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Monday, April 14, 2014

Sewing with a plan, spring/summer 2014

For my sewing plans I'd been hoping to use the Wardrobe Architect series as my own personal guideline.. 
Linton Tweeds gorgeous samples
Well, that won't be happening anytime soon! I've printed the assignments and have been carrying them around for over a month now. They've been in Zambia, Botswana and Belgium and they still haven't been filled in. So I figured I might as well share my spring/summer sewing plans now and when I *finally* do get my lazy/to busy/to tired self to fill it in, I'll adapt my plans as we go. 

My sewing-wish list:

  • Another Minoru in a very lightweight wool
My Minoru fabrics
  • A Bombshell swimsuit in black, I'm thinking view b.
  • Two more Archers, one in sandwashed black silk and the other one in a pale purple fabric.
  • A little black jacket, inspired by Chanel, using Couture Sewing and Linton Tweeds fabric. I'm very much in love with all of the samples you see in the first picture, but I figured its best to use a solid fabric first, so the pattern placement isn't super obvious and I also really want a classic black jacket, so black it is.. Maybe with some sparkles though :)
I'm going to go with black, with a little sparkle :) I think.. 
  • Draped black skirt, using Patternmaking by Dennic Chunman Lo. Or maybe I'm going to use the Vanamo skirt pattern.
  • Kielo wrap dress by Named, I've actually finished this one today!
  • Something from Drape Drape, a dress or a shirt? Or maybe both :) 
  • Two more pairs of Maritime shorts, I've already got the right fabrics for both.. 
Stretch denim fabrics
And I want to continue with my bra/underwear making plans (I've got 2 muslin versions, one from a pattern I drafted myself, which already fit quite good, so yay!)

Wow, this already looks like quite a list. And it isn't even a complete list of things swirling around in my head that I want to make.. Luckily I've already finished some items (is that cheating?) and I'm also almost done with my silk/linen Victoria Blazer (from my fall plans), so things are looking good! 

Apart from all these plans there will be a lot of Burning Man sewing going on.. So lots of prints, fake fur and sequins! 

What are your summer sewing plans? Do you have any must-makes on your list? 



Sunday, April 6, 2014

Finally, the Rigel Bomber

There are so many gorgeous Rigel Bombers popping up everywhere, that I couldn't resist and made one myself! My sister gave me this pattern for christmas, thanks Mieke for the amazing present! (Even though it is a bit of a selfish gift, as she already had one on her wish list as well.. 

So when I went to the Antwerp meet-up I was only looking for Rigel fabrics.. I spotted this fabric at  Moens fabrics, it feels like a suede, but I actually think it is a fake suede (price and thickness wise). 
I cut a size xs and only lenghtened the sleeves an inch, which is a normal adjustment for me. At first I also lengthened the body with an inch, but after seeing other finished ones, I decided that the length would be perfect if it was just a bit shorter.

After reading about how most of you preferred to line their Rigel I decided to follow.. I had a silk panel from Italy in my stash.. I really liked the print, but it was too much for a shirt, so perfect lining material! I really had to squeeze it in order to be able to fit all the pieces onto the silk, so no perfect pattern matching unfortunately.. Ahhh well, I can live with that, I'll even show it to you..
 I also made this shirt I'm wearing, I love the print on this silk! And I've got 2 more meters..
I topstitched the lining at the bottom, not the prettiest, so next time I will follow Elizabeth's tips!

I made version 2, which has a cool geometric detail on the shoulders. It felt like a small puzzle putting it together, which I really enjoyed..
 It was my first try at welt pockets, I ended up using the Craftsy tutorial, which I found quite helpful. The only small issue I have is that the neck ribbing has the tendency to wrinkle and stand away from my neck a bit.. Anyone else have this? Or any suggestions how to prevent this next time?

Because there will be a next time for sure! My sister keeps hinting at the fabric she has, which will make a perfect summer Rigel..

I've hardly taken it off since I finished it last week.. I even had a girl asking where I got my jacket from and after telling her that I'd made it myself she said: Ahhh I was afraid of that, since I didn't see a label.. And then she asked me if I was studying fashion or something similar :D
I really do have to get some nice labels though..