quarantine projects: Anna tops

So I still haven't finished the Fiore skirt. My anxiety has gone full steam ahead and I'm doing this thing where I'm convinced I won't like it when it's finished, so if I don't finish it I never have to confront the failure. I don't know why I do this. I have legitimately stopped watching TV shows in the past because I heard that my favourite character dies and if I stop watching the show I can preserve them alive forever, or some such nonsense. I'm doing my best to work past it, but in the meantime, here's some scraps projects I made a few weeks ago.

I made a top using the By Hand London Anna bodice and a small fabric offcut several years ago, and at the time I said I wouldn't do it again because it was a bit weird. But that top is still in my wardrobe, and I wear it all the time in the spring and summer. It does require super high-waisted trousers, but that's basically all I own these days. So when I went through my stash and found three extremely small pieces of jersey I knew I'd never be able to make into an actual T-shirt, I decided to knock up a few more weird Anna tops. They're all the same - lengthened by about eight inches, neck finished with a bias strip topstitched to the inside, wide hem turned up and stitched. 

I found this one in the Abakhan bins and was planning to make an exercise T-shirt out of it. As you may know, I get a bit overexcited when I go to Abakhan and don't always check things properly, and this was one of those times. In order to have enough length for a proper T-shirt, the stripes would have to be vertical. I'm sure that can work, but it's not what I wanted. So it's been sitting here waiting for me to think of something else or get rid of it. I have actually worn this for exercise a couple of times, doing dance classes on Instagram Live in high-waisted leggings. 

This is a piece of light ponte I picked up at Walthamstow. Annoyingly, I had my fabric records mixed up - I thought this was a scrap I'd picked up at a fabric swap, and I only realised it wasn't after I'd cut this out and had enough left over to cut the same thing again. This could have been a proper T-shirt. Gah. But I cut the same again anyway, and I'm going to try and make the second one into a dress with some black fabric of indeterminate composition as the skirt.

Whatever happened to that scrap from the fabric swap remains a mystery.

For some reason this one came out slightly shorter than the other two, so even with high waisted trousers it shows a little more skin than I'd like. All my Anna tops ride up a bit during general wear, but all you get is a very tiny sliver of skin showing which I quite like. If there's skin showing as soon as I put it on, however, I end up in a much less comfortable place after twenty minutes or so. I've been wearing it with a cami underneath, as you see here, and that's fine but does mean I have to put slightly more thought into getting dressed than I'm really prepared to do right now. 

And finally, we have my favourite! This was another Abakhan bins purchase, except this time I was well aware that it was super tiny and I probably wouldn't be able to do much with it. But I couldn't leave without it. The print looked similar to the second dress in this post (also an Abakhan purchase) and when I saw it I thought it was the same stuff in a different colourway, but it's not at all. This looks and handles like a lightweight viscose jersey, except it's sweater knit. It's the weirdest thing. 

This is the one that I'm really getting wear out of. I keep talking about needing to look like I've put more effort into my clothes than I have for the sake of my sanity, and this is exactly that kind of top. It's super comfortable and once I've put it on I don't really need to think much about the rest of my outfit. Especially good for pretending you've dressed up for a Zoom call. 

I'm hopeful that I will be able to finish something this weekend. Even if I have to put the skirt to one side for the moment and cut out something else. I really don't like not being able to sew, it makes everything that much worse. The chambray I ordered has turned up but it's not quite the colour it appeared in the listing. I don't really want a jumpsuit in the strange mid-blue that it actually is, so I might have a look through my pattern stash and see if there's an experiment I can try with it! 

quarantine projects: a black and white Zadie jumpsuit

I am making my way slowly but surely through the things that were already in my stash. This whole confined-to-the-house thing has changed the way I'm approaching my resolution to get through all the fabric I'd bought prior to this year; I'd divided things into seasonal categories so that I would use each fabric during the time I'd be most likely to wear a garment made from it, but now my rule is simply that if I already know what pattern I'm going to use, it goes into the queue to make now.

(I tried multiple times to get these pictures over the weekend, but it was so bright that I couldn't get anything usable. I had to run out and take them this morning. It's cloudy today so there's really no need to wear sunglasses, but I didn't sleep at all last night and have some truly prodigious eyebags that nobody needs to see.)

This Zadie jumpsuit really isn't that unseasonal, as it happens. It's been a remarkably warm and blue April and my jumpsuits have been getting plenty of wear already. When I made my red one I said I didn't have room for more than three, and that is... not true. I had made three incredibly summery jumpsuits, ones I didn't feel especially comfortable wearing when the sun wasn't blazing down in July (is it just me that gets strangers going "ooh, very summery, aren't we?" if I'm in a sleeveless maxi dress when it's less than 27 degrees outside?), and I don't have room for any more of those. But this, I think, isn't quite as specific and I can happily wear it on warmer spring days.

This fabric is a reversible double layer cotton that I got from Walthamstow last summer. He said it was an ex-Karen Millen. I'm a total sucker for reversible fabric but I didn't have a solid idea of what I was going to do with it. As I recall my immediate thought was a hot-weather dress, but because it's two layers of cotton it's a bit too bulky for a truly hot day and it's not drapey enough for a loose-fitting pattern. It only occurred to me to make a Zadie after summer was truly gone, because that's how it works sometimes. But here it is now! I think pattern and fabric go very well together.

The most important thing to me was to take advantage of the reversible nature of the fabric. It's not that easy to find and I'm loath to waste it when I do. I knew I wanted to make one front panel in a different colour (I was intending it to be the over wrap rather than the under wrap, but I cut it the wrong way to do that and I'm quite glad because I think I like this better) and considered cutting various other pieces white side up, but eventually settled on just one half of the bias binding, meaning that both wraps could have a contrast edge. It's quite a subtle contrast because there are large streaks of both colours in the bias strips, but it does finish everything off nicely.

As always the pattern was fairly simple to make up, and as always I lengthened the legs by several inches because I don't like cropped trousers. I did forget to do my usual shortening of the bodice, and as a result the proportions are a tiny bit off. The bias binding was a bit more annoying than usual because the fabric is double layered, and at certain points (i.e. the points where it's not pick-stitched together) the layers would come apart and it was a bit of a pain to get everything into its nice little folds.

I really like this jumpsuit. The fabric is actually amazing for this time of year - it's that little bit thicker so you don't freeze in the shade, but also it's breathable so you don't sweat too much in the sun. From a certain angle it also reads quite fancy; it's the exact kind of thing I'd want to wear out to dinner while on holiday, but obviously that's a clothing category I'm not going to need for some time, sigh. For now I'm taking comfort in how easy it is to doss around in.

I have one more of these planned, as I think I've said before, in an indigo chambray. I ordered the fabric last week from a place I've never tried before, so I'm a bit apprehensive about what turns up.

Up next will hopefully be the wrap skirt, though I'm still not doing wonderfully and motivation is scarce. If not, I'll find something else to post!

quarantine projects: the most ridiculous leopard print lounge set

Hello and welcome to... whatever this is.

Did I make a matching leopard print loungewear set? I sure did. Do I look ridiculous? Clearly. Do I giggle at the sight of myself every time I pass a mirror? Of course! Do I love it to death regardless? Hell yeah. 

I bought this sweater knit from Abakhan last Christmas. I'm always drawn to leopard print and almost always back away because I struggle to style it in a way I'm happy with. I would have backed away from this too were it not for three factors: it's very soft, there was a huge length of it (rare to find 3.5 continuous metres in the Abakhan bins) and we were on our way back from a funeral so comfort was needed. Once I got it home I had no idea what to do with it - I always feel like 3+ metres of jersey should become a maxi dress, but that would have been deeply ill-advised with this print. It's a little faded, and the black has flecks of white in it, so when it came down to it, loungewear was the only option. 

