Tops

Thank you so much for your congratulations and kind comments on my last post. Lucky there were quite a few people to help me eat the cakes, otherwise I would certainly not have fit in my clothes anymore ;)

Katharine, the green fruit are grapes (in halves), not olives. 

Though I haven’t posted very regularly lately, I’ve seen quite a few new names in the comments on my last posts: thank you for reading and leaving a comment.  I’m a very irregular blog reader and commenter myself at the moment, I’m sure I’ll be back on track sometime, but not right now.

The last weeks I’ve sewn a few tops, which were none of them very difficult, but took me ages to do the last finishing touches. This time pictures on the dressform only.

 

A tunic from Knip Mode November 2010. A very sheer fabric, must be worn with a camisole underneath. Don’t remember when I last used a thin, slippery fabric like this, but it went well. The cuffs and neckband are interfaced with Pam’s Pro sheer elegance, a wonderful interfacing for this type of fabric. I’ll wear the tunic with a belt.

 

    

 

 

Next Simplicity 2603 (the wrap cardigan pattern, a top is included too), a simple basic.

Another basic and new pattern company for me: Christine Jonson V-neck tee no. 714. I loved the versions I had seen in blogland and in reviews. It has a little similarity with Jalie 2682, but I love that is has no horizontal line under the bust like the Jalie pattern. The shoulder seam is a bit too far to the back for me, so that I’ll have to adjust when I make it again, which I certainly will do, the neckline is wonderful.

 

The last item is a co-production with my daughter. The pattern is from Knip mode February. She likes it very much, I’m not so enthousiastic about the “pockets” in the side seam. They basically are just an outward corner on the side seam, turned to the inside. Could have been drafted better. Daughter happy, so it’s fine with me.

 

 

And last picture in this picture-heavy post: detail from the pants I’m working on. Not sure whether these will fit. As the fabric was as cheap as muslin fabric is, I just went ahead and thought that if it wouldn’t be ok, only a little time would be lost, no expensive fabric. By now I know there is some tweeking to be done, I’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

Update

Over two weeks since my last post, quite a long time. I have been sewing a bit but have not written about it, nor made construction pictures. The first week I was busy organizing a small birthday party. Normally I just keep my birthday very quiet, but this time (the milestone of 50 was reached!) I thought it a good occasion to invite family and friends. Which was very nice to do and see and talk to everyone. A bit of baking was involved:

No, not much time for sewing when all these things have to be made. I like baking though, and my dh told me it was allright if I did this, but that we would order the savouries and salads for later in the afternoon. He was very right about that.

Well, on the sewing side: I’ve been sewing this set:

 

As usual, all the fabric and notions are from Kantje boord in Amsterdam. Don’t you love the shoulder strap embellishment?

 

There are some other projects I’m working on, I’ll show them when they’re ready. A tunic which only needs cuff buttons, a shirt with only a hem to be done… this weekend probably.

AND: I’m updating the tutorials blog. A very slow affair. I’m checking the links and try to add new links to tutorials.Something to be done in little steps.  Robin had the nice idea of a button in her sidebar to refer to the tutorials site. After a little experimenting you can see the result in her and my sidebar, and since yesterday also on Nicole’s blog. If you want to link to it too: feel free to do so. If you know a tutorial that is worth adding: let me know.

Plans for spring

I’ve read it on several other blogs from sewista’s in the northern hemisphere too: I’m soooo tired of winter. We don’t have snow anymore, but it’s cold, the days are often grey and cloudy. I do notice that the days are getting longer, it’s always such a pleasure to notice that.
Right now I’m working on a lingerie set, but mentally I’m preparing for spring sewing. Time to dive into my closet with fabrics and see what I have to start with. Quite enough, don’t you think? I’m not committing to not buying fabric, as that is a commitment I’ll certainly break (especially as a Pattern Review gathering is planned in Brussels in April. A visit to the Antwerpen fabric market is part of the plan!).
There are more plans than time probably, but I’d like to start with two capsule plans for the moment. The first one is in light colors: top left will be a Chanel style jacket, to the right is a beautiful cotton with a woven stripe that’s hardly to be seen in the picture. It will be a blouse, just like the silk below it, which I bought in New York last August.
Bottom left is an ivory fabric that will be a pair of pants. The plan should be extended and should probably include a few simple knit tops and another bottom.


The next plan is very different in color. More bottoms than tops at the moment: the brown top center is heavy bottom weight cotton. I’ll probably try another style of pants with these, there were so many nice ideas in the Knip Modes of past months. Bottom left is a linen/silk blend for a pair of pants, bottom right a  linen that will be a skirt. Top right a knit fabric for a t-shirt and top left a more or less sheer fabric for a tunic. Probably a tunic from Knip Mode, think it was in the issue of September.
Other patterns still to be decided upon, it was just nice to get out the fabrics and see that I had quite a bit to get started for spring. My own impression from my fabric closet is always that I have too many dark fabrics and it surprised me to find enough fabrics for two plans that are not mainly black or have to be worn with black.


