Mathilde Blouse

I have to admit, I rarely sew for myself. Most of my time is trying out patterns for students to sew, sewing for the kids, making presents and sometimes I sew for myself. 

I decided that I wanted to try a new blouse pattern out and decided to try out the much acclaimed Mathilde blouse by the very talented Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons fame. The instant downloadable pattern was a hit from the get go. An easy to use, very well explained pattern with (and I LOVE this) picture tutorial on her website covering all aspects of the making. 

This is the way forward...and a very big plus to buying from this independent pattern designer. 

And my handiwork in pictures below. 

Lace detail on the front bodice

I did scootch the neckline down 1.5" from the original pattern to suit myself better and take in the sides as I always seem to fall in between sizes! I added the lace to the front bodice and sleeves cause that's just how I roll :) 

Handprinted fabric swap

The new handprinted fabric swap is in the works, organised by the very talented Lesley keating of Maze and Vale fame. Armed with my swap partners names and likes I set off on my print journey

Here they are, some are for me to work on and some are for the swap. This time I chose to block print. I love the organic feel and I the colors I felt came together well.... most requested colors were grey and blue with some green thrown in... 

 And after all of this was done and dusted the studio was a happy mess and I was a very happy bunny...

Hand printed Fold over clutch how to...

So it's my birthday today and I have lots of things I wanted to do for myself which will I hope happen before the next one comes along! And I wanted to use this wonderful bit of fabric that got off the last  hand printed fabric swap I did, organised by the very talented Lesley Keating from the Maze and Vale . So I made myself a fold over clutch. 

There was just enough fabric from the fat quarter for the outer layer and the strap. I used a lovely grey check (which was very soft) for the lining and used an iron on wadding to give the outer fabric a tiny bit more body. 

This needs 2 pieces 11" x 15" of outer, inner and lining fabrics

one piece of fabric for the interior pocket (mine was 6" x 5" 

one piece 3"x 15" for the strap (I wanted to be able to dangle this of my arm)

Zipper to fit

D ring with 2" of webbing for the strap. 

1.  Using the instructions, stick the wadding to the fabric. 
2. Iron on some interfacing to the pocket piece, iron down the top hem and sew this down. The picture shows the inside of the pocket.

  3.   Iron down the other 3 sides of the pocket and place this on the one of the inner lining pieces. I placed mine with 2" on either side and 3" up from the bottom. Sew the three sides down. 

4. Now sandwich the zipper in between the layers of top and bottom. I have not added pictures of this or instructions on how to do this. If you need to know how to do this I like Javajems wristlet tutorial which has tons of lovely pictures to help. :)

5. Once the zipper is done, top stitch the outside of the zipper. Now make the strap, to do this, fold the strap in half width wise, iron down, open and iron in half again. Sew this down. 

6. I used a D ring to attach the strap and a piece of webbing to attach the D ring to the bag. Not necessary step.. 

I used my over locker to finish the inside once I had placed my strap where I wanted it to be with the strap inside. I placed mine just below the zipper top. 

and my finished clutch...