Thursday, December 22, 2016

A Mélilot for Mum!

Hello fellow festive sewers!


My South African mum left for Cape Town today for two weeks. So she needed to get her Christmas shirt early! She and I went shopping a couple of months ago to the Cloth House where she spotted this elephant Indian block print cotton. I was being boring, steering her towards more neutral small prints, but she knows what she likes, and she was absolutely right!


Elephants for Mum feel particularly right (and I was reminded watching her pack today that she already has another elephant shirt!) - not only does she love them, but they are a presence in the area of South Africa she has spent most time in, the Western Cape. For many years Mum's home was near Knysna, and there is a beautiful novel by Dalene MattheeCircles in a Forest, a cry for conservation and the last remaining elephants there. So I'm thinking of this as Mum's good luck Circles in a Forest shirt...


This is my third time making the Deer & Doe Mélilot shirt, and my love for this pattern continues strong. I love everything about it; the fit is loose but still flattering, and I really like the mandarin collar option. I made this one with long sleeves as requested by this elephant fan, and I am pretty thrilled with my first finished placket effort. The instructions are clear and helpful, and though I scratched my head a bit for sure, but I'm dead proud of how they came out. 


Pachyderm placket!

As with my last two versions, I sewed up a straight size 38 and made no adjustments. We left off the pockets so as not to interrupt these tusky dudes! I French-seamed the lot, and when I was tempted to bodge that and overlock the seams I reminded myself that it was a present for Mum and that kept me honest...! 

She seems to love it, and I think she looks so very lovely in it, it makes me proud of her, and the shirt!! What a wonderful thing sewing is, to be able to cover the people you love in tokens of that love. Especially if the tokens are all-over elephants!


Merry Christmas everyone!

Monday, December 5, 2016

Another Charlotte Skirt

Hello sewers!



Here I am with another By Hand London Charlotte Skirt. Having fussed and worried over the creases and darts in my last version, that skirt is now one of my most-worn me-mades, so I've decided I like the pattern as it is and won't worry any more about it.


I've nothing really to add from last time; I used the same slight mods again - a few cm off the tops of the side seams, a split up the back and belt loops to show off my favourite belt, a triumphant Etsy find!


The fabric is a lovely medium-weight Indian cotton from Cloth House, always dangerously near my studio...



Next up is another Mélilot, this time with long sleeves for my mum. Till soon!