Portugal, Tennis and the final days of MMM15

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with belcarra, BHL Kim, Colette patterns, school trip, sewaholic, Sorbetto, tennis camp 02/06/2015

Dear all,

It has finished and I have been avidly reading everyone’s round-ups and admiring how they present their photos etc. I must be honest and say that I found it a little hard to keep up with everything. I usually like to comment on the blogs I read – I genuinely think of some bloggers as my friends and it seems rude not to drop by and say “hi” etc but everything was coming through so fast and for six days I was in Portugal on a school tennis camp and the internet access was restricted to a little café which we walked past twice a day so I had to use that slot to do what little I could in about thirty seconds and post my daily IG pic.

Day 24

early morning walk on the beach

My photos are all completely unrepresentative of my time on Portugal because I was constantly in the company of thirty lovely girls but obviously I am unable to show any photos of them so each day I had to quickly get one of my colleagues or one of the girls to take a pic after I had shooed everyone else away. This is my Sewaholic Belcarra in Liberty Lawn – you’ll see a close up of the fabric in a later photo because I wore it on the way home.

not bad for a scrap

The girls had two hours tennis coaching each morning and then again in the afternoon. In the mornings we watched them and in the afternoons we played doubles ourselves. This is a favourite of mine – usually used for running. It is a Sorbetto minus the pleat. It worked well with my tennis skort.

Day 25

Another pre breakfast stroll – this time along the cliff path and I am wearing a much worn …..Liberty Sorbetto. This was the first one I ever made and before I made my standard alteration of adding three inches to the length.

cliff walk

Day 26

I appear to be alternating – back to a Sewaholic Belcarra – this time in Queue for the Zoo – at least the Liberty remains a constant.

back to the beach

Day 27

Our last full day and no less than three separate me made items!

Morning beach walk in Liberty Sorbetto

Playing in the tournament in my “tennis” Sorbetto

a close up of the fabric and tennis ball buttons

For the final evening we took the girls to Villamoura for a Pizza. I wore my Kim with anchors on.

seaside themed fabric – suitable for a marina!

The girls had a great trip (so did I) but I was still pleased to get home.

Day 28

Forgot to take a photo with all the fretting/travelling but I wore my Belcarra in Isle of Wight fabric from earlier in the week.

my favourite 1950s button

Day 29

I met up with one of my Yorkshire cousins who I hadn’t seen for 21 years! Already we have arranged to meet up again for a couple of days before I start a boating holiday in July. It’s famine or feast! I wore a Sorbetto from earlier in the week.

Almost hidden under a cardi

Day 30

I went for a double whammy. Absolutely loved how these two garments went together. My “Birds” Sorbetto paired with my Sew Over It Ulitmate Trousers.

Very 50’s

Day 31

This was supposed to be my triumphant finale to a really enjoyable month. I literally finished hand stitching the lining whilst having my early morning cup of tea in bed! Sadly in was a cold, rainy day and my new creation spent most of the day hidden under a cardi. I am only giving the sneakiest of peaks here because it’s not blogged yet but this is my Frida Kahlo Kim.

to be blogged … soon

So I did really enjoy the challenge. I think next year I will try for no repeats. It wasn’t as tricky as I thought – what I really loved was how the girls got behind it. Everyday they would say “Did you make that miss? It’s amazing!” Good fabric is certainly worth it. I don’t think I am especially skilled – the patterns I make are very straight-forward but people do seem to be astonished that you can make your own clothes. I need more plain basics – that is clear. Everything I make is highly patterned …… but that is what I love! Best of all was seeing my blogger friends rise to meet the challenge – I certainly have added lots to my To Sew list.

Enjoy the rest of the week – I am looking forward to sharing details of my dress with you!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Liberty – Alice in Wonderland collection

Perfect for Bluebells

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with Bluebells, Gabriola, Me Made May 15, sewaholic, Sewing, Sewing blogs, Swedish Hasbeens 04/05/2015

Hello dear readers, fellow bloggers and especially Me Made Mayers,

During last year’s OWOP I was lucky enough to win three patterns as part of a giveaway and one of them was Sewaholic Gabriola. On 29th September 2014 I pledged here that I would make up all three patterns and blog about them. Well …. one down two to go.

