Manolo Blahník at Bata Shoe Museum

I have to admit that I never heard of Manolo before Sex and the city but I understand that despite the heels they are comfortable, and he actually also do low heels even though Carrie would never wear those.
After PR weekend I spent a week in Toronto who happens to be one of my favourite cities and I visited  the Bata Shoe Museum . I´ve been there before so I skipped the historical exibit and went straight to the Manolos. The exibit will last until jan 6 2019 so you have plenty of time to go there.
There are plenty of shoes to drool over and some of them are combined with sketches or should I say paintings, real artwork, you can come real close up and study the details and pictures are allowed. So I´m just going to add some eye candy here:

Hopscotch

Hot pink addition to my sock drawer, used the pattern Hopscotch from the book Think outside the sox, a book filled with 60 sock patterns with innovative design, these must be one of the basic one. If you are interested in knitting socks from hexagons, entrelac and a lot of other tecniques this is a great book. I don´t remember what yarn I used, I like to buy sock yarn as souvenirs and this one is actually a little more Hot than the picture will show

Closet Case Pattern´s Kalle Shirtdress

Working with Closet Case Patterns is such a thrill! The patterns are well drafted and the Tutorials are always  well written and illustrated. 

I really love this dress, I made the longest version and added yet 5 cm and also did a little bust dart and for the next version I will make it a little bigger. I don´t remember what size I used but it was after my bust measurement and I could have gone down a size but on the other hand beeing very loose fitting is very nice this summer becourse we are having temperatures in the upper 20:ies to lower 30 since the beginning of may and this is something we are not used to but I´m enjoying every day of it

 I did the placket and what I like about it is that it is made exactly the same way I´ve been making sleeve vents for 30 years and its the best way to do them

This was the first time I used my whatchmacallit for cutting the button holes. I bought it at the leather store that´s on Spadina Avenue in Toronto.

The fabric is a rayon challis that I bought at Len´s Mill when I was in Canada for Pattern Review weekend, actually not as tricky to work with as rayons can be, the fabric had some holes in it but I was able to cut out the entire dress and still have some leftovers

The buttons are from a local store called Greger Sy and have an entire wall with buttons and a lot of other things like interfacing, thread, lace, bias tape and also sells sewing machines.

Close up on the back, the yoke is double using the burrito method.

And two more pictures of me wearing the dress.

The pictures with me wearing the dress is taken in my local fabric store run by Sara who is a friend of mine, she also sew and sell clothes  and I´m standing in the part of the store with ready made things. The store is called Den är min! That´s mine! and also do mail orders

Sew House Seven Tea dress

I´ve seen a lot of Sew House Seven´s Tea dresses lately both on the net and in my close sewing community  and bought a pattern when I was in Canada for vacation and PR weekend. I´m very fond of buying 3 meters of fabric and this one needs almost 4 but then I took a chance and used this what I think is Liberty Lawn fabric but not the flowery stuff...( I have one piece with swirls in more blues too) and I think I got away with 3 meters even though I omitted the ties where would have been enough for the too!
I prefer clothes that are not cut off at waistline but I had plans for adding the "watchmacallit" at the back to hold a tie but then I tried it on without  and when summer is like this year this is the way I like to dress.
I did som changes to the pattern like constucting the pockets differently and added a different direction piece of fabric at the top and made the top 4 cm longer and added 5 cm to the shorter version of the dress so it´s something in the middle now.
I´ve been wearing it a lot and have plans for at least one more in the very near future, I saw some pictures on Instagram when 2 fabric where used and I have some fabric in teal that are suitable and I will go with the ties this time.
I´m not so fond of the the way the sleeves end but I saw a nicer way on some better RTW the other day that I will use for my next dress

Gucci Skirt

We are having a really warm summer here in Sweden and the dryest as far as anyone can remember so what´s more suitable than to talk about my wool skirt that I have been wearing consistantly fall- winter- early spring. 

Front view

I made it early fall last year at a sewing camp there we where 20 women sewing for four days and evenings and getting food and coffea served to us reguarly

I was supposted to make a regular 6 gore A-line skirt but forgot the pattern at home so I went with what I had, the pattern is from an old Burda Plus and probably also a Burda Style and has a different cut at front that I liked and a went at the back, no waistband.
The fabric is an endbolt och really nice tweedy rusty wool that I bought from Italienska Modetyger.

Detail from inside back, hangers from the lining fabric and I also put my name on it!

