petit main sauvage

More about Marion 47

2012-01-30T07:33:00.005+01:00

Just a short post to elaborate on the previous one and to clarify it. First of all, Melissa asked to see the pattern sheet... Well, hmm, of course you can but that really was a slightly masochistic question.

I just scanned a corner of the actual pattern sheet. Yes, this is what you were supposed to trace your patterns from (and I've been told that the value of these magazines on the collector's market is largely depended on their not having tracing marks on those pattern sheets...)

And as for instructions... Any woman can sew, right? It was part of your upbringing.

This was all you got in the way of instructions: some general information (seam allowance not included, some pattern pieces may be on the pattern sheet in two parts on the pattern sheets so you have to fit them together. that sort of thing) and drawings of the clothes with their size, which line to follow for the pattern, the amount of fabric needed (which sounds more useful than it really is because the standard width apperently used to be 90 cm) and a describtion of the pattern pieces. There aren't even any fabric lay-out drawings until the mid 1960's issues. A pattern with a truly unusual feature might come with some cryptic remark about how to accomplish that, but generally, you were on your own.

In fact, I'm happy to have the drawings of pattern pieces because that will allow me to try and borrow some little style tricks without tracing an entire pattern. Which may well be what I'll end up doing most.

Also, several of you commented on the nice clothes in the pictures I posted. However, there are only a few patterns with each magazine. Those were on pages marked with a picture of a tracing weel (pointed out in red here. don't worry that's photoshop).

In this page, the maturnity and baby clothes on the right page are on the pattern sheet, the lingerie on the left page isn't.

So, the nice swagger coats and those stylish dresses didn't come with patterns (and indeed I adore the pockets of dress 2 and the neckline of 3).

Also, just for fun:

This is the Marion 1952 sizing table. Top bracket are ladies sizes, with measurements for bust, waist and hips. the middle bracket is for childrens sizes, which are determined by chest size and 'overall length' (of what? the child? Probably not because I'm pretty sure no-one is only 1.02 meters tall at 14... It might be leg length or that of some unknown sort of standard garment). The third bracket is for menswear which was sized not only by chest, waist and hip measurement but also by collar size. I know that's a standard for men's shirts so I guess it makes sense.

We tend to think that sizes back then ran way smaller, but guess what... size 38 is for a 88 cm bust. So is size 38 in today's Burda. Ok, Marion assumes a smaller waist and a larger hip but the differences there are only 2 cm each, which is half a size. And Marion sizes went up as far as 52, for a 124 cm bust. And it seems like the 'average' size was 40 or 42...

I may study this a bit more and come back to it in a later post.

Vintage pattern magazines!

2012-01-27T07:29:00.004+01:00

Last year, my aunt gave me a pile of vintage sewing magazines. They were 'Marion' magazines and mostly from the 1970's. I posted scans from them a few times.

Recently, I decided to take a look at a local auction site in search of vintage patterns (I finally realised I should look in the 'collecting' instead of the 'hobby' category...) and I found some more... In fact, I bought the issues from June 1952 to July 1953 from one seller and a random selection of numbers (mostly one or two a year, with the early '60s missing) from 1954 to 1969 from another. And yes, I paid for it this time.

Despite the cost involved (and let's face it: when do I ever spend on patterns?) I'm quite happy with my purchase and I've spend many a happy hour looking through those lovely little pages. Like the 70's Marions, these come with pattern sheets. One those, there is usually one pattern in each of their 'normal' sizes (for women and children and sometimes some menswear too). All patterns are one size only. You could order those patterns in the other sizes and most designs in the magazine, usually including the most elaborate and glamorous, were only available by mail order. Strangely though, neither seller had any of these mail-order patterns for sale.

Any way, I will so try and make some of this stuff.

Well, enough talk for now, I'll just share some of the contents of 'Marion magazine nr. 47 - June 1952' with you.

Patterns, pieces and drafting

2012-01-25T11:28:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! It feels like such a long time since my last post, but I know that it really hasn't been that long. I've just been working so much in those few days that they seemed longer...

Now, I'm back to show you the pattern pieces for that top. No real picture, because I sort of free-handed the whole thing, based on an earlier pattern. Some of you also asked me how having a center front or back seam could save fabric, so I've made this little schematic drawing of the pattern pieces as I would lay them out on the fabric. Please keep in mind that it's not to scale.

As you can see, these cut-on sleeves take up a lot of width. So, if you only have to cut one piece on the fold, you can make do with little more fabric then what's needed for the top's length. The collar shape is also clearly visible here: once cut, it it folded on the dotted line, the front is stitched together between the point and the notch and closed separately from the notch to the dotted line. The whole thing is inserted into the body of the top after the front and shoulder seams have been sewn.

As you can see, it's a very simple design and it's one of those which only work in knits.

About the shirts with pattern magic collars: I plan to get started on those this weekend. I will make the curve collar first because someone mentioned wanting to make something like it herself (and I know Carolyn is a major Pattern Magic user, so that would be quite cool). Obviously, I still plan make the double collar as well and document that process.

Mustard and plum

2012-01-19T07:47:00.004+01:00

Way back, in December 2011, I made a sweater in a sort of plum/aubergine coloured knit. A big, loose-fitting sweater decorated with a braid along the center front. That shape meant that it looked great with my shorts and maybe with skinny trousers. But not with much else.

Soon however, I realized that the colour would be great with my mustard yellow skirts...

So, I bought another meter of the same fabric and made it into another sweater. This time in a shape which works with past-the-knee skirts.

I've made this 'kimono/dolman sleeves and fitted at the waist' kind of shape a couple of times before and I still think it works well for me. It is the short of design on which you always want a center seam at either front or back, just to save a hell of a lot of fabric in cutting. This time it's a center front seam and I tried a new neckline feature in order to make it look natural. The neckline is fairly wide on the sides and has a V at the front. The collar fills up that V and has a center front seam as well, which is partially sewn up.

Not easy to explain in words, but very easy to make. Just shout out in the comments if you want detail or pattern piece pictures.

Pattern Magic collars

2012-01-17T08:05:00.005+01:00

When posting about my sewing plans for 2012, I mentioned wanting to make more garments with Pattern Magic details. Although I won't have much time for sewing this week, I want to make a careful little start on this.

What I want to start with, are shirts with the nice, unusual collar designs from Pattern Magic 1. I've seen the double collar on a blog once, and the curve collar never. This may be because, like Carolyn (link goes to her blog, I can't find the specific post) mentioned, these projects describe the collars only, not full garments. It's not hard to incorporate them in any old shirt pattern though. Or indeed, to draft one using a sloper. Which is what I'll be doing.

These are the designs I have in mind. For both collars, I tried to come up with blouses which, in my opinion, suit their shape and style.

There's something soft and rather Japanese about the curve collar. Which is why I think it will go well with a fairly loose fitting body with three quarter length sleeves (either straight or with some fullness lightly gathered at the bottom). I added a back pleat simply because I like to do something at the back as well. This particular kind of back pleat (stitched up at the bottom) is a common feature in 1930's clothes and will look well with the shirt tucked in. Obviously, the bottom of the pleat could be left open for a more flared shape.

The double collar vaguely reminds me of those rigid Edwardian stock collars. Because of that, I saw it immediately with a fitted and detailed kind of shirt. So: armhole princess seams and a pleated lower back panel. Long sleeves with french cuffs. If you want to go for a real Victorian inspired look, you could make leg-o-mutton sleeves, but I won't this time.

I am going to make both of these shirts. If anyone would like to make something similar, I'm happy to share the drafting process here on my blog. I'm not going to make this a sew-along, so you don't have to want to make this right now. Also, I'm not going to show how to do the collars exactly because I think that might a violation of the Pattern Magic copyright. So, it's basically for anyone who has the Pattern Magic book but doesn't get around to making a 'detail' project like this.

If you're interested, just say so in the comments and tell me which shirt you'd like to see/try first.

When watching television

2012-01-13T07:45:00.003+01:00

It's been one of those weeks when every day, either I or my boyfriend get home late, so we have dinner late and so, even on those evenings without other obligations, I get no sewing done. I've actually been watching more TV than usual.

The good thing about this is that, on BBC 2, I saw the new two-part period drama the Mystery of Edwin Drood. It's a particularly dark tale based on an unfinished story by Charles Dickens. And in good BBC tradition, the acting is good and so is the look.

If you've been watching Tudors before, you'll recognise the actress playing Rosa here (she also played Jane Seymour).

Obviously, apart from enjoying the story, I was also studying the clothes and I just love the neckline decoration of Rosa's mourning gown (this was the best picture I could find of it, you can just see the effect on her shoulder). Black lace slightly gathered from the solid fabric's neckline to its own... Can't you just imagine that in a sort of '50s style dress? Like a more modest and/or more frilly version of an illusion neckline?

What you may have seen before...

2012-01-11T17:54:00.003+01:00

but almost certainly didn't.

I'm going to show you a pair of trousers which has actually been in a picture on this blog before. I made these trousers back in November and wore them in the pictures of 'wearing a square'. At that time, I didn't photograph them on their own and I cut those pictures at hip length so they were not on display at all.

I may have forgotten about them because they were very easy to make or because, at that point in time, I wasn't quite sure about how to make them work in my wardrobe. I shouldn't have because they're great. They're comfortable and, by now, I love the look.

These are rather skinny trousers, not my usual look.

I guess I was inspired both by pictures of vintage '50 cigarette trousers and by the many versions of the Colette Patterns 'Clover' trousers showing up all over the web. Mine have a similar tapered leg and side closure but instead of being waist high, they are a few centimeters higher and finished with a facing. They were very easy because that's just my trouser sloper with an extra high waistline put on. And I'm very happy with them because I finally got that flat-butt-adjustment down to a T. Look:

(I took only one picture from the side. I'm actually looking down at the trousers, not trying to smell at my armpit ;)

I made these in a wool blend with some stretch and by now I keep mentally going through my stash looking for fabric to make another pair...

Intentions and resolutions

2012-01-10T18:00:00.002+01:00

As you may have noticed, I haven't done one of those posts to round up my sewing over the past year. I actually enjoyed reading those of others and they made me think back about what I made last year but I think I have missed the moment. Just thinking back was enough to remind me that this wasn't quite the not-very-interesting year I was starting to think it had been.

I made a jacket using traditional tailoring technique. And a hell of a lot of work on the jacket block. I also made jackets for other people (my friend J told me at the New Year party how much she still loves hers. Unfortunately, E's wasn't as succesful). I also made a fun little cropped jacket for which I finally used the leather from E's old coat.

And then, I continued to experiment with more loose-fitting shapes and I really commited to building a more colourful wardrobe (the links here just show examples of what I mean by that). And I started playing around with Pattern Magic and tried jumpsuits for the first and second time, and shorts.

Seeing all this lined up, I get the feeling I can be satisfied with the past year. I'm less happy about my loss of blogging mojo towards the end of the year, following the draft-along on which I dropped the ball...

Right now, I have every intention of going back to regular blogging. I'm not going to try and revive the draft-along any time soon because I'm still quite busy, but I do have every intention of creating some small 'jump-in-if-you-like projects'.

Obviously, I will continue to make all my own clothes. I think there will be more Pattern Magic stuff in the near future (also good for the aforementioned projects) and I may actually try and sew up things from the few vintage patterns I own.

Along that last line, I'm very exited to be a test seamstress for the Vintage Pattern Library's 1912 Project. Being a no-patterns kind of girl, I've looked at vpll before, after reading about it on other blogs, but I've never actually dealt with them before. However, I signed up and got an email saying I'm in. Basically, they are digitalizing the 1912 editions of sewing magazine 'La Mode Illustree' and all those patterns will need to be tested and annotated by and for today's sewing community. There should be one pattern to be tested each month, and I fully intend to stick with it, so you can definately expect to find that on this blog this year.

I think this will be all for now. I'll be posting some of my last 2011 creations this week (because I only managed to get reasonably OK pictures of them last weekend) and I will announce any new plans when I get to them.

And the waterfall? It's just because no-picture post are boring. This is a photograph I took on my 2011 summer holiday, using my old technical camera.

Oh no, she didn't...

2012-01-08T17:51:00.004+01:00

Yes she did!

If you are hosting a New Year's Eve party for some friends, it's probably not a good idea to decide you want a new dress for it on short notice. Certainly not if you're going to make it from scratch and don't have time to start on that until the afternoon of 31 December.

Which is just what I did. There were redeeming factors though: this is an extremely simple dress, drafted from my knit sloper and I had all the materials in my stash and by the time I could start on it, all the party preparations where done and E was going to cook dinner that evening (and he made a great chocolate cake, yum).

The fabric for this dress is a textured stretch lace (which is unfortunately very hard to photograph) which had been in my stash for years. There was only 1 meter at 1,10 m wide, so it could only just become a dress. I had wanted three quarter length sleeves but, with the fabric available, it was either cap sleeves or an all-in-one facing. Under the lace, I used a cream coloured, silky knit lining. I treated it as underlining both to speed up the construction and to avoid very visible black lines at the sides an darts for the seams in the lace and to keep issues with the different behavioural characteristics of these two fabrics under control.

The shape is extremely simple. It has a bit of a boat neck, is fairly fitted down to the bustline and from there to the hem, the sides and straight and only flare out a little bit to allow a bit of ease at the hips. The end result, as to be expected, is a bit '60's.

I wore the dress for the party and I did get some compliments on it, and a few gasps of disbelief when I mentioned I had made it that very afternoon...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T07:41:00.006+01:00

Yes, I'm aware of the fact that we're almost an entire week into the New Year already... but it isn't too late to wish you all a very happy 2012, is it?

This week, I've been very busy working at M's to get her collection ready for ehm... the trade show by the end of this month. It's great to do but it obviously cut deeply into my personal sewing time and mojo, not to mention daylight hours.

Of daylight hours, we've had preciously little this week anyway (yes, I know I shouldn't complain. the daylight situation is obviously much worse for those of you who live further north, say, in Scandinavia or Canada).

The Netherlands (and a big part of nothern Europe, especially along the coastlines) have been hit by an authentic autumn storm. Very seasonal for Januari... It's not cold, but it's cloudy, rainy and very, very windy. Keeping with Dutch tradition on these issues, there are high water warnings in some parts of the country. This may sound very serious indeed but it's in fact a fairly regular thing (last time we had this was in 2007, it's been unusually quiet for the past few years). Just part of having more than half the country below sea level.

Explanations about the wheather aside, I guess what I'm trying to tell you is this: I wanted to write some nice, interesting, entertaining, meaningful posts earlier this week but I didn't have time. I wanted to show you the little dress I made on Saturday afternoon to wear to that evening's New Year's Eve party, but I haven't had the chance to take pictures.

I will take that picture this weekend.

For now, I'm just showing this old holiday picture which has become the target of Photoshop experimentation (though not as much as you may think. this is the original).

I you like this kind of stuff, I may share more later. At least it is some sort of proof that, despite my clumsy self-timer pictures here, I really do know something about photography.

I'll be back soon with some proper musing on sewing plans for this new year.

A jumpsuit, seriously!

2011-12-26T15:23:00.006+01:00

This summer, I made myself a cropped jumpsuit, playsuit or whatever you'd like to call such a thing.

It looked cute enough, but it could have done with a little more length in the torso... I won't elaborate on the implications but believe me when I say that I've only once attempted to wear it all day.

Ever since, I've been considering a revisit of sorts. At first, I just wanted to make a long legged version of it, with that essential bit of added body length. Later, I started thinking about other options. Strange though the concept of the jumpsuit may be, I've spent enough time around people who like it to be somewhat intrigued.

So, just before the holidays, I tried again.

It's a completely different design from the one I made last summer but it incorporates tried and tested elements.

I took the bodice of my pinstripe dress and changed the collar/neckline arrangement. To that, I added trousers based on my tried-and-tested belt pleated trouser pattern.

This did involve some choices and guesswork because, as I learned before, you have to add lengthwise ease to the body section of a jumpsuit pattern in order to make it work in real life. My pattern making book recommends between 3,5 and 10 cm. 3,5 cm is what I used before and which was inadaquate. Now, figuring that with the belt pleated bottoms, a low-hanging crotch might be OK, I went for 10 cm (which I think is actually intended for designs with blousey tops and with elasticated waistlines). Having horizontal seams in the body left me with the opportunity to alter this, if necessary.

I first machine-basted the trouser section to the waistband to see what the length would look like. I decided to keep it as drafted. Then, I took them off again and did the back pockets.

