Citronille Challenge: Thadee Coat Pattern Review

I’ve been working on a very special project this week – the 'Citronille Challenge'!  If you haven't seen them before, Citronille is a range of super-cute women's and children's clothing patterns. I can guarantee that you'll fall in love as soon as you see them.  There's just one catch:  until recently the majority of them have only been available in French. Don't worry though if your French is a little rusty because the wonderful people at Fiddlehead Artisan Supply have translated them into English for you! - Huzzah!

To celebrate these new translations, and the fact that we can now all enjoy these beautiful patterns without having to struggle with (often dubious) google translations, Sew Mama Sew and Fiddlehead have organised the Citronille Challenge. There are 12 lovely bloggers taking part in this challenge so if you'd like to see more of these gorgeous designs go and check them out.  Scroll to the bottom for a full list of participants and links to all their sites.

I was lucky enough to be gifted this beautiful Thadee coat pattern by Fiddlehead Artisan Supply so that I could take part in this challenge.  The pattern can be made as an unlined robe / dressing gown or as a lined coat so it's very versatile.  It’s a super cute design with flared sleeves and a gorgeous pixie pointed hood. 

The Thadee coat pattern is actually one of the few that the designer translated into English herself so i'm not able to provide you with any insight into the quality of Fiddlehead's translation, but from what I've read from the other bloggers taking part in this challenge it seems like Fiddlehead's notes actually give you a little extra useful information!

The pattern is marked as suitable for beginners and it really is simple with just 4 pattern pieces – however if you’re going to give the lined coat a go I’d suggest that you need a little more experience, simply because the instructions are not very detailed and you need to have a rough idea of what you’re doing.  The illustrations are helpful but there is no information on techniques or finishing so all of that is left up to your personal preference. 

The pattern comes in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and the sizing is VERY generous.  I ended up making a size 4 for my not-at-all-small 5 year old and there’s still a lot of room for movement in there - or room for lots of sunggly winter woolies I suppose! 

I made a few minor modifications to the pattern,  I used the size 6 hood because I wanted it to be roomy.  I also added inseam pockets for storing all the treasures which are inevitably collected every time we leave the house (leaves, rocks, flowers, seed pods etc…) and a loop at the neckline for easy hanging.  I topstitched right around the edge which gave it a neater edge finish and removed the need for me to hand stitch the turning hole along the bottom hem closed.  I did however hand stitch the sleeves because it’s nearly the end of winter here and I wanted to be able to let them down so that she can wear this coat again next winter!

I decided to make both of the buttons visible from the front rather than have one as a ‘hidden’ button and I think it works really well.

The coat outer is a wool remnant that I was gifted and the lining is a very beautiful Cotton and Steel – Horseback neutral from the ‘Honeymoon’ collection by Sarah Watts.  The selvedge reads ‘Sketches and Memories from Costa Rica’ and I fell in love with it instantly.  It’s not really ideal lining fabric for a coat – I’d usually choose something with a bit of ‘slip’, but it was so cute that I couldn’t not use it! It’s a big hit with the girl too which is an added bonus!

I really love this sweet little coat, but most of all I love how much Ella loves it!  I suppose that the pixie hood and the wide sleeves make it feel almost like a dress up to her, there is certainly something about it that has captured her imagination which is always a beautiful thing to see!

If you'd like to see more Citronille designs hop on over to the websites of the other Citronille Challenge to see what they've come up with:

Michelle Morris of That Black Chic
Sherri Sylvester of thread riding hood
Tenille Brien of Tenille's Thread
Maris Olsen of Sew Maris
Ari Green of Max California
Marisa of thirtynine
Sara Johansen of the Sara project
Natalie Strand of Vegetablog
Diane Reafsnyder of Gator Bunny
Sara Homer of Now Try This
Kelly Donovan of Craftree

A big 'Thank You!' to Fiddlehead and Sew Mama Sew for organising this challenge - I've completely fallen in love with Citronille and am looking forward to sewing more!  Click over to Fiddlehead to see the full range.  Which is your favourite?  I'm going to be sewing "Solveig" next.  Stay tuned....

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Free Dribble Bib Pattern and Tutorial

This is another project from the Mama and Baby sewing book which I wrote for my sister last year.  I'm still working on getting it ready to publish online but thought I'd share some of the projects beforehand.  Check out my Tutorials page for more free patterns and tutorials.

