Wearable toiles

 I have got into the habit of making toiles in recent years. I never used to when I started sewing mainly due to the cost of purchasing cheap fabric/muslin to use and partly because my figure used to be pretty standard.  I was a happy UK size 12 for ages and am of average height so knew that a lot of patterns didn't really need much adjusting! Especially anything by the Big 4. I also liked wearing baggy clothes so something being not too fitted wasn't a problem. But getting older and heavier means that deciding on a pattern size can be a bit like a lottery. You might get lucky, you might not! Grading in or out of a size is the norm and double checking sleeve widths is a necessity.  

Then I started running and eating healthily and my shape changed again. Patterns I loved didn't make clothes that fitted anymore - so toiles have become more important than ever. I hate wasting fabric and now I have a stash that is ever growing I can't bear to waste any of it! The more I have the more I love it. My stash is an extension of me!  

Now when I make a toile I have an agonising day or so of deciding which fabric I use. Even though I know some fabric should never see the light of day because it's either garish or frumpy (or intriguingly both) I still give the topic plenty of thought.  So sometimes I do come up with the wearable toile. I have recently made some dresses and although I never intended one of those to be worn outside my sewing room I actually wore it to work the other day with a navy blue cardigan! And no one said anything. Inside I imagined someone thinking, 'Surely that is a dress from her sub-par pile of fabric and she is actually wearing it in public!?'. But no - nothing. So I shall wear it again, maybe in a few weeks and act a little less self consciously when doing so.

Heading into lockdown once more you can spot the giant pack of loo rolls just delivered by Sainsburys. I kinda think that they are the household accessory of the year. Bathrooms are bulging with them so storing them in the dining room has become de rigueur.  Oh yes....and this is the dress I made from very cheap jersey stretch fabric.

And then there is the mysterious phenomena of the toile, which was made with rapidity and corners cut, actually looking better than the real thing. I don't understand it either but it happens.  Learning to go with the flow and enjoy the process of sewing keeps me sane, and of course NEVER EVER adding up exactly how much I have spent on fabric, thread and elastic etc.