Sticking to my new year's resolutions

Bonjour tout le monde !

As you know, I have vowed to create more current pieces. I felt that the clothes I was making, were a bit old looking, and this is not how I picture myself. So here we go, here is my take on a very current trend in fashion: leather!

new shirt and pants made by me.

My inspiration came from the series "Under the Dome". One of the characters had a nice wardrobe and this shirt struck me as being at the same time elegant and sexy (maybe because of the cleavage:-)).

The shirt has no visible darts and two patched pockets.  Soooo, I tried to make a pattern with no bust dart.

Yes, I roll my eyes! Let me tell you this: it was a nightmare. I don't drape, I create my pattern directly on paper, and the method I know to avoid having a bust dart was not working here, and as I don't know how else to do, I struggled quite a lot to find a way to make it work. Here is the technical drawing of the shirt:

And because a first draft can always be a bit, how can I say it? Challenging. Of course I made a rooky mistake: I didn't measure my side seams and guess what happened? Yep, the front was longer than the back :-(

But you can't see it don't you? Haha, I might not be right each time, but a few years of sewing and a fabulous wool fabric saved me. Did I tell you I realized my error when everything was already cut and partially sewn?

This is how I hid my forgetfulness:

 

First I had a fabulous fabric, bought in Rennes at TOTO soldes, back in November. It's a light wool, a bit sheer, soft, and really warm to wear in winter.

I gathered the front and attached it to the back, then sewed without making any folds. And then, I used my iron to flatten the gathers, and it worked. But I think it's only because the fabric was wool. As we say in French: "ça rentre". Meaning it takes the form that you want. Thank you marvellous fabric!

I decided to cut the collar in only one piece. As it is fake leather it holds on itself fine, Afterwards, I thought I could have done the same for the button hole plackets and the wrist band. But maybe because of the buttons it's better to have two layers.

I don't know why but I wanted to have pockets, but not patched pockets. So this is what I did.

 

I thought that maybe the pockets would show through the fabric, but no, so good for me. I don't think I should put something inside though!

wrist band

I have decided that I should have more shirts. But not like this one, I didn't keep the pattern, because of the problem with the side seams. I will make a basic pattern ( with bust darts!) that I can reuse over and over. A working lady never has enough shirt in my opinion :-)

In conclusion, I really want to make the most of this last months of freedom to built a collection of basic pattern who will be easy to reuse when I'll be back to work. Pants are also on the list. I already have a pattern for my bathing suits (I know, indispensable for work!), I finally have the sleeve ( also a nightmare, must have weird arms), underwear, shorts, Chanel vest. That's not too bad. Now I just have to focus on my goal!

I wonder if other people also built a collection of basic patterns?

à plus tard!

New year, new beginnings

Bonjour tout le monde!

Last November when I went back to France, I did a tour of my favourite shops to gather some ideas.

One thing I noticed, and liked, was strass. Yes, strass on clothes!

So I bought some back home, and finally made a DRESS!!!

I bought the strasses (?) at La Droguerie, it was really fun to make. I have already washed the dress and they hold perfectly. 

I love this shop, you can find there everything you need to make jewels, ribbons, buttons, you name it, this shop is a dream. I MISS YOU!

Here is an image of the pattern I made:

The dress was intended for the holidays, to have something pretty and warm to wear.

As you can notice the shape is pretty loose in the front, I have two darts in the back because I don't like to look like I'm wearing a bag.

I thought it could be also a good garment for when I go back to work. I tried to balance the large shape by making it a short dress.

I added two pockets on the front, I love having pockets in my dresses.

The fabric is a nice wool, purple... I know, again purple. I suppose I got a little obsessed by this colour this winter. The dress is lined except for the arms.

The dress looks really good when I move, yes, yes, trust me!

I thought that the zipper would make the dress look more current. It is this year's goal, I am trying to be more on the trend. Not because I want to be trendy. But because I happen to like this year trends. It's also nice to have some guideline to my creativity.

Oh, another great advantage to this kind of shape: you can eat and eat and no one will see it! It's the perfect Holidays dress. I can tell you that I didn't deprive myself from cake. And no one could tell!! Yeah!!

Still tying to make up for all I have made lately and had no time to blogg about. What a life :-)

A bientôt.

2013: busy or lazy?

Happy new year everyone!

I thought it would be funny to make a final round-up of 2013. I have never counted the number of clothes I make in a year, and I really like reading about other people achievements. So here we go ! 

Have I been super productive or lazy in 2013 ?

11 garment for Winter, mostly tops, only 1 dress and 1 skirt (I added some I didn't have time to blogg about).

The hat is your favourite of all of my post, maybe because I gave the pattern to make it. You doesn't love free patterns?

As I am not currently working I find myself in need of very few garments. And also last winter was really cold here so dresses were not really needed.

Oh yay!!! Summer! I miss you dear warm sun.

12 garments. Hum, knowing that summer only lasted 2 months, I should revise my plans for this year, and sew more for winter.

But there is a bias here: summer clothes are faster to make, no sleeves, no long stitches. And funnier shapes. I am guilty, I really prefer sewing clothes for summer, what can I do?

I made two bathing suits that fit properly and were worn almost every day. 

 

For the first time I made underwear and I really enjoyed it. I am still tweaking the pattern for the bottom, but the last tangas I made were OK.

I have not made a lot of bra, but I plan on making a dress with a nice bra top. 

And of course my trusted camies. They are really useful, if I had some silk on hand I would totally make some out of it! So chic!

Most worn piece: 

I said when I made them, that white shorts were a basic in my summer wardrobe and it was true. Those are made of stretchy fabric and don't have any sort of closure. 

Most controversial:

This ensemble is really funny and eye catching! I am thinking of making the key hole a bit bigger. And yes, I did wear it in front of people.

Summer colours:

White is THE base of my summer wardrobe, always. I use more and more fabrics with flowers but still no geometric prints.

 Winter colours:

It seems that purple is the dominant colour here. It's funny, I kind of noticed it already, because, well I wear the clothes I make! But now it seems a bit silly. I should try something new no?

A total of 30 pieces, not counting the ones I made for my friend's babies and my niece and nephew (mostly because I forgot to take pictures:-)), and those I forgot about!

Looking back on what I made is a fun exercise. 

I didn't make an excessive amount of garments, but I don't really need that much clothes. I need a purpose to make clothes: for the beach, cycling, for work, for gardening, weddings... But what can you make when you don't do this things anymore? I would almost miss work, almost.

I didn't have a really busy year, and yes I have been a little lazy. I bought some fabric to make my husband clothes, but did nothing with it, hihi.  

Being away from a decent fabric store, forced me to change my creative process in a way I don't like, so, that's an excuse.

But hey, I still appreciate my stash! I had also the good idea to stack notions witch made my sewing life easier. 

In conclusion I think that what I enjoyed doing the most  this year, is the bathing suits. I had so much fun doing them and wearing them, I will certainly make some more this year, because guess what? I have what I need in my stash!!

A bientôt.

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.