Outfit Thinking

I am not always best at thinking in terms of outfits. My decisions on what to sew come basically from "oooh, what a nice fabric, I need a dress from it" or "what a cool pattern, and I have a fabric which would work with it". Only rarely do I say "oh, I would need a brown skirt to go with this sweater".

And I know that it has become really popular over the blogosphere to create and think in terms of capsule wardrobes. Not my style.... the reason I am sewing is to wear things I like, even though they do not much others in my wardrobe. And yes, it is not always easy to pack a suitcase for a few days vacation. But I also sew a lot of basics which helps in the end to bridge the gaps.

But, from time to time, I just pick an outfit and I try to reproduce it entirely, even if it means sewing all of the pieces. And this was exactly this case - sometime in summer last year, I have seen a cute combination of shorts and jacket sewn in seersucker which I loved. However, seersucker is always sold in some light colours, not quite something for a complete outfit for me. But I realized that I could just recreate it with my linen-coton jacket sewn last year as well. I still had some remnants from this fabric (such a lovely colour) and shorts seem like a great idea.

I used Burda 05-06/2018 so as to justify this year's purchases. I did a few adjustments - made it narrower and shortened it as I do not like high-waisted shorts. The sewing was rather smooth, I hong-kong-bound all the visible seams because the fabric frays quite a lot. The pocket is created as a sort of facing which helps the stability as well.

All in all a cute pair of shorts.

I tried it on with the jacket and realized that the jacket is just waaaaay to large for a summer frock. I almost knew that already when I was sewing it (I made it in a sewing class) but the instructor kept telling me the size was ok. I have probably lost a few pounds this year, so it became really big.
At that point of time I did not have a better idea than deconstruct the sleeveheads, take away a few centimeters and reconstruct the jacket again. I also narrowed the sleeves.

If I am honest with myself, I would take away something also on the hip area, but I will just say it is fine and live with it.

Nettie Dress

Sooo... my sister is a big Argentinian tango fan. She takes lessons, goes to milongas, she even lives with a tango professor. So when I asked her what I could sew for her, her answer was not some normal dresses, jeans or whatever, but her tango outfits. “And you can use any scraps for that, do not worry,” she added.

Hmmm, that was not an easy one. The thing is that after a little pinteresting and discussing on what a real tango outfit is, I realized that I do not have many stretch or jersey fabrics at home and that basically I have never sewed with really stretchy jersey. But little internet research and I figured out that it was workable with my sewing machine if I have the right fabrics and a few jersey-special tools.

We ordered a bunch of jerseys during the July sales period which arrived quite in advance, so I thought I would just test sewing with it beforehand. I have actually ordered little more fabric, saying that I could definitely use it for something for me. I then pulled out some black jersey ponte di Roma (viscose/poly/lycra) for testing.

In the end, I had actually the same issue with patterns, till I found the Nettie dress pattern. Not sure if I am ready for the bodysuit, but the Nettie dress is actually a great bsic block for jersey dresses. Once the fit is done on the dress, you can reuse it for a top, or a skirt, or another, more interesting dress. Also, if I fit it to myself, there is a high probability the fitting to my sister will not take much time.

And again, I was so surprised by the speed of sewing a jersey garment. I was really happy, I did not use a Burda pattern, and the instructions were really, really helpful! I was worried I would stretch the neckline or something else, but in the end, it all worked perfectly.

The only thing I need to change for the next Nettie is a shoulder adjustment (shortening) which I should not do. The dress is slightly shorter in the armscye area and tends to stretch under the arms. I will lengthen it to the original size again.

The final dress is quite different from what I am used to but I like it a lot. Simple and secret pyjama, so will definitely get worn. And I am even planning on sewing another one. Or another jersey dress….

Tango outfits - vol 3

And the last article, at least for this batch of tango outfits. Basically, I made the tops to use little scraps and my sister wanted tops to have more colour combinations, so there we go. All the tops are very simple, I used a tube pattern (based on Nettie dress) for all of them and then did a few variants.

All tops are from jersey, the only support is an elastic on the upper border to keep things in places.

Soooo, we have a simple tube:

A tube with little ruching in the middle:

A top with additional ruched piece over the breasts, to add volume ;o) :

I also did one with one with more fabric around, but we forgot to take picture of that one, as it was the last one, made really at a last minute.

At some point of time, I was rather fed up with all the tube tops and I wanted to try something else, so I chose Burda 105-07/2015 top of the dress, adjusted it little bit to the stretchy cotton I had bought mainly for myself and whipped up this little cutie.

I must admit, that I was happy when the top sewing was over, there is this instant gratification of quick sewing and using up scraps, but I definitely prefer taking more time making my garments.

Tango outfits - vol 2

When I was sewing the tango outfits for my dear sister H, I knew I would not have much time and I wanted to use the 2-3 days we had together to a maximum. So the strategy was pretty simple - fit a dress pattern (Nettie dress) and use it as a basic for all other variations. In order to speed up the fitting process, I sewed a Nettie dress from black ponte (the same material as all the colorful ones) and fitted to myself (and kept it, hehehehe, but more on that later). I would then very quickly see all the adjustments needed for my sister (almost none, as it is a very forgiving jersey pattern and we are very close in size) and sew a dress for her.

Once this is OK, then I can do everything from dresses, to tops and skirts. H was not very keen on starting with a dress, as she prefers separates, however, I was the one sewing, so I started sewing a dress anyhow - the first one was this blue flowery one.

Funnily enough, when we got to skirts, she suddenly did not want only a simple jersey tube skirt, but something "special". I found Burda 110-05/2013 quite a funny pattern, I was just worried about the weight of the ponte.

My sister could not imagine it at all. I must admit that the pattern was presented in a Burda "tropical collection" and we all know how Burda can be inventive, so that was just too much for her. In the end, we tried anyhow, since we had an almost the same yellow fabric for this. Although I did not double the pieces, as advised by Burda for some sheer fabric they were using and then took A LOT of time to try to understand how the skirt was constructed. Fortunately, this was one of the rare Burda patterns explained with images and schemas and not only words. It was kind of a puzzle, but I liked the challenge. And definitely a kind of pattern I do not usually sew for myself.

The only thing I would somehow change is the back which is a simple elastic, so if I wanted it to be perfect, it would need some darts, which I am not used to in jersey clothes.

And the result is just... amazing. We just love it! The only regret I have is that it does not make much sense to make another one in a different colour because it is such a special pattern.

As for the second skirt, this is a mix up of the Nettie dress and Burda 120-05/2013, the same I did for this dress. Again, the waist is a simple large elastic, but since my sister is quite slim, it works quite well as well.

Last, but not least, the tube tops. These are based on the Nettie dress as well, and they were a great way to use up all the scraps.

Do you have a piece of jersey, let's do a tube top. I stabilized the top of the top with an elastic, and there is not much to do with it anymore.

Tango Dresses

So after five years my sister came to visit me. And she had a sewing wish - get some new tango dancing clothes. I thought, hmmm, what an interesting challenge, let's try that.

We started with sharing some ideas and researching on Pinterest at least to agree on some basic principles. It has soon become clear that my sister wanted comfy, body-hugging clothes, therefore knits. As I do not have a stock f knits at home, we did some research and fortunately found a few nice stable knits at bennytex.fr. I placed the order and two days later a huge bag of fabric arrived. Of course, I took the opportunity to get some knits for myself as well, which will hopefully get sewn later this year (hopefully, because my stash is just increasing this year, so I should make some more effort on that).

I bought some ponte di roma, which had little strecth but is very soft and had the most incredible colours, then some more cotton stretch.

In addition, my sister chose some kind of blue flowery polyester, which was really different from all the others but suits her very well and it will be very comfy for dancing as well.

As for patterns, I used Nettie dress from Closet case patterns as a basis and it worked really magic and then some Burda ones. So that you know, the few next blogposts will be about the new tango wardrobe.

Let's start with this blue flower dress. As already said, the fabric is not my favourite, but the end result is very cute and looks great on my sister, so a big win. I used the Nettie dress with the very deep backline and a deep neckline. Apart from that, I kept it simple and I just love this dress.

The second dress is a mix of the Nettie dress pattern and Burda 120/05-2013 for the shirring in the back. This time I omitted the sleeves and used some blue ponte di roma.

The dress is also very cute. My sister was originally worried about the shirring, but I convinced her to try it and see and when she saw the final dress, she liked it as well.

Hippo pyjamas

I have seen this pattern so many times before. I mean, Carolyn pyjama from Closet Case patterns has become extremely popular (as probably all of their patterns are). However, I was never really tempted by it. First, I do not lounge in pyjamas at home and second, it is never cold enough where I live to justify sewing a proper pari of pyjamas. Of course I have sewn a set of homewear, which I still wear, but I was pretty much ok with the Burda patterns I used. Also, I am not the biggest fan of indie patterns.

Till this July when my mum offered me two big bags of old sheets to use as muslin which contained my sister’s favourite sheets – “the hippos” (favourite when she was a kid, just ot be clear). These sheets were kind of mythical in my family, and even if they were sometimes replaced by “the elephants”, “the hippos” were the best.
I knew my sister was going to visit me mid-July, so I wanted to surprise her by letting her sleep in “the hippos” one last time, but my dear BF had a much better idea – why not sewing her a pyjama from “the hippos”. Well, challenge accepted!

Now I only needed a good pattern and that’s where I immediately thought of Carolyn pyjamas. I bought the pdf and printed it out instantly and could start sewing. Fortunately, my sister is the same size like me, just little thinner, so since I would be between sizes, I chose the smaller one. I shortened the pattern as I would for me in any case and that was it, I just hoped for the best.

I had a complete one-person sheet with hippos, so quite enough to sew a top with long sleeves and a pair of shorts (even the long version would be feasible, but I chose this option. The good thing is that the sheet fabric is rather used up, so it is much softer than it used to be. The violet colour is no longer so deep, but it remains kind of nice.

I cut out everything without paying too much attention to pattern matching (except for the little pocket) and actually cheated little bit by adding piping. The black piping was actually a great idea since it gives the pyjama kind of a class look – well as long as it is class to have hippos on your garment ;-) For the top I used some sort of faux piping which is not always attached perfectly around the corners, also it was my first time using piping, but it works and looks ok. For the bottoms I created my own piping and that worked actually much better. Lesson learned.

I also added contrasting topstitching and black buttons and somehow really like the result.

As for the pattern, I was really surprised how little adjustments I had to do so that it fits me (and my sis). Of course, the pattern is supposed to be large, but it was pretty good in the shoulder/collar area, my usual problematic zone. So definitely worth the money, as I quite hope these will not be my only pyjamas sewn.

Because now, I would like to sew the pyjamas for me as well, and no, I am not going to use “the elephants”, but rather some nice satin. Also, the shorts pattern fits me quite well as well, so maybe some new homewear shorts to put on a to-do list.

Red Cut-out Dress

I must admit, I just love the pictures of this dress, they scream summer and sunny days to me. This was and was not a quick make for me. I saw and liked this pattern (Burda 110-04/2017) last year and was convinced I would make it, but originally, I was thinking more of some black/grey/oranotherdark fabric.

Then I do not know what happened, this year I saw this red fabric in my stash. It comes from a shopping craizness in the US, very early in my sewing life. It is a quite stable cotton, and I never really knew what to do with it (I am not much of a home dec sewing lady). So it was sleeping in my stash till this summer when I decided to make this cute shift. So yay, for deep stashbusting!!!

And actually, I think it was a perfect match. Since the fabric is already rather sturdy, I did not line it, I only hongkongseamed all the seams and bias bound the sleeve heads.

Of course, the cutout was not easy. As recommended by Burda, I used a their pattern in calico fabric to make sure the cutout lies properly, but in the end, I had to adjust the different pieces and I am pretty sure I did not use all the attachments. But, the result is important, the cutout lies properly and I like it. This part was really tricky, but I am really happy I took time because it was so worth it.

Also, I was not lazy this time and inserted pockets. It requires some more time, but it is a always a big plus.

I would have never thought that wearing a red dress would have such an effect on me, but anytime I wear it, I am just smiling teh whole day.