liberty Tana Lawn to the shop. I asked Fiona to take a few photos of me betwixt the linens and the hemp & organic cottons.

The hills are alive....

It's so twirly!

My version is a fair bit less fitted than many versions I've seen online, but the Liberty has zero give in it and ... I have probably a little too much give these days, ha. Anyway I think it has shape and comfort in really good balance for my liking.

I made a muslin in size 10 and made a few adjustments to fit: raised the waist, let out the side seams and front bodice darts to widen the waist (tapering up to nothing under the arms) and took a wedge out of the bodice centre back where it meets the skirt to fix where it was scooping down a bit (I guess a kind of sway-back adjustment). If you look at the first photo in particular, I think I should have shortened the sleeves by the same amount as I shortened the bodice (I didn't adjust them at all). They're more almost-full-length than 3/4.

I cut the skirt back on the fold, since my print was directional and there were no fabric savings to be made by cutting it in two halves running opposite ways. I also sewed the collar with a 1/4 inch seam allowance as per comments I'd read from other Hawthorn sewists. It seems the pattern was accidentally made with only this narrow allowance on the collar rather than the 5/8 inch allowance elsewhere. Anyway with the 1/4" s/a it worked just right.

I added a waist-stay of cotton twill ribbon, sewing it to the seam allowance and finishing with a snap closure behind the button placket at the front. This may have been a bit of overkill given the lightness of my fabric, but on my bedsheet muslin, the weight of the full skirt pulled oddly at the waist.

I also added a little hook and thread loop helping stop any gaping at the waist. Buttons, not that you can see with the busy print going on, are assorted vintage clear glass.

I did a little bit of swearing when I cut the front bodice pieces upside-down on the print and there was not enough fabric left to re-do. But, it's such a busy print that you'd barely ever notice. I think it's a William Morris.

I felt great wearing this dress today. It made me feel a bit 'dressed up' but not inappropriate for just an ordinary day. I can definitely imagine another Hawthorn or two in my future... maybe in a plain fabric that would show off the cut a bit more.

I was thinking of making a very plain self-fabric tie belt to go with this one. What do you think?

- Jane x

Mornings, and a look at my Hawthorn although not on me, yet

We've been doing this three-kids-at-school thing for almost a year now but is it getting any easier to get us all ready in the mornings? Uh, nope. Maybe this summer when the sun's up earlier?

This morning:

Charlie, his face still three-quarters asleep, moving with glacial speed through the motions of morning preparations.

Clem, five minutes to go, sliding about with a tissue box on one foot and nothing on the other, admonishing Andy for "always speaking to (him) in a cross voice". Cos yeah, we should happily and sweetly repeat instructions for the seventh or eighth time.

Jasper, completely ready since about 7.30am, and showing us all the totem pole he'd just whipped up with corks, a slice of tree branch and a hot glue gun.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses, don't we. But in the mornings I'd take three of Jasper, thank you!

Now again, here I am apologising for not having photos of a garment being worn. There will, really, be a catchup post of me wearing a bunch of stuff soon. But I want to show off my Colette Hawthorn nevertheless, because I'm rather thrilled with it, and I really went slow-and-steady through this, the most detailed thing I've sewn in ages. So here it is on a hanger.

It was love-at-first-sight for me and the Hawthorn pattern. We had just received our first ever bolts of Liberty Tana Lawn at The Drapery and I was all inspired to pull out this Liberty from my stash. It was originally slated for a shirt for Andy, but... let's just say it may just as well have kept sitting in my stash for all the light of day it would have seen. So. Hello, Hawthorn!

I will post later about my fitting alterations and such, and with photos of me wearing it. But for now, here it is, and I can't wait for warmer weather here so I can actually enjoy it!

- Jane xx

some pre-blog sewing

That's a very dull post title isn't it? My apologies.

Seriously, with Andy overseas and three kids home on holidays, plus playdates, appointments and squeezing in some paid work, my brain is about the consistency of the lovely new lot of corn-fibre toy stuffing that arrived today.

Quick, a photo.

You know when you take a piece of exquisite fabric, and cut it just so, to use almost every scrap, and create a piece of clothing that you think your child looks utterly edible in?

So of course, child refuses to wear it? Yeah.

I made this over a year ago from some precious Liberty Tana Lawn - a half metre from eBay - to a pattern I sort-of traced from an existing top. It has French seams, side splits, neck binding painstakingly unpicked and re-applied to make it perfect. He's probably worn it about five times. So when he actually chose it from his wardrobe recently I had to take some photos.

Have you ever hugged a child wearing Liberty Tana Lawn next to their skin? I highly recommend it as one of life's most delicious sensations.

A disclaimer for the following photo: the clothes sit better than this when there is not a gale-force wind plastering them to me. Top and skirt both made, I think, pre-blog.

Top: New Look 6808 in a Japanese double-sided double gauze. This is really comfy and totally doesn't need the invisible zip I painstakingly inserted down one side as per the pattern, but then I like it loosely fitted. I added the contrast band down the bottom, and put an old glass button on the collar instead of the bow in the pattern. I thought a bow would be a bit twee added to the whole picnic tablecloth effect I have going on here. I think this pattern would look good extended down in an A-line shape to make a dress, don't you?

Skirt: Anna Maria Horner Proper Attire Skirt in a bamboo denim that I have used previously for Charlie's shorts.  I love this skirt, wear it to death and this photo does not do it justice at all. It's a reminder of how much wear I get from really good, plain basics. It's fully-lined, has great pockets and a really lovely shape.

The waistband is cut on the bias and the denim has a lot of stretch, even though interfaced. Next time I'd take the time to hang the cut waistband up to stretch then re-cut... a technique I saw somewhere and can't Google-find now, drat.

The photo above was taken on a day out at the Barossa Valley. It's a world-famous wine region but you can guess how much fun it is going wine tasting with the three boys in tow. One of the best parts was visiting a sculpture park set at a lookout with views over the whole valley. The boys had fun on, in and around the sculptures.

That Witchard, he gets around the place! (Oh yeah, he'll wear the dress-up garment made of nasty synthetic stuff... but I'm not complaining about that.)

- Jane x

Negroni sew-along plans + gratuitous kitty shot

For me, the scariest part of the Male Pattern Boldness shirt sew-along is "will he actually wear it"?

I'm talking about my husband who is quite excited about this project, but is notorious for picking one or two things in his wardrobe and wearing them to death, while everything else languishes unloved.

I bought this Liberty tana lawn (yeah, that again) on eBay without a specific project in mind. But it was beautiful, I think there's 3 metres of it, and it was going for a very reasonable price.

I was sort of thinking dress for me. I showed it to Andy as a potential candidate for the Negroni. "Yeah, I like it," he said. Oh. However, it does save a potentially long and frustrating search for just the right fabric. And he has mentioned quite a few times how much he is loving his tana lawn pyjama pants. Yes, love of my life, take this exquisite fabric, and keep up the encouraging comments.

He's opted for the long-sleeved version. Not sure whether we'll go with the two pockets and pocket flaps yet. Any thoughts? This fabric might be better unadorned, or, the pockets might give it a casual touch that relieves the formality of the print.

I'm also hoping to add a collar stand as per Peter's pending instructions. Andy finds the collar-with-stand a better look on him. He's also requested, and I think I can manage, tabs inside the sleeves that button up when you roll the sleeves up. Do you know what I mean? Do those things have names?

I'm very keen to get started. Oh and here's the gratuitous kitty shot. Don't cats just love walking all over fabric that you're trying to do something with? Not her best angle. (Devon Rex, in case you're wondering.)