Evolution of my favorite pants

Until now you should be used to see different versions of the same pattern from me. This is the second attempt at Burda 6991 (meanwhile there is even a third one 🙂 ). As always I used the smallest size a 34 (which is actually a 36 printed at 90%). I had to take the waist in, so I lost about 10 cm of the circumference. I guess I don’t have to mention, that I shortened the legs as well.

I wasn’t able to find wide shoe laces when I made my first pair . But this time I had the right ones in my stash. They were attached to the sweat pants I used to make a comfy dress from.

The fabric is something synthetic that has a white sleek inside and a navy velvety outside with little white crosses. As most of my fabrics I purchased it for 2€/m at the fabric market at Maybachufer here in Berlin. Well, not exactly at the market… but in front of a bakery some metres down the street, that sells fabrics in front of their store on saturdays.

As you can see, I like to combine it with a simple striped top (some of the few things I regularly wear, but that’s not made by me) Perfect for a weekend trip to the lake…

… and even longer trips (This is the Uyuni Salt lake in Bolivia)

I photographed some more makes when I was on vacation in South America last year. I just have to find some time to put them up here.

I had to “skip” MeMadeMay this year. I fullfilled my vow to wear a different me-made garment each day. But that’s what I do anyway almost the whole year around. The biggest challenge, but also the thing that MMM is about for me, is to take a picture of my outfit everyday. I hope I can take part again next year. But first I have to blog more than 20 garments I made but didn’t document here yet.

Thank you for your patience (again 🙂 )

Lovely Jacket by Chance

For attending a wedding in April last year (seems like weddings are my second hobby beside sewing) I needed something to wear with my Ailakki Jumpsuit. There was an issue of Burda Easy  (autumn/ winter 2015) lying around ( I borrowed it from a friend, just to check if there is something interessting inside) There were some variations of a blouson jacket (I used version 4B). I thought this kind of jacket could easily be worn after the wedding too. I had some satin like fabric in my stash I bought in Porto several years ago. It was supposed to become a decorative element on a coat (I never made). I had my doubts, but the 1m was enough for the jacket. The fabric has a matt and a shiny side. The shiny side made it suitable for a wedding and matched the jumpsuit very well. The matt side gave a nice but not too hard contrast for the sleeves.

For the cuffs I used some matching jersey that was already in my stash too. It is a bit to soft for this purpose. But who cares if it looks so nice 🙂

This easy jacket has some nice details like the darts at the neckline and the welt pockets. For the wedding I added a selfmade brooch.

Those nice shots (and the proof that this jacket has a life after beeing wedding guest attire) were takenin Edinburgh during our Scotland trip last year.

Yay, I made a blog post before May 😉 Please stay tuned because there is some nice stuff in the pipeline ( I was quite productive in the last time…)

A big hug to all my readers!

One Skirt, Two Weddings

First there was this beautiful sequined jersey I bought some time ago. I always knew that it should become a skirt. After some research and several nightmares I read about sewing sequined fabric I decided that it has to have no more seams than absolutely necessary. My fabric has metal sequins. I was afraid that they would kill everything that touches them… needles, blades, scissors. I found this tutorial on a single seam skirt made after your own measurements. Perfect. So I drafted the pattern, cut my fabric, removed the sequins from the seam allowance and stitched it together. Well…I added some centimetres for the hem on top and bottom. But I forgot to add the actual seam allowance to the centerbackseam. It could have worked since my fabric is a knit with a good amount of stretch. But the thread that holds the sequins isn’t elastic. I would not declare myself beaten that fast. I ripped the seam for about 10 cm from the top so I could get into the skirt and sewed some hook and eye closures to it. Since the skirt got quite tight without the proper seam allowance, they held the skirt together but you could see my skin in the spaces between them. Finally I found a small zipper I had removed from some old pants. I sewed it in by hand. First because zippers on jersey tend to get wavy and second because I didn’t want to have to remove so many sequins again. After I knew that I could actually wear this skirt I invested some time in sewing the waistband and the hem by hand. For the hem I used the un-sequined selvage of the fabric. So the sequines wouldn’t stick to tights I will possibly wear with the skirt when it’s colder.
The actual cause for finally starting to sew the skirt was the invitation to a wedding. Because I couldn’t attend the event just wearing a skirt I had to make a matching top. It was not going to be made of the sequined fabric too. That would have been to many sequins (and to much work 😉 ). I chose a lightweight jersey from my stash. I used it before for one of my hi-low dresses.I wanted something simple with only a little bit of sparkle. Therefor I drafted this V-neck top. It’s the same in the front and back (the advantages of having small boobs). The sparkle comes from a necklace I attached at the shoulders and in the center with some stripes of the same fabric. I had this plan before I had the necklace… I wanted it to be rosegold to match the skirt and the sequins. The desired colour limited the number of choices. Almost out of despair I bought a necklace at H&M that had several rosegold strings held by one closure. My plan was to remove some strings to make it look lighter. When trying to loose them from the closure I realised that each string was made of little elements that hold each other like the fingers of a hand. That way I could have one necklace and adapt it to my desired length by joining two strings to one. I almost did a little happy dance.

