Spring 2011 Vogue Patterns

I am not sure when was the time that I first saw the new Spring Vogue Patterns collection - (somebody, and I am sorry, but I don't know who, published on her blog some scans of the to-be-released collection), but as soon as I did, I fell in love with quite many of the patterns. It might be because I - for some unidentified reason - love dresses, or because the styles are so pretty, feminine and cute, but according to my opinion, this is the prettiest Vogue collection since I began to participate in the sewing world. 

Sooo, I was impatiently waiting for a SewingPatterns.com sale and placed my order like 5 minutes after I spotted the announcement of the sale in my e-mail box :-D. 

I know that I am not the only blogging sewist who likes these, but I can't not show them here once more :-):

Vogue 1233. This pattren might not be overly spectacular or innovative, but I really like the interestingly used collar, and the fabric and buttons used in this particular picture make the dress (and pattern) an object of my desire :-).   

Vogue 1219 and 1221. These two patterns attract me mainly for one same reason -  the wrap bodice style. The first one is - in my eyes - a picture of daily elegance with the stand-up collar and shirt-like look. The second one looks very feminine and romantic. The soft color of the dress looks very pretty against the model's skin tone - I really like the styling. 

Vogue 1220. I LOVE this dress - it was love at first sight. The only concern I have in relation to this pattern is, that the smallest size offered is 8 and while my lower body might need even a number 10, if not 12, size 8 is usually too loose for my upper body, so I hope some size adjustments won't ruin the dress's cut. 

Vogue 1232. I don't know what is not to love about this dress. Feminine, pretty and flattering.

 

Vogue 1223. The actual pattern (the bodice) is in this case a little bit hidden in the fabric's colors, so although I love the fabric, it's worth to have a look on the pattern's lines. Again - very feminine and romantic.

Vogue 1230. I like the sleeves and neckline.

Vogue 1231.  The big bow on the back makes this pattern very cute. I think I would look much older in this choice of fabric than I actually am, but the model can definitely pull it off. I think that this dress has some potential even if the peplum would be removed.

These are definitely not the only new Vogue patterns I like, but if I talked about all of them, this post would be too long to to keep anybody's attention :-). Even mine :-D. 

Have a great week and happy sewing:-)!

Simplicity 2754 Dress

The Simplicity 2754 dress, that I kept mentioning in a couple of my recent posts, is finally finished. I am glad I finished it, because if I don't finish a garment, that I am working on right away, I have a problem with its completion. Obviously, I am one of the persons, who are enthusiastic about each and every new project, but comleting it might be a problem for me. If I get stuck with one of the used sewing techniques, if I miss some needed notions and begin with another project before finishing the previous one, I am very bad at coming back to the original garment and finishing it.  I've got something to work on :-)...

This is the pattern I used for the dress...

 ... and this is my interpretation of the dress:

I made the dress with a round neckline and long sleeves with cuffs. I made it in the size 6, but I could have got away with the size 4, especially in the upper part of the dress. I also eliminated the back zipper, since the fabric I used is stretchy and the dress has a neckline big enough to get into it witout a zipper. According to me, this pattern is drafted pretty loosely - I had to take in about 3 inches on both sides of the torso - around my ribcage and waist area. The size 6 was way too big in this area for me.

The picture below shows some details.

I made the loop for the neckline button as written in the instructions - from the fabric used for the dress, but for the loops on the cuffs I used a black cord. I thought the fabric loop would be too thick for the cuff. Well, the cord is not thinner at all, probably the opposite is the truth, but, thankfully, it works :-).

The one thing I have to fix is the neckline facing. Since the fabric is so thick and the finised dress is quite heavy, it keeps pulling the dress down  and the facing keeps peeking out from the inside. I fixed it in the back by topstitching the back part of the neckline, but I don't want to topstitch the front, so I'll have to think about something else.

The buttons I've sewn on are the same style, only that the button on the neckline is bigger than those on the cuffs.

