Museum visit–back drape dress

Yesterday afternoon I visited the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, one of the most beautiful museums I know as a building and one of the few Dutch museums that have regular exhibitions on fashion.

Currently there are two exhibitions that are noteworthy. First there is the Art Deco exhibition. This is not advertised as a fashion exhibition, but certainly is a great tribute to the designer Paul Poiret (early 20th century). Apart from Art Deco paintings, sculptures, furniture there are a lot of garments on display. One of the designs that got my immediate attention is this dress:

Like the Burda top I showed in my previous post it has a back drape, but of course this is a dress for a festive occasion. It shows there’s nothing new in fashion.

A dress of which the design is made by beads and embroidery! Such beautiful details are to be seen. It’s quite a large exhibition.

The other exhibition (very small) is about the designs of Frans Hoogendoorn, a couturier who worked in The Hague until 2014. He was unknown to me, but apparently worked a lot for royals and “leading women in Dutch society” as the museum website describes.

I LOVE the design of the red jacket. It’s definitely something I would like to make someday.

As said, a small exhibition and nothing really spectacular but nice to see anyway.

Hilarious description

This week I bought the January Burda issue and browsing through it this top, and especially its description had my attention. Written by someone who has no understanding of modern, functional fabrics and never goes to the gym. Don’t know whether it’s the same in the English issue of the magazine, but in Dutch it says “Sport shirts often have the disadvantage to be close fitted.  This restricts your movement. Our suggestion: make this shirt with a full draped back.“

I didn’t care to check their description of sports shirts they published before, but thought this one was hilarious.

Off to trace a pattern from this magazine (not this one).

First project of 2018

The first project of 2018 is a blouse from Burda magazine, issue November 2017.
A full review is up on Pattern review.
I’ve been tempted to try this style garment for a long time. I bought McCalls’s 1661 years ago but in the end doubted whether the style would suit me, being a non-fitted garment. Plus the fact that for the McCalls’ pattern you need fabric which is the same on both sides, not always an easy requirement.
When I saw this pattern in Burda magazine, I knew it was time to finally try it and get out of my comfort zone. I took a fabric that has been lingering in my stash for a long time too. I’m pretty sure I bought it at Walthamstow market in the UK, when I visited my friend Pauline. A visit I can date back to 2012!
The print of the fabric is very much me, and in the past half year I’ve made 3 garments with a combination of black and navy.

I consider this a pattern that is very well drafted and has been given a lot of thought in the design. It has a lining in the front in camisole style, with darts to shape it. This lining and the construction with pleats at the bottom, make for a neat finish and no need for fabric that has two right sides. A big plus for that.
The instructions on the other hand are aweful, Order of construction as in almost all Burda magazine patterns but they try to tell something about the binding of the neckline (to the mark, tapering…) that I could not really get and I just bound the neckline as I would do for any top.  Next up was the instruction how to attach that lining and the front to the yoke. I could not make sense of it. What I did was fold over the facing of the front and match the armhole of the lining and the front. That made it easy to attach it to the yoke. Which has 2 layers and Burda expects you to hand sew the inside seams. Never heard of the burrito method apparently, which I used and lots of tutorials for it can be found online.
The style is something I’ll have to get used to. It isn’t bad and when the weather gets a bit warmer I’ll certainly give it a try.
It’s a pattern in the tall sizes btw. I didn’t change the length in the body or the sleeves, nice for a change.
If you consider this pattern you might want to make the neckline of the lining a bit higher. I still need to add a snap to prevent unwanted exposure.

Happy New Year

Happy new year to all of you!. May 2018 be all you want it to be.

I have no resolutions to share with you, I didn’t make any. Also no wrap up of last year, in which I made more garments than I showed on my blog. 2017 was not my best blogging year. I’m not committing to blog more this year, you all know that it all depends on what I sew and how much time is left for blogging. I just will be there now and again and show you what I’m working on.

I’ve put my jacket aside for the moment, I didn’t feel the love for it and I will have a look later this year to see how I feel about it then. That made room in my mind for new things and I’ve traced two garments from Burda magazines. That’s one thing I want to try again this year: use my magazines more!

Hope to see you around on my blog this year! A (late) toast to the online sewing community!