Introducing The Bronte Top! Pattern Number Two.

You Guys -  she's here! I'm so excited to introduce you to my second pattern, The Bronte Top...

I love RTW knit tops - they are the perfect thing to wear with my ever favourite circle skirt. They're easy to wash, don't wrinkle, they're comfortable and perfect for layering on these cold and clear winter mornings we've been having (the best kind of winter morning in my opinion. We've had some amazing sunrises!).

However, I didn't want to re-invent the wheel and make just another classic knit top. Nope, this knit top needed to have a vintage edge, in keeping with my style, what I feel comfortable in and something that would blend seamlessly into my current handmade wardrobe. Enter, Bronte.

Bronte is a 40's inspired knit top that you can make with long or short sleeves. What makes her stand out amongst other knit top patterns is her 40's inspired shoulder detail. The back pattern piece sweeps over the shoulder creating a 40s style shrug sleeve which you can then either leave plain or decorate with buttons or other notions of your choosing. I've always loved and been drawn to 40s patterns that feature the shrug style shoulder, so it only made sense to incorporate this beautiful detail into my favourite type of top.

You can use a contrast binding around the neckline or keep her simple by using the same fabric you're making up the body with.

Bronte is also deceptively easy to whip up - in fact, for a few of my pattern testers, she was the first knit they had ever made!

After all the amazing feedback I received on how I laid out my Afternoon Blouse pattern, Bronte is done in exactly the same way which means she's super easy to print out and put together. You only need to print out the version you want to make up, you don't have to rearrange your entire living room to tape together one huge pattern sheet AND doing things my way means you save a bunch of printing paper, making both your pocket, watch and the Earth happy while doing so.

I will be running a sew-a-long for Bronte with detailed posts on lots of useful things like selecting the right kind of knit fabric for her, useful machine settings and stitches, and of course, detailed photographs that will walk you step by step through each process of constructing your own Bronte Top. If you've never sewn with knits before, I hope making Bronte will encourage you to dip your toes in! Sew-a-long details to come.

Bronte is a multi-sized pattern that ranges from an NZ size 6 to 20 and you can purchase the digital pdf pattern files from my Etsy Shop.

So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Okay-ish?

xx
J

Pretty Little Colourful Things...

It's so satisfying getting things done and I've been happily getting lots of things done this week. I've finished 2 dresses, screen printed goods for a last minute market I was offered for Saturday, muslined a blouse, traced another blouse, baked, washed fabric, taken photos... the list goes on. But most recently, I finished these three lovely little granny square cushions.

You may remember my crazed granny square making? Well, these are the results and I am in love with them. David likes them too and has requested one in greys, greens and blues for his 'office'. I finished them off in vintage fabrics and a navy blue cotton canvas with a little wooden button to close.

I am going to be putting them up in my Etsy shop this weekend for custom orders. They take quite a bit of work, but they look so pretty all lined up in a row.

Now I need to make a start on a blanket...

xx
Jen

Me Made May - The Final Week

 Mochy makes an appearance on the final day...

I did it! Me Made May is over and I stuck to my pledge to wear one me-made garment everyday for the month of May, post my outfit to flickr and instagram daily and have a weekly round up on my blog.

How did you guys go?

Like many others, I really struggled towards the end. But it was a great exercise in making me go through all of my me mades, wear them and find out why I maybe hadn't worn some of them since they were finished. It was also great for figuring out the gaps in my wardrobe that really need filling.

Pants are my number one must make at the moment (after I've finished a little early-60s number I began last week). I made a muslin a few weeks back of a pair of 40s pants and we didn't hit it off. I knew when I was cutting the muslin that they didn't look right and that they looked almost nothing like the front cover, but I didn't trust my gut to make some very basic changes to that initial muslin and low and behold, they looked awful!

Don't you hate that? When you know things aren't looking right but you charge on ahead because the pattern must be right! You would think I'd know better by now...

Any way, a new sewing list will be coming up soon to replace my Summer one. I ended up making quite a few items on that list (and also started but didn't finish a few more) and found that having it really did help to keep me focused on what I really wanted to make and what I really needed to make.

Day 28 - 
My birthday! A new MacBook Air and a huge box of chocolates.

Wearing - Billie Jean Polka Dot Dress

Day 29 - 
Plaid and bonus glasses today!