It´s lined with a rayon lining and stabilized at the waist with some kind of twill tape, I´ve made skirts without stabilizing them at the waist but it really makes a differense doing it so no more easy way out here...

The last picture here shows the inside and I completely underlined it with silk organza, it´s the first time I do that in a complete garment, I used it as an interfacing before but never like this. Silk organza is hard to find in Sweden at least at a moderate price but I have a small collection now.

Underlining with silk organza is a winner! It gives a structure to the skirt that suprised me and I feel that it keeps the fabric from not stretching so my promise to myself is that I will never sew a wool skirt without it ever!!!!
Rust is a nice color that works well with navy and I really like these colors that reminds me of fall.

Hello 2018!!!!

New year and new start!
I did not set up any sewing goals for last year but I will for this year;
I signed up for the RTW fast so I´m not buying any clothes for this year....I have a tendency to shop spontanesly so I think it´s a good idea for me . I also used to be the girl who saw things on the catwalk or on high street and made a copy myself and I would like to find her again and to be honest I Think I can do 3 years with the clothes I have part from undies and stockings...no I do Think I have stockings for 3 years....
I would really like to find the optimal wrapdress pattern, I have two wadders that prooves that I´m still searching. One will be transformed into a skirt and the other into something else. I´m not even sure I want a wrap dress, I just want something wrappy over the bust. I like to wear jersey dresses and finding dressier models would be a goal and MariaDenmark and Sysiden is one option but also Knipmode/Fashion style has some great models for elegant jersey dresses.
I would like to find a way to sew the optional pantie or make a decican to just continue buying them.
I would like to sew a shirt in an inexpectly fabric that only can be found in a quilt store.
I will go to Toronto, Stratford, London and Rome and Stockholm and Copenhagen
Will be making some kind of fun X-mas outfit since I will be working all X-mas and NY and need something fun and tacky for this, ugly X.mas sweather is not enought!
I will blog more often...

Better late than never

About 7 years ago I bought a kit from Kantjeboord and I made a bra from it. ( and how I miss my Vivien bra....) Then after cancer and reduction all of my bras were too big and I slaughtered them and saved the hardware and other parts that could be saved.  A couple of years ago I did a new bra from that fabric but the straps came out to short, really easy to fix! Of course I did not do that until today so here´s a picture of my new bra, I even have fabric left to make a panty or two if I mix in some black fabric but until then I wear this one with black panties.

Socks, socks, socks!

I kind of like knitting socks...more than I actually wear them and I have a drawer to prove it!

 

 

Lately I have started to knit my socks on smaller needles like 2,0 mm and it makes them a lot nicer to wear. I always knit them toe up so when I link to a pattern I have not actually knitted the pattern just the design and sometimes a variation of it and I always knit them two at a time using magic loop.

 

This yarn is from Garnkorgen and it the color was called denim and the pattern is Laced-up-socks from Janice Kang, the links are to my Ravelry page for these projects. I Think the yarn might have been a Cascade heritage.....

This one is called Mirror and the pattern is from Knitty and by Josiah Bain and I did a variation of the patter on the backside. My notes says that these where made in Cascade Heritage, so maybee the denim blue where not....

 

I bought this yarn becourse I liked the name of the color; Mango. The pattern is a pattern for half mittens that I made into socks. It´s designed by Gesine Wiemer.
I liked this yarn so much that I decided to mend onother sock that are just basic from the head but had a close encounter this a moth ( I hope that is an issue from the past now but you never know...)

This is what I´m working on now! The pattern is called Fledermaus meaning "bat"  There are some simular designs for more socks on Ravelry. They are designed by Caoua Coffea and are a little challenging to knit and a lot of them have this twisted knit that I think is called Bavarian style. The yarn is Malabrigo sock

Tartan + Tweed = True

I rarely get exited about new books, but this is what I´ve been waiting for since my trip to Edinburgh a couple of years ago. It´s written by Caroline Young and Ann Martin and is a historybook of the two fabrics with a lot of pictures of fashion. It´s almost as if I want fall to arrive so I can sew my rusty tweedfabric into a skirt....well almost....

Burda (pre Style...)2004/03/136 top

I made my second blouse or top from this pattern and can´t recall that I ever blogged about my first...
The first one is the one with flowers, it´s a flea market rayon skirt that I liked the print on, It´s almost a straight 44 from the magazine, the second one is an embrodered cotton remnant that I bought in New Orleans a couple of years ago intended to sew this pattern and made plans for it time upon time and now I decided to do an FBA...Dont need it on Burda´s plus size patterns, and I knew it before and don´t know why I did it???..... So now I have do remove the extra fabric in that area.

