'Casual sweet clothes' jersey top

Here's a top I've had on the hanger for a few weeks now, but for one reason or another haven't blogged about.

It's my first make from the 'casual sweet clothes' book, a new Japanese sewing book from Laurence King. There are a few lovely patterns in the book that I want to make, but will probably be making a couple more of these tops first!

This is C in the book I think and is called 'jersey top' (but I made it up in a woven). This is a hand printed fabric that I did during my recent print swap and was just an experimental piece really. An experimental piece that went wrong that is!!! Here is a post with an image of what the print originally looked like and what it ended up as after some badly judged washing.

After another wash and some furious stamping I ended up with something that was semi ok. Once cut up and made into a top I have ended up with something that I truely love! It's difficult to make out, as the print is actually quite subtle now, but it reminds me of a kind of Nani Iro esque print (dare I compare myself to such beautiful fabrics???)

The top itself is actually a semi-fitted sleeveless camisole with princess seams and the cape sleeves are sewn into the princess seams at the same time as constructing the top. This makes for a very quick top and is so pretty. It has a big thumbs up from James and I'm finding myself wearing this much more than I thought I would so far.

I have plans for a jersey version in stripes like the book (obvs) as well as a plain Navy jersey version. In fact the stripe jersey is ready and waiting in my stash and was a gift from my lovely friend Jenna, so may come to fruition sooner than I think!

This is a lovely book and has some very sweet clothes (totally suggested in the title already). Make sure to check the pattern sheets though, as I found that I had two sheets with a different index printed on the front (correct), but the same pattern pieces on both (incorrect). I contacted Laurence King publishing however and they rectified the situation very speedily, but it's worth checking the sheets as soon as you get the book. If you're like me and don't make anything from it for a while, you may be dissapointed to find you don't have the correct pattern pieces when you are ready to start!

Print swap round-up

It's been a while since the print swap ended, but I've finally gotten around to collecting everyones images together.

It was such good fun and I really enjoyed chatting with everyone along the way to find out what they were up to! I really hope that my fellow swappees will take something away from this and maybe print/dye fabric for future projects, as there are some brilliant results and it really enriches the making process (in my humble opinion)

Below is a round up of what got swapped and with who (partners are pictured in pairs). If you want to visit the respective blogs then the links are at the bottom of the page. I'm sure you'll spot in the top row that there is dress made up already. Nice one Charlotte and may I say a splendid print too Claire! Although, they are all splendid prints, so not meaning to single anyone out. I'm not sure if this is going to be a regular annual thing or not, but it was really good. I'll put the call out next year some time, so if you're interested then watch out!!!

A big thank you again to everyone who swapped. So nice to meet new sewing peeps!

Christmas decoration swap anyone? Writing a post about that soon!

Charlotte (english girl at home)  -  Claire (hoopes park studios)

Katie (what katie sews/what katie does)  -  Lucy (reniqlo)

Louise (elsiemay and bertha)  -  Béa (beas sewing adventure)

Amandine (fleur de carotte)  -  Kate (fit and flare)

Jen (tea for two diary)  -  Ingrid (we the sewing)

Amanda Stinton (instagram)  -  Jenna (just sew jenna)

Carrie (oh she dabbles)  -  Me (Here!)

Print swap - what I swapped and got!

The print swap is now complete and exchanged! So, what did we swap?

I printed on a cotton lawn fabric that I dyed using a pale blue dylon machine dye. I then stamped with my home made stamps using white, navy and black ink. I chose to keep the colours fairly neutral (well, my neutral anyway) and was as random with the print as I could be. It's quite hard to be random though, when you are conciously trying to be!

Seeing as the fabric was a little on the narrow side I printed 1.5 metres to send out. The print is not perfect and the stamps are patchy, but that's what hand printings all about isn't it? Rather than being too particular about the appearance of each stamp I just had fun and stamped, stamped, stamped. After several recent failures I heat fixed in the tumble dryer, which seems pretty fool proof.

It's got a bit of a 50's vibe to the shapes I think. Not intended, but definitely my favourite era for prints, so I'll go with that!

 Now onto the really good stuff...the print that I received! The lovely Carrie from 'oh, she dabbles' sent me this!

The impatient little madam that I am forgot to take lots of really good photos of Carries print before cutting it up, but here are some pictures of it made up. I did not want this consigned to the stash pile, as I knew 'the fear' would set in about cutting it if I let it lie.

This top is a 'sorbetto' hack. I had intended to use an alternative pattern, but as that wasn't happening I downloaded this and got altering instead. The stripes were printed down the fabric, but this fabric seems to stretch in all directions, so I cut it so the stripes went across (obviously, you're looking at it)

 Here are some more illustrative photos of what the top looks like on, although I confess that I am not feeling very much like appearing in front of the camera at the moment, what with a teething baby impairing my sleep and the fact that I am eating for Britain, but this top does not express it's shape very well on a hanger or even a mannequin.

