Underwear: the comeback!

Bonjour tout le monde !

As I told you in my previous post  I made a few things in the previous months to improve my wardrobe. They had to be quick to make, because I had a only a few days here and there to sew.

So I decided after staring at my fabric pile to make camies, more precisely a cami.

I made the blue one this summer, to be worn as a light top. It's very pretty with my white shorts. And then, I reused the pattern, witch is very rare for me. I don't know why but I always want to make something I have never done before.

You know I always use my pattern making books  by Line Jaque. But it's a bit dated. She does explain how to make slips an therefore camies, but she uses zipper on them! It makes sense for people who didn't have access to elastic fabrics. There is actually no chapter on how to make a pattern out of this kind of fabric (note to self: find a book who does :-))

So I just took my basic block, omitted the dart at the waist for both front and back, took on the side a bit, so that it wouldn't be too large, but large enough not to use a zipper. And it worked, Yeah!

I the made another one a few weeks ago. I bought the fabric because it was pretty, and because I thought I could make a shirt out of it. But it's better this way (and I still have some left, so more camies for me!).

I mean, the fabric is nice, it's a bit shiny and very soft, but you can see it's not silk, and since I want my clothes to look fancy, I prefer reserving synthetic to my underwear or summer stuff. Don't ask why, I have principals :-).

I made self bias for the neckline, and I even made the effort to make the inside stitching by hand cause you know: lingerie=luxe=stupid hand sewing. And also I'm not a fan of visible stitches.

But then I had enough of making tiny bias, so I searched in my ribbon stash for something to make the straps of and I found some black and some baby pink. Perfect. I had a little hand shake with myself to thanks me for this oh so appropriate purchase.

I played a bit with it and came up with the lovely pink bows and double strap thinggy. And then added the black bow in the centre because it's nice.

It horrifies my mother that I show my underwear on the Internet but hey: I AM NOT IN THEM!

It's so much fun making panties, or tangas or whatever! Why shouldn't I show them to you and encourage you to do the same?

I bought some lace this summer at my favourite haberdashery (I am so lucky that we have one on our tiny island). Just 1 euro total for a bit less than two meters.

For the pattern, I just wrapped the lace around me at the place were I wanted it to be, and used a block pattern for thongs that I had previously made for my first panties. It reminded me how the patterns in the ESMOD book I use for underwear are so eighties! You know with the sides of your thong almost up to your  waist, hilarious, and also bleuh!

That's it for today. I have been sewing for kids lately, making Barbie outfits and costumes. It's a nice change as I don't really need any new clothes right now.

Come on Barbie! Rock this stylish/wife of mafia boss outfit!

Au revoir tout le monde.

Do I look like a minstrel?

Bonjour tout le monde !

I am finally back from my trips and back to the sewing machine. I have managed to make a few things during the few days I spent at home but some computer problems and my %&!§$ camera prevented me from posting earlier.

Hopefully the weather and the camera finally agreed to let me have a paparazzi session. Here is the result:

houndstooth cape (not easy to say for a french!)

A cape! I made a cape, I love it, it's so chic. The model is from Burda Style 08/2013 n°122. It's made of wool and lined with black polyester. It's really warm.

Of course I couldn't just follow the pattern as it was, and also I didn't have enough fabric... It's not my fault, you know that I buy fabric in bulk and sometimes I just don't have enough to make what I want because I changed my plans.

Anyway, this case the cape demanded for A LOT of fabric: more than 4 meters. I never buy that much, in fact, I usually buy less than two meters. So it was really a miracle that I purchased three meters of wool.

Ok , so, I had three meters :-), but at the same time the original design was a bit too long for my taste. I shortened  it and omitted the pleats at the back (because I thought they were vents hum hum).

And there you go: enough fabric!!

Fun fact: do you know that houndstooth is said "pied de coq" in French? It means rooster's feet !! What do you think, is it more chicken or dog? Or did the "fabric namers" had a bit too much to drink?

Look at all this light, isn't it better like that Germany? No more Grey skies!

I maybe shouldn't have shortened it that much, maybe a bit longer, at a miniskirt level would have been more chic. What do you think?

 

Here is a view from the back. Oh, I forget, I added a ribbon on the seams, the houndstooth made the cape look too, I don't know, my husband said it hurt his eyes... So I added some black ribbon from my stash with my machine (no hand stitching, no way), and I think is works really good.

I mean, what's the point of having weird rectangular seams if no one can see them, right?

And for your eyes only, the inside:

The construction is rather simple, no back stay, no tailoring technique. Just some interfacing for... the facings, to give some structure. And a rectangle of fabric to  close the "hand passage".

And the final touch: the buttons from Groix! Oddly enough I think they the cape look more modern, and rich. Rich is good no?

