Sew Chaotically! ~ Celeste Archer! The start of a springtime top making roll!

In 2017 I was thrilled to make my second trip to Paris and that visit included fabric shopping!!!  I found this beautiful blue cotton print at the cutest little shop, Frou-Frou.  When I spied the label ~ well ~ 'Oiseaux Celeste' (Bird Celeste) had to come home with me!  I knew then it would make a lovely springtime Grainline Archer, previously made here and here.  And finally, she is done!

The drafting of Grainline's patterns works perfectly for me whether it is the Morris Blazer, Alder shirt dress or the Archer.  I made a straight 8 with no adjustments.  Isn't the fabric lovely?  It lived up to all my expectations and was a pleasure to work with!

I love the collar on both the Archer and Alder.  Though I have tried Grainline's method I have better luck with "alternative method" by Closet Case Patterns.  Give it a try if you haven't!

I used this cute cuff detail this time.

For this special make, I made an adjustment to my label!  Pretty guts!!!

And continuing my PSA's for melanoma awareness month...

Great strides have been made in melanoma treatment through the work of forward thinking researchers, the dedicated amazing hearts and lives of incredible ratties, and the dear ones who see them through!  But, we have a long way to go!  Protect the skin you're in!

Sew and live chaotically!  ~ les

Sew Chaotically! ~ Archer, by Grainline Studio, as Shirt Jac!

Grainline Studio has been a consistent go-to pattern company for me.  Their Alder Shirt Dress, Morris Blazer, Linden Sweatshirt, and Archer Button Up  have become tried and true patterns!!!  They go together perfectly.  A straight 8, with no alterations can be counted on to fit my shape.  So when B was talking me into purchasing this thick cotton woven flannel-ish herringbone, I knew just what to do with it!

An Archer as Shirt Jac!!!

The bum ruffle adds extra interest and fun!  I was a little worried if it would be manageable given the thickness of this fabric, but it worked out just fine!!

And since winter has decided to make a return in these parts, the timing of completion is perfect!

Still, the warm snap we experienced has already inspired my NEXT Archer!!!  It is cut and ready to go in a very light weight cotton voile acquired in Paris at Frou Frou!!  I've cut the 8 and may curve it in at the side seams just a bit!  But, it will have to wait a minute!  After all these button ups, I'm taking an easy knit break!

Cold rainy winter days are perfect for a cutting palooza!!!  Sew excited!

Thanks, @grainlinestudio for so many wonderfully wearable, fun makes!  Sew chaotically! - les

Sew Chaotically! - Archer Button Up, by Grainline Studio

What can I say???  I have loved every Grainline Studio pattern I've made.  The size 8 fits perfectly with no adjustments.  The directions are great.  They make up as shown with no surprises.  There have been multiple Morris Blazers, with more to come!!!  Three Alder shirt dresses!! And a total of 6 Lindens, though only 2 were for me, yo!!!  There were these, then Rosie needed this and this!!!  So, I've been looking forward to trying their Archer Button Up (or basic button-down, as it were)!!

It did not disappoint.  The make is very similar to the Archer Shirt dress.  It plays well dressed up or down.  I made short sleeves with an improvised cuff due to fabric limitations.  I love it!!!  Sew Chaotically!!! - les

Sew Chaotically!! - Another Alder shirt dress

Yes, I love Grainline Studio Patterns.  Yes, I've made their Alder shirt dress before!

With bum ruffle...

...and without!

Now in a beautiful Art Gallery cotton.

The hem is a little lower in the back.  I made the size 8 with no adjustments.

Proud of my details!!

Thanks for help finding the buttons, B!!!

And to finish with a little sister love!!!  Ruthie used the same print, though in the voile, to stitch up V9970.  (A pattern she does not really recommend due to poor drafting of the pin tucks in the bodice...but she made it work!!!)  Isn't she beautiful????

Sew Chaotically!!! Love, les

Sew Chaotically! - ANOTHER Linden! Thanks, Grainline Studio!

I adore every pattern I've made up from Grainline Studio!!  From their Morris Blazer to the Alder Shirtdress!!!  I've made a straight 8 in all of them and they've been perfect.

And then there are all the Lindens!

Now there is this one!!!

Given my love of words, grey, and blue ~ when I found this lovely, lusciously soft Art Gallery Jersey I was sold!!!  It was a bit of a pain to get lined up for cutting...but after that, stitching it up was a breeze. (It comes out of the washer and dryer looking great, too!!)  I made the slightly cropped Linden version, that's a little shorter in the front than the back, with no waist or arm bands.

I'm telling you...this pattern is drafted so well, putting in the neck band is a breeze!

Was the fact that "DREAM BIG" and "SUNSHINE" ended up front and center - fate or planned???  You decide!!!

It's perfect on its own...

...but also great for layering - over and under - other garments!

Linden love!!!  You gotta try it!  Sew Chaotically!!! - les

Travel Chaotically! - London and the Cotswolds!! (and fabric shopping!!!!)

I am such a lucky girl!!!  We just got back from a lovely visit to London and the Cotswolds.  The A##hole who decided to try to blow up part of the London tube:  London tube bombing: PM says terror threat level raised to critical  be damned!!!  (Along with the jerk who, almost a year ago to the day in September of last year, tried to create havoc in New York and New Jersey during our visit there:  Travel Chaotically! - New York - Street Fair and Central Park!)