I even managed to make a little pouch out of the very few remnants of the fabric. It’s just a tiny sack with another part of the necklace as the handle.

Later this year there was another wedding invitation. Since it wasn’t that warm anymore and because I decided that it might be better to cover the areas where the skirt sits a bit too tight, I made another top. The fabric is a goldish shiny jersey. Not the best quality as I discovered while sewing it, but it matched the skirt and it was cheap. The pattern is a peplum top from Burda (#114 08/2012) I made it before as a top and twice lengthened to a dress (1, 2) I shortened the front of the peplum to show more of the skirt. Because I’m short I have to be aware of proportions to not  look like a dwarf as much. Again I didn’t use the original sleeve. I used the one from my last Burda easy dresses ( like here: 1, 2, 3 and 4). I just like the little pleat in this place.

Meanwhile I wear the top more often than the skirt. I pair it with tight black pants and a cheetah printed head scarf.

 

This is a shot from the wedding photographer. I don’t have a name or contact to link to. But this picture is her work and she did a great job on this day. It is also nice to show you some details. The pleat on the sleeve, the necklace that I made out of the remnants from the first top’s necklace and the headband I covered in the sequined fabric to match the skirt. It such an easy hairdo. Just tucking your hair around the head band and securing it with some bobby pins.

Doesn’t I just look like I belong to this villa in the countryside back in the 1930ies 😉

My Christmas outfit makes progress. I finished two of three garments. Plaid flanell is involved in everyone of them 🙂 Meanwhile the latest issue of the magazine “La Maison Victor” arrived and I can start with the last one.

How is it going with your festive sewing?

 

I’m dreaming of a white… dress

Well, it was a bit more needing than dreaming 🙂 In summer I was invited to a big birthday party with dresscode ‘white’. I don’t have a white dress in my closet because I thought I am very white myself and I probably look like a corpse when wearing white. The dress should definitely have a bit of colour as a little accent and to proof that I’m not naked. I did some sketches and hacked it from the well tested ( 1 , 2 and 3) Burda easy dress. Which means omitting the drapy front thing, altering the neckline to a round one and adding the triangles of contrasting fabric.

I even got a picture from the dress in action on the dancefloor. I really like my white dress but it was a strange feeling beeing around all these white dressed people. It felt a bit like accidentally getting into a sect.

To insert the triangles I cut them from the pattern piece and added seam allowance to both the white and the coloured pieces. I thought it would be a nice feature to end the skirt triangle some centimetres above the hem. Therefor I hemmed that pieces before sewing it onto the white skirt pieces.

As I present my projects not only here on my blog but also on Burda Style it happend that I got chosen to be featured, with my laced up Pants and my wrap blouse. It is not the first time this happend and like always I didn’t even notice it myself (because I usually don’t scroll that far down the front page). But some kind Burda member notified me in the comments.

 
Although I still have some garments sewn but not posted I started working on my Christmas outfit. The sketch is ready, I have all patterns (2 of 3 already traced) and fabrics are chosen. I even finished the first garment. Hope to keep the pace so I can finish it in time. Do you have Christmas sewing plans? Are they maybe already finished or do you still work on it on Christmas Eve?

All good things come in threes

As you might have noticed I’m a repeat offender when it comes to patterns that I like. But not every repetition ends up in my own closet. This is another garment for my mother. I did the dress from Burda easy Autmn/Winter 2013 in a caramel coloured rayon and in black jersey with a flowery accent.

My mother wanted the skirt to be longer and the neckline to be higher. I added elastic to the sleeve hems so she can wear the sleeves high or low. Both fabrics are lightweight jerseys.

Now we just have to wait for the summer to come back so we can wear out comfy and chic dresses again.

Pants for Patience

It didn’t take me a lot of patience to do these pants. But you had to have quite a lot of it until you could read something new from me.
My most recent pants are from Burda 6991. This is a very easy pattern. The only challenge is to choose the right size. According to my measurements I had to make a 36. This is size S which is usually to big for me and I read that these pants are huge in the waist. Finally I decided to make size 34 (XS). The only alterations were to shorten the legs (about 10cm) and to move one side of the closure some centimetres closer to the outer seam. So I could tie it tighter. The recommended closure ist a stripe of leather or ribbon. Since I used some casual mystery fabric I imagined some so called ‘fat laces’ for this purpose. Back in the days I wore my sneakers with them. Well it seems they are out of fashion now. I couldn’t find them in any store. So instead I used two regular laces. Somedays after I finished these pants we shot a fitness DVD and I thought the set might be a nice backdrop for sportive pants.

