Crafty Karin goes friendship bracelets

I´ve been making frienshipbracelets before but lately I´ve found some great ones on Pinterest tha lead me to this page with a lot of great patterns.
I use DMC floss for them but you can use any yarn, as an adult I like thin yarns but children can get great results with cotton knitting yarn. My plan was to bring this to do on the flight when I´ll be going to Seattle shortly I don´t thing anyone in airport security would mind...
I also decided that I need a new case for my camera so I did one in crochet very quilckly and topped it with a fancy botton from the stash.

I currently working on a dress from the latest Ottobre using one of my favourite fabrics that I was saving for a special project and it was worth the waiting. It´s one of the fabrics from the PR weekend in Paris. More on it later today...
You can also watch the MC Call dress fabric closeup here

Ottobre spring/summer 2011 mod 16, 5 and 7

This design is kind of interesting, iy does not have shoulderseams; the front is extended into the back like some sort of facing and the front is double so it´s a different way to get into the neckline issue with making jersey tops at home. It works well and in this case the neckline is flattering.
The fun thing with this design are the sleeves. They are double and the upper part is garthered using the framilon to the under part that´s in the correct size

I sewed the framilon to the right side of the fabric in this case it should have been attatched to the wrong side

Then I sewed the sleeves together stretching as I sewed....

Works like wonders each time.
The fabric is rayon jersey the same as on the yoke on the Violet Rose top and since I did not have enought fabric I used a black mesh for the lining. If I would do this again I would probably use the regular sleeve. This is a fun sleeve but one top with it is enought

How to garther jersey with Framilon (invisable elastic)

I used invisable elastic for lingerie and for stabilase the shoulder seams on knits but it took me many years to find out that the Framilon that so often are mentioned in Ottobres patterna where the same thing...and then it tock me some more years to decide to try it out and now I´m in love! It´s simple to sew, the result is great and you can get it almost everywhere even in Sweden...
I use the thin one that I guess is about 6 mm.
First you have to sew it to the part that is not going to be garthered and I prefer to do this with the 3-sted zig zag that propably has a totally different name in english. I sew it to the right side of the garment and just outside there the seam is going to be.

Then I pin the part that are going to be garthered to it right sides together and devide the ease with pins so the gartheres will be evenly over the area.

Now I sew the parts together...I´m not a skilled serger so I prefer doing this at first with my regular machine with slightly larger stitches like 3,5 mm.

When I came to the garthering part I stretch the fabric where the framilon is and continue sewing the entire seam

This is how it looks finished and the framilon is inside

so when I finally serge it it will be inside the seam but still doing the job as stabilizer.

And this is the finished top, the Violet Rose again in a grey rayon jersey for the yoke and som kind of ribbed knit of unknown fiber content for body and sleeves. Both fabrics are from Stof och Stil.

Ottobre fall 2011 Violet Rose ( mod 9 )

I´ve always liked the models from Ottobre. They are very wearable but I have done very little from them. I have read a lot of times of the use of "Framilon tape" and Known for some time that it´s a brand name for invisible elastic. They use it to garther fabric and since that is one thing I don´t like I decided to try the method and it´s so great!!!!
Since it was a muslin I thought about making a night T-shirt so I had this fabric from the ugly fabric swap in Copenhaguen some years ago, I think it was Maria´s fabric and that the color wasn´t good for her.
I didn´t see until now that the yoke is supposed to be double so I tried a new method here to the Jalie way and it did only OK mostly due to that my fabric does not have any elastic length wise, but will work better next time...


Look at those garthers!
I will make a tutural for this!

