Indie Sewing Patterns

When Anna’s book arrived in my letterbox last year, the first thing I wanted to make from it was a pincushion. Yep, out of all the awesome projects in the book it was the pincushion that I needed in my life – ha!

It’s nice to take a break from garment sewing once in awhile and get back to the small scraps of fabric and playing with crazy amounts of prints and patterns to create something useable. Most of the fabrics I used on the pincushion are leftovers from making big cushions for my loungeroom couches! They are mostly from Spoonflower and I only had small scraps left after making the cushions so was happy to give them another job to do.

The actual pincushion construction was nice and straight-forward. This is the mother of all pincushions, I wanted to make it because I am forever digging around in my sewing boxes looking for pencil cases and little tools floating around on their own. Now that I have this big pincushion, I can keep all of my “most-used tools” in one spot and save myself time at the sewing table. Truth be told, I actually don’t use it as a pincushion as much as a place to store needles, safety pins, rulers, markers, labels, etc. I find it a bit too big to move around with me (from the sewing machine, to the floor, to the ironing board, etc.) so still take my little pincushion with me from place to place. Which is actually falling apart so I will probably need to make something smaller to replace it soon! 

If you want to make one for yourself, check out Anna’s book, Handmade Style here (I ordered my copy from Book Depository). And there are lots of other great projects in the book too that are on my list to sew in the future!

I feel kinda weird posting these photos because they were taken almost a year ago when we stayed at The House On The Hill last Easter (an awesome Airbnb by the way, if you are looking for something cool to stay!) My computer crashed a few weeks later and I lost pretty much everything on it – including thousands of photos that I had never backed up (sad and ridiculous!) but a handful of these pics we took turned out okay and I’m not sure why they haven’t made it to the blog yet?

The pattern is the famous Lane Raglan by Hey June Patterns. I made another one similar a month or so earlier and loved it (blogged here) so knew that adding another to the wardrobe would go down well. And it did. These Lane Raglans (plus one other I haven’t photographed yet) were my Winter staples last year. Comfy and cosy, I wore them with casual skirts, jeans, trackies – and even to bed sometimes! I like to dress up, but I REALLY like to be in my comfy clothes all day long – especially when it is cold outside.

The fabric is a french terry knit I bought online a long time ago. In hindsight I actually think it is a Marimekko knock-off, which I feel bad about, but it wasn’t until someone pointed it out months later that I realised. Anyway, it is pretty cool. The shop I bought it from isn’t around anymore so maybe they went under because of their dishonesty?!! I sewed a size medium again, (usually I would wear a small) because I wanted it to have more of a slouchy-sweater look. I do need to sew myself a size small Lane one of these days and see how I like it as a tee though. 

Not really much else I can add tell you about this one…the Lane Raglan is a pattern staple for me though. One that I know I will keep coming back to again and again!

I’m baaaaack! Since I shared my last sewing project (that cute watermelon Joey dress) life has been busy, busy, busy! We took Tommy to Melbourne for a couple of weeks in November where he had open heart surgery. It was scary and confronting and draining but he was a little champion and is doing awesome now. Then there was end of school, Christmas, 5 weeks of visitors, and Summer holidays! We have certainly had a fun-filled, fast-paced 3 months and I had a decent break from the sewing machine. A sewing break is always good for me though, I come back ready to get stuck into things and am part-way working through a new pattern at the moment which is making me very happy!

I did manage to sew up a new top though a couple of weeks ago. A bit of selfish-sewing is good for the soul and the Sailor Top from Fancy Tiger Crafts has been patiently waiting for me. This was a good project to pick to break the sewing drought…simple enough to complete in an evening and I’ve seen it sewn many times so knew it would be a winner.

I used a cotton voile from Cotton + Steel and love the soft pastels for Summer wear. The construction of the top was very straightforward, I choose to take 1 1/2″ off the length of the top though because I wanted it a bit more cropped than the longer length the pattern comes in. I think the shorter length is a more flattering for me, longer and it would have felt a bit maternity-like. The only thing I would change next time I sew this pattern is to shape the side seams in just a bit to give my waist some definition. You can see in the second last photo above how wide the top is and the last photo I am pulling it in at the back and prefer the more fitted look. An easy fix though and it certainly won’t stop me from wearing the top I have already made, this one will looks better with more fitted skirts/pants.

All in all, the Sailor Top is a good little pattern. Easy enough for all sewing levels and makes a great Summer top that can easily be worn with a jacket or cardi when the temperature drops.

SUPPLIES: Fancy Tiger Crafts, Sailor Top pattern // Cotton + Steele cotton voile, Sarah Watts, August, Stampede in mint