I did it / Gelukt

English Nederlands

One of the things I wanted to do better this year is the collar with stand (remember my last blouse, I needed three stands to get it right!)
The BWOF blouse I'm making has a collar with stand, so I thought to try the methode described by David Coffin in his book Shirt Making. But not on the blouse right away. I had enough fabric to cut the top of the blouse and collar/stand parts from the linen I'm using and try first.

This is the result. I managed to get the collar with the wrong side up, but that's a good experience on a testing piece ;-) For the rest I'm really positive on this experience.
I've used contrasting thread and black (!) interfacing, as I took pictures during construction. All white is so difficult to see. In the next post I'll describe the way I did this.

Q/A: Cidell asked me about the pleats: when making pleats you lay the lines of the pleats on each other and stitch on the line. Then you press them in the direction of the arrow indicated on the pattern. In this case there are no arrows, as the pleats are more tucks than real pleats.
If I would make the sleeve for this blouse again, I would only mark the center of the small pleat, fold on that and make an edgestitch from the fold.
Een van de dingen die ik dit jaar wilde doen, was leren een betere kraag met staander te maken (voor mijn laatste bloes, heb ik de staander drie keer over gedaan, voordat die naar m'n zin was)
De Burda bloes die ik aan het maken ben, heeft zo'n kraag met staander, daarom wilde ik de methode die David Coffin in zijn boek Shirt Making beschrijft uitproberen. Maar niet direct op de bloes zelf. Ik had genoeg stof om de bovenkant van de bloes en de kraag/staanderdelen opnieuw uit te knippen en voor deze test te gebruiken.

Dit is het resultaat. Ik het het voor elkaar gekregen de kraag zelf verkeerd om in te zetten, maar dat is beter op dit teststuk, dan op de echte bloes. Verder ben ik er positief over.
Ik heb contrasterend garen en zwart (!) vlieseline gebruikt, zodat ik met foto's kan laten zien hoe ik dit gedaan heb. Alleen wit is zo onduidelijk op foto's. In m'n volgende post daar meer over.

Blouse BWOF pleats / plooien in Burda blouse

English Nederlands
This is my first post that I'll write in two languages. For those who showed interest in this feature: I made a change to the template and will try to write a document on how to do this. If you're interested, let me know (if you did not already do so) and I'll mail you how I did this sometime this week. Not going to post this, as this is not what this blog is about.

Tonight I traced the sleeve of BWOF 01-2008-125 with a special marker pen, the markings will disappear when wet. And of course I've tested that to be sure. One sleeve is pinned now, ready to sew. It's a project that requires a little patience.








And let me show you what I found in the attick when clearing the house of the last Christmas ornaments: doll's clothes that I made for my daughter as a birthday present for her favorite doll. It was her 6th birthday, now more than 8 years ago.


Dit is mijn eerste tweetalige "post". Mocht je geïnteresseerd zijn hoe ik dat gedaan heb, stuur me een berichtje. Ik zal een document maken waarin ik het beschrijf, maar ga er hier niet op in. Daar gaat dit blog niet over.

Vanavond heb ik de mouw van een Burda blouse-patroon gemarkeerd en gespeld met een speciale markeerstift, de markering gaat er met water uit. En dat heb ik eerst uitgeprobeerd. Eén mouw is gespeld, klaar om te stikken. Een project waar je wat geduld voor nodig hebt.








En bij het opruimen van de kerstspullen vond ik dit op zolder: poppenkleertjes die ik voor m'n dochters 6e verjaardag gemaakt heb (ruim 8 jaar geleden alweer) voor haar Baby born pop, die toen haar favoriet was.

Another test

English Nederlands

This is the English text. This function is not yet completely as I want it to be, but with these buttons you can show or hide the language you want. Now to decide whether to write in two languages or not.
Dit is Nederlandse tekst. Deze functie werkt nog niet helemaal zoals ik zou willen, maar met deze knoppen kun je de taal die je wilt tonen of verbergen. Nu nog beslissen of ik m'n blog in twee talen wil schrijven of niet. Zijn er Nederlandse lezers die dit leuk zouden vinden?

Tracing

I'm so grateful for your positive comments on my skirt. It made me look different at myself, and the pictures posted. My hip size is a life long frustration, which will not go away easily, but you certainly gave a boost to my self confidence.


Today I saw this post on the Sewing Divas, and immediately thougth: hey, that's the BWOF jacket I made. And it is, only made in a far more professional way than I did, but that's just "of course", I'm not a professional sewer, and Paco Peralta is a Spanish designer.
I know about him because of the links Tany posted recently for his blog. Such a pity I don't read Spanish.
It reminded me too that I did not write about it on my blog, only wrote a review on PR.
The jacket is once again a BWOF pattern (I really am fond of BWOF patterns). I made it with the stitch and flip technique in a class in Pattern Review. My pictures you can see here.
Starting this technique I did something wrong, because I not fully understood what to do, that's why the collar has an extra bias binding, it was not meant that way.

I like the technique of flip and stitch, but it requires a TNT pattern, or a muslin first, as you can't change the fit during construction. It's also not suitable if there's a pocket that goes through a seam line. So I like to know this technique, but will certainly not use it always.

No sewing done till now, only traced 3 patterns.
The January BWOF isssue is an issue with a lot of patterns I like. I have traced this jacket, look at the special details at the seam and back.















And blouse no 125 (the blouse with the pleats in the sleeves), with the front of no. 123. The armholes were almost the same, and after tissue fitting I didn't have faith in the pleats of the front of 125, combined with the darts.