(This is not very elegant, but it was the only way I could reasonably show you the back and the shape of the top while still remaining in frame and not removing all the furniture from our living room. For a one-bed in London we've got a decent amount of space here, but you still slam into limitations very quickly the minute you try to do anything that requires distance.)

I went with the lowest difficulty setting and used hacks I've tried successfully before: the Closet Case Patterns Sallie jumpsuit made up as trousers, and a mash-up of Jalie and Burda hoodie patterns (Jalie body cropped by several inches with altered neckline, Burda men's hood, no ribbing at cuffs or waist and no kangaroo pocket). It was a bit of a squeeze to get both out of the fabric I had, and in fact the waistband of the trousers is just the extra length I cut off the bottom of the hoodie when I tried it on and realised the weight and drape of the fabric was making it hang lower than I wanted. There's also a slightly awkward white selvedge stripe running down the side of one leg. The selvedge was about two inches wide, and that was two inches I needed, dammit. 

The Sallie trousers are my number one TNT pyjama pattern. I've always preferred jersey pyjamas to cotton ones, mostly because of my thigh spread, and since these are intended to be the bottom part of a jumpsuit they're super high waisted (which I also prefer). They have large, well-constructed pockets, I don't have to mess with the length, and all I have to do is cut an extra strip of fabric and run a piece of elastic through it as a waistband. I've done this four times now and I love them all. 

I know how ridiculous I look in this. I wasn't prepared for quite how daft some of the photos look. This one gets me particularly: a slightly awkward position and the onesie effect make me look half my height and twice my width, like a photoshopped toddler, but also somehow the afternoon light was amazing so it gives the illusion of this glowing porcelain skin which I can assure you I did not actually have. It's so bizarre. 

I've been wearing this at home all the time. Because the top is a hoodie I don't want to actually sleep in it, which puts it one step (or half-step) above actual pyjamas, so even though I clearly don't intend to leave the house it doesn't feel like I've already given up on the day. Also I find it very amusing to answer the door in this. 

Also in these photos you can see my scraps pouf, a free pattern from Closet Case Patterns. I really like the idea of this and was hoping to make a second (I have enough scraps for it), but London living strikes again and there isn't really room for it in our squished little living room. We're going to keep it here for now and work around it, in the hope that when we move we'll have a bit more space for things like this. It's nice to have my several bags of scraps in here rather than in a pile in the corner, at least. 

It's been another uninspired week in Casa Slapdash, so I'm not sure what will be up next. I have a bunch of things cut out and since most of them are fairly uncomplicated I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get one of them sewn up over the next couple of days. I've also ordered myself another couple of pieces of fabric, and when that arrives I'm going to have a Maxidresspalooza. Whatever it is, I guarantee it'll look more sensible than this.

How is everybody doing? Week six seems to be rough for most of the people I know - we've now reached an undefined middle where nobody can really remember pre-lockdown and it's way too soon to start thinking about post-lockdown. I've downloaded a mood tracker app which is showing me swinging about wildly from day to day, getting shit done and totally on top of my emotions one day and going ARGH and spending three hours asleep on the sofa the next. It's exhausting. We've taken the week off Zoom calls and other such because so many of our friends just want to talk about Covid and we just... can't. Anyone have any fun facts? I could really go for some fun facts right about now. 

quarantine projects: maxidress mash-up

We've now been isolating for over a month. It's not getting easier (one or the other of us has a slight breakdown every few days or so) and the desperation to be out in the world again versus the terror that we'll be let out again too soon and loads more people will die is, frankly, stressing me out. If we're trying to find whatever positives we can, then I've got: a) I can really tell that my therapy is working; b) I've remembered that I actually really enjoy baking, something I haven't done for years after being repeatedly belittled by a previous partner; c) our flat has some visible floor space for the first time in ages and d) I was able to bounce back from the jacket fiasco with reasonable speed and make a simple, happy, confidence-boosting dress.

