Polkaraccoon

Did anyone else watch Polka Dot Shorts on TVO in the early nineties? Probably not because I’m one of the only Canadians I know. Anyway, when I finished these shorts that’s all I could think about. I actually watched a whole episode on Youtube after finishing these (Ode to Bibble – I rather enjoyed it), and my sense of unease that these shorts are a) humungous and b) comical has not dissipated at all.

Anyway, here they are:

More lovely Rae Ritchie raccoon fabric, the same stuff I made my robe out of. I used the free Simplicity pattern 0501, which I think is no longer around on the internet but I thankfully had a copy saved to my computer. It’s not a great pattern (no side seams = no chance of pockets) but I’ve used and modified it once before to make my own sloth pyjamas.

Fingers crossed these things actually fit the birthday boy… At any rate, they should generate some laughs.

Postscript

After giving, I took about 6 inches off of these. Here are the new, sensible-length shorts:

Down the rabbit hole

It’s been a long time… There was I thinking in my last post that I would all of a sudden have tonnes of time to spare for sewing and knitting. How wrong I was! New job, university exams, essay writing, a succession of houseguests occupying the sewing room, and my dad visiting for a fantastic holiday aboard a narrowboat in Wales all intervened to make sure I only did the tiniest bit of crafting; and what I did make I didn’t have time to blog.

Since my exams finished a fortnight ago I’ve been in intensive crafting mode – all of the million things I’ve been itching to sew for months are suddenly exploding into reality.

But I’ll start slowly on this feast of sewing.

I made this blouse in March out of my favourite Liberty tana lawn, “Elevenses”. I still have reams of the fabric left over, in two colourways, and I will definitely be making more with it!

The pattern for this blouse is Simplicity 1422. When I got it, my mum was like ‘that’s a fat person pattern’ but actually (as ever :-P) I’ve proved her wrong, and I’ve actually worn it quite a lot.  It’s been a godsend to have it during Me Made May (I think I’ve actually managed ‘me made’ every day this month – although sometimes simply because of my pyjamas!) because it’s easier to wear separates to the office some days that full blown Liberty-print 50s-style dresses. Anyway, you can check out my instagram for the full selfie nightmare (I just checked, and I never instagrammed the three occasions this month where I wore this top. Oopsie!).

My main regret is that I didn’t add some darts at the sides – it’s a bit gaping at the armholes. Live and learn.

But yes – it’s comfortable, it’s versatile and I really like it. The collar was really simple – the collar and the collar stand are one piece; which I think would have worked better without interfacing. It’s a bit pointy-foldy and the back of the neck with the interfacing. I’ve actually resolved never to use interfacing again after this project, and so far, I haven’t. I read on the brilliant series of Granville shirt tutorials on the Sewaholic blog that you can use lawn or muslin instead of crunchy interfacing; I’ve done this on subsequent collars and button plackets and it’s worked a treat.

Ahhh teapots 🙂 What better for the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Woah – omigod – I just saw a fox cub in the garden while I was writing this. Super cute; but I’m suddenly worried that I haven’t seen my cat since yesterday morning…

p.s. Rune just walked in and I’m happy again!