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Little Man shirt and shorts

By Annie on May 1, 2012 in In the shop, Sewing

Here is a peek behind the latest project featured on our homepage! It’s about time I show off a project idea for boys, don’t you think? Read on for more about how we made this stylish little outfit, or just head to the shop and buy a kit.

I think the Curious Nature collection by David Butler for his textile brand Parson Gray (such a mouthful, David!) is brilliant. It’s the most man-friendly collection I can think of and David did a fabulous job of showing off its versatility at Quilt Market. Here is his booth – ignore the horrid photo please, I was nervous and only had my phone! It was jam-packed with inspiration.

I have loads of ideas for Curious Nature but the first project I wanted to do was this “Little Man” shirt and khaki shorts. It’s the Sketchbook Shirt and Shorts pattern from Oliver + S. I liked the contrast of a sophisticated colour palate and modern print in a size 3T shirt. This little boy is cool! Don’t get me wrong – I’m mad about the cute boy prints out there, like Backyard Baby, but I wanted to show something a bit different! The shirt is made in the Trade Blanket print in Oyster.

I also love that we have so many neutrals that can be used for little boy khakis, from Straw (seen here) to Ash to Olive. I lined the pockets on these with more Trade Blanket. A bit matchy matchy but you can’t see unless you look!

The pattern, as is to be expected from Oliver + S, was easy to follow and full of details, like this faux fly front.

I’ve put a kit in the shop if you’d like to make your own Little Man shirt and khaki shorts!

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Reversible bucket hat for Kids Clothes Week Challenge

By Annie on April 30, 2012 in Sewing

I mentioned a few blog posts ago that Maddie’s mum had provided a list of summer clothes she needed. I took this as kind of a challenge – how many things could I make off of the list? Making things for Maddie in the past hasn’t always been very rewarding because we don’t see her enough so often I hand over something handmade and never see it again. But as she gets older she’s more involved in the process and I feel like I’m making memories for her as much as making garments.

One thing she needs is a sun hat and I was really excited because I found this great free pattern from Oliver + S for a reversible bucket hat. She picked out the red spotty print from Aneela Hoey’s A Walk in the Woods, a fabulous yet underrated blender from the collection that I now realise goes with loads of things on our shelves. The hat is reversible, so I picked out the grey birdie print from the same collection to go with it. Before she left last weekend I measured her head and was confident she’d fit the largest size. Today she tried it on and guess what? It doesn’t fit. She suggested perhaps her head grew because there is so much maths in it. I agreed that’s very possible. She loved the hat though, so I’ll be back on the interwebs soon to find a similar but larger version to make. Please feel free to leave me links in the comments if you know of such a pattern!

In the meantime, Bear was called in to model the hat. I’m quite proud of how well it turned out*and highly recommend the pattern. One of the best bits is that it requires exactly two fat quarters (there’ll be lovely scraps of course) making it one of the more economical handmade garments you can give. And it truly was an easy pattern to follow if you’re not really tired, plus it includes some hand stitching which is nice and satisfying. We’re planning another version in Alegria as well. A girl should have options, am I right?

Now then. Doesn’t Bear make a fab model? He takes direction so well!

This is one of two things I actually finished for Kids Clothes Week Challenge. The other was a Maddie-size pair of handwarmers which I’ll show you later in the week!

*after one completely botched attempt when I read the directions wrong and sewed the brim to the top

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Typewriter messenger bag

By Annie on April 24, 2012 in Sewing

We have a new project featured on the shop’s homepage – the typewriter messenger bag – and I wanted to give you some info in case you’d like to have a go at it yourself! This free pattern is from mmmcrafts and I love it – easy peasy, quick and a great result.

I made this for my friend Rebecca, who has been such a good friend in recent months (not that she isn’t always!) and she picked the colour from among the three Ruby Star Shining typewriter prints. Who knew Karen at Did You Make That? would also fall for this print and make herself a bag! This fabric is flying off the shelf so get in quick or go for one of Melody Miller’s other lovely designs. I used Kona Candy Green for the lining.

Here’s the front:

And the back. A back pocket!

And an inside pocket that’s the perfect size for an iPhone:

The corners look nice and neat!

The two changes I’d make are visible here. The typewriters are upside down on the front! I suppose that doesn’t really matter, but you could fix it by cutting two pieces for the outside of the bag. I also should have interfaced the places where I added the snap – that was an afterthought that wasn’t in the pattern, so it was too late to do it.