Maxi dresses! I love maxi dresses SO MUCH, man. I show up in one, everybody goes, "oh, you dressed up!" and the fact that I just couldn't be bothered to co-ordinate shoes or worry about the state of my legs remains my own personal secret. They're the best possible effort to appearance of effort ratio you can get. Over the past few weeks I've discovered it even still works on me - I'll chuck on a maxi because it's the easiest possible thing, catch sight of myself in a mirror and think "hey, I'm fancy today". 

This is the only piece of fabric I've bought so far in quarantine; I was only intending to get a couple of spools of thread etc to tide me over for what I wrongly assumed to be the next couple of weeks, but faced with the prospect of cancelling some events we'd been planning for a long time I felt in need of a boost. I went with this sky blue viscose jersey which seemed not an overly risky purchase, suitably bright, and one of the more affordable options on the Minerva website. 

You probably recognise that this is the Vanessa Pouzet Wanted top. I've used this a few times to make maxi dresses, but it wasn't actually my intention for this dress. I'd only got as far as "use the skirt from Butterick 6051 with something else" and this was basically the first suitable pattern that came into my hand when searching through my pattern stash. My purple Butterick dress is still one of my absolute favourites for summer wear, but I do not want to make that top again, no sir. It was a complete accident that it came out as well as it did, and I have zero interest in basically redrafting the whole thing to make it more reliable. The skirt is just perfect though, and I've often wished I had more dresses like it. 

To make the top and bottom work together, I cropped the top severely (so much so that as a flat piece it looked like it wouldn't fit over my boobs) and cut a matching back waist inset as the pattern only includes the front. The skirt was definitely a couple of sizes larger than the top, but I didn't want to size down as one of my favourite things about the other dress is that it's not especially fitted and most of the shaping is made by cinching the back ties. I'm not willing to bet this was an intentional drafting decision, mind. I gathered it very slightly at the waist to get the two pieces to fit together and it works well. It's not quite as loose as the purple one but it doesn't cling to my stomach either, so we're all good. 

I'm so pleased with this. It works so much better than my previous Wanted mash-ups where I cut the front piece of the BHL Anna and then some random gathered panels to make up the rest of the skirt (not that I won't still wear those until they fall apart), it's comfortable enough for me to doss around at home in, and I actually feel like me when I'm wearing it. I have a lot of what I previously considered to be very comfortable clothes, but the comfort bar has been raised substantially by this much enforced sofa time and only the very easiest clothes to exist in will do. I don't intend to compromise on that, and it's nice to still be able to look fancy sometimes. If we're allowed out by the time summer comes, this will be the first thing a lot of people see me in.

I've budgeted for another two pieces of fabric over the next month or so. One is earmarked for an indigo denim or chambray jumpsuit, but the other may well end up being another one of these. I don't want to set myself any more super-challenging projects for quarantine (I initially thought that's exactly what I'd want, but nope, I want to zone out for two hours and have a finished item at the end of it, that's what helps me right now) and I especially don't want anything that I have to hang up in the wardrobe for an indefinite "when this is all over". I want nice, cheerful projects I can make use of immediately. Hopefully some suitable fabric will present itself! 

Up next will be my second jersey make of last week, a leopard print lounge set which is maybe the most ridiculous thing I've ever made. I love it. 

once again I am foiled by a leather jacket

After saying I was having a bad week last time, things got increasingly worse and I had a truly horrendous weekend, following which I was not remotely in a place to make a blog post. It seems to have passed now, fingers crossed, and this past day or so I've actually been enjoying sewing again. But before we get to the things I actually enjoyed making, we have to get this douchebag out of the way.

Full disclosure: I have not finished this, nor do I plan to. But I thought I'd photograph what I do have and share it with you so that we can all appreciate my utter, infuriating inability to make a biker jacket that I like.