This little cowboy style neckerchief is fantastic for keeping your baby’s clothes dry, particularly as wet t-shirts can cause chaffing and soreness on their little chins and chests. The soft jersey fabric is very absorbent and the folds catch all the dribbles.  When it gets too wet or dirty you can just pop on a new one without needing a whole outfit change.  These are quick and simple to make and are the perfect project for using up scraps. Click on the image above to download the pattern.

Many people are afraid of using stretch / knit fabrics – and I have to admit that I was one of them before I started playing around with them and discovered that they’re actually great to work with and really very easy once you understand a few basics.  If you're new to sewing with knits then I suggest you check out my 'Beginner's Guide to Knits'.

In any case, don’t panic, all you need to remember is not to stretch the fabric when cutting it (a rotary cutter and mat is perfect for this) and to use a ball point (stretch) needle for your sewing machine. A ball point needle (as the name suggests) is a needle with a slightly rounded tip, meaning that it can pass between woven fibres without cutting them and potentially causing runs in knit fabrics.

You will need:

25cm x 50cm of Jersey knit (you can up-cycle an old t-shirt if you like)

25cm x 40cm of fleece / bamboo / towelling or similar for backing.

2 press studs

Dribble bib pattern pieces - click on the image at the top of the page to download them. Pattern pieces include a 1cm (1/2") seam allowance.

Directions:

1. Cut 1 of the bib front from your knit fabric, and 1 of the bib back from your fleece or bamboo backing fabric. Be sure to transfer all pattern markings. Markings for press stud positions should be copied onto the RIGHT side of the bib backing.

Press and sew the pleats:

2. With the bib front right side up, fold bib right sides together so that one of the outer pleat markings is matched to the middle mark.  Pin through both layers of fabric where the mark is, then fold bib back to the right side to form a pleat. Press the pleat away from the centre of the bib and pin in place. Repeat for the other side of the bib. Baste along the top edge of the bib front to hold pleats in place.

Join the bib front and back:

3. With bib front and back right sides together, match central notches along the top edge of the bib. Pin in place. Next, match and pin the notches at the pointed tip of the bib (the bottom).  Now align the corners of the bib front and back and pin these in place.  Ease the knit fabric into place so that it matches the edge of the bib back, taking care not to stretch either piece as you do so and allowing the excess knit fabric to form gentle folds in the middle of the bib.  Continue pinning the top and side edges.

4. Using a ball point needle on your sewing machine, join the two pieces with a 1cm (1/2") seam allowance. Sew right around the big, leaving a 5cm (2") turning hole on one of the side edges and backstitching at either side of your turning hole to secure the stitches.

Clip seams and Topstitch bib:

5. Trim seams at corners and tip of bib to 5mm.  Clip seams every 2 cm along sides and top of bib, taking care not to cut through your line of stitching.  Do not clip seam allowance at your turning hole.

6. Turn the bib to the right side, using your fingers or a knitting needle / chopstick to push out the corners. Use your fingers to pinch seams along the edges and pin them in place. Allow your knit fabric to extend a few mm (1/8") past the bib backing so that if you look at the bib from the back you can see a very narrow band of the bib front right around the edge. This will give the bib a better shape by ensuring that the backing fabric is not stretched too tight which would cause the bib tip to curl upwards.

7. Topstitch 5mm (1/4") from the edge, right around the bib, closing the turning hole at the same time. Remove pins as you sew, taking them out just before you reach them to allow fabric to relax into shape.

Attach press studs:

8. Attach your poppers according to the manufacturers instructions. The pattern includes positions for 2 press studs so that you can adjust the size of the bib as your baby grows.

Look at that dribble bib in action, soaking up all that goo - Isn't it a beautiful thing?!  Is there a dribbly baby in your life who needs one (or two or three?) of these?

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Drape Drape 2 - Asymmetrical Scoop Neck Tee: Pattern Review

I've been flouncing around the house today in my favourite new me-made.  I am completely in love with this Asymmetrical Scoop Neck Tee from Drape Drape 2.  Despite having borrowed the original Drape Drape book from my friend about a year ago, I hadn't got around to making anything from it yet so this was the first of Hisako Sato's pattern's that I have actually worked with.  If I'm honest I had flicked through the first book and felt a little bit intimidated by (what appeared to be) some very fiddly patterns and hadn't managed to find the time, or the enthusiasm, to tackle any of them.  

