Lingerie supplies

A couple of days ago, the supplies I ordered from lingeriestoffen.nl arrived. There are lots of webshops which sell lingerie supplies but I have been a fairly faithful costumer of this one ever since I found out they list all dimensions (not just the theoretic cups size, not just the length but also the diameter) of their underwires. I generally prefer to by sewing supplies in person but the nearest store which stocks a lot of lingerie supplies is in Amsterdam, which isn't really close enough for regular shopping trips (which might be a good thing...).

The main thing I needed were rings and sliders for the shoulder straps but when I was ordering online anyway, I decided to add some nice lace as well. And edging elastic and wide strap elastic and the hook-and-eye closures for the back.

Oh, and these. Metal suspender clips!

Of course, all suppliers of lingerie supplies have lace in all the colours of the rainbow but I have found out that I mostly wear back bras. So, I focussed on the black laces.

This is the one I have bought before. They still stock it and it is lovely but I still have a bit left so I didn't order more.

I did buy this simple, more graphic design. I think it will look beautiful layered over beige foam for bra cups and it should work well for panties too.

And I couldn't resist this gorgeous floral design. It's a bit big and has more colours than I would usually pick but it is very beautiful...

I'll need black foam to use under it though, and I just found out I'm all out of that too. So I will probably let this lace wait for a while. I'll make some other bras for which I have all the supplies and order black foam later, when there is more stuff I need.

Oh, and here is something I ordered to try out: It's hard to see in the picture but this is polyester boning which comes in a soft plush casing. It hope it will work much better for a longline bra than my own combination of polyester boning for regular clothes covered in velvet ribbon. 

So, at the moment I'm working on a new bra, using some of my old supplies. I had realized that some of the fit issues with my longline bra were based on a difference between the shape of the underwire and the underbust curve of my pattern. So I've tried to change that. This is test version based on the shape of the wire. I hope it will work!

Lace-y

Although I didn't have anywhere near as much sewing time as I had hoped in the past week and a half, I did manage to make a few little things. When it comes to showing them here, I'll start with the smallest:

New panties! 
Black lycra and lace. The pattern is Melissa's Lacey Thong (at the top of the list on her "downloads" page after the link) with several alterations for personal fit and style. I have made it several times before and gradually made those changes over several versions to make it suit me. 
There is one new thing I've done here: I used narrow stretch lace for the waistband instead of normal lingerie elastic. I really like the look of the "double lace". Kind of opulent and delicate at the same time. It may not last as long as a normal waistband but it is pretty and, being softer an wider than the usual stuff, it doesn't cause lines. 
Oh, I did cut this stuff a little bit shorter than I would the normal lingerie elastic. It much softer after all.

I really wanted to make a new bra too but I still didn't have any rings and sliders. So, I ended up ordering some new lingerie supplies. When they arrive, I have some more plans...

2017

Happy New Year everyone! I'm wishing you all health, strength, inspiration and joy in 2017. 
I've read a couple of end-of-year posts on other blogs, and a few with New Year's resolutions. I never make a lot of those, it feels too much like setting myself up for failure. I sometimes have plans though...

For me personally, a lot changed in 2016, mostly things to do with work and other hobbies. Since September, I've been teaching and that obviously takes a lot of my time. I have also continued with the other hobby which started to make its mark back in 2015: Rock climbing! Which now also includes a small part-time job at a local climbing gym. 

I think my most interesting achievement this year was this:

Actually getting into real outdoor climbing (living in a completely flat country, nearly all Dutch climbers start on plastic). 
E and I are now sufficiently experienced to go climbing on real rock by ourselves. And we met some very nice people while we were learning.
I did most of my climbing in clothes I made myself though ;)
The blog post about the jacket with the stripes is here.

This is also true for the things I wear for indoor climbing, although I really should make some new trousers for that. 

Although all that stuff really cut into my sewing time, a lot of it didn't happen until the second half of the year. Although I didn't really do any major projects last year, I really well on my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge in the first few months. There was some 1950's stuff, including this blouse which you can also try and make because I shared the (translated) drafting instructions from a Dutch sewing magazine from 1952 here.

I also managed to make a successful (late) 1920's dress:

and tried this design from the early 1940's.

For 2017, I hope to get back to a bit of a sewing and blogging routine. I don't plan on writing when there is nothing to say. However, with me getting used to my new work and sport rhythm I should be able to also find enough time to make some nice clothes and tell about it here. 

Now with pictures

I hope you've all had a good time over the holidays. These final weeks of the year are usually busy but also mean some time off work.
That last reason finally allowed me to have E take pictures of me in that dress I wrote about earlier.

As I mentioned before, it is very revealing unless you stand at just the right angle. This is the right angle but you can still see my bra. And that slit in the skirt does go all the way up to the waist. I guess I'll use it as a robe in summer. 

I liked the shape though. Fitted from the waist down, curving up to those fairly wide cut-on sleeves. It reminded me of this beautiful vintage dress I've kept on a Pinterest board for a while now.

So, I decided to try and make another dress using the basic shape of the kimono twist design. You know, without the twist...
I even had the perfect fabric: a double knit, blue rib on the right side, plain black on the inside. I'm not sure about the fiber content but there's no static cling so I don't think it is polyester or acryl. It is firm and stable enough for the fitted parts and yet has enough drape for those sleeves. 

Basically, I just used the back piece from the kimono twist dress for the front and back of this one (with an adjusted front neckline, of course). And to give myself room to walk without that big slit, I cut the dress with a center back seam and inserted a godet there. I'm glad to report it works well.

I'm really pleased with this dress: It was very easy to make, I love the look and it is very comfortable. It's a shame its success is so dependent on the fabric or I would recommend it to everyone and make many more myself... 

Life and sewing

There's no point in denying it anymore: I just really don't have the kind of time and energy for sewing and blogging that I used to. Between work and climbing, there is just not that much left over. I tried to deny it for months, occasionally blaming myself for not sewing or blogging in the evenings I was at home. 

I'm not going to do that anymore. I love sewing and I love this blog but there are just 24 hours in a day and sometimes, I'm just tired.

I'll just have to change the way I plan my sewing projects. Plan them in way many of you probably always have. Just make simple things when I'm busy or prepare for a well-considered bigger project in the weekend and keep working on it in short little installments during the week. 

I started with the first option last weekend. I finally tried out Studio Faro's Kimono Twist Dress. Basically, it is just a variation on the kind of twist I have often used before but I thought it looked quite elegant from the first time I saw it. 

As usual, I didn't quite follow all the instructions. Those are for a dress in a woven fabric with a soft hand, with the twist at the high hip. I'm old-fashioned and I like the narrowest point of a dress to be at the narrowest point of me, so I put the twist at the waistline. I also made the dress in jersey so I used my sloper for fitted knitwear.

I also kept the pattern in two pieces. Much more economical in its use of fabric. 

I thought it was an easy pattern to draft but I was a bit nervous about the end result. In the original instructions, it is described as "a little daring, showing lots of leg and décolletage". That twist is the only thing holding the dress together at center front. 

My fears were justified. I will take pictures later this week. The dress covers enough if you are standing perfectly still but move around in it and it gets a bit too revealing. I'm not feeling to bad about it though. It will serve me well as a light robe and working on this helped me develop other ideas. 

More about those and pictures of the dress soon! 

Finally!

In the previous post, I told you I would soon finish that black dress... In fact, I only finished it last Saturday and took pictures on Sunday. 

Last week was very busy with work and E was ill, all of which didn't leave me much time for sewing. 

I'm glad it is finished now. I like the skirt and I like sleeves but I'm not entirely happy about the fit of the bodice. I have used this pattern before but it was always in fabrics with just a bit more give. I checked the fit on those other dresses before cutting this one and I added little bits of room in the back bodice pieces and at the biceps. And yet, it is a bit snug in those areas. That's what I get with all that climbing I suppose...

It is not too tight to be wearable though. And as I said, there are other things I like about it. Would you believe I have never made a shirtdress with full-length sleeves before? I always thought that would just be a bit too much so I stuck with three quarter length. 

I did make the skirt a little bit shorter than most of my recent 1950's style skirts.

Interestingly, I think this dress looks a bit 1970's rather than 1950's. But I'm not absolutely sure...

As I mentioned before, I started making this dress to have something to wear with my new big scarves. I also mentioned that I usually end up wearing things like this without decoration. 

And this time may not be very different.

This is what it looks like with one of the scarves. It's just a bit too big to go with the dress, I think. Nice and warm though...

Sew slow

This must have been my longest break from blogging in quite a while... I didn't mean to do it, it just happened. 
I still couldn't figure out what to make from that flannel. I was very busy with work and social obligations. I spend another weekend climbing in the Ardennes (in the last weekend of warm sunny weather... It was great!). I was just very busy and didn't sew that much anyway...

In fact, I have done a bit of sewing during the time that I wasn't blogging. Because I couldn't decide on what to do with the flannel, I put it back on the shelf. Instead, I started on another dress, which I have been working on slowly, in left-over moments, for the past week and a half (which is not my normal kind of sewing progress at all!).

I'm making this dress, in black cotton. I made this technical drawing quickly in Illustrator so it is not very pretty but it does show the shape of what I'm working on. 
The bodice is the one I originally drafted for the flounce dress but this time, I gave it full length sleeves. I made those a little bit fuller and I'm going to add sleeve slits and cuffs. The skirt is a simple half circle with slant pockets with fold-back flaps (a very popular detail in original 1950's designs). I cut the skirt in six gores but didn't put that detail in the drawing. The center front pleat was a bit of an afterthought. When I was drafting the skirt pieces, I was a bit sleepy and I didn't realize that I had included the front overlap on the bodice in my measurement for the skirt piece. I only noticed that when I was pinning the waist seam. A pleat was by far the easiest way to fix the issue...

The dress should be finished at some point in the next week. It only needs cuffs and a hem now. When it is finished, I will show it and discuss any other issues I may have with it...

And just in case you were wondering how I went from colourful flannel to black cotton, there was a reason. This dress was planned as a kind of "background dress". The sort of garment which can be combined with other things to create different looks. Usually when I try something like that, I either end up always wearing it plain or I settle on one look and stay with that. Which doesn't mean I don't like the idea...

This time, I came back to it after buying these two scarves (my apologies for the horrible cell-phone pictures, taken with the use of a dirty mirror):

They're huge and soft and warm and a lady at my local market was selling them for 3 euros a piece or 5 euros for 2. I have looked at similar scarves before but I never bought them because I don't usually wear square scarves, but at that price, I couldn't resist. 
Now, these scarves are so big they can completely take over any outfit so I don't really have to make anything to wear them with (they look great with jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt) but they were still my reason to start making this dress. I'm not sure it will end up looking good worn with either scarf but I suppose that's a risk worth taking.