My first three attempts at this thing, in 2018, used a Burda magazine pattern that I have now given up on, and I've been looking for another pattern that fits my requirements with no success. Why has nobody made this? Surely I'm not the only person looking for a crop length biker jacket? For attempt number four I went for the closest thing I could find, Kwik Sew 3764. Honestly, it's not that close - it's not lined, I'm not a huge fan of the waistband and even the cropped version is longer than I would like. I'd originally been planning to mash it up with a McCalls cosplay pattern, but I quickly realised that what I was trying to do was way out of my current skill set. The pattern pieces are incredibly different and I couldn't work out a way to make the collar situations compatible. So I made the Kwik Sew up as was.

(I hate all these photos. I had to retake them with my sunglasses on because I just looked SO furious. Under normal circumstances I just wouldn't have photographed this at all, but these are not normal circumstances. So here is my bloated furious self, you're welcome.)

The current situation being what it is limited what I could do here. I had to leave out both the sleeve and pocket zips because I just don't have any (as the jacket is unlined I thought I could always go back and put pockets in at a later date), and I made the jacket length as directed because that happened to be the shortest separating zip in my stash.

I have several issues with this jacket. One, it's huge. For some unknown reason Kwik Sew patterns all forbid you in confusingly strong language from cutting between sizes. Maybe there's a good reason for this, I don't know, but because of my size differentials it makes a lot of their patterns straight up unusable for me. For a jacket I thought I'd be OK cutting a straight XL (I'm between an L and an XL and I don't usually have a problem going one size up in outerwear), but it is enormous. This is how it looks after I took the side seams in several inches. The shoulder seams are nowhere near my shoulders. The back makes an actual giant pleat because there's so much extra fabric there. I have disproportionately large biceps and they are just swimming in this jacket despite my not adjusting for them. As drafted this jacket has zip-up sleeve gussets, it cannot be intended to be baggy. If I had put them in they would be dangling several inches away from my wrists, heavy and useless. I've only ever used one other Kwik Sew pattern and had basically forgotten about it because I barely wore the trousers I made, but when I saw myself in this jacket I remembered a) that those trousers existed and b) that I barely wore them because they were enormous, in a "would sometimes literally fall down" way. And that's with MY hips. 

Two, the style is not how I thought it would be. I don't like the collar at all (even if we ignore the unpressed puffiness), it's shapeless rather than deliberately oversized, everything is big and pointy and strange. I feel like a piece of spiky black rubber jewellery that you could get in Camden Market for £3.99.

Three, this fabric is too shiny. I'm not sure if it's too shiny in its own right or just too shiny to work with this pattern, but as a sort-of finished garment this one is Too Shiny. I think it looks cheap and unsophisticated. Shame, really, because it's got a nice satin-ish backing to it which makes it work actually quite well as an unlined garment. (Not that I could buy any more of this if I wanted to - I got it from Girl Charlee UK, which abruptly stopped trading earlier this year.)

All of which adds up to a jacket I don't want to wear and will never finish, so I'm going to disassemble it, reserve some of the larger pieces for possible future use, and contemplate actually buying a black biker jacket, ugh.

Strike four on the leather biker jacket. I have some petrol blue faux leather gifted to me by Minerva that's waiting to be cut out (and on a bit of a time limit) and I just don't know what to do with it anymore. I think I'm going to have to give up on the asymmetric zip thing for now and try to find something that's the right length and fit without being a bomber jacket. Any ideas that anyone has will be very gratefully received!

Since casting this jacket aside, I have made a couple more things: a very nice simple maxidress, and an absolutely ridiculous leopard print loungewear set. Both will be up next week, in whatever order I happen to finish writing the posts. I was so out of it last week that I literally forgot I had an overlocker and sat around stressing out about how long stretch jersey seams take to sew. Once I'd remembered I got three pieces sewn up in a day and a half. Until Monday, then!

