Still Alive And Even Sewing

It's been a looong time since I published my last post. And it's been a looong time since I was last sitting in front of my sewing machine. 

The coat is not finished yet. Why? I consulted the nearly-done trench with my teacher during the so-far-last sewing lesson before the summer break and we came to the conclusion that a couple of changes had to be made. The problem is, that I never came around to actually bring them to reality. Why? Already at that point, I had so very little time for everything else, that I just had to put the sewing aside for a while once the course was over. 

The reason is that in less than 6 weeks I'm having a wedding and we organize the wedding ourselves, no wedding planner at hand :-), so this takes me a lot of free time. For the case that this wasn't enough, my two friends are marrying on the next two Saturdays and so I am helping them with some stuff. In fact, one of them is my best friend who lives abroad and that's why I don't have a real opportunity to help her with the organization, so I am happy at least for the little things I can do, like making her a garter or a ring bearer pillow.

So, the last things I've been sewing are some decorative tablecloths, garters, wedding band pillows and stuff like that. It's fun, I enjoy it a lot, but I have no time to sew anything else. And that explains the lack of my posts lately. 

In the middle of all these organizational things around our own wedding, like finding the right place, manage the bureaucracy, design and possibly create some decorations etc (you've got the idea), I was having this "delightful" idea, that I'd love to make a dress for at least one of the friends' weddings. Since the time-pressure's on, I was thinking I might manage to make one for at least the second wedding in a row. I had the suitable fabric in my fabric stash, I had the perfect pattern in the pattern stash as well and I had this feeling, that I might be able to sew up a dress in a weekend time, although this dress is more complicated than anything else I've ever sewn before. 

It's Vogue 1154:

I love the design, I bought all the notions I hadn't had at home, like steel boning (Erica B. inspired me to this) and I began to sew. I followed the instructions and at first, everything went well - the process was very time consuming, but I had no problem understanding the instructions or actually following them. I made the foundation, lined it, I made the outer shell (the upper part of the dress), made some pictures in the middle of the process (below) and after nearly two whole days of sewing, I'm stuck. 

First, the time I had reserved for this dress is gone, so if I don't manage to steal enough time during the workdays after work to complete it I won't be able to finish it in time And second, I don't know where the instructions are going. I am trying to understand, how this dress will finally come to what it looks like in the pictures, I have no idea why the dress lining is probably between the dress and the foundation and not between the foundation and me... I know, I am not an advanced sewer and I picked an advanced pattern, so no right to complain, I've been warned :-).

I'll see what will happen next. I will try very hard to complete this (time-wise and instructions-wise), but I can't guarantee a success. If I won't make it in time, I'll have to force another friend to marry to have an opportunity to wear this what-the-hell-was-I-thinking dress once it's (hopefully) done :-).

Have a great week and happy sewing! :-) 

Inspired Sewing and Spring Coat Progress Report

I really like the trend of brocade clothes - dresses, skirts, jackets..., you name it. Since seeing Abbie Cornish in this gold Yves Saint Laurent skirt in one of the recent Marie Claire (US) issues, I was thinking about making one like that. I am not sure if the skirt she's wearing is a brocade one and I see there are fringes which I don't envision in my version, but it was inspirational enough to look for a similar fabric.

Other inspirations:

 Simply Vera Vera Wang

 Alexander McQueen

So I am happy I've got this piece of brocade fabric into my possession and I will turn it into a skirt inspired by the pictures above. I especially love it styled with a simple white shirt. The fabric was a remnant, but one big enough (1,6 m) to make something else out of it to match the skirt as well.

But before I even start with something else, I need to finish the trench that I started to sew ages ago. I lost some precious sewing time with unpicking all the seams that kept the sleeves attached to the trench's body (they were already serged and all :-/), because the shoulder seems ended up to be just too long and the sleeves were set in too wide. Of course, I should have seen that before sewing and serging them in, but, oh well, it was just too late to cry over the spilled milk. 

The outer shell as well as the lining are finished now, the collar (with a stand) is attached to where it belongs and the lining is attached to the outer shell in some places. I'll see how much time I'm going to have this week, but I'd like to have it (at least nearly) done by Wednesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Have a great upcoming week :-)! 

Mid-week Ramblings

There was some sewing going on during the past weekend in our apartment and the Spring coat begins to look more like a trench than a fabric puzzle, but there is still a lot to be accomplished. 

The reason why I didn't have more time to sew was our trip to Vienna (Austria) and that's where I've discovered a great fabric/sewing notions shop (in fact, there are three shops of this one owner, but I've only been to this one so far).

The thing is, that although I live in the capital city of our state, it is not a big city and there are only very few shops with fabric and sewing notions (and this rule can be applied to many other areas of life). Soo, since Vienna is only about 55 km from where I live (my city lies on a state border), we quite often happen to look for things we need/want there, if it's not possible to find here. That's how I stumbled upon this shop (www.Komolka.at). 

It's got two floors and these are full of beautiful fabric, satin ribbons, buttons, sewing patterns, threads, needles, etc. I didn't mean to buy any fabric, but you might already guess how it all ended up. I was quite overwhelmed by the supply (the next time I go there I am having a plan :-D) so I bought only four pieces of fabric (everything remnants). Three of them are not really outstanding in comparison to all the other fabrics there, but I really like them. The next time - when I know what I am looking for, I'll get something I'll need for particular projects. 

The shop has a great supply of special occasion fabrics (including bridal fabrics) and since I've been overly fascinated by evening gowns and dresses lately, I bought a piece of an evening gown fabric as well. There were no labels with the content of these fabrics.

The one special occasion fabric is a beautiful royal blue fabric (the remnant has 2 meters) - satin circles sewn on a sheer base (the picks don't do it justice)...

I envision it transformed in something like this:

pictures from www.pronovias.com

The other three fabric remnants (if 2 meters of fabric can be called a remnant...) are of an unknown content as well - the first two being sheer, the last one a stretch material / knit. I see them turned into a tunic and summer dresses.

As I was saying - these days I am in LOVE with evening gowns. I am fascinated by the fact, that someone is able to make something so spectacular as a beautiful evening gown / wedding dress from a flat piece of fabric. I'd love to learn that - at least to that point to which it is possible to learn "at home". I am not saying I have the time to do that right now, but I definitely do want to master it one day :-). So while surfing on the net and admiring all the great dresses I came along these patterns that caught my eye and that have finally found a way to my pattern stash:

Some elements of Vogue 1701 remind me of these beautiful dresses...

pictures from www.pronovias.com

... Vogue 1853 reminds me of this fantastic number by Elie Saab:

picture from www.pronovias.com

... and Vogue 2904 makes me think of this wedding dress:

picture from www.pronovias.com

OK, I don't think I'll be able to create these fantastic dresses any time soon :-), but I girl can have a dream, so let's pretend that the patterns, their instructions and a certain amount of determination can be a point to start from :-)...

Have a great week :-)! 

Progress Report

I am still working on the McCall's 2252 trench. I wouldn't call it a continuous process, since I didn't sew a single stitch the last week - I was abroad for four days and had no time to sew. Then yesterday, I traded a couple of hours of the pre-midnight sleep for sewing and what I've got so far is this:

The sleeves are not attached yet, nor the collar, but I've finished the lining so now it needs to be sewn to the outer shell. I am also thinking about shortening the coat a bit. I think it runs a bit too long, looks longer than in the picture (McCall's 2252, view E) to me. 

I hope the next sewing "session" or two will be enough to finish the trench. As it is getting its shape slowly, I am starting to be curious what the finished garment will look like :-).

Have a nice week and happy sewing :-).

I am working on something...

..., but the progress with this garment is sloooow. Due to the lack of time I am experiencing recently (looks like "recently" is "all the time") I only sew about three hours a week and that's just not enough to complete a Spring trench coat in a "normal" amount of time.

Right, I am working on a trench coat. The pattern I've chosen is McCall's 5525, the fabric is cotton purchased about two years ago with an intention to turn it into a coat one day. I had a vision of a floral white-black-pink coat appropriate for warmer weather conditions and this is the fabric that came closest to my idea. 

This is what I've got so far. I am not trying to match the print (obviously). I don't have enough fabric for that. I know this is a big boo-hoo for some sewers out there :-), but I just don't have enough of the fabric to do that :-). I had ordered 4 yards of the cotton the two years ago and it's turned out to be just on the edge of what I need. 

The idea behind this trench-to-be is a little bit extravagant piece of clothing with contrasting lining and piping (in fuchsia color). This is the second time I am working with piping (the first time being a piped fabric belt, which means pretty straight lines in comparison with the curves of this coat). What's missing from the pics is a piped collar, which has been completed so far as well. 

The piping is a piece of work (especially for a novice), but I am doing my best and it is not as bad as I was first worried.

This is also the first time that I made a muslin before actually cutting into the fashion fabric. I have to say, an idea of making a muslin doesn't really fit my impatient personality - it seems like investing a lot of time into something that won't be needed afterwards (in a case of a non-wearable muslin). But I am learning to be more patient and I am learning to make me feel good about all the time and patience invested into everything, that perfects the end result of my sewing. 

So I made a muslin, made some fitting changes (with  help of my sewing course teacher), ripped the muslin apart, made it into a new and improved (for my body) pattern and cut the fashion fabric with help of the muslin pattern. Pheeew.

I have no idea, how it will turn out, but to be honest, even if it doesn't fit me afterwards, I'll be happy if the coat turns out to be wearable for anybody :-). But I hope it won't be completely ill-fitted :-).  

Hopefully I'll be able to complete the other half of the trench's front tonight. It means I have to sacrifice a couple of hours of pre-midnight sleep, but if I want to have this done before the next  Spring's arrival :-), some serious measures have to be undertaken ;-). 

Wish me luck

and have a nice day :-)!!

     

Spring/Summer Fabric Shopping

I know that the winter is not gone yet and I am still in the mood for some winter sewing, but the couple of warmer days which came (and are already gone for now) made me attracted to Spring/Summer-reminding fabrics. I also blame some of the new Spring sewing patterns that were already released by some of the pattern companies. I also blame these companies (of course not myself!! :-)) for my recent fabric shopping ;-).

Looking at the (let's call it) small stash of fabric I have accumulated during the last two to three weeks, I am once more reminded of the fact, that my sewing is far from any plan and that I rarely sew any coordinates. But I have to admit, that I don't like to sew for the lower part of my body, since I am bottom-heavy and there are literally no pants in the whole world that would look good on me at this point. Trust me - because I tried them all on at some point before buying the one pair I wear all the time :-D.  But this year I want to change a couple of things and finally plan to sew a couple of pants (and skirts) for myself. 

Looks like I am starting to write a bit off-topic. So, back to the fabric :-).

I have some plans with these, but I reserve myself the right to change my mind :-). 

This is a polyester satin and the color is much more vivid and fuchsia-like than in the picture. I bought this piece with M5977 on my mind. I know this is a pattern for knits, but I might be able to make it work in this poly satin - with a zipper maybe. I like the yellow or fuchsia pattern pics.

This is a 70% polyester/30% viscose blend which I love - I love the colors and the fabric abilty do drape nicely. I'd like to use it for V1220, but I am a bit hesitant, since the fabic's pattern might be a bit busy for this dress. But maybe if I used a one-color sash... Hmm, I'll see.

I was also looking for some fabric for V1233 and since I think that this dress looks so great on the pattern envelope because of the beautiful fabric used for it, I was looking for something similar. And I came around this 50% linen blend, which looks quite similar. It's not exactly the same, but I hope it will work. I am not quite sure, because the fabric is a bit heavy, but I am wiling to try it out :-).

  

This next fabric is a 50% cotton blend and I can't say much about it yet, only that I think it's beautiful and I'd like to turn it into a Spring/Summer jacket.

I dread sewing with sheer fabrics - and that has to be the reason why I've bought this sheer Missoni-like poly, ehm, right? But it was so vivid and happy-looking lying around in the shop, that I had to have a piece for a summer blouse/top.

I've bought the next fabric, because I thought it looked interesting and would be great for a skirt or a dress. Since I am partial to dresses, I've bought enought for a dress. It consists of 65% oly and I have no idea about the rest, because I couldn't decode it on the fabric's label. I've chosen this Vogue 1190 for it so far, but I think it might be just too heavy for this pattern. Maybe only the color palette of the fabric made me think of the pattern and it'll become something else.

I also prewashed the fabric and since it's all somehow embroidered, a piece of it ended up like this, so I'll have to fix it or avoid it when placing a pattern on the fabric. 

Here's the last fabric from the stash above and it's a 100% poly again. I think it would make a nice boho Summer blouse, maybe this BWOF 6/2009-108.

Sooo, the only thing I need now is some spare time to sew - hopefully and maybe this weekend?

Happy sewing to everyone :-)!

Butterick 5495 Top

I don't sew much lately and it doesn't make me happy. But I am not surprised, that I don't sew much, because after my much loved 3-week Christmas break I somehow knew that my job won't let me. Not that I wouldn't have some spare time, but I am often so mentally tired that I can't force myself into doing anything after getting home from work. 

But the weekend before the last one I finally had the time and desire to sew and grabbed this pattern and a piece of fabric bought the day before and made myself a top. It's Butterick 5495 and I made the view C with semi-long(?) sleeves (neither long, nor short), in the size 8.

 

This post would have been written about a week ago, but I just wasn't able to get some decent photos of me, the top or me in the top. My camera made some bad photos, so this is probably the third attempt and I know this time the pics are all somehow grainy, but well, I am giving up this time.

Anyhow, to the pattern. It's an easy one to sew up. I had it done in a couple of hours - tracing the pattern (I trace them, don't cut them), cutting the fabric and having it all sewn up. 

I made it in the size 6 and it is more fitted than in the picture, but otherwise it looks very much like the pattern picture.

The pattern has got only 4 pieces, one of them looking rather odd, but it all comes together nicely and easily. There is a gathering  in the middle - under the bust area where a stripe of the fabric holds the gathers together. Although the cleavage is not one of the narrow ones, I don't need to wear a camisole under the top, because it doesn't gape.

It really is an easy top to sew up and it is very versatile - in my opinion - suitable under a cardi, a jacket or left alone for a more casual look. I would recommend it ;-).

Have a great week :-) !