Further I traced the McCalls shell, as I want a tnt pattern for a shell top that's not a knit. Only must think of a solution for the closure, because buttons in the back are not handy. Do you think a zipper in the side is a good idea?

2007 ufo

I had one project from 2007 still unfinished: the Knip mode skirt I made earlier in grey. Tonight I finished that one (after a lot of ironing first, those things have to be done too...)




















On my first skirt Summerset suggested to make it with more visible topstitching, and I'm very happy with that suggestion, this skirt shows the design lines much better. It's not too flattering in the hip area but I will wear this with a jacket or top over the waist. I'm only showing you the details of the skirt like this (perhaps I shouldn't, too embarassing!)

What I see too is that I must shorten the sleeves of my shirt. I already thought they were a bit long, but they're obviously a bit too long.

My daughters jeans are coming along nicely, she's doing a lot on it herself, but I do topstitching and I have put the zipper in. The fit was not too bad, a little too much space in the front crotch area, but that was easily solved. We'll work on that this weekend.

And what next for me? I have so many ideas in my head, patterns and magazines, that it's difficult to choose. The only thing I've cut out is a lingerie set (not surprised, are you?). It's a set with a partial-band bra, I'll try to make pictures as I go, so that I can show you how to do that. That is, if you like sewing lingerie, or are tempted to try.

And I'd like to make one of these patterns, which Cidell has sent me in December (we exchanged for Knip Mode magazines, thank you so much Cidell, and I hope the Knip Modes are soon with you)

The shell in the upper right corner I want to try with an underlining of silk organza, a couture technique as described in an issue of Threads.

And there's a lot of blouses in BWOF I like, pants I "need". I'll keep you posted.

2008 starts with projects from 2007

A few projects from 2007 to start with.

First of all my DD's Christmas dress. It's BWOF 11-2007-107 with a few alterations. She was so proud and happy with it. On Christmas she wore it with the BWOF short jacket I made her some time ago , which was a really nice combination.
Technically it's not a great sewing work, and I'm so not going to show you the inside of this one! DD helped as much as she could to get this dress finished in time. The fabric was very slippery, and I stabilized the top part with fusible interfacing. After that it should have had a full lining, but there really was no time for that (this dress was made on the Sunday before Christmas). On Linda's blog I found a great instruction for lining a sleeveless dress. Next time I want to try that.
The details on alterations for the pattern you'll find in my review on PR.





Second the vest was finished, I still needed the right buttons, none in the house that I could use, so I had to shop for them. Today I finally managed to go to a store with notions. This is the result. The armholes are a bit wide, but wearing this over a blouse or turtle neck will not show this too much I hope.











Last item is the first project of 2008! The wrap top of BWOF January 2008. The review is here. I made it on New Years day, in about 3 hours, from starting to trace to finishing. Quite a good start of sewing this year. I like it very much.













In my last post I said I would tell of my sewing plans for this year. I have no firm resolutions. Never make any at all (that is, not especially on January 1).
But in the sewing department I would like to:

• make a spring wardrobe (swap), which will mostly consist of my favorite source for patterns: BWOF and Jalie
• improve my skills, the books of Claire Shaeffer and Sandra Betzina will be my guide (any other suggestions I highly appreciate)
  
• make a collar with stand without problems
• make a coat for spring
• maybe buy a binder for my coverstitch
  
• renew my pattern drafting skills, I once did a class in this (must be 15 years ago at least). And I'm thinking of doing a class again, and I stopped doing my lingerie class. Might do that instead of it.

And what's up next? DD will keep me busy, she wants a high waist jeans from Knip Mode, and has found two white blouses from the BWOF January issue she would like.
See who comes first in that, because there were also two I like (and one is the same as she, and we don't have the same size).

The jeans is cut, but I'm a little sceptic on this one, as I don't have much faith in Knip pants patterns. Perhaps I'm wrong. Let's hope so. Basting first! DD surely wants to have it finished before she goes back to school on Monday. For me the holiday is over now, tomorrow I have to get some work done.

2007 almost gone

2007 in sewing terms was a year in which I feel I really got back to sewing. I did sew a lot in the past for myself, but that hobby was mostly lost in the past 10-15 years. I did sew for my children a lot. And I liked that very much, though it doesn't give as much challenge as sewing for myself, both technically and fitting wise.

Early in the year I published my first review on Pattern Review, which I had discovered in November last year. Since then I wrote 44 reviews, most of them on clothes for myself. There were successes and failures, but I enjoy sewing immensely again.

In April I started this blog, and that too is fun, though I have thought a few times to stop writing, as I was afraid it was not adding too much to my reviews. Now I think that it is a good opportunity to show what I'm working on, and try to share things in the sewing process that not always become that clear in a review. From the comments I think at least a few people like to read it, I'm very thankful for those comments.
And I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads this blog and especially those who comment more or less regularly. I appreciate this very much.

And I enjoy very much the sewing community on the internet in general, it's such a friendly place. I read entries on Stitchers Guild regularly, though I don't post a lot there, it's a very nice community too.
And last but not least: all other blogs that are sewing related. It's a joy to read about sewing activities of others, I learn a lot of those bloggers that have better skills than I have, and others have great ideas about embellishment, or change a pattern that I would never have thougth of etc. Thank you all! Which makes me remind me of the fact that I have to update my link-list in the sidebar. There are so many more blogs that I enjoy reading, that are not mentioned yet there.

Next post I'll tell you about my sewing plans for the new year. Now I'll change my jeans for something more festive, we have friends over in an hour to celebrate "old and new" as we say here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU !