Sewing for the family

I've been suffering from atrocious bouts of selflessness lately and as a result I made stuff for my relatives! It was my cousin/bff's birthday a few days ago and I made her a -if I dare say so- GORGEOUS jacket, I'm waiting for her to take a pic of it because of course I never thought about doing that when I had said jacket in my possession^^.
Meanwhile here's a t-shirt I customised for my mama using appliques, I found the shapes in one of my Mrs Stylebook magazines:

I had never tried appliques because I was afraid it would look a bit cheap and badly done but the result's actually quite nice, now I want to put some everywhere! I used two-face fusible interfacing, fabric scraps of course and finished the pieces with a narrow zigzag machine stitch.
I also made her a navy cotton skirt, the fabric has a beautiful embroidered, scalloped edge that gives the simple A-line design a lot of class :) And yes she has stolen what used to be MY Liberty top :

New Japanese blouse

OMG this top has totally messed with my feelings^^! First I had ups and downs with the fabric, a small piece of quilting cotton that I managed to grab during the shop's sales and that should be just my type since it has navy and dark red tiny dots on an ecru background -I've recently noticed that my wardrobe is filled with navy garments or navy with red or white details. I say should because once worn it made me look washed out, I got all sad thinking that I had wasted it and finally I trimmed a bit the top's design and added deep blue buttons and it seemingly solved the unflattering colour issue -I also put loads of BB cream to try and look less like a ghost but this is another story.
Then the PATTERN! I found it in this book:

Sorry I meant this one:

On the paper it looked beyond cute and cool:

But as I tried it on while I was making it, it felt a bit granny-ish. So I went for the smaller size and still had to reduce the pieces' width, changed the back from gathers to a pleat and strangely the detail that made the most noticeable difference was how I positionned the first button: I put it lower than required and suddenly the blouse looked much more contemporary :)

And these poor shorts need a rest.

Of course now I'm in love with my top and I want plenty others, I want one in light chambray, one in tiny black gingham, one in my still untouched crazy kitty fabric, one in DOTS etc.

Me-Made-March Day twenty-eight

Hello! Today I wore something very unusual for me -heavy sarcasm:


Look, it's a bowtie mustard blouse^^! I used a BWOF pattern from not too long ago (I remember making the top in November 2010) and just narrowed and shortened the tie. It was my first time cutting that super slippery crepe fabric, I was very nervous and I must say I am thrilled with the result! I wonder if I could use the same fabric in a ruby red colour for my 70's dress or would it be too thin? Unfortunately as I live in a hot country lining is my sworn enemy and I think it would probably be necessary with this crepe. Back to the blouse, I LOVE the gathered details on the front:


When I first made it I thought I wouldn't wear it a lot but it's grown on me and I actually consider sewing another one one of these days :) What is more it doesn't require that much fabric so I could maybe squeeze it in one of my numerous remnants.
I wore the blouse with a bag I sewn this weekend, I slightly altered my usual Buttercup bag pattern and used black corduroy. Now that is easy to catch on camera:


Lol I tried a close up but it's not much better:

Yes that's a bow you can make out on the bag

The inside lining is colourful silk and the shoulder strap is an old 80's necklace from my mum. That's it for today, see you friends!

Me-Made-March Day twenty-six

Hiya, how are you? I hope your weekend's been better than mine because it's been rough here :( Anyway I have a garment to show you:

I spare you my Saturday morning ghost face

It's a classic blouse with tie, I found the pattern in the French magazine Fait Main and used crazy 70's-ish flower lawn. I love this fabric, I don't even know why since I usually don't like these shades of yellow and red -especially mixed together- but this one really caught my fancy^^. I have another 1.5 yard that I'd like to turn into one of my Burda tulip skirts, or maybe a simple A-line cut in the bias. See you on Monday with another MMM day (I can't believe there are only 4 left!)

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!

Another BWOF experimentation

Hello there and belated merry Christmas! I'm going to start this post with some totally inappropriate whinning about the fact that last year I spent Christmas in Singapore -which has to be my favouritest place ever right after Japan- while this year NOT! I miss travelling :(
Okay, now for today's garment, I've tried a wrapover top from the November issue of BWOF. I'm sewing compulsively these days so I think I'm probably going to end up making any Burda projects that catch my attention^^. For this top I used some cotton slightly blended with polyester, I love this sage green colour -the French name is "tilleul" which sounds quite poetic- alas this fabric is difficult to iron as you'll see from the pictures. I made my usual 12 size and changed a few details: I didn't add the ties at the hips but decided to close the top with a hidden button and a snap and I simply finished the sleeves with some bias instead of the required cuffs. I also made a mistake when I cut the front pieces so I had to add an extra seam but it looks okay! I felt like wearing the top for my New Year's Eve party but it's definitely too hot for these long sleeves so I'll keep it for the cooler months.

Of course I had to make a matching bow hair-tie!

See you soon with more tops!

BWOF blouse

Hello there, how are you? With Christmas coming it's hard to find time to sew a little something for yourself but 2 evenings were enough to make this BWOF blouse from January 2008:

As you can see it has a number of features such as a front tab, pleats, 3-part sleeves, cuffs... but it was only given an easy to medium note in the magazine! I read the instructions but as often is the case with Burda it didn't make sense so I organised my own steps: first the pleats and the tab, then the sleeves, the shoulder and side seams and finally the collar and cuffs. The result is nice but a bit huge and the neckline is a little too deep fir my taste. I've made it with shirting cotton which makes it very pleasant to wear given the current weather!



That's it for today, see you soon!