 

 This is how the pattern looks like in the magazine, I made view A but sew the sides together all the way BUT since Nygårdsanna used to have a simular top with buttons in the back that is what I did on both . I can see that she has them again but this time without the buttons in the back

 The flowery top has som from the stash buttons that I have in two sizes, and for the white top I bought  hammer on kind of mother of pearl plastic buttons, most becourse I was concerned if I could sew button holes over the emroidery, The are from Stof och Stil and I already hade to replace one....

 The neckline as well as the arm holes are finished with ready made bias tape, and below you can se one of the seams from the original skirt that are placed like some kind of princess seams on the front

Now I will draw a new pattern and make some more tops, they don´t need a lot of fabric and are quick to make, reminds me of a Sorbetto fro Colette, but since this pattern works so well for me I think I stick with it. It´s also something that I like to wear, I might to some different necklines just for the fun of it!

Onion 5019 Wrap blouse OOP

 

I think everybody who watches House of Cards envy Claire Underwood  her wardrobe....I really like her white wrap blouse and wanted to make one for myself. after a lot of googling and going through Burda Magazines I decided to use this pattern, and then I saw that the blouse required far less yardage than my 2,5 meter piece of white shirting I decided to use this fabric from Stof2000 in Copenhagen ( Stof 2000 is a chain but I find the store at Norrebro to be the best)It´s a cotton and the colors goes well with the grey skirt and the cardigan that is yet to be finished.

 

If you look to the right of this picture you can see what the fabric looks like

 I did not do the pleats in the back and made my ties ca 150 cm long and tie them around me when I wear the blouse. I also did a different finish on the sleeves. I have a long torso so I added 2 cm above bustlevel and at the same time I lowered  the apex. This is something I do on all patterns and it´s a really fast fix.
I will be going to Rome for 2 weeks later this spring and one thing I will look for is a nice white shirting becourse I´m determent to redraw this pattern so I get a classic shirt sleeve with vent and cuff  and I will also make it slightly longer and sligtly wider ties.

Burda Sewing Handbook; The Skirt!

I´ve been talking about the Facebook group that I sew with and my plan for spring was this skirt that I "found" in my sewing room, the outer shell that is, and I could not figure out what pattern I´ve used until I woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly recalled it. It´s a lovely 100% wool that are the leftovers from another skirt I have made several years ago...This fabric has the nicest drape and I have no idea where I bought it...

 

It´s a pretty basic skirt with a contoured waistband, I made mine a little bit longer just by adding to the hemline and since I was out of fabric I used quilters cotton for the inner waistband and lined it with something green-greyish that I found in my stash, the lining looks better to the quilters cotton than to the wool...I really like this skirt ! It´s simple enough but is a little bit flowy at the hemline.

If you look in the book there are a lot of different variations of it and I will add it to my staple patterns for skirts.
The blouse was also a part of the plan for spring but I talk more about it later

I almost made a jurk!

Knip mode is available in Sweden or at least the german edition called Fashion Style is. I like it! I like that all styles are up to plus size and are mostly shown on both kind of ladies. and if you sew for a man there is one pattern /Magazine for him too.

 

 

 This dress was a real Karin dress and I had the perfect fabric for it....I was visiting my cousin last fall and the local fabric shop was closing and selling fabric 50 % off if you bought what´s left on the bolt, I did!...I also bought like 8 meters of rayon lining in black, always good to have around the house...

 

I like any dress with an interesting neckline and not cut off at the waist. I knew I had to finish the dress before I went to Mexico becourse the colors is not really what I wear at home but the cut on this one is really nice and I can imagine sewing one in black or navy also .

I wore the dress a lot like here on the day I was traveling from Puerto Escondido to Acapulco. There was enough fabric for a little bolero using McCall  M6559 The pattern that are included with the really nice maxi tank dress that a lot of people have made really nice dresses from and of course I have a nice stripy fabric stocked for making one myself,...but not this week....

 

 

Excuse me for my strange face, having enchiladas mexican style and a cider

Ottobre fall/winter dress 2015

 

I made this dress last year and wear it a lot, it´s warm comfy and since I now can see it like this in need of an FBA. still no smile and the kitchen remodeling is not finished either...This is actually the second dress from this pattern, the first one is a burgundy in something called Courtelle jersey, this one is the same kind of fabric but this one is double face så I used the leopard print for the body and the plain grey for the sleeves. The pattern is really nice, it has a square neckline with the facings attached and a split back. If you havn´t tried Ottobre´s pattern I think you should, especially the ones for jerseys are quite nice but if you complain about Burda´s patternsheet you should be aware that Ottobres are worse.....

