La Réglisse - update

Well, this is taking longer than I thought. Well, what is taking longer was getting the fabrics. I thought I would have enough time to sew this all together and I would've had, but then I realized I need to line the dress, because my fabric was kind of thin and I would wear it so much more with a lining. But then it took me forever to get the lining fabric because they didn't have what I wanted in storage. And when I finally started cutting and sewing (I could've cut it earlier...) I realized that I don't have enough fabric to make my own bias binding, so I had to order that too... Except then I just realized that since I'm lining the dress I only need the bias for decoration... And then just plain life and work got in the way of my sewing. My parents have been here and I've had some deadlines at work. So, I didn't make to the sew-along deadline.

And in the end I don't want to rush, I rather make something I would wear. So, I waited for the lining. Also, I had some extra fabric from my Pastille Dress, that I have no decided to not finish. The bodice won't fit anyway and I'm just not sewing at all if I think about it. I do think the neckline and sleeves looked quite well, too bad the bodice didn't sit right...

Pastille - bodice, a photo by RankkaApina on Flickr.

I decided to use this fabric as a contrast, so that I got something fun to my otherwise very brown dress. And I decided to add pockets, because I love having pockets. And I found a good tutorial for adding the seam pockets to basically any pattern. But now at least I have all my fabrics. The brown is for the main part of the dress, the pink I'm using for the collar and sleeves, and the beige bemberg is for lining.

La Réglisse - fabrics, a photo by RankkaApina on Flickr.

Now all my pieces (except lining) have been cut. What makes life easier is this board I got while shopping with my parents:

Sewing board, a photo by RankkaApina on Flickr.

I've had a problem with my tile floor: I need carpets, because the floor is too cold, but I can't cut on a carpet. So, I've been using a clear quilting ruler, but it's way too small. This board is 120cm x 60cm. I really wanted a 120cm x 80cm, but there wasn't one ready and I didn't want to queue. Well, that would've been perfect. But this is good enough.

In any case I don't think I have time this week to finish my Réglisse (or the flapper dress for that matter). Weekend will be used for swing dancing, so I won't finish until next week. But I'm convinced that it will look good and it will have pockets (I think more women's clothes should have pockets, if this wasn't clear yet...).

Pinterest inspirational, challenge update, and inventory

Today I stumbled into this blog. I loved the style and I also found Ami's pinterest boards. Now, I've been using pinterest for awhile and I use it for all kinds of stuff, also for inspiration, but I found something in her boards I hadn't thought about. She would comment on which pattern it could be made out of. It hadn't occurred to me, mostly because I haven't been so familiar with a lot of patterns, but I'm starting to be. So when Ami suggested, that this one could be Laurel made from lace, I totally saw it!

Laurel from lace or Agata Swing Dress $420

I wasn't originally very excited about Laurel, but after seeing what people have done with it, I'm starting to see the potential there.

Then there was another pin for a trench coat, which made me think of the Robson pattern.

Robson or Topliner two-tone trenchcoat by Kate Spade $575, $202 on sale

Now, I'm not a black and white person (although I would so have shoes to go with this coat...). And I have a white trench coat, which is a pain because it gets dirty so easily, but I like the idea of the contrasting edges. I might use this at some point.

Yes, still need to wait a bit for my finished challenge garments: I still don't have the lining fabrics! And I got an update on my order that the lining for Réglisse will be late... So, I might not finish in time... Hopefully I get it for next week.

While I've been waiting for my fabrics and things I've done some inventory on my stash and realized I have more fabric, than I thought... and things to refashion and/or repair. Out of my 4 boxes (one contains mostly patterns) I need to get rid of 3. I decided I need to get rid of at least one box this year. And if I don't make anything myself, I can always offer them as giveaways... But there's no point in hoarding it if I'm not making anything. Hopefully there will be an actual sewing update soon...

