Selfish and unselfish sewing

Hello there! It's been kind of quiet here over at my blog, but I've been sewing. Here are some FOs from this week:

• A striped Giraffe dress for me:

• A striped Giraffe dress for my sister Charlotta (on the left):
• A Washi dress for me (on the right):

Look at that shirring in the back! So pleased with the result.

My first time shirring ever!!! It was way easier than I thought, so I will do this lots more now.

That's all for now! See you later,

Johanna

Floral beanie

A new beanie for me!
It's very practical to sew my own hats since that's what I wear everyday. This one's been on my mind for a while but I couldn't make until today since I had misplaced the pattern and didn't find it until this morning! (Messy me...)

I did not make the crocheted flowers because I don't know how to. I bought them a while back from Panduro for another project.

I wore the new beanie to work and got several compliments! And it's such quick and easy project to make.

Bye for now,

Johanna

Stripey skirt

Decided to make a remake of one of my fave skirts and I'm happy to say that I'm happy with the result!

I measured the original skirt and made a pattern. The skirt is the same in the front and the back except for the waistband. 

I had half a metre of striped navy and white jersey from another project and used that to try out the pattern I drew. I also had some (suspicious) navy double knit which I used for the pockets, waistband and to finish the pockets and the hem.

I made a casing in the waistband and put in some blue and white ribbon.

Hope you had a nice weekend! I did! :)

xoxo,

Johanna

Another Everyday skirt and my first beanie

I finally got around to making another Everyday skirt, according to my latest sewing list. It's made of chambray fabric which I ordered from Stoff och stil (along with some more fabric, of course). I'm very happy with the fabric and recommend it to anyone who's thought about buying it.

I also drafted a pattern for a beanie from one of my old store bought ones. It turned out a little big, but I fixed that and now it's fine!

Bye for now,

Johanna

Unselfish sewing part 6: Everyday skirt for my sister

This is the skirt I made as a Christmas present for one of my sisters. She wore it the last time we met and I managed to remember to snap a couple of photos...

It's made out of navy blue medium weight cotton fabric, might be cotton sateen. It's a little wrinkled in the photos but you get the idea anyway.

My sister seemed pleased with it (I mean, SHE WORE IT!!! Yay!) and it suits her. Navy blue looks good on her. The length also turned out good, always tricky to hem a skirt for someone who's not present...

More Everyday skirts to come since I finished one more for me and I also have another one cut out ready for sewing!

Bye for now,

Johanna

Swedish sewing bee - me? We'll see!

Tomorrow I'm off to Stockholm for an interview for the Swedish version of Great British sewing bee. Let's see what happens!!! *excited*

xo

Johanna

Another giraffe dress... what can I say?! I love them!

So far, I've made a few (many) Giraffe dresses. What can I say... I just love them...

I have one that is grey with yellow and white flowers that I haven't blogged yet. Last week I made one in light grey with white dots. And this weekend I made one in medium grey for one of my sisters (the one in the collage above). That makes a total of eight dresses...

Or maybe nine, since I finished another today...

As you can see, it's black. But since I don't like dressing all in black I had to put some colour on it, so I added bands on the sleeves and around the neck. The bands are also black with neon green polka dots.

I have tweaked the pattern a little; the dress is alittle tighter over the bust, less gathers under the bust and the sleeves are a tiny bit longer (still kimono-version). I have also drafted a neckline facing, so now I can choose to finish the neckline with a facing, a band or just fold over and stitch.

Yes, I also made the boy in the photo... :)

Ok, enough of giraffe dresses for now.

Later,

Johanna

Wazzup?!

Sewlutions for 2013 - the result

Last New Year's day I made a sewlution on Karen's blog for 2013. It looked like this:

"I’d like to be in the jar too, Dear Keeper :). And here’s my plan: to sew garments with bound buttonholes, welt pockets, zippered pockets as I want to learn new techniques."

OMG! I have failed miserably! Not a bound button hole in sight... And to be honest, I can't even remember that this is what I promised. I did have "the Mistress of the jar" in the back of my head all year, but I thought I had written that I will try and sew more challenging garments...

Oh well... I'm quite happy with my sewing year anyway and I'm very pleased that I have done so much unselfish sewing.

I even made a skirt for my sister (in the striped giraffe dress) as a X-mas present, only I haven't got any photos of it. It's a navy blue Everyday skirt.

I'm also pleased to have found a TNT (tried and true) dress pattern that I made myself - the Giraffe dress. I love those dresses, so comfy and pretty, I think. :) I wear them all the time. I even have one that I haven't blogged yet (I just realized...).

Another thing I'm proud of and pleased about, is the fact that I've sewn a number of trousers this year, Skinny trouser that fit well, well, and one pair that didn't (but at least those had welt pockets!).

So, no bound button holes or zippered pockets this year, but certainly other things to feel good about!

Happy new sewing year to everyone!

xoxo,

Johanna

Happee Hollydays!

We're closing in on Christmas. I'm with my husband and kids at one of my sisters' house. We are going to celebrate together, me, my sisters and our families, my mum and grandma. Sadly grandpa isn't well so he's in the hospital. We're going to miss him tomorrow.

My dad is also missed a lot. His funeral took place a few days ago, it was very nice and there were fantastic flowers sent there from family, friends and acqaintances. Lots more than we had expected.

Anyway, I'm glad to be with my big family at Christmas time. And tomorrow I might even be the one to dress up in the Santa suit... Ho ho ho!! :)

I want to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas!! I hope that everyone will have a good time this holiday.

Hugs from

Johanna

PS I hope to be back before the New Year with a 2013 recap...

Scrappy dappy dachshound

I made a scrap bambi for my daughter for Christmas and here's a scrap dachshound for my son. I found the pattern in one of my sewing magazines. The eyes were supposed to be embroidered circles but I made "bambi"-eyes instead because they're much prettier. :)

It was a pretty easy make and I'm happy with the result. I also hope my son will like his new cuddly dog.

Later,

Johanna

Scrap Bambi

This year I feel inspired to make some of the Christmas presents I'm giving away. My first project is a plush toy for my daughter. She saw this bambi in one of my sewing magazines and asked if she could have one. This was months ago but I remembered and thought Christmas was a good moment to make one for her.

She loves pink so I dug in my pile of scraps to find pink ones to use. Pretty successful outcome I must say!

The pattern really called for quilting cotton, but I used stretchy velour and jersey scraps and they were very easy to work with due to the stretch.

You were also supposed to embroider around the edges of the eyes and make eyelashes, but since I'm a lazy bastard :) I just used my sewing machine and straight stitch! I did close the stuffing hole on the belly by hand! *Proud of myself*

Now I just hope that my girl will like her new little friend!

Bye for now,

Johanna

(Happy birthday to my dad! He was going to be 65 years old today.)

the ones that love us never really leave us

My dad is gone but he'll be in my heart always...

My dad died on Saturday after being really ill for months, but he never gave up on who he was even when it was bad. He kept his spirits up and was cheerful and supportive to me , my sisters and mum until the end. He supported this blog and read it regularly and I want to honour him here.

 I love you dad and I'll see you in a while,

Johanna

Finished! The Everyday skirt from Liesl+Co

It feels so good when a plan falls out the way you planned, because here are the photos of my new skirt that I've been talking about in the last to posts.

I made it up in some wool fabric which I think is tweed. I actually used the wrong side as the right side, because it was too brown and I prefer the wrong side which is more grey/brown.

I'm very happy with the outcome. I've worn the skirt to work today and it was both warm and comfortable. This is size L/14 and it's kind of big at the waist. Either I have to tighten the elastic in the waist or make a smaller size next time. I made a muslin in size XL/16 but it was just too big. I recommend to go down a size.

I love that the pockets are attached to the waistband and don't flop around on the inside. And also that they aren't exactly at the sides but a little bit in from the sides.

The skirt turned out pretty long before hemming. The instructions say the hem should be 2 inches, but I made it 3 inches. But then I had cut size XL for the length...

Anyway, I'm superhappy with the skirt and absolutely recommend the pattern for others!

Bye for now,

Johanna

In progress - Everyday skirt

Photo from oliverands.com

I'm working away on my Everyday skirt, sewing pattern from Liesl+Co. I decided to make a muslin before cutting into my wool tweed and it was good I did, because size XL/16 was too large.

I hope to be back tomorrow (maybe) to show you both the muslin (not hemmed) and the tweed skirt complete with lining! I just have to hem the lining first and take photos.

See you soon,

Johanna

Skirt hope

Hello! I just found this skirt pattern that seems fabulous. I have even bought it, after thinking about it for two minutes.

What am I talking about then? Well it's the Everyday skirt from the maker of the Oliver +S patterns. She has a pattern line called Liesl +Co and all of the patterns are so pretty and seem really comfortable. Just the way I like it! :)

I like that it has panels on the side that are smooth, no gathers to make my hips look bigger, that it has pockets and, best of all, it has a elasticated back waistband!! Do you see now why I'm so excited?! :)

I also have a piece of wool tweed (that's what I think it is anyway) that I washed a little too hot and is now a little bit felted. And I think it will make a perfect winter skirt. So tomorrow I will go to the fabric store to pick up some lining fabric and I will make my first ever lined skirt! Excited!

xx,

Johanna

PTB - what happened?

Remember this?

What happened to it?

Well this...

I used a batwing top from House of Lola as a template and just cut out the front and the back pieces. The neckline isn't finished (yet) since I'm not 100% happy with it. What do you think? OK or a dud?

xx

Johanna

Dreamy dress - Simplicity 1699

During the summer I made a lot of Giraffe dresses, the original blue one, the one in black and white, the striped one I made for my sister and one more I haven't posted about, yet. BUT I didn't make only Giraffe dresses, I did make another Simplicity 1699. My first version was a dress I made for my grandmother. That one turned out very pretty and I wanted to make one for myself.

I had the above fabric in my stash and wanted to use it for a dress. I thought of Simplicity 1652, as seen above, but it's made up of something like 15 pattern pieces and I got the advice to make something simpler to show off the pretty fabric. And that's how I decided on Simplicity 1699.

I had already traced the pattern in size EU44 which is a little small for me around the waist (especially after the summer...), but I used it anyway and added about 4 centimetres to the seam allowances around the waist. And that did the trick. The fit is good and during construction, I left the side seams to last so they can be modified if needed in the future (like if I lose my extra "summer weight").

Since I had a pink zipper, and I love pink, I decided to let the zipper show to give the dress a little extra something.

The length is perfect if I only overlock the edge and turn over a centimetre, which means if I should make a nice-looking hem I have to cut the dress longer. Maybe I'll do that if I make the dress again.

The fabric is 100% cotton from the brand Tilda which can be found at Panduro here in Sweden. I love the fabrics from Tilda, the quality is fantastic and the prints are unbelievably pretty.

I'm onto other projects, like autumn/winter sewing plans. :)

Bye for now,

Johanna (and Siri the Cat)