Maxi dress (Butterick's 5837)

A while ago I saw the lovely maxi Tiramisu made by Cation Designs and found that I wanted a striped maxi dress too! A maxi Tira would be a great idea, but instead I found  Butterick's See and Sew 5837 and decided to try it. This is how it turned out!

This dress is über-comfy and it feels (and maybe looks) like you're wearing a nightie all day long. It's perfect when the weather's a bit on the chilly side (even though we're having great weather at the moment) because it covers the legs.

I think the detail in the back is really cute, but for next time I would make it more round instead of oval. The instructions were easy to follow, but to avoid hand-stitching (SO tedious!) I followed a tutorial for another maxi dress I found here at Melly Sews. This tutorial made it very easy to get away from said hand-stitching.

The arm holes are a little big, but it doesn't bother me much, so I'll just keep them as they are.

The bodice is lined, to get a nice finish, I guess. I just used what I had in my scrap bin, but of course you can use your "good" fabric. It was just that I had enough fabric left for another dress if I used other fabric for the lining, so that's what I did! White in the front and flowery in the back. :)

I already have fabric lined up for another maxi dress from this pattern, so of course I recommend the pattern if someone's thinking of using it! Size-wise I cut a US16 for the bodice and a US18 for the skirt, it is no problem matching up different sizes for the top and bottom since the skirt is gathered. I also cut the length of the pattern and didn't hem the skirt and that turned out to be the perfect length for me, I'm 175 cm (on a good day :)) which I think is like 5 feet 10 inches (correct me, please, if I'm wrong).

Well, that's all folks, thanks for stopping by,

Johanna

Giraffe dress

Have you ever walked in to the fabric store and felt the sudden and compelling urge to have a black and white giraffe dress?

I have...

Went to the fabric store to get something completely different, can't even remember what now, and saw and touched this fabulous black and white giraffe-print jersey. And I just had to have it as a dress.

This is THE most comfy summer dress and I've worn it so much since I made it. The pattern is the same as the blue House of Lola-inspired dress. I just moved the gathers up about 10 centimetre/4 inches, which turned out to be about 2 centimetres/an inch too high, but I'll fix that on the next dress!

Bye for now,

Johanna

A dress inspired by House of Lola

As I've written before I have a colleague who sells clothes from the fabulous brand House of Lola. The clothes are comfy AND pretty!! But, they are pretty expensive, so I take inspiration and make my own clothes instead.

This dress is inspired by a dress that I can't find a photo of, which is pretty good because they don't look much alike.

The fabric is, what I think is called French terry. In Sweden it's called sweatshirt fabric. I used the wrong side as the outside to make it look more like the original dress.

The pattern is something I came up with myself, sort of.  I combined some different patterns to get the look I wanted. The gathers are a little low compared to the inspiration dress, I think it's fine, but if/when i make it again I will raise them.

I used the twin needle to finish the arm holes, the neckline and the hem and i used white thread to make it a little more interesting.

The dress is really comfy and I've worn it loads already.

Bye for now,

Johanna

PS. I found a photo of the original dress on my colleagues blog Bland annat:

I know there's a big ruffle at the bottom of the dress and I had one on my dress too, but it looked like crap so I took it off.

Vacation wardrobe (Simplicity 2363 revisited)

Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to come with my class on a trip to Mallorca. Well, they asked me if I wanted to come along already in January, so I had known long that I was going. That also meant that I had quite some time to prepare some kind of vacation wardrobe, you know, shorts and stuff.

Lately, I've really been into sewing trousers, for example skinny denim trousers in blue and pink, so why not shorts too?! I found a good pattern in Sömnadsmagasin.

I made two pairs, one in dark blue with white polka dots and the other one striped in white and dark blue/black. I used jersey fabric for the waistband and that makes them really comfy, but at the same time they don't look too casual either.

I changed the stripes on the pocket.

I just love this cover stitch on my sewing machine. I used it on the pockets and on the hems.

I aslo decided I needed a sleeveless dress and wanted to make Simplicity 2363 again. Since the first dress turned out so big I altered some of the pattern pieces to make it smaller from start and it turned out pretty well. I went from size US18/20 to US16.

I used green bias tape round the arm holes instead of lining the whole bodice, I didn't have enough fabric anyway, I even had to make the pockets from another dark blue fabric.

The fabric I used is from my mum's stash, given to me last year, and I've been waiting to find a good project for it, and this was really good! I'm quite happy with the result. :)

Erm, just so you know, the photos are not from Mallorca, but from my garden... :)

See you (real) soon,

Johanna

New machine?

Now that I've been sewing a lot for a while, I've been thinking about things I miss in my sewing machine, functions I would like to have. I really like my sewing machine, a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 116, it's a fantastic machine in every way, but it is a basic machine. I bought it second hand for 1000 SEK which was a bargain since the price for new one is about 3000 SEK.

Current sewing machine

I'm really happy with my Husqvarna machine so I've been looking at some other Husqvarna machines. I found one on Blocket.se (which is like Craig's list) which is also second hand but from a sewing machine store. It's called Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 830. I've been trying to read up on it and I've read about the model called 835, which seems sort of the same but newer.

Does anyone know anything about this machine?

Anyway, what I'd like in a new sewing machine is :

• to sew faster than my current machine
• several one step-buttonholes
• to be able to position the needle (left-middle-right)
• snap-on presser feet (like I have now)

I also wouldn't mind some of the other functions, like:

• the STOP- and the FIX-function
• that you can wind the bobbin from the needle
• the "Sewing Advisor"

So, any thoughts on this, am I greedy to want a new machine when I have a working, good one? Am I looking too narrowly, should I give another brand a chance? ( I know Janome has a good reputation, but I have never used one. Bernina is also vey good, my mum says and she has tried them, but they seem awfully expensive.)

BTW, I have sewn lots even though I haven't posted. I'm waiting to take photos, but for that to happen several things have to happen: nice weather, I have to have make-up on my face (doesn't happen every day), I have to feel like it (like today, I'm not feeling on top of things because of a cold) and I have to ask my husband to take photos. I have put a camera tripod on my birthday wishlist, so I don't have to ask anyone to help me take photos in the future, I hope I get one! 

Anyway, posts and photos will come, eventually, sometime, soon...ish, I promise! :)

Bye for now,

Johanna

PS. You can now reach my blog through my own domain: http://www.projectsbyme.se  :)