Wearing - Mad at the Plaid Dress

Day 30 - 
My little 50s Sailor Sweater deserves a post all of it's own!

Wearing - Self-drafted Black Circle Skirt

Day 31 - 
Freaking out and trying to get everything ready for my first market the next day.

Wearing - 40s knit dress aka Vogue 8728

And what did I wear on June 1st when the challenge was over and I didn't need to wear a me made? I wore the exact same outfit from Day 23. It was comfy, warm and 'put together' enough for my first market (which was fun by the way, I made new crafty friends and sold out of my bird tea towel!).

xx
Jen

It's Giveaway Time!

Competition now closed :) Please check out my Etsy shop for these lovelies.

It's my birthday next Tuesday and to celebrate, I'm giving you a present :)

I've been working hard on my Etsy shop these past few weeks and have gotten it to a point that I'm finally happy with the stock and the photography.

I've turned my embroidery designs into screen printable stencils and have been happily screen printing away in my kitchen ever since. It's so much faster than the embroidery I was originally doing, though I am still offering custom embroidery in my shop.

I have a range of pillow/cushion slips, tote bags and tea towels available. There are three screen printed designs currently in the shop, but I have just put the finishing touches onto a cat design that will be available hopefully next week sometime.

As I had spare fabric remaining from previous projects, I ended up changing the backing out on the screen printed versions of my cushions - can anyone guess which projects they are left over from?

My screen printing method was mostly trial and error in the beginning. I have done it before, but it was years ago, so I was going off what I could remember and thankfully, they turned out quite amazingly well!

Are any of you interested in hearing a little more about screen printing? It's a great way to customise fabric for your garments and you don't really need much to start with. If you are interested in hearing a little more about how I did my screen printing, let me know in the comments and I can do a small 'beginners screen printing' series.

WIN!!

In honor of my birthday next week, I am giving away one tote bag to a lucky winner and one tea towel to another winner - the winners get to choose the design they prefer.

All you need to do is:

Visit my shop and then leave me a comment on this post telling me what you would like the most - a tea towel or a tote bag, and your preferred design (rabbit, mouse or bird).

Please leave me your email address as well so I can get in touch with you easily (feel free to email it to me once you've left your comment so it's not out on the inter webz for all to see - jenniferlauren.is@gmail.com)

I will ship any where in the world!

I will announce the winners a week from today (Wednesday 29th May). Please feel free to share the give away anywhere you feel appropriate as well :)

Good luck!!

xx
Jen

Monday Monday...

So, I did a really scary thing recently (well, for me anyway!). I quit my job. I don't have another one lined up. And, I'm quite happy about that...

These past few weeks I've been head down, bum up getting through the remaining time at my job, and today is my first Monday of not answering to anyone else but myself in years.

Some of you clever people have already noticed the Etsy mini that has been sitting in my side bar since the beginning of February. Yes! I've finally reopened my shop!

Bunny Pillowcase

Little Girl Pillowcase

Wind Up Mouse Pillowcase

Puppy Pillowcase

I'm not doing clothing at the moment, though that may change (I have ideas...). I am instead focusing on home wares with a 40s/50s childrens illustration focus. My current 4 designs are all hand embroidered, but I am working on the same designs (and so many more!!) using the faster method of hand painting which in turn makes them more wallet friendly. And while I only have cushion covers up at the moment, I will also have tea towels and tote bags available soon.

I was also very very honored to be contacted by the Etsy Australia team who invited me to take part in a product photography day. My shop had literally only been open for only a few weeks so it was exciting that someone had taken notice without me doing all that much to publicise it. It was an awesome day and I got to meet some amazing people who are currently running their own shops in Sydney as well.

I was also recently contacted through Etsy and invited to take part in my first ever market! It's in June and I am looking forward to spending some time crafting and getting things ready.

The reason why I hadn't done a 'proper' blog post about it was because I am in the process of making more items. But time waits for no woman and so while they aren't up yet, I decided it was high time to share what I had been up to. I'll let you know when new products go up over the course of the next few weeks.

And now that I am on my own time (how glorious!), I am crafting and sewing to my hearts content. This makes me so happy. I've been saving and saving and saving and waiting for this moment for so long and now that it's finally here it seems a little unbelieveable.

This first Monday is going to be very sweet. I think I'll now actually start to look forward to them :)

XX
Jen