14/05 outfit and New Look dress

Hello friends! I hope you're doing fine! Today was a nice day, I got to wear one of my favourite outfits with my chambray V blouse (from the Stylish Dress Book of course!) and black Muji leggings -they're sooooo soft :)


I also took pictures of the New Look dress I mentioned yesterday: it's design 6723 and I used an incredible cotton fabric which I found in a local shop. It often happens with this shop, you pay 7$ for plain, boring cotton and you find treasures for 2$ in their clearance bin! I repeat that if you make this dress be careful with how low the neckline goes before cutting it, I could adjust it a little by making the shoulder seams higher but still it's quite the plunging view, I have to pin the sides to my bra straps so that it won't show everything :( I lengthened the bodice with a set-in fabric belt and the hem is handsewn. I'm off to check the MMM gallery, haven't seen all the treasures there for a while and I need my fix^^ See you!

McCall vintage blouse take two

Long time no see :) I hope everyone's fine, I've been sewing a lot these days but for others, that's why I didn't have anything to post -and I have more work but I'm definitely not complaining about that. I've finally managed to make a little something for me, it's this McCall blouse; I used a beautiful white eyelet my dear friend Sophie brought me from Mauritius in February -she also brought a slightly different version in the most gorgeous sand colour and now my mum wants a top in it :( why, oh why.
This time I was careful not to make the same mistakes as with the polka dot test (no fusible interfacing, I clipped the curves and lowered the neckline) and I must say I'm quite pleased with the result! To be honest, I've also been dieting like crazy so I guess it helps with actually being able to sew the darts and tucks and to fit in the blouse^^! I'm so glad I was able to shed a few pounds, I hope my 40's dresses will look a bit better on me now. By the way I'm sewing a 1941 dress, I still have details to finish and I hope I can show it to you soon! See you!

I put snaps at the back and sewed fake small self-made bows along the placket.

McCall 1947 test blouse

Hello! I won the pattern for this blouse a few weeks ago on ebay. This is McCall 6769, copyright 1947:


So beautiful, so graceful, I could totally see myself in view B! Except that I had forgotten the petty detail that my bodytype doesn't exactly resemble that of the women portrayed on the enveloppe... I had to do without the front and back darts. When I'm making it again (fortunately this time I used cheap fabric, more on that later) I'll add a little room at the hip and I'll redraft the yoke neckline a bit deeper because even this part is tight :(

Too tight so the back opens :(

I'm NOT choking, ok?!

So, the fabric is a cheap (in quality as well as price) polycotton with tiny black dots. I had to line it with the same type of fabric in plain white and that didn't help with the gatherings and pleats that look bulky. I put black piping to define the yoke and a little ribbon bow to try and spice things up because the result looked monacal to me. I should also remember not to use fusible interfacing for the yoke, it's too stiff.
I'll admit that despite all these flaws I'm not too disappointed in this blouse and I'm sure it'll show all its potential when I make it with better fabric and I follow the changes I've mentioned. If you have any other advice to improve this lil' number please tell me in the comments!

Yes! Lovely vintage blouse

I'm not boasting, I swear! But I really love this blouse, I've put thought and care in making it and I think it shows :)
First the fabric: an incredibly soft and drapey cotton I bought in Kyoto at Nemura Tailor and that I had been hoarding for nearly 2 years. It has a black background pattern and bright, beautiful temari balls printed over. I made off-white piping to add a little definition to the front yoke and I used plain black cotton for the facing.


Next the design: I kept the bodice from this dress and drafted a peplum to lengthen it. I tested the peplum out of muslin beforehand and thanks to that the result feels quite harmonious, had I followed my first idea and not made this muslin thing my beloved blouse would be laying at the bottom of my "FAIL" box :(


Finally the details: I handsewed the sleeves' hem, the inside is finished with black bias (also bought in Japan, I know, I'm a dork^^), I put rhinestone buttons on the front -I need to buy another one because the neckline opens and reveals too much- and made loops to close them.


And now the Blouse as I wore it today:



I'm sorry for the extremely poor pictures, I didn't have much battery left and couldn't retake them. Well at least I get to show my daisies :)

Chambray blouse

A quick post to show you my new favourite blouse: it's design V from the Otona no Couture Stylish Dress Book. I made it with a very soft chambray my boyfriend -this divine angel^^- gave me for Christmas (stash bustin'!). It's size 9 but it's almost tight at the arms and shoulders so I'm glad I resisted the urge to chop off inches as I sometimes do with Japanese patterns.
There's a collar with stand, a mock button placket on the front and a cute pocket on the heart. It took less than a day to make, I definitely advise you to try Japanese sewing books/magazines if you want quick, stylish garments!

It doesn't show too much here but these buttons remind me of little planets^^.

I used homemade bias for the sleeves' edge and inside of pocket.

New sundress and an old top

Hi there! Let's start with the dress: I used a pattern from a French crafts magazine called "Fait Main" to make it. I wanted to try the princess seams but I just knew the neckline wouldn't work because of its sporty vibe. Anyway I cut one of my favourite fabrics and then cried a million tears because, well, the result was awful :) I redrafted the thing and here it is now: a cute, retro sundress! I love it! Plus it's really comfy thanks to the fit of the princess seams.




Also, I wanted to show you a tunic I digged out of my wardrobe this morning: it's design J from the Stylish Dress Book I've already talked about. I was a little moved because it's one of the first things I made and I remember having my sewing confidence boosted thanks to it. Indeed, it has a few tricky details such as pleats, buttonholes, gathered sleeves and self-made bias but it went together so perfectly and quickly that it made me believe I was good at sewing^^.