My sari dressing gown

Back in March when I shared my non-quilty sewing plans for this year, number 7 on the list was ‘wearables’ and I also shared a picture of the already cut out summer weight dressing gown, using a sari I’d bought from eBay.

Well it is done, who knew it’d make it out of my craft room so quickly?!

Our new house is super well insulated, and every summer we’ve been here when it’s warm I think to myself “I need a lightweight dressing gown” and this year - we’ve been here three years now - I finally have one.

And it’s glorious, I’m so pleased with it - let me talk you through it.

THE IMAGE FROM THE MARCH POST

I bought both the pattern and the sari on eBay, the pattern had the tie belt pattern piece missing but as I’d also bought the men’s version of the same pattern I used that one. As you can see the pattern was well worn, but it had the instructions and the pattern pieces themselves weren’t damaged.

As I said in March, I needed to get brave and start sewing. And those warm summer days spurred me on.

I’d already decided to make use of the sari’s pattern on the bottom of the dressing gown, and the bands around the neck and sleeves. This determined the length and I’d class the length as ‘pretty much decent’ if you know what I mean.

When I started to sew it came together pretty quickly. In my first sewing session I made the patch pocket, even though I was a bit thrown by the band instructions so may have improvised a bit, and then attached it to the front. The shoulder seams were sewn together and the prep work for the decorative band that runs down each front piece and across the neck were done, and it was pinned in place.

It was starting to take shape.

Next up, and on another day I attached the decorative band, and inserted the sleeves - and stopped to admire my progress.

Only briefly though as I decided to press on, and sew the side seams and the sleeves together - now it really was a garment.

The sleeve bands went on much more easily than the band on the pocket had, but I think I was getting the hang of what the instructions meant by then too. The tie belt was sewn, turned through and pressed and the hem was hemmed.

It was almost done. All bar the loops for the tie belt, and one to hang it on the back of the door. I searched my ribbon stash, but an emerald green was the closest I could get to the beautiful teal sari. And it wasn’t right at all.

Which meant I’d have to make my own loops, or otherwise I’d never be entirely happy with it.

And so I did, choosing a contrasting piece of material for the hanging loop, and the plain teal for the belt loops.

They were probably the most fiddly part of the garment, but definitely worth the effort.

Now there’s just the small matter of doing it all again and making MOH a summer dressing gown - I’ve got the pattern, and I’ve bought a sari which he’s approved, but first I think I might try my hand to a sundress - watch this space!

New to my craft room in June

This month there’s more to share than in previous months, maybe there’s more around or I’m more susceptible to a nice bit of fabric at this time of year, who knows. The past month has also spawned ideas for two new projects - one inspired by a sewing magazine, and the other by this gorgeous new fabric from Liberty.

FAT QUARTERS FROM LIBERTY’S NEW GIFTS FROM THE GARDEN RANGE, TOPPED OFF WITH A TULA PINK FREESPIRIT CHARM PACK

The main pile of fat quarters is the new ‘Gifts from the Garden’ range from Liberty and they’re full of ‘cheerful florals, fruity prints, orchard charm’ and the email where I fell in love with them optimistically suggested they’d be great for my next project. Well they will be a project and used together at some point, but I suspect it won’t be my next one!

Not only do I love the fabrics - and surprise, surprise I couldn’t choose between the colourways - I also love their names. The pinks are called Jam Jar, the yellows Lemonade Stand. Then the blues are Orchard Breeze, with the orange selection as Marmalade Market. I know that the quilt that these make with be filled with zing and colour.

In the photo they’re topped off by a charm pack of Tula Pink’s Freespirit fabrics and I’ll use these 5 inch squares for the applique project I spoke about last month. I’m still planning how to make that happen, but ideas are percolating.

I’ve also added to my scraps and reuse piles this month with nets from the many lemons and limes we seem to be using at the moment, plus there’s a red onion net there too for a different colour. The squares are from our trip to France, they were at the napkins at breakfast at our last hotel and I was intrigued by them, so brought them home. I thought perhaps some embroidery, but then MOH used them for a wine bottle mat, drips and all so at least I now know they can withstand water!

Towards the end of the month I’d booked myself on a workshop to find out how I could make a pattern from clothes I already have. It was a useful day, and I took along a much loved jersey dress which has faded through wear and washing and is now one of those pieces of clothing that you only wear at home.

