Palisade Shorts

 

When Papercut Patterns released their new collection in November, I fell in love with the trouser/short pattern - called Palisade Pants.  I loved the pocket detailing,and topstitching and the fact that it had an elastic waist and a faux fly.  No zipper - woohoo.  I bought the PDF pattern and fabric and they sat there waiting till I had time to work on them.

Just before Christmas I started sewing them, they were a relatively easy make, and Papercut Patterns instructions are very good, with diagrams as well as text.
The fabric is a linen/cotton blend, and I loved sewing with it. For the pocket lining, I used a pretty liberty fabric, I thought my shorts fabric was perhaps a little heavier than mid weight, so I did this to add a little less bulk and weight to the sides of the shorts.

Based on my measurements I was a combined S for waist and XS for hips, so I decided to make the S.   The whole way through, I was worried they were going to be to small for me. They are perhaps a little shorter than I wanted, so I did a Liberty bias binding hem (unfortunately not the same as the pocket lining) so as not to not lose too much more length.  Lesson learned -  next time I know to make them a little longer.  I could also have probably tightened the elastic a little more in the back waistband, however they are a supremely comfortable, even if the high waist takes a little getting used to after years of wearing clothes that sit on or near the hip.

I will definitely make myself another couple of pairs, maybe in a slightly lighter weight fabric, and I'm also going to invest in some Liberty with matching bias binding for future pairs too.  Now all I need is a  little more of tan so I don't blind the population with the glare coming off these legs.

Meri Kirihimete

Another year is almost over, so that means it's time for my Christmas break from blogging.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, comments, gives advice, book recommendations and for your continued friendship.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas filled with the joy of family, friends, good food and holiday memories.

Meri Kirihimete me te Hape Nū Ia.



**PS:  I've turned commenting off on this post**

Things Here Lately

Some of the random makes, happenings and finds from the past month:

• My Carolina Chain quilt is progressing well, possibly some of my medium fabrics are a little bright, but I figure this will be a really cheerful scrappy quilt, with lots of interesting fabrics.  It's destined to be donated to my local Hospice when it is finished.

• The other weekend I took advantage of one of my favourite fabric stores having 50% off everything and bought some fabric.  The top fabric is a silk/viscose and is going to be made into a top, the middle is a cotton/linen  is destined to be some shorts (pattern has been printed and assembled) and the bottom cotton print will be a dress of some description.

• This large moth (about 2") was resting on my mailbox for a few hours one day - I haven't identified it properly but after some time on google, I am thinking it is possibly be a type of Kawakawa Looper moth.

• Some pretty blooms from my garden - Dietes Grandiflora and a tropical Vireya

• Pretty piles of quilting fabric make a good resting and hiding place for Meeka - not that there is a lot of room on my cutting table at present for her either.

Tiritiri Matangi Island

Calm waters upon our arrive

Bird feeding station for Bellbirds and Stitchbirds

Kereru/Native wood pigeon

Tui

The lighthouse was built in England and shipped in panels to New Zealand in 1864

Part of the ancient Pohutukawa tree estimated to be 800-1000 years old

Towards Rangitoto Island

Saddleback/Tieke feeding on flax flowers

Choppy whitecaps ready for our departure

Yesterday I had an mini adventure.  My aunt is out from the USA, so I caught the train into the city, met up with her and some other family and friends and we went to Tiritiri Matangi Island, You can only get there by ferry, so it was a little bit of an early start for a 9am sailing.

From the website:

Tiritiri Matangi Island is a wildlife sanctuary and one of New Zealand's most important and exciting conservation projects. It is located 30km north east of central Auckland and just 4km from the end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. A hundred and twenty years of farming had seen this 220-hectare island stripped of 94% of its native bush but between 1984 and 1994, volunteers planted between 250,000 and 300,000 trees. The Island is now 60% forested with the remaining 40% left as grassland for species preferring open habitat.

In conjunction with this planting programme, all mammalian predators were eradicated and a number of threatened and endangered bird and reptile species have been successfully introduced, including the flightless takahe, one of the world’s rarest species, and the tuatara. There are few places in New Zealand where you can readily see and walk amongst so many rare species

We had the most beautiful weather after days of thundery cold storms.  We opted for a guided tour for the walk to the top of the Island.  The volunteers who do these are full of knowledge about birds, the island history and the plant life.  While I didn't get to see a Kokako, I did see lots of other birds, I had never seen before,including, Kakariki/native parakeet, Hihi/Stitchbird and Popokotea/Whitehead. Unfortunately not all were co-operative for photos.  

Fabulous views can be had from the top of the island and many of the coastal tracks, and it was just beautiful to be surrounded by native bush and bird song.