This evening I went to a birthday party of a friend and I brought her a travel set as a gift. The zip bag, tissue pouch and business card holder were made some time ago, but I wanted to add a little bag for some tiny soaps from the Fair Trade shop.

 

 

I had a couple of scraps of the bright flowered fabric, just enough to make a drawstring pouch. I added a one inch gusset to accommodate the stack of soaps. The hot pink organza ribbon is from my stash.

 

 

I love this bright summery set. It makes me want to go on a road trip somewhere warm.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Vivian!

 

* These photos are strangely filtered. Either it was too sunny or the lens was dirty but the colours are much more vivid in real life. One of these days I need to get myself some photography skills.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €235.99

 

It’s been an epic journey but I have arrived and the Belcarra blouse is complete.

Last night I hacked up the pattern again, raising the darts a bit and decreasing the FBA to one inch (from one and a half). I whipped up a third muslin based on the changes and the fit was almost right. The darts were just a touch too high now. This morning I adjusted the pattern one last time, lowering the dart point by a smidgeon. The front pattern piece is now more scotch tape than paper. See how shiny!

 

 

I didn’t bother testing it out and instead used the finalized pattern to cut into my Mitsi fabric from Liberty.

Sewing together the front, back and sleeves was a breeze. It was my fourth time, after all. The neckline took a bit longer. I was sewing with the wrong side facing up but then the front went all ribbly. I picked all the stitches out and sewed again, this time with the front facing up. That worked much better.

The sleeve cuffs were easier than I expected. I thought they had to fold up but that’s View C and I had cut out the pieces for View A. That explains why the fold-up cuffs didn’t work out so hot on my first muslin.

I serged the bottom edge and then hemmed with invisible stitching. Because this fabric is a dream to work with and presses crisp and clean this was my easiest and neatest invisible hem yet. I may take up the length but that’s a job for another day.

Ta-da!

First, selfie shot in my sewing room:

 

 

Then Sandor came home and I roped him into taking some shots of me outside:

 

 

The fit is great! This has been a huge learning experience for me, doing an FBA. Thanks, Caroline at Sewaholic for the sew-along and extra tutorials!

 

 

I just spent an hour in an un-airconditioned car so I’m a bit wrinkly.

 

 

We’re going out tonight and I’m going to wear my new blouse, paired with jeans and my favourite Camper heels.

I’ll be making more Belcarras.  It would be a pity to let all those muslins go to waste. I saw some slinky, drapey fabric at the Haagse Markt, and at 3 euros a metre I can squeeze it into my budget.

I also still have enough of the Mitsi fabric left to make a few small Things, which is fortunate given the state of the budget.

 

Cost of this Thing: €34.37 (27.57 for the fabric, 6.80 for the pattern)
Cost of all Things to date: €235.99

 

I have a long list of clothes to make in the next five weeks. Some of them will be challenging and time consuming but I started off with an easy one.

Martina loves her pink Hollyburn skirt and wanted to add another Hollyburn to her wardrobe. I pulled out the blue fabric I used for Esther’s Hollyburn.

I didn’t have a blue zipper to spare (the one I have is earmarked for another Thing) so I gave the skirt an elastic waist. I used the 2-inch elastic I bought for Esther’s Minoru jacket. It doesn’t look like an elastic waist on this photo because the elastic is cut to the same length as the waistband. The fabric has quite a bit of stretch so Martina can still pull it over her hips. I like the clean tailored look.

 

 

This skirt is a versatile addition to Martina’s wardrobe. The colour goes with most of her shirts and she can wear it year round — like this in summer or with tights and boots in the winter.

I love how quickly this pattern comes together — under three hours from start to finish. I’ll definitely be making more. Maybe in purple wool for the winter? I still have lots leftover from Esther’s jacket.

 

 

Esther and Martina now have matching skirts. They agreed with each other not to wear it on the same days. Because otherwise? Oh, the horror.

 

Cost of this Thing: €2
Cost of all Things to date: €201.62

Yesterday I made a bag for the bunny brothers. The fabric comes from Martina’s old curtains. I’ve used it for lots of projects over the years so there’s not much left but I still had a carrot section for the bunnies.

 

 

The other side is flowers, also a favourite habitat for our hoppy friends.

 

 

A scrap of green ribbon for the drawstring finishes off the bunny bag.

 

 

A beautiful bag of bunnies!

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

The girls made about €80 at the rummage sale today. More importantly, I got a lot of stuff out of my house. Kringloop, the Netherlands’ answer to Goodwill, arrived with a big truck at the end of the sale to pick up all the unsold items, so none of it came back home. The tissue pouches didn’t sell well — people were there for used household items — but they’ll keep until our pre-Christmas craft sales.

