PatsyPoo Makes

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last blog post! I have been sewing a lot but between the Easter holidays and our trip to France, I haven't had time for blogging.  We had a G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S Easter weekend around these parts. It was sunny and warm and perfect. I went to London on Saturday to see  Aladdin - The Musical  again, this time with Nina. It was still spectacular the second time around. On Sunday, I did precisely nothing and today we went out for a nice breakfast and to get in on the Hotel Chocolat sale. My Easter starts now, thank you very much. 😆 I also finished 2 books, which has been a long time coming. My reading this year has been shameful.  For our Leeds outing this morning, I decided to wear a dress I made last summer but had only worn once so far. I also never blogged about it and I thought it was about time. It's one of my favourite dresses and I need to show it some love, so here is my New Look 6341 . This is a little gem of a pat...

Today I have something a bit different to share. I've made Ginner something for a change!!! Well, actually this particular one I made ages ago. December 2017, I believe. But for some reason, I completely forgot to share it.  Ginner is partial to a loud shirt. Loud, garish, gaudy. He's all over it. We were on a camping holiday in Norfolk when he spotted this in a fabric shop. As soon as he saw it, he asked me if I could make him a shirt out of it. This was in 2014. I had only just finished my first ever shirt and it hadn't been a complete success. But I said I would once I felt confident enough to make one for him. Two and a half years later, he had one! 😂 The pattern is Simplicity 1544 . I was worried about making something for him because he's not very tall, he has a massive neck, wide upper body and short legs and arms. Haha! I know. After agonising over the finished measurements for ages, I decided to cut a straight 38 because that should fit his chest....

Are you sick of my shirts yet? If the answer is yes you might wanna skip this one. But before you do, I will say one thing: this shirt is unlike any shirt I've ever made. In so many ways.  Okay, so if you're sticking with me, I'm talking about the  Willamette shirt  by  Hey June Handmade . They have been on my radar since I saw  this post  on April's blog. I hadn't heard of them until then but once I checked them out, I liked quite a few of their patterns. They're all wardrobe staples but with little details that make them interesting or different in some way. I love when pattern companies do that.

Here's one I made earlier. A lot earlier.  I took a long and unintentional break from sewing at the end of 2017. From just before Christmas until the beginning of April I sewed precisely nothing. Then, I decided to help this gorgeous piece of cotton lawn in fulfilling its destiny.

After I made my first  Stevie , I knew I'd want a few more in my life. I wanted to use one of the fabrics I brought with me from our summer holiday but I didn't have enough of it; so I moved on to something else until I settled on a different fabric.  On one of my recent trips to  Fabricate , I came across this gorgeous  Dashwood Studio  cotton and I knew straight away that I would turn it into a Stevie. The problem was, instead of trusting my previous version and the pattern itself, for some unfathomable reason I thought I would go down a size. Sure enough, it was preeeeeetty tight around the bust/underarm area and a bit restrictive. I was so miffed. Luckily, it fit my daughter perfectly so on it went into her wardrobe. All is well and good and far as wasted time and effort go, but my wardrobe is still short one gorgeous Stevie of dreams, ins't it? So what's a girl to do? Why, trek all the way up to Fabricate again, buy the fabric again, print the PD...

A couple of months ago I decided I was missing some basic, plain trousers in my wardrobe. I wanted something versatile that I could dress up or down, depending on the occasion. A little bit like jeans but not as involved. So when I came across the  True Bias Lander Pants , they looked like the perfect pattern to help me fill that gap. You may remember I made a pair of  Lander shorts  in the summer to check the sizing and it was a success. Now all I needed was to find a suitable fabric. I took a trip to Fabworks to look for some plain bottom weight fabrics and found this  pale pink twill  that looked just like what I had in mind. And here is the result:

As I sit here watching France play Croatia in the World Cup Final, I thought it'd be fitting to share my two versions of the  Datura blouse  by Deer & Doe. Even though I want Croatia to win. Sorry, France. Deer & Doe are probably my favourite pattern company. I have made a few of them and have plans for a  Mélilot  soon.

Is anyone still out there...? My sewing motivation took a real nose dive at the end of last year and I actually didn't touch my sewing machine for about 6 months. Thankfully I'm over that hump now and I've been sewing up a storm for the last couple of months. I have a backlog of stuff to blog about and had even decided on a rough schedule and everything. But all of that went right out of the window last night because... Well, these happened. 

I've now started to work on my winter wardrobe. I don't have many dresses I can wear with thick tights and boots. So far, my winter style has always been jeans and a jumper. But I want to have some stuff handy for when I want to look a little less scruffy... This dress is the  McCall's 7533  which I got free with a recent issue of Love Sewing magazine - though I can't remember which.

Today I have two pieces to share - although one of them you'll be sick of seeing very soon. I think it is due to make an appearance on the next 2 posts as well as this one... Fans of novelty watermelon prints will be pleased. That's all I'm saying. Anyway, the first item I want to talk about is my  Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers  - which I've been putting off making for over a year and I really shouldn't have. Trousers are actually not as scary as I thought they were. I finished it in May but because of the give in the fabric, it was enormous on me.  I'd better insert a disclaimer here because I don't think I know enough about the fitting of trousers - or anything else, for that matter. To my mind, if it is comfortable to wear and flattering, that's all I care about. Lines, wrinkles and stuff like that mean absolutely nothing to me.

Now that I proved to myself that I can sew a decent collar, it looks like I've developed a shirtdress addiction. Which this time around is being fuelled by  McCall's M6885 .

When I went to Copenhagen last June I decided I needed a new dress to take with me. The problem was that this decision came late one night, about 5 days before I was due to go. I should also mention that, at the time, I hadn't yet finished a top I was working on and had a pair of trousers still to hem. Unrealistic deadlines. Who doesn't love them?! Thankfully, this time it worked out and gave me a kick up the butt to make a dress that I'd had planned for over a year. I give you, Simplicity Lisette 1419.  

Isn't wonderful when a plan comes together? Isn't it even better when a plan you weren't expecting to come together comes together anyway? I give you McCall's 6696!

Quite possibly the *girliest* thing I have ever made. EVER! But I really, really love it.  Isn't it fab? The pattern is the  Sewaholic Pendrell blouse . This is my second version (first one can be found  here ) of it. It's a super simple pattern, very flattering and easy to wear. This time I decided to add some detail to it rather than just making the plain version. I love the pleated sleeves. 

Hello! Today I have the  Colette Laurel  to show you. It's a simple shift dress, with elbow length sleeves, a zip closure in the back, bust and back darts. There is also a variation for a pullover top and another to add gathered cuffs on the sleeves.

Hello again! I know it's been a little while since my last post but life has been getting in the way a bit - in the good sense - so I haven't had a lot of time to take photos and write up posts. Which is why this skirt has been finished for weeks now and I've only just managed to get it posted today.

Hello again! Scotland was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! It was our first caravan trip of this year - the weather has been so crappy! - and the first in our shiny, new, big one. We loved it. Just  before we went, I made this simple top with what I had left from my Susie blouse . 

Yes, it looks like I'm on a roll at the moment. I've been super productive these last few weeks and I'm loving it! The only problem is that I've been churning out so many new things that I can't keep up with the blogging. Gaaahhh! I guess you win some and you lose some, right? Anyway, today I've got the  Zinnia skirt  by Colette Patterns. I have had my eye on this skirt since I started getting into sewing, a couple of years ago. I've always thought it looked beautiful and wanted to make one for myself. Fast forward to a couple of months ago: Zinnia was Colette's pattern of the month, which means it was on sale, and I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. Boy, am I glad I did!

Oh, I've let the posts lapse again... I know, I'm rubbish. But, to be fair, I don't get anywhere near as much sewing time as I'd like. So when I get some free time I'd rather be sewing, not typing up a blog post. Yes, I've said it. I'm not even sorry. ;) Anyway, today I'm showing off my  Sew Over It Susie Blouse .

Today I give not one, but *two* finished items in not one but *two* different locations! Ooooo... I know, I can barely contain the excitement, too! So, the first one is the last stop on my "sewing tour of Italy" [insert sad face here] and for that, we're in Amalfi , one of the bookends of the Amalfi Drive . The other being  Sorrento , which I fell in love with while we were there. This is my second version of the  Crescent Skirt  by Canadian company  Sewaholic Patterns . It's a brilliant pattern. The instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow. The construction is different from any skirt I've done before. Really enjoyable. I love all the details: the pieced together yoke, the slashed pockets, the topstitching. I went a bit fancy with my pockets topstitching in this version, look!  The fabric I used was some medium weight cotton I've had for ages, left over from a bag I made a couple of years ago. The colour is great and very summer...