So, I ended up with a jumpsuit with a fairly fitted bodice, a dropped waistband and belt pleated trousers which taper towards the ankle. It has a blind zipper at center front, scoop pockets at the front and double welt pockets with button loops at the back.

The neckline can obviously be adjusted with the zipper and is topped by a partially free-hanging collar stand. And the collar and the tab at the waistband have bound buttonholes.

It's both un unusual garment for me, and yet fits in perfectly with my normal look. I think I like it. And I've been wearing it a couple of times now and it's very comfortable (it wasn't easy to photograph though. winter.... it may not be cold so far, but it sure is dark)

Finally here!

2011-12-22T17:34:00.003+01:00

This is something I have mentioned before, but it's a while ago: I'm a contributor to the Burdastyle book.

Like a lot of the others, I announced that fact on my blog when we were allowed to, shortly after we sent our garments to Burdastyle the summer before last.

If you visit Burdastyle regularly, you will know that there has been a launch party (two in fact, one in New York and one in San Francisco. Unfortunately for me and other contributors worldwide, those were the only locations...) and the book is now for sale (Amazon.co.uk is listing it at two prices, with the with cheaper one available from 7 Januari. I think that's because is it at this moment only for sale in the US but will be released worldwide at that date. So, with the expensive one, you're paying for shipment).

As a contributor, I was to receive a free copy. It was supposed to be sent out after the NY launch party but didn't arrive for weeks.

And then, just when I was really getting a bit worried and annoyed about it, it was delivered to my door last Tuesday. Together with another package containing the jacket I made for it. A package which Burdastyle sent my way last Friday. I don't know which part of the system of international mail to blame for this and it may have something to do with the Christmas card rush as well...

I'm just so happy to get my hands on the book. It's quite a substantial thing really (judging from browsing through it. I obviously haven't had the chance to read the whole thing yet).

Spiral bound so you can keep it open and refer back to it while sewing, nicely designed and including a huge amount of information. They even explain basic things like how to use your sewing machine and how to use a cutting diagram!

And then of course, there are the patterns and their variations. Which is where we come in...

It's pretty cool to see the fruits of my labour on the glossy pages of a real book!

And they made these wonderfully clear technical drawings based on my construction pictures...

Just a shame I didn't send a better picture of me to print with the little interview... There was too little time to rope in any of the great photographers I know...

Anyway, it's no use whining about it now. I guess the design will be and should be the star of this sho ;)

P.S. If you are wondering about the obvious lack of frantic sewing for Christmas, you should know that giving presents for Christmas (although some people do it) is not traditional in the Netherlands. We have Sinterklaas, on the 5th of December as the occasion for giving presents (athat's mostly for kids).

Ehh, hi there

2011-12-19T08:09:00.002+01:00

Are you still willing to believe me if I say I didn't mean to go without posting for so long? I hope you are.

The truth of the matter is that I've been without internet for part of last week because we were switching to a different offering from the same provider (if that makes any sense at all). And, added to that, I have to say I wa

s a bit disappointed not to get even a single comment on my last post. I thought that sweater looked Ok, or I wouldn't even have posted it...

As I already mentioned, I understand my 'oh, look I made this' posts may not be the most interesting to comment to. However because I don't use patterns and often start new projects on a whim and because it's winter so there's very little daylight when I'm at home, they're all I can manage when I'm busy with other things.

Right now, I'll only need to do a bit of hand-sewing to finish a new and more involved project. I'll show you later this week.

I'm also still waiting on mail and email stuff, so I can, hopefully, tell more about projects I have been/will be involved in.

And, catching up on blog reading, I've noticed that many people have begun reviewing their year in sewing and/or announcing their intended last projects for 2011. I don't think I'll do the latter just yet, but I will try to take a good look about what I need/want for the holidays.

And finally, there is some real news in this post: when cutting the fabric for my now-almost-finished project, I decided I was fed up with my scissors. I've been making do for all these years with fabric scissors from Ikea (good value for money, I'd recommend to any beginner) or brandless ones bought at the notions stall at the market. All of those start out fine but soon develop their own idiosyncracies, leaving me with a drawer full of scissors (I've counted 5 pairs...) but having to make notches using paper scissors on thread clippers because none of them will cut at the very tip.

It was definately time to invest in a proper pair of fabric shears. I've gone and bought these:

They are not the fanciest scissors you can get, not by far. They are, however, very hard wearing. designer friend M uses this kind, and the workshop she works with as well. They will cut through almost anything (just not ideal for cutting very thin silks), keep their edge and they are not ruined by something as simple as being dropped on the floor.

I bought mine from the same place where I bough my sewing machine, at what is (as far as I've been able to find out) a very low price. It's a Dutch site and shop, but for those few of you reading from anywhere near my location, I really recommend them.

Something warm?

2011-12-07T07:27:00.004+01:00

First up, I would like to tell you that I realise my recent posts tend to concentrate on 'show-and-tell'. And to talk about things which I've drafted myself, making them impossible to recreate. I'm aware of this but, for various reasons (I'm not even sure all of them are clear to me) my time online seems to be limited lately. Which cuts into my ambition to create clever general interest posts...

Anyway, after that little disclaimer, here's another thing I've made:

My first ever loose fitting sweater. It's a look which I think only works for me with skinny trousers, shorts or maybe with mini skirts. With those, I like it.

I drafted a very simple pattern for this, basically just rectangles with some curves cut out. The fabric is a sweaterknit which is drapey and loosely knitted.

And, to make things more interesting, I decide to try and immitate a structure well known from real knitted stuff: a cable.

It's actually a braid made from tubes of fabric sewn into the front. It's a bit heavy compared to the rest of the sweater but I like the look. I considered using strips of fabric instead of tubes which would have kept the weight down but wasn't really an option with this knit (loose knits can easily unravel).

Oh, and the title of this post? The sweater is in fact quite cozy, though not so warm that it doesn't work indoors. However, I'm well aware that an outfit which includes shorts can never really give off that 'warm for winter' kind of vibe...

I hope everyone of you is doing well and I'll be back later this week with another kind of post, I won't promis but I'll really try ;)

I did not make this

2011-12-02T17:44:00.005+01:00

But I want to show it to you anyway.

I have been known to knit (I've got two perfectly wearable items in my wardrobe to proove that point. One of them, a little black cardigan, I wear quite often) but I'm slow. I didn't learn until my late twenties, so if I ever want to use knitting as one of my major methods of garment construction, I'll have rather a lot of practise ahead of me. Which doesn't appeal that much, I must confess.

This lovely turtleneck sweater was made by my grandmother. She's in het eighties now and obviously belongs to a generation in which girls were taught how to knit from the age of four. Needless to say, she's very good at it.

She's taken on a big project now: She is going to knit an item of clothing of their choice for each of her children (4), grandchildren (8) and children's spouses (2) (not sure about grandchildren's significant others yet, I guess she'll see about them when she gets through the rest of us ;). She did tell us not to pick any very fussy designs like cable knit or multi-coloured intarsia, but that still leaves a lot.

I picked this sweater from a Phildar brand knitting magazine which I bought last year. It was written for, and executed in, their 'tweed' yarn. My grandma said (confirming my earlier experience) that using the yarn the pattern was written for, the first stitch sample was perfect and the whole thing was easy to knit. And, as you can see, the fit is spot on as well.

Obviously, I offered her to let the other female grandchildren (so far, I've only bought ladies' patterns, of course I would be more than willing to pick up one which includes men's patterns for her) pick patterns from my (rather modest selection of) knitting magazines as well. That way, I can find her the right yarn for them and help her, in that little way, with her project.

Another red skirt...

2011-12-01T17:39:00.008+01:00

So, this afternoon I had a bit of time to take pictures of my latest creations and the sweater my grandmother knitted for me. I set up the camera and took my pictures quickly because I didn't have much time and the weather (and with it of course, the available daylight) was particularly unreliable today.

And now, when I get a chance to look at those pictures on the computer, I find out that they're all very blurry. Must be my mistake, I probably adjusted the focus by accident when setting the self timer...

Anyway, I'll show you the pictures of my new skirt now and re-do the lot of them this weekend.

In fact, the weather was a lot brighter today, so there was some daylight left when I got home. And this time I actually managed to re-take my earlier pictures with any kind of charm ;) So I swapped the pictures in this post for new, focussed ones.

Between this post and the next, you may see a bit of a theme developing in my wardrobe... colour. And not just any colour but red and green in one outfit. In this case, it's the skirt that I made and the blouse which was a second-hand stall find (1 euro for a silk shirt, who could say 'no' to that...).

I've wanted a pencil skirt in this fabric ever since I bought it. Pencil skirts and variaties of them are much easier to mix and match with all kinds of tops than fuller skirts and I just love the colour.

Being a Dutch girl, I prefer skirts which allow me to ride a bicycle with little or no trouble. True pencil skirts aren't great for that, so I made this one with gores which flare out widely at the back. The back is also longer. The skirt has a high waistline which curves up at the front and it has pockets which wrap around the sides (sideseams only in the upper bit).

I hope you can see most of these things now, but I will be back with properly focussed pictures.

P.S. What is it with red skirts? I have consciously made two mustard yellow skirts but I now own four red skirts without having ever given it a moment's thought...

Twisted once more

2011-11-22T17:30:00.004+01:00

For any season, I need more tops in colours which work with my skirts and trousers and and which are, ehm, not black. Somehow, I seem to focus mostly on sewing jackets and dresses with trousers and skirts following at a respectful distance (measured in time spent sewing, that is) and tops only come a sad fifth.

Oh, I went through a phase of sewing button-downs from Knipmode, way back in the days before pattern making. And I made a few more blouses from my own patterns back when I had the sewing machine which would eat all thin fabrics and all jerseys. And some very basic t-shirty things when I just had my serger.By now, the Knipmode shirts have all been retired, most of the other blouses still get worn occasionally, but they're all black. The t-shirts are good for layering but too cold for autumn and winter.

So, to make a long story a little bit shorter, I made a top. From moss-green jersey. It's got a twist in the bust area (as seen in Pattern Magic 1) but also a dropped shoulder.

It is super comfortable and although it doesn't look great with my usual benchmark garment, the mustard yellow pencil skirt (the colours don't really like each other...) I really like it with my 'new' (bought second-hand, originally to re-use the leather, and then I found out it fit me perfectly) red skirt.

For those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, this is what I did to the shoulderline: I raised the shoulder itself by 0.5 cm and extended it quite a way. Then, starting at a right angle, I made a shape which joins the original fitted t-shirt shape at the waistline. This alteration provides extra ease at the top while keeping the overall shape and look of a fitted top. Which works quite well for a small-busted girl like me.

To go with this, I drafted a very simple sleeve: symmetrical for the bottom part and with almost no sleeve head at all.

A bit of pattern magic

2011-11-18T07:06:00.006+01:00

Look, I've made 'wearing a square'!

Those of you who are familiar with the Pattern Magic phenomenon will notice this one instantly. After all, it is one of the most made designs from Pattern Magic 2, judging by its appearance on Burdastyle.

However, I thought this would be just the kind of design for me. I had been pondering my options for making an 'object' kind of jacket for a while when I realised 'wearing a square' would be perfect for that.

I ignored the book's suggestion that this would work well in a stretch fabric. I was envisioning this more as a real jacket. It's made from this woven red mystery fabric (which contains both wool and polyesther) and it's lined. And I didn't put in a zipper but applied three hooks and eyes instead. I like how the top of the front forms a big collar this way.

I drafted my own square based on my normal sloper and made slightly wider sleeves. This is an important detail: I have skinny arms for a Dutch girl but in a non-stretch fabric the 10 cm for half of the sleeve which is indicated in the book would be uncomfortably tight. The sleeve is on the bias, but this lining doesn't gain much stretch by that.

All in all, I love this little jacket. I'm glad I tried it out in a cheap fabric but I am slightly worried it may not last long (it's already starting to pill on the sleeves. but on the other hand, some fabrics start doing that early and then stop...). Which would be a shame because I love the colour. I've got more of it which I will use.

The jacket works with a suprising amount of different things in my wardrobe and, a very unusual bonus for a loose fitting garment, my boyfriend likes the look of me wearing this ;)

My first blogger meeting

2011-11-17T11:58:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, fellow Dutch blogger Sigrid contacted me. She told me that she was planning a meeting for sewing enthousiasts. Here, in the Netherlands. Most of these ladies knew each other through Pattern Review (which I never look at, since I don't buy patterns) but they were also interested in meeting other people who shared the same hobby.

Now, I'm always reading about these meetings happening in say, New York and sometimes in London, but I've never had the opportunity to take part. So, obviously, I was interested.

The meeting was last weekend. We visited the Fashion loves Art exhibit at the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag and after that we went to Amsterdam. There, we visited lingerie-sewing emporium Kantje Boord and then went to Valerie's house.

We had a fabulous dinner and after that, there was an 'ugly fabric swap'. Apperently, this is standard issue at PR weekends, but what do I know about that? Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I actually like the fabric I ended up with. Next year, when summer is coming, I think I'll make a dress out of it.

It was great day. Even though I didn't join the others in visiting the fabric market on Sunday (I really should be on a strict fabric diet, that's why), it was great to meet so many nice people who love sewing.

Thank you so much for inviting me along ladies!

As promised: the cardigan how-to

2011-11-13T21:04:00.004+01:00

See, I still try to live up to my promises!

As I've said before, this cardigan or shrug (I guess it's technically more of a shrug because it doesn't close at the front) is very easy to make. It is a pattern for knits and it works best with light and drapey variaties. I've made mine on my serger, but lacking one, you could of course use the appropriate stitches on your sewing machine (just check which one to use first. A lot of sewing machines

don't like thin knits).

In this tutorial, I'm giving you the dimensions I used. Although this is not a fitted garment, different people would need different sleeve lengths and on larger sizes, this cardigan would end up sitting higher on the body, so size can matter. You can of course size it up a bit and/or change the dimensions. This would require cutting the body piece on the crossgrain and having two seams instead of one in the front-and-neckline band. In a fourway stretch fabric, that's fine.

These are your pattern pieces:

Just a bunch of rectangles (in case it's hard to read the print on the picture, both big ones are 140 cm wide, the top one is 62 cm high, and the bottom one 24 cm. The small pieces are the same: both 16 cm high and 18 cm wide).

Cut one of each with the straight grain as shown by the arrows in the drawing. Make sure to mark the middle of the big pieces and the top of the biggest one, make additional notches at 9 cm to either side of the center mark.

To make the cardigan, fold the biggest piece as shown and sew down along the top. Repeat this with the other side.

Fold the resulting object in half along the center line. Now, cut along the red lines: scoop out a back neckline of about 2 cm deep and cut off the points where they are at about 9 cm (better to do that for each separately, for accuracy).

Now, it's time to turn your attention to the smaller pieces. Sew them together along their vertical edges, fold the resulting tubes in half right side out and pin the big one to the neckline and front edge (with the seam at the back neckline and matching the center notches at the bottom) and the small ones to the arm. Each of these bands should be stretched a little to fit.

I hope this is clear. If there are any questions, please let me know through the comments.

As ever, everyone is of course free to use this tutorial for personal sewing (but not commercially). An if you make anything using this tutorial, I'd love to see it!

Onwards

2011-11-10T17:28:00.006+01:00

Well, ehhh, I did sort of promise a post on slopers last week, didn't I? Well, same problems as before...

The good news is I have now printed the JJ sloper (which takes more planning than you'd think because my printer has refused service since I had its ink cartridges re-filled a couple of months ago). The bad news is that my mind is on anything but dresses lately... Bad blogger, Lauriana!

;)

In other news, I have been putting off posting about other things until I would have this draft-along thing well under way. I won't be doing that anymore. I still have every intention of getting on with the draft-along but not posting about other things makes this blog a lot more 'dead' than it has to be. So I'll have no more of that.

As a first, let me show you this super-easy cardigan I made a week ago. This really is a very simple project but I really enjoy the look. It is also a great use for those thin, sheer drapey knits which would never really work as normal tops.

I'll do a how-to for it this weekend, if anyone is interested.

Oh, and the fabric was this sadly mystery-fibre but interestly patterned loose knit of turquoise and blue (way more turquoise and blue than you can see in the picture)

More soon!

On slopers

2011-10-31T20:24:00.005+01:00

This afternoon, I planned on taking a picture of myself wearing my usual sloper and, if possible, a version of the JJ sloper. However, last weekend was the end of daylight saving and with the clock back to winter time, there wasn't enough daylight left when I got home. I'll try again tomorrow but I may not succeed until Thursday...

Well, at least we can discuss slopers, don't you think?

