One More Mabel for the Road

This is my last one of the year, I promise! And in my defence at least it’s a little more Spring-like with its black and white stripes. And I have worn my other ones constantly. And it was a good exercise in pattern matching. And, and, and…..

Yes, I know, you get the picture! But they’re easy and super-comfy to wear if you haven’t already succumbed to a Colette Mabel. Not much to add other than, as with my last version, I left out the back vent. The fabric was ‘cheap as chips’ from Abakhans in Manchester. After sewing with some lovely fabric of late though, this did feel pretty ‘cheap’ in comparison. It came out ridiculously big in the waist because it stretched out so much, so I took it in by a good inch on each side with my overlocker. Simple enough to fix.

Enough already! Time to move on! Next time something a little more exciting, I promise 😉

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For the Love of Leftovers!

I did originally go back and buy another metre of this lovely fabric (John Lewis January sale) with a yet another Mabel in mind. But when I got it out again I realised that if I didn’t bother with any pattern matching, I could easily run one up with the lovely leftovers from my Megan dress, thus leaving an intact metre for something else…

In case you haven’t come across this pattern before, it’s a super easy knit pattern from Colette. I cut a size S, and version 3, but this time omitting any kind of back vent. This made for a much neater shape (kinda wishing I’d left it off my others) and an even quicker make 🙂 I had a long strip of fabric left over, so rather than return it to my stash, the obvious solution was yet another infinity scarf: super cosy for the continued, cold weather we’re experiencing. And really satisfying using up every last scrap of my original purchase: there are some benefits to being a shortie and always having to cut loads off the length 😉

Both incidentally completed on my overlocker. So used to it by now that I almost forgot to mention it, which has to be a good thing 😉

 

An Overlocked Mabel

Sorry, I’m so wrapped up against the cold, (four layers and counting), that I’ve almost totally obscured the actual skirt in the first image above. We haven’t gone much above 2 degrees for about a week now and apparently it’s hanging around for a while longer yet…

This is the third Colette Mabel I’ve run up now. See here and here for the first two, but the first using my overlocker. A pattern that was simple and that I was already familiar with seemed the obvious first choice 🙂 And do you know I’m now officially one of those people who can say I ran this up in under an hour?! Woo woo! Well, excluding the cutting out. I know that generally I’m trying to slow down with my sewing projects, but sometimes you just need a quick fix, and this was mine.

This is a really simple skirt to run up. Excluding the reinforced stitching along the top of the back vent and the hem, I managed to complete it all on my overlocker 🙂 You can probably do these bits too if you’re prepared to switch needles or threads etc, but this was enough for me for now. And I didn’t want my sewing machine to feel too neglected…

I bought the material from Leon’s in Chorlton. It’s a very fine, dark grey stripe, which was a step up from my cheap, scarf fabric, but not too much so, just in case. As before I cut a size S and added an extra inch or so to the length. The slicing action of the blade was a little nerve-racking to begin with, but the professional look it gives your innards (which I’m attempting to show above) is really satisfying. My machine doesn’t have a ruler guide as my sewing machine has (and the overlocker I used on my course), so I will have to be careful of this on future makes.

I was interested to read Zoe’s review of this pattern, where she questioned the purpose of the back vent in a stretch skirt. My previous two did lie pretty flat once pressed, but this one (presumably because it’s a slightly thicker fabric) proved trickier. Next time, as Zoe recommends I might omit this vent totally.

And here’s one I made earlier, and have now fixed with the addition of a zip! Much more practical to get on and off… Thanks, as ever, for the great advice 🙂