ETA: you were all right about the last project: nothing ventured, nothing gained. It's what happens.
And Shams asked whether there is a source for old Knip Modes. Alas, the online shops that sell Knip Mode usually only have issues till a few months back. The September 2008 issue is not to be found anymore. There is a local site (I assume that Craigs list is something similar) where people sell their stuff and regularly older items are sold. But it's only in Dutch.

Nice idea, no success

 

That’s how about I feel about this little project. In the end I chose the plain knit fabric to work with, mainly because I had enough fabric of that to make a matching sleeveless top to wear with the cardigan I had in mind.  I chose the Jalie pleated cardigan pattern, which I made before in a print. This time no print on the whole but only dots at the shawl collar. It doesn’t look too bad on the dressform, but it’s too much white on me and the fit is no good. This was not too clear in the my previous version. Because of the plain fabric the folds/pleats and too spacious back are very obvious now. It’s a very nice fabric, so I already started unpicking the pleats and I will use the fabric for something else. Live and learn. Just wanted to share the idea with you, which I still like, but could have better done in a darker fabric.

Active wear

The gym pants and top are finished. Some detail pictures have to be done again, as they were not good enough to publish. My sports bra was in the washing machine, therefor a normal one underneath.

The contest on Pattern Review was a good motivation to make these kind of garments. I have never done that before. I like the result, but prefer another kind of sewing. I plan to sew a jacket to go with this set, but not sure whether I’ll finish that before the deadline of January 31. Being under continuous stress of deadlines for work, I just don’t want to put a deadline on my sewing. If I get it done, fine, if not, there will be other contests to participate. I wasn’t doing it to win, but it worked well to start me on this.

   

 

 

For another top I would say the back needed adjustment, for this gym top it’s ok as it is. The armhole might be a bit high, probably from stretching the binding a bit too much there. I used a variation of Kay Y’s technique for the binding, but used only 3 layers and worked from the front to the back). Next time I would do it different, as the topstitching is not very visible, because the stitches disappear partly in the fabric, as this is cut in the length of the fabric. This is one of the pictures that was not good).

For those in the Netherlands: I ordered my supplex fabric from Pixie. Good quality and quick delivery is my experience. It feels like the same quality fabric as my rtw gym pants. Only don’t wash a colored fabric with white the first time! I was so stupid to do that (my mind must have been elsewhere to trust that it wouldn’t harm) and the white is now  not so white anymore, but not pink enough to think that it should be , bummer). I’ll probably dye it in a darker color.

A dress – again

Thank you for your suggestions on my fabric choice. I will sew it next week, and decide then what to do.
You might know that I’m not sewing dresses often, and now I’ve sewn my second dress within two months. It’s number 12 from the Knip Mode February issue.
 

I love to wear the blue knit dress I made end of November, and thought it would be nice to sew this one. Suggested are “step by step intructions” in the center of the magazine, but these are not there. I could have used them. I made a Jalie twist top a long time ago, and thought I would sew the front in an hour or so (ever optimistic). The first evening I pinned in several different ways and didn’t get it. Concluding I was too tired to understand it, I left it. But even at the second attempt it took me quite a bit of time to grasp what was intended.

ETA: when I was looking for the instructions on the Knip mode website, there were none (last weekend), now they are here. Thanks Margreet for mentioning this. I used my normal size 40 for the upper part, tapering down to size 42/44 at hip height, which gave me perfect fit, no other changes).

Might have been me, but for those of you who might want to make this dress, this is how the notches come together. The yellow arrow indicates the opening.

1. Fold the cut on facing at the neckline of the front (on the shoulder there is a marking where to fold)
2. Sew the center front seam (the small vertical part in pattern part 1)
3. Sew upper front to skirt part till center front
   This is where I got confused, it’s the red dots on my picture that have to be sewn together
4. Fold right side of upper right part together, matching (blue) notches and stitch till notch (near the yellow arrow), leaving an opening
5. From the right side, pull the left upper part through the opening and sew together
6. After this it’s as easy as sewing a t-shirt

And finally:  the result of the dress on me:
     

The neckline is as low as shown in the magazine, so I’m wearing a camisole unterneath.

New fabric

There really is some sewing going on at my place. The top of the active wear set is almost ready as well. Tomorrow I will set up my coverstitch and finish both the top and the pants. In between I spent some time on a dress from Knip Mode February. This post is about fabric though, spring fabric! I’m making all sorts of plans in my head for spring. One of the projects I’m thinking about is a cardigan like this one which I found on the Anthropologie site.

I’ve seen a cardigan like this before in a shop, with very sheer fabric as collar/shawl and have wanted to make something similar since.

These are the fabrics I bought, and I’m not sure yet about the combination to use, most likely it will be the first one. I can make a top from the same fabric to wear with it. This is an off-white, stable knit. The other fabric is cotton, a less formal look.

Any thoughts?