Making a Cape (It's not Weird)

 At the start of last year, a company called American Duchess released a free pattern based on an original 1910 wrap cape. It has pleated wrap bit at the front that tie or clip at the back and a collar.  Maybe it was the pandemic, or maybe it was just the need for a wrap cape in the modern world, whatever the reason, sewing people everywhere started making these capes. 

Image from American Duchess

I did see quite a few of these (#ADCapeCult) at the time, but shelved the idea of sewing one myself because Brisbane winter doesn't usually call for a cape. Besides which, I've never sewn something classed as "outer wear" and figured it was not really for me. 

Enter June 2021, and the month of crazy business, which happened to include two winter weddings, one of which was in Sydney. Weddings are the kind of event that a fancy cape would not feel out of place at. And a winter wedding meant that a cape was a justifiable item to make simply for warmth. I went back and forth for a while, not knowing what to make a cape from, and not sure if I had the time, but then just realised that I really wanted to give it a go, and if not now, then when? 

I asked the Brisbane Spoolettes for advice on fabrics and heard that wool cashmere was the way to go. Pandemic in full swing again, and I didn't have time to actually go to the shops, I feared buying online, when my friend who owns Sewing Adventures, the sewing studio offered to let me have a look at some she had recently brought to see what I thought. 

The fabric was beautiful, so I went home and very nearly ordered the musk, but ended up going a safe pewter (kind of black, but not solid), to suit the formal nature of the weddings and for re-wearability. I also ordered some shiny lining fabric at the same time, thinking that was the right thing to do. More on that later. 

Given that I had never sewn a cape before, and I wanted to make sure it was 100% wearable to some fancy weddings (not the least of which was my very own sisters!), I first made a practice run out of some random fabric that I think Aunty Sue from Sydney gave me. Good thing I did, because the fit in the shoulders was off. Don't let my excited smile fool you, there is lots to do ahead. 

Lots of research about what other people had done to solve similar issues and I unpicked and adjusted to try again. 

More changes to be made and a third try on the rough draft and I was finally ready to cut into the real fabric. What a marathon this cape was turning out to be. Cutting the real fabric however, turned out to be way more complicated than I expected. The shiny lining fabric shifted and moved like crazy, and because everything was without seam allowance, I used chalk to mark the sewing lines. This chalk kind of stayed on the shifty shiny stuff, but dusted straight off the black wool cashmere, so I had to "trace" the lines by hand sewing guide lines over them. 

When I started sewing, things were going smoothly on the wool cashmere, but went quickly downhill on the shiny lining fabric. It was so shifty it was a nightmare to sew, and then the edges started fraying like crazy, no matter what I did. I ended up cutting strips of interfacing and ironing them on to keep the edges in place, which covered up almost all of my chalk sewing lines and then when I went to sew it together with the outer fabric, it was so shifty that I had to hand baste the entire thing in before machine sewing it together. 

SO MUCH EXTRA WORK!!!

I was cursing the cape by this point, for the silly shiny shifty lining fabric, but also because I was on such a time crunch, because I'd left the sewing of it to a week before the first wedding. Never again will I buy shiny lining fabric. Cotton lining is much simpler to work with and will be my preference from here on out. 

At last, however, I had a cape. A swishy, warm fabulous cape. And let me tell you, it was indeed fabulous to wear. 

I don't have any great photos of the cape from the wedding in Sydney, but I was so thankful for the warmth that night. Sydney was a little bit like a test run to see if it really was ok to wear out in public, and it was! Hooray! So the next week, I wore this cape very proudly to my sister's wedding in Brisbane. 

Feeling so fantastic. 

I also added a small welt pocket in the lining of the wrap section so that I would have somewhere to put my phone and keys. So sneaky. Such a perk of sewing your own cape. Sorry I have no photos to show you. But it is awesome. Trust me. 

Steve's Shirt

I have always sewn stuff by pretty much making things up as I go. I learnt the basics from mum, and then at high school, but everything else is self taught and hacking it together. This doesn't usually bother me, but for a long time now I've had a real avoidance of button holes and zips, which really limits the kind of things you can sew, especially if you are sewing for yourself. 

