She Who Sews

I jumped at the chance to test out the new Fernway Culottes pattern by Twig and Tale.



My girl was in dire need of trousers this autumn/winter, she'd grown out of all the ones I'd previously made her, and the hand-me downs from her brother were too short in the leg!



These trousers feature pleats at the front with a flat waistband, and an elasticated back. And, POCKETS!! They have the all important front pockets.



Importantly for my daughter, they are so wide that the trousers look like a skirt from the front. She's really quite girly and would wear dresses all year long if they kept her warm (which as she refuses to wear tights, is a bit of a problem). Layla chose the full leg length, she wanted long and swishy, and the viscose fabric, covered in flowers was just perfect for her.



I graded the pattern using the comprehensive instructions in the tutorial, using age 5 width, and age 7 length. I had to reduce the waist elastic a bit once I'd basted it in. I always have to make elastic smaller on her tiny waist. She's more of a 4 for waist, but I needed the trousers to go over her bum!



They look so wonderful on. They make for pretty dramatic pictures, but just like the tutorial suggested, she did find them somewhat hard to walk around in.



I couldn't go far for the photoshoot as I'd not long injured my ankle, and walking and operating a clutch pedal in the car were hurting a lot. So we went out to the lanes around the back of our village. I managed the 5 minute hobble.



It's wet and muddy here now, pretty much will be until April/May next year, and she didn't want to ruin them. So after photos, I unpicked the hem, and added elastic. They now maintain their swishiness, but don't pick up mud and wetness from her shoes. She has since asked for a calf length version, and I know the perfect fabric to make them up in, but I'm not sure if I have enough left over from a previous project?



I'm hoping to make up a grown-up version for myself, not to match her, but to bring a bit of style to my own wardrobe. The Fernway Culottes are on new release offer until Thursday 24th October. There are child, and grown-up patterns, available individually or as a bundle.



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*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

It's Cosy Toes week at Twig and Tale!



As part of the inspiration team, I opted to sew up some wool wayfarers for my daughter. The wayfarers were one of 3 patterns that formed my first ever purchase from Twig and Tale. I've made a good few pairs of these from baby size, up to the biggest youth size 4.



I already knew that this pattern was too wide for my skinny girl, so I made the sole piece foot shaped, which took some of the width of the arch section of the foot. I measured her up, and she's into youth size 1, so only a few more to go before she's out of the kids sizes!



Once I'd shaped the sole to be more foot shaped, with a distinct left and right, I made up a trial shoe in some very scrap fabric, and realised I need to shave off some width from the toe section too. With a bit of trial and error, and a bit of measuring edges, I came up with a slimmer footed pattern for her.



I envisioned making some cute, warm, soft, embroidered slippers, and set about looking for embroidery patterns. I found a sweet book in Hobbycraft with many flower embroidery templates, and along with their bumper bag of cotton embroidery floss I set about sewing in some flowers for each slipper on the toe piece.



In my embroidery fuelled obsession, I ended up down an instagram rabbit hole of embroidery videos and pictures, and amongst them was Drop the Weasel. A page I already followed of facebook, with an amazingly well timed new pattern for an autumn wreath. I dropped a message over asking if she needed testers to try out her new design, and to my delight, got sent the pattern soon after.



By this point though, I'd already sewn the shoe together, as far as toe, elastic and heels. It made for challenging embroidery, and it took my a good while, but I managed two small sections of the hoop design on each heel piece. I used a thick felt for the lining sole, and pigskin for the outer sole, so it's non-slip and hardwearing.



She loved them, said they were super soft and squishy on her feet, but that the elastic pulled too tight, and pushed her toes uncomfortably into the ends. I felt super devastated that all those hours of work were wasted. But fear not, I unpicked a small section of each slipper, and snipped the elastic (photographed before I snipped the elastic). Now the backs are entirely not elasticated, but she can wear them comfortably which is good. They haven't got baggy yet, and around the house they stay on her feet.



I'd like to say a big thank you to Lizzie at Drop the Weasel for so kindly sending me her Autumn Wreath design so that I could sew it up onto these little slippers. And thank you Lisa at Twig and Tale for the beginners embroidery course that I followed, which was the inspiration and motivation I needed to pursue hand embroidery!



Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*