As you will probably know already, a sloper is a basic pattern which (in our use. we're not talking about the garment industry blocks here, which are just slopers for RTW clothes) is fitted to the individual and used to make actual garment patterns. Your typical sloper is either very close fitting or has a 'small' to 'moderate' amount of ease and is shaped with darts. Some people prefer a 'no ease' sloper in order to have everything under control but in fact, almost every garment you'll ever make (in experience with the sole exception of a corset-style strapless top) will need ease, so a bit of ease in a sloper is not necessarily a bad thing.

If you are drafting your sloper from a set of instructions, those will often have you include some ease straight away, usually by adding to certain measurements. If you are using a ready-made sloper pattern (like the JJ sloper, which you can find here), you will have to fit it to you like any other pattern.

According to JJ's notes, her sloper includes wearing ease suitable for a fitted shirt, top or dress, so that should be perfect for drafting your dress. It is graded to Burda's bust and waist sizes, with instructions for a small bust alteration included on the pattern pieces. All sizes are, and this is important, drafted with one back length, 41 cm.

Why am I repeating JJ's excellent notes? Well, I want to make sure everyone reads and understands them. Because all of this does not mean you can just make it up in whatever size you usually make Burda patterns in and expect it to be perfect. The Burda empire uses it's own blocks as a base for all its patterns. Blocks intended for wearers with the sizes mentioned in their sizing table.

JJ took those sizes from the sizing table and drafted a set of slopers based on them. Because the sizing table only includes bust, waist and hip measurements, she must have had to guestimate certain other important bits of sizing information.

So, to get the best result from her sloper, you have to take your measurements, check them against Burda's sizing table and pick your size. If you know you have either a small or a large bust your could make a small or large bust alteration straight away, again based on the measurements. The same goes for back length. Personally, I know my back length (the measurement from the base of the neck to the waist, measured at center back) is 39,5 cm, so I would start by shortening this sloper by 1,5 cm.

Be prepared for more alterations though, no sizing table or pattern making method can reliably predict individual differences in things like bust height or shoulder shape and width.

I will post both my usual sloper and my progress on the JJ one here and in the Flickr group no later than this Thursday.

If you have a sloper completed, feel free to post it in the Flickr group as well. Just to show it off, or if you want help with your analysis of it.

Apology and explanation

2011-10-31T07:07:00.002+01:00

You know what happens when one is actually kind of busy but resolved to do something extra none the less, don't you? Especially when one starts feeling obliged to do well at the extra something because of the interest shown for it by quite a selection of rather cool people?

Well, then you will understand what happened to me over the past week and a half. Total loss of blogging mojo, and, which is worse, of much of my sewing mojo. Which combined, made me even more ashamed about my performance in this draft-along I planned.

This past week, I have done some other simple projects to claw back my sewing spirit and I'm glad and relieved to report that it worked. Now, let's get back to the draft-along!

Right now, when I'm typing this, it's 7 A.M. and I will have to leave for work in an hour or so. When I return home, around 6 P.M. I will finally write that post about slopers.

I have also decided to stick with the rather simple shirt dress design which I posted in the Flickr group. Two weeks ago, I had ambitious plans about posting several designs and discussing the merits of the different looks. However, while that is all very nice and is, in fact, sort of the way you would learn to design stuff if you actually went to school for that sort of thing, it is not how I usually work. I'm not great at sketching, so I usually do a lot of my considerations in my head, only committing at least half-baked plans to paper. And making an even slightly scanner-ready sketch takes more time than making one for 'at home design' use. Oh, and shirt dresses are fun and versitile, they can be made to flatter many different body types and are easy to fit into a 'normal' wardrobe. All in all, in my humble opinion, not at all a bad choice for anyone's first self-drafted dress.

(Oh, and this is not something I've said before: choosing a 'not a bad choice and not that difficult' design is good. I know it's tempting to try and make the ultimate dress straight away. However, I recommend you consider your first self-drafted dress as the one to gain experience on and only try to aim for the ultimate design later on. Really, trust me on this one.)

Well, I'm going to leave you for now with this picture. Although this is not sewing-related, I thought it would be fun to show you the result of two things I haven't made time for in, maybe, years. Getting a different hair-cut and having someone else take my picture (it took a lot of pictures for just one decent headshot, let me tell you).

More this afternoon. Have a good day!

Draft-along update

2011-10-18T06:52:00.004+02:00

Last weekend was extremely busy, I've had no time to even get near the computer, let alone post anything here. And I had planned to get started on the slopers...

Well, time for a quick update I guess. I've adressed a couple of the design issues and there are a couple of sketches in the Flickr pool now. I have to say I feel a bit humbled by the sketching skills of both ladies. Other than that, it's great to see how other people think about designing their dresses. I'd love to see more there and I will be adding more of my own. I would also like to emphasize that you can use the Flickr group as a testing ground for your designs. Please don't feel like you have to come up with a perfectly executed sketch of your final design. It's great if you do, but, especially if it's your first time doing this, it may work better to do some rough sketches of different styles, post all those you kind of like and use the comments you get to make your final decision.

Of course, designs should be considered in relation to body shape, as I've pointed out before. Overflowingstash had a great suggestion about that: she wrote that you could trace a picture of yourself, to make a custom croqui, thus both showing your shape and preserving your modesty. In the Flickr group, there's a great example of just that by Barbarain. If you don't have the drawing skills of either of these ladies, you could just settle for tracing the contours of your body in the picture, creating a silhouette.

Obviously, we will still be talking about designing our dress this week but it's also time to start being practical about it. Step 1: making and fitting a sloper.

Several of you have your own slopers already. Of course you can use those, especially if you know it's quirks.

For those of you who don't, this is the link to the JJ sloper on Burdastyle.

(thanks to Claire(aka Seemane) for discovering it despite the fact that it was re-named when Burdastyle changed the site to its present look)

I will be making and fitting this one myself (unless I get the impression no-one will be using it, that is) and show the process.

You can also try this one, found by Sewing Princess. In her comment, she described it as a drafting instruction, but the link she included leads me to a downloadable, and editable sloper in size 10. I'm not familiar with it myself but it looks like any standard sloper.

Overflowingstash also commented with this link and this one which are for making plastic wrap and duct tape dummies respectively. The plastic wrap method will allow you to create a zero-ease sloper. Again, I have no personal experience with this method and, taking her word for it, I'd advice caution.

All comments with these links can be found here.

Just a raincoat

2011-10-13T18:21:00.004+02:00

I hereby interupt the scheduled draft-along posting to show you something else I've made. My raincoat is finally finished. I finished it on the day the rain (relentless this week) stopped.

I announced my intention to make this coat weeks ago, and I haven't really strayed from my original design. A wide raglan-sleeved coat with wide sleeves, a back pleat and a hood. It is fully lined and has a zipper closure. My own pattern, of course.

I feel like it took me ages to make though.

In the muslin stage, there was a lot of sewing machine related anxiety. It just kept skipping stitches which did some serious harm to my sewing mojo. After cleaning and changing needles, it slowly recovered when I ditched the crinkled linen I used for the muslin.

After that, it was just the material which kept progress slow. Plastic coated fabric means no ironing, no re-doing anything and not a chance at easing anything in.

I'm not entirely pleased with the end-result. I topstitched all the seams to keep them in the right place but I miss the clean look of a well-pressed garment. I'm also not entirely sold on the shape of the hood and although, from a construction point of view, I'm glad I left out the pockets, I sort of miss them in wearing the coat. Oh, and then there's the drape, or rather the lack of it...

Body analysis for dress design

2011-10-12T06:55:00.005+02:00

On monday, I suggested considering your proportions as one of the starting points for designing your dress. Today, I've decided to try and show what I meant by that.

In general, seamstresses have a better idea about the shape and size of their own bodies than other people. After all, a lot of sewing time goes into fitting and altering-to-fit. As a pattern maker, you will need to hone that awareness even more.

And after all, we've all been there, made something because it looked so good in the pattern magazine or on the envelope, spent many hours making and fitting it only to end up with a garment which doesn't actually suit our body and our style. Pattern making (especially for a beginner) takes even more of your time and you won't want all that effort to be wasted.

So: how to look at, and analyse your body shape. Please allow me to introduce my example: Lauriana (I'm standing a bit funny in the front view. My shoulders are not that uneven)

From the front we see a long neck, angular shoulders, a fairly featureless upper torso and a significant difference between waist and hip, with the widest point fairly far down, at the top of the thigh. The legs are shapely. All in all, the body is a bit bottom-heavy.

From the side, the most striking thing is its flat-ness. Breasts hardly stick out, the stomach is flat and buttocks are there but make a fairly small curve.

These are the observations. Having made these, consider what to emphasize with clothes.

Forget the beauty/fashion magazine tricks for dividing women into apples and pears, rulers and inverted triangles. Although their tips can be useful, each woman's body is different and not every woman may want to work towards the same 'ideal'. Just to give and example, I filled out one of those body-type questionaires once and it said I was a ruler. When I look at my front view though, I'd say I'm a pear. Granted, a rather small pear, but still.

Personally, I like my waist-to-hip ratio and I like that wider hip in general. I feel it's what gives me a feminine figure, despite being skinny. It is also very appropriate for a vintage-inspired dress. Because of it, I think I can pick any of the skirt shapes I mentioned before (pencil-skirt, A-line, circle skirt, gathered skirt). I think for length, depending on the style of the skirt I can do lengths between 15 cm above and 10 cm below the knee (the latter only for very full skirts). And ankle to flour length of course, but that's not really what I'm going for now.

The upper torso is a bit more difficult. With the width of the rib cage and small breasts, it can easily end up looking like a rectangle. It's a fine body shape for normal clothes (probably easier than those hips) but not grea

t for vintage styles which are all about ladylike curves.

Of course, there are tricks. For a 50's-style dress, I usually keep a bit more ease at chest that at the waist and I don't go for any of those (very period accurate) smooth bodices with high necklines. Mine is an upper body flattered by the roomy drape of a cowl neck or by big collars which grow from V shaped necklines (a 'bare' V-neck is out of the question, of course. Now that is a style for the bigger busted ladies among us). All those design elements add width and fullness at the bust. To show off the small waist, I like to wear my vintage style dresses with a (usually dark coloured or black) belt.

(Oh, and of course I know I could wear a push-up bra but I don't like those and I actually don't consider small breasts to be a problem)

Oh, and have you ever wondered about the difference which is made to your shape and posture by wearing heels? Here's an example of that:

Obviously, I don't expect anyone to show off herself in this way here on the internet, just for the draft-along. However, I do think it's a great idea to have a look at yourself this way. In my job, I meet women every week who didn't know they were hiding a waist under shapeless tops and above low-rise trousers. Don't be that woman, study what you've got so you can figure out how to show it to its advantage. If you want to share pictures for advice, the Flickr-group photostream is for members only, so there is some privicy there (please tag such pictures as 'body-shape')

The following people left comments about wanting to join the draft-along but have no email adresses on their profiles:

abaffledcat, Jacqueline deRuyter, Barbara, tantmonokrom, Ewa, Amy (I did read your comment about not having time now, but you may want to be signed up anyway so you can follow along later), ginevra/occasional glimpses, Anna Keaton and overflowingstash.

Please get in touch with me through aicha_hockx AT hotmail DOT com to get your invitation to the Flickr group.

Of course you can also email me at that adress with questions or if you've only just decided to participate in the draft-along.

Designing your draft-along dress

2011-10-10T07:14:00.004+02:00

If you think sewing presents you with a lot of options to choose from and decisions to make, you may feel a bit overwhelmed by the the very idea of pattern making. It's only natural ;)

After all, if you are making the pattern, the only limits are your imagination and your technical ability (both in sewing and in understanding and therefore drafting patterns). But, maybe it is fortunate that there are some limitations to designing a dress for the draft-along.

Depending on the kind of sloper you are using, you may have noticed already why a dress with a waist seam is 'easier' technically: many drafting methods use a waist length bodice as their basic shape (I think this can be inconvenient with a lot of contemporary clothes and I prefer methods which also pay attention to a hip length bodice but it's absolutely fine for a vintage-style dress) and having a waist seam allows you to use the full spectrum of dart rotation options. And you can basically define drafting a dress pattern as: drafting a bodice and picking your prefered skirt style.

Those are the technical considerations. The style ones are a little trickier.

The words 'vintage style dress' mean different things to different people. Everyone has her prefered fashion eras. Some of you may want a period accurate creation while others really need their dress to work in an everyday environment (maybe even to be worn among people with little tolerance for alternative looks). And, also quite important, we all have different body shapes.

As far as fashion eras go, the technical limitation of the waist seam sort of limits us to late 1940's to early 1960's styles. This is an era which lot of people in the sewing blogosphere love, so I don't expect any problems there. Of course, you can take inspiration for details in your design from any era you like.

How 'costum-y' or 'normal' the overall look will be depends not just on your design but almost as much on the choice of fabric and on how it's worn. Any bigger skirted dress can look very 50's with a fluffy petticoat...

In my opinion, the look you want to achieve should always be considered in relation to my third point: body shape.

The fashionable body shape of the 1950's was, quite obviously, the hourglass. Today, it's mostly the ruler. Back then, there was foundation wear on offer to give yourself a fashionable silhouette (think waist cinchers, girdles, cone bras). Nowadays, we diet and/or exercise (of course I know it's not that black-and-white, but I'm just trying to make a bit of a point).

Most of us today would not want to wear those restricting foundations all day and, in general, people are a bit bigger that they used to be 60 years ago. On the other hand, take a look at old family pictures and find out that girls in the 50's had about the same chance of looking like a fashion model as you or me today...

My point being: a 1950's style dress won't instantly make you look like Dovima (Dior's favorite model).

So, take a good look at your own body. We're absolutely not talking size here. We're talking about shape and proportion (today's truly hourglass shaped girls tend to have a lot of trouble shopping for clothes and may well think themselves bigger than they really are).

The hourglass may be the 50's ideal, but don't worry, there are plenty of ways to trick the eye. I think I will explain my tried and tested tricks, as well as some common-sense solutions for other body types, when we discuss drafting options.

By the way, the picture I put with this post is the silhouette of what may just be the most recognisable vintage fashion look: Dior's "bar" suit, modeled by Dovima. I was looking for one of those 'shapes of fashion' line-ups in Google images, when I found a treasure trove of line drawings of 1900-1950 clothes on here, which is only a small section of this website. Despite the fact that its focus is a bit early for draft-along purposes, it's a great place to explore of dress inspiration (and keep in mind that 'don't likes' can be as important as 'likes' when it comes to design choices).

Draft-along: practical information

2011-10-07T07:13:00.003+02:00

It's great to see so even more people interested in a draft-along! I'm sorry it's taking me so long to set this thing up properly, but I seem to be hitting some computer-litteracy roadblocks ;) It's nothing I can't overcome, but it all takes time...

So, to start out, I will try to answer some questions which arose in the comments (I will try to answer each one personally, but I think more people may wonder about this):

The point of this draft-along is, as I explained in this post, to draft a retro-style dress, using Burdastyle's JJ sloper, or any other bodice sloper you may have as a starting point. I chose to start with ready-made slopers and to include only simple design details in order to make this a fun way to start and experiment with making patterns. The malfunctioning poll was intended to tell me which style would be the most popular, so I could work on that, making only minor detours to explain simple other options. As it is now, I will explain all three skirt options, some sleeve options and any not-too-difficult bodice/neckline issues which proove to be popular in your designs.

I hope this answers some questions.

In my previous post, I suggested everyone tries to make a design for herself. I'm not doing this because I too lazy, too busy or not sufficiently creative to come up with a good idea myself. No, I did that because, to me, that is the great advantage of making your own patterns: you are not bound to anyone else's design, you can make what you like and what works for your body. I will discuss design options and designing for specific body shapes this weekend.

I have also set up a Flickr group for the draft-along. I thought it would be wise to make it 'by invitation only', just to keep out random weirdos but that means I have to invite each of you by email or Flickr-account name (you can also be invited to the group, and participate in it, if you don't have a Flickr account, so don't worry about that). If you already signed up for the draft-along (and have an email-adress in you blogger profile or mentioned it in the comment) I will email you about this. If you haven't yet and want to be part of it, you can email me at aicha_hockx AT hotmail DOT com.

And finally, someone commented about not being able to find the JJ sloper. This surprised me, but guess what: it's gone. The Burdastyle member who created it isn't listed anymore, so I guess she went and took her creation with her. Burdastyle does offer this sloper dress pattern, but it's only in size 38 and of course, the JJ sloper lives on in Elainemay's Coffee Date dress, which was based on it. Although I think the Coffee Date dress is lovely, I would not recommend using it as a sloper because of the scooped neckline and narrow shoulder (although it could be used for something like a sleeveless cowl neck bodice).