As you can see this is hardly recognisable as a sorbetto any more, but that's what it started life as. I basically closed the dart to flare the front slightly and took the side shaping out to make it a straighter seam. I then added in the same flare and seam adjustment to the back for balance. The sleeves are just 2 semi circles cut from the remainders of the fabric.

I've found it really difficult to photograph both of these prints and translate the true beauty of the hand work that has gone into them, but they are really lovely and I am so pleased with the fabric I was sent. I was super suprised by the fact it was jersey. It didn't even enter my tiny brain to use a stretch fabric, but that's probably because I don't use it that much. I did try to break myself into jersey earlier in the year, as I generally don't feel confident sewing it, but this was the most enjoyable stretchy sew I have ever made!

Was the swap worth it?

Definitely and it's got my mind buzzing with all sorts of ideas on how to decorate my fabrics from now on. I'm feeling ultra inspired and really think that this is the next step for dress makers who really want to add a bit more identity to their hand made wardrobes.

I'll post a round-up of everyone elses prints once they have been revealed, but if you can't wait that long and you haven't already seen it then hop on over to Katies blog to see what she and Lucy swapped!

I'll just quickly share how I finished the edges, because I love it. I never feel I get a good enough neck or hem edge to stretchy's, so I went for a more relaxed finish with this. The print is kind of cool and a bit washed out looking, so I went for an unpolished binding.

I cut some strips of the plain jersey. I didn't measure, but I guess they are approx 1", maybe 1.5"

I simply folded it over the edge of the armhole whilst sat at the machine trying to make sure that the edge of the top was in the centre of the strip

I pulled the strip slightly, but not the top and stitched. I used a narrow zig zag stitch to top stitch

I just cut it off and overlapped slightly at the armhole seam and did the same for the neck edge ending at a shoulder seam.

Once it was tried on a few times and generally pulled about the binding edges all curled up nicely and have a sort of ready-to-wearness about them...

why is the colour so drained out? Grrr!

For the bottom hem and sleeves I simply overlocked using just 3 threads on my overlocker for a tidy, but not over done finish.

So, that's it! I'll so a round up of everyone elses prints wants they are all out there and in the words of Miranda's mum "such fun!"

Print development!

Fellow print swappees will probably have a fair idea of where they are going with their print by now, but I thought I would share my thought process and main idea so far.

Before even imagining doing a hand printed fabric swap, I went to London with my good sewing pal Jenna to see the current Matisse exhibition. It was a really great collection of his later artwork and was very revealing into his creative process. I really enjoyed the bold shapes, colours and freedom in his artworks and it felt as though they were created in flashes of inspiration, although they were probably much more considered then they appear.

I have been trying to engage with the works I saw in the exhibiton by creating paper shapes of my own.

I began by simply looking out of my window into the garden (excuse the mess) and cutting shapes out of parcel paper. I did this without marking with a pencil, as I didn't want to start fussing over details...

and this is what I made...

So that's a shed, a dandelion, some grass and a tree. I did make a key and a holly leaf too, but they were rubbish! The little squares are just offcuts, but they look nice like confetti

I like this, but am going to use this for something else.

The motifs are exactly what I want to use, but having seen this plate, I have decided to make them a bit lighter.

Below are some stamps that I cut from some lino. I used a super soft double sided lino and this lino cutting tool. I drew the shapes on with a pencil and gouged out the surrounding lino making sure to not dig in with the tool. If you dig at too much of an angle the blade gets caught, so just take your time and scoop small amounts. I stuck the lino shapes to small blocks of wood with a glue gun. The wood were just bits we had lying around in the garage, so nothing special!

To create a 2 colour tree stamp, I made the branches seperate from the main trunk. It gives me the option for 2 colours and also means that each tree will be slightly irregular as they will be lined up by eye. I could even use the shapes seperately to create pattern for another print maybe.

Below is a quick test print on paper using ink pads, but I have not decided on a repeat or colourway yet, so there are still some surprises left!!!!

So that is a peek into how my ideas are forming. I hope this is helpful and shows you how a simple exercise like looking out the window with a pair of scissors and some paper can take you in a brand new direction!

Wash with care!!!!

Disaster! Sometimes it takes me a while to learn valuable lessons, like this fabric does not wash well in the washing machine after printing!!!!

This is the second time I have done this people! The first was after screen printing the men here. Because it was screen printed, the ink penetrated well into the fabric, so although it faded in the wash, it was not a complete loss and the prints survives.

This layered print I posted yesterday did not fare quite as well. Maybe it's because it was sitting on the surface, having been stamped, and just washed away. I did fix with an iron, as instructed, but maybe not long enough. I'm not sure, but I am sure that this is now unsalvagable. I have had success with these inks (speedball screen printing) in the past, but on a tighter weave and not quite as soft and fuzzy, so maybe this is just not a good match. Oh well, you live and learn! I shall print test swatches in future to bung in the machine and also handwash, so I know what the outcome will be.

