Sketchy...

In my previous post I wrote that I make sketches to get an idea of what a garment might look like made up of specific fabric. Here is an older sketch of a garment I've made and blogged about.

Can you see which one it is?

Later,

Johanna

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

Project in progress

I have been thinking and sketching, about what to do with my new fabrics. And in that process I decided what to do with a fabric I had from before. It is gorgeous(!), so I've been meaning to do something thought-out with it. And you'll see it tomorrow, when it's finished and I can post about it. See you then...

Bye for now,

Johanna (off to bed)

Fabric finds!

I went into to town for some shopping today and found that one of my favourite shops, Panduro, had included fabrics in there summer sale. Yay! They have adorable cotton fabrics, especially from the brand Tilda.

Normally the fabrics are expensive there, about £10-14/metre, and now they had loads for half price!

Here's my haul:

Well, actually, the fabric at the bottom of the picture is not from Panduro, but my local fabric store. It's some knit fabric that I will use for a dress. It's dark brown with dots in beige and petrol.

So, here are the fabrics from Panduro:

Navy blue polka dots, enough for a dress, 2.3 metres. As soon as I saw the fabric I knew it had to be a dress. So lovely!

This is black fabric with tiny, tiny, tiny dots. Cute! I'm thinking a dress, maybe the Burda panel dress. What do you think? I have 2.5 metres, so there should be enough. :)

I don't have any plans for this fabric, but it's totally adorable so I had to have it, 2 metres of it! What do you think? A blouse?

What do you think about this?! So cute, right?! The picture doesn't do it justice, the colours are much brighter IRL. This will be a blouse I think. I bought 1.5 metres.



Well, I'm very happy with my purchases, and I feel inspired!


Bye for now,


Johanna

Meringue muslin - totally wearable

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I've been working on a Meringue skirt from the Colette sewing handbook (love that book!!). I actually finished it last week and took some pictures, that I wasn't very happy with. So I thought I would take some new ones and then write the post, but now six days have gone by, without taking new photos, so I'll just write the post anyway and put in the photos I have....

My plan was to make a denim Meringue (which I posted about here). The sensible thing is to make a muslin first, even though I'm figuring out that my Colette-size is US16, so I found a piece of fabric in my stash wchich is really sweet, medium-weight cotton in cream and light blue stripes, very similar to the Meringue in the sewing handbook.

First I thought that I would make it size 16 at the waist and 14 at the hips, but I decided to try a straight size 16, which turned out perfect! The only alteration I had to do, was to narrow the seam allowance at the waist into half.

There's a hem lining for the scalloped hem, according to the instructions you should attach the top of the lining to the skirt using blind hem stitching. I just couldn't be bothered by doing it by hand or figuring out how it worked on the sewing machine, wish I had had this great tutorial by Sarai at hand, so I resorted to fusible hem tape, which worked just fine. But it sure felt a bit like cheating... Well, it's "just" a muslin... :)

For the photos, I was also wearing my Midsummer Burda blouse, maybe not the greatest match...

(Excuse the massive pile of clothes on the right... :))

I didn't have a white invisible zipper, so I just did a centered zipper.

 The adorable scalloped hem!

I'm very happy with this muslin and the pattern for sure. BTW, according to mum, who bought the fabric, it's from IKEA!

For my next version I will make two alterations:
1. Add 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) to the length, and I'll feel more comfortable.
2. Make FBA. NO, not a Full Bust Adjustment, but a Flat Butt Adjustment :), i.e. lengthening the back darts. My behind is quite flat which made the back darts stand out a bit, so i will adjust that next time.

OK, time to spend some time with my kids before bedtime.

Bye for now,

Johanna

New look on the blog

Since I'm getting a little bit more used to blogging and handling and understanding the tools of Blogger, I thought it was time to change the look of the blog a little.

As you might understand, two of my favourite colours are pink and turquoise (teal?). The new fonts are easy to read, I think, and I've been thinking about making tabs with additional pages for a while.

Hope you like it!

Bye for now,

Johanna

The winner of the giveaway!

Ok, so I have now drawn a winner of the giveaway. But before I announce who it is, I just have to say thank you to everyone who has participated and written a comment. It's fun and useful to read them, so I know how to continue with this blog.

I must say that I'm surprised that so few have participated, because I have had over 200 pageviews since I posted about the giveaway. Are people afraid to leave comments? Hmmm....

Well, I am glad for those of you who have written and now I won't hold out on you any longer.

THE WINNER IS.........           Angela!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Angela, and please e-mail me your address so I can send you the fabric.

To draw the winner I used a random number generator, which I found through another giveaway post here.  Here you can see Angela winning, as commenter number 1.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on the fantastic Meringue skirt from Colette patterns.

Bye for now,

Johanna