Favourite make

Finally my favourite make of 2016 made it to the blog! I have been meaning to write about this dress for a while but life got in the way, as it does from time to time.  It's one of those dresses that makes me feel sexy and good about myself the moment I put it on. I think everyone needs at least one piece of clothing like that!

The pattern is from Burda 10/2012 #118. I made it few times before (here and here) and I love them all. As usual I skipped the darts in the back in favour of more waist shaping and extended the facing by 5 cm to make it sit below the bust not across it. I played with the length of the sleeves but kept the original hem length. Because I'm quite short the dress is knee length but it grows to midi-length due to my fabric choice.

The fabric is the softest rayon knit ever with nice amount of stretch to it. And it came from the fabric sale so the total cost of my dress is about $7! The only problem was that my sewing machine hated it with a passion. It was made mostly on overlocker but the hems had to be sewn by my machine. The easiest way would be to use twin needle but the walking feet doesn't play nicely with them. So I went for triple zigzag stitch and it's kind of ok. No one really pays attention to hems anyway, right?

I made this dress back in August and it was worn to my firm's 120th anniversary. I apologize for the photo overload but in was one of the rare cases when all the photos turn out great so I'm having trouble to choose only a handful - not a bad problem to have!

Brighter and brighter

The first time I wore this dress everyone kept saying that it was very "bright". No wonder - in Wellington everyone wears black all the time. I got super self-conscious and I wasn't sure if I actually should wear it in the office.  Luckily I got over it and this dress became one of my most worn over past few months!

The pattern is another version of Burda 10/2012 #118. There are few changes I made - I extended the facing piece so the edge doesn't go across my bust but below it and I did swap side gathers in favour of pleats. Oh, and I also extended the sleeves by 7 cm or so and shortened the skirt by 10 cm. As per last time I omitted the darts. This pattern is a winner!

The fabric came from the fabric sale and cost me whole $4 to make this dress. Not bad, huh?  The fabric is some sort of polyester knit and it worked well with the pattern - the drape is good, there is enough stretch to make it very comfortable and I can throw it in the wash without worrying about my dress. And I'm very glad that I got some photos taken by Gemma after a lovely lunch we had with Kirsten and Kat. We need to have them more often!

Winter star

When I bought this merino and nylon blend remnant at Levana last year I thought of making a spring/autumn top, maybe a dress? It is quite thin, almost see through so I never suspected it to be too warm. Boy, I was so wrong! I wore this dress on the coldest days we had this winter and it kept me nice and warm!

Initially I wanted to make Kielo Dress with this fabric but when I started going through my patterns I found Burda 10/2012 #118 already traced. I actually made it once before, just few months in my sewing adventure and my fabric choice wasn't that great and the dress ended up being way too tight. Anyway, this time the outcome is pretty good :)

Since I made the dress in knit with a nice amount of stretch I skipped the zip and the darts. Instead I just took the dress in a bit around the waist. Almost everything was sewn with my overlocker so it was a breeze to make! I hemmed my dress using triple zigzag - twin needle and my walking foot don't work well together. I also shortened it by 10 cm or so. The main problem with this dress - because there is always a problem! - is that I forgot the pattern needs seam allowances! I usually trace Burda patterns with allowances added but that wasn't the case when I just started sewing. In a result the dress is a bit clingy - it has to be worn with a slip but I only got one after taking the photos.

The dress has been in high rotation over past two months. I absolutely love it and I will miss it over the summer! But I don't worry as I seem to be a bit obsessed with this pattern and it will show up on the blog again in the near future ;)

Winter coat

I can feel spring in the air so it's probably time I blogged about my winter coat! I made a WINTER COAT! Can you tell I'm very excited about it? It's probably my most advanced and complicated make yet. Not perfect but it keeps me warm and I absolutely love it!

I wanted to make a longer coat with high collar and slightly military style. Burda 12/2012 #104 was just perfect! I got a PDF pattern and it was surprisingly nice to work with - no need for tracing the pattern is always good ;) I cut size 44 and decided to make a muslin. The overall fit was spot on but I had some issues with the sleeves. Once the sleeves were in, I wasn't able to move my arms much in any direction...not ideal. It took me a while to figure out what to do but when I found this post on Ikat Bag blog everything became clear. I lowered the head of the sleeve by 5 cm and kept the same seam length. It worked like a charm!

As usual with Burda, I had an issue with the instructions provided. They were only marginally better than "sew the pieces of the coat together." After reading them I decided I'm better off relying on my own experience. It actually went well! Turns out that sewing a coat is not much different than sewing a dress - it just has a few more pieces. In this case around 40 of them! As my fabric is almost the same on both sides I used masking tape to label the pieces and seam numbers.

