For the third Thing using the pink flowered fabric, Esther requested slocks.

You know, slocks. They’re like slippers and socks, at the same time.

We googled free patterns and settled on this one. It was close enough to what Esther described and I could improvise any changes she wanted.

I traced Esther’s foot for an approximate size and, using the tutorial pictures as a guide, drew a pattern piece for the sides/top. I think the tutorial calls for different top pieces for the left and right side of each foot but I made them the same. The fabric had plenty of stretch to made it work. I also added a lining.

The exterior is with the pink flowers and the bottoms and lining are from an old pair of grey leggings. I bound the tops of the slocks with the last of picot-edge fold over elastic, which helped tighten up an overly large opening.

 

 

I sewed these entirely on the serger. (As you can see I couldn’t be bothered to rethread the machine with darker thread.)

If I’d planned it correctly I could have concealed the inside seams altogether, but I’m not losing any sleep over this. These slocks are soft and comfortable and good enough.

 

 

They’re slightly roomier than Esther had envisioned — more slipper than sock — but with the way children grow around here I’m not worried.

 

 

As Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion fades, only slocks remain the same.”* 

 

 

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

 

* Quotes may or may not be an accurate representation of what was actually said.

For Day 2 of the pink flowered fabric Esther requested a wide hairband to match her shirt. I’ve made a bunch of these before so I pulled out one of her favourites and used the same measurements.

I cut a rectangle and hemmed along the long edges. Next I sewed a long, narrow tube through which I pulled a length of elastic. I attached the two pieces with with my serger and called it a day. 15 minutes, maybe?

 

 

It was a non-gym day so Esther could forgo her usual braid.

 

 

Matchy-matchy, pretty-pretty!

 

 

Cost of this Thing: 0 (just need to do that about 75 more times)
Cost of all Things to date: €197.62

 

 

 

I’ve set a challenge for myself this week: 5 Things out of one metre of fabric. This is my feeble attempt to reduce the deficit.

I mentioned last week that I let the girls each pick out a metre of fabric for a shirt. Martina’s was the black jersey with white polka dots (Thing 123) and Esther picked out a pink flowered knit.

To make Esther’s shirt I used the Renfrew pattern again but lopped two inches off the length and raised the neckline by about an inch.

 

 

I put the Agatha Christie down and focused on sewing quickly. 55 minutes, baby! Yep, I sewed a shirt in under an hour. Feeling pretty pleased with myself.

 

 

And as you can see, Esther is pretty pleased, too.

***

I had a good quarter metre of the fabric left and hence the idea to make multiple Things with it this week. I CANNOT pass the €200 mark already. I’m going to try stretch that €2.38 for a bit.

 

Cost of this Thing: €3
Cost of all Things to date: €197.62

 

The Hollyburn is finally complete!

The construction of this skirt went so smoothly, too. The zipper is straight and neatly concealed, the pockets lay flat, the waistband fit perfectly the first time. I was on a roll!

Until The Final Hem.

A blind hem looks so professional and my serger has a blind hem option. It was time to take my sewing to the next level. Easy peasy.

The first round was a fail, but that’s normal for beginners, right? I tried again. And again.

My optimism wavered. At one point I googled “blind hem serger frustration,” not because I was looking for solutions, but because I needed to know that I wasn’t alone.

Eventually I gave up on perfection and decided to settle.

 

 

But lying in bed that night I couldn’t let it go. The rest of the skirt turned out so well but the hem gave the whole thing an amateur feel. I slept on it and by morning I had decided to redo the hem.

Anyone who has used a serger knows what kind of commitment I’m talking about. That’s a loooong hemline and a lot of stitches to pull out. Yet it needed to be done.

It took me the better part of an hour (with reading breaks) to pull it all out. The fabric was a little worse for wear — a few snags and one teeny tiny hole from the stitch ripper — and this is what the floor looked like when I was done:

 

 

I serged the raw edge and used my old Singer to do a new blind hem. (Until I started googling my frustrations I didn’t even realize my regular machine could do one. I had never looked up the meaning of all those strange stitch types in the manual. Which has me wondering, What other superhero abilities does my old workhorse have?)

It’s still not perfect but it is so much better.

 

 

Isn’t she cute?