BUT.  Then I saw a picture of this tee on Instagram and impulsively bought Drape Drape 2 purely so that I could make one.  I'm really glad I did.  It was the perfect first pattern to start with.  Ridiculously simple (It's just a single pattern piece) but with some really lovely details.  I love the way the fabric drapes at the waist and I particularly like the shape of the fitted sleeve on the right side.  The left sleeve is loose and the shoulder has a lapped seam which just looks really nice.  The neckline is lovely, if a little wide - certainly not ideal for grovelling around on the floor picking up toys / shoes / bits of banana. Unless, of course, you happen to be wearing a particularly lovely (handmade?) bra that you want to show off.  But let's face it, if you're grovelling around on the floor cleaning up discarded bits of old banana no one's really going to fancy you anyway, even if you are flashing your pretty undies at them. Probably best to just save this tee for a civilised evening with friends once the kids are in bed.

One more thing I should mention about this book is the sizing.  I know it's a Japanese pattern book, but still, I can't pretend my ego wasn't slightly dented by the fact that I was measuring as a size XL when I usually wear a small or medium!  I can't help but wonder how many people have bought the book and then discovered that nothing much will fit them.... Of course you'd probably all have the sense to check things like that, rather than just buying a book of patterns on a mere whim like I did...

Still, there are at least 3 other patterns in this book that I'm dying to try and on the whole I like Drape Drape 2 much more than Drape Drape 1 - there seem to be many more wearable items in it, although to be honest several of them would still be pretty obscenely revealing if wore them like the models in the book do (i.e. without anything underneath). I think layering is going to be key...  But that's a problem for another day and in the meantime I'm going to continue crushing on my new tee and flouncing around the house.  

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Our Favourite Playdough Recipe

Today was a playdough kind of day.  Everyone was a little bit grumpy, everything was turning into an argument and we were on a downwards spiral.  So we made playdough, and as is often the case, everything began to turn around.  The kids love measuring out the ingredients, choosing colours and scents and kneeding the warm dough.  The kneeding is like a kind of therapy, It slows your heart and deepens your breathing. And then of course there are the endless play possibilities.  

This is our favourite playdough recipe.  It's quick and easy and makes beautiful silky soft playdough which will keep for months in an airtight container.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1 cup salt

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of oil

2 cups of water

Add all the dry ingredients to a saucepan.  Add the water and heat, stirring continuously until the mixture begins to thicken and pull away from the sides of the pan.  It can get to be a pretty good arm workout but continue to heat and stir for another minute or so.

Tip contents out onto the work surface, allow to cool a little and kneed until smooth.

Variations

Colour:  If you want to make only one colour, you can add a few drops of colouring to the water at the start.  If you want to make a couple of different colours then add the colouring to the dough once it has cooked and you have portioned it.

Scent:  I love adding essences to playdough to make it a truly sensory experience.  This time we added a teaspoon of coconut essence, but try adding lavender oil for a calming experience, or a tablespoon of coco powder (although that does increase the chance that the little ones are going to try to eat it!)

Sparkles:  Add a tablespoon of glitter to the dough.  Ella's favourite version of playdough is blue with silver sparkles - unsurprisingly she calls it 'Elsa playdough'.

Do you have a favourite playdough recipe?  Do you go for a cooked or no cook recipe?  Have any fun variations?

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Awesome Knee Patch Tutorial

Little boys.  They are amazing in so many ways.  I love their enthusiasm and their exhuberance.  It has it's downsides though.  Like bruises, bumped heads and worn knees and ALL their pants.  I've had a huge stack of jeans sitting in my mending pile for weeks now and today I finally got around to patching them.  

This is my favourite patching method for pants.  It's quick, it's easy, there's lots of room for being creative and best of all you don't even need a sewing machine.  I don't know if you've ever tried, but it's actually really difficult to use a sewing machine to patch little boy's pants.  The legs of them are so slim that they often won't fit over the arm of your sewing machine and even if they do, there certainly isn't room for turning corners.  

This method uses double sided fusible interfacing and a bit of good old fashioned hand stitching.

You will need:

Approx 6 x 4" fabric

Approx 6 x 4" double sided fusible interfacing

Embroidery thread and needle

Iron

Start by measuring the size of the area that you want to patch.  

Cut 2 rectangles of fabric to size and lay them onto one side of the fusible interfacing.  Press using a hot, dry iron to fuse.  Leave the paper backing on the interfacing and draw the shape of your patch on the paper.  Trim to shape and repeat for the second patch.

Remove the paper from the second side of the fusible interfacing and position on the pants over the hole.  Iron the pants before doing this so that you don't get a lumpy finish.

TIP: Slide the paper from the fusible interfacing inside the pants leg so that the interfacing will not bond to the back of the knee at the site of the hole.

Iron the patches to fuse them in place.