It’s the perfect carry-all for your reading material!

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Speckle top for Spring Top Sewalong

By Annie on April 23, 2012 in Sewing

Well I did it! I managed to get my top into the Spring Top Sewalong pool before the deadline. I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago but we hadn’t found time for a photo shoot. So here we are and I can’t say it was my best hair day but what are you going to do? I didn’t want to miss that deadline!

This is the Colette Patterns Violet top in Nursery Basics Speckle in Shell by Cloud9. In this picture it kind of looks like it’s pulling every which way but I really like how it looks from the front. I’m wondering if I’m just slouching? It’s not like anything else I own and I just think it’s a really pretty design. I also love wearing this colour – it matches my cheeks when I wear my Posie Tint from Benefit which I like to think gives me that “English Rose” glow. See?

Anyway, back to the top. This was really fun because there were so many new things for me. Covered buttons! A collar! Setting sleeves (ugh!) I cut a 12 and then after sewing the shoulders together I realised it was far too big, so I took a quarter inch off basically everywhere. Then I put it on and it still looked very shapeless, so I started playing around with the fit, taking it in on the sides. But once I got the fit right in the front, it pulled and looked horrid in the back. I still don’t love the back. I wanted it to nip in a bit at the waist then still be roomy enough at the hips. Hmm. Maybe I just didn’t understand how the pattern was supposed to fit?

I know there are a lot of sewing bloggers out there who are way more advanced than I am in this territory, so if you have any advice, I’d love to hear it. I also really struggled with the sleeves. I could not get them not to have a bit of a puff. I’m actually okay with that though – I think it suits the top. So I got over that. I want to ask you though – those wrinkles at the top back of your shoulder – are those supposed to be there? I tried on some other shirts and found those wrinkles, so I figured it was unavoidable and needed for movement. Again, hmm.

Ed was looking at the photos of the new Colette patterns and asked why every other model is pigeon-toed. I’m not sure actually, I do know though that I’m inclined to stand that way when he points the camera at me. Like so.

Spring Top Sewalong, over and out. Now on to Kids Clothes Week Challenge! I’m not officially signed up, but I’m going to try to participate! Maddie has a list of spring/summer clothes she needs and we picked out some fun outfits for me to make, including the Finch Top and Shorts from Clever Charlotte and the free Reversible Bucket Hat pattern from Oliver + S. If I can get even one thing ticked off this week I’ll count it a success!

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Go on then, join our Flickr group!

By Annie on April 16, 2012 in Our Lovely Customers, Quilting, Sewing

By now loads of you have made things with fabric, yarn, patterns, trims and other goodies from the shop, and I’m just dying to see them! We have a Flickr group (just called The Village Haberdashery) and, I beg of you, don’t leave me hanging a day longer. Go join up and share some snaps!

Here are a few of the lovely makes shared in the group and via email:

The super cute top that Charlotte made with her daughter out of Saffron Craig’s squiggly flowers. Blogged here.

Credit: Charlotte Newland

Karen’s amazing self-drafted tulip skirt in Loulouthi velveteen. Blogged here.

Credit: Karen Ball

Amy’s pretty and calming green-grey-turquoise-teal scrappy quilt, which she used our lovely Kona cotton solids in. Blogged here.

Credit: Amy Cavanaugh

And I received a photo of this gorgeous cushion from Jill on email – she used our ribbon and ric rac in the design! Website here.

Credit: Jill Dian Izzard

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An afternoon cutting fabric

By Annie on March 26, 2012 in Sewing

I have a couple of sewing project on the go so I spent Sunday afternoon cutting, cutting, cutting. I thought that getting everything ready would keep me more organised and then allow me some luxurious, uninterrupted sewing time. Also I’m scared of my new Janome. I mean, not scared, exactly, just dreading learning a new machine no matter how pretty and smart and shiny it looks sitting on the sewing table.

Here are the piles. I know my husband is going to question my lighting decisions for these photos, but I kind of like how the light was streaming in. When it’s sunny in the evening, I’m happy.

A lovely pile of Cloud 9 ready to be turned into a Colette Violet top for Spring Top Sewalong. The pieces look big. I cut a 12 because my measurements fit into three different sizes on the chart, and I don’t want to make a muslin. Let’s hope this is basically a wearable muslin.