I noticed that many of you have your own slopers, so this may not be so much of an issue. Again, I will email those of you who signed up already, but if you don't receive a messege from me, or if you're only signing up now, please tell me if the missing sloper is a problem for you. We'll find a solution.

Also, if you happen to know a good bodice sloper (pattern or tutorial) which is available online and for free, please, please put it in the comments. (and why am I not telling you how to make a sloper like mine? Well, it's a method from a book and I don't want to violate their copyright and it's in Dutch and hard to translate)

Please read the comments to this post to find out how to download the JJ sloper. Claire found out more about it: it got mysteriously re-named when they changed the website. Just follow Claire's excellent explanation to download the sloper. And to answer Nancy's question: I will either show you how to draft a sleeve or draft a multi-size sleeve to fit the JJ sloper and unload that to Burdastyle.

Draft-along plans

2011-10-04T07:20:00.005+02:00

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I didn't get the poll-thing to work properly but I don't think it was too much of an issue. After all, most of you mentioned your prefered design details in the comments and it won't be a problem to discuss more than one of the options for most parts of the dress.

I think it's good to draw up a bit of a time schedule for the draft-along (although it's still flexible). Some of you mentioned being busy until mid-October and after that, the Holiday season will creep up quickly. From my point of view, it would work well to think about design during this week, fit slopers (for those who need to do that, with the help of the experienced pattern makers among us) next week and start with the actual drafting in the second half of the month. This should allow us to have finished dresses in the first weeks of November.

If that's all right for most of you, I'll try and make it into a proper schedule.

(I may just have a problem myself though: my sewing machine keeps skipping stitches. Although it does all right on a piece of scrap fabric, it's terrible in the crinkly linen I've been using for my most recent muslins. It might that it's the fabric for hell for my poor lovely sewing machine, but if it isn't... Well, I may just have to take the machine away for maintenance. Although I could take that as an opportunity to use my grandmother's hand-crank machine for this project)

I'm going to make a Flickr-pool for the draft-along (which I've never done before) and I will email everyone who signed up with the information about that.

For now, I'd like to suggest that you try and sketch up a design. Don't worry about not being good at sketching. I'm not that good myself but it can still be helpful in developing one's ideas for a garment and/or a pattern.

For quite some time, I traced shapes to make my sketches work. Fashion drawing instruction pictures for the little ladies with my previous post, but usually the picture you see here, Burdastyle's wire croqui. By now, I'm sufficiently used to the croqui's proportions that I don't really need it anymore. You can just print the croqui and put it under the sheet of paper you are drawing on or you can import it into Illustrator (or any other kind of drawing software, I guess) and put it in a layer under the one in which you are making the actual drawing.

Of course, you can still sign up for the draft-along, if you haven't yet...

Who wants to draft along?

2011-09-23T07:21:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone! Who wants to join me in drafting and making a dress?

I want this draft-along to be open to anyone with in interest in pattern making, so it's not going to be rocket science ;)

I plan on using the (free) JJ sloper from the Burdastyle website and (if necessary) I will draft and upload a matching sleeve for it. I will discuss fitting the sloper and of course, if you have your own sloper or want to draft your own using either Pattern Magic or Winifred Aldrich, I'd be happy to give any advice you may need.

Of course, we have to decide on what kind of dress to make. Making your own patterns opens up a world of possibilities, even if you've already decided to stick with a classic dress shape with a waist seam. So, if you want to draft along, please leave a comment and take the poll. Vote for as many or as few elements as you would like. Rest assured that this won't limit the draft-along to something you may not like. I intend to discuss several options within the same general design, and adding a different skirt is always easy.

Poll: Which design details do you want for the draft-along dress?

(half) circle skirt

pleated/gathered skirt

gathers/pleats in bodice

^Tussenstand:

^{Ook een poll maken? Klik hier}

It seems that the poll will only allow you to pick one thing. I'm sorry about that, it is my first time using one of these polling gizmos. Just use this one to pick your prefered skirt style and I'll put up seperate polls for the other elements this evening (because I don't have time to do it right now)

Still slow but steady

2011-09-21T07:45:00.005+02:00

It seems like there are so many things to get in the way of starting a new sewing project...

I actually had the whole of last weekend off (I've been working every Saturday since March, excluding my vacation) and thought I could get a lot of drafting done. I had just managed to forget a little chore which was really getting in the way of me creating more patterns: My old patterns had taken over my sewing room.

I'm usually hanging my patterns on coat hangers which I keep on a rail in my sewing room. However, the coat hangers are those cheap all plastic ones and I had the one carrying my dress patterns had bent out of shape and fallen down months ago. I had put it slightly out of harm's way on the floor and left it there for consideration at some other moment when I might be able to make time of that.

Well, if a free weekend doesn't give me time to sort out the sewing room...

So I did.

And on Monday evening, I did make a tentative start on a new project. I want to make a raincoat in some plastic coated, aubergine coloured cotton which I bought on sale a few months ago. I've been thinking about it all through the rainy months of July and August.

I have lowered the armscyes of a raglan base pattern which I made last year. I made a muslin, hindered by a terrible bout of stitch skipping from my beloved sewing machine (it might be because of a bad needle, since I already cleaned, oiled and checked for issues with the bobbin and with thread tension. O please let it be the needle...).

It's sort of OK, but the angle of the sleeve should be changed to allow more freedom of movement and I think it's not quite as wide in the body as I would like. Being all wide and open, it won't be the most practical of rain coats, but eh... I'm fine with that.

I'll be back soon with updates on the raincoat, and posts about the things I said I wanted to write about.

The man's jacket

2011-09-19T07:13:00.006+02:00

Here it is: E's finished jacket. He has been wearing it for a few days now and says he's happy with it (in case you are wondering about the trousers: he usually wears black jeans, but now, for the weekend, he was in the leaf-green bermudas I made him last year and it's already quite something to get him to pose in his new clothes). It is funny to see him struggle into it, though. Because this thing is shaped like a proper men's jacket, it has higher and narrower sleeve heads than he's used to (from shirts and casual jackets) and it's unlined so it doesn't slide easily over his shirt.

I think I already told you the basic facts about this jacket: it's made from black cotton twill, in the shape of a traditional men's jacket. I used flat-felled seams where I could and bias binding everywhere else. It has patch pockets which have slanted openings to the side and at one side a hidden inside pocket.

I drafted the pattern myself, with fairly extensive muslin fitting. From the back view here, you may think that there's too much room in the back but trust me, he really couldn't do without that space for movement...

By now you've probably noticed the fitting issue which is still annoying me: there is a rather obvious line pulling from the neckline to the armpit. It wasn't like that in the muslin. And what's more: I think I know why. I didn't make a muslin with the fully constructed collar on. The back neckline of the muslin, with it's clipped seam allowances, must have stretched out making it wider than the finished neckline-with-collar... And E has an unusually thick neck (one of the reasons I started drafting patterns for him in the first place).

I thought about tweaking the fit but that would mean deconstructing flat felled seams, the collar and maybe even taking the sleeves out. And even then, the real solution here would be adding extra width, which just isn't there. So, I guess I'll have to file this one under 'wearable muslin' or 'will do better next time', all the while telling myself that I would very likely have had the same issue if I had used a commercial pattern and that I would have been able to hide it a lot better in a formal lined, interlined and backed wool jacket...

Just a quick update

2011-09-15T17:32:00.005+02:00

Hi everyone! I really ment to do a proper post, but it's one of those weeks... So, I thought I would just let you know what's coming up.

- E. jacket is finished since Monday. He says he'll definately wear it, but he hasn't yet. There is one issue about the fit which really annoys me, but it's too late to fix it now. Maybe I won't tell what it is and wait to see how many people spot it...

I haven't been able to blog about the finished jacket yet because I obviously need to photograph it on E. himself. Which means he has to be home and not utterly exhausted and there should still be daylight. That combination hasn't been around this week.

- I want to do a post about my autumn/winter sewing plans but because whatever I'll make will be self-drafted, that means I will have to make some half-way decent sketches first. I don't really need a lot of stuff, but there are many things I want to try. And I want more colour in my wardrobe.

- You may have noticed that I've written a few 'discussion'-posts recently. I think I like them. I especially like the insightful comments, so there may be more of those in the future.

By the way, several of you mentioned the impact on the environment of synthetic alternatives for fur. You are SO right. In fact, that's what I say to people who claim we shouldn't use real leather.

And obviously, Carolyn, I agree that the fact that the animals are also bred for food is a major (moral) difference between leather (and sheepskin) and fur.

And I don't think I'll buy a vintage fur myself. Not only can you get really nasty responses from total strangers, I don't think I'd feel comfortable wearing it and I can't stand the smell (judging from that, vintage furs need a LOT of chemical stuff to keep the bugs away. Way more that wool or silk).

- I'm toying with the idea of having a sew-along which includes light pattern making, so basically, a draft-along. I'm thinking about using the JJ sloper on Burdastyle as a starting point (so anyone can join and there's no fussy sloper drafting needed for people who don't have a personal sloper. Of course I will adress fitting that sloper) and making a 50's or early 60's style dress. If several people are interested, I'll put up possible draft-along designs and try to get the ball rolling on the Burdastyle website.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be back soon with pictures, I promise

A furry question

2011-09-12T17:29:00.007+02:00

Autumn is closing in. We've had weeks of rain, a warm weekend and every day the weather is surprise. So, typical Dutch weather but there's no denying the change of seasons anymore.

This morning before work, I went to the market to pick up fruit and vegetables for this week. I was so early that some stalls were still busy unpacking. However, I did walk back to my bicycle the (slightly) long(er) way, past the second hand stalls.

At The Hague's general market, there are three stalls specializing in second hand clothes, and a few general second hand stalls which sometimes have a rack or a pile of clothes (I tend to avoid those). One is the place where I buy my to-be-refashioned leather and silk clothes, another the place where my interesting vintage finds, both clothes and accesoiries, come from and the third is a big two-stall emporium of tacky old party-clothes, shoes, leather and above all, fur. I've never bought anything there. The place with the most interesting vintage stuff also sells some fur in winter. The first two pieces were on the racks now.

picture from a 1930's Sears Catalog (from the book 'Everyday Fashions of the Thirties, as pictured in Sears Catalogs)

Seeing this display of seasonal vintage fair begs the question: Is it OK to wear vintage fur? Obviously, there would be the intuitive 'Oh my, I'm wearing dead animals' issue (which seems to bother a lot of people, including myself, much more in the case of fur than in that of leather...). But honestly, that hardly constitutes a rational, moral point of view.

About that, I'm still pretty much on the fence. I do not at all aprove of the modern fur trade as a luxury (meaning that, although I'm too far from such places to actually be able to have a well-founded opinion, I think it's OK if you live in places where it get extremely cold and need to wear fur just to stay warm). In fact, I was rather shocked to find out, two years ago, that not only is there still a fur industry in this country, it actually has an anual contest for designers, to promote its wares. And some fairly well-known Dutch designers actually participate in this...

Vintage fur isn't quite the same though.

Wearing fur lost a lot of its popularity since the 1980's. This means that most of the stock of those market stalls pre-dates me. Those animals suffered and were killed before I was even born. They were made into coats which were bought and worn for years, but are not worn out yet. If they are at the market now, this is their last stop. If no-one buys them, it will end with a one-way trip to the landfill. Which hardly seems a very sustainable course of action...

Nothing at all wrong with that view, is there? Well, no. But, maybe...

In a book I read (I thought the title was 'the importance of sunglasses' but Amazon doesn't recognise that title) there was quite a valid argument against wearing vintage fur. The book was a collection of articles by a prominent British fashion and style journalist. And she was opposed to the wearing of fur, period.

First of all, she thought the 'the animals were not killed to dress me but someone years ago'-argument was a weak and in fact rather silly one. However, her main argument was less a matter of taste or way of reasoning: She stated that by wearing fur, even if it's vintage, you promote the look of it. So, even if you would never buy a coat for which animals were killed recently, you are in a way indirectly justifying the present-day fur trade.

Seeing the fur on display this morning (I really should bring a camera to the market some day soon) made me wonder about this. What's your opinion on this sticky issue?

Getting there...

2011-09-08T07:38:00.002+02:00

This is a pretty bad picture, I know... I just wanted to show you I have actually been doing something.

This is what E's jacket looks like now. It will be come a casual jacket, shaped like a classic blazer. It's made from black twill and will remain unlined. I used flat-felled seams where I could and applied bias binding the edges. The shape looks weird now because the coat hanger is too small for it. I'm also not entirely sure about the top lapels. Their points may be a bit too long. I could reverse-engineer the collar the make them shorter, but I don't think I should get ahead of myself here. Let the man try it on first...

The jacket is now waiting for him anyway because we have yet to decide on a pocket style. Classic welt pockets are not an option because the jacket is unlined. I considered Carolyn's fancy double pockets but E. has something similar in an old store-bought coat and he doesn't those. And he has that typical men's habit of putting everything in his pockets so whatever kind of pockets he get, they'll have to be functional.

The poor guy is having a madly busy week at work, so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to let him try the jacket on and discuss pocket options. It's a good thing that better weather is predicted for this weekend, otherwise I'd be worried he wouldn't even get to wear this jacket anymore, this year.

P.S. Thank you all for the great comments on my 'retro sewing' post. I've read a lot of very valid arguments. And I had no idea so many of you are drafting patterns as well. This is definately a subject I'll return to.

On retro sewing

2011-09-05T17:59:00.004+02:00

In my garment posts, I use the term 'vintage inspired' quite a lot. And looking at other blogs, I think it's fair to say I'm not the only one. Sewing vintage style clothes (most often dresses), either by using actual vintage patterns, reproductions, modern patterns inspired by vintage style or, like in my case, one's own vintage-inspired patterns, is a big thing in the sewing blogosphere.

It's a trend I first encountered a few years ago. I had just started my pattern making lessons and through the beta version of Burdastyle, I first met the sewing community on the world wide web. It was through a link on Burdastyle that I came to a dress a day, and as a result, I became fascinated with 1950's dresses.

In fact, I can honestly say I liked the retro look before I ever saw an episode of Mad Men...

Despite my many creations 'inspired by' I have never sewn with vintage patterns. I haven't even touched the two reproduction patterns I own.

Of course, this is partly due to my addiction to making my own patterns. Do that long enough and your mind adepts to it. To me, fitting a purchased pattern to my body now seems awfully labour intensive. I'm very aware it may not even be true, but it just seems more straight-forward to just incorporate the elements I like into a pattern of my own.

I know I'm not in a lot of company in this particular habit, so I wonder what others do. Do you seek out vintage patterns for many reasons, and only sew from designs made before you were born, like the amazing Debi and Shelleyj? Do you enjoy vintage style but use patterns both vintage and modern (and sometimes start adding patterns of your own) like Gertie and Peter? Do you dabble in vintage style sewing occasionally, when the right pattern just happens to come your way? Do you love the look, but it's not for you? Or do you just think this entire vintage-thing is an overrated hype?

All the images in this post come from other websites. I've pulled them off as inspiration months, sometimes years ago, so I don't remember where credit is due.

It runs in the family

2011-09-04T16:45:00.005+02:00

From time to time, people asked me how and when I started sewing. The answer is simple: my mother used to make clothes for us, so I started out by helping her and gradually 'evolved' to trying simple projects of my own. Then, I didn't sew for several years, bought a very cheap sewing machine of my own when I was in college and got addicted ;)

Today, I will show you some very old pictures, of me as a little girl, wearing the clothes my mother made.

She enjoyed making my sister and me matching outfits, like these cotton dresses.

Sometimes, only the fabrics were matched, combined with patterns which suited our personal tastes and activity. My sister was more of a tomboy, so in this particular set, I got culottes, she got dungerees. My (then) baby brother had a matching outfit of a shirt and dungerees in pale yellow.

And finally, this is my school portrait from 1987. I think it's great because 1. I'm actually smiling widely (I didn't like having my picture taken and usually looked less than cheerful in these school pictures) and 2. if you look closely, you can see the home-made quality of this blouse quite clearly. Lots of zigzag stitching is on show at the collar. Now I know what my mother means when she says that, being a mother of three and sewing for all of us, she didn't have time for fancy finishes...

It may seem rather unkind of me to point out a flaw in my mother's sewing. However, I have always loved wearing the things she made for me and I wouldn't have started sewing as easily and naturally if it weren't for her. So, even if I'm not praising every detail of her work, I still love and admire her for it.

