Selfless sewing Tops, blouses and shirts

Bits and Bobbins

Gosh it’s been ages since I last posted.
I get this horrible feeling when I don’t post during a week. Let’s remedy that!

I’ve been sewing like a maniac lately and have a big queue of things to show you in the next few weeks. I’ll start by sharing a few things today.

First up are a couple of work tops that are modest and smart but still a bit fun and go with jeans. It’s the “I’m so cute, don’t you want to let me standardise your product and put it in a media neutral content management system” look. Snappy eh?

almond rock new look 6148 squirrel rabbit crepe

So here we have a yoke-less new look 6148 in ex-Dorothy Perkins crepe with awesome squirrel and rabbit print. I picked this up from Goldhawk Road a couple of summers ago and as soon as I was on the train home regretted only buy 1m.

And my firm favourite, new look 6808 in red and cream polyester. I’m not falling into the trap of calling it tribal, ohhhhhh no. This fabric was one of my bargain Birmingham Rag Market purchases that I recently shared on Instagram.

almond rock new look 6808 tribal polyester

I thought I try the 6808 sleeves on the 6148 as well and wahey they fit all right! Maybe even a bit better than they fit the pattern they came with!?

Moving along… a few weeks ago my friends had the fright of their lives. Their baby who hadn’t quite finished cooking, arrived 8 weeks early weighing in at a teeny 2 lbs. After some love and attention she’s been beefed up enough to be at home with her family.

As a baby gift I made the Dylan Onsie pattern (babygrow to all us Brits) from Spit Up and Stilettos – it was free for some time but appears to now be priced. I also snaffled the Drew leggings pattern while they were free and they also seem pretty cool too for an easy baby gift.

almond rock dylan onesie babygrow spit up and stilettos metallic gold hot pink jersey

The pattern includes “preemie” size for teeny babies just like Baby Amber. I used some garish but fun hot pink and metallic gold jersey from Birmingham rag market with some jersey bias tape and a bit of velcro from Samuel Taylors, and whipped it up on my overlocker. It’s definitely opinion dividing but I knew if anyone would get a kick out of this, it would be Tom and Helen, and I love that Amber is disco-ready.

Finally I made a little tool and pencil case ready for my pattern drafting class! What a geek, I know. This is the “Develop” Pattern Drafting and Garment Design evening course that I’m doing through Leeds Art College just like my Textile printing course.

The notes advise bringing basic sewing supplies, plus basic pencil kit so I had to make the pouch quite big. It’s about A5 sized.

almond rock vintage sewing pattern tshirt transfer paper zipper pouch

I printed a black and white image from a vintage sewing pattern onto tshirt transfer paper. I used some cotton canvas for the pouch and an invisible zipper. Here’s a good tutorial for pouches with regular zips. Easy for anyone to do, whether they’re a newbie or an old pro.

Isn’t she working that dress? She’s giving me Liz Taylor vibes.

Now that I’ve broken the silence, look forward to a few more posts from me soon!

(12) Comments

  1. I hope your friend’s little baby is doing well and loving her little baby grow. Good luck with the pattern course… Leeds is super brilliant for textiles bit biased and I am sure you will do well! Take care, Sam x

  2. love that pencil case especially ;o)

  3. stitchedupsam says:

    Cute tops, baby gro and pencil case! I’m well jealous of you and your pattern course. There is nowhere around here that does anything like that unless I go into London, and the train fares etc just make it too expensive.

  4. Aw, that babygrow! I’m going to have to buy that pattern and make a little one for my new baby niece 😀

  5. Oh my goodness, I was looking for the photo of the pencil case, thinking it was actually a pattern. This is so cool!! What a great idea. I love it.

    Hope your friends’ wee girl is OK and flourishing. 2lbs is so teeny. Love the baby gro. So cool! And she will have nothing else like it!

  6. i think i was there when you bought the squirrel print! i wish i had bought some too!

  7. I love both the tops, look very versatile and useful. Also I’m dying to copy your pencil case idea!

  8. Wow you have been busy. Loving your work tops, they are great. Your gold disco babygrow is fan, hope baby Amber rocks her new look.

  9. Great, work tops. They both look really useful. A friend of mine had an early surprise of a similar weight. Tiny, but perfect, she’s going from strength to strength. Hope your little friend does too 🙂

  10. bimbleandpimble says:

    Ohhh, that bubba onesie is the cutest ever! What a gorgeous make and I am sure much treasured for the teeny person 😀

  11. The tops look so cute and wearable! But oh, that onesie!! So cute! And honestly, if you can’t have fun with baby clothing, why make it at all? I love this flashy little onesie (err, babygrow… what a cute word!).

  12. You’ve been busy! Awesome onesie. Great tops. SQUIRREL!

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