When the sewing studio in my area advertised a men's button up shirt class, I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn to sew the right way. As an added bonus, I'd also get a button up shirt for Steve to wear. It had long been my theory that Steve chose not to wear button up shirts because the only ones he had were just boring work type shirts, and his geeky/funny slogan T-shirts are just generally more fun. I thought I could solve the boring button up shirt problem by sewing a button up shirt for him in a fun fabric so he might be more inclined to wear it. 

So I took the plunge. It was a little bit like a birthday present to myself, back at the end of March there (so long ago now!) Unfortunately, there were a few COVID scares in the weeks before, so we ended up having to look for fabric online. Still, we came out with this great Jocelyn Proust print that is pretty cool. 

I went to the sewing studio and enjoyed sewing with other like minded people. There was someone there to help guide us through, but the instructions of the Troop Shirt from Tadah Patterns were very explicit and had great illustrations, so it was easy to read ahead myself. One of the biggest things I learnt was that I could absolutely sew something really swish and professional if I actually take the time to do all the steps. Who knew!

I also learnt that Sally the Sewing Machine is still no good at button holes, but that I actually have the skills to work around that, and can sew a decent button hole regardless. The other students and even the teacher were scratching their heads at what Sally was doing when it came to button holes, but I made it work. 

Steve was pretty chuffed with his shirt, and so was I. It was everything I wanted it to be, and I'm ready to make more. Too bad life has been very busy since April and I've barely had time to read let alone sew. Hopefully soon though, because we have a great arrow fabric picked out for the next one. 

Prep Area Painting

 As with the Tuckshop Mural, this was not my idea and I didn't really do anything except turn up and paint, but it still feels great to be a part of, and leave this little bit of the school brighter than when we arrived. 

I give you, the Prep Area, which was previously orange brick, one wall painted orange. Very uninspiring all round. 

Now it is bright, colourful and fun. 

And reflective of learning ideals. 

I took a photo of Rachel in front of this last week, because she was student of the week for demonstrating Care for Learning in her classroom. It made me very glad it was there, and that I had helped to get it there. Yay for community and people who get things done.

Me Made May

As suspected, the hardest thing about Me Made May was actually taking photos of myself in each outfit. That said, I do feel I managed to wear my self-made things more this month, and being intentional about it really did get me thinking about what I actually wear, and what I would like to make more of. It has made the Make Nine challenge look much more appealing if I think of strategically planning the making of what fabric or patterns I have on hand so that I actually wear the outcome.

Not that my self-made wardrobe is lacking, or that the reason I couldn't wear self-made every day in May was only because of that, but it's been eye opening none the less. Part of the trouble with May in Brisbane is that it's getting a lot cooler here, rather than the flip experienced in the Northern Hemisphere, and as I have no experience sewing jeans or outwear, my self-made options were limited. 

Still, I'm glad I did it. There are absolutely things in my wardrobe that I didn't even consider wearing, even with the weather. Like this dragonfly dress. I'm just never going to reach for it. Sigh. Time to give it new life with someone else. 

One thing I did reach for was this top that I'd made three years ago now. I really love it. It's got different style, lots of colour and I can wear it to work (which I did a lot of in the first few weeks of May!) I would love to have a couple more of these in my cupboard. What I noticed about this one though was that it's actually starting to fall apart. Mostly the tie, because I didn't know what I was doing when I blindly stitched a silk tie to a cotton shirt. The shirt itself is still good, so I think the best option is to replace the tie, and make another. Then I'll have two! 

The other thing I found were my dresses are absolutely my go to for most days, even the ones that are so faded I can't really wear them out of the house any more. This Sushi Dress, which I didn't even get a photo of me wearing, from four years ago is still my favourite. I suppose the contribution of four years of hard wear means it's so soft to wear now, so it's super comfy, even if it's faded. 

This dress, which is made from a table cloth my parents brought back from their travels, is faring better, but I wear it nearly as much. I love the colour and fit. I feel I can wear it with my connies, as well as with heals. Sophie took this photo for me as we were leaving jiu-jitsu one afternoon early in May. Photo skills coming along nicely! 