I'm back!

2011-08-27T17:14:00.007+02:00

I've been gone for about two weeks, did you notice?

Well, I most certainly did. I finally got to go on that vacation I've been longing for.

Just E. and me, with our car and little tent. We went to Schwarzwald (Black Forest in Germany). We didn't book anything because we like to be free to come and go as we like and because the weather had been so unpredictable. We had great weather. Warm, but not too warm and only two serious showers on our last two days there. We came back yesterday and discovered that we had picked just about the only region with good weather within a day's driving distance from our home.

Schwarzwald is well-known for its natural beauty, and to a pair of flat-land-people like us, it's especially impressive. We've done a lot of hiking, taking in all the great views on the way and we've seen a few castle ruins and charming old towns.

We've had a great time and now, I feel like I have to adept to being back home again.

I haven't done anything sewing-related all that time and I've even worn less me-made clothes than usual... But I'm now well-rested and ready to go again!

Random update

2011-08-11T20:19:00.007+02:00

Oops, that was another week... As you may be able to tell from my spotty posting, I'm still feeling a bit strung out and I'm still looking forward to a holiday (despite the unpleasant weather in just about all of Europe... and no, I won't be going to any kind of exotic location)

I've been working a lot this past week, I've made progress on E's jacket, written a possibly rather important letter and I've read a wonderful novel (I don't usually recommend non-sewing related books here, but I'll make an exception for this one), The Unicorn Road by Martin Davies. It's an historical novel about a voyage to China in the Middle Ages, but it's nothing like your average historical novel. I thought it was magical, despite the fact that I noticed some inaccuracies about the Chinese society at the time (like the absence of foot-binding). Normally, such thing put me off, but the writing here was just to good to be bothered by little things like historical fact.

But, that's enough off-topic chatter. I thought I would show you some of my recent and a lot less recent creations in a different outfit.

It's my re-fashioned silk blouse, tucked into my new shorts and topped with a linen jacket which I made before I even had this blog. I put this outfit together when I was playing around with my clothes, before I actually got dressed for the day. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy outside so there was just no way I was going to walk out of the door with those bare legs.

It's nothing yet

2011-08-03T07:47:00.004+02:00

... but it's progress.

Last year, I wanted to make a short coat for my boyfriend. Casual, but based on a blazer block. I drafted the block and fitted and fitted and couldn't get it to work. In the end, I buckled and tried a less fitted casual coat block instead. With good result.

In spring, I revived the jacket project, this time with an unlined, casual jacket in mind. And failed again.

This week, with the unreliable weather and remembering the experience I've gained in fitting my own new blazer block, I decided to try again.

I simply started where I had left off (I had stopped cutting into the pattern at some, which was good, it would have been overly tight and useless had I made those last changes I had marked down) and this time around, I wasn't as puzzled with the issues.

I'm now absolutely convinced that Grondvormen (= Basic shapes but the book has only been published in Dutch) was first published in the 80's and the jacket blocks haven't been changed to suit later fashions.

Just like me when fitting my jacket, E in the jacket muslin looked OK at the front, just with way too wide shoulders but had endless pools of excess fabric at the back.

I know now that it's best to deal ruthlessly with those issues. I did so and here on the table is the second version of the muslin. And I think I will work with this one. It won't 'fit like a glove' but I think a (man's) jacket needs ease.

Now, I'll just have to draft a collar, decide on a pocket style and choose between the three different weights of black twill and denim I have in my stash...

Little silk blouse

2011-07-29T16:56:00.005+02:00

Yesterday, I spent a lot of words on how much fabric to buy for what project. Today, I'm off in an altogether different direction. Re-fashioning.

As you may know (especially if you've been following this blog for a while), I often make things from second hand leather clothing. No problem there.

I buy second hand stuff more often than I use it. It's like having a double stash. On rare occasions, it will be an item too interesting to pass up but more often it's unappealing clothes which attract the fibre-snob in me.

That way, I have, slowly but surely, built quite a collection of silk shirts. They are all 100% silk, most were for sale at 1 euro a piece and they are all big, blocky and probably from the 1980's (or 90's. A lot of what we think of as typical 80's fashion happened in the early 90's for most people).

At some point, I used one silk shirt for my first draping experiment. Which was interesting and (un)fortunately taught me that Mary has a bit of a posture problem which I don't really share with her. That particular shirt was made of a slightly heavier and more matt silk than all the others.

Now, I have decided to do something about the silk shirt stash. After all, that silk would be great to wear if we are still getting a bit of summer and even in autumn and winter, nice silk tops could make great pieces for layering.

This little blouse is my first attempt. The shape is rather simple, but I thought that between that and its shy nude tone of colour (which is impossible to get right in a photograph), it could use something to jazz it up a bit. And I don't usually do decoration. At all.

The material wasn't easy to work with. Very thin, slippery and very stretchy when used even the slightest bit off grain (like in say, bust darts, or shoulder seams or even just slightly shaped side seams)

Susan wrote a post, a while ago about making a vintage-style chemise, using a double needle as a quick and easy way to make narrow pintucks. That is what I decided to try here.

And I had this narrow lace in my stash which matched the colour of the shirt quite well (bought way back, when I just started sewing and thought decoration was nice). I sewed that on using a small zigzag and cut out the narrow bits between the lines of stitching. I used a zigzag because I did a test in which I could just tear the fabric away if it had been attached to the lace with a straight stitch...

The buttons are mother of pearl and come from a very old card of buttons which I found in one of the little sewing boxes from my grandmother.

I'm reasonably happy with the blouse. The fit is Ok, I think I will mostly wear it tucked into a high waistband and I'll have yet to see how well it holds up with wearing and washing.

One meter wonders

2011-07-28T17:25:00.003+02:00

Last week, Lady Tiny left a comment with an interesting question. A question, in fact, which I think is very common for anyone who sews and even more so for a beginner: she will soon have a 1 meter piece of beautiful fabric left-over and is looking for a suitable project.

Now, I think it might be useful to give you my personal tips for guessing how much fabric is needed for what kind of garment, but first, I will attend to Lady Tiny's case.

Her fabric is kashmir (wow!). As far as I know, kashmir fabrics come in lots of different weights, mostly ranging from suiting to coating variaties. This matters when you have to decide what to make from it.

For a coating weight fabric, I'd recommend looking for a pattern for a fairly short jacket with three-quarter length sleeves or, considering the information in your profile, a short cape (Lady Tiny, if you can read even the smallest bit of German, check out Natron und Soda for tutorials for fantasy clothing. It's on my little list of links)

For a suiting weight fabric, you've got plenty of options. A skirt always works, even if your piece of fabric is a bit smaller that 1m. Depending on the length you want for your skirt, you can pick from several styles: 1m of fabric would make a long straight or A-line skirt, a knee-length semi-circle, pleated or gored (I made a tutorial for one of those here) skirt or a short circle skirt. A pair of trousers might be possible, if you are slightly below average height and have a small enough size that you can cut out the trouser legs side-by-side. And there is still the option of a little jacket or cape.

Because you are using beautiful and probably quite expensive fabric, I'd recommend making a muslin: just try out the pattern, without any seam finishes in a very cheap fabric.

A lot of this advice can be applied to any fabric you may want to plan for. Personally, I tend to think that buying as much fabric as pattern tells you to, plus a bit extra to be on the safe side, is a recipe for a huge stash of left over pieces. Of course, that attitude may be strengthened by the fact that I make my own patterns. However, I have quite often heard fabric sellers recommend fairly outrageous amounts of fabric to their customers (sometimes I interfere).

As with everthing in sewing, there's nothing like experience to get your fabric-buying right.

In a lot of cases, you can actually place your pattern pieces closer together than the drawing on the pattern says you can (without compromising the grainline or seam allowances). Also, pattern-manufacturers tend to group sizes, recommending the same amount of fabric them. If you are at the smaller size, you may be able to make do with less fabric.

It also pays off to keep your 'standard pattern changes' in mind when fabric shopping. If you are below the pattern's standard height, you will (with experience) know how to alter it to fit you. Which means you will need less fabric.

If you often buy fabric without a specific project in mind, it is also good to develop a 'rule of thumb' for the amounts of fabric needed for styles you like to sew (there are cards available to help with this but don't have any personal experience with those).

Mine is as follows:

- 70 cm will make me a straight or A-line skirt at knee-length. Or a vest, or shorts, or if it's jersey, a top.

- 1 m will make me a fuller or longer skirt, capri-length trousers or a short-sleeved top. In jersey, it will make a sleeveless or cap-sleeved dress.

- 1,20 m will make me a pair of trousers, a more complex top or a short-sleeved dress

- 1,50 m will make me a blouse, a jacket or a fairly full skirted, short sleeved dress.

- 2 m is needed for a jacket with a big collar or a dress.

- If I'm going to make a true 50's style dress, with a very full skirt, I will need 3 to 4 meters, depending on the design and the skirt length.

These are the rules I buy by, given for fabric which is 140 cm wide (which most are). In all cases, I am refering to basic styles of each garment, added details may require more fabric.

It is worth knowing your leg length (waist to ankle) and hip circumference. You can always make a straight skirt out of a piece of fabric which is of the desired length plus seam allowance and a bit extra for waistband or facing, if it's width is more that your hip circumference plus seam allowance (if it is less, you will need twice the desired skirt length).

For trousers, the calculation is more complicated and only those with the smallest sizes can really place the legs side by side. Keep in mind that, on a fabric without nap or directional print, you can often put one leg up and the other one down. Most of people will be safe when buying 1 and a half times the desired length (and again, twice the desired length for large sizes).

For all tops and some dresses, it's sleeves which take up a lot of fabric. The general rule here is that you will need garment length plus sleeve length.

Ok, that's a lot of text, I hope it is helpful and don't hesitate to ask any questions which remain or are raised now.

Short(s) story

2011-07-22T08:55:00.009+02:00

When I was a child, we always went on camping trips during the summer holidays. We would spend several weeks traveling around some nice bit of European countryside, going on long walks, taking in the sights, visiting local sites of interest and sleeping in our small tents on campsites in the middle of nowhere. As long as the weather wasn't too cold or wet, it was great.

Because there were five of us and all our camping gear, including the tents, had to fit into one car, packing for these trips was a special kind of operation. As one would expect, my mother was in charge of that.

She had made special packing list on the computer including all the things we would need. We, kids, were trusted to pack our clothes, books and toys as listed (NO bringing extra toys unless you were prepared to hold those in your lap for the entire trip ;)

The clothes listed would be practical ones. The kind that made sense for outdoor activities and would allow us to cope with unpredictable weather. There would be so many t-shirts, so many sweaters, trousers and shorts...

But shorts were getting extremely unfashionable...

When I was about 14 years old, my sister (who is two years younger) and I were sent to the shop to buy some shorts for each of us, for the summer holidays. We each bought one pair of shorts and two summer skirts. Those were the last shorts I ever bought. They were aqua-blue with a whiter check print. They didn't fit great, I didn't like them and didn't wear them much...

Fast forward ehm... many years, and I've just done the unthinkable and made a short legged jumpsuit. And I like the look.

So, I gave it a go. Shorts.

Made from the same black twill which I used for my boyfriend's bermuda shorts, with scoop pockets at the front and single welt pockets at the back. Vintage-inspired high waistline.

Photographed here at their most vintage-y: with a wide (vintage) silk blouse tucked into that waistband.

I enjoy this look but they work equally well with t-shirts. I may even be tempted to try and style these with tights and a jacket in autumn.

Stripes again

2011-07-18T16:33:00.004+02:00

Usually, I'm not that into sewing with obvious prints. But sometimes, a fabric just calls out to me.

This one was like that, and it could only ever be one thing: a dress which is all about the print.

It's a very simple t-shirt dress with a straight skirt and a fairly wide neckline which dips to a shallow V at the front. I made it using my knit sloper.

It's always tempting to keep dresses like these sleeveless, but I'm happy I decided to add the sleeves. The skirt length is a bit unusual for me, but this was as much fabric as I had, when placing the dark bit at the waist. And I really like how it shows the repeat of the fabric.

I tried to match the stripes at the side seams, but I was too lazy to sew them on the sewing machine before serging, so they're a little bit off.

Personally, I think the combination of the longer skirt and sleeves really works with such a fitted style. Modest yet sexy, at least, I hope so.

It's a wrap!

2011-07-17T17:31:00.005+02:00

Apperently, I hadn't used that silly pun here before. Probably because my wrap dress pre-dates this blog. Hm, not being a native speaker may just make me a bit limited in the expression-department...

Anyway, my wrap-top is finished. Thank you all for your comments on the flat v. gathers post. As you can see, I went with the flat front in the end.

This top is pretty far out of my comfort-zone but I think it does pretty much look the way I intended it to.

The shape of the collar reminds me a bit of a 'fichu', a shoulder cloth worn with 18th century dresses. Or that may just be down to my period-drama-addled brain...

The actual inspiration for it is much more recent in date.

When I started sewing, I actually did use patterns. With Burda and Knipmode being the obvious choices here in the Netherlands. Even when I started to learn how to draft my own patterns, I still bought some magazines. Which led to my modest collection of un-used Knipmodes from 2007.

In the April issue of that year they did a feature on catwalk-inspired clothes. Among those was this blouse. I never cared for Knipmode's interpretation, but the Armani original remained somewhere in the back of my mind for all those years.

There was something quite different about that collar, something which made it much more intriguing than Knip's middle-of-the-road one. I used to think the collar had been cut in one with the bodice, but I don't think so anymore. By studying the tiny picture in detail, I did find out what I believe to be the secret to its interesting, sloping-down-the-shoulders shape: darts. It has darts at the shoulder. Two on each shoulder are to be seen in the picture, but I bet there are third ones at the back of the shoulders.

So, when I drafted my pattern, I didn't make the usual rounded piece for the big collar. I made a straight piece, with three darts at the shoulder which was cut on the bias.

I was never going for a carbon-copy of that Armani blouse. I was just doing what I do very often: I had seen something which provided a challenge to my drafting skills and my spatial awareness and I took it on.

I sometimes tell people my wardrobe is about 50% useful pieces, and 50% wearable experiments... in fact it may be more like 70 to 30% but there is a lot of truth to that statement....

I'm still here!

2011-07-13T17:36:00.005+02:00

Oh dear, quite a bit more that a week came and went without a blog post... I really didn't mean to do that. I've been here all the time, but work has been crazy and I'm really looking forward to a holiday now. But I'll have to wait a bit longer.

Because of the work situation, not a lot of sewing has been going on lately. I've only just started on a new top.

I find that among sewing interesting things like dresses and a jumpsuit and useful things like trousers, tops tend to get less attention than they deserve in my sewing life. All this year, when sewing tops, I've tried to move outside my comfort zone. No black, no fully fitted shapes.

This is the latest experiment I'm working on. A sleeveless wrap blouse with a huge collar. I'll tell you more about the design and its details later.

Right now, I need to make a choice: flat front or with gathers?

I made the gathered one because I wasn't quite sure I liked the flat one, but now that it's done and I've seen both, I think I prefer the first...

(Don't get me wrong, I think the gathers would work well for a lot of people, but I consider it a strength of my figure that I don't have tummy fat to conceal)

Your insight would be very welcome...

Withstanding the test of time

2011-06-30T18:11:00.004+02:00

Do you think sewing and craft books age badly?

I tend to think a lot of the techniques stay the same, even though new, and maybe more 'convenient' stuff may be added over time.

So, when I found these 1970's craft books (part of a 'Time Life' series, if that means anything to anyone) at a local thrift store at 1.50 euro a piece, I decided to take them home with me.

They include the usual techniques for sewing and fitting.

They also feature simple projects, some of which I would still make and wear today.

Of course, the styling pictures are terribly dated.

But I have never found a better tutorial for making leather gloves,

Or a boxy handbag.

And there is a surprising amount of knitting patterns, many of which might still look good.

All in all, I think this was a very good find and I'm sure I will use these in the near future. I'll make sure to credit them when I do.

As ever, more later.

It's finished!

2011-06-27T15:08:00.003+02:00

And here is the little jumpsuit!

First of all: I like the look (please ignore my less-than-happy facial expressions in the pictures. It's a very hot day, I'm using a self-timer and I had very little time to take these pictures). There may be more jumpsuits and shorts in my immediate future... (especially since the hot summer weather seems to have started today) The colour is also something I hadn't tried before and I really like.

There are some minor flaws: I would have liked to make wider front facings but I had to make do with a very limited amount of fabric, as a result this is the lowest I cut put the top button if I wanted to avoid showing the edges of the facing. I might have put it a little lower otherwise.