 

 

 

 My third attempt with this pattern is a Tom Ford stripe bought at Skipper Stoffe in Copenhagen, it´s a much thinner fabric and I made it shorter, since I think it works well with black stockings when it´s cold and looks summery with summerlegs later.  thought a lot about matching stripes here but it did not really ended up how I planned so I decided to add piping . The hardest part with this dress was to match the stripes in the back seam but on take three after some hand basting it looked good. So good I actually smiled at the picture...

 

Closeup on the sleeve and body:

 

 

Kind of retro dress Onion 2064

I like Onion patterns a lot and since I live close to Copenhagen it´s easy to pick one when I´m on a daytrip there. This is a really easy dress to sew, I don´t know where I got the fabric...probably Copenhagen... I made the view with the straight sleeves and added piping to the collar and lapels. I also added an extra button since I decided this was not a dress for cleevage. The cut dividing the upper part from the lower part both on the back and front make the dress really easy to sew at least if you use a fabric that does not have to match

I also added an extra seam since I had a little accídent with the serger.....I´ve been sewing for a lot of year and this was actually the second time that happened, but since the fabric is very busy I just serged the hole together and it does not show unless you know where to look.  I´m a pretty happy person so I guess I have to try laughing or at least smile for the next session....and I don´t wear this dress with orange shoes.
I have to talk about the pink bag on my right side in the picture. It´s a Hinza bag. It´s a reproduction from a design from around 1950 made from recycled plastic, you can buy it in 2 sizes and in a lot of different colors, It´s sturdy, easy to clean and fun. I use it all the time!

Cascade kind of cardigan

Yesterday I invested in a tripod and I have obviously a lot more to learn on how to use it, At least I got pictures of me wearing the garment and I saw at once that the dress could have improved with the use of FBA. This blurry picture is from my kitchen and yes! I have a pink fridge!

This pattern is from a Burda Plus and the fabric is from Bologna, and contains a little bit more synthetic than I like to admit. The cardigan was a part of my winter plan as was the dress, There is nothing wrong with this cardigan really... but...as beautiful as the fabric is, a kind of jaquard knitted fabric in black, grey and brown, it does not show the nice cut that this cardigan have and it does not really match anything in the plan.... The cardigan was easy to sew and I decided to hem it by hand and I think that was a good decision I also omitted the pockets

 

 

 I think this is a really good pattern and it should be done in a solid to show of those nice lines, I have a grey college melange fabric that I think will be an excellent choise...but not this week.....

Closeup on the fabric, the back side is brown

All in one facing and installing zippers

I like sleeveless dresses and tops and I like all in one facings! I´ve been thinking for a long time to do a tutural but since I´m unable to get the clothes I´ve sewn on a photo, this has been put on hold too.
Then I discovered that Threads had an article about it and even made a video and they are so much better at it then I ever will be so here is a link to Youtube.

The only thing I do different is that I leave about 5 cm at the armholes of both the facing and the garment and and after doing the side seams I sew the lower part of the armcycle together. I like the finish of this so much better

or

Since my weight is going up and down I might completely finish the armcycles and sew the sideseams with the facing and all as one seam carefully match at the top, this makes it easy to alter the fit

 A thing that is asked a lot of times in sewing groups is how to install a zipper and especially an invisable zipper. Here is my advise on this: First you should buy an invisable zipper foot, yes you can use other feet for the job but this one really makes the difference!!!!!!
Second, I was going to write that you should head over to Craftsy and look at the free install zippers mini class that was sponsered by Bernina and was so good, but it lookes like it´s gone so chances are that if you did not "buy" it earlier you can not get access to it..... really pity!....

Swedish Stockings

You heard of Swedish tracingpaper and now I´m telling you about Swedish Stockings. If you read this blog you must have notised that I wear a lot of dresses and skirts, and since I live in a cold climate I need pantyhose and I used a lot of different brands with very different result. It´s weird when you buy a brand and it´s kind of roomy and then you buy another pair but in a different style and they are simply too small, way too small....and when we have this thing with nags and honestly most of the time they are ready for the trash before I need to wash them, then I discovered this brand, they are made from recycled nylon and comes in a few different styles, some with patterns, I´ve tried a 60 and 100 denier and I´m in love! day after day they last and look good on. They cost more to buy but counting how long they last they are much cheeper and so much more comfy.