Instead of giving any cred to such weirdo's, I'll tell you what is really important!!!  The real live wonderful people we met and shared our visit with ~ Dave, Clive, Ibrahim, Amal, Batsy, the proprietress of the Persian restaurant, the little boy there that we taught to fist bump, the couple with family in Turkey (and the US) in the fabric shop in Walthamstow, the lady who better be making her fleece jacket so she won't be cold when she's out with her walking club, the Welsh couple and the bar keep at The Black Bear Inn....and ever so many others!!  I have SO MANY STORIES!!!!  (Plus, I have yet to share the remainder of last year's New York trip, that took off from there and explored Paris, Sarlat, and Marseilles!!!)  B took a great many more and better pics than I did...but lest it be a whole year before I get around to it....I wanted to share these snippets of memory with you now....

Classic!  X's three!  As in: 1) The quintessential British phrase.  2) Big Ben.  3) B being the worst person in the world to take a photo of, as he is constantly looking at HIS camera!

Boat trip along the Thames!  The London Eye (big ferris wheel in the background) cannot be avoided!!!

Back side of the Tower of London.

A little cuppa and a 'pick-me-up' along the Thames.

A change from our last visit...about 10 years ago...are the bollards that now line many London streets.

Westminster Abbey

Train station, watching the board to learn the platform at which the train will appear, for our trip to the Cotswolds.

We stayed in Moreton-in-Marsh at the Bell Inn (supposedly the Inn and area that inspired Tolkien's tales of Hobbiton and Inn, The Prancing Pony) and visited Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water!  Loving these names!!!  If only we had also visited Wotton-under-Edge and Fuddlebrook!

Hiking along the public footpath!

My cutie!!!

Learning to Belly-up-to-the-Bar!!!  The Black Bear Inn!

Back in London.  Lovely visit to the British Museum and the National Gallery.  Emotive Turners.  Exquisite Dutch Masters.  Beautiful Monets.  Great chats with various floor watchers.  Such decadence.  And it's FREE y'all!!!!  I mean they ask for a donation...but seriously!!!!  You do have to pay to pee in the city, though.  It'll cost you a pound in London, but only "20 p" (Yes, it is actually said like that - Twenty P [pence]!!!) in the Cotswolds at the "Public Conveniences".  But, you can pee for free in pubs, restaurants, museums and galleries.  The more you know....
Oh.  And, yes.  That is a thumb in the pic above.  No.  I cannot explain the phallic nature of it!

My silly B before seeing "The Mousetrap" in London!

One of his many "Full English" breakfasts!

Fabric shopping in Walthamstow AFTER checking out all the shops around Oxford Circus along Berwick Street AND Goldhawk Road at Shepherds Bush Market!!!  I loved it all, but REALLY, REALLY enjoyed Walthamstow Market along High Street.  SO. ABSOLUTELY.  FABULOUS!!!!  Great thanks to Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons and Rachel of House of Pinheiro who have great London fabric shopping tips on their blogs!  Even bigger thanks to B, who is the world's sweetest and most patient man!!!

An appropriate cuppa to start our last day.

Smithfield Market.  And an amazing lunch at St. John.  So yummy!!!  A place we found quite by accident on our last visit...but is now a family tradition...with Rosie making her way there during her study abroad...and an absolute must for us on this trip.  We're going to have to manage to fit this in more often, B!!!!

Buckingham Palace

Heading to the tube for our return to Heathrow and home.

But, I didn't leave empty handed!!!  Here's my fabric haul from Goldhawk Road (Shepherd's Bush).... 

  ...and this lovely selection from Walthamstow! No more fabric buying for me for some time!!!

And as if fabric alone was not enough!!!  I got patterns!!!  Most of them at an amazing Makers Fair that materialized out of thin air while we were inside Hampton Court!  As we came out to catch the train back to London...there it was!!  Fate, I tell you!  Fate!  There were food stalls with paella, curries, jams, sausages, cheese, baked goods.  We settled on The Hippy Chippy and had the best "chips" (French Fries!) ever!!!  Big tents with training sessions were available.  Other tents housed makers with soaps, jewelry, fabric, assorted crafts, and so much more.  Tilly and the Buttons and Sew Over It even had stalls!  My newest, yet to be blogged, Alder shirt dress, I happened to be wearing, was recognized as such and admired!!!!  AND...there were patterns for sale in lots of the booths!  So, I really couldn't help it!  Right, B?????

Home again...but with lots of new friends and wonderful memories.  Plus, getting back to work with my kiddos can't be too bad if this is your view along the way.

Finally, B makes my average Wednesday anything but, with a Full English Breakfast...replete with HP Brown Sauce, roasted tomatoes, beans, sausage AND bacon, toast, and perfect eggs.  B knows how to do it right!  Rosie may have to roll me around on my mat at our exercise class later today!!

Thanks, London and all the wonderful peeps who made our visit so very special.  Thanks, B.  You really don't have to spoil me so! But, it's pretty awesome that you do!  Hee hee!!! More stories to come, I promise!  Travel Chaotically!!!  I gotta go sew!!!! - love, les