I'll sew you

Last sunday I really surprised myself. I sewed this sweater in a few hours. It took me forever to finish the brown skirt but it felt like my fun in sewing had returned. I must be honest and tell you that I haven't touched the sewingmachine since, but I'm still planning new things. Alright, let's talk about the sweater: The (TNT-)pattern is from an old KnipMode. I don't even remember which one. Basically it's very simple. It has raglan-sleeves and a cowl-neck. And that's that. It would probably take some of you less than an hour to make, but I'm just not that quick. It's not particularly pretty or interesting, but I'm very glad with it all the same. It's hard to tell with this fabric but these are really raglan-sleeves. The picture is really deceiving as it looks like it's a 'normal' set-in sleeve. The fabric has a bit of stretch sideways. It needs to be worn with a shirt underneath to keep you warm as it's not really...

Hello again... It's been a bit quiet on my blog lately. Lets just say my sewing-mojo had hit rock-bottom. Not in the last place because life was throwing some worries at me and it felt like they kept coming. I guess I've overcome most of them. For now.  After my last project I started with this skirt. But I just couldn't find the motivation to work on it. And that's when I decided that I would stop sewing until my mojo would return and don't feel guilty about it. Without forcing it. Well it's returning. Slowly. But it's returning. I didn't feel like blogging too. Nevertheless I've read and enjoyed all your great posts in the meantime. I guess we are all entitled to some kind of 'time off' from sewing every now and then, right? I'm sure we all feel that way sometimes. Nevertheless I'm glad that I finally have something to show you. This skirt is from KnipMode october 2010. Here's the linedrawing to show you the details that my ...

Finally my dress is finished. I have mixed feelings about it to be honest. There are good things and there are bad things. Or sort of bad. First some pictures:  This is the linedrawing:  First what I like: - The construction. - I love the fact that i't's a wrap-dress. - I like the placement of the pleats. What I don't like: - The fabric. Now you will probably think: "..then why did you buy it?...". That's a fair question and I don't really have the answer. I liked it when I bought it but once it was a dress I could think only one thing: GRANNY'S DRESS. I think it's the fact that there's quite some brown in the print. I bought it actually for the purple but now it looks like the brown colour is the dominant one. Well, nothing I can change about that but it's a serious issue for me. - The fact that the collar in the back is strangely constructed. They make you pleat the collar in the back and then fold over the cut-on facing. On...

Yesterday I went to a special fabric-fair close to my hometown. A big one and only held a few times in a year. I had a busy agenda but I managed to spend 1,5 hour there. I saw some great fabrics. It was a pity that the weather didn't cooperate (lots of rain!) but that meant there weren't too many people about so no pushing and waiting for your turn. It wasn't good though for the market traders. And boy, were they complaining. I mean, a lot! But I went home with a very, very happy face. Here are my goodies: A purple bouclé. Soft and great for a vest. (Don't mind the 20 cm-zipper). The fabric is more purple than shown in this picture.   A beautiful jersey with a print and velvet pattern. The background of the print is black, not grey. The black stripes are the velvet parts. Great dress-fabric. These two fabrics just belong together. They 'complete each other', so to speak. The darkgrey fabric is a very soft knit, perfect for a top and the houn...

Burda 2010-09 / 106B Phewww...that was a lot of handsewing. But it was worth every stitch. I'm really pleased with this skirt. In the picture I combined the skirt with my 'Vincent'-top, ánd my new boots. It's just a pity that the picture won't show the details. And believe me, I took a zillion pictures of me wearing it. Trying different light, flashlight - no flashlight, but it just wouldn't work. A close-up of a flat skirt however will do the trick (colour is a bit washed-out, due to my camera not doing what I want it to do): And an even closer close-up: And this is me, posing as a real model, LOL. (Makes the skirt look a bit awkward though....): The inside is not really interesting but just to show you that I lined the skirt completely: This was the last of  4 (!) posts about this skirt. So that will do. Time to look foward. I already mentioned I'm thinking of making a knit-dress next. I have three great knit-fabrics, especially bought for ...

Just as I predicted, it has been a busy week with no time or desire to blog or sew. But today I have the day off and, even better, the coming week I'm free from work also! That means no more excuses to not work on the skirt. I'm sewing this skirt really one step at a time and I'm beginning to love working that way. Most of the time I'm in a hurry to finish so I can start something new. Now I feel like I'm putting my time and love in this project just to get it as perfect in the end as possible. Another thing is that I'm thinking more about the process. How to solve problems and how to do things. How I want it to be and what I'd like to change to get there. And I must say that all your blogs have been the reason why I've started thinking about sewing like this lately. There's so much love for fabric, patterns and the process of sewing out there. It's just such a big, big inspiration. Thanks! I guess you now want to know where I stand with my ...