I also wore this dress, which I never blogged about after I made it. But less so. I think because it has no sleeves, but possibly also because the colours are much more muted. I also think I never blogged about it because this is the best photo that I have of it, which is the first time I wore it in Bundaberg two years ago. The wind was doing crazy things with my hair that day. 

The last me-made things I wore in May, which again, I didn't get a photo of, was actually very unexpected. I had two days of teaching Japanese at the girls school, so I wore yukata both days. The first day, I wore this yukata, pictured here being worn by my friend Amy when we went to a koto concert last year. 

I actually made this yukata in 2004, the year I lived in Japan, so it's nearly 20 years old. I hand sewed every stitch and it's still holding up! 

And that's a wrap for Me Made May for me. I hope what I've learnt about my wardrobe is somewhat applicable for the future, and helps me to consider what I'm making before I make it. What I loved about it, was the fun and fantastic feeling that it is to wear clothes I've made myself, so even though it's often more expensive and quite tricky to make your own clothes, I'm glad I take the time to do it. 

Rachel's Mouse

I think this is our last post involving pillow cases. After making the skorts, Rachel's dress and the Bunny Bags, I was down to only a few scraps remaining of these three pillow cases, most of which were donated to the girls when they set up their sewing baskets. 

So when Rachel asked to sew something, I showed her a picture of a little mouse softie that I had seen on Pintrest which I thought would take her fancy. I was right. She was delighted, and told me when her mouse was done, it would live in her sewing basket and be her sewing companion. 

This was significantly more complicated than the small pillows that she had made. We made a pattern with paper. There were parts that needed to be cut accurately, and things needed to be sewn in stages, in the correct order. I talked her through each step and she made it. 

It's a little wonky, and the ear is caught in the side seam at one point, but Rachel loves this little mouse, and already has plans to make Sophie one too. 

There go the last of the pillowcases. Who knew fabric from three pillowcases would go so far? 

Identity Crisis

While I spent most of the first week of Easter holidays sewing, the girls, for the most part, just played. Rachel, however, came over one day to watch. The girls have seen me sew before, sewn with me at the machine, helped feed the fabric through, lifted the presser foot and pressed reverse, so this was all pretty normal. This time, however, Rachel watched the needle move up and down in my sewing machine and picked up a hand needle from the pincushion on the cabinet. 

You could almost see the gears in her mind turning as she thought about how the two were related, and how they worked differently, but had the same result. I gave her a bit of fabric and she started pushing the needle through it, weaving it in and out with a running stitch. 

So, I gave her some more fabric and threaded the needle and sent her off to see what she could do. She came back with a pretty good running stitch and asked what came next. We practiced running stich a few times, I drew lines on scrap fabric for her to follow, and then dashes to help her get the size right. Then we moved onto backstitch. again with the dashes to follow, and then without. 

Sophie asked to have a go too, but wasn't quite as committed as Rachel. Still, she gave it a good go, and they can both do running. Rachel went on, however, decided that she would like to make a pillow for Sophie's squirrel. I set her up for that, and in the process, she learnt a ladder stitch too. Three days later, and she's doing another pillow for Mu Mu. I'm thankful for all the scrap fabric, because she's going through it at a terrific rate. 

After watching the girls get into their sewing, I was at Spotlight with them (just a quick in and out visit), and the found some very cute fox tape measures, where the fox's tail is the measure and retracts back in. Spontaneously I bought them one each. When we got home, I went under the house in search of something I thought I had stored there for just this moment. 

Yes, this is a sewing basket. Retro? Vintage? I don't know the correct term, but this was given to me by my Grandma when I was about Sophie's age. I still remember sitting in the living room of the apartment my grandparents had down the coast and my Grandma showing my sisters and I the stitches. It's a bit special to pass it on to Rachel.

And yes, before you worry that I've chosen one daughter over another, this is the second box that I had under the the house.

This one came from another dear friend of 22 years, Sophie's Godmother, Melissa, who left it behind when she moved to Canada. Again, special to be passing on to Sophie. 