It was after 4:00 this afternoon before I got a chance to sit down at my sewing machine to make today’s Thing. I wanted something quick but useful. I didn’t want to just make something for the sake of making something. And what’s more useful than underwear? Not much.

I set a challenge for myself to see how quick I could sew a pair of underwear for Martina, using the same Cheeky Panties pattern from Burdastyle that I’ve used before.

 

 

 

It’s not the neatest pair I’ve made, but it is the fastest. From start to finish I was busy for about 35 minutes. Yeah, baby. I’m an underwear-making machine.

Quick, free and useful. My kind of Thing.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

Martina and Esther are saving up for a trip to London. Their list of places to go include the Harry Potter Studios, the Roald Dahl museum and at least two musicals, so they have some serious saving to do.

Towards that goal they have sorted and purged a mountain of stuff to sell tomorrow at a large rummage sale. I offered to make them a few small crafts for them to sell as well.

What small crafts? Do you really need to ask? Really?

 

 

I made this stack of 23 tissue pouches with the leftovers from the Great Tissue Pouchathon.

 

 

Pouch 24 is made with Esther’s shiny material that I also used for the superhero capes and Pouch 25 is made with leftover lining fabric from Esther’s Minoru jacket.

I wrapped them all in cello wrap and hot glued a little flower or bow on each one. At €2 each I’m hoping these sell well.

 

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62

 

 

Today’s Thing is another Hollyburn skirt, this time for Esther. I bought this material at the Haagse Markt when the girls chose fabric (black and pink) for their Renfrews. My plan was to make myself another Coco but I changed my mind — I want something brighter and more summery for a short-sleeved version.

This fabric is, however, perfect for a Hollyburn. The colour goes with most of Esther’s t-shirts, plus it’s lightweight enough for summer and has a bit of stretch for comfort.

 

 

I made a few changes for Esther’s version. First, I raised the hemline by five inches. I also skipped the zipper and pulled wide elastic through the waistband. Esther prefers elastic waist everything.

And the blind hem was so much easier than the last time! No weeping and gnashing of teeth necessary.

 

 

This girl is ready for summer!

 

Cost of this Thing: €2
Cost of all Things to date: €199.62 (still under 200…)

Today’s jewelry post has been postponed due to comment gold.

A t-shirt for a maiden fair
A hairband for the golden hair
Her socks in slocks
With pouch and flags
Bring on the scrunchie
When Esther comes
I’ll buy her lunchie!

– Mom/Oma

 

 

I wasn’t going to post any more Things with this fabric but then my mom (Hi Mom!) commented on yesterday’s post with this poem.

I whipped up a scrunchie lickety split with two tiny scraps and a piece of half inch elastic. As Things go, it is rather lame and the only reason it’s getting Thing status is because of the poem.

 

Esther was persuaded (coerced?) to put on all the pink-flowered Things one last time. I got my photo and the endless metre of pink flowers is all used up.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €197.62

 

 

 

Remember This is the House that Jack Built?

 

These are the party flags that wave in the air

To announce the gift pouch with the treasure so rare

Carried in by one shod in slocks

That match the hairband

That match the t-shirt

of Esther who picked this fabric.

 

(This why I don’t write poetry.)

 

I did it — five projects from one metre of fabric!

The last project in this challenge is a vlaggetjeslijn — flag bunting. I cut eight triangles of the flowered fabric and eight of the solid pink (leftover from Martina’s Hollyburn skirt.) Each flag is one side flowered, one side pink. I sewed them up on the serger and used my regular machine to attach them to the ribbon, alternating sides, with five inches between each flag. The ribbon is from my stash and there’s plenty left.

 

 

I have a few wee scraps of the flowered fabric left so I promised Esther a scrunchie.

A what? she said.

Oh, child, let me tell you about the 80s. Next I’ll make you matching slouch socks…

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €197.62 (Still under 200! Hoping to keep it up for at least another week or two.)

 

 

 

 

One of Esther’s birthday gifts last month was a charm bracelet that came in a handmade pouch. Esther was all over the bracelet (the charms were the Big Five) and I was all over the pouch. It was round instead of the usual rectangle.

For the fourth pink-flowered Thing I decided to make one for myself.

 

 

I used a breakfast plate as a pattern, and a small saucer for the inside base. It’s lined with a scrap from an old sheet and ribbon from the stash.

 

 

It’s perfect for the jewelry set I made on Wednesday (to be blogged about on Sunday, once I’ve run out of pink flowered fabric.)

 

 

Here is my willing model (and chief recipient) with her profusion of flowers:

 

 

That’s a lot of pink flowers…

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €197.62