Today I worked a bit more on my skirt. It's coming along nicely. But before I tell you about the progress, I'd like to answer  Gail's question on my previous post. She asked: Are there no side seams - hence the zip in the back panel? A: Thanks for your comment, Gail. No, there are no sideseams. The skirt has only 4 vertical seams and those are the ones you see in the front and the back. The fabric goes around the hip in one piece, so to speak. This means that the zipper has to be placed off-centre. Of course I made a few obligatory mistakes and some things just didn't work right away. The zipper for example. I'm practising at the moment to sew an invisible zipper but I've only just started so it's not working perfectly. And untill the day it will be, I'm sticking to what I know: an ordinary, good-old-fashioned zipper. It's always a challenge to make it look right. But after two attempts, it's up to my standards and I'm very pleased wi...

Finally, this evening, I had some time to start on my skirt. After 1,5 week of very long and exhausting workdays, I was completely ready for some relaxing sewingtime. The fabric was cut out yesterday so I could start with sewing right away. Here's a little reminder. I'm making version B: Burda 2010-09 / 106 But... It took me about half an hour to get my serger threaded. It just wouldn't work and my fingers were quite stiff today which didn't help either. Then, no matter how I changed the tension on the different threads, the serged side kept pulling, making it about 1,5 cm shorter than it should be. After an hour  I had only serged the side of one little piece and was far from happy with it. Aarrrgghhh..... I decided to turn my back on the serger and check out how my sewingmachine behaved with this fabric. (A grey gabardine with a little stretch). No problem there. So I sewed some pieces together, just to make some progress and ironed the s...

I finished this top today and couldn't wait to show it to you. I'm so happy with it. It's the second time I used this pattern. The first top I made is a winner in my wardrobe. And now it has a twin!!  And there is still room for triplets, if you know what I mean, so who can tell what the future will bring. The fabric is gorgeous. It's one of my Antwerp-purchases (the 'Vincent-fabric', remember?). It feels as soft as melted butter and has a lovely draping-quality. I just lóve working with jersey. This top is very easy to make and it's a real quick project. That it took me a whole week to make has other reasons, like long days at the office and working at home in the evening till late. When I got up this morning I felt like a wreck and could have stayed in bed the whole day easily, but I chose not to and finished this project. And I'm glad I did. It really gave me back some of my energy. I'm wearing my favourite piece of jewelry in the pi...

Exactly one year ago I started this blog. Not knowing what I was exactly getting myself into or where it would lead, but feeling excited at the same time. And now I've made it: my 1-year anniversary! I want to share my festive feeling with you, because without you I would have left this blogworld a long time ago. So I want to say from the bottom of my heart: Thank you for stopping by, being interested and reading my blog. A special thank you for those who have been so kind to leave comments on my posts. This means more to me than I can tell you. All of them make me feel special and all of you are the reason why I'm blogging. And loving it! Now I completed my first year I believe it's time for some looking back ánd forward. How did it start? I bought my first computer in the fall of 2006. I don't remember how I found my first sewing-blog but it was a real eye-opener for me. I've sewn my own clothes for a great part of my life, but I only met very few people ...

Yesterday I took a shopping-trip to Antwerp. This summer I discovered a great fabricstore there with lots of gorgeous jerseys (and other fabulous stuff). I just had to go back there. (If anyone is interested in the address: Joëlle, Dambruggestraat 5a, 2060 Antwerp (Belgium). I bought two lovely pieces: This is gonna be a dress. It's the same kind of fabric as this dress  is made of and it's wonderful to handle and wear. So I'm looking forward to (making) this dress very much! This blue one is my favourite. Ít's gonna be a top I also made earlier . Since this top has a lot of drapieness at the neck it has to be a rather thin jersey. I think this is just perfect for it. And do you know what the print reminds me of? Paintings of Vincent van Gogh. They remind me of the brushstrokes he used in his paintings. I'm gonna call this  'the Vincent-fabric' . I'm very glad with these purchases. They're a lot more expensive than the ...

Done!! And happy! After the little hickup I had in the beginning of this project, everything went smoothly. It didn't take very long to finish. Basically it's a very simple pattern. The sleeves of course are the most interesting part of this top. These are both top-sleeves with only the elastic attached. If I followed the instructions I should have used a piece of elastic that was (quite a bit) longer than the sleeve itself.  Duhh ???  So I had to do the maths myself. But I did rather well I think. Here you see the sleeve with the pleats basted in place (click twice on picture to get a closer view) and the bottom attached to the top. It's a bit ruffled at the seem but not very much. When I wear this, the sleeves are not as fluffy as they are on the model in the magazine. Hmmm....probably her upper-arms aren't as fluffy as mine... I'm proud of the way the elastic is sewed in. You can't even see the stitches at the right side because I manag...