I bought the fabric originally (cheaply, on-line, can’t remember from where) to make a frock for the Lilac Dinner (a school event) but it was usurped by another predominantly lilac fabric I subsequently found at Sew Over It. Anyway, I had the urge to tackle the Gabriola and thought that the abandoned polka dot would be perfect. I had a little ponder over the zip and put it to the vote on instagram; the invisible zip won. What do you think?

I DO like the lacy one and hope to use it soon on something suitable.

Today is BH Monday – it was sunny earlier. We tried to take photos up on the riverbank (my garden ends at the river) but it was too blowy really.

In the afternoon we planned to go on a bluebell hunt so set off on a lovely walk: we did find some glorious bluebells but I have to admit – I did not wear my high heels and super swishy skirt all the time so what you see here is very much a “location shot”. I wish I had a decent camera rather than the one on my ipad.

In terms of making up, it took a while as most things do for me. The sizing was odd. I would describe myself as a classic pear but my waist was size 10 whilst the hips were size 6. I knew I would struggle to grade as there were all the yoke pieces to get through but lovely Saturday Night Stitch gave me good advice – thanks Hila, it worked! I did have to fiddle around a bit once I had traced off the pattern because I hadn’t realised how much of a jigsaw the yoke would be – my fault I should have labelled up my pieces more carefully. I an lucky enough to have a lovely friend and neighbour called Ali who also sews. I popped round to hers to get fitting help before I put my zip in – I had to cut a wedge out of the back. This is why this particular skirt is a better fit than most of my other makes! Whilst I was there I spotted this gorgeous frock on her dress form – a genuine vintage make.

Finally, are you doing Me Made May? I am LOVING it! I have seen so many FAB outfits on Instagram but it is a terrible time thief. I am not sure how I am going to keep up with what everyone is wearing once I have to go back to work tomorrow. Not as many Sorbettos as I thought – which is good for me!

Have a good week – I am already planning my next post – a Me Made May round up.

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

PS just a final pic to show you how well my Swedish Hasbeens go with the Gabriola – roll on gorgeously hot summer days

Half term busyness

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with belcarra, half term, Liberty lawn, sewaholic, Sewing 26/02/2015

Hello dear reader, hope you are having fun and starting to get excited about spring?

In all the excitement of finishing my 1960s coat, I’m only just getting round to blogging about my other recent activities. I had a great half term which left me feeling relaxed and ready for the next surge. I had a bit of a supper party one night for some friends/neighbours and one of them actually asked me what exactly it is I am doing when I prance about on the riverbank in season inappropriate clothing!

I don’t have a posh camera (or a tripod, remote control etc.) so I have to take photos outside to get the best light and I only use my mini IPAD anyway. I might need to re-think this strategy as sewing/blogging is becoming a bigger part of my life (it’s not so big for others who I have to cajole into taking pictures for me). However, for the time being I will continue to prance around at the end of my garden.

This is my second Sewaholic Belcarra blouse – it is such a lovely top – I made it up in Liberty Lawn Queue for the Zoo which I bought last year. Similar to my first Belcarra (see here) – I think this has the potential to be worn to work with more formal attire as well as with denim as seen here.

This is a better view of the fabric (and my goose bumps) but I also wanted to show you the little button detail I added. This is another one from my mum’s 1950s button box and I love it that I am now able to put to use some of the buttons that I have sorted through periodically for decades.

It is a wonder I managed to squeeze this top in at all as the little people were around with it being half term. They are so inquisitive about sewing but to date we have only made a tote bag together. The majority of the time in which I could sew was spent on finishing my coat (see here) but now that is done I can move onto another couple of projects which I have lined up.

The first is a Kim dress – which I am doing as part of the sewalong. I am doing a direct copycat of Dolly Clackett’s dress which used a fabric called Flamingo Border. Unfortuantely I made a huge boo boo. I have noticed that frequently when I buy the amount of fabric stated on the pattern I end up with so much left over – I have squeezed a number of Sorbettos out of such generosity. So, on this occasion, I only bought two metres – doh. The skirt is made from a rectangle of the full three metres and consequently not only will my full skirt not be nearly so full but I didn’t have enough for the lining of the bodice. I was already entrenched in my cutting out so – what to do? Well, I did something rather extravagant. A couple of weeks ago I bought some lovely broderie anglaise from Sew Over it (with no particular project in mind) and I used a little bit of that for my bodice lining.

