Burda magazine

As most of you will know, I use Burda magazine patterns a lot. I haven’t counted but I think that around 2 out of 3 garments I make are (based on) a Burda magazine pattern. They do have consistent sizing, I know what to change for my figure. I know I’ve had my share of posts/rants on their photos (hiding what the pattern is about), complained about the diy projects or not having nice patterns any more and stopping my subscription. But they certainly have interesting patterns again and I renewed my subscription, because often after a while I saw a pattern made up and finding out I didn’t have that particular issue. Apparently I sometimes have to get used to a style/trend and am a late adapter.
There is a change though in the instructions apparently. Yesterday evening I was browsing the November issue and wondering about yardage and the way they placed the pattern pieces on the fabric for a specific pattern. To my surprise and dismay: there are not cutting layouts in the November issue!

2 yards of fabric–a coat!

Many, many years ago I participated in a contest on PatternReview and won a prize. I think it was second or third place, but I can’t remember which contest it was. The prize was fabric from Textile Studio (a company that no longer exists) and I chose a lovely wool fabric. It was 2 yards (which is 1.80 meter). Every year when I examined fabrics in my collection at the beginning of the autumn/winter season, this piece of fabric came out and I always thought “I must make some special jacket from it” and back it went in my closet for that special pattern that I would someday make from it.

This year I realised that my taste in jackets has changed and I no longer wanted a jacket from it, but that it would make a lovely coat. That provided a challenge: only 2 yards of fabric and the desire to make a coat from it. Sounds like mission impossible, doesn’t it? It took some browsing of patterns, pattern magazines and of course the internet and I found it. I checked all my Burda magazines from the August-January range and couldn’t find a suitable pattern. Having decided it should be a coat without a collar (too much fabric needed) and I googled something like “Burda coat without collar), a pattern from the March 2012 issue came up. I hadn’t checked my March issues, as I did not think that a March issue would have a pattern for a coat I was looking for.

Luckily I had that issue in my collection and decided that this would be my project to be made in my sewing days with friends. I planned a few changes: bound buttonholes instead of snaps, pockets with flaps instead of inseam pockets. For the pockets I took the position and shape from a Burda magazine from 2007! It is helpful to have a collection of over 100 Burda magazines .

A few in progress pictures to get an idea of how it looks and how the inside is done.

Sample of the buttonhole, which is not done in the official way, but using the “window” method. Bottom right you can see the “window”, which is done with silk organza.

The welts for the buttonholes, made of faux leather. On the inside is a piping cord, which you can see peeking out on a few.

Buttonholes and welt for pocket done.

All pattern pieces were block fused with a middle weight coat interfacing. I did that first (still at home) and after the block fusing marked the seamlines on the pieces.

I thought the  the fabric was not thick enough for winter temperatures, even after the fusible interfacing was applied. All pieces were interlined with a flannel. For this I cut all the pattern pieces without seam allowance and used a catch stitch to attach it (did take some time!). After that the rest was relatively easy.

Front shield as in most of my jackets applied here too.

Sleeve head and shoulder pad inserted.

Almost finished. I still have to insert the lining. As said, I’m still travelling and this last step will be done when I’m back home again.

To conclude this picture heavy post a photo of the white cliffs, close to the location where I was with my sewing friends. I’ve been at several places along the south coast of the UK this time and wow, what breath-taking views! So different from county to county.

A knitted sweater

At the beginning of August I showed you a knitted sweater in progress. I finished it a couple of weeks ago and I’m ever so pleased with it. The base was a pattern by Asa Tricosa, but my version doesn’t resemble the original much. It’s mainly used for the general shape, number of stitches, increases/decreases etc. Center front I added a cable from the book Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible: 260 Exquisite Patterns by Hitomi Shida. At the sides I repeated the small cable at the edge.

I love the technique that Asa Tricosa has developed, which she calls the “Ziggurat” method. It’s knitting top-down and with very clever techniques you knit the top of the sleeve in one pass with the body too. A way in which you can try it on in an early stage too and adapt for fit more easily. My fear in knitting sweaters was always that I would spend hours and hours (far more time than most sewing projects take) and after assembly would find out that it was not fitting. If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while you know I can be obsessive about fit . I’ve found a technique that suits me very well and have two more garments on the needles from her book. 

The book has many projects with lovely details that have a huge appeal to me, like this double knitted hem. Isn’t it a lovely detail? It’s a bit like nice underwear: you know it’s there, even if no one sees it.

The annual sewing retreat in the UK with a group of friends is next week, I’m preparing a coat and a jacket to sew. Sewing projects will be shown here again soon .

Experimenting

My wardrobe needs a few t-shirts added to it and I don’t particularly like t-shirt sewing. So I experimented with some different styles to make sewing them a little more interesting.

