Don't blog where you sew!!

First of all, let my apologise for my 6 months break! Here are some flowers, I am so sorry!

 

But I have several good excuses:

1- I broke my computer!

I know,  it's possible to go in a shop and buy a new one. But I preferred waiting for someone to give me one! I am so cheap.
Also a word of advice: don't put your laptop where you sew!!! This is how my computer broke: some needles got stuck in the fan, it overheated and I broke the OS. I didn't know you could break an OS, well, that's of my list now :-)

2- Summer!
here is a picture of me totally sewing related : I am posing in a new dress I made especially for my trip to Sardinia. Unfortunately my husband doesn't seem to understand that he should photograph the entire outfit, not just the top of it. Also it was too warm to pose for long in the sun.

The fabric is a coupon viscose I found at TOTO soldes, it has tiny pocket with cute buttons at the front and a low cut at the back. But you can't see it can't you??? I have to find myself a tripod.

3- I moved back to France!
and instead of sewing I had to unpack, then tried to make myself a nice sewing space. I am getting there, but it is still quite messy.

That's all for today, sewing has begun again, I still try to fill the basics gap in  my wardrobe, well, almost: I made a transparent cape!!
 
 Cheers.

OMG, I love green!!

 
I love green! Last summer I bought on sale quite a lot of coupons at TOTO soldes. I had picked that green one because it was viscose (I love viscose, it's so soft). But I was not entirely sure about the shade of green because it was really bright. But I was so right to follow my instinct!

I love that dress. It's flowy, light and happy.

Here is my inspiration, it's a ZARA dress with some kind of a knot at the front. I guess the fabric is jersey. I was looking for a dress or a top to make with one of my favorite pattern book that I spent hours looking at but never know quite what to make with it :

Pattern magic by Tomoko Nakamichi. It's full of interesting designs and if you already know how to make patterns it's really easy to use. I used that page to figure out how to copy the ZARA dress.

Of course the design was not exactly the same, "sigh", I seem to long for difficulty! But I think that I did good. The knot at the front is not exactly the same but it looks good.

Mine is not as twisted, but I like it. If the dress is still in store when I go back to France I will definitively have a look at the inside!

Here is how I did it:

I didn't want any visible seem (of course, why make something easy?). So I opened the middle front until the spot where I wanted the knot to be. Then after MUCH consideration I opened the dress perpendicularly. That was the scary part!

Then I stitched one side, leaving only a small opening on the side, and passed the other panel through that opening and stitched that part very closely to create pleats. Is that clear ?

 I don't think you can see the seam at the front.

I used an interesting method to attach the facing. 

First I stitched the whole dress except the shoulders.

Then I created one facing for the front and one for the back part of the dress. I attached them to the neckline and the armhole. Then I stitched the shoulders of the dress. Opened the seamed with the iron. Slipped that under the facings (see the picture with my fingers :-)). Turned one edge of the facings inside, and carefully slipped stitched by hand.

Et voilà, a beautiful finish, it look as good as the outside!

I also added pockets. I even used some cotton ribbon from my purple coat to strengthen them. I never do that! I am improving myself, good girl.

I love this dress so much, I think the pictures don't do it justice. Maybe I should also buy a new camera, my pictures are a bit blurry no?

I didn't take any pictures with heels, it would look so good with it! Don't you think it deserves colorful shoes, pink, yellow or even golden ones? Ooooh what a good idea!

Since yesterday afternoon I am taking a break from sewing, the weather suddenly took a turn to super hot, before that I sewed like crazy, but couldn't take any pictures because it was too cold to wear a light dress or shorts outisde. Ha, the pleasures of German weather...

Anyway, now that the sun is here I will try to take picture of everything I did, fingers crossed!

Cheers.

Spring!

 

Oh, yeah!! Spring is officially here!
At least here at Ephémère couture anyway.
In reality it's raining and cold. Barbie graciously  volunteered to launch this new season, the best season!

She is so spoiled!  Her coat is from Tara Jarmon, one of my favorite brand. I have to admit I never buy anything there because it's too expensive, but I surely find a lot of ideas!!

It's lined with a beautiful Liberty fabric, and of course has golden buttons. They are from my forgotten dress.

But as it is intended as a gift for a little girl, I also had to make a dress.

Simple and pink. I didn't want to steal the coat's thunder!

I wish I had enough fabric to make myself the same coat! I made the pattern myself, It's not perfect yet, but I'm getting there.

Voilà!! I already have made a few Spring/Summer outfits, I just wait for some sunshine to take pictures, and to wear them of course!