Take a needle and embroidery thread in complementary or contrasting colour and sew right around the edges of the patch to secure it in place.  

If you don't do this step you will find that after a few washes the patch begins to peel away from the pants. Also it's a lovely way to add detail.  The quickest way to do this is with a simple running stitch but you can get creative and try something different.  This version with embroidered crosses is one of my favourite.

Don't be put off by the hand stitching.  I know lots of people hate it, but it an be a lovely, relaxing thing to do. Get yourself a cup of tea and put your feet up.  Find your happy place.

Even the cats can get involved.. I really don't know what it is with this one.  She just has to be wherever my focus is.  It's very cute but makes life a little difficult sometimes...!

Do your kids wear out their clothes?  Do you have a favourite method for patching pants?

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Handmade Linen Bedsheets Tutorial - Part 1: Duvet Cover

Linen sheets. Everywhere I look recently I have been seeing linen bed sheets.  And they just look so wonderful, so soft, so cozy, that I have been craving a set for months.  But at over $400 a set it's just not going to happen.  So; when I saw this gorgeous grey linen at my local designer clearance fabric store for $7 a metre I went a little crazy and bought 10 metres of the stuff.  

Sheets and duvet covers are basically just 2 squares sewn together right? How hard could it be? Well, the huge pieces of fabric are pretty tricky to handle but really it turned out to be not so difficult at all.  The main problem I found was that no fabric will be wide enough to enable you to use a single width which means that you always have to sew 2 or more pieces together and with a duvet cover that's supposed to be super cozy, you don't really want seams where you're going to feel them.

This was the solution that I came up with - a large top section with a smaller contrast piece at the foot of the bed.  Linen is great in that you can use it in either orientation which meant that I didn't have to have to sew any vertical seams which might be uncomfortable.

I sewed the duvet cover with french seams, which I haven't done before.  They're lovely, no doubt, but goodness me they didn't half keep on freaking me out.  Quite literally every 20 minutes I would have a minor heart attack thinking that I'd done it wrong!  Because of the amount of fabric involved this was probably the most expensive thing I've ever sewn - hence the jumpiness I suppose!  

I was about to say that I'm not entirely sure the french seams were worth the extra stress since I'm never really going to see the inside of the duvet cover; but since I was moaning only a few days ago about how much I hate changing bed covers and how I always end up inside them trying to figure out what on earth has gone wrong, perhaps that isn't true!  Still, I can confidently say that no-one ELSE will end up inside my duvet cover and therefore the french-ness or lack thereof of my seams can remain entirely up to me!  Suffice to say that I think next time I wouldn't bother.

Still, all's well that end's well and I'm so pleased with how this came out.  I quite literally cannot wait to jump into bed tonight!

If you'd like to sew your own, here is how I did it (in a nutshell).  Instructions include sewing a french seam to join the two front and the two back pieces together, but regular seams everywhere else for ease.

You will need:  (For 1 duvet cover and 2 pillow cases)

6 (or 7 for a king) x 20mm (approx) buttons

430cm (Queen) / 470cm (King) each of 2 different coloured linens (150cm wide)

Cut each piece in half to give two 215cm (235cm) long pieces of each linen.

Take one of these pieces and cut it in half along the length to give two 75cm x 215cm (or 235cm) strips of fabric.  Set one of these aside, we will use it later to make the pillow cases.  Repeat for the contrasting fabric.

Sew the Duvet:

Align the long edges of one full width piece and one contrasting half width piece.  Place WRONG sides together and join, sewing with a 1cm seam.  

Trim the seam to 5mm then press open.  Fold the fabric along the join so that the seam is hidden between the two layers of fabric and the RIGHT sides are now together. Press.  

Sew along the joined edge, sewing a presser foot's width (7-8mm) from the edge and so enclosing the raw edges of the join in your new seam.

NOTE: Unless you are sewing with printed linen, you very likely don't have a right and a wrong side to your fabric (I think this is one of the reasons that I found it all so confusing!) Just remember that once you have sewn your french seams, you WILL have a right and a wrong side. (the wrong side is the one where you can see the french seam.)

Press the seam allowances towards the foot of the duvet (towards the shorter strip of contrasting fabric) and then, from the right side, topstitch along the seam - sewing through the hem, a few mm from the join.

Repeat to join the two back pieces of the duvet cover.

Find a large expanse of floor and lay out your duvet front and back pieces on top of one another, with RIGHT sides together.  Pin along the top edge and both sides.  Sew these seams with a 1.5cm seam. Finish seams with an overlocker or a zigzag stitch.