 

 

Martina wore this to church this morning. In fact, everything she’s wearing except for the shoes is made by me. I can’t tell you how much this pleases me.

 

Cost of this Thing: €16.80 (12.80 for the pattern, 3 for the fabric, 1 for zipper and thread)
Cost of all Things to date: €194.62 (gulp)

 

 

Today’s Thing is another Renfrew shirt. I LOVE that pattern. In fact, I’ve made two in the last two days. The first one was for Martina.

When we went to the Haagse Markt a couple of weeks ago the girls each picked out a metre of jersey for a shirt. This was Martina’s choice:

 

 

 

It’s a soft and slinky knit with wonderful drape.

The shirt took about an hour and a half to make on the serger, with frequent reading breaks. (The Agatha Christie binge continues.)

Tomorrow I’ll post photos of her modelling it with Thing 124. Ooh, the suspense!

 

Cost of this Thing: €3
Cost of all Things to date: €177.82

 

What do you do when you have a bug and do not feeling like crafting? I think we all know the answer to that.

 

 

Since my serger was all set up with dark thread I found some dark fabric scraps for this tissue pouch. The polka dotted fabric is a slippery, light weight chiffon — a total pain to sew with — and the lining is a scrap from an old pair of Sandor’s work pants.

It feels all soft and silky, which is comforting when you’re fumbling for a tissue, no? And chic, to boot. Maybe I’ll make a little zipper pouch and they can join my growing gift stash.

At any rate, this tissue pouch met the only two criteria I had today: Fast and Free. Now back to bed.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €174.82

 

Remember the flowered zipper bag I made last week?

Now it has contents: a matching tissue pouch and business card holder, because that’s what I make these days.

The tissue pouch is lined with the polka dot fabric from the giant batch of tissue pouches.

 

 

 

 

The business card holder is a little floppier than the others I’ve made. I didn’t use interfacing this time. It will need some business cards to give it some structure. Hey, that’s what it’s for.

 

 

This completes another gift set:

 

 

 

So many gift sets! I’m nothing if not prepared…

 

Cost of these Things: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €174.82

Here’s one last pair of undies to round off Lingerie Week:

 

 

They’re the non-granny version of the “Cheeky Panties” that I made yesterday. Martina approves. These were also much quicker to make, done in 45 minutes flat, and that includes one stitch unpicking session after I attached the leg elastic to the wrong side. With a bit more experience I could probably get this down to half an hour.

Even better, the next many, many pairs will be free! Expect to see a profusion of panties, especially as my budget crisis deepens.

 

Cost of this Thing: 0
Cost of all Things to date: €174.82

Today I tackled underwear again. I’m determined to make a wearable pair. And I think I’ve succeeded!

The pattern is “Cheeky Panties,” a freebie offered at the Burdastyle website. I think they can be put together in under an hour if you know what you’re doing. I took four. Four! It took forever to figure out the right settings on my serger, and then the assembly, which should have been simple, turned into a comedy of errors. At one point I even had the gusset sewn to the outside of the underwear.

But I pushed through, and here we are:

 

 

 

Martina says they’re comfortable except the waist is too high. (Translation: granny pants)

I’m going to try the pattern again, but will skip the top band, lop off another inch or two, and finish the top edge with the same elastic used for the legs. I think they’ll look less homemade then, too.

 

Cost of this Thing: €2.50 (40 metres of lingerie elastic, enough for at least 30 pairs…)
Cost of all Things to date: €174.82

 

Lingerie Week continues. (Yes, I’m officially making this Lingerie Week.)

On Tuesday I mentioned that I had the fabric cut out for one more bra for Martina, this time to be trimmed with the last of the silver fold over elastic.

Then I went to market.

The Haagse Markt is full of temptations. And I am weak.

Among other treasures, I found pretty fold over elastic in white with a lacy edge. Perfect for a bra! I like it because it’s a bit sturdier, better for the shoulder straps in particular.

 

 

 

This is my favourite bra of the three. I’ve totally got the hang of the pattern and I feel like I’ve had a beginner’s introduction to lingerie. There’s no stopping me now.

 

Cost of this Thing: €2.50 (fold over elastic)
Cost of all Things to date: €172.32