You can never have to many bows in one outfit 🙂 I didn’t wear my bow earrings so there are only 4 bows this time.

detail of the closure

line drawing from Burda Style

These pants weren’t the first I’ve ever made. My first pair was ‘Vilma’. My friend gave me some issues of the german sewing magazine CUT for christmas. These pants seemed to be simple (I never did pants before). I bought very cheap fabric and some elastic band to try it. I made it a bit smaller than the smallest size and had to take it in at the thighs. I also added two pleats in the back and sewed them in place to reduce the paper bag effect. I added inseam pockets and lining at the hem to have another colour when I turn it up. Although the fabric was cheap it has a nice soft touch and is comfortable but a little bit to sturdy.

pants ‘Vilma’ from CUT magazine no. 3

I have at least 7 garments waiting to be shown here. I hope not to tax your patience that much again 🙂

May-Mades

After overcomming my sewing laziness, I now have to face my blogging laziness 🙂

Both projects are made in May as a present for a friend. But maybe I have to mention that the shirt was made last year. We just didn’t manage to take pictures of it. I often don’t know the exact measurements of people I sew presents for. (Because there is not much of a surprise left, when I ask for it) That is why I chose overcut shoulders and a waterfall neckline, that will always fit 🙂 It is Top #110 from Burda 05/2012 . I also made her a matching scarf/belt/hairband.
We finally took the pictures when we went to a electro swing party together (on the last day of Me-Made-May)

This year I asked for one measurement and made her and her friend a running belt following this tutorial. It was my first time using foldover elastic (great stuff!) and reflective iron-on tape. I cut their first letter from the reflective tape. So the belt looks a bit like a super hero accessory. I think an “in action” picture will follow in about one year 😉

After the May-mades I proudly present the rest of my me-mades I wore for Me-Made-May 2014

15cm of Fame

There is this saying “Everyone got their 15 minutes of fame”. In my case it were 15cm. After posting my second version of the mullet dress at BurdaStyle I got an e-mail from Burda if I have this picture in higher resolution and if I would let them print it in one of the next issues of BurdaStyle maganzine in Germany. Well … yes and yes.

My dress and me in BurdaStyle 10/2012

Once again I used the pattern from BurdaStyle 03/2012. The Dress isn’t very spectacular from the front.

I used some contrasting fabric for the pockets.

It’s the same fabric I used für my skirt of the Lucy outfit. To spice it up a little bit I added a panel to the back.

I wore this dress for day 29 of Me-Made-May’13. Now it’s almost over (and to be honest I don’t have many selfmade garments left anyway)

That was not my day … I even forgot to add the day in my hand …

Polka Dancing Dots Dress

There is this lovely pattern called ‘Polka Dots’. I did a bit of research and found out that there is no real connection to the dance called Polka. I thought it would be nice if the dots were not equaly spaced so they look more as if they were dancing. That ment that I had to add the dots myself. As the base for my dress I used the pattern of my recent peplum top from Burda Style (Peplum Top 08/2012) I did the same alteration again: no zipper and therefor no seam in the back, sleeves from another pattern (the original sleeves had darts on the elbow … what for? ), dropped the seam allowance and had to take it in some centimetres at the sides. To make it a dress I just added about 20cm to the hem.

If you are wondering why my hair tie matches the dress so perfectly … it’s just because its a scrap from the shortening of the sleeves. I have some lovely hair ties from my Swimming Pool Dress too 🙂

We had some difficulties taking these photos since it rained cats and dogs the whole day … we were attending a Jugendweihe celebration (a ceremony in which 14-year-olds are given adult social status) in an nice open air location (at least it is nice when the sun is shining … ) We had to ran to a huge parasol so we stayed dry for the shooting.

I really like the hi-low hemline of this pattern

The jersey I used (a mystery blend of something synthetic … that’s what the burn test told me … and something from an animal … that’s what the little hairs sticking out here and there told me) was very light and slightly transparent. You can see the freezing wind playing with my skirt here:

Little Mia came over for a little photo bombing. (A nice little girl that kept us entertained the whole time)

I did the dots using fabric paint and the rubber of a pencil … like I did for the necklace on the Trompe l’œil Shirt for my friend.

And I even did a matching nail design 🙂

So this was what I wore for day 25 of Me-Made-May’13:

Just one week to go … and I made it till here without a repetition of a garment and I made 3 new pieces … although I didn’t dare to make a pledge saing that.

Mullet Dress No. 1

I made this dress about a year ago. (Yes the hi-low trend is this old … but I still like it) It’s based on Jersey Dress 120 BurdaStyle 03/2012 I’m sure one dress can bear more than one trend.

No, pockets are no trend … but they are practical anyway. Exposed zippers are a trend … one I really like (as you can tell from my recent pencil skirts) Since all good things come in threes my hi-low dress with exposed zipper got cut outs too.

I wore this dress today for the 24th day of Me-Made-May’13. This may is not as sunny as last years. That’s why I had to wear a longsleeve and leggings underneath. I wore longsleeved garments the last days too.