Mc Call 5974

Mc Call 5974...one of last years top rated pattern on PR and seen on many blogs and truly a great pattern, there are two versions one fakewrap and one singlepieced bodice. I made the last one and 3/4 sleeves in a striped fabric in dark green and black from the stash and I have no idea where I bought it, when and fibercontent...
This pattern is a Palmer Pletch pattern and that means that there are a lot of extra lines and instruction to fit the dress as you go ( and some before you start. There are extra wide sew allowances for this purpose and you know how I feel about sew alowances on the patterns...
i did some changes like raising the neckline some and adding extra fabric ( raising it a little bit more ) by doing the finishing different and taking in the side seams at chest level and about one cm at the front shoulders. This made it hard to set in the sleeves and if I should do it again ( I will; the wrap dress...) I will wait until the body is done and make changes to the sleeves before cutting them.
I also felt that the sleeve head was to high so I ended up using the sleevehead of a Jalie pattern.

This is how my dress looks and I think it will be a good transitional dress and a close up below:

Vogue 1250 DKNY dress

Yeah! I had to try it too! and it is a great dress, and so fast to sew. This is my second attempt I wasn´t careful enought with the pattern so one of them came in a wrong position, I might shorten it to a top but not today.
I even got my serger to work, I changes the needles and threaded it correctly...


I made some changes, I needed the lowerpart bigger so I cut the pattern and spreaded it and I also added the extra for the seat. I later took that amount of fabric away and some from the back since there where a little too much fabric there.
I followed the instruction but stabilized the shoulder seam.
The fabric is bought in Copenhaguen at Stof2000 short after byuing the aqua fabric and my plan was to make a top from it, since it was 2 meters for 50 crowns sale I bought more then needed so there was enought for a dress.
I would not mind making this dress again in a very very nice fabric and I would not mind paying extra for it course this dress is worth it
Well...there is a reason why this pattern seams to be everyones favourite this season!

Burda 4/2011 mod 140, again!

Aqua corduroi, not really my fabric but saw something nice in a knitting book and thought: why not? Aqua has been big this summer and I might as well sew the fabric and wear it late summer...early fall.
This version is true to the pattern, a pattern that I will through away now, there are many nice skirts out there to be sewed.
I used a sparebutton from a jeansjacket I think and couldn´t hammer it to hold so I used superglue, I can always replace it if it falls off.

The skirt is a bit wrinkled after wearing it to work ( started working halftime wedensday! YEY! )teamed it with a red top since I´ve seen many kitchens and quilts in that combo and I think I might prefer it in that matter...

Vogue 1236 take two

A kind of retro knit from the 1,5 meters cuts at Stof and Stil.
I had to make the dress smaller at the chest so I scooped out the armcycle to the smallest size and then I took it in about 2 cm on each side ( total of 8 cm ) I shortened it to a top by folding the hem to the " make-it-longer-or-shorter-here-mark "
I did this at sewing camp and Vibeke had made 2 dresses from this pattern too and had a beautiful!!!! fabric for a third dress she was going to wear at a wedding later this month. This is such a great pattern!

Burda Plus spring/summer 2010 mod 424

This shirt comes with some different looks but this one is 424 minus the pleated edge around the bib and I also made "real" plackets on the sleeves, the sizes run large.

Well it does not hang so well on AE...
I used a very soft pink cotton skirting bought at a small fabric shop in town that now is closed...The good thing is that we have an excellent notion store and I bought the buttons there ( I also looked at a Cover pro machine, just looked!)

I used a light blue grey thread for all the topstitching as well as the buttonholes, apart from the bib every seam is flatfelled

Burda 4/2011 mod 140

I´ve been to a sewing camp for three days and got a lot of things done including this skirt. The first picture is of a flea market skirt I bought, it´s a kind of german/ austrian look in a really nice fabric; a corduroi in cotton/rayon in a beautiful green variagated color

I used Burda 4/2011 mod 40 and raised it in the back adding a mid back seam and layed the front on the buttoned frontpiece. The original skirt was lined with a polyester lining, I used that for the pockets and added a black rayon lining

I tried to save as much of the cute stuff from the original skirt like the button holes and the little fake pocket.

The skirt is really nice with the sewed pleats and a nice basic skirt that I might do again.
Love the buttons!!!!

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!!!