I'll sew you

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...

Man...I am só annoyed. I had my homework duties carefully planned this week so I could squeeze in some sewing this evening. After sewing for an hour I realised I had made a mistake. The top I started last weekend (and wrote about in my previous post) has rather interesting sleeves so I decided to start with those. Try them out, so to speak. If they don't work then there's no need to put time in the rest of the project. The sleeves have different front- and backpieces. Like 99% of the patterns have. I cut out both pieces in pairs.....and forgot to switch them so I had a front- and backpiece for every sleeve. No no, this experienced sewing-lady sewed happily and smiling two front-pieces together. Applied the elastic and pleated the sites of the sleeve. It was then that I realised my mistake: the marks for front and back were the same (where they should be different!!) I had to take out all the stitches and now I'm back at where I started this evening. And there wil...

It's a fashion-filled fun day, today. Because: 1. I received the fabric I ordered. 2. I received KnipMode. (ok, that was yesterday, but who cares...) 3. I discovered a fantastic jersey online-shopping website 4. I finally sewed an underskirt. 5. I traced the pattern for my next project 6. Tonight on TV: "The September Issue" 7. Tonight on TV: "Gosford Park" 1. To start with the fabric: These are the fabrics for my next projects. The grey and the darkgreen are gabardines with a bit of stretch, destined to be turned into skirts. The beige/creme stripe is a jersey-knit for a top. I had already washed (preshrinked) them when I remembered I wanted to blog about them, so you are looking at dripping-wet fabric here.  2. KnipMode October 2010 landed in my mailbox yesterday. To me, it's not as great as the september-issue, but it has some nice pieces. I like the vibrant colours that are in fashion now. It's actually a very, very interesting fall-...