We filled the kits with some thread, pins, needles, their new tape measures, and even a needle threader each. The girls also got a small pair of scissors that I had from various small travel sewing kits, but they were pretty rubbish quality, so my mum came to the rescue with an upgrade for them. I gave them each some scrap fabric from the top of my rather full tub of scrap fabric, and off they went. 

Rachel likes to take her kit wherever they go, and is generous about sharing and teaching other kids. Her skills are increasing, and she's just finished something that I'll blog about next time. I never saw this coming, but it's pretty nice to share something I love with these little girls of mine. What happened next though took me by such surprise that I'm still reeling from it. 

Sophie wanted to make a cake, since she had not enjoyed the Humming Bird Cake that we had made with the pineapple from the tin for her aqua scope. So we were looking through the cookbooks. And of course, she asked to look through the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book. No way, was I randomly making one of those for fun, but I told her she could look. 

Rachel came to look too, and since her birthday is actually next, and relatively close, I said she could start thinking about what cake she might like. Given the bug cakes of the last five years, I was assuming she would stop on the Weta Bug from my NZ Birthday Cakes book, or something with flowers that she could add dragonflies too. 

But Rachel stopped on the Sewing Machine and Sewing Basket cakes and delightedly declared that she would have one of these. 

What? 

Who are you child? 

I've made you lady bug, snail, butterfly, bee and a caterpillar cake. What is going on? Who are you? Who am I?, if I'm not making you an insect themed birthday cake? 

The pivot is too much for me. Even an animal cake would have been a softer blow. 

Maybe I'm still cautiously thinking that this sewing thing is going to be a phase and she'll tire of it in a few weeks, but then again, maybe not. Maybe Rachel isn't going to have a bug cake this year. Or next. And that's ok right? 

I think I still need time to process. In the meantime, I guess I'll just help her trace some more patterns and draw dashes on fabric so she can enjoy this new sewing thing. Maybe it will help if she can make a butterfly with fabric to ease me into the change. 

Bunny Bags for the Girls

After making the girls Brisbane-based cousins Bunny Bags for their Easter treats, my own girls were keen to have some. They wanted ones that were a little trickier to sew, which was fine, since I was only make two, as opposed to five. 

The tutorial for this is available at the Sewing Times blog, and also on YouTube. It was a pretty simple make and again, I used gifted fabric - pillowcase fabric! 

The bags outer fabric came from the pillowcases I had already deconstructed for the girls skorts. The inner on Sophie's was also pillowcase fabric, seen in Rachel's dress, and Rachel's bunny bag had leftover Ikea fabric that matches everything so well. 

Cute and holds a substantial amount of chocolate. What more could you want?

Me Made May

I'm interrupting regular posting to talk about Me Made May. I guess to the world it might not feel like an interruption, but as I have three posts mostly written and ready to go that follow along from the pillow case sewing that is turning out to be quite a saga, it feels like an interruption to me. Anyway; Me Made May. 

So Me Made May is a thing in sewing circles that happens each year (around May as it were), where people make pledges to wear self made clothing, or a variation on that theme. I don't know where it started, but it's about actively trying to wear self made clothes, thinking about what you wear and why, challenging yourself to try different combinations. 

It's the kind of thing that can help you think about your wardrobe; are there gaps? Are there different ways you could wear the same old same old? Are there small alterations you could make to bring something back? Are there things you don't wear at all and why is that? I guess at it's core is helping people to celebrate wearing things that we have made, and to be thinking sustainably about the clothes we wear. 

I love this. So though I've never participated in Me Made May before, I felt like giving it a go this year. Not a 100% sure exactly why, or what my Me Made May Challenge will be exactly, but I'm just jumping in. I figure that if I just start somewhere, I'll figure out my goal along the way. Maybe.  

This week, I'm mostly just trying to reach for clothes I've made first, before I put on something easy (jeans and t-shirt again *face palm*). I am going to try to do one post a week to summarize what I've worn that has been self made, and what I'm thinking about it. To be honest, the hardest part of this (and we are only two days in so far!) has been actually taking photos of myself. Scary. 

Anyway, lest this be a post with no photo, I thought I'd share the first self made thing I wore for Me Made May, which is something I made last year and never blogged about. 