Don't worry, I'm not crying into my coffee, as this is aaaallll part of the learning process, but maybe you guys don't have to go through the same experience and can learn from my mistakes!!!

Printing with tools from around the house (or the supermarket!)

Another print experiment for you. This time the tools I have used are completely made up of stuff you can easily get hold of. I'm not too sure if I like the result yet or not, but I definitely enjoyed making it. The methods I used to make the below layered print are vegetable printing, hand painting, cork stamping and dabbing with a cotton bud.

I had a length of light blue linen that I dyed last week, which measures just over 1 metre and decided this was my canvas. Using my living room floor as a work space I lay out my fleece as a back cloth and the linen on top. Mess is not a concern in this room, as the horrible brown carpet will be gone within the next year, so if you are at all concerned about your floor then don't do this without sufficient protection.

 The first stage of printing was to create a textured background. I did this by using the corn on the cob vegetable printing method. I stabbed a cocktail fork in either end to use as a handle, wiped some ink onto it's entire surface with a sponge and rolled onto the fabric.

This old container seemed like the perfect resting place!

I rolled one rotation of the cob before topping up the ink and did do different directions every now and then.

It's got a bit of a funny snakeskin effect to it, but I am not very happy with the colour I chose, as I can't help feeling like it looks like a flattened corn on the cob!

To break up this first layer of print I decided to paint some ink on with a brush. I started off just painting lines, but thought they needed to go off somewhere, so have ended up with all directions. I also added some wispy lines down the edge of the original stripes to add to the hand painterly effect.

Why stop there when you've got a cork? I cut a cross shape into a cork and stamped a random pattern within the white lines to add further interest.

To be honest, I should have stopped here I think and this is where sampling is crucial, because I would have realised that the next step was a step too far. If only I had sampled! Sometimes pushing an idea can really work for the best, so I decided to go for it!

Using a cotton bud, I dipped directly into the ink and dabbed randomly amongst the crosses in green. Of course, deciding that I could do more still, I added some more dabs in flouro orange.

I really don't know how I feel about this print. I kind of like it, but at the same time I really don't like the yellow cob print. It's a bit too busy, but I have not tried layering prints before and really think that this idea has huge potential. Something to play with and some new techniques under my belt!

I'm going to try making it into something and then I'll know if it's a grower.

This is how many cotton bud I used. Not bad!

Screen printing with an embroidery hoop

I have been messing with different print ideas and a new to me technique is screen printing with an embroidery hoop.

I really like the idea of this because of the small scale. This enables you to work in a smaller area than if you had a larger frame and you can better place your image around your fabric. Although saying that, the area you work on rather depends on the size of your fabric, but you could print in sections at a time if it makes life easier. For this experiment I chose to work on a smallish fabric piece that fitted on the a mat on my dining table.

I ordered some printing mesh from ebay for this. I bought a metre, which is loads, but it was only £4 all in, so a bargain really!  

I stretched a corner of my mesh over the hoop, pulling as taught as I could

I then cut off the excess close to the frame. I won't cut so close next time, as I wasn't able to stretch back on after cleaning, so I just threw it in the bin.

Do not worry about drawing ability, as this was my starting point!!!

I drew my desired shape onto a piece of freezer paper...

cut with a scalpel...

and stuck shiny side down to the mesh. I would probably recommend masking tape if you have  it, but i didn't! I don't think these stencils are really re-usable after the printing, but if you used acetate or something like that then you could probably use as many times as you like!

This unregistered Nectar card has come in handy after all! It will be my squeedgee

I wrapped my cutting board with some old fleece...

and then some calico to make an improvised printing surface.

Fabric layed flat on top I went for a random print placement

Dollop some ink above the shape with a spoon

Grab your Nectar/credit card (old one please) and with the card angled towards you scrape the ink over the stenci, scrape it back the other way and ta dah...

I did not pull the ink too far past the stencil, as there is no need and it makes more mess and wastes ink.

you end up with something like this. This one was a bit fuzzy as my first go, but the rest worked well and I went back over this one at the end. Going back over is not advised, as it can be tricky to line them back up, but if you're feeling lucky then there's no harm ;-)

I chose to print on a pink background with a flourescent orange ink (it is more flouro in real life) and the speedball inks work well as they have a good opacity. Different background colours can be fun to play with when printing and is something to think about as the obvious thing to do is reach for the white, but it doesn't have to be a white or cream base. This scrap is a piece of linen from a previous make that was dyed using a Dylon machine dye. I like these as they often give an even coverage, but it might be easier, cheaper and more reliable to buy a plain colour to print on if you were going down this route.

So, there you have it...small scale screen printing! This was alot of fun and really easy to clean up after, which is always a bonus. I shall definitely be giving this another go and this piece has not gone to waste either, as i have cut it up into printed patches to mend my really, really moth eaten blanket. Who new I had such a love of pink???