New and improved - Lisette Portfolio (Simplicity 2245)

As I wrote yesterday, I was thinking of what to do with my new fabrics and I came to think of pockets. I'm planning on making a denim Ginger skirt with pockets/belt loops and a denim Meringue skirt with pockets, maybe like Sunni's on this Ginger skirt. So I'm into pockets and I felt I had to give the Lisette Portfolio (Simplicity 2245) another go. My first version is here and here.

This time I felt like doing a tunic-length version, instead of a dress. The fabric I wanted to use was not one of the new ones, but I came to think of a lovely fabric I bought earlier this spring. I made a sketch, I like to do that to get an idea of what the garment might look like.

My fabric has a pattern of bird houses, but I thought it was bird cages when I drew the picture, didn't remember... ;)

I didn't want to do the neckline as it is in the pattern, I felt it was too high and I wanted an easier job this time too. So I wanted to use bias tape at the neckline and the sleeves. It worked great, everything went really smoothly and the tunic was so easy to put together.

The changes I made from last time was:
1. I changed the size from EU46/US20 to a EU42/US16 at the bust and a EU46/US20 at the hip. (Revelation: so this is how it's supposed to fit!)
2. I cut the back piece on the fold, instead of making two pieces. I wasn't going to make the closing at the neck anyway.
3. I used bias tape for the neckline and the sleeve hems instead of the pattern pieces from the sewing pattern.

I have to say that I lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ve kimono sleeves! So easy to sew and so comfortable. Unfortunately the inside of the tunic isn't as pretty as I would have liked. I just couldn't figure out how to do French seams and get those pockets seams to work, so I had to go with zig-zagging.

Here's a close-up of the pocket and the super adorable fabric...

So, to wrap it up: I'm very happy with the tunic (although the fabric store didn't have enough of the bias tape I wanted :( , there was only enough for the neckline) and I can see myself wearing it to work a lot!

Bye for now,

Johanna

Celebrating Midsummer in a new Burda blouse

Today we celebrate Midsummer here in Sweden, one of the big holidays here (for some almost as important as Christmas...). My family is here celebrating with my husband, my kids and me. It's my mum, my sister, her husband and their two children. I'm so glad they're here with us.

Midsummer is VERY Swedish, decorations go in blue and yellow as the Swedish flag and we eat pickled herring and strawberries. It's always nice to have a special reason to create a new garment, and so I thought that Midsummer was a reason as good as any.

I got some yellow cotton fabric from mum when she cleared out her stash. It has white flowers on it and is very sweet... almost too sweet... But I thought that it would make a comfortable blouse for the summer, so I started making another Burda Easy blouse, because I'm so happy with the one I already have.

I wanted to make some changes, so it wasn't exactly like the first one, so I thought about finishing the sleeves with bias tape or something. In the box where I keep my bias tape I also had the cuffs from my hot pink hot pink Lisette dress (Simplicity 2245). They're black with white swiss-dots. They were a perfect fit for the blouse, both in size and colour!

I matched the cuffs with a black button at the neck closing and a tiny black bow in the front. I'm quite happy with the result. I made this version about two inches longer than the first one, since that one turned out a tiny bit too short. Otherwise no other changes.

On the first Burda Easy blouse I used ribbon for the neck closing, but in this one I took some thin elastic to make a button loop (got the idea from one of my daughter's dresses). Unfortunately, it's not very visible in the picture.

Today I matched it with my Ginger denim skirt, for that Swedish blue and yellow-look... :)

Have a great day, I know I will! :)

Bye for now,

Johanna

P.S. Don't forget to participate in my GIVEAWAY!

Simplicity 2147 and 2245 - me wearing it!

So, I finally have some pics of me wearing the two dresses I've posted about before, Simplicity 2147 (the non-potatoe sack-version) and Simplicity 2245.

I made my son help me take pictures. He looooves borrowing the camera and taking photos of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. So far we have photos of my ironing board, the floors, the TV while it's on etc. But he's totally excused because he's only five and totally adorable and not to mention helpful! (I didn't want to ask my husband to take photos, because I suspect that he thinks this blogging business is a bit lame... :)).

Here they are! First the 2147:

And here's the 2245 (I love those pockets):

I must say that blue and green dress is my favourite out of these two.

On another note, I couldn't help myself but had to order the Colette patterns' Ginger skirt yesterday! It cost me a whopping 170 SEK/£17 including P&P. I hope it's worth it and my expactations are high after reading posts on it from LLADYBIRD among others. *Standing by the mailbox 'til the mailman comes*

Well, bye for now,

Johanna

Simplicity 2245

At the moment I can't remember where I found this pattern, probably while browsing here ( a good Swedish site to buy sewing patterns). It looked so pretty in the pictures on the cover. Since I imagine that I don't look so good in 3/4 sleeves, I wanted to make a short sleeved dress, so I combined view A with the sleeves of view B/C.

I went to one of my local fabric shops, Tygfabriken, and found this cute fabric in hot pink (?) with black dots. I wanted something else for the neck part, so I chose a black fabric of the same type with tiny white dots.

This is the dress with one of the sleeves and cuffs finished. But suddenly the cuffs didn't feel quite right, so I removed them (by this time I had already finished both). And I just hemmed the sleeves instead. What do you think? Was I right?

The dress was quite easy to make. It took a couple of days, since I have to make pauses for cooking, playing with the kids, etc. If I would make it again, which I probably will, I will totally omit the loops and buttons and just sew the two back pieces together all the way. I confess, I didn't make the loops on this dress, just an ordinary button hole. Couldn't be bothered with the loops...

I love the pockets on the dress! I don't know why, but it's just comfy to have pockets (somewhere to put your hands I guess..). Well, here is the final result, which I have worn once.

And here's the back:

Oh, by the way I lengthened the dress by 10 cm/4 inches, since I'm 175 cm/5 feet 10 inches tall, and HATE too short dresses. I like them to finish just above the knees to feel comfortable. About the sizing: I usually wear size Eu 46/Am 22, so I chose size 22, which was too big, so I had to take it in under the arms. The thing is, I have (according to me) HUGE hips 115 cm/46 inches, no waist and kind of big boobs (100 cm/40 inches), so it's hard to find the right size.

Well, it seems I have rambled on for quite a while, so I will stop here.

Bye for now,

Johanna


P.S. I'll try to take some pictures of the dress with me in it.

Sneak preview

Found a pic of three of my latest project on my mobile (if the pic quality is bad, that's why). The two dresses on the sides are from the same pattern. Well, I'll tell you more tomorrow hopefully (you never know with two kids home from child care to avoid them getting the stomach flu...).

Bye for now,

Johanna