As I cut out the fabric for my recent raglan sweatshirt, I also used the leftovers to cut out two bonus makes! The October 2023 edition of Burda magazine had some surprisingly nice winter accessories – #132 (balaclava) and #133 (mittens) as well as a muff (tube to put your hands into). Even better is that these are all FREE downloads on the English BurdaStyle site!
Black flap mittens and a balaclava
A black raglan sweatshirt with a designer touch
Once I could finally sit up for a few minutes after the initial Covid infection had passed, I wanted an easy project to get back into sewing. Something that wouldn’t have too many pieces to cut out, and I could sew on my overlocker, and be something I could sew without having to concentrate too much.
The October Burda magazine was a pretty good issue overall, and I really liked the look of Burda 10/23 #112. It ticked all my boxes for this, plus I had everything I needed in my stash!
A fun knit bat dress
I’ve done a bit of impulse fabric shopping while I’ve been stuck in bed (no jury would convict), but the one that’s had the shortest stay in my stash has been this bat print jersey. I saw it on a few Instagram accounts but then ended up buying some when it was nearly sold out everywhere! It’s Art Gallery Fabrics “Winging It” (95% cotton 5% elastane), and I bought my 1.9m remnant from Sew Sew Sew for £27 total (now sold out pretty much everywhere!).
The fabric is super soft with great stretch and recovery, but has some white show-through when stretched. It’s also a dark grey rather than a black so it looks a bit washed out even brand new…
I decided to pair it with the Named Tuuli (bodysuit and dress) pattern which I bought a few years ago, possibly in one of their great advent calendar sales(?) but never quite got around to sewing. IMHO this is a criminally overlooked pattern and such a wonderfully flattering winter knit dress!
A bonus white and mustard ringer tee
When I was cutting out my white Issy top, I ended up with a decent amount of fabric leftover due to the single-layer fabric layout. Annoyingly, it wasn’t quite enough to cut out a whole teeshirt. But at the same time, I didn’t want to just put the excess back into my scraps stash as I knew I’d be less likely to do anything with it as time went on. I’m finally learning that I should use the excess at the same time to increase my chances of wearing it!
Luckily, white pairs with just about everything, and I found the last bits of my failed Rauha dress (most of which I turned into a vest top last summer), and the mustard bamboo jersey was a very similar weight to this MeetMILK Tencel jersey from Lamazi Fabrics (the Shell colourway is no longer in stock but other colours are!). I decided it’d be fun to combine the two to create a vintage-style “ringer tee”.
A white StyleArc Issy top
Thank you for all the lovely birthday messages! As I mentioned in that post, I actually made a version of the Style Arc’s “Issy Knit Top” before I sewed before my birthday top in the abstract floral jersey. I don’t often sew two of the same pattern in quick succession like this, but I knew I wanted this pattern to be my Birthday Make so I didn’t want to wait around!
For this top, I used a 1.2m remnant of MeetMILK tencel jersey from Lamazi Fabrics in the “shell” colourway (this colour is sold out but there are others!), which is a very pale off-white colour, with great stretch, drape, and recovery.
My birthday floral Issy top
Happy 44th birthday to me!! It may be my fourth pandemic birthday today, but I’m still going strong!
A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that I had no idea what I wanted to sew for my birthday this year, so I took inspiration from my stash of patterns and pulled out Style Arc’s “Issy Knit Top”. It was released (and bought!) quite a few years ago but I never quite got around to making it but I still loved the style. It’s a long-sleeved (or sleeveless) knit top with gathered side seams, an asymmetric hem, and an interesting, asymmetric draped neckline, too.
At first, I made this up in a white tencel jersey, and I really liked the pattern, but the top didn’t feel special enough to be a Birthday Make (you’ll see this version in a later post). So I dug a bit further into my stash and noticed a beautiful, abstract floral jersey that I’d bought years ago from Fabrics Galore. It was 1.5m so plenty of fabric, plus it was soft and with a great drape, and I adored the print and colours, so it was perfect!
A long sleeved bamboo Versatili-Tee
As you all know, I am a huge fan of bamboo jerseys for workouts when you won’t be sweating so much (I see you, yoga and Pilates fans!) so I knew I had to make one of our Versatili-Tops samples in it! The pattern not only comes in Tank and Tee versions, but the Tee also has your choice of short or long sleeves, which means this one pattern really can work for both summer and winter workouts.
A merino & mesh Versatili-Tank
Even though you all got a sneak peek of the tank version of our latest Versatili-Tops pattern last Fall when we paired an early Alpine print version with our Tenacity Leggings, I wanted to focus today on a different version made for the full pattern release – which even made the pattern cover!
A monochrome striped Ruska tee
It appears I’m on a bit of a monochrome sewing kick at the moment, but this one was made more for frugal reasons that for any particular colour inspiration. You see, after I’d sewn the Joan wiggle dress I ended up with some oddly shaped remnants of the textured, black and white striped ponte from Like Sew Amazing (now sold out) that I’d used for the bodice. I looked at the pieces and though “I bet I could squeeze a tee out of that!”. As my stash shelving is quite full at the moment, I figure it was better off in my wardrobe than in my stash!
My Monochrome Birthday Rauha Tee
Today is my 43rd birthday!! (And THIRD pandemic birthday…)
I originally thought that this tee would be a practice garment for the dress version of the Named Rauha tee/dress, but after a bit of a fail in terms of both fabric/pattern and body/pattern suitability on the dress, I have upgraded this stash fabric tee to be my birthday make for this year, because I love it! And seriously, is anything more 2022 than making the best of a disappointment and pivoting to something better??