Some MAJOR shopping

Well, I start with the challenges. I of course needed to find a suitable fabric for both of them. Even though the patterns haven't arrived yet... I thought I would go to Paris on Thursday or Friday to do this, but decided that it was ok to do it at home on Wednesday when everything is closed due to 1st of May. Well yes, I actually found something I liked. Then finding the fringe for the flapper dress was another matter. I still didn't quite find long enough (or wide enough) fringe, but at least it's 4" which in my head translates to about ~10cm. Which is not too bad, but I really wanted something along the lines of 30cm. And I still have the option of doing my own fringe (which I will need to do, if the color is wrong, we'll see).

But so, what did I choose... For my Great Gatsby challenge I found a lovely turquoise satin. I'm very into turquoise at the moment. Especially when it comes to satin. And I finally, after looking for a long time, found some turquoise fringe at fabric.com! I could've taken silver as well, but somehow the fringe seems more likely to come in gold. Well, this might still change, but I will have to see the fabric and fringe together before making any decisions.

Satin for the Great Gatsby dress

Fringe for the Great Gatsby dress

If this dress becomes anything like I imagine, I will totally love it. And with less fringe I just have to make the dress a bit longer (which might not be a bad idea).

The fabric for Réglisse was also fairly easy. I was not really happy with anything, until I saw this:

Fabric for Réglisse

I can't help it, I love chocolate brown. I hope the real color is as good as in the picture. I got both of the fabrics at Hall du Tissu which seem to have a nice selection. Well for this anyway, I'm having a whole lot of trouble with fabric in general, every time I find something I really like, it's completely wrong type of fabric. Well, so far I've always managed to find something I like in the end, so I just need to look around a bit.

Lady Valet by Adjustoform

Well, my shopping spree didn't really stop here... I recently found out that I'm getting a major tax refund (well, the money will come in december) and in addition to a trip to Doha to visit my cousin, I decided I could buy a dress form. Well, I took a bit of a head start with it and ordered one today... I ordered a Lady Valet from Mercerie Durand. I did a bit of research in the net and I actually would've liked Uniquely You dress form (mostly because this video by Shona: she has a scoliosis too and it showed on the form!), but I could only find it at US Amazon and they didn't deliver to Europe. This seems like a good option as well, they had it on sale at Mercerie Durand, and my budget was ~200 €, so this was ok concerning that as well. This one has 12 buttons to fit the form to one's measurements, you can pin on it and it has a hem adjuster. And people who have it seem to like it a lot.

My Sewaholic patterns + the Pavlova

This is totally my guilt trip post, because my shopping doesn't end here either... I bought some patterns... Well, that was about a week ago, but I kind of splurged there. Well, they do ship from Canada, so I decided to buy the ones I wanted with one sitting. So, I got the Renfrew Top everyone seems to love, as well as the Cambie Dress (there are some amazing Cambies around like Scruffy Badger's, I especially like the polka dotted version, Miss Crayola Creepy's Yellow version, Karen's fruity one, and Amanda's Muddy Waters: I just love that color!), and then I need more pants, so Thurlow Trousers were an obvious choice, Alma Blouse is just so cute, Karen convinced me of Hollyburn Skirt, and who wouldn't love the Robson Coat? And then I blame it on Gillian: I also bought the Pavlova by Cake Patterns. It looks kind of vintage-y so it would be perfect for dancing. The wrap shirt would probably flatter my figure and even though Gillian didn't like hers I think it looks good on her! And I also got the two books I've been drooling on for the longest time: Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing and Couture Sewing Techniques.

And then I have some other plans, but at least I didn't buy any more patterns... I'd love to make the Abbey Coat for winter. Can you think of a more perfect coat? Well, maybe Robson ties the race, but this is completely different style, so they are in a different race. And I can't help: I love that blue! Although I think mine would be some other color... like chocolate brown or mustard (70s) yellow... And then there are the Colette patterns. I haven't forgotten the idea to make the whole book, although I think I will leave the Pastille until my fitting skills improve a bit (or I get the dress form!), and then there are some that I'd love to get: Ceylon, which I didn't think much of until I saw Lauren's version, I've always wanted to do Macaron, and Chantilly looks like my cup of tea. Also Beignet, Sencha, Jasmine, Iris, and Ginger look fun. Just when do I have the time for all this...? We'll see. At least now I'm having fun with planning. And the next projects to be completed are the two challenges. And I do have some plans for other Deer and Doe patterns, like Chardon, Belladone, Airelle, and Bleuet... And I think I should prefer French patterns, since I am in France after all ;)

