PVC Miko Craft Dianne Backpack

Embroidery on reptile-print PVC for a small backpack

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen I’ve been sharing a few different links about hand-crafted bags or bag tutorials in the past few weeks. No surprise, looking at all of the different ideas has given me inspiration for something of my own. I’ve also been following a bag maker out of Indonesia, Miko Craft on Instagram, (who also sells bags through Miko Craft Store) who posts video tutorials and free patterns for purses, totes, and other bags.

I started designing my own few new bags, but then saw the Miko Craft pattern for the Dianne backpack, and got totally distracted with the idea of making it too.

Leopard-print Draped-Front Tunic

Leopard Print Draped Neckline Tunic

When you find a pattern you love, that’s easy to make, gets compliments, is comfortable and flattering to wear…. well that’s one of the great things about being a sewist, right? The ability to make MORE of the garment in different fabrics and colours!

So yep… I’ve done it again, another draped-front garment.  This time in a thin, slinky, leopard-print knit. I had enough fabric to make it tunic length… maybe a micro-mini dress if I were feeling brave… LOL

Raspberry bikini top/ bralette

Raspberry ring-front bralette / bikini top

You might remember last year, I bought a bunch of cute swimwear fabrics at the 2022 Grandmother’s Fabric Sale in the spring, and cut out a BUNCH of bikini tops / bralettes using the Barrett bralette pattern from Madalynne Intimates. Unsurprisingly… I was hunting down swimwear fabrics again at the 2023 Grandmother’s Fabric sale, with the same plan in mind!  These bralettes are just so comfortable to wear, and teamed up with a bikini bottom pattern, make a fantastic two-piece bikini too when made up in swimwear fabric.

(Get the free downloadable pattern here: https://madalynne.com/product/barrett-bralette-sewing-pattern/ – though I did need to make a few adjustments for the pattern to get it to fit me the way I wanted – so be prepared to do the same.)

One pattern – how many ways? Cowl neck top

Wearing my rose pink cowl-neck sleeveless top

Over the past month or so I’ve showed off a number of different knit tops, all based on the same original pattern.

The pattern is actually a “knock off” of a store-bought top that I ended up spilling something on and staining – but I loved the fit so much that I decided to knock off the pattern and re-make it in new fabrics. I first made this top up in silver micro-pleat ages ago, and it too got stained and retired, but after finding some pink micro-pleat, I decided to revisit the pattern.

Rose Cowl Neck Top

Wearing my rose pink cowl-neck sleeveless top

After (nearly) finishing the pink micro-pleat cowl-neck top,  I decided to make a few more of this top. I dug through my stash of “I’ll make a top out of this, at some point” knits in my stash (mostly purchased at the grandmother’s fabric sale, or gifted to me by a former teacher) in colours that I don’t normally wear a lot of (ei: not black) and picked out this one, a sort of dusty pink slinky polyester knit.

I honestly love the colour, though the fabric is very light weight and not something I’d normally be drawn to. This one was from my former teacher, along with another similar fabric in wedgewood blue that I also made the same cowl neck top out of.