Not quite summer

There is a saying in Scotland "Ne'er cast a clout till May's out!" which basically means May might be officially a Summer month but that doesn't mean it will be warm :)  

I have had some softshell fleece sitting in my sewing room taunting me every time I walked past it for a couple of months now. Given the less than summery weather we have been having lately it seemed like the perfect time to finally break out of my comfort zone and make the rainjackets for the grandsons that I have been dithering over.

 

 

I did it! It was definitely a challenge working with a fabric that doesn't take kindly to pins or ironing (I found that one out the hard way!) but the end result was worth it. That is not to say the jackets are perfect by any means but fortunately their owners are not bothered by the imperfections :)

The pattern is once again from Ottobre Design in the 4/20 issue so I have been procrastinating over making this for several months as you can see. 

The original pattern includes a hood that can be attached and detached with snaps and I did intend to make them too, but when I came to that stage I realised that the layers of the collar were a bit too thick for the snaps. I managed to fit one snap at the front but only just so rather than tempt providence I cut my losses and did without the hoods. Next time I will trim the seam allowances inside the collar stand so that I have a bit more room to work with! 

You can see one of my other problems in the photo above, the two sides of the separating zip (a first for me!) are attached separately and I managed to get the alignment slightly out of sync on the bigger of the two jackets. It meant that, originally, the zip was sticking at the top where it was overshooting the teeth on one side but some vicious pulls with pliers to remove another tooth on the higher side and oversewing the ends eventually sorted that out. I have never had to shorten a zip by removing the teeth before, it was not quite as quick and easy as the YouTube tutorials make it seem :)

There are several zips on these jackets, as well as the front zip closure each of the two pockets have zipped closures too. Installing a zip without pins or the ability to iron the fabric was pretty nerve-wracking I can tell you. I am really pleased with how they turned out given how much winging it went on in their construction!

 

I try to avoid changing the threads on my overlocker as much as possible, because it is a bit of a faff, but I couldn't resist using this lovely rainbow thread for the jackets and I think it looks great, don't you? 

Two perfectly matching bright zip pulls from  Northwest Knots to finish the jackets and they were ready to send off.

I am pleased to report that they both fit their recipients (always a worry when I try a new pattern) and have been thoroughly tested in an extensive puddle jumping test, which they passed with flying colours :) 

Now on to some t-shirts and shorts for when May's out :)

Breaking the Rules

 It is time to reveal the latest Endeavourers Challenge quilt, this quarter the theme was Colour Theory. I thought that I had this theme sussed when I bought a postcard of Munsell's Colour System in a Dundee museum nearly two years ago! Hah!, no such luck, when I started researching the Colour System I realised that it would take a lot more research and a lot of fabric, or fabric painting to do the theme justice, so I ditched that idea :)

Not being of a particularly scientific bent, I wanted to avoid tieing myself up in knots with systems and schemes for this Challenge, so instead based my Challenge quilt on a much older (and simpler!) theory of colour - folklore. 

So, here is my Rulebreaker quilt and the rule that it breaks - the old saying "Red and Green should never be seen". In Scotland that is commonly followed by "except upon an Irish Queen" but it seems that is not the case everywhere. Some suggest that the red and green refers to ships lights at sea when the sight of a red and green light together means that you are on a collision course with another vessel! That sounds like a sound basis for a saying, don't you think?

 

Indeed, when I started looking in to the saying I found that there is some confusion as to what two colours it is that "should never be seen", in some versions it is blue and green, so I placed my red and green dresden plate on a blue background to cover all of the bases :) Other versions advise that blue and green should never be seen without another colour in between too, so it is all as clear as mud :)

Just in case there wasn't enough rule breaking going on with the Dresden fans, I quilted the petals with concentric circles of red and green thread too.

I found the perfect fabric for the centre that had a large multi-coloured check where the adjacent colours were mixed in alternate squares and, fortuitously, that included a red and green mix with plain red and green beside it. I used the same check fabric for the back of the quilt and brought the fabric forward to the front for binding. 

 

Compared to some recent quilts I have made for the Endeavourers Challenges, this was a nice, quick project, although there was some drama when my iron did that to one of the petals after they had been joined together. Swift delivery of a new iron and everything was back on track :)

I am sure, as always, that I will be amazed and inspired by my fellow Endeavourers responses to the theme, head on over to the Endeavourers blog to be amazed and inspired too!

Challenging Corduroy

 My stitching up of clothes for gorgeous grandsons continues!

I am a sucker for a good fabric for boys so when I saw the Dinosaurs in Diggers and on Scooters fabrics at Flamingo Fabrics I couldn't resist :) Two more tops from that, by now, well-used Jalie pattern. I think these are the 15th and 16th that I have made from this pattern.

 

 Tops are only half the story though, a boy needs trousers too! These were my first ever attempt at sewing with corduroy and it was a messy business, there was fluff everywhere. I was really worried cutting out that I would get the nap going the wrong way somewhere, but fortunately it all worked out fine. The pocket fronts are supposed to be running parallel to the legs in case you are thinking that I hadn't noticed :) 

The elasticated ribbed waistband was a real struggle to get on, so I think next time I will attach the ribbing back and front with a gap at the back to thread the elastic through rather than trying to attach the waistband with the elastic already stitched to it. 

Both these and the smaller pair are patterns from the December issue of Ottobre I do like flipping through each issue deciding what I would like to make. I thought the fluff from the gold corduroy was bad but there was bits of wine coloured fluff everywhere by the time that I had finished these :) 

Now that looks like a full outfit for a boy doesn't it? Well wait there is a bit missing!

Granny-made underpants to complete the ensemble! These are made with the free Speedy Pants pattern from Waves & Wild and were another first for me. The fabrics were remnants from last year's t-shirt making so they were a very cheap make indeed. Our grandson was so happy with his surfing koala pants that he sent me a photo of him wearing them with the matching t-shirt :) I think there might need to be Speedy Pants tucked in with all clothes parcels from now on (as well as a little something chocolatey!).