I know that pretty much everyone else in Blogland has made one of the lovely Sorbetto tops from Colette, but in truth I wasn’t completely convinced it was a shape I could carry off.  And everyone else’s was so amazing I didn’t want to let the side down.

However, I took the plunge and made this one from that lovely café crème fabric of unidentified fibre composition purchased from Abakan.  I knew I had enough spare from the dress I’m planning to make and as the fabric was really quite inexpensive I could afford for this not to be a huge success.

I needn’t have worried – it seems it does work for me after all.

And I’m much happier with it than my face would suggest in that picture!

In my defence I was trying to squeeze a quick photo shoot in before breakfast, which I could smell cooking and was more than a little distracting.

“Cooked breakfast” I hear you ponder.

Why yes.  The Husband and I have been away for a couple of days.  More on that later.

But back to the Sorbetto.  I like it so much I’ve got a second one on the table now.  Hopefully it will be finished fairly soon.

This skirt reminds me why I love Burda patterns and why I’m glad I’ve lost enough weight to use them again.

I had to make minimal alterations to this skirt…just added a little to the waist and a couple of inches to the length, and away I went.

The fabric is from my stash.  I bought it from The Cloth House about 4 years ago.  Hazarding a guess I’d say it’s an 11oz denim. I wish I’d bought more of it as it’s just lovely.  Both to sew and to wear.  After all the tricky fabrics I’ve been sewing of late, this was an absolute treat.

I love the details of this skirt:

Fabulous shaped seams and fly zip

Whilst this looks like a fairly complex pattern, it’s actually really quite straightforward to make.  If you take your time.  But I’ve already covered that topic this week!

I referred to this book for the fly zip instructions:and it’s the most professional zip I’ve ever inserted.  These are just fabulous directions. I heartily recommend them.

I know both the skirt and the new top are a little snug…but I’m back on a healthy eating kick and the weight is slowly coming off again, so this was a deliberate decision to ensure that I can wear these for quite some time to come, even as I get slimmer.

So, all that’s left to say is that I’m thrilled with this outfit and really enjoyed wearing it today.  It seems all that slow sewing really paid off.

When I scored this pattern from the lovely Clio I had just the fabric in mind from my stash

It should have been a match made in heaven, and to be fair the finished top is really lovely.

But it’s just not me.

So much so that I’m not even bothering photographing it.

I like the top but not on me.  It will very much suit a friend of mine, so it’s going to be parcelled up this week and sent off to a new home.  One where it won’t just sit at the back of the wardrobe in a forlorn fashion, but will actually be worn.

I know I should be really miffed that this didn’t work, but I’m chalking it up as all part of the learning process.  I’m still trying to work out what styles are good on me and even though this style and fabric just didn’t cut it, the top is well put together so my sewing skills are developing.  All good stuff.

However, I have had a win this week

This used to be a skirt of mine that was just too big after the weight loss.  Amazingly the little Chloe cardigan already in her drawer matches perfectly.Again I utilised the skirt lining to line the dress.

I’m so pleased with this. I love these little dresses.  They are so simple to make and look so cute on her.  And they’re modest, which a lot of RTW clothes for little girls aren’t.

So the stash is dwindling, and next up is a pair of black trousers for me. This weekend I’ve been sewing up Mr S’s Whitfield jacket and blocking 3, count ’em, 3 shawls knitted by Ma from my stash yarn.  Photos to follow.

This used to be a skirt of Ma’s that she never wore.  Waste not want not, I say!

There are a gazillion tutorials on the web for these dresses so I won’t bore you with the details (unless you’d really like me too then I’d be delighted), so straight to the pictures for the first of 3 shirred tops/dresses currently being made.

This one was cut down from a dress of mine that whilst I loved the fabric always felt indecently short.

I kept the pintucks from the original dress at the bottom

and did 12 rows of shirring at the topTie shoulder straps give plenty of growing roomThe little cardigan is from Asda last year and the butterfly sandals are in Next now.

More of the stash has been used up this week, this time for linen shorts for The Boy.

He’s abed at the moment (though not asleep, the little beast) so I’ve taken pictures of just the shorts so I can post about them today, and wrap up April as well.

I used Simplicity 2907:This is well drafted pattern and set of instructions, although you’d hope so with just 3 pieces for the shorts, but you never can tell!  I’ll definitely be making these again, and wouldn’t mind making the other pieces as well. These shorts are great for beginners as they are so easy to construct, and if you’re a little wary you could leave off the pockets and cut down on the top-stitching to make them even simpler.

I used left over pieces of linen from making lounge pants for Mr S quite some time ago:The lighting is atrocious but the pair on the left are a heavy black linen and the ones on the right are an olive/grey lightweight linen.

I’m loving the top-stitching detail, which I think gives them a nice finish:

So, all in all, despite the bunnies-that-weren’t, this has been quite a successful month…1 interlined Linton Tweed cape and 2 pairs of linen shorts, and the stash reduced even further.  Squeeeeee!

I can’t believe it’s May already.  As the weather is still lovely here, top of my list are 2 sundresses and a top for Button, followed by a top and a pair of trousers for myself, which will reduce the stash even further.  The items for Button are just shirred at the top so no pattern there.  The top and trousers….I haven’t decided yet.   So watch this space.