A rather sharp looking Banksia

I have been looking longingly at the scout t-shirts all over sewing blogs, fab ones here and here, wishing I suited loose fitting t-shirts. I then remembered that I have the Banksia pattern which is similar but a little more fitted and have made it before with varying success.

The first time I made it it was too big. The next time I reduced the size and did a FBA and it was too tight over the back and loose over the front. The third time I increased the width of the back piece just a little and it was just right! It still looked a little tent like but not maternity so I decided some of my novelty print cotton was finally going to see the light of day.

I went with the method for fitting that worked before - cutting a medium  and increasing the width of the back piece. I totally cheated by placing it 0.5 cm from the fold rather than on the fold, increasing the back width by 1cm, nothing complicated or technical but it works!

I did a few other tweaks:
 - increased the width of the sleeves by about 1cm
 - dropped the arm holes by about 1cm.
 - widened the collar piece by the width of the placket as I was not having a placket and wanted the collar to meet at the front.

It worked and I am totally in love with the fabric, my parents bought in America a few years ago so no chance of any more though :(

I think the next Banksia will be placket and collarless, just to see what it looks like!

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Another Banksia and some pintrest recipes

I have been meaning to post pics of my latest Banksia top for ages but last week was busy busy busy!

I made this version with some old (60's) polka dot fabric (I think it is maybe thermal blind material as it is nice and warm, perfect for Scotland in the summer!)

Please don't ask why I feel compeled to pull funny faces in most photos...!

My original Banksia top post is here if you want a peek. I cut this one in a size medium and made a muslin first which highlighted the fact that I needed a teeny bit more room over the back so I added about 1cm to the back width which helped greatly. The collar still did not fit that well so I ran some gathering stitches along the back neckline and gathered it to fit the collar, thinking about it I wonder if just raising the back neckline would work...next time!!

After totally neglecting my wifley duties for long enough, and desperately resisting the urge to keep sewing, I decided it was about time I tried to get organised in the food department. I hate savoury cooking and am not very good at it so I spent a lot of time last week trying out a few recipes I had pinned for the slow cooker, this one for orange chicken

is gorgeous, even little e ate it and she hardly eats anything!

I have made about 15 meat based meals for the freezer (which should last us for a good few months as we only eat meat about twice a week) and have drawn up a menu for the next 2 weeks, it is such a good feeling to actually be organised and know what we are eating! Phew!

I made up for all the savoury cooking by doing a bake off for my Granny's 96th birthday tea party, I think I will do a seperate post about that or this might be epic!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

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Banksia

I was casually browsing The Village Haberdashery a few weeks ago and, I have no idea how (!), a couple of new patterns landed on my doorstep the very next day...! One was the Banksia top.

Banksia by Megan Nielsen

 Before I even unfolded the pattern I had to ooh and aah over the envelope it came in and the instruction booklet, the nicest pattern I have ever seen!

Anyway, I resisted the temptation to make it until last week then the urge bacame too much and it had to be made!

I used some cotton voil from my stash. I bought it 3 years ago and used some for an outfit for little e but, being very new to sewing at the time, bought far too much so I had about 1.5m left.

I cut the size large as that is what tied up with my bust measurement but I will definately go for a s/m the next time as it is fairly huge (and after seeing these photos will definately be adding some more darts to the front of this version so people don't think I am expecting!!).

Untucked is not an option, you should have seen how massive I looked from the side!!

The pattern is really quick to come together and the placket has two different options, both of which have great instructions.

Overall I loved the pattern and instructions and will absolutley make it again but...

 - The collar did not fit the neckline all that well, it is meant to butt up to the placket but if you put it on as it was there would have been about a 1 inch gap at either side. I had to fiddle a bit resulting the collar being slightly narrower at the back than the front. I am not the only one to have this problem it seems, I searched on pinterst for the top and a few of the blog posts about it mentioned a similar problem.

 - The bust darts are really low, I didn't think I had a particularly high bust, I have breastfed 2 children for 2 years each for goodness sake, but they sit really low (even taking in to account the fact that I cut about 2 sizes too big). I think because my top is so huge anyway I get away with it which is lucky because the fabric is very fine and does not like a lot of unpicking!

Now to resist the temptation to make it again straight away!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

Have you entered my My Memories giveaway? Ends 11th May and there are no entries yet so a very good chance of winning :) !!

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