White and black

I'm happy I have pics of my black jersey crop top because seeing how often I wear it and wash it I'm afraid it's going to disintegrate soon^^

It's the same design from Female magazine but the fabric is much lighter and softer than the grey knit I used for the other one so it's super super comfortable. The only drawback was that my little Singer machine had a tendency to eat the fabric so I had to put strips of tracing paper under the foot and it worked! Also I couldn't finish the hem and neckline with my usual wide zigzag stitch because the fabric stretched too much so I folded it twice and used a narrow zigzag stitch instead.

As for the shorts they're already from last year! I found them in a Tendances Couture magazine which offers Simplicity patterns to French readers, I thought they looked quite retro with their high waist and flared legs and they didn't require much fabric so it was perfect to finish my beautiful broderie de Calais coupon :)

I lined the broderie pieces with white poplin, basted the two layers together and sewed everything as usual. There's an almost invisible zipper on the side and the waist is finished with a remnant of lilac bias.

I think the two garments work quite well together, the shorts are high enough that my belly won't show and the back curve of the top looks really cool IMO:

Me-Made-May 2012: week 1 recap

Hey there! Here are the garments I wore for the first week of MMM:
- on 01st, 06th and 08th I stayed at home in my old coral linen Burda shorts. I love this pattern (from the May 2010 mag) because you need very little fabric to make them and it's a great way of busting remnants!

- on 02nd I wore my new Burda shorts made using the wrong side of some light weight denim, it's a great pattern, easy to make and comfortable yet quite classy with the front pleats. The tunic is from Pochée, I used some repro fabric of a civil war wallpaper for it -I'm always amazed at what cool origins this top has :)

- on 03rd I wore the same shorts with a Burda top made from strange synthetic fabric whose red and blue ume flowers print I love!

- on 04th the weather turned super cold and rainy so I could wear my favourite jacket frankesteined from a Pochée pattern and made of mustard linen and polyester blend. I added a simple V-neck, kimono sleeved black and white top from Female and navy cotton shorts adapted from a Pochée pattern again.

- on 05th I wore a pull-over dress made from a 70's Simplicity pattern, I love the pintuck pleats on the bodice and butterfly sleeves and the fabric has cute tiny orangey flowers so this dress is really a favourite!

- on 07th I finally decided to wear an oversized shirt made from a Female pattern, you can tie the front (which I did) or let it loose. I love this garment because the design is quite original IMO and I used striped cotton that my boyfriend gave me for my birthday last year and pretty red buttons bought in a small haberdashery in Asakusa so it's really dear to me. The denim shorts are a bit small but I wear them a lot anyway, they're from the French crafts magazine Fait Main.

Now for my mum's outfits:
- on 02nd she wore a low waist dress adapted from a Japanese pattern and made with Ikea fabric.

- and on 07th she wore an A-line skirt, another Japanese pattern with polycotton bought in a local shop.

See you soon with more me-made garments :)

Valentine's Day dress

Warning: smug face pics ahead.



Well, what can I say, I LOVE this dress! First, its origins deserve a little explanation: by now you must think that being French sucks, what with all the sh***y trouble with that damn Euro but on the other hand did you know that we can purchase a SIMPLICITY AND NEW LOOK PATTERNS MAGAZINE every 3 month?! Dozens of US patterns in all sizes that we would otherwise have to pay 12€ one are ours for 6€! I found the pattern to today's dress in the latest issue of this "Tendances couture":


I made a muslin first because I wasn't sure of the sizing which strangely varies from one model to the other, I had some minor adjustements to make regarding the neckline -I'm not a fan of deeeep décolletés- and center back seam and after that the dress came together like a dream!
I used black cotton lawn with a slightly Japanese print -yummy chrisanthemums- that I found in a local shop and I lined the bodice with black polycotton. I'm quite happy with my lining since I didn't follow the magazine's steps -I actually have a hard time understanding them- and I had to plan how to proceed.



Oh and just for your information, a few minutes after those photos were taken I went out and got showered by some unexpected rain :( Fate is against me^^
Happy Chocolates' Day anyway, see you!

Update in blue and white

Hiya! At first I wanted to make two posts since I have two garments to show you but after looking at the ugly pictures -my mum and bf have failed me! They now suffer from my bad pic curse- of them I've realised they're both well, navy blue and white^^.
To start with, a shirt made using the latest Female magazine that almost turned into a sewing tragedy since I used an AWESOME double gauze kokka fabric for it and the final product sucked. Indeed the sleeves and back were too tight, the front buttoning was set too high and the general aspect was dreadful. Fortunately I managed to salvage it more or less and I can wear it even if it's far from perfect:



BTW I'm seriously disappointed in this latest Female issue, the patterns are smaller than usual and they don't look as good in reality as in the magazine, which is the first time this has ever happened. I hope the next one will go back to normal!
Now, let's have a look at a vintage project with this great pattern from this lovely etsy seller :


That dress is so adorable! Aww and look at their hairstyles! And those platform shoes, swoon! I have ended -for a moment- my two-tone dresses period with this pattern for which I used plain cotton, the bodice and sleeves in white and the skirt in navy:


It was a pleasure to sew, I'm in love with the pintuck pleats, the neat little collar, the flutter sleeves and the empire waist, plus it's a pull-over, the tie belt gives it its shape and I want another one :)
Have a nice weekend, see you!

Me-Made-March Days twenty-four and twenty-five

Hello there, I hope you're doing fine! As we went to the restaurant for my friend Muriel's birthday I could wear my latest dress:


I used a 1974 Simplicity pattern and dark teal polyester and even though the fabric is a bit stiff I like my dress a lot! It's cute and comfy and I can totally picture another one out of yellow cotton, red crepe or white linen (with lace inserts!). It was so easy to make, it took me about 3 hours -handsewing the zipper and the hem included- to sew it. I just shortened the sleeves to elbow length because it's a little nicer with the ongoing heat and I put a side zipper instead of a back one because it's easier to reach.
Now for yesterday's outfit I wore a skirt that I made as a test from an old ASOS skirt that has become too small (ahem...). The fabric is not really to my taste but the shape is pretty cool I think:

The long face is back!

Have a lovely weekend, see you friends!

Me-Made-March Day seven

Hello friends, hope you enjoyed your weekend! I didn't post yesterday because I stayed at home and even though my shorts were homemade they are completely raggedy^^. I've found something more appropriate to show you today:


Why, how original, another striped back-buttoned blouse! The fabric is shirting material and it's fairly new since I bought it 2 weeks ago -after 2 months of not going to the fabric shop you can say that I was pretty much in a transe and bought a lot of stuff. I used buttons from my stash but couldn't get a decent picture of the back, well I'll try again later. The skirt is handmade too, I made it out of a cheap, polysomething remnant using a Burda basic pattern.
See you tomorrow!

Me-Made-March Day four

Hello! Today's outfit:

Same handmade blouse as yesterday
Skirt: handmade

I also took pics of another variation of the LBD I made for my mum:


Yep, this one closes at the back and has extended shoulders to make cap sleeves and a gathered skirt. See you tomorrow!

Me-Made-March Day three

Hi there! Today I stayed at home but I did go out this evening so here's what I wore:

Sorry for the long face, I was actually in a fairly good mood when I took the pic^^! I made the top using a 70's pattern I got yesterday -because I didn't have enough patterns already- and used white poplin. I'd like to add very thin velvet bows at each corner of the front yoke, I'm supposed to buy ribbon tomorrow so I'll see if I follow my idea :) And I wore the same bag as the previous days!
See you!

Another take on Simplicity 2311

Hello, I hope everyone's doing fine today! I'd like to show you what I've been working on this weekend:




It's the second time I make this 1940's top; previously I had done it out of Japanese fabric and this time I used a remnant from another retro project, it's light cotton and the detail which I really like is that the stripes are weaved into the fabric and not printed. I was a bit concerned because the red dye tended to bleed but after washing it in cold water the problem was solved. I'm glad that I managed to match all the stripes on the side seams and on the tucks and darts, I put big blue buttons from my stash at the back and I finished the collar with self made bias. The only problem is that I should have reinforced the back with interlining but I forgot and now it tends to sag a little :(
I know it's quite a blousy top, not extremely fitted but I love it nonetheless and there'll probably be a third version someday! Oh by the way I made the skirt too out of a strange, heavy stretch fabric and I wear it all the time, it gives me the daily fix of navy blue I used to get with jeans :) See you friends!

