In Need of .... a New Dress

The temperatures here are starting to climb, we started at barely 28 Sunday, going to 38 mid-week and the next week-end. Which means only one thing:
I need a new dress!!! Not that I do not have enough dresses in my wardrobe, but every morning, it is the same

dilema and the same idea: if only I had one dress more, I would not have such a problem.

So I have set myself a challenge: make myself another silk dress for he next week-end.

I have this cute dark green silk whatever-it-is with little flowers in my stash (which for me look like small mushrooms, so officially, this is my mushroom-silk dress) and I have never done my false-Colette with short sleeves. So this should be quick&easy, right?

Unfortunately, I came home quite late this evening, so only had the time to cut the fabric, including self-lining of the bodice.


More to come tomorrow....

Anna by Hand London – the revelation

I have seen this pattern so many times in so many variations, I have the impression that all of the bloggers I follow have already sewn Anna dress in any of its modifications. I am also perfectly aware that I am getting my hands on it with a significant delay.

But I can now proudly say I have become a member of its fan club :o) and finally understood why this pattern is so favorite.

So, my first Anna was kind of a wearable muslin in basic blue cotton which was supposed to be worn with a linen polka-dot jacket I bought last year, but I am afraid, I will have to sew a different one for this jacket. But that is another story…

After a first quick muslin, the dress came out just right. That is somehow the magic of this pattern: it is nice in fine fabrics as well as in stiff cotton and it gives it a totally different look.

Looking at this version dress I would say I could have taken out 1-2cm more on the shoulder seams, but I am not sure…, it might have made the bodice too short, also....

I used HongKong finish on all the seams which means the unlined dress took me as long as if I decided to line it but I am really happy with the result. It is now so clean on the inside.

I was really wondering if my fabric was not some kind of linen-cotton blend after seeing how it behaved under the iron and how I managed to “print” the zip finish on the front bodice (during the last ironing before taking my pictures, grrrr).

I was so excited by how the dress came out that I immediately cut out another Anna dress, in silk crepe this time (already finished) and I am seriously thinking of sewing a third one :o) The silhouette is just so flattering, and the little kimono sleeves are just perfect for what I need: little shoulder coverage without too much fuss.

Inspiration: too many pictures on the web, like here, here, or here or even here 

Pattern: Anna By Hand London

Pattern changes: 2cm out of the shoulder, length

Technique: Hong-Kong seams

Fabric: blue cotton

Time to Complete: a week

Total Cost: 17 EUR

You Never Have Enough Black Tops

On one of my fabric shopping sprees I bought 3m of black lycra-silk blend, because you know, you never have too much black fabric and it is sooo versatile.

Fortunately for this piece, I did not have enough storage place to put it (do not worry, a recent trip to Ikea and I have at least 1m3 of new closet space..), so it remained lying in the living room. Therefore, it got sewn very soon.

As you never have enough black fabric, you also never have enough black tops and I figured out I definitely needed some.

The first one is from Simplicity 6808 which I muslined here. This time, I kept it simple, but since it is soo hard to find adjusted tops in RTW, I am very satisfied with the result. After some hesitation, the top is double layered (interfaced, not lined), except for the minisleeves.

For the second one (because, why leave a remnant of black silk when you can buy some more next time) I wanted to experiment. I kind of liked the model 102 in 05/2015 with flounces and window-shopping suggests this is the 2015 style.

I adjusted the fit (shoulders, as usual) and shortened the flounces little bit: somehow flounces longer than the top seemed like a bad idea. As for my first black top, I double layered the top – lined this time to cover the zip.

I still am not quite sure whether it is the right style for me, but perhaps a change is a good idea.

By the way, the fabric is a horror to photograph, it moves like crazy and shines a little bit.

Inspiration: do you need to be inspired to sew and wear black tops?

Pattern: Simplicity 6808 and Burda 102-05/2015

Pattern changes: shoulder-sleeves

Technique: silk sewing

Fabric: silk-lycra blend

Time to Complete: a few work days for each

Total Cost: 15+12 EUR

Me-Made-May 2015 overview

At first, I have to admit that I did not keep my pledge 100%. I tried and kept wearing me-made clothes the whole month, but at least one me-made garment every day was little bit too much.

The weather was somehow strange the whole month and I realized that after 2 winters and only one summer of me sewing, I just do not have enough summery things. And not enough separates.

However, the month is far from being lost because I kept sewing and sewing. Besides finishing my first coat, I sewed 3 more tops, out of which I have already worn 2. In addition, I bought Anna pdf pattern and started sewing a more than wearable muslin of it. Already finished, but will need some time to take pictures and blog about it.

All-in-all, I have consumed almost 10m of fabric (compared to 18m bought, ehm, ehm).

I also realized that I have too many finished garments which I have not blogged about yet. Mostly because I am too lazy to take pictures of myself in them, or, I have not worn them yet so taking pictures is more difficult.

But back to Me-Made-May: and a few lessons I need to learn from for next year

As always, I have a few favorite garments which I tend to wear over and over. I am even thinking of the same styles sewing again from another (already bought) fabric. This is somehow getting against my hope to try and sew new pattern. And I have many of those as well. 

Separates are a great way to keep with my pledge (all 3 pics from our trip to Berlin):

Black is certainly my colour. Ok, most of the pictures are my work-outfits. I tend to wear brown-black-grey and that’s it. Perhaps if it was a me-made August when I spend 3 weeks on vacation, the colour palette might be different.

I should definitely sew some more skirts. This grey one is a great staple and the brown one is soo comfy. And I just love both patterns.

Ok, there is probably nothing transcending in this article, but I felt obliged to post a MMM recap in the end. It was fun to take pictures f myself every day and it is interesting to see the whole month here. In the end, little bit of colour might not harm… :o)