The tutor helped to make the pattern pieces of the top half, which is the bit that’s the most tricky - the skirt is just straight, so even I can manage that I hope, even though it does have pockets inserted into the seam. And so now I have to try it out - or make a toile - at home. A while back I’d bought some material from the market stall in Newark who was closing down, but I don’t want to go straight to that so my plan is to use the grey and orange striped material in the image below.

This whole pile of fabric came from the Gedling Play Forum a not-for-profit community scrapstore, fabric room and play forum, which for us is on the way to Nottingham, and who had organised the pattern drafting workshop. By joining I could access their scrapstore and fabric room (there’s a very reasonably priced craft shop on the site for non-members) and left with this pile of fabric, which including annual membership cost me £16.

Of course I have plans for it, well all apart from the ribbon which just called my name! The orange and grey striped fabric I’ll use to test out the top half of my new hand drawn pattern, and all going well I could end up with a new top! The two blue patterned bundles and the blue herringbone design, along with the roll of continuous zip and the luminous thread I’ll use to make zippered storage bags for our garden cushions so that they can be stored in the garage over the winter, and in the summer when they’re not in use.

Then the gold/bronze geometric fabric, which is quite soft and drapey, I’m thinking that I’d like a dress out of this - which is a bit random, and probably will be the only one of its kind, but it was too gorgeous to leave behind.

The workshop, and subsequent scrapstore visit, inspired these next additions. The dot and cross paper for further pattern creating ventures, the curved rules to help with shaping arm/shoulder pieces and of course necklines.

I think I now also have a lifetime supply of zipper pulls, as even by adding two to each storage bag for a double zippered effect, I’ll still have plenty left. I like the bright colours of these, and have no qualms about them not matching the zip - I mean, look at the thread I’ve chosen for these! My thinking was it’ll be easy to see if I need to rip it out if I go wrong!!

A friend from my sewing group has recently opened a stall at Newark market, and so I went along to be supportive - and did well to leave with just two additions to my fabric pile. The black - an unusual choice for me - is for another potential project, the one I saw in a sewing magazine, and will ultimately be for my greenhouse, bear with me on that one!

And the other? Well once again, text printed on fabric got me - I’ve no plans for this one but will be happy to admire it for a while!

Talking of sewing group, there were more items in their donation/de-stash pile which came home for me for a donation. I’m currently thinking that the gold flowered design might work with the geometric material above, but I need to check that out. Then the pink will be good for some more charity village quilts, and the final two smaller flowered pieces will come in handy at some point, I’m sure.

There was also a bag of patchworking pre-cut and some pre-sewn pieces. I didn’t want to leave someone else’s work behind so these also came home with me. The cut squares were quite an eclectic mix, but could mostly work together - and I’m sure I can do something with these, at some point!

So that’s another month in my craft room, check out my previous updates for earlier additions, and remember to let me know below what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.

Circling back to the contemporary quilts

A cheesy title for this blog post I know, but when I looked at my favourites from the contemporary quilts category, all but one featured circles so it just had to be done.

This first one though could potentially be debated about it being a quilt at all, it wouldn’t be one to snuggle up under now would it? But the thought process, colour choice and pure skill in creating this aren’t in doubt.

RANDOM CIRCLES, DEBORAH COLLINS

The non-circle quilt in this post instead uses triangles to make squares and pinwheels in a beautifully chaotic way, and in a way that Chris English does so well. I love the mash of colours and patterns, all the while there’s a very distinct overall theme.

CHOOSE QUILTING, CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH

More circles in this quilt, and more structure too - though some of the misshapen circles do have an element of Pacman to them, but also a touch of Orla Kiely, don’t you think?

SPINNING TRADITION, DAISY ASCHEHOUG

I love the thin width of the quilting of this one too, and that it’s horizontal not vertical, small details really do make the difference.

The final quilt is for me one that has a cheery and summery look - that’s definitely down to the colours and patterns used. It’s also a design that the more you look at the more you see, are they diagonal rows of circles or a circle on top of four others, or something else.

FLOATING BROKEN CIRCLES, CARINA ENVOLDSEN-HARRIS

Either way, it definitely deserves its place in my favourites from this category - which do you like best?