Kwik Sew 3764

Fabric: Faux leather from Girl Charlee UK (no longer trading)
Cost: £20
Pattern details: Unlined moto jacket in two lengths, with asymmetric zip, zipped pockets and sleeve gussets, waistband on the shorter length
Size: XL
Alterations: None
Would make again/would recommend: No/No

from the drafts: Chenille sweater

About a year ago, I made the Kommatia Patterns Chenille sweater as a "cheer up" project after too many planned projects in a row turned out unsuccessfully. And I really liked it! But I never posted it. When I realised I wasn't going to have a new garment completed in time for today's post, my first thought was this sweater, already photographed and waiting in my drafts. Then I came back and looked at the photos, and remembered why I'd never posted it. So this morning I hastily took a new set of pictures and completely rewrote the post. So much for saving time!

The pattern is a fairly simple loose-fitting sweater with an exaggerated batwing. It's confusingly uncommon for pattern designers to produce knit tops with any kind of aesthetic, and I was really drawn to this one despite it being way outside of my usual style and silhouette. Every so often I get this idea in my head that I could be cool, or at least do a decent impression of a cool person,

The fabric is from Walthamstow (sigh, I miss Walthamstow so much, I really hope all the traders are okay) and it's the perfect thing for this top. It's a light, soft, very loose-weave sweater knit with metallic gold thread running through it. If you'd asked me to design my ideal fabric for a loose jumper this is what I'd have come up with. It was also £1 per metre, somehow.

As you can see, it is VERY batwing. I don't dislike this in any way, but it is VERY batwing. I'm glad I went for a very soft and drapey fabric because this would look bizarre in a more structured jersey. It's also super cropped, higher in the front than the back, and finished with bands at the neck, sleeves and waist. I made an XL, as I always do in Kommatia patterns.

Construction was mostly incredibly simple, and I would say the only difficult bit is getting the huge amount of fabric in the sleeves to fit into the very small amount of fabric in the cuffs. It's worth the effort, though - I really love the look and the drape of these sleeves.

I haven't really worn this since I made it, which annoys me. I don't want to get stuck in a rut silhouette-wise, and when I just stand with my arms down like this I think it looks super cute and taps into a vibe I don't ordinarily get to experience. On the other hand, I really don't know how to wear this as an outfit. As soon as I have any volume on the bottom it looks ridiculous, and there are many angles I could stand at which also make it look ridiculous. I tried photographing it with a bunch of different outfits last year and none of them looked right. I'm trying again today with my Jalie Clara leggings (which I'm actually wearing as loungewear at the moment, to my immense surprise), and I think it looks cute riiiight up to the point where I have to lift my arms.

That's a lot of midriff. If I were to go outside in this (which I wouldn't, I don't think, because leggings aren't trousers to me) I would need a tucked-in top underneath, and it's just way more thought and planning than I want to put into this level of casual outfit. Now that I am wearing leggings at home, though, this will get a decent amount of wear inside and I may also start wearing it over my gym gear when we're allowed back to the gym again.

I keep thinking about making another one, because I really do love this design, but I know it's not realistic or useful to do so. Grrr.

I'm having a pretty rubbish week (general situation and anxiety combined with period and getting scammed has not done me well) and I'm not really getting much done. I've started the jacket but it's coming on very slowly, motivation is scarce and I mostly just want to eat cookies and snuggle into my sofa groove. We'll see how this weekend goes and whether getting a bit of vitamin D does anything to help. Fingers crossed! 

spring sewing: Fiore skirt test run

I actually made something!

This is a wearable(ish) toile of the Closet Case Patterns Fiore wrap skirt. It's on my spring plan to be made in the viscose twill I've been holding onto for ages, but because I've been holding onto it for ages I was a bit reluctant to go straight in with a pattern I wasn't sure about. I never wear skirts with any kind of flare to them and I was worried I wouldn't like the way I looked in it, so I broke out this hot pink stuff that I honestly thought I would never use. I bought it at Rolls and Rems Lewisham a few years ago when I was listening to a lot of Blondie (I'm always listening to a lot of Blondie, but I was listening to a LOT of Blondie) and when I saw this I thought "ooh, I could make a hot pink dress like the one on the cover of Plastic Letters!" What I did not think was a) viscose twill is not the fabric to make that kind of dress with, b) I will never wear that kind of dress anyway, c) I don't actually like hot pink, or d) never try to look like Debbie Harry, the only thing down that path is inadequacy and sadness. At least one of which should definitely have occurred to me before I bought it. 