It will be my first project which looks lovely from the inside! I also ran up a couple of pairs of Trixie Lixie knickers with my leftover Liberty lawn (what a wonderful way to use up leftovers!).

My other half term achievement was to set up a Twitter account linked to my sewing activities. I have two followers so that is exciting! I am struggling to de-couple an existing twitter account which I used when I walked the Camino de Santiago six years ago (pre hashtag days) so I can’t add a button yet to the blog but if you are interested it’s ClarindaKaleidoscope @Clarinda_K I only really decided to set one up so that I could follow along with all of the tweeting which accompanies #GBSB which I am enjoying hugely.

Hope the week is going well – Good Luck to Amanda and Deborah tonight!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

A little tale of inspiration involving Margate, Isle of Wight and GBSB

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with belcarra, clothkits, Great British Sewing Bee, isle of wight, libertytanalawn, sewaholic, Sewing, Sewing blogs 08/02/2015

The Great British Sewing Bee is dear to my heart and I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of series three. I felt so inspired to sew at the end of the second series I booked a workshop which offered to teach basic skills to enthusiastic beginners. The Easter workshop, at Cloth Kits, Chichester was called Make your Mother proud; I think it more likely she would have been bemused.

The workshop confirmed my new passion and I went straight to John Lewis and bought a Janome sewing machine. I then discovered sewing blogs and a whole new world of inspiration opened up to me: Scruffy Badger; Handmade Jane; House of Pinheiro; Lladybird, Dolly Clackett and Did You Make That. With only basic skills I became a little like Catherine Tate’s character who always said “I could do that“- only with me it was “I could make that”. So, the beginnings of an addiction was born; following sewing blog royalty, I emulated choices and bought patterns and fabrics. One particular post which inspired such purchases was this one from Did You Make That. I ADORED the fabric – it reminded me of my holidays as a child. It was a tana lawn from Liberty and the design was called Isle of Wight.

I didn’t go to The Isle of Wight as a child; we always went to Margate. I have happy memories of going to Dreamland night after night after having spent my days making sandcastles and paddling; some of the illustrations in the print reminded me of those gloriously carefree holidays of my childhood. My parents never went abroad (few did to be honest from the little corner of South West London where I grew up) but many years later I took my parents on a day trip to the Isle of Wight. It was a really special day – my mum was so excited because she thought it meant she had finally gone abroad! The last family holiday I had with my own children, before they decided they were too cool to go on holiday with their parents, was to the Isle of Wight so it is a wonderfully nostalgic place for me. Having bought the fabric and pattern I put them in my wicker stash basket where they have languishfor the past six months.

By the summer I decided I too wanted to blog to share my sewing adventures and in early August 2014 Clarinda Kaleidoscope was born. Retrospectively I realise I made a faux pas with the name because A. it is not easy to remember and B. it does not convey any sense that it is about sewing but, what can you do? In any case, I like it!

So I sewed, and blogged and got more and more involved in my new hobby – even making a running top for my other passion. Since I’ve been sewing I have not run nearly enough – both are absolute time thieves.

So I’ve had my machine for about nine months now and when the GBSB aired this week I was astonished at how much I knew compared to last time; I recognised bodices, techniques – I can even put in an invisible zip which appeared to cause some consternation! However, the thing I was most chuffed at was that one of the contestents, Amanada, whose blog I follow made her summer frock challenge in …. Isle of Wight Liberty Tana Lawn. So, I abandoned my weekend sewing plans and decided to use my Isle of Wight to make Sewaholic’s Belcarra blouse.

I was really pleased with how it came together and as I was feeling so nostalgic by this point, thinking of childhood and holidays of the past, and of course, my lovely mum, I decided to have a look through her button box to see if I could find anything which would go with my new blouse.

The Belcarra doesn’t have any fastenings – it just pulls over the head so the buttons I put on are purely decorative. They are incredibly subtle, barely noticeable in the photos but the pleasure for me is knowing that they are there – a little reminder of the precious past.

Overall, I think the Belcarra is super versatile. It looks a bit boxy here – I usually go for a size 12 equivalent but went with the measurements on the packet and cut a 10 – I almost think I could go a size smaller. I think this will look great with denim shorts in the summer and equally good with a work suit – adding just a little bit of fun.

So, there you go, a few memories, places and people who have inspired me, brought together in one sweet little top.

Have a lovely Sunday,

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x