The neckline of this one was inspired by a rtw t-shirt. As a starting point I took the very basic t-shirt pattern from Ottobre (issue 2, 2006) which I’ve used often before. Only to notice when it was finished that it didn’t fit as well any more. Too tight around the bust area to my liking. I was ready to toss it when my daugher came home and I asked whether she would like to try it on. It’s a good fit on her and she liked it. Happy result after all.

There was just enough of the fabric left to squeeze out a basic shirt for myself. This is one size larger and so much better! But also very, very basic/boring. On the bright side: I have a new base again.

This last one is Valetta from Schnittquelle, a German pattern company. I made a few changes and added a facing, instead of the fold over neckline hem as per the pattern instructions. I intended this to be a shirt with 3/4 sleeves and did change and sew it up like that. In all planning and thinking about how to draft the facing for the neckling I overlooked the fact that this has cut-in shoulders and the sleeve was a horrible fit (read: not fitting at all) at the shoulders. Cut off the sleeves with 1 cm at the armhole left to be used as facing. Ready for summer next year.

A pair of jeans

I finished my jeans last week and they are ever so comfortable. I’ve already worn them for two days, which says enough. Like Nancy said in her comment: once you have a pattern that fits, jeans are not too difficult. It saves time if you can set up 2 machines for it: one with normal thread and one with topstitching thread.

The legs are a bit long with these flat shoes.

For the topstitching of the pocket I checked the internet for some inspiration, then drafted the lines without a specific one in mind. It may look like topstitching of a rtw brand, but I did not knowingly copy any.

A peak inside, just for fun I used this cotton, which was in my stash.

I don’t sew because it’s cheaper than rtw, but in this case it certainly was. I bought the denim fabric years ago as a remnant piece. The price tag still on it told me I paid 11.50 euro, all other notions I already had too. To be fair I have to calculate those too.So this pair cost me about 20 euro. Can’t buy a well fitting pair in a store for that price!

Sneak peek next project

It’s been many years since I made a pair of jeans. Six years actually! I don’t know why it took me so long. The jeans I made back then still fit me though they are only worn around the house nowadays. They have seen better days. I found a nice piece of denim that I bought quite a while ago too. The price tag said it cost me 11.50 euro. Realising that the pattern was there ready to sew and all notions needed were around I started on Friday evening and I can happily say it’s as good as finished now.
No project without a hiccup somewhere and this time the pockets had to be re-done. In a “it will work out” mood I thought I could topstitch the upper hem of the pocket without interfacing it, using a walking foot. I used water soluble stabilizer on part of the pocket, but not in the hem. WRONG idea. It stretched!!! Horrible, so I did the pockets again. Lesson learned.
A picture to show the difference.

A knitting project

I’ve been in doubt about writing about my knitting projects as my blog has always been about sewing and only very occasionally I mention other subjects. But well, as it is my blog I’d like to share my knitting projects too and if knitting is not what you like to read about, this post is not for you.

I learned knitting as a child, did a lot of knitting in the 80’s and knitted nothing for about 20 years after my children were born. I wanted to knit for them, but when a sweater was already almost too small when I finished it, I stopped doing it completely as there simply was not enough time to do all I wanted to do with young children around.

Fast forward to about 4 or 5 years ago. At the time I was offered a free Craftsy class as a birthday present (they only did it that one time), but it had to be a knitting class. I took a class on lace knitting and I liked it that much, that knitting was part of what I did again. Mostly shawl knitting. I liked the techniques, the more complicated the better. Is there a relation to my sewing?? And shawls had the great advantage that size/gauge/tension didn’t matter. It takes more time to knit a garment than to sew one and I was so afraid that after hours and hours of work, a sweater wouldn’t fit.

But…. after I knitted quite a few shawls the thought came up: how many do you need? So at some point I dived into knitting sweaters again. I haven’t done many yet but like the top-down method where you can fit as you go.

Currently I’m knitting Sweatrrr. The technique is top-down, with knitting the top of the sleeves at the same time too. It’s called the Ziggurat method. When I found this technique, I had to try it and even though this is my first sweater in this technique, I’m already so convinced that I bought the recently published book too. (disclaimer: I have no affiliation to the designer, have bought my own copy of the book, I’m just very happy with the result)

I wouldn’t be me if I would not change something, so instead of the squares in the front and back, I added a Japanese stitch pattern center front. The back is plain stocking stitch.

Can you believe that the top of this sleeve was knitted at the same time as the top of the body? Fascinating isn’t it? There’s still a little jog but that’s my fault, knitting this way for the first time.

It will take more time than the average sewing project, but I’ll show you the result at some point.