Podcast interview

In December Maria from @SewOrganisedStyle asked me to talk to her about the fake Instagram account that was made with my name and to talk about my sewing history and what I like to make. It was so lovely talking to Maria! 

The podcast was published today and if you would like to hear the story, here's where to find it:

Sew Organised Style website

On YouTube with some photos (no video)

She has some great interviews with other dressmakers too. Enjoy!

First project of 2023

 

This t-shirt was inspired by one a friend wore a couple of years ago. I have made a similar one (never blogged about) at the time and thought it was time to do it again. 

I used a basic t-shirt pattern and made it into this pattern. The original inspiration piece had a higher neckline, this one was drafted with a lower neckline. It's the sort of change you can do easily.

As I always like to share the process, below my process in 7 steps. In the past year I made the move to digital pattern drafting and making my own pdf patterns, even for personal use only. Must say that's someting from someone who has been opposed to pdf patterns for a long time! 

The main advantage of digital drafting? No paper! Easy to keep an original, start again, save it in a folder on my computer, work on a draft when not at home, etc. The downside is that it's costing more than pencil and paper. I've used Adobe Illustrator initially because other programs couldn't do some essential things in pattern drafting (like measuring the length of a curve). Recently Affinity Designer 2 was launched, which is the program I used this time. This new version can measure curves and while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Illustrator, you can surely draft patterns with it. Big advantage is that you buy the program and there's no subscription fee! I'm not affiliated, but like to share this in case some of you are interested in digital pattern drafting but the cost of Illustrator is too high (it's a ridiculous high amount if you only use it for a hobby and probably occassionally). 

I'm working on a tutorial of using Affinity Designer 2 for sewing patterns. Let me know if there's something you would like to see!

Happy New Year!

 

Blouse from October Burda

Thank you for the nice comments on my posts! I'm having trouble commenting on blogger, even on my own blog at the moment, so therefor a general thank you and no reaction in the comment section itself. Hope I can find the problem and solve this, as apart from posting myself again, I also started to read other blogs again and would like to be able to comment. 

My most recent make is this Burda blouse from the October 2022 issue. Being a lover of special necklines, this immediately got my attention and ended high on my "to sew" list. 

The fabric is a viscose from Atelier Brunette, with good drape and easy to sew. I bought it last year in a fabric shop in Denmark, it's a holiday souvenir. 

I didn't like the sleeves had no cuffs, so I added those. 

If you made Burdastyle magazine patterns, you know that the instructions are not very detailed and more an order of construction (unless it's the pattern of the month, which this wasn't). As the neckline is not your everyday neckline, I did read the instructions! They  have you put on the collar first, attach it to the inside and only then add the zipper at center back. Which is not very neat in my opinion. Or I have understood it wrong ;).

I followed the first steps: sew the center of the collar, clip and turn and sew one side of the collar to the body. As the next step I inserted the zipper, so that when turning the collar, the top of the zipper is wrapped neatly inside. As last step the inside of the collar was handstitched to the neckline.

When there is no band to be attached above the zipper, I don't sew the start of the zipper tape, where there are no zipper teeth. In that way you can more easily fold the end out of the way and the fold of the fabric is more smooth.

A burgundy red suit

I realised that I have not published anything of what I've sewn in my sewing week in October. The coat plan was abandoned because I was so unsure of the pattern and didn't want to spend that precious sewing week and ending with a garment that I was not happy about. Well, we can always change our minds😀

So I worked on a suit instead. Burgundy red, quite uncommon for me but I have decided that this winter I would not only sew black ;). My winter wardrobe was getting a bit boring!

Both garments were made with Burda patterns. The trousers are from the March 2019 issue, the jacket from the August 2019 issue. 

As always the inside got some extra interfacing, shoulder placket and sleeve head. 

A special lining is always fun! 

I've worn the suit a few times already. Thought it might be formal, but it doesn't feel that way. 

A knitted shawl

This is a shawl I finished recently, the Iney shawl. The pattern is published inthe book 52 weeks of Shawls. Well, for me there is not enough time to knit a shawl in a week, certainly not this one. It took me almost a year, though I admit there were periods of weeks that I didn't work on it.

About two years ago I bought a kit for a cardigan from Christel Seyfart and after knitting the body I was not happy with the project. Which was pretty irritating, as at the time I had already countless hours of knitting done. This is a photo of the cardigan as far as I got. It is in a plastic bag, waiting for inspiration on how to finish it, if I ever want to do that.

I learned quite a few things from it though: fair isle knitting in the round, felting ends of yarn together so there is no need for weaving in the ends AND not to buy a kit as I like to do things my own way.

When finished there were only a few ends at the start and the end to weave in, while you can see there are continuous colour changes. I used a lot of the wool that was left for the shawl.

Pretty pleased on how my "floats" look (the strands of yarn at the back). 

Knitting a shawl in the round means that at some point you have to cut your knitting. This is called a "steek". Often described as terrifying, but it wasn't that bad. After cutting the edges were knitted, enclosing the steek stitches.

It was not the easiest pattern to follow, the instructions are full of abbreviations which make it difficult to read. As stated before, I like to do things my own way, so I changed a few minor details which made working for me easier. 

It's a very warm, comfortable shawl and I'm pleased with the result.

What a week

The sewing week with my friends was everything I expected it to be and much more! As one of us said after we returned home: still glowing. We filled the space with chatting, laughing, cooking, pattern tracing, sewing and a bit of knitting too. Add some walks, visit to an English seaside town and a meeting in real life with someone I know through Instagram. It’s been wonderful!

What did I make? Not the coat I wrote about in my previous post. It felt like an uncertain project and In the end I preferred to work with patterns I was sure about. I made a suit (pair of trousers and a jacket) and worked on a pair of jeans. 

All from patterns I used before. Not completely finished but very close. I forgot to bring shoulder pads for the jacket so got stuck in the last phase. The jeans still need the waistband and hemming. Some backlog with work to do now, hope to have them finished next weekend.  

Let me share a few photos from my sewing week.  A couple of my friends made the Debut skirt pattern that I published last month (they were my testers, thank you again!) and we all wore the skirt for photos😃. It was so very special to see them together and in all those different fabrics.