Burda Plus 2001 mod 410

This skirt is as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. It´s a basic A-line from an old Burda plus that I shortened alittle and made room for a slightly larger "derriere" in the back. The fabric is a cotton stretch twill and there´s a recycled rayon lining from the dress I made for the wedding last summer and is too big now.
There is a lamp to the right of the skirt that make the colors on that side a little weird. The skirt is pinned to the dressform.

I did a lot of work on the inside;part from label there are hanging loops and the facing is in the fashion fabric. ( I usually like to use quilters cotton here...

I like this model due to A-line= bycycleably and the contour waistband and there are a lot of colors in it that I can use to match tops.

Hot Pattern Primavera dress

I liked the look of a lot of Hot Patterns patterns but they cost more than I normally would like to pay for a pattern and though there are some talks about the cut of their pants I´m actually very pleased with Burdas patterns and not have to do an FBA makes them a lot easier to sew. But since you should try everything at least once I bought this pattern and thought I could make a nice dress from it using my nice silk fabric I bought in Paris.

And this pattern might work for someone with the boobs on there back or a serious haunchback. After I tried it on I checked the pattern sheet and the back bodice is 4 cm longer than the front!

You can see the difference in this photo. This keeps the dress falling towards the front all the time.

I picked size by measurement and this does not give the dress the fit intended and I really don´t get the "thing" with the semiraglan sleeves, maybee they would be easier to sew if the sleeves where on straight grain and not on the bias.
So now I have two options; use the skirt part and make a skirt or redraw the back bodice and do a lot of ripping...and I must say not today...and since I´m doing radiation and working for two hours now I don´t need this kind of occupation to get the days to go faster.
The pattern envelope suggests making a muslin first. I do that sometimes but not for a semifitted dress like this. I think it´s better these things are checked before sale! This is a construction thing not a fitting thing.

Burda my love there are thou?

Burda 06/2010 mod 123

The good thing about that a lot of people are blogging is that you notice things you shouldn´t vave noticed before. That was the thing with this dress. I saw this
post and thought the dresses where real cute and realiced that I must have that magazine.
This is my dress, it needs a slip ( does not really show that in the photo...)The fabric is a kind of crepe cotton bought in Paris

Very plain and simple front

but the back is kind of cool. There´s no shoulder seam at the shoulders and there´s elastic in it to get the look

Now I´m looking for some knits to make one or two tops from this pattern, nice fast, easy and fun....now off to the slip....silk I think....

Nygårds Anna copycat

I love the work of Nygårds Anna Bengtsson, she makes clothes using the finest linen, wool and cotton and in beautiful natural shades, inspired by Swedish folklore. This top or dress cought my eyes as a shortsleeved dress in the window

I used a very basic Onion pattern to draft a pattern from and a white linen from the stash, not at all the nice quality of the original dress and this wearable muslin is what I made:

I will have to make some changes before cutting the dress, on thing is that it it cut to low, there is a limit to how much cleavage I would like to show and this is way too far...I´m gonna make a little "modesty panel" to cover up and I will also clean the mirror!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally a photo of the fabric for the dress that will be washed tomorrow

I used some decorative stitches on the sleeves but should have stabilazed the fabric for a better result, but I think the blouse is kind of cute and will look good with almost everything and you can´t have too many white blouses...

Simplicity 3786

This pattern came in my possesion a while ago and I liked both of the looks; the wrap and the pintucks, decided to go for view E ( top right) and used a skirting in very light blue and the combination was not so good....

You might not agree with me ...but it looks a lot what dentists and their nurses wear to work in Sweden but properly styled I might feel different about it.

The pattern is great! it has a lot of reviews on PR and it´s easy to sew. I have plans for view C too ( mid left) and making it longer into a dress in maybee linen.
And if I ever will go to a football game this is what I will wear, the color is the same as the local team shirts or I might wear it to work when they are playing...

McCall´s 5425

This is a pattern I had in my stash for a while, I bought it after seeing some nice dresses and had this fabric in mind back then. It´s a cotton crincled fabric in colors that I really like but is hard to find in stores.
Resently I´ve been seeing som tops simular in style so I decided that it was time for this pattern!

The dress is super easy to sew but there is a two piece back and it has shaping at the waist

Vogue 1236 DKNY dress

I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it and ordered a copy. I liked the simplicity of the dress, the way the stripes behave at the neckline and that I can wear a bra under without peeking out.

I used a cotton sateen stretch fabric and started by sewing the pleats down, they where supposted to be basted, but I actually prefer them my way so no ripping...

Detail of neckline, looks great in plaid but will work in any fabric and my plan is to make a top from it too. This is going to be a favourite pattern!!!

It´s all about the label

I´ve been thinking of buying labels for a long time but it never happened due to I did not know what they would say. When I finally decided I wanted my name and DIY in some combination but when I was ordering this came into my mind and I like it a lot.I wanted to avoid the word "design" mainly becourse to over use an I´m more of a copycat. Malmö is the town where I live, Skåne is like the county and Världen means the world.

There where different options in color and styles and you could add little motives like a sheep too. They came like this and they look really really good as you can see in the first photo.

My chemo is over and I´m waiting for radiation to start and then a plan to go back to work.
The day after my fifth chemo my mother had a stroke so I´ve spent a lot of time at my parents house. She was transfered from the hospital thursday and is now at a nursing home there she will get proper training and we hope that she´ll be home before the summer is over. It´s a little hard to explain the swedish system here but the home care system is very good and they will get help to make changes in the house so she can access at least the bathroom with a wheelchair ( in the beginning) and hopefully later a walker.
She is improving all the time and saturday she could for the firts time squeese the right hand...

The facts that you need less clothes if you don´t work and that I´ve been away from home for a lot of time makes sewing-knitting-etc low. I´ve been knitting socks for fall and this is really not my thing and the ones I finished yesterday will have to be frogged.
What I really want to do is try the Jalie method of binding knits and the first weekend of august I´m going to a sewingcamp and hopefully I have some ideas of what I would like to wear this fall by then.

GI Jane ready for action

I really love this dress I think it´s a good transitional dress and that suites the weather here now...

And there´s some details of the pockets and sleeves

I haven´t been doing this kind of sewing for a long time so it was fun to know that I still has the skills
Right now I´m refashioning my Onion goes Chanel jacket by taking of the hood and changing the trim to a more stand out way and using the fabric from the hood to add pockets, a lot of hand sewing but portable. I also bought fabric for a new jacket ( why use your stash??....) and are doing a lot of knitting.

Oh! I entered the dress in the PR knock off competition and there are some really nice prices so please vote for me....or for someone else of the nice items....

Livstycket

Every museeum has to have a shop and so did Möllegården.
I found this very nice dress made by Livstycket
I known about livstycket for a long time and am really impressed with the work they do. I linked to the english site. Please take some time and read about them!

This is a close up on the screen printed panel:

Is it dutch Sigrid?
At least I know it´s linen and that I´ll be proud wearing it!

Möllegården

Möllegården is located just outside of Malmö and are dedicated to folk costumes and you can buy material for making your own or maybee buy one.
Here you can se different aprons from different part of Skåne ( the county down south in Sweden )

Even if I am interested in this kind of sewing it was not what made me go there.
Í saw in the paper that the swedish tailor organisation was having an exibition there and these clothes are from it. really some neat details, I love the dress and chanel jacket in coordinating fabric!
The last picture is theatre costumes from The merry widow from our local theatre when Ingmar Bergman worked there.
Enjoy!

GI Jane or Where have all the flowers gone?

The 19 buttondress are in progress and I´m adapting a Burda shirt dress with mixed results, my main problem right now is that I can´t "shoot from the hip" It´s to tight there and it should not be according to measurement and I don´t have the energy to find out how it happened. I just know how I will deal with it.
I will also rip the seam on the right pocket flap that I´m not content with

I added some glamour on the left side with a batch and have one more for the sleeve that I´m currently working on.

And here´s where the flower went

There´s alot of stitching and since I´m making flat felled seams a little more to consider and a lot more timeconsuming but fun and I like the result. I bought 3 meters of fabric at first but had to go back for a little more and came home with another additional fabric that I will have to wash before I can finish the dress

This is a picture from the other day when I took a walk to alocal market for groceries. Feel the smell?