I'm also wondering whether I should have added a little more lengthwise ease. I can sit down without hurting myself, but only just. I think I will ask M about this, she's a jumpsuit-making expert.

As I mentioned before, this is a jumpsuit without waist seam. Those seam lines some of you commented on in the sketch are armhole princess seams which end in pockets. The back has simple darts.

I started out with longer legs but decided they looked best hemmed this short (making this the shortest thing I've worn in years, or at least my shortest pair of trousers of the past decade).

The first look, with the belt, is the one I was going for. As I put it on however, I realised the second look, un-belted and un-buttoned at the top worked as well. In fact, I think that would also look quite cool with full-length legs...

And, if I feel like using this thing for layering when the weather cools down again, I also like the look with a jacket.

Jumpsuit madness

2011-06-26T17:01:00.004+02:00

Remember the post I did about considering jumpsuits? And the sketches of those as part of my summer sewing plans?

Well, last week, I decided to give it a go. I drafted a pattern for a cropped jumpsuit, sort of like a 50's playsuit. At first, I wanted to make the wrap-over version of my early summer sketches, but I kept thinking about something with a front closure. And I only had one meter of fabric.

I made some quick sketches and decided to go with this one:

It has no waist seam and I think I'll mostly wear it with a belt. I'm making it from simple cotton which closely matches the colour of my hair. It started out as an experiment for both jumpsuits and shorts, but I've tried it on as soon as I could during construction and I think I'm going to like it. If I do, more jumpsuits may follow...

I hope I can get this one finished tonight so I can show it to you tomorrow.

P.S. My boyfriend has returned home and those shorts I made fit him very well :)

For the man in my life

2011-06-20T19:43:00.004+02:00

Do you sew for the men in your life? I do. I make shirts for my boyfriend. All the shirts he ever wears, in fact. I've made a few shirts for my younger brother as well, and a bag for my father.

My boyfriend used to be, and my brother is until this day, the sort of guy who always dresses in black jeans, a band t-shirt and army-surplus boots. And yes, they have long hair and beards as well.

My brother lives in deny of summer heat, never seperated from his black jeans, but my boyfriend appreciates lighter and even shorted trousers when weather gets hot. I've made him a some bermuda shorts last year, a pair in camouflage print and one in olive green. Based on a block I drafted for him, of course.

After each pair, I've tweaked the fit and the design based on my observation and his comments. Now, I have bought 7 meters of black twill and I plan to use it for trousers for both of us. Before I tried cutting out a pair of full length trousers (risking a significant amount of fabric) for him, I decided to test the fit once more by making him another pair of shorts.

These are knee length, with a jeans-style rise, curved front pockets and welt pockets with flaps at the back. I know they look a bit wonky on the hanger and black is a great fabric choice for hiding details, but let me assure you: they are symmetrical and I'm not lying about those pockets.

E is away from home this week, and the weather has been less than summer-y but I really hope these will fit great and he'll enjoy them when he gets back.

Sew so tiny

2011-06-18T08:43:00.009+02:00

My boss's baby boy was born last week, so I thought be nice to make a gift. The amount of baby-boy-appropriate fabrics is my stash is rather limited, and I wanted it to be both nice and practical.

I made this (hopefully) baby-sized hooded sweater (I put my fabric scissors in the picture as a size reference).

The dimensions for the sweater itself came from the book 'Babydol' (the title is an untranslatable joke in Dutch, refering both to 'babydoll' the garment and 'fun for babies') by Pieke Stuvel (a Dutch writer and illustrator of DIY fashion books, one of which appeared in English translation)

The hood was my own addition. I drafted it using instructions from my normal pattern drafting textbook but I had to guess at the basic dimensions of a baby's head. At first, I thought it would be too big, now I worry a little if it isn't too small for the rest of the sweater.

Anyway, I hope little L will enjoy it.

To answer a question

2011-06-16T17:38:00.004+02:00

In her comment to my latest post, Barbara asked if I could explain how I did the swayback adjustment on those trousers. And well, that's not such a difficult question to answer...

Before I start, however, I need to come up with a little disclaimer: I have often complained about how the 'swayback adjustment' is the most over-exposed pattern alteration in the sewing blogosphere. In most cases, this was about bloggers adjusting dresses or coats on which they might have done well to check the pattern's waist length. And yet, I've gone and used this term myself.

So, to avoid any confusion, I'll explain what I think my alteration on trousers is: a flat-butt-adjustment. I like high-waisted trousers, which made this adjustment needed. With a lower rise, the only 'issue' you would have, would be that the back waistband would sit a bit higher on your body than the front. Which, with a lower rise is not such a bad thing...

To show you what I did and why I did it, I will have to show you some close-ups of my behind...

This is it in my new trousers.

And this in my side-buttoned ones.

The light wasn't great and the focus is a bit off, so I'll add a side view to display the problem: There's a horizontal fold just below the waistband. Even when I'm not wearing heels.

I started to be aware of this fitting issue a while ago, so I was determined to fix is for my next pair of trousers. To alter it, I simply pinned the excess fabric on the side-buttoned trousers (for this, you would have to make a muslin if you're dealing with a new-to-you commercial pattern), took them off, measured what I had pinned and substracted that amount from the top of my trouser sloper.

In my case, the excess was at center back and tapered to nothing at the side seam. If you have a similar problem, you can use this type of flat-butt-adjustment. If the excess also exists at the side seam and/or at the front, you are dealing with a pattern in which the waist-to-hip distance (vertically) is larger than yours, and you should take out some of the overall height.

And finally, to answer a question nobody asked: both these pairs of trousers have straight waistbands. In my personal experience, straight waistbands work well on high-waisted trousers, when placed from the natural waist upwards. That's what you see here. I would never use a straight waistband on trousers with a lower rise. The vast majority of women, myself included, has curves in the waist-to-hip-area. And curves are not served well with a straight piece of fabric.

Summer trousers

2011-06-13T15:36:00.004+02:00

It seems like such a long time ago that I made something for myself which wasn't a knit top... I needed more summer weight trousers for work. I've never worn beige or sand colours before but I had picked up this fabric, a thin twill-weave cotton, on sale at 1 euro a meter a while ago. So, I decided to give it a go.

I've always liked flared and/or wide trousers and with a thine fabric, those are definately the way to go. I also wanted a high waistline so I could tuck in the wider tops I've made recently.

I made these using my trouser sloper (for the first time with a slight swayback adjustment, correcting a flaw which started to annoy me more and more in my existing high waisted trousers) but there is a rather similar looking pattern in Burdastyle magazine 10 2010 (avaible online as well). Mine are just perfectly proportioned for me, and have double welt pockets with flaps at the back.

I'm a bit worried the fabric may wrinkle easily, but these trousers are extremely comfortable so I should be able to wear them a lot.

I've noticed I keep planning all sorts of tops which I can make to wear with this colour and shape and I think I will need a big straw hat as well...

Possibly too simple...

2011-06-06T17:42:00.004+02:00

To justify its own blog post. However, it'll have to do for now. Work these past weeks has been very hectic, and six days a week. On top of that, this last week I've had a return visit from that nasty cold I had earlier. Or one of its relatives.

All which adds up to the sad fact that not a lot of bloggable sewing has been happening. I've been sewing but all of it has been work-related.

Until Sunday evening, when I whipped up this t-shirt from the same thin, striped knit which I used for the twist t-shirt. I wanted this one to be a bit more fitted so it can be worn over trousers. I think the end result is not very exciting but it make for comfortable work-wear. Which may just have to be a priority right now...

That trouser pattern

2011-05-31T20:37:00.004+02:00

Some of you expressed an interest in the pattern for the trousers I showed in the previous post.

In fact, it's a very simple pattern. I guess it would be easiest to start out with a pattern intended for elastic waist/drawstring trousers. Then, all you need to do is re-shape the leg-pieces like this:

I have made this drawing assuming the pattern has a straight leg, which has to be tapered towards the ankle. For these trousers, it is important to get the length right straight away because hemming any longer or shorter is not easily done. The outward flare starts at about hip level and the point comes at about knee height (or half the length of the pattern piece, which is a bit higher but still OK because it will hang down when worn). Of course, the point needs to be the same at front and back. If you want, you can add in-seam pockets in the side seams the way you would add them to any other garment.

If you are starting with trouser sloper or a normal basic pattern (and you want the trousers with elastic or drawstring like mine), make sure to widen the upper part until it is as wide there as at the hips and add an extra bit on top, as wide as the elastic you will use, plus seam allowance.

You will need a rather thin and drapey fabric for this design.

As usual: let me know if anything isn't clear to you, and if you make anything based on this tutorial, I'd love to see it, so if you blog about it or post it on Burdastyle, please leave a comment with the link.

(P.S. I'm pretty sure the designer trousers which were my inspiration were constructed differently but I thought it would be best to give you a pattern adeption which I tried and tested)

It's an outfit-post!

2011-05-25T18:12:00.007+02:00

Really, it is. I know it's been a long time since I've bothered to record any of the outfits I actually wear. But this one is interesting: not only is it all 'me-made' (most of my daily outfits are) it also uses a little-worn old creation as an eye-catching piece. And now, I am happy with it.

(Also, I've been extremely busy these past few weeks, so there hasn't been any personal sewing...)

This is the outfit I wore yesterday:

You may recognize my jacket, made with leather from my boyfriend's old coat, and if you are a very dilligent reader of this blog, you may even remember the red top. The item I was talking about, however, are the trousers. I'm pretty sure I made these after I started this blog... but I'm also pretty sure I didn't post about them before. Even though I considered it.

The point was: I never quite knew how to wear these...

I made this pair of trousers after seeing these from the Dior A/W 2010 show:

This was sort of a Poiret-inspired collection and I just loved the effortless chic of those wide, loose, interestingly shaped trousers. So, I drafted something experimental and tried it out. However, it was hard to find affordable fabric which had the amount of drape needed for a garment like this, and wasn't pure polyesther. This one is viscose/rayon and was only sold in dark blue.

Which made it very difficult to fit into my black-heavy wardrobe. So far, it hasn't seen a lot of wear.

Yesterday, it occured to me to try again. Viscose is nice to wear in warmer weather and I've made a lot of different tops recently. To me, the red completely saves it. I believe it even allows me to wear it with the black jacket. And indoors with my black version of the tiny shrug.

In this picture, you can see the shape of the trousers a bit better. By the way, they have in-seam-pockets. If anyone is interested, I could post a semi-tutorial about them because it would be very simple to make a pattern for these from just about any pattern for elastic-waisted trousers. Just let me know.

What to make for the month of June?

2011-05-20T17:44:00.008+02:00

Just suppose you were to consider this question 40 years ago. Here in the Netherlands, you could pick up this issue of Marion.

It had all the new trends: little tops, like the one on the cover,

folklore-inspired dresses,

some dresses with clean lines, which came with the recommendation to make them in white. Seriously, does anyone recall a summer when white was not an 'in' colour?

The month's trend item was a choice of midriff-baring trouser-and-tank-top sets, made in stretchy crushed velvet.

There was also summery eveningwear,

and tunic suits were hip for day and night.

And of course, the children weren't forgotten either. After all, what would 70's Marion be without some scary drawings of kids?

In all this, it seems like the fabric of choice was printed polyesther-cotton blend. This scares me a bit. Have you ever felt 70's polyesther blends in a vintage store on in your mother's or your own shelf of 'clothes which time forgot'? That stuff is so plastic-y, I can't imagine one would enjoy wearing that in summer...

Quicky projects

2011-05-17T17:43:00.006+02:00

After two jackets, with work getting crazy and more than one labour intensive project-for-someone-else in the pipeline, I really felt I needed some quick, selfish bits of sewing just to keep my spirits up.

I also had this black knit which I bought on sale at the market for 0.50 euro a meter. And in my mind, nearly free fabric equals licence to experiment. These two quicky projects may not be my most exiting experiments by a long shot, but they were quick, they kind of fill a gap I had in my wardrobe and I would have hesitated to waste good, expensive fabric on them.

Oh, I know I'm using black again, but this stuff was cheap... And there will be plenty of colour this summer, I promise.

First, about a week ago, I made this top using the basic shape I created for the colour block top. This one has a normal shoulder seam and a wide, straight neckline at both front and back. Because I really didn't like the look of that, I made three horizontal pleats just below the neckline at center front. I like the resulting look a lot better. It's a nice top when it's worn tucked into a high waistband. I don't care for it worn over anything.

Secondly, I made an open-fronted shrug of about waistlength. In my wardrobe, that's a nice layering piece for 'in between' kind of weather. I used my slopers to make the pattern but if you wanted something similar, you could download Tanit-Isis's shrug pattern and cut away some of the front in a curved line from the neckline's shoulder point to the front waistline.

I made 'ribbing' at the sleeves and around the opening by simply cutting strips of the same fabric, folding them in half with wrong sides facing and serging them to the edges of the shrug (lengths: measurement in pattern minus 10% for the opening, wrist measurement plus 2 cm for the cuffs. widths: I cut 8 cm for the opening and 20 cm for the cuff)

Another jacket

2011-05-15T16:26:00.003+02:00

Yeah! I can post again. Blogger wouldn't let me in for a couple of days (It also still won't let me comment on your blogs quite frequently).

Thank you all so much for your nice replies to my planning-and-explaining post. I am always interested in how other people's creative processes work and I'm very happy with your support for me and my sewing and blogging ways. I think I will devote a post to 'approaches to planning' later. And I still stand by my resolution to make another pattern available as soon as I have the time.

At the moment however, work is crazy, so on my one day off this week, I won't be writing much.

I wanted to show you this jacket, which I made for my friend J. It fits her an awful lot better than the dummy. Which it should because I drafted the pattern especially for her. She also picked the fabric and buttons and decided on such styling details as length, collar depth and pocket style and placing.

She came to pick it up on Thursday (just after I took this picture). I was a bit nervous about the final look and fit. We did have a fitting before I attached the lining, but I'm always worried about details not working out. When I put it on, one of the sides was twisting in which made me think I had made some small but terrible mistake in attaching the facing. I gave it a final pressing and when she put it on, there was no problem and she loved it (by the way, she payed me to make this jacket, so it really should what she wanted it to be). Succes is sweet.

Summer sewing plans

2011-05-09T17:13:00.007+02:00

At the moment, it seems like we, in the Netherlands, will skip spring altogether this year. We went from cold winter-on-its-last-legs to summery warmth in what seemed like just a week. So, if you wondered why I never formulated any spring sewing plans, there's one of the reasons. At least that cold I had last week is almost gone now.

The other, maybe even more important, reason is that I find it hard to communicate my plans. Because I make my own patterns, my sewing plans can be pretty changeable right up to the moment I start drafting. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from sharing my plans before but it adds an extra challenge.

I'm not good at sketching. I usually draw a few rough lines with the aid of a technical croqui. I can make proper technical drawings in Illustrator but that takes a lot of time. Time which, at the moment, I either don't have or would rather spend sewing.

I have also learned, by reading other blogs, that some people a

re put off (put off commenting or even put off reading) by bloggers who make their own patterns. They feel kind of left out because even if the garment makes them think "I want one of those" they can't get the pattern. I can relate to that, but not so much that it makes me change my ways. As much as I love getting comments, I don't think anything could make me give up on drafting my own patterns. I will, as I have before, try to make how-to's of those projects which don't really require personalized slopers or advanced pattern making skills. It's a lot of work, but I think it is also a nice way to share some of my projects (and I especially love it to hear back from those of you who used my how-to's).

When work gets a little less busy, I am planning to make a tutorial or a (on Burdastyle) downloadable pattern of the loose fitting top I made recently.

Well, on to those plans then. I addition to the issues I raised above, I also think it is almost impossible to do any justice to a piece of fabric in a photograph. However, these are four fabrics which I intend to use soon.

From left to right, the blue and white print is fairly stiff cotton. It is actually a kimono-like garment, put together from narrow uncut lengths of fabric. I plan to make a fitted dress from it, but I don't have a sketch I'm really happy with yet.

The second one is a dark blue silk blend of which I want to make either the jumpsuit sketched on the right or a complete rip-off of that YSL one.

The two other sketched jumpsuits are more hypothetical. There's a 50's-style playsuit which might be nice in cotton or linen. And there's a rather serious pattern making challenge: a jumpsuit in which one would use a fold in the fabric to close it and bring in the shape.

The third fabric is a textured cotton I bought last year, with a bold print. I want to make another big skirted dress from it. I know I probably already have more 50's dresses than I need, but I love them and I think such a design would suit this fabric very well.