Problems with Pastille

So, it's been quiet for awhile. I'm planning my move to France, which includes among other things selling my apartment and getting rid of my stuff. So, the time for sewing isn't plentiful, but I'm getting something done. The Pastille Dress isn't finished, though. It won't take long to finish it, but I'm not convinced it will look great on me. The skirt part is fine, but the bodice... I've had so much difficulty with it. I even took a picture how it's not great, but since I've needed to clean for the apartment selling (read: stuffed everything into the closet), I can't find the cable that would connect my camera to my laptop. So, there won't be any pictures for this post.

It really looks as if the bodice just won't sit great on me. Also I think I should've lined it, since my cotton seems to be a bit more see-through than I expected. Well, I can always wear a slip under it. And we'll see how wearable it is... Well, I don't think Pastille was one of my favorites to begin with. I tried to fix the bodice with fitting and it's better than the original, but it just doesn't sit right and also, I think it's too short. As in the seam will be too high for my waist. Well, as with the meringue skirt, I have a bunch of fabric left, so maybe I can cut another bodice. I'm just not looking forward to that. So if this doesn't work, it might take awhile before I'm wearing this dress...

The #sewing social tweet chat was earlier this evening (well, yesterday, since it's 2 am here...). Once again, a lot of fun and new cool people (and some that I already met the last time). So, my sewing circle is growing :) Looking forward to August chat!

Oh, and one more thing: there's something else I've been doing... But it's on my other blog. So I'll become a quilter. And I've been also doing this wedding present, but I'll blog about it after the actual event, so that the bride doesn't find out :)

Colette No. 2: Pastille Dress - muslin

Well, this wasn't really the easiest task. The pattern really isn't made for my body... Luckily I followed instructions and started with the muslin. I got some old sheets from mom for this purpose and I cut the first one up. And then I started sewing the muslin. Well, there were some problems:

In the first picture, there's the biggest issue. The back is just way too big. The same thing can also be seen in the middle picture, but there's the other thing. My back is crooked, so all skirts/dresses/pants look like their crooked on me. I'll try to fix this. And then some smaller issues at the bust area.

I tried to follow the instructions on the book and I think the back got a whole lot better when I did the sway back alteration. I didn't have to correct the skirt part, since I really don't have a sway back, the back was just too big. I know Lladybird at least had the same problem. Her's turned out really awesome... For the skirt looking crooked, I cut more from the side that looks longer, I think it does look better (no pictures from the later fittings...). I think I got the bust area corrected as well, but we'll see. Mainly I just made the darts a bit bigger and this seemed to correct the problem and I also took in the side seam a bit. Hopefully this will look good in the final dress. It seemed to work on the muslin at least. And if there's as much leftover fabric as with the meringue skirt, I can always make the bodice again... I think I will try to cut the real dress tonight, but the sewing I will do next week.

Colette No. 1: the Meringue Skirt

Well, I traced the patterns to my pattern paper, since I want to keep the original intact. Just in case. And then I started planning how I should cut it. And I realized I have way too much fabric. I mean it's what the book says to get, but in the book they assume that you fold your fabric in half and cut all pieces from there. Well, I'm not used to wasting that much fabric. If I learned something in the crafts class at school, it was not to waste fabric. So I cut my front and back skirt pieces next to each other and from my original 2m of fabric I think I have more than 1m left. Well, I guess I can make another skirt or a blouse to go with this one or... And if I can't think of anything for me, I'm sure my nieces would love the color.

My traced pattern pieces: tracing was quite hard,
since the paper was so thin and the lines weren't that dark.

Here I have already cut the skirt, so you can see: lot of extra fabric.