Hem the duvet by pressing 1cm to the wrong side right around the open mouth at the base of the duvet.  Press another 2cm to the wrong side and pin in place.  Sew right around the base of the duvet.

Place a button every 30cm along the hem to close the duvet cover.  (If you have sewn a king size duvet cover, place the buttons every 30cm, starting and ending 10cm from each edge.)

Next up - Part 2: Sewing the pillow cases.

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5 tips for getting the most wear out of your handmade clothes.

Happy Wednesday people! 

Today I'm guest blogging over at Sew Thrifty as part of the 'Savings by Sewing' series. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the philosophy of 'Make do and Mend' and my top 5 tips for getting the most wear out of your handmade clothes.  

If you haven't seen this series yet make sure you look through the other posts - there are heaps of really great ideas in there and I'm definitely going to be making use of some of them!

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Tutorial: How to lengthen pants by adding a cuff.

This is a great way to get a little more wear out of pants which have become too short.

1.  Measure the width of the pant leg.  Multiply by 2 and then add 2 cm (or 1") for the seam allowances.

e.g. Width is 10 cm:  (10 x 2) + 2 = 22cm

OR Width is 4": (4 x 2) + 1 = 9"

2.  Decide on the length of the cuff that you want to add.  5 cm (2") is a good size if you are unsure.  Multiply by 2 and then add 2.5 cm (1 1/4") for the seam allowances.

e.g. Cuff length will be 5cm:  (5 x 2) + 2.5 = 12.5 cm

OR Cuff length will be 2":  (2 x 2) + 1 1/4 = 5 1/4"

3. Cut 2 pieces of fabric in your required size.  For the example above you will need to cut 2 pieces which are 22 cm wide and 12.5 cm high. (OR 9" wide and 5 1/4" high)

4. With wrong sides together, fold each cuff along it's width, bringing long edges together. Press, then open up again.

5. If your fabric has a directional print then take the bottom edge and press 1 cm (1/2") to the wrong side. Once pressed, open up again.

6. Fold each of the cuff pieces in half along the length, bringing short edges and right sides together.  Sew along the short edges with a 1 cm (1/2") seam allowance to form 2 tubes.  Press seams open.

7. Re-fold and re-press the 1cm (1/2") which you pressed to the wrong side along the bottom edge in step 5.

8. Take one of your cuff tubes and, with right sides together, slide it over one of the pant legs, aligning one of the raw edges of the cuff tube with the base of the pant leg.  Align the side seam of the cuff with the in-leg seam of the pants. 

9. Sew right around the bottom of the pants, joining the two pieces with a 1.5 cm (3/4") seam.  You should be sewing just above the original hem of the pants.  If your pant legs are too skinny to fit over the arm of your sewing machine, try sewing from the inside, like this:

10. Fold the cuff down to the right side and press the seam allowance towards the bottom of the pants.

11. Turning the pants to the wrong side, fold the pants cuff up along the pressed fold.  Pin in place, ensuring that the folded edge of the cuff extends about 0.5 cm (1/4") past the seam joining the cuff to the pants.

12.  From the right side of the pants, 'stitch in the ditch' of the join between the cuff and the pants, making sure that you catch the inner edge of the cuff in the underside of your stitches.  I have done this in white so that you can see what's going on but you will want to match the fabric of your pants legs.  Again, if the leg of the pants won't fit over your sewing machine arm, you may need to do this by turning the pants to the wrong side and sewing from the 'inside' of the leg.

This is also a really nice technique if you simply want to add some interest to a pair of plain pants.  Even if the pants don't need to be lengthened, sew exactly as above and turn up the cuffs so that when your child grows you can simply fold them down for extra length.

I hope you have found this tutorial useful.  Do you have any favourite tips for getting a little more wear out of your clothes?

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Fairytale Felt Mask Patterns now in my Etsy Store!

New things in my Etsy Store today.  Most exciting is this fairytale mask pattern.  I've been meaning to finish it for aaaages, but you know....  

The PDF pattern includes a Princess Tiara, a Knight's Helmet and (best of all) a Unicorn.  You heard - a friggin' UNICORN!! Seriously, if I could walk around all day wearing a unicorn mask I absolutely would.  And now so can you.  

As always the pattern includes bonus printable masks so you can print them onto card stock and let your little ones colour them to their heart's content before they wear them.  I always think this would be a great party activity, or just a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon.  

Find them in my Etsy Store now for just a few dollars.

Unicorns BABY!!!!

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