How beautiful are they? I am so pleased I have finally the opportunity to use them. I bought them thinking (no, no, no screaming in the shop) MY PRECIOUS!!!! It's gold, shinny, inexpensive, rare, what can I say, it was love at first sight.

But I don't think I can use them for something other than a coat. I don't even know if they would work for a jacket, maybe if I don't wear a coat above it, hum something to think about... And you know what the good news is? I still have some left!

That's all for today, I still have a lot of things to show, if my camera is up for it.

Au revoir.

DIY: Christmas gift, a Liberty notebook

Bonjour tout le monde !

Today I am giving you a grate idea for a Christmas present, or just a cool present for yourself, that's the option I chose...

A beautiful notebook covered with liberty fabric.

But first let me talk of my little trip in Germany. I have been living there for a year now, and it's the first time that I go out of my city. Shameful I know, but for my defence, I don't know of any French person who has already been on vacation there. Apart from high-school trips... And last year, well, I visited other places :-)

As you can see my trip was beautiful, lots of mediaval and renaissance houses and castels, and lost and lost of sausages!!! this is NOT a cliché, Germans really love theirs wurts, and bear, and wine. Did you know that? Germany produces wine, you can even find viniards inside the walls of small cities, very lovely.

Anyway, now that everybody knows that Germany is beautiful, let's dive in this week post: a gorgeous and inexpensive Liberty notebook for Christmas.

Ah, Liberty... Love those fabrics. Last year during a trip to London I bought a notebook for my mom at the Liberty shop.

But I found that although it was a nice gift it was still a bit expensive, and didn't buy one for myself. What a sad story, I know.

Then, looking at my stash of fabric the other day, I noticed some Liberty remaining from previous projects. The pieces left are really too small to make anything other from them than pockets OR: a splendid notebook! And it's so easy to make!!

First of all, excuse me for the blurry pictures, sometimes my camera just doesn't feel it, you know: "Blah, tired of taking pictures."

What you need: 

 

a note book

cissors

glue

fabric(not to light so that the pattern of the notebook won't see through)

Cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover your book, adding 1,5 cm around to fold it to the exact size of the book.Iron it like in the blurry picture.

 

Then glue like a mad person, all over the first outside cover. Do not leave a piece of it without glue, or the fabric will rinkle. Then put some glue on the inside edge and fold the fabric over it.

For the bidding part: cut your fabric up to notebook, on each side of the bidding. fold inside, and glue like a mad person...

 And again, glue the other cover, remember that there shouldn't be any wrinkle anywhere. Arrange the corners as you wish. My notebook has round corner, but I made them square. It's just easier.

Now you should have a beautiful on the outside notebook. But your work is not finished. Seamstresses know this: your work has to be as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

So, you have to glue the first page of the notebook to the inside cover, to hide the fabric that you glued on it

In my case I had to cut the first pages who were partially glued (not by me but by the manufacturer) to the cover. And then glue a page over this mess.

See, does it make more sense in picture?

Et voilà!! It's so easy I don't understand why I never made that before!!

You can even add some ribbons. Just place them between the inside cover and the first page, and you know the rest: GLUE LIKE A MAD PERSON!!!

 I am so in love with it I want to carry it above my head in the street so that people can worship it! What can I do? I have a thing for Great Britain and Liberty fabrics is just it for me.

I hope I find some time to show what I am currently working on, maybe a photo-shoot in France would make up for the lack of posts this month. What do you think? 

Cheers!

DIY: a fake bow

Bonjour tout le monde !

Today I have decided to share with you a little tutorial on how to add a cute bow to your garment.

I have a trip planned ahead, and of course I need new clothes. I had a nice stretch wool in my stash and some viscose. Those fabrics are comfortable and make a nice ensemble for a diner out after a day visiting.

    

Actually the pants are a copy of an old favourite from ZARA. I was able to find almost the same fabric, but in another colour of course!

For the pictures I wore heels, but until I get back to work I will wear my pants with flats more probably, it's why the pants appear a bit too short in the pictures. Didn't realise that before...

Man, the weather was really crappy for taking pictures, sorry!

Let's get to the bow now:

This is a nice feature, romantic and most important: it's fun to make!

I also made bows on my sleeves, so cute!

See why I call them fake bows? It's technically a dart.

As usual you need to take your basic pattern.

For my top I decided to move the bust dart to the side. For that, trace on your pattern the new bust dart (in red). Close the "old" dart  by folding the line on top of one another and pin them in place.

Then slash the new dart.

Draw your bow, slash those darts open. Then the tricky part: you have to decide the depf of your darts, mine are 4 cm wide. It's just a question of taste, there is no way of knowing how many centimetres you need. You can play around with you fabric to estimate the final look of you bow.

When you have decided of the size of your darts take a piece of paper to tape under to maintain your darts in position, like below.

