London! And a couple FOs.

I realize it’s been forever since I last posted, my summer has been full of changes of plans and plane tickets and I didn’t do that much craft-wise.

What I did do is acquire an impressive amount of fabric (especially yummy Libertyyyyyyy!! I have to thank Elizabeth for her London shopping tips). Also, I have accumulated a collection of various thrifted objects, found at this summer’s local brocantes. (what is a brocante? It’s a roving flea market street fair that sells secondhand goods and antiques and a favorite Sunday activity in my family). I’ll try to put up a picture of my brocante bounty at some point in the future.

As far as the “full of changes” bit, it turns out we’ll be living in London for a couple of months before finally moving to Washington, DC!

Gabe has to finish some work here and me, well, I’m just tagging along without too much purpose, which is a strange feeling, but overall, I’m happy to have this opportunity to discover London a bit.

Which brings me to…. My Liberty-themed FOs!

FO #1: Liberty Boxers

I had a sewing epiphany again while using my mom’s old Elna. As soon as I’m back in the US, I’m so getting rid of my clunky, fabric-eating, stitch-distorting machine. It was such a breeze to sew these boxer shorts, and I’m pleased with the details for once, it looks pretty well-made. Which reminds me, I should have taken pictures of the inside, too.

These are a present for Gabe, I sort of winged the pattern, roughly copying a pair of store-bought boxers. I used mother of pearl buttons scavenged from an old shirt.

FO #2: Liberty-lined Double-Breasted Baby Coat

I’m really happy with this FO, but then again, it felt like i put in a lot of work into it. The pattern itself is very simple, loosely based on a vintage pattern I found in an old knitting magazine. But as I went along, it occurred to me that the wool (Rowan felted tweed) would be a bit scratchy for a little one, and I decided to line the coat with this really adorable Liberty fabric, since I had just the right amount of it lying around. The whole lining is hand-sewn into place and was a tad small so it got tricky to make it fit right, but I think it worked out ok. THEN, I thought, wouldn’t it be cute if I made Liberty-covered buttons as well? I was going to continue with the embellishments (I thought about adding a little pocket, or embroidering something on the front) but my mom thought I’d better leave well-enough alone. And voilà!

This is for my dear cousin Héloise’s, who is having her first baby in a couple of weeks. She doesn’t know yet whether it’s a boy or a girl, so I kept things pretty gender-neutral. I have to admit it was hard to part with the coat, but since I don’t have kids of my own, it would be pointless (and scary?) to start hoarding baby clothes!

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