Pictured: not in a million years.

I wasn't expecting to want to wear this version, so it's a very quick mock-up with not much care paid to getting the hem perfect. I really hate curved hems. I cut the below-knee version on the expectation that it would hit me right at the knee, and it does. If I were to wear this I'd shorten it a bit more, but I didn't want to make the above-knee version straight off in case it was too short in the back and became a precarious shelf over my bum. 

I cut a straight size 16 because there's enough flare in this skirt to pass over my hips without sizing up. I almost sized up anyway because of the hip-curtains problem I always have with wrap skirts, but it wouldn't have been necessary. 

The pattern has three views, two of which are fairly standard (zip-up and button-through), but I bought it solely for this single-pocketed wrap skirt. All the views are in separate PDFs, which I like, and I doubt I'll ever try the other two. The wrap is fastened with buttons - or press studs, if you're a button-hating weirdo like me - rather than ties, and has fairly wide interfacings on both vertical edges, which gives it a bit of weight and helps it stop blowing up in the breeze. The pocket is exactly what I like in a pocket - large and deep, and actually part of the construction rather than patched on or stuck in a side seam. I really like my clothes to have pockets, but they have to be useful and an integrated part of the design, otherwise I'd much rather not bother. 

I'm happy enough with this to move on to my proper fabric. I'm hoping it'll drape the same way this one does - I don't think I'd like it as much if it was a big stiff shape. Whether or not I will wear this toile is... questionable. I don't hate it, I just don't know what to do with it. My wardrobe is not set up for this colour. The only colour I really like to pair with hot pink is charcoal grey, which I have very little of. I would maybe wear it with navy and white stripes, but not either as a solid colour. I don't like hot pink and black on me at all, and not being able to wear it with a solid black top basically cripples me style-wise. I wouldn't be wearing black boots with it in this picture under normal circumstances, but there is absolutely no way I'm going to be waxing my own legs in quarantine. Getting dressed normally every day? Yes. Putting make-up on? Yes, I enjoy it. Body hair removal? Get fucked. 

Something I'd quite like to do for the summer that we may or may not get is extend this pattern into a maxi skirt. I assume I can't just extend the pattern lines to ankle length because then it'd be both a silly shape and too wide to fit on the fabric, but I'm not exactly sure what I'd need to do instead. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd appreciate it!

How is everyone? We had an absolutely beautiful sunshiney weekend, which seems cruel. I started a free three-week course in antiquities trafficking and art crime for no reason whatsoever and made one of the Closet Case Patterns scrap poufs, which I'm quite pleased with (mostly because it gets several bags of scraps out of the way). I'm hoping for a decent week sewing-wise and for my artistic wire to turn up so I can get started with my wire wrapping. I ordered the wrong stones AND the wrong wire the first time, because that's just how life is right now. 

What's up next will depend on what I'm motivated to do. If it's an easy project, it'll be that. If I can find it within me to start the jacket, then I'll do another post of older projects on Thursday and share the jacket next week. The dress is on hold right now because I finally got the zip in properly after multiple attempts, tried it on, and discovered that I've gone up about one and a half cup sizes, meaning that if I try to put the lining in it'll be too tight to do up over the bust. So it'll have to wait until I'm allowed back to the gym!

Closet Case Patterns Fiore skirt

Fabric: Viscose twill from Rolls and Rems
Cost: Maybe £10-15? I really can't remember, this is ages old
Pattern details: Three different flared skirts: invisible zip, wrap, or button-through closure. Wrap version has one single slash pocket on the left side and facings to finish the skirt edges
Size: 16
Alterations: None
Would make again/would recommend: Yes/Yes