Na Craga

I wanted a classic Aran for ages and bought this yarn called Navia at the sale, it´s mixture of faroese, shetlandic and australian lambs wool. A nice 3 ply that knits nicely on needles 4,5.
I borrowed Alice Starmore´s book at the library and will soon add it to my own library. I fell in love with this model instantly and even though this yarn is thicker than my usual preferences I like knitting with it. I payed 200 dkr for 20 balls. a very good price!

Sad news

My favourite yarnstore in Copenhaguen are closing down.
They start 50 % sale on tuesday and that just happened to be the day I´ll be in town...
I got money (in danish crowns) from my colleagues to spend on a luxury day in Copenhaguen or yarn, fabric etc. The good thing is that it´s identical for me;-)
I will also look for green or kaki fabric for the dress. I have a rather large "collection" of hammer-on-buttons from various items, the ones when you get a spare one in a little bag, so the plan is to use them for the dress so all buttons will be different.
Wishing you all a happy easter, I´m at my parents house and we are combining dad,s birthday dinner with easter.
The weather is really nice and I spend a lot of time sitting in the sun.

19 button dress

I saw this dress in a magazine in light wash denim and decided I wanted one but in army green or maybee something like on this picture. It´s a Tommy Hilfiger dress and have some nice details like the bands on the sleeves and the pockets. and a lot of buttonholes to sew....

Fabric shopping

Not beeing able to attend PR weekend in Bryssels last weekend did not stop me from shopping for fabrics ( or yarn for that matter...)
Very close to my parents house is a huge fabricstore. They have a lot of crap or should I say used to have a lot of crap, I think due to change of ownership it has been better. Fabrics are arranged due to color and most things are not marked with fiber content. There´s a lot of old fabrics and I think they by leftovers, but the pricing is rather fair and last week I found a trolley with shirtfabrics, probably of italian origin and they where going to be folded and put in the shelves there they would disappear...sadly...
I bought 2 2 meters pieces and went back the day after for more
from left
Yellow chambray type of fabric
Light blue twill weave
Red shirtstripe
Brown green stripe that I had in my stash for years and made a very nice blouse with last fall, of course with FBA...saved the buttons I used tealish mother of pearl buttons and I know this will work with teal piping. It´s almost like not buying any fabric...
Pink shirting from a fabric store in Malmö
Flowery fabric for a blouse, it´s the same fabric as for my dress for the wedding that I mad last summer but with a different print and a totally different price...
Today I´m going to do some alterations and finishing including hemming a dress I made 10 ? years ago???
and I have rotated the furniture a little more...

McCall 5586

I rarely use other patterns than Burda and Onion but this pattern came into my stash last year I think

It´s now out of print, but I like it I think it makes nice summer tops and could easily be made into dresses.
This fabric a rayon print I found at the attic a couple of months ago and has apparently been cut in some kind of wrapdress that I did not want today

I did not want the brown border but needed it for the backing of the yoke and I used my mean ironing machine to attach it, works like a charm everytime!!!

I read a review that said that it was big under the arms so I decided to sew the side seams last and when trying it on it was very big and low cut so I used my quilters ruler and cut off 4 cm at top tapering to pattern width at hem. The top is also shortened by 6 cm

When going through all the stuff from the wardrobe clean out I found that I used to do really nice stuff and lately I´ve been sewing fast so I decided it was time for a change so to try something new I did french seams at the sides that provides a clean finish.
I have plans to add "crafty" stuff to the yoke. Let´s see if I have time tomorrow to go shopping for some.
I spent the day reorganizing or redecorate my sewing/bedroom for making sewing easier and more fun.

Cleaned out the closet

And there are two more boxes...and maybee some more...
New start!

Green of Envy shawl

A shawl in a colorway and style that I´m really fond of from the start.
I had 2 hanks of Lorna´s lace´s sockyarn in Envy that I payed to much for...I never liked the colorway and tried to knit socks but no love. Finally mixing it with green alpacka toned down the variagations in it. There are a brighter green to and the beige border is a danish yarn containing merino and mohair.

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