Curious Nature by Paron Gray (aka David Butler) to make the Sketchbook shirt from Oliver + S. I love this print and think it will look great on a little man. This is mainly planned as a shop sample.

And this Kona Straw is cut for a pair of khaki shorts to go with the shirt. The pockets will also be lined with Curious Nature. I know that’s quite matchy matchy but it primarily had to do with having lots of Curious Nature scraps!

Finally here is a pile of blue typewriters from Melody Miller and Kona Candy Green that is part-way to becoming a messenger bag. This is what I was doing when the sewing machine died, so not from Sunday’s cutting but cut fabric laying about nonetheless.

Now on to the sewing!

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Linen!

By Annie on March 20, 2012 in In the shop, Sewing

A bolt of 100% linen just arrived in the shop. I’m so used to sewing with linen blends I forgot how gorgeous proper linen is! This is yarn-dyed Waterford Linen from Robert Kaufman and it’s really quite silky and has a lovely hand and drape.

The project I thought of immediately was the Thanksgiving linen napkins from the Purl Bee. Gorgeous, no? I love the Purl Bee.

Credit: The Purl Bee

And since it’s not Thanksgiving, but it is nearly Easter, it’s still a brilliant time to whip up some homemade napkins. The tutorial is top notch, as always. A great version of this project is Ashley’s from Film in the Fridge. She added a little bit of hand stitching!

We have an fun little Easter Egg bundle of Konas in the shop if you’re looking for colour inspiration

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My sewing machine is dead. Now what?

By Annie on March 17, 2012 in Quilting, Sewing

My sewing machine died on me last weekend. Just ground to a halt. We took it entirely apart and laid it open but couldn’t figure out how to fix it, so on Monday Brother collected it for repair. Being less than two years old, it was under warranty. I decided I couldn’t live without a machine though, and picked this up for backup. Cute, eh? Anyway.

Today I received a letter from Brother telling me my machine was “beyond economical repair” and that kind of damage isn’t covered under warranty. With this letter was an invoice for £132 to replace the machine should I so choose. Did anyone see last week’s Gray’s Anatomy? I’m not actually sure it’s been on here yet since I watch everything online. One of the storylines was about a woman who went in for straightforward brain surgery and afterward couldn’t talk. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, that was how I felt. One moment the machine’s working just fine, the next I’m being told I’ll never see it again. I mean, losing your ability to speak would be worse. But still.

I’m not sure what to do next. Obviously I need a new machine. The little John Lewis is cute and works surprisingly well, but it’s not going to cut it for the big jobs and besides, it’s tiny. It’s Maddie size. I refuse to buy another Brother. Less than two years? My mum’s machine has lasted my whole life. Besides that, this letter is dated the 14th. I think I should have received a phone call three days ago telling me what the situation was. And am I not getting it back? It may be broken, but it’s mine! The service leaves something to be desired.

So it’s back to researching what type of machine I want. If you have any advice, please let me know!

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Patterns to pair with Loulouthi velveteens

By Annie on March 16, 2012 in In the shop, Sewing

I’m so excited to have Loulouthi velveteens in the shop that I wanted to do a post to show you some of the patterns that would work brilliantly with this gorgeous substrate.

First, the Sewaholic Minoru jacket. I checked in with Tasia, who said that velveteen would be an excellent choice for this coat and pointed me to this velvet Minoru as an example. She suggested you might want to go a size up because velveteen is a thicker fabric, but that’s up to you and how fitted you like your jackets.

The Colette Ginger skirt pattern would work well with velveteen. Velveteen has body, which suits the Ginger’s structured waist, while the bold Loulouthi prints will work well with the simple A-line shape. Kenn at Colette told me the Beignet skirt would also work, but I’m on the fence about doing all those buttonholes in velveteen. Tilly, if you’re out there, would you sew a Beignet in velveteen? Either way, he recommended using a lighter fabric for the facing to avoid adding bulk.

You could also try the Colette Parfait dress. Sarai sewed a version of this dress in corduroy, which I suspect is a similar weight. Doesn’t it look pretty?

Figgy’s Sunki dress has already been done in the In the Clearing print and looks lovely. Check out the Sew Mama Sew blog for pictures of one little cutie modelling it.

The Clever Charlotte Kestrel Coat would be perfect in velveteen. Outerwear is one of the only ways school children can show a sense of style and a pretty velveteen coat would be a special treat.