Cheers.

The dress I forgot I did, and I really don't know why.

Rock and roll everyone!!

How could I forget that I had made this super cool dress?? It's all part of my plan to sew more intelligently, and by that I mean, making things that fit into my life and are more current.

I know I said I was going to make a special unworn garments in London, but I figured, why not posting those pictures, who knows when the husband is going to be free?

I had some fake leather left from my previous shirt, and I also had some wool. I have to say that, when I bought the wool I was not really sure what to do with it. It's a bit thick and I didn't get a lot, so, what to do with it?

I had barely enough to make the dress. At fist I was going for a warm sort of shirt, but the winter is so mild, and I love short dresses. And also I was watching Project runway and really loved that dress from Michelle Lesniak Franklin:

I also had some studs, kind of, in my stash (I love having a stash, it really makes sewing easier).

 

I just glued them on the fake leather. Really fun to make. But I omitted them on the back, because I was afraid I would fell them while seated in a sofa. And sofa time is important!

lapped zipper

 As you can see, the front has no pleats. It had at firt, this was a big mistake! All those pleats, bah! It was awful. It created too much volume, I had to take them of.

The dress has no dart, the one you see is from the lining. I should really stop trying to make garments with no darts. I takes an awful lot of time to figure out, and the fit is always less good. Maybe it's a nice option for women with a small bust, but it's not my case, so I should just abandon the idea and begin loving darts!

I love darts!

Yes, just like that. 

But hey, I think I am doing not too bad this year considering that the weather is really not helping. In Germany Winter is supposed to be cold. So I bought fabrics for snow... And it has never snowed this year! See, I can take pictures outside without freezing.

That's all for this one, nothing complicated, it feels nice to wear.

I just wish I had a fabric shop nearby with normal prices, I think I would make a few dresses out of wool again, but in spring colors (I also wish I had bought those fabulous boots I saw in Rennes, they would look sooo nice with the dress).

Anyway, I have to do with what I have, my stock of warm fabric arrives to its end, so hopefully the weather will stay warm, and I will authorized myself to dive into spring sewing in a few weeks. In the mean time I have some interesting ideas, you'll see soon!!

cheers.

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.

A summer dress finally!

Where is the sun??

I am completely lost. What should I sew? the weather is so grey and cold, it fells wrong to sew anything for summer because I'm obviously not going to wear it now. But I don't have anymore winter fabric. I just re-stashed my home with some flowy, light fabric for those supposed warm spring days. It's sad.

Still, last week I made a nice dress. In my mind, it is perfect to lounge, to go to the beach or to go shopping in the small village where I spend my holidays.

dressed up

 dressed down

The fabric, is viscose with bouquets of blue flowers. I lined it, except for the sleeves because my book says not to, and I agree with it, if I am cold I 'll put a sweater on.

I got lucky while cutting it. I was soooo pleased to finally make a dress for summer that I forgot to think about the flower's placement, I only realized it when I put it on :D

I don't always switch on my brains when I sew, eh, what are you gonna do? The flowers are in the right place no? Thanks to randomness...

 

I added some sleeves because summer is not that warm in Brittany, and because it's cute. Oh, and pockets, I always like to have pockets in my dresses. They are simply sewn in the side seam.

I added some pipping to the neckline, I didn't know if I should put some on the sleeves or at the pocket opening, but then I sewed everything and forgot about it, and I could only put it at the collar. I told you, here in Germany my brain in on vacation!

I used some bias I bought at the Stoffmarkt Holland market, and some cord. At first I sewed it to the dress without sewing the bias and the cord together, but it was sticking too much out of the neckline. So I made a proper pipping like in the image above. Sometimes I try to take short-cuts, but it doesn't always work. And it usually ends up by taking much more time.

In that spirit I lined the dress (with my new lining fabric) thinking I had made a good work. Turns out this dress has a life of its own. It took me quite some time to get it right, and looking at the pictures it might not be perfect yet. What do you think?

 

See, I wanted to hide the hem of the lining but the length didn't seem right although I cut it at the exact same size as my dress. It's a sewing mystery.

That's all for construction. Only two darts for the bust, no buttons or zipper.  Had I not made some mistakes it would have been super easy to make. It will be better next time.

More picture? Maybe you would be interested to see if it works for the beach:

  

looks totally appropriate!

And what about Venice?

Or at lake Como?

What do you say? I have to much free time? Nah, there's nothing like too much free time.

Besides, it makes me feel really good seeing myself on vacation in Italy and on a marvellous beach. I miss you sun, come back, I've made some shorts too!!

cheers.