Tag Archives: sewing for myself

Drape Drape Dress no 3

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I sewed dress no 3 for my mum a few years ago. She wears it quite often. It`s a staple in her wardrobe. And every time she wear it, I`m reminded that i should make one for myself. She looks great in it by the way. Before we left on holiday the time has come. I was in need of a summer dress.

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Winter has arrived in Switzerland and those sunny days already feel like ages ago. looking at those pictures I feel the travel bug! Take me back!

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The Japanese Drape Drape book is probably one of my all time favorite sewingbooks. See here and here and here. That`s Dress no 3 out of the first book. I love that it`s made from just one patternpiece, like most of the design in this book.

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I traced the pattern, back when I sewed this dress for my mum. She`s short and skinny. Normally, her clothes fit me, even if I`m much taller. So, there was this pattern already traced out. I could just start cutting my fabric. Of course, I was too lazy to trace the pattern again. For the next one, i need to lower the waistline by about 2 cm and add about 5 cm to the hem (cough, cough). I guess with two kids i`m to old for such a short skirt. I`ll wear that dress with tights.

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The fabric is a beautiful silk knit. Very lightweight. It was a nightmare to sew. I needed something to stabilize the hemlines. Golden elastic. You have to go with what`s around, don`t you? This one, was just waiting for his big appearance. It`s my favorite detail on that dress.

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Pattern: Drape Drape Dress no 3

Fabric: Silk knit bought locally

About feeling beautiful

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This is the dress, the dress of my dreams. Not less than that! I feel beautiful, strong and kind of dramatic while wearing it. Something probably just a handmade silk dress can do.

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Hours of sewing, went into it and made it even more precious, than the luxury fabrics ever could. All inseams are finished with french seams, all the hems are finished by hand with a rollseam or an invisible stitch. Hours.

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Even if the Trina Pattern probably isn`t a pattern you`ll sew in an evening. It`s really down to the fabrics you choose. The silk organza I used for the back bodice and the sleeves is super flimsy and soft, i had to staystitch every seam. Even from just lifting it from the cutting table some pieces where off about 5cm. Still, so worth the effort. Speaking about the sleeves, i shortened the kimono sleeves to a flutter sleeve. So easy to do. You`ll need much less fabric. I used 0.5m of the Silk organza and 1.5m of the grey Silk. The string is a leftover from my wedding dress.

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I`m totally into that pattern. Kristiann of Victory Patterns is a genius! I was so lucky to get the change to test for her. I highly recommend her patterns! I also made the Hannah Dress and will blog about that one soon. And there will be a more casual Trina in the future for sure.

There is nothing more to say about that dress! It`s perfect, in my eyes.

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Pattern: Trina Pattern from Victory Patterns

Fabric: Silk organza bought locally. Grey silk is from Paris

Location: Dolceacqua IT

 

Kielo

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Summer rain in the backyard, warm heavy drops in beautiful sunlight. The smell of the ground after a hot and sunny day when the first drops fall down. Nothing to compare!

A light and fluent maxi dress on a day like this, perfect!

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The Kielo Dress by Named Patterns was not love at first sight. It took some time, until I got around, that this could work for me.  Actually, it`s  a genius construct. It has a lot of room, but once it`s tied up, it gives a beautiful silhouette. I felt in love.

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This pattern works for woven or knits fabrics. Just be aware, not to choose a heavy one. I tried and it was not really flattering around the hips. Go for a lightweight fabric with some nice drape and you`ll get a gorgeous maxidress, you dont`t want to take off anymore!

And here we get to the point. How to breastfeed a baby, in a fitted woven dress with a high neckline, without getting undressed in public. Yes you`re right. Not possible.

That`s were my fast sewing project started to get time-consuming. No, not the yoke I added. Let me tell you the story…

The dress was blue and white once. Nice for Summer i thought. At first I tried a buttonplanket, to get rid of the nursing problem. But didn’t like the look. So I cut it out and went for a buttoned yoke instead. Tried it on and felt so disturbed by all the stripes running in different directions cut up by the darts and ties. It was too nervous. No way I got to like it this way. It would have injured my pride to give up and call it a fail. So i thought, maybe it`s better to dye it dark blue and the stripes wouldn`t be so visible anymore.

Im not an expert in dyeing fabric. First try was a complete fail. It was a light baby blue with dark blue stripes. A pain for my eyes. I tried again and as I didn`t now better, declared it as good enough.

A two-hour sewing project that turned out to be hard work.

It was worth it, though.

 

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Pattern: Kielo Dress by Named Patterns

Fabric: Bought locally

Get your Groove on

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When the Groove dress was introduced for the first time, it went immediately on top of my to sew list. Those dresses are in heavy rotation, since I cut the threads to my machine. I desperately wanted to have a foto shooting together with my mini me. It kind of didn`t happen, that we wore the same dress without one being to dirty to take pictures. Today on our daily walk it was time to get our groove on.

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I`m sure you already read all good about this pattern. I wan`t say anything else. It`s a masterpiece. It`s a perfect stapeldress you can easily wear on a dogwalk with some flats or sandals as I do. Or style it up and wear it to a dinner or even a party. Up to you.

You can make one for yourself first, then one for your girls. The teeny version comes for free! My girl is oh so proud to wear the same dress as her mummy. It`s comfortable as a t-shirt worn without pants.

The kids version is a size 3 without any alterations. For my dress, I made it shorter at the hem. I lowered the neckline at the front (to make it nursing friendly) and at the back. I knew, it would affect the fit around the shoulders a bit. I didn`t care. For a next version i wouldn`t lower front and back. The fit would be better. Anyway you have a few nice necklines to choose from, you probably wan`t draw your own.

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Fabrics are from a local shop. The fabric I used for mine, is beautiful but not really suitable for that dress, it has`nt enough drape. Doesn`t matter i love it anyway and will do better next time. Madeit you really do a great job!

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So when do you get your Groove on?

Pattern: Groove Dress from Madeit Patterns

Fabric: Local shop

La dolce vita

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We spent a few days in bella Italia. In Lucca, I found the casa del tessuti by F. Casini. A small fabric shop, with a nice selection of fine Italian fabrics. I bought this gorgeous wool. Finest merinowool fabricated in Italy. Lightweight with a nice drape, perfect for a summer dress.

Perfect for an other Inari (See my first version here).

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I wore this dress for the whole day, before I managed to take a few pictures. It doesn`t crinkle! The quality is just amazing!

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This necklace is handmade by an artist in Florence. I bought it in a small studio, where she sold her work. I would love to give her credit and mention her name. But unfortunately, I totally forgot to take her business card. I`m so in love with this collar. Grey with yellow. It`s like made for me.

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I embroidered the dress with a few running-stitches. Just because the special fabric deserves this little effort.

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Beautiful days always fly by.

Nina Culottes Pattern Tour

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Marte of Compagnie M just released her newest pattern for women and teens. It`s a two in one pattern with a basic A-line skirt and a culotte option. I never ever thought of wearing a pair of culottes before, I can remember that I owned a pair as a child but that doesn`t count. It`s a totally new type of garment in my closet. I really wasn`t sure about it when I started to sew. Can you imagine a pair of pants that looks like a skirt? I couldn`t. But after all, Martes pattern are always great and the culottes are called Nina (kind of named after me).

And look at them, they`re stylish, airy and functional in one. Perfect.

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I sewed a muslin first and I was happy that I did so (I seem to be able to learn from my faults!). A pair of pants is something done to personal taste. The muslin fitted perfectly well. But there were a few things I didn`t like. As a girl who wears low waist skinny jeans all the time, I was not used to the high waist. I took away a few cm of the waistband.

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And I added pleats to the front. That`s something you can do really easily without changing the shape of the garment.

I sewed a size XS with the length of size 12 y.

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The fabric is from a local store. Tiny little dots all over. The waistband is finished with hand-stiching on the inside. So worth to take the time, the result is really neat.

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Marte`s pattern comes with a lot of options and very detailed instructions. From the beginning seamstress, who`ll try her hands on the very first skirt, to the skilled sewists, who will sew a pair of culottes with welt pockets and zip fly. It`s something there for everyone.

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A comfy new pair of pants for my summer-wardrobe. How great is that!

If you wanna try one`s luck enter the giveaway to win a copy of the new Compagnie M Pattern.

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for all of you who can`t wait you can get your copy straightaway here.

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La petite robe noire

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I`m so nervous! Tomorrow I`ll be on the way to Paris. What`s special about that you may ask. A few moths ago I got a mail in my inbox from Annika of Näh-connection, asking me if I want to join a few amazing bloggers for a weekend in Paris. How exciting is that (and I still ask myself why i got this invitation!).

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This weekend i`ll not be able to hide myself behinde a screen. I was in need of a dress that is comfortable yet stylish. I sewed a Inari Dress by Named Pattern. I really love this dress! If you like to go out in 2 hours and wanna wear a new dress, it`s for you! It`s an easy sew and the result is stunning!

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A close up of the fabric. It`s a traditionally woven yarn dyed fabric from Japan. I bought at Mondaysmilk. Soft and beautiful.

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This meeting is just possible because a few lady’s made an incredible job and spent a lot of time organizing everything. I`m so thankful that I can be part of it. Especially if you look at the line up.

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14 very talented women from 9 European country’s. Stay tuned, details coming soon. There will be a huge give-away going on.

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Paris here we come!

Checks

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Sun and a lot of beautiful new fabric in my stash make me feel like sewing for myself. It`s a sewing storm going on those days. My head is full of ideas and inspiration, days would need more hours.

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I`m blown away by this fabric. It`s such a nice quality. I found it at Petite Couture. Wendy has an amazing selection of fabrics in her shop. Sadly, the fabric I used is out of stock. She can`t reorder, it`s a pity.

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Pattern is out of the Burda Style 09/2012 no. 134. It`s a design by the british fashion designer Matthew Williamson.

Smallest size is 36, I had to take in quite a bit to make it fit well. That`s why the side-parts do not line up exactly by the side seam. Too bad, but I can cope with it. I prefer a nice fit.

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The fabric hides the back walking slit perfectly. But there is one, a nice and handy detail on a pencil skirt.

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Side parts are the reverse of this gorgeous fabric. It provides a nice body shaping. Pockets make it comfy and casual. A new favorite!