The fabric is some sort of the woolen mix I got on sale. The lining was originally going to be bright yellow but my fabric was way too delicate. After going trough my stash I found a piece of silk taffeta from The Fabric Store that worked well. It's slippery, feels really good and I absolutely love the colours. The amazing metal buttons come from Made Marion - the best craft shop in Wellington :)

I'm quote proud of myself. The coat is super wearable, keeps me warm and doesn't look bad. I made my first bound buttonholes and I was amazed how easy they are to make. And then I realized the problem is to make them all look the same! Mine are a bit wonky, I'm not going to lie here ;) I'm a bit angry with myself that I listened to Burda and only interface the facings... After a couple of months of wearing my coat the front got a bit out of shape. I think a good steaming session will fix it but it could have been prevented with interfacing the whole front. Lesson learnt! Other than that I think my first coat is pretty awesome!

Welcome to the jungle

Well, jungle that grew on nuclear waste judging by the colours! I went to the fabric sale with a mission of getting some plain colours but I just couldn't help myself... This intense exotic print just wouldn't leave me alone! And at $3 per meter I really had no excuse. I knew right away that it would be some sort of va va voom dress.

I went with pattern number 116 from Burda 4/2013. I used it to make my first dress ever (if you are interested here is the link to the post about my first sewn dress, in Polish) I used the bodice of this dress twice before as well - my halloween and christmas dress. I really thought I had this all sorted!

Unfortunately it didn't work as well as I thought it would. I think the fabric is rayon or poly-rayon twill. It has lot's of drape, it's quite lovely but it moves in every direction! Cutting was an issue!Sewing was manageable provided I used a lot of pins. I finished all the edges with bias binding - I love this clean look! I used bright green rayon thread for topstitching. My partner's uncle gave me a whole bag of those rayon threads and I decided it's time to start using them!

The back was sticking out so I added darts. It was easier that unpicking the zip and the binding. It doesn't really matter though as the dress turn out to be too tight! As you can see I can put it on and zip it but that's pretty much it. At this stage I can't really wear it as movement is very very restricted. I'm hoping I'll still be able to wear this dress soon if I manage to control my urge to eat chocolate ;) The interesting thing is that I cut the fabric for this dress and my Christmas dress the same day, the same pattern... The other dress fits very well, this one is too small. Grrr!

Christmas dress

Ok, this is definitely my favourite project of 2015! I love absolutely everything about it!

Let's start with fabric. I bought this beautiful linen in Made on Marion - the most lovely local store for all sorts of crafters during their mid-winter Christmas celebrations. I couldn't resist this white and blue print. It reminds me of portuguese ceramic tiles called azulejos which I got to love when I lived in Portugal for 6 months. I bought 2,5m with no projects in mind but I thought it was going to be a dress or maybe a summer jacket. Then I started thinking about Christmas and the idea was born.

I decided to use the same patterns as for my Halloween dress - Simplicity skirt and Burda bodice. I modified the bodice neckline from sweetheart shape into a straight one. I thought it suited the fabric more. Unfortunately I didn't do it properly - the neckline didn't sit flat. I also realized that only when the dress was practically finished! The dress went to the naughty corner for two weeks, then I got back to it and fixed it in 20 min! It is almost perfect now ;)

I didn't want any stitching to be visible on the outside and I also wanted this dress to be pretty on the inside. I finished all the bodice seams with bias binding, hand-stitched it down using blind stitch. It took me a few episodes of "Jessica Jones"to finish it (I do recommend the show, David Tennant is a fabulous villain!). I opted for narrow, rolled hem. I am really proud of this dress!
I wish I had better photos of the dress - taking photos around noon on a sunny day made them overexposed and some details are hard to see.

Halloween dress

I'm not really good at making costumes. I usually have the perfect idea months before so I always think I have sooooooo much time... Yeah, right. I can almost never finish costume in time!

This year I decided to do what I do best and make myself Halloween themed dress. I found this cute fabric at good old Spotlight and the price was reduced to $8 per meter. Such a score! The top part is pattern number 115 from Burda 4/2013. I used that pattern to make my first dress ever and you can see it here. The skirt is Simplicity 1880. The only changes I made was adding the back seam and moving the zip from the side to the back. The neckline is finished with bias tape (and i totally forgot to take photos of it!) and I used my rolled hem foot to finish the bottom.

Another thing I made is barely visible on the photo - a petticoat! I used fluorescent yellow nylon net and matching thread and an elastic from my stash. I never made petticoat before but it was piece of cake especially when using gathering foot. I left the hem untouched - I didn't want to waste time binding it as it's not something I will wear on regular basis. Nylon net is a bit scratchy so if I ever need another one I'll probably just buy a tulle petticoat ;)

I wore this outfit to drinks with WSBN girls and went to a Halloween party after that. Almost every girl in the room came to tell me that my dress was amazing and ask where I got it from. It was really satisfying telling them that I made it myself! It's such a pity this dress can only be worn around Halloween :(

PS. Sorry for the smudged photos - I haven't realized my lens was dirty!!!!

Here is a crappy photo of my petticoat - I found it hilarious that it was standing on its own!