Christmas dress and an update

Hello friends! How are you? I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since 8th November! I have been super busy with my work and, good news, I've had my first orders as a seamstress, I'm so glad! I've made tops for a woman and dresses for her little girl and they've been pleased so far so I'm crossing fingers for it to continue, sewing doesn't even feel like working :) Actually I'm planning a little giveaway to celebrate this, I'll post the details in a few days. Also, I've managed to cram crafting and sewing moments for Christmas gifts, I'll post about that on CCC later. For now I'd like to show you the dress I made for the Christmas party, it's Simplicity 7541, a pattern from 1968:


I made view 3 in teal blue cotton, I lengthened the bodice and redrafted the back -I've learned my lessons from the infamous Butterick dress- and after that it was so easy to make! I loooove the collar, I bought the pattern just for this detail :)


As for Santa, he paid an early visit since I've received my order from Bead Supplies, which allowed me to make these 2 lovely pairs of earrings, I had been dreaming of these little daisies ever since I had seen them^^:


I've also made myself a chouchou and bow hairband with a small piece of fabric my mum chose for me, it's quilting cotton printed with carnations:


That's it for today, I'll try and post on CCC and more here and fortunately not updating my blog didn't stop me from enjoying your beautiful creations, I LOVE looking at you fellow sewists/crafters' blogs so don't be like me and keep posting!

The girly week: day 3

Hello! First, I haven't joined but I wish all the Self-Stitched September participants a happy, creative month! Then this is today's dress, a Simplicity 60's pattern and my boyfriend's favourite garment :) I think it was the second vintage dress I made, I remember having a hard time with hemming the circle skirt but the rest of the construction was surprisingly easy, even the bound buttonholes! See you!

Vintage shirt Simplicity 4194

Hello! It's been a looong time since I've posted anything vintage related so behold Simplicity 4194, my latest creation!


This pattern is a winner, it was easy to make and the result -in my opinion^^- is lovely! I made view 3 without the pockets in a lightweight cotton bought at this awesome seller's shop. About alterations, I followed a fellow retro seamstress advice and took off some of the sleeves' ease because I didn't want huge, gathered caps and I added a fourth buttonhole at the waist line. I'm positive I'll make this shirt again, it has such an old-fashioned flair!





See you!

Vintage Simplicity dress

Hi there! The dress I quickly mentioned yesterday is finished and I'm so happy with the result :) The pattern is this Simplicity dress, as you can see the number is missing and there's no copyright but the design is definitely from the 40's, non?

I made a mix between view 2's neckline and view 1's short puffed sleeves and drafted the skirt myself. Let me explain what happened: I made a muslin and the pattern's skirt just didn't work so I drafted a simple slightly flared skirt with gathers. I didn't put the ruffles either because there's already some gathering at the sleeves and it would have been too much.
Despite making a muslin you'll see that the fit is not perfect but I think I'm slowly getting there^^, I hope the next one will be even better! For example this time the lapped zipper is much cleaner than with the previous McCall yellow dress and I was able to avoid a wonky waist by measuring and making sure both sides of the front and back remained similar.
The inside is simply finished with pinking, this technique worked well with the fabric which is simple dark green cotton.

Detail of the sleeve's dart and the gathers at the shoulder

Vintage dress Simplicity 7005

I'm so proud to present my latest vintage project! It's from this pattern:

I made it in a navy blue (why, that's a surprise!) cotton. I chose view 2, with the 3 bound buttonholes. The pattern is wondeful, I had nothing to change and it fits me perfectly! The most difficult part was to find buttons that would go well with it, I opted for simple emerald flat buttons. The hem went quite well even though it took a little time because I had to use the "gathering thread" technique (not sure that this is the right name :) before ironing and HAND sewing, hum! Anyway, here are the horrible pics: