First of all, thanks so much for all your kind comments last week! It was a bit week for me, posting two finished garments and a pattern/tutorial so this week might be a little sparse, especially in the leadup to our departure next week.
But I’ve been doing a bunch of little bits over the past month or so – things that aren’t really big enough to post about on their own, or that I’m not quite ready to post about yet, or things that I’m just really keen on. So it’s time for a little roundup post, I reckon!
Refashioned doggy tee
I’ve been so impressed by all the shirts Novita has been making for all her foster dogs over the past few months, so when a friend asked if I could maker her Boston Terrier puppy a Run dem Crew shirt for his cheering duties at a race, I thought it sounded like fun.
With Novita’s advice, I used the free Milla Milla pattern in size Medium (we tried Small initially but it was too tight), and it was really quick to put together apart from the binding. Don’t use their crazy, fiddly binding instructions – next time I’m just serging on a folded binding and topstitching! Done! I used a small RDC shirt as the starting fabric, and tried to place the logos as best I could. Apparently little Stringer Bell was the hit of the cheering station!
The Napkin Project embroidery
I didn’t get as much detail in as I’d hoped, but I did complete a decent design for The Napkin Project before the deadline!
The topic was “home” so I worked in Tower Bridge, boatlife (via a porthole) and the greenery of the gardens. All the embroidered napkins will be used in a nursing home in Bristol to spark memories in dementia patients, so I hope mine is well received! My grandmother is suffering from dementia right now so I’m really proud to be a part of this project and help others like her, even in a small way.
Fabric Buys
I wasn’t meaning to, but I ended up buying some fabrics from Minerva. Oops.
The crazy print will become perfect running leggings (of course!), there’s some silver-coated denim in there, a cool cutwork mustard jersey that reminds me of camouflage tents, and a few other interesting 1m cuts of jerseys, too.
Running vests
One fabric I bought but which isn’t pictured above is a large quantity of the cheapest stretch fabric they had, for use in running muslins. As it turns out, the peach poly jersey is actually not too bad – at least it’s a nice middling weight for use in testing tops or bottoms.
I even put it to good use in testing a running vest (yes, I even ran in it!).
Then I made a second vest using some mocha wicking lycra and used more of the red fluoro wicking lycra as the bindings. I love this colour combo together, and I’m well chuffed with my design, if I do say so myself. The coverstitch binder gods were even smiling on me that day, too!
Quick teeshirt
One of the Minerva fabrics isn’t staying in my stash long – I thought this distressed-print jersey would make a good teeshirt for Mexico, so I’m using the short sleeved version of my gathered merino top since it was already traced and at hand.
(The print should hide dribbled salsa stains, too, right?) The pattern is for sale on Burdastyle.com if you like it, too.
Other love
A few patterns/tutorials that I’ve bought/printed/making recently to big up:
- Disaparate Disciple’s Yellowtail Camisole – great seaming, it’s for knits, and you set you own price, with half going to charity. What’s not to love?
- Cake Patterns’ Red Velvet Mini Clutch – a bigger version will be sold in their next pattern collection, but for now, Steph is giving away a mini version for free! Perfect for your phone, cash, lippy, and keys.
- DIY Running Belt – a tutorial for a stretchy pocketed band that can hold your phone, keys, etc while you run. Or as I’m seeing it, a comfy money belt under dresses and jeans for Mexico when I can’t wear my travel pocket…
And despite all the above, I still feel like I’m not getting as much done as I’d like to!