I love this floral jumpsuit. I got the pattern free from another Brisbane based sewer person who was de-stashing during the Covid lock down last year. Though I don't really like sewing from pre-made patterns I really wanted to try to make it. So I made a draft, fixed all the fit issues and then made the final out of this gloriously bright print. 

I've lost a bit of weight since I first made it, so it's a little looser now, but I still get so many comments when I wear it, which might give me the motivation I need to take it in a few places so it can have that really "tailored for me" fit feeling again. 

This seems like a great place to start for Me Made May. Something I love that I'm committed to adjusting so I can keep wearing it for a long time. Let's hope the rest of the journey has some similar discoveries. 

Not the Usual Pillowcase Dress

More sewing with the pillowcases gifted to me by my dear friend Katie. I actually sewed this dress and the skorts ages ago, maybe back in late Feb, or early March, but I've just been so busy, there has been really no time to blog! Rectification of that in progress now. 

After the skorts, I knew I wanted to use the Ikea fabric to make Rachel a dress similar to the one I made Sophie two years ago, based on the Izzy Top. She had been wearing Sophie's hand me down a lot, so I knew it was a style she liked, and I thought I could combine the Ikea fabric with another pillow case perfectly for it too. 

Rachel was not in a photo taking mood for this photo shoot, so it's a miracle any of these photos are sharing worthy. 

Yes, she's wearing this dress down to the park for a play. Yes, I have had to start soaking dresses and doing a separate white load (don't judge me), for all the white dresses that Rachel loves to wear. Is it worth it? Probably. Rachel does love a good white dress, and who am I to argue with that beautiful pillow case top that is living it's best life out in the sun now? 

Pillowcase Skorts

I've been sewing long enough now that many of my friends are aware one of the best ways to show me love is to gift me fabric. Oh the blissful feeling of free gifted fabric. You have no idea. So when one of my longest friends (22years of friendship!) who works for Lorraine Lea, offered me some of the pillowcases from discontinued linen designs, I jumped at the chance. 

Suddenly, so much more fabric to inspire me to sew! Hooray! 

Not long after receiving these, I had a spontaneous trip to Ikea with my mother-in-law, Maria, and I noticed a print in their fabric section that I knew would match perfectly with some of the pillowcases that I had been gifted. It was meant to be. 

The Ikea fabric is the floral on the left of this photo, the white, pink and green are all pillow cases, deconstructed and ready for sewing. See how perfectly the pink and green match! 

I knew the girls (being the strangely tactile creatures that they are) would love the fringe from the pillow cases, so I took that off first to add to the skirt. I wanted to make Rachel a skirt with shorts inside (using the plain backing fabric from the pillow cases), and Sophie a pinafore/overall dress type number, but Sophie just wanted a skort too, so I rolled with it. 

Sorry for the night time sewing photos; I know they're not the best. Anyway, trim on, skirts and shorts sewn and the girls are rocking their skorts. 

I did try to talk her out of the white shirt that doesn't really go, in favour of one that complimented more, but Sophie was determined to wear it. Kids right? 

Surprise shorts!

The pillow case fabric in these is so soft and comfy, and the girls love their skorts. Hooray!

Bunny Bags

 When I asked the girls what they would like to put the Easter eggs for their cousins in this year, I was expecting (or maybe hoping) they would say "We'll make origami boxes Mum!" I don't think it was too much of a stretch, given that they had recently learned how to make some pretty decent origami boxes, and this would be a chance to show off their skills. 

What they said instead was, "You can sew some bags Mum!" which had a vastly different outcome. 

But who am I to turn down the opportunity to sew something? So I went to my trusty box of scrap fabric and dug out enough calico to make several bags. I showed the girls a variety of bag types on Pinterest, hoping they would like a simple draw string bag. Again, my hopes were dashed, as they declared the bags with bunny ears to be the best bags of all. 

So again to my stash to find some fun fabric for the bunny ears and off to Sally the Sewing Machine I went. 

Two days later, and I've got five bunny bags ready to go. They are pretty cute, and well made, if I do say so myself. I French seamed them, for prettiness and strength. The girls made Easter cards and filled them with chocolate for their cousins and everyone had a great time.