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I’ve made two other versions of the Grainline Studio Archer shirt, here and here.  The silk blouse was given away, as it never really worked well enough.  But I love my cotton one so much, so I made myself a linen version!

This fabric is a pure linen from one of the Tomato shops in Nippori Fabric Town in Tokyo, when we went there in July.  It presses really nicely and was lovely to sew with.  All the seams are french or flat felled, so they won’t fray!

I’m never super satisfied with the sleeve plackets on this pattern, it’s just a bias strip stretched around the opening.  It ends up a bit bulky and doesn’t sit flat.  Next time I’m going to sub in the placket from the Colette Granville shirt, which is a tower placket.

And I’ve pretty much worn it every day since.

I made a shawl for the first time in ages!  My ravelry notes about this shawl can be found here.

This was made from a kit from Skeino, which came with 12 small gradient skeins in a lovely singly-ply merino wool, and a pattern for the simple garter stitch shawl.

Skeino does not make these gradient kits any more, but you can still get non-gradient Arabella kits, and tons of other kits.  I bought this kit because they were phasing out the Arabella gradient kits.  If you want to make a similar shawl, I think the pattern is available for free somewhere online!

This shawl is LONG.  It’s taller than me.  It wraps around my neck about three or four times!  It took a long time to make, but was an easy enjoyable knit.

Super snuggly!

Before we came home for our Christmas holiday, I made a couple of quick things.  Please excuse the dodgy shots!

First up was the Rowan tee by Megan Nielsen.  I’ve made the long-sleeved version of the top before out of a merino which I use all winter as a layering piece underneath my skivvy.  This time, I deliberately made it a couple of sizes too big so it was a nice roomy t-shirt.

The fabric is a light cotton jersey I bought in Japan in July, at a tiny shop in Nippori Fabric Town.  It’s a light cream with flecks of bright colours.  I love it!

The next thing is a simple ponte dress, made so I could wear it to dinners and concerts but still be comfy.  The fabric was a present from my mother in law, and is a gorgeous rose print ponte, with some stretch.  The pattern is a mashup of the Colette Moneta on top (unlined) and the Lady Skater Dress skirt.  I’ve made this exact dress before, but it was in a stretchier fabric.  This one is  a bit tight!

I had to re-sew the side seams to make it a little bigger, as it was so tight there were drag lines across the midriff!  I probably have enough fabric left over to make another dress, maybe this time with a more fitted skirt.

I wore this dress to my school’s winter concert (I was playing piano in most items), my school Christmas party, and other dinners and events.  I think it looks quite good!

Hello dear blog, it’s been a while!  I’ve still been making things, and working hard, and living life!

In early Norwegian Summer 2018, I made this lovely dress from a light cotton I bought in Copenhagen a year before.  We were there for the NIME conference, and this cotton was so pretty I took it home as a keepsake.

Pattern: Réglisse Dress by Deer&Doe.

It’s a nice easy dress to wear due to the elasticated waist and no openings.  Since I’ve been getting a bit more muscly in the shoulders and back, it’s been harder to slip over my head though!

The one problem I had was the centre V of the neck.  The instructions just did not explain it sufficiently for this brain.  I read it and re-read it and looked at pictures, but could not figure it out.  So now there are some raw edges in the centre, partly covered by the bow.  If it were a plain fabric, it would be more visible, so luckily it’s a pattern!

I hemmed the dress with lace, to maximise the length of the dress as it’s quite short!  So, no double turned hem.

I made another version from some Liberty cotton I bought in England the previous October (seen on the right).  I didn’t have quite enough for the whole dress, so I used some matching fabric for the underside of the collar.  It’s not visible when the dress is pressed nicely!

This dress I wore to Christmas at home in Canberra, and I took it to Japan in July.  I’ve worn these two dresses so many times and they always look pretty and put-together!  But I still couldn’t work out that neckline!