So, that was yesterday, the tracing and cutting, I mean. Today I did the actual sewing. The instructions on the book were fairly clear, so I really had no problems. Except doing all the darts except one twice, since first time I managed to get them a bit wonky and doing the other side of the zipper twice as well. But I think my skirt is better for it. Because if it's not nice enough, I won't wear it. No problems with the invisible zipper this time either (I did one for the Charleston dress already). And now the finishing is even better with the book's clear instructions. I used the youtube tutorial again (I'll include it here, since the last time it was on my other blog):


I was so excited about sewing, that I forgot to take any pictures of the process. Well, here is the finished product, which I think turned out pretty well:

Although sewing the scallops wasn't a piece of cake... And they definitely aren't perfect. They were tugging the fabric a bit, so I added the small bows to cover it up. But I think it doesn't really show in the end. I was having a too narrow pivot, so it ended up tugging the fabric, because I couldn't cut as far as needed. But at least I know what went wrong and can do better next time.

Also, taking photos was quite hard, I don't own a tripod or as you can see not great at posing either. But I managed to get sharp pictures in the end (the problem was I was standing in front of the camera and it focused on me and then when I went further, of course it was out of focus... live and learn...).

Sewing facts:
Fabric: poplin (100% cotton) 9,90 €/m
Pattern: Meringue Skirt from The Colette Sewing Handbook
Year: 2011
Notions: Interfacing, invisible zipper, hook & eye
Time: 8,5h
First worn: for the pictures
Wear again: definitely, probably to work tomorrow, although I have to get another shirt (I don't like it when my stomach is showing).
Total price: 31 €, would be 21 € with only the amount of fabric I needed, but since I bought the fabric for this skirt, I will add it to its cost. And it will be free for any future project.

I also heard that people are still posting pictures to the flickr group for the Sew Colette Sew along, which I sadly missed. So, I thought to add mine there as well to feel like part of the community.

Sew Colette: The Book

I ordered the Sew Colette book, since I really liked all the clothes and that I can make them and learn different techniques. This seems like a perfect sewing book. My inspiration for buying the book came from the recent sew along. If you click the link, you can see lovely versions of the different garments in the book made by the participants of the sew along. I think the best thing about this book is that I like all the clothes and I will learn so much if I manage to sew all of them. The book is nicely organized, so that you first get the relevan theory and how-to instructions and then you have a project in which you can use and practice the introduced techniques. Since in sewing (and all other crafts as well) you only learn by doing, I think this is a great idea for a sewing book.

The garments to be made are:

Meringue Skirt

Pastille Dress

Truffle Dress

Licorice Dress

Taffy Blouse

I have been buying fabric and I have fabric ready now for all of the 5 garments, or have ordered it anyway. This is the first time I've ordered fabric online, so I hope they are what I think. Then again, I'm not that particular about the exact color, so as long as it looks good, it's enough. I also have the notions ready. I bought the lining fabrics from QuickFabrics.co.uk, and they had a great service: when you buy fabric, you can check a box and they will add a matching thread to your order. I think this is awesome and should be offered everywhere. And if you think you don't need it, you can just leave the box unchecked.

Here you can see the fabrics I have bought for these garments:

Fabrics for Meringue, Pastille, and Licorice

Fabric for Truffle

Fabric for Taffy

The blue fabric is for Meringue, the pink for Pastille, and the green for Licorice. The two others have been ordered from the internet, but since I only did it yesterday, I don't have them yet. As I said, I'm a bit nervous what they are for real. I can't wait to get to sewing all these. I will start with the Meringue skirt tomorrow.

I also bought some extra fabric from Eurokangas while I was wondering what to use for these garments. They have these boxes that have remnant pieces of the fabrics and you can buy them by the weight and they're priced like 25 €/kg. So these two fabrics I bought from that. Originally I thought I would use the orange see through for the Taffy Blouse, but since I found the embroidered one, I just couldn't not buy it. But maybe if it looks good, I'll make another one from this fabric. I originally thought the green one for Meringue, but it might be to thick for the scallops. But I think I could make another version without the scalloped hem from this. Looking forward to sewing something from these as well!