The fabric I chose was quite thick for this project. I can imagine, that working with a lighter fabric would have been much easier, since this one adds a lot of bulk to some areas - like the cuffs  - and they were  a nightmare to sew. They are very tiny in comparison to all the gathered fabric of the sleeves that you have to attach to them and this bulky fabric made it close to impossible.

So, this is my dress - I think the first winter dress I've ever made. I like the sewing pattern I chose for it, but next time around I'll look for a lighter fabric to work with this pattern.

The next item on my sewing plan - a Burda shirt / blouse.

Happy sewing to everone :-)!

Butterick 5562 Top

This is how I originally imagined my Christmas holidays / vacation - no real obligations, staying at home whenever I feel like that and sew as much as desired. And I am sticking to my plan :-)! That 's why I spent another (not entire) day with sewing.

This has been my probably quickest project so far. I traced the pattern the evening before yesterday (I don't cut patterns, I always trace them) and have it made yesterday in a couple of hours.

This is the pattern and I made the view B - the third in the row in this picture.

It's a long sleeved top with gathered sleeves - they are gathered in the sleeve cap area as well as in the part under the elbows. The top itself is quite long, as well as the sleeves - but I like this prolonged silhouette.

The colors in the pics are not accurate - the fabric's colors are much more accurate in one of my previous posts, when I photographed it after brining it just home. I'll have to buy a better camera, since this one  -  not even mine - doesn't deal with interior lighting etc...  very well.

The sleeves are gathered with help of an elastic - this one is the most decent one I was able to get my hands on. I wanted to buy a clear one (Victoria of Ten Thousand Hours of Sewing inspirated me in this case), but I don't think they ever heard of such an elastic in the shop I went to, although it's a pretty big shop with otherwise a lot to choose from... So I ended up with this black one and I am satisfied with it. This was my first time of sewing an elastic right into the garment and I am quite happy with my work. I love it, when I get to try out a new sewing technique (well, new for mee :-)) and it goes well.

There is also another first time I experienced with this project. Before I discovered the american sewing patterns producers, I had no idea there were patterns which included seam allowances in the pattern drawings. So, after I came to purchasing these patterns, I used to trace the patterns and then eliminate the SAs from them. With time I learnt to leave them there in cases where I only had to sew close-to-straight seams, like the side seams. But this time, I left the SAs in the whole pattern and I quite enjoyed sewing the entire top this way. I only had to help myself with a marker at the neckline. Maybe it was so easy this time, because this pattern doesn't have any tricky seamlines. 

Yesterday I also managed to finish the Simplicity dress - with buttons and everything, so they will be a subject of my next post.

See you soon :-)!

Burda Blouse 9/2007 - 101

I've been quite productive - sewingwise - during the last three days and completed two new garments. Having a couple of weeks off from the job is great - it's only now that I can see how much my job is standing my life in its way :-D.

I've completed the Simplicity 2754 dress I was blogging about a couple of weeks ago. There are only buttons missing, which I intend to buy tomorrow, hopefully.

The other piece of clothes I have finished is a Burda blouse. I had a piece of a flowery fabric which I purchased quite recently and I felt it would be perfect for a blouse. I looked trhough my stash of Burda magazines and came up with this pattern from BWOF 9/2007 - 101. I wanted something with simpler lines, since the fabric pattern is already quite busy.

The fabric I used was very flimsy - the type I hate to work with. Since I am still a beginner, I still have to learn how to tame such type of fabric properly. I used (for the first time) french seams on the side seams, the sleeves are finished with an elastic and I used my coverlocker (coverstitch machine) for the hem. The pattern was not very difficult to sew with, the only challenge was the fabric - from cutting, through fusing some parts for a reinforcement to actual sewing with it.

And here is the end result. 

sorry for the deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression :D

I like the finished blouse, although I think there are things I could have done better, nicer, neater. On the other hand, I would have done them better, nicer or neater, had I known how :-). At this point of my sewing skills I just don't. The good news - it can only get better from now on ;-).

Tomorrow I plan to finish the mentioned Simplicity dress and start with another knit top. Since it is another simple pattern, it shouldn't take me too long to sew it up.

Happy sewing to everyone :-)!