The fabric on the right is a slightly heavier beige cotton. I want to make trousers from it. One pair high waisted with straight or wide, long legs, the other one belt pleated and tapered with a front fold which is also used as the closure (sorry, no pictures).

As usual, there are many more things I would like to make, several of which I need in my wardrobe more than any of the above and added to that there is stuff I promised to make for other people. So, we'll see what gets done. But these are all things I want to make. What about you? Do you plan by chaos theory, like me? Anything you're specifically interested in right now?

50's crafts

2011-05-05T16:28:00.005+02:00

Reactions to my earlier vintage-magazine-posts have been somewhat luke warm, but I am going to go ahead and bore you all with another one anyway. And this one doesn't even really involve sewing.

To tell you the truth, I don't have anything else to show at the moment. This week, I have my worst head cold in years and four days of work which really could not be done by anyone else... There hasn't been any energy left inside me for sewing or interesting sewing-related research.

So, I will show you what's inside one of those magazines my aunt gave me last week.

This publication has a rather un-inspiring name which translates as "Monthly magazine for crafts"... Ok, at least it is what it says on the tin. And it is full of lovely pictures.

By the way, there are crochet and knitting patterns inside for those lacy gloves.

It includes several patterns for intricate knit- and crochetwear for ladies. Dutch readers may notice the half texts in my scans. This is an A4 size magazine, so I can only scan single sheets at a time while the magazine design is per spread. This particular spread had a knit top at the left side and a crochet top, this one, on the right.

The sewing patterns for these blouses were avaible by mail order (for 25 cent a piece) but the main focus of this page is their decoration. The magazine calls this 'persian ajour' and it is a kind of thread pulling and embroidery technique. The counting patterns for it were on the (now missing) work sheet.

I think my grandmother has a table cloth (which she made herself years ago) with this kind of decoration.

Of course it's not all women's wear. Through the ages, proper housewives used to sew for everyone in the household except the grown-up males, didn't they?

So a play-suit for a baby would definately be on the list.

Back to sophisticated ladies' wear now. This looks like something one would sew but it is a knitting pattern. I do not know what endlessly high level of skill, patience and precision is required for it but here are the instructions to knit a hound's tooth check of reasonable size and make it work in the shape of a raglan cardigan.

And you could make things for around the house as well, like this cross-stiched pillowcase. They claim this is an easy project.

This round lace tablecloth seems anything but easy. It is made in a technique which involves a crochethook. But interestingly, the tulips at the edges are described as being crochet-work, the lacy bit in the middle is not. Anyway, it's all about very thin yarn, tiny stitches and endless patience.

I have to give my respect to the older generation of women who could, apperently, do all this stuff. I have done a little bit of knitting and crochet but I can't begin to think of most of these projects as even remotely achievable.

t-shirt with stripes

2011-04-30T16:50:00.004+02:00

Yeah! Here's something new and finished! And I can show it to you. I didn't draft the slopers for J's jumpsuit today. Instead, I decided to make a quick knit top.

I am really reconsidering my choice in tops this summer. For years, I've been happy with fitted t-shirts and tanktops with small variations. I guess the tanktops will keep hanging around for that real summer weather, but I find myself falling out of love with those skinny t's.

In fact, I even know why. For the past year or three, I've been playing around with high(er) waisted skirts and trousers. Often, I liked the fit, but, especially with trousers, I wasn't sure how to style them. Which meant I ended up wearing those t-shirts over moderately high-waisted trousers. Now, maybe thanks to my winter pencil skirts, I seem to have figured out the amount of room needed in a top which is to be tucked into high waisted skirts or trousers. (which, of course, leads to me wanting to make new trousers which would not be waist-high like most of those I have, but have a waistband at the natural waist and up, like those pencil skirts)

Anyway, my latest top is another take on the twist top (by the way, I made that as a muslin for my twist dress, but I have finished it and I've worn it a lot last summer). This time, I put the twist much higher up on the bodice, making it more of a neckline decoration. The fit in the body is the same as the one used on my colour-block top, but I kept the normal armscye for a set-in sleeve. The sleeves are adepted from my normal fitted sleeves. They are much wider, with a rather low sleevehead, making for a look which is fairly common on t-shirts.

I chose the stripey fabric to set off the twist design but I was afraid this particular version might be horribly see-through. As it turns out, there was no need to fear. I have some of this fabric left and I may just make a fairly normal t-shirt out of it because I like the back view of this one.

The one weakness of this top has to do with the stretch of the fabric. It doesn't stretch anywear near as much lengthwise as it does in every other direction which causes some hang-and-drape issues with the bias front. Which was caused, of course by my idea that a chevron-front would be fun.

A good week for the bookshelves

2011-04-29T16:52:00.005+02:00

Unfortunately, there hasn't been much sewing I can I show to you. I've been at work and working on assignments when I wasn't.

The good news is that the assignments are going well. J came around to try on her almost-finished jacket (all it needs is to have the lining put in), which fit her well and she loved it. Another friend J stopped by to have her measurements taken for that demin jumpsuit. I have good hopes for that one and I think I will be able to make her the necessary trouser- and strapless bodice slopers over the weekend (Queen's day, 30 April, is to the Dutch what the British would call a Bank Holiday, so I won't have to work this Saturday).

Oh, and I still want to make E that spring jacket, although the weather already dictates summerwear. I don't think I will let that deter me. Despite the 'warm summers follow harsh winters' common wisdom, there's absolutely no garantee that we won't have a wet and chilly month of May. And if we get nothing but summer, he can always wear it in the autumn.

But, it has been a good week for the bookshelves indeed.

On Monday I met my aunt, who gave me her latest 'harvest' from the charity shop: Dutch craft magazines from the mid 1950's.

These are not about sewing. they're about knitting, crochet and embroidery. Sadly, all of these are missing their worksheets which would have contained the sull-scale embroidery patterns and the occasional 'sew and decorate' sewing pattern. However, the pictures are pretty nice and I think (with my very limited knowledge of the subject) that most knitting patterns could be made from the texts and small diagrams included.

And then, today, the mailman brought me my latest order from Amazon (I use the 'co.uk' site. They even have free shipment to the Netherlands now). I had been promising myself a book-buying-spree ever since I started my teaching job. But I was waiting for a history book which should have been published in the second half of 2010 but still isn't avaible.

I got tired of waiting and now, I can welcome these to my home.

From left to right, I've got: Patterns of fashion part 1 (I'm not really into recreating historical garments, but I love patterns and I thought it would be great to see those of historical garments. who knows when I will want to use some element from those), the V&A publication Underwear in detail (I love all their 'in detail' books. Excellent detail pictures, clear line drawings and the appropriate information), Pattern magic 1 (no need to explain this one, it's been all over the blogosphere and I decided to give it a go. I didn't even check when I ordered it, but this is the new English version) and season 4 of the Tudors (did I tell you that history is my other weakness?).

I don't think I'm very good at reviews, but if you're interested in my opinion of any of these books, let me know. And I will show you some of the contents of those 50's magazines at a later date

The jacket - now fully on show

2011-04-25T21:41:00.004+02:00

From the very day I finished the jacket, E has been busy. Very busy. Way too busy to take pictures of me wearing the jacket. Until today.

Of course, I could show you the pictures normally, but I had kind of promised you a glamorous photoshoot... And it was nice to flex the old photoshop muscle again. And it's a good opportunity to take a leaf from you-know-who's book and present this garment to you in a hopefully interesting flight of fancy...

So please, indulge me.

When investigators arrived at the scene, they were once more baffled by the variaty of eye-witness accounts.

Some said a lady had suddenly appeared from the dusk. A creature from times past, seeming somewhat worried but also proud and imposing...

According to others, it was a romantic soul who had lost her way on a walk under the blossoming trees. A girl flitting in and out of this world and that of the fairies...

Nonsense, the third party claimed. Ghosts? Romance? That mob-woman could be the death of us all...

And yet, in the bright light of day, nothing could be found except a girl in a dark suit.

Jumpsuits: Yea or Nay?

2011-04-21T20:30:00.004+02:00

Jumpsuits, the changelings of fashion... And yet...

I've been thinking of doing a post like this for a while but as you may know, Gertie has beaten me to it. But that's not going to stop me from adding my twopence.

As a child in the 1980's I think I owned and wore a jumpsuit. A pink one with buttons down the front, which my mother had made. As far as I know, I have no pictures of it. After that, jumpsuits went out of fashion and I never thought about them anymore.

In recent, more fashion conscient-years, jumpsuits have been inhabited the same black spot in my sense of style as those other 80's favorites: leggings and tunics (although I did still wear leggings in the early 90's, I haven't embraced their recent revival).

However, jumpsuits are not a one-era phenomenon. Gertie showed great examples from the 1930's, which were news to me. The were utilitarian styles in the 1940's (of course, those were meant to work in) and they were hugely popular in the 1970's.

That much is shown, not just by my thrift store find but also by their presence in the 1970's issues of Marion.

And by this denim number which I will be knocking off for a friend (the original isn't in her size, she sent me the picture last year and I don't know where it came from).

And now, it seems, the jumpsuit is back. Of course, it's been on the verge of a come-back for over a year. Occasionally one might be spotted in a glossy fashion magazine, or on the back of some daring person in the street.

And now, I want to make one.

Not one of the kind you see most, like this (from H&M, just one of many in the online store. which really shows just how big the jumpsuit is for this season). I'm not a fan of that overall baggy look... Although it does solve the biggest fit problem of RTW jumpsuits: torso length is way more critical than with, say, trousers or dresses. Having loose and blousy bits on top ensures no problems with that.

No, I prefer the kind of silky jumpsuits Gertie described. And as much as I liked a lot of her examples, she missed what I consider the best I've seen so far.

This one, from the Yves Saint Laurant spring/summer 2011 show. I might not be above trying to create a knock-off of that... Sleek, silky and glamourous.

Although, of course, none of that solves the real problem with wearing jumpsuits: the bathroom problem...

Vintage finds!

2011-04-19T17:10:00.006+02:00

As you may have noticed, I'm not someone who searches the internet for wonderful vintage clothing from around the world (I admit I might be, if given the budget for it...) And I take care not to visit the local high-end vintage stores very often but I can't resist looking through what's on offer at cheaper out

lets. Especially when I'm passing them anyway.

There are three stalls at my local market which sell second hand clothes. At low prices. As usual for this kind of outlet, they sell the good, the bad and the ugly and anything in between. I have bought lots of gloves there. And a couple of handbags. And a few scarves and silk blouses (some to wear and some to refashion). Oh, and two coats. And a dress. And some hats.

Ok, maybe it's time to admit I'm addicted...

However, last week when I was there, they had this 1970's jumpsuit for sale. For 5 euros. Although it's 100% polyesther, I thought it was fun. And I though it would be sort of my size so I bought it.

If I am to wear this, it needs to be taken in. Mostly in the sideseams at the bust and waist, a little at the hip. And those princess seam at the bust will also need some tweaking. Although the white part is lined, I think it's do-able.

I sort of like this thing on me, but I may also decide to pass it on a friend who's a little bit bigger.

Then this week, they had this on the stall.

I thought this one had gotten away from me... They'd had it there before but I didn't buy it then because of the price. Now I bought it at 15 euros. Still the most I've ever spend there, but hey, this is a genuine 1950's dress. In almost my size.

Full circle skirt in flock printed organza, with a layer of tule and a lining underneath. Bodice decorated with tule ruffles... A party dress.

The size is a bit puzzling. The seller labeled it as 'XS' and the original tag says '40' (that's size-inflation for you...). On me, it's a little bit too big (about 3 cm in all) at the chest and more so (about 6 cm) at the waist. This is strange because I know I'm flat-chested and 50's fashion is known for its smalls waists. My guess is that, despite it's '40' size tag, this dress was ment for teenage girls and, for that reason, not drafted to suit the bust of a grown woman.

As a result, it looks nice on me when worn with a belt.

It's not very comfortable though. The waist seam has been serged which allows you to feel the prickly ends of the tule.

The shoulder straps are the right length for me but at the inside of the dress, there are obvious signs that they've been shortened.

It has four boning channels to give stability to the bodice but three of the bones are missing. All those stiff synthetic fabrics seem to do their job quite nicely without them though.

And of course, it has a metal zipper. They don't make them as fine as this one anymore.

Because of its finishing, I don't think this was ever an expensive dress, but now, it's a rare surviver so I'm happy to have it.

A new season, a new shape

2011-04-17T15:47:00.004+02:00

Spring has made a quite convincing start here in the Netherlands. For the past couple of weeks, we've enjoyed sunny and dry weather, unusually warm for this time of the year.

For that reason, sewing black wool trousers to match my jacket didn't seem so relevant anymore. I'm already dreaming about a whole new line-up of summer frocks...

However, it is important to consider more practical wardrobe requirements. Not all skirts and dresses would work for either of my jobs (teaching and fitting wedding dresses). So, despite my students' appreciation for my black wrap dress, I think I should control the number of big-skirted 50's inspired dresses I make. And put

some thought into trouser-based outfits.

The point is, in colder weather I've been perfectly happy wearing trousers with simple top covered by interesting cardigans or jackets. Now that it's warm enough to loose the cardigan or jacket, my selection of tops is looking a bit drab and boring to me. Too much black and not enough nice shapes. In fact, it seems like all my basic tops are fitted t-shirts (apart from last year's free form experiment tops, which I still like).

It was time to try something new. The matter needed some thought. You see, I always think (and am usually proven right) that a lot of popular shapes won't work for me. Cup-size A is something to keep in mind when picking tops...

This is a very easy top. Literally a T-shape, with cut-on sleeves. I wanted to try colour-blocking and I love the coral red which works surprisingly well with my skin tone/hair colour. Because I was making a sort of yoke for the colour blocking, I wanted to eliminate the shoulder seam. To do that, I made a V-shape on one side of the upper piece. One side, not front or back. I did the, for me, most unusual thing with this top. Both sides of it are completely flat. No shaping at all, no difference between front and back, making it reversible.

I like the look of the top when it's worn tucked in a high waisted pencil skirt, like in these pictures.

Although I think I can also wear it hanging loose, and paired with trousers. I wanted to make a hip-band at the bottom, but didn't because I thought that would show when the top was tucked in. I may do that on another version though.

I think the V-neck at the front makes the whole thing look rather sporty. Maybe a little too much so to be worn with trousers. Fortunately, these are not your average football-jersey colours...

All in all, I'm fairly happy with this top. It's so easy to make and offers so many options for combining colours that I may have to be careful not to overflow my wardrobe with this relaxed new shape...

Marion, September 1972

2011-04-16T08:00:00.005+02:00

Today, I will show you some of the pages from the issue of Marion magazine for September 1972, published 11 years after the one I showed last week and the most recent of the magazines my aunt gave me.

Like all the issues from the 1970's the cover is sort of a 'fashion drawing' (showing a face, the way fashion magazines do, but sewing magazines usually don't)

The set-up of the magazine hasn't changed much in those 11 years. The size slightly bigger, there is definately another illustrator at work and almost everything is in colour now. But, on the other hand, there is still only one pattern in each size included in the magazine with the rest available by mail order and designs are shown in photographs or in drawings. Oh, and size inflation has struck: the old size 36 is now 34 and so on.

Although some of the 70's magazines have maxi-dresses, that doesn't seem to have been the 'in' look for September 1972.

There is an almost enless parade of colourful mini-dresses.

And these suits and coats, which I like best from all the designs in the entire magazine.

Of course, there are still clothes for children as well, although I'd be spooked by these crazy-eyed illustrations.

And there's something I don't think I've mentioned before: there are plus-size designs. Apperently, they took this seriously because every magazine has a fairly wide selection of these. And it looks to me like they have taken a bit of care in finding styles to flatter a fuller body (although it is obvious that they believe larger sizes are for older women...).

Oh, and there's a pattern in my size. By the early 70's Marion must have been acutely aware of the existance of a teenage target audience because they've done away with the sharp divide between women's and children's wear. The new size 34 is considered the same as the largest size for girls, but there is a section with patterns, meant for young women, available in sizes of about 34 to 40. The dress on the left is included in my size.

Although I love all these old magazines, I'm less infatuated with the 70's ones than I am with the 60's versions. Which makes sense, because when I do 'retro' designs myself, the look is most often 50's or 60's and never really 70's (although I kept wearing boot-cut jeans well into the skinny jeans era. In fact, I've never owned real skinny jeans). Still, the very fact that there's a cute pattern there, in (sort of) my size, which was published before I was born, is motivation in itself to try and make that dress...

P.S. My appologies to those of you who asked me questions through the comments lately, and to those whose blogs I read and wanted to comment to. Blogger has been giving me trouble for the past two weeks. It doesn't stop me from blogging myself but whenever I try to leave a comment, I can type something but when I try to post the comment, the connection is lost. This has happened before but usually it's a one-day thing. Of course I may have been unlucky with picking times for blog-reading...

Anyway, you'll hear from me in comments again as soon as blogger lets me.

You can't go wrong with the dress...

2011-04-13T07:23:00.003+02:00

This is one of my favorite dresses. It pre-dates this blog by more than a year (in fact, it's Burdastyle page is from 31 August 2008. Which may be when it was uploaded or when they changed the site...).

It's a wrap dress made from simple woven black cotton. It has a bodice with a notched collar and kimono sleeves with underarm gussets and a big full circle skirt. I remember wrap dresses were a huge trend that summer but most were collar-less jersey things which were famous for working 'for every body shape' but absolutely didn't work for my flat-chested frame. So, I set out to make a wrap dress which would work for me. And have a bit of a retro touch. And include a technical and design detail I hadn't tried before (those sleeves).

I loved it when I finished it and I still do. I have had to repair the sleeve gusset once (because I didn't reinforce the fabric before setting those gussets in. hey, it was my first try at something like this) but I've worn it a lot and I have used the pattern again as a starting point for last summer's turquoise dress.

Normally, I don't think about 'day to evening wardrobe options' but amoung my clothes, this dress would be just that.

Many of you may prefer colour, but black dresses are very versitile. A minor change in accesoiries really can allow me to take this dress almost anywhere.

I'm thinking about all this because it's warm enough now to wear it again. And I did so on Monday, when I was teaching my sewing class.

I am teaching that class at a local highschool (which is not a normal highschool but one which teaches students who are new in this country the Dutch language and some other skills which will allow them to participate in the regular education system after one or two years) and my students come from all over the world. They are very enthousiastic about learning how to make their own clothes and they know I often make mine. Not a single one normally wears a silhouet like this but within a minute of me entering the room, I was surrounded students who wanted to know about the fabric, the bow or the dress in general.

I've always had the theory that girls like 50's style dresses because those have the quintessential 'dress' shape. I just thought that instinctive liking ended when 'fashion-consciousness started... Apperently not.

In fact, I will make a dress like this again. I promised my sister to make her a dress for her classical singing performances, and the design we both liked best was this:

So, at heart the same dress, but different in almost every detail. When I make it, I may just try and grade it as well. After all, out of all my creations on Burdastyle, none has received more requests for the pattern than the black wrap dress... It would be a lot of work and I'm very busy, but it would be nice.

Marion, September 1961

2011-04-09T09:56:00.007+02:00

Today, I will show you some pictures from the (in my humble opinion) best of the 'Marion' magazines my aunt found for me: the issue for September of 1961. (the upper right corner of the cover is the only part of the magazine that's damaged/missing, so that's why she's giving you such a weird look)

This really is 'Mad men'-era stuff, people. Lots of adorable dresses which I'd wear in a heartbeat.

They are shown both in photographs,

and in drawings.

And then, there are suits

and coats.

And not just for women, there are also children's patterns.

Now, of course this little magazine doesn't contain the patterns for all of these gorgeous clothes. Most of the pictures merely advertise patterns you could order but they've included the patterns for a selection of clothes. One in each size on their sizing table. Other sizes were avaible by mail order as well (I think this explains why, in most of these magazines, the pattern sheet was still stapled in).

After some searching, I found the sizing table, and then the pattern included in my size.

It's this one.

It seems that according to Marion anno 1961, I'm a size 36, but that size is listed as being for 'girls between 14 and 16 years of age'...

I don't think I believe that people used to be smaller/thinner anymore.

Of course, despite the fact that it's shown on a pre-teen looking model, this is an adorable dress, and I may just try and make it anyway.

Show and tell: new fabric

2011-04-07T20:08:00.005+02:00

If I stop for minute and think of it, most sewing bloggers will show you their fabric, their patterns and the garments created from those.

Now, I don't often show you my patterns for obvious reasons. I make my own, so getting the same thing is impossible. And I only do how-to's if I think it's pattern which can be made by someone without serious drafting skills.

It will be clear to anyone that I am showing you the garments I make. It's sort of hard to miss because those make up most of my posts. And sometimes, usually with more involved projects like the jacket, I even remember to blog about the work in progress.

But why don't I show you my fabric?

I don't really know. I could say it's because I don't always buy fabric with a specific project in mind and I often buy out of season, but that doesn't quite make sense. After all, lots of other bloggers show what they buy for their stashes...

So, I'm not going to spend more of your and my time fretting about reasons. I'm going to show you the fabric I bought last week.

Firstly, I went to the market on Saturday and came across a stall which was selling various cotton fabrics at 2 euros a meter or 3 meters for 5 euros...

I bought 3 meters of this madras check with the interesting seersucker-style puckering in the weave. I think it's a good quality fabric but the obvious projects to make with it would be rather preppy looking. I will have to come up with a very different way of using it to make it work for me. I'm think about a slim shape with the fabric gathered or draped on.

I also bought 3 meters of this rambling floral with its almost nautical colour scheme. This cotton is very soft and drapy and I think it might work very well for me in different kinds of garments.

And in the upper left corner, there's a fun little detail... No idea whether or not it's the real thing.

Then, on Wednesday, I went with M and the two girls who are doing work experience with her, to a local fabric store which will go out of bussiness by the end of next month. We are planning to go back there early next month, so I did practice restraint and didn't even look at my usual 'target', nice woolen fabrics. But, at 10 euros a meter I did buy these:

1.5 meter of raw silk in a changant colour of gold and bright green and 2 meters of silk charmeuse in coral red (the colours are much more vibrant in reality than in the picture). I plan to make a fitted, shift-like dress from the green and something nicely draped from the red fabric, but I'm still pondering the details.

As usual when fabric shopping, I wondered about what else I might have and maybe should have bought the moment I walked out the door. But my stash is big enough. And at least I did get some silk, which is not a standard fabric for me. And we'll go again before the shop closes.

What can I say? I guess I'm always greedy for good fabric...

A 'new' bag

2011-04-06T17:57:00.006+02:00

I made a 'new' leather bag. In fact, the bag is new enough but I made it from about half of an old leather motorcycling jacket. I already used the other half for a bag for my father. I just added a sturdy zipper, rivets, D-rings and a lining.

I used the welt pocket from the jacket's front for the front of the bag...

and unpicked the elastic at the back in order to have enough material for the new back.

And I made the lining out of some yellow cotton.

The shape of this bag is really easy, you only have to consider the order in which you put it together. Including a zipper and a lining means you have to plan ahead. However, this leather is really thick and quite stiff. I couldn't have done it with a lesser sewing machine...

It's quite a tough looking bag so it will be interesting to see how well it works with my usual 'look'. Although I usually pick my bags for practical purposes rather than for style.

And the winners are...

2011-04-04T20:10:00.002+02:00

For MyImage magazine: Jessica H

and for Stitch & Sew: the Hillbilly Banjo Queen

I've emailed both to lucky ladies, so as soon as they send me their snail mail adresses, both magazines will be off to new and welcoming homes!

Of course, I secretly hope to see what they make from these magazines at their blogs some day in the near or not-so-near future...

Channeling my inner rok chick

2011-03-31T17:10:00.008+02:00

Now that's a silly little joke only Dutch (speaking) readers can appreciate. Or those who learned my Dutch/English sewing related translation list by hart.

For the rest of you: "rok" is Dutch for "skirt".

And of course, black leather is a classic rock chick look.

Although I have made more than one leather garment and visited a fair share of rock and metal concerts in the past years, I've never been a true rock chick. Nor do I ever expact to become one. (in fact, my boyfriend plays bass guitar and the other members of his new band were even wondering whether I liked their music at all...)

This skirt is made of thin black leather which has been treated to have an interesting matte texture. I bought it as a large and very 80's looking second hand skirt last year (for either 2 or 5 euros, I don't remember which).

I chopped off about 20 cm at the top, re-cut the front and back according to my skirt sloper, partially stitched up the very high back slit, inserted a new zipper and re-sized and re-attached the waistband.

I chose a metal zipper and inserted it the way you would insert a blind zipper. It's a look I like on leather: no visible stitching next to the zipper but metal zipper teeth on display.

Obviously, there is extra material inside at the stitched-up slit so I hope that won't make the skirt misbehave too much. By the way, the hem is at an even length, I'm just posing with a ridiculously arched back in the second picture.

PS. Today is your last chance to sign up for the pattern magazine giveaway!

Slow going

2011-03-28T18:52:00.003+02:00

Wow, lately it seems like everyone else is sewing and blogging up a storm... I feel like I'm lagging behind. Badly so.

The truth is, I've been busy. Too busy to get a lot of sewing done. And then, as soon as I get time to sew, there will be an assignment waiting for me. Work just been quite busy lately. And E had to work another entire weekend, so there are still no better pictures of the jacket.

As mentioned before, I had decided to fit in a few quick and easy things between my jacket and the assignment one. Of course, 'quick and easy' tend to be famous last words in my world...

I started of this skirt thinkin it would be both easy and a great opportunity to try out the tiny amount of draping experience I had just picked up at M's. Hm, well where to start?

I can't drape skirts at home. Mary still doesn't have legs and she has a posture issue and my normal dummy opens at the sides and center front and back which makes her quite unsuitable for pinning and draping. This meant I had to go with what I already know and start from a flat pattern.

Secondly, I hate this fabric. I love the colour and the hand is rather nice too (although maybe not ideal for this project) but it's just so synthetic. I knew it was polyesther, polyesther crepe to be precise, but not all polyesther fabrics are created equal. And as it was very cheap so I thought I could always use it for a muslin.

Well, that's what this skirt will have to be. A muslin. Which is why it doesn't have a zipper or facings and why I didn't press it properly.

This fabric isn't even worth that name. The stuff creates so much static electricity that I think it's a fire hazard. No way I'm going to wear that. And it frays like crazy.

I think I do like it though. The draped front will have to be smaller because it drags that side of the skirt down too much (not visible in the pictures) but I would just love to have a skirt with a 'fly-away panel' (as they call this feature in vintage pattern describtions, if I'm not mistaken). If you ask me, it's fun and flirty and feminine. Even though it's also difficult to finish properly because both sides of the drape are on display and there's a curved edge (I used a rolled hem from the serger on this muslin, but another fabric might need/allow other methods).

PS. Don't forget to enter the pattern magazine giveaway!

More about magazines

2011-03-24T21:27:00.006+01:00

In your comments to the magazine giveaway, several of you have mentioned the complete lack of sewing magazines in thier countries. From the fairly often heard "We're lucky to get Burda" to "I wish we had sewing magazines here".

Ladies, I wish I had a whole pile of MyImage's to pass around...

This shows how spoiled we are, here in the Netherlands. Yes, Dutch seamstresses will also complain about the lack of fabric stores and about how hard it can be to find patterns in the right styles and sizes.

However, we have choice of sewing magazines which are available at most newsagents. Of course, there's Burda, which is also published in Dutch. There is Knipmode, a Dutch publication which is also published every month and has about the same amount of patterns per issue. Which also has a separate publication called Knippie which is all about children's patterns. There is Ottobre, for women and for kids. And then there is some smaller, rather more frumpy magazines called "Sandra" something like that. (I don't no how many of that kind of magazines there are. A well stocked newsagent would have three different ones, but I think two of those would be about knitting only).

And then, some fabric stores sell FIMI, and its smaller sibling (as in children's patterns) Bizzkids which appears either 2 or 4 times a year. And there's newcomer MyImage and apperently Stitch&Sew as well. And a quick google search also brought up girl sized Trndz.

Yes, we are seriously spoiled.

Unfortunately, apart from Burda and Knip, I haven't found own websites of any of these magazines to link to.

If you're interested: I found the smaller magazines, FIMI, Stitch&Sew and Trndz for sale at this site, which I have no personal experience with.

All versions of Knip (including some Dutch/German specials I didn't know about), MyImage and more are for sale at naaipatronen.nl which, in my experience, is a very reliable site.

Both websites are in Dutch, but if you email them in English, they should be able to help you. Click the text 'contact' to go to an email-page.

Oh, and for any Dutch readers on the hunt for exotic pattern magazines, it seems that both websites are selling Patrones as well.

And what about those magazines in the picture? Well, apart from Knip and Burda, all of the magazines listed above are fairly new. There used to be another Burda-like Dutch sewing magazine. It was called 'Marion' and I remember that my mother subscribed to it in the late 80's. Publication stopped well before I started sewing.

I didn't really know how long it was around though. And then, my aunt gave me these. She volunteers at a local charity shop and found these issues of Marion. The oldest (the little black-and-white one on the left) is from 1961, then there's one from 1969 and the other 10 are from 1970 to 1972... I'm really happy with these and I'll show you more of them in a later post.

Filling space

2011-03-20T16:12:00.004+01:00

I know I sort of promised better pictures of the jacket this weekend but despite the great spring weather, there are no pictures. I was relying on E to take some pictures of me wearing it, but he has had to work all weekend. And I sort want to make the trousers as well...

So, to fill some space here, I'll show you the cool vintage coat I found at my usual thrift store - market stall.

This thing cost me all of 2.50 euros. It used to be 5 but everything was 50% off...

I don't know how old it is, it doesn't have any tags but doesn't seem home-made either.

It was labeled as 'one size' because of it's cape-like shape and the sleeves which are obviously intended to be three-quarter length. However, there are shoulder darts and those are about in the right place for me.

The coat is made from green/grey wool and lined in wool with a houndstooth check of that colour and off-white. It almost looks like it could be reversible but there is no trick with the buttons to allow for that and the turn of cloth on the collar makes pretty clear to which side it should fold.

As you can see, I took these pictures with entirely inappropriate flared trousers, I should press the coat and it may not get worn until after the summer.

But, this is exactly kind of quirkily shaped (and more or less my size) garment which I just have to buy when I find it this cheap.

Pattern magazine giveaway

2011-03-17T17:54:00.006+01:00

Just over a month ago I was lucky enough to visit the fabric trade show Tex World (orginized by the Frankfurt Messe, but held near Paris. And just doable as a one-day trip from where I live) with M (M is the designer of pioneering eco-brand ecocouture. unfortunately, she doesn't have a webshop but on her site you can see some of her designs, some of which sewn up and all the current ones photographed by yours truly).

While we were there, we came across a Dutch fabric importer who had some sewing magazines at the stand. Pattern junkies we are, we took those with us. But, pattern making junkie I am, the chance of me actually making anything from these magazines is next to zero, and they don't include any amazingly clever details which I want to look at time and time again. At least, to me they don't.

So, I have decided that I should pass these on to a more appreciative audience.

These are not full-size magazines like Burda, but I will show and tell you about them.

The first one is My Image, which was reviewed here, by Melissa from Fehr trade. I think she might be a better judge of this kind of magazine than I am.

Because of her post, I know that this was not a one-of publication in collaboration with a fabric importer, but an actual magazine which appears twice a year. It is published with instructions in Dutch, English, French and German.

It contains these designs, all of them either in size 36 to 44 or in 38 to 46.

And that's according to this sizing table.

The other magazine is called Stitch & Sew and I know nothing about it which is not in the magazine itself. However, to me, the instruction pages, pattern sheets and sizing look a lot like Knipmode's.

Stitch & Sew, despite its title and the text on the cover, comes with instructions in Dutch and German only. The other special thing is that it has patterns not just for women but also for kids. For girls and for boys. Am I right in thinking that boy's patterns can be hard to find?

Without further ado, these are the designs. Top row is for women, the first four designs in the second row are for boys, the rest for girls.

Women's patterns come in sizes 34 to 46, according to this sizing table.

Stupidly, the magazine doesn't include a kids' sizing table but all children's patterns are for sizes 104 to 134. I downloaded this sizing table from the Knipmode website. It's for their children's wear publication Knippie, and I think the sizes will match Stitch & Sew's very well (the women's sizing table is an exact match).

I will give both of these magazines away, and I am prepared to ship them anywhere (it just seems unfair not to...). To participate, just leave a comment to this post. Two important things: 1. you must either have your profile, with an email-link, public to blogger-users like me, or include an email adress. 2. Tell me which magazine you want. I plan on using a random number generator, but, given the relative rarity of children's (and mostly boy's) patterns, I am looking for a way of giving extra chance to those of you who need those. And remember that, to sew from 'Stitch & Sew' you should either know Dutch or German, or not need sewing instructions at all...

You can enter until the first of April.