 

This is my final paper pattern. I used a ruler to  show you that your center front should be placed en the fold. Mark precisely your darts and then stitch the sort of V created buy the creation of your darts. Do you follow?

Then to create the illusion of a bow, take a small piece of fabric that you have prepared before ( fold it in 2, stitch the big side, turn it around). Then place it in the crease of one of the darts (above). Fold your dart, stitch it (blue line). Repeat on your second dart.

 

 Then you should stitch buy and on three centimetres your darts so that you bust dart isn’t too low. It happened to me, I was quite surprised because I thought my pattern was perfect.

 

There you go, you should have a nice and fake bow!!

Picture of the inside because I know you love it, I know I do.

 I used self made bias to finish the collar and sleeves. Stitched the first side with my machine and the second by hand so that it would be invisible.

The rest of the seams are French seams because the fabric is rather light, and I find it give a nice finish.

Oh and look, it even goes with my Chanel jacket that I made a few months ago, isn't it perfect? what you don't see my top, well yeah! It's the point, it goes perfectly with it's neck line.

This is what is really cool when you are drawn to certain colour, you find yourself having a real wardrobe with pieces that go well together (or a least I hope they go well together :-)).

That's all for today. See you in few weeks, when I get back from my trip.

Cheers!

Good bye Summer

Hi everyone !

I thought I ought to have a last post before Autumn to make a little review of my very sunny Summer.

As I spent most of my time outside to enjoy the marvelous weather, I don't have a lot to show. Just a few basics that I thought would be very useful, and they were.

Lazy girl!

 So, there we go, summer sewing:

A little walk on the wild coast

We had really few days without sun. During those I wore my bermudas. But they seemed too long, so I chopped them of 3 cm. And they felt immediately younger.
I also made a long sleeved T-shirt inspired by a local manufacturer: Armor Lux. It is so popular, that we almost look all the same with our striped t-shirts, it's really silly when  you think about it: villages full of striped clothed, bad haired people! Yes we tend to have our share of wind, hence the impossibility to keep a perfect hairdo.

After I cut them, better no?

Do you have megaliths as well ?

Then, I made a few things for those incredibly warm days:

A bathing suit! Well, in fact two, but I am waiting for my mother in law to send me the pictures of the other one. Not a big loss thought. It's basically the same model. This one is the second I made.

I prefer to wear it without the tie in the middle but it's more practical for swimming.

The first time I wore it, I had my parents in stand by with a towel in case I had a major shameless incident while going out of the water :-) I am very pleased to report that the lining did it's job.

In order to nail the top part, I used an old skanky jersey dress as a muslin. I took it back here with me to try other forms. And for the bottom I just copied an old one I love.

I also made a pair of shorts based with the same pattern as this one. It is very rare that I use the same pattern twice, but shorts are essential to me during summer, and I always need a white one. It's fancy and it enhances my tan! I know, I'm shallow when it come to my clothes!

It is made of a stretchy fabric. Don't know what exactly. I think I found it in a box of pre-cut fabrics at my favourite fabric shop in Rennes: TOTO SOLDES.

Because of the stretch I omitted the zipper. But added two velted pockets at the front and two at the back. But only the front ones are real. The back ones are just for show.

Then, I used a small piece of liberty fabric I had for a year in my stash to make this so cut top:

A simple V shape for the front. Diagonal darts for the bust ones. The house in the background is so lovely don't you think?

 

 

Can you see the crocheted curtains on the windows? They are traditional on the island of south Brittany, and so sweet. 

And finally, the best part: the bare back! I just made tiny bias straps and attached them under the arm to prevent any gap. This is a great top for warm weather. I think that using liberty fabric makes is more romantic and elegant. Had I used an other fabric, it may have come across as vulgar. Maybe I should try :-)

To finish the edges I also used some self made bias of the same fabric. I wondered if I could have used a contrasting fabric. It could be a good idea for a black and white one. Could give it a bit of a Chanel edge.

 The pattern posed a small problem. It was too large on the sides. I think because it was not hanging from the shoulders it was necessary to remove 3 cm on each side to have a good fit. Not too hard to do, except when the side of your garment is not straight. A picture is always better to understand no?

The red line are my new side seams, see the problem? I had to trace a new underarm line, it made this part of the top a bit lower than I wanted to, but hey, who knows? And I think it looks good anyway, so, I don't care.

That's all for summer. A bit short isn't it? Finally we had this kind of weather for only two months. Now I have to put my mind into Autumn sewing.
The change of seasons always makes me wondering for a few days. For Autumn, I like to think about the UK, you know, miss Marple, Downton Abbey, that sort of things. And eventually my pattern making mojo comes back, and I run to the store to buy plaid fabric!!

Anyone still in summer mode or is the weather so terrible where you live that you are already wearing socks? I know I did last week!

Cheers!