I finally made a Bombshell! Sew it up week 3

For this weeks Sew it up challenge (you can vote here!) I made an outfit inspired by the artist Ted Parker. It was the perfect excuse to get my act together and finally make the gorgeous Bombshell swimsuit pattern from Heather at Closet Case Files.

First the video I made for you guys :) The water was still super cold!

And my inspiration:

www.ted-parker.com

I’ve had this pattern ever since it came out last year, but when my black lining fabric wasn’t delivered in time for our trip to Bali I kinda forgot about it (also because it was winter ofcourse..)

So when I read that we had to make an artist inspired outfit, I ran to the copyshop to get my Bombshell pattern printed!  I found some black and white (gingham?) swimsuit fabric, and it is actually more fabric like then your normal lycra. Which gives it a real 50’s vibe for me.

 It was a lot of fun to make, I followed the sewalong, which is super detailed! The only thing I messed up was when I decided to serge the back seam about 5 times, which made it really thick. After spending 3 hours to unpick everything it was smooth sailing from there on. I find that if I serge seams that get a little bit of strain on them the stitches really show on the right side. I guess it’s a tension thing with my serger, but so far I haven’t figured it out yet.. Any tips?

The dreaded back seam.. 

Fit wise I graded from a size 6 on top to a size 7 around my waist and hips. The first two times I put it on I actually heard a  very soft ripping sound, but now I don’t hear anything and I don’t see any torn stitches, so I’m hoping I’ll be fine!

  My skirt is the Chardon skirt from Deer and Doe. Which I will blog about a bit later :)

Do you have any specific summer sewing plans? I’ve been spotting Lladybirds new bikini on Instagram and immediately thought: I have some black lycra in my stash! I’ve been tempted to buy it right away as Papercut Patterns now also has pdf downloads..  But then there’s also the Nettie pattern, which I could make out of leftover fabric from this Bombshell.. Aargh the temptation!

Shane is getting tired of modelling

If I can be very annoying once again and please ask you to vote for me here? I’d be forever grateful!

Shane by Ted Parker

Chloe meet Roxanne, sew it up week 2 challenge

Whoohoo! I made it through week 1 in the Sew it up challenge! Thanks guys for voting for me!

For the second Sew it up challenge we had to make a shiftdress.. Hmm what was I going to do? I usually love my dresses form-fitting or at least fitted at the waist. Until I remembered the one pattern that made me change my mind. The Chloe dress from Victory Patterns. It’s a semi fitted, mid length A-line dress, so perfect for this challenge!

I found some gorgeous Atelier Brunette cotton at Mondaysmilk and thought of a plan to add the pleated collar from the Roxanne top to my dress. This meant changing the pattern a bit, by raising the neckline and elongating the bust seam. But I really wanted to give this dress a little bit of extra edge and for me adding the collar did just that. I love this pleated collar and would add it to everything if I could..

This challenge was all about the techniques and finishing touches. That’s why I used my favourite technique ever, french seams. They just give the whole dress a super clean finish. I even finished the welt pockets with french seams, which was quite a puzzle, but it worked out in the end! (I used this tutorial.) It just feels weird putting the pieces wrong sides together and when there’s a welt flap in between it’s even more of a mindf*ck.

French seams everywhere

The sleeves are finished with bias tape, which I made from the same fabric. I also inserted the sleeves with french seams, using this tutorial from Jen at Grainline Studio. I have to be honest though, I did use my serger to finish the back seam with the invisible zipper. I just didn’t know how to finish this one with a french seam (and Google didn’t know it either).

More french seams!

I think this might just be my new favourite summer dress and I hope you’ll like it too! Clean and simple, but with a little bit of edge. Just how I like it!

I'm already super excited for the next challenge (as I've almost finished it and already love it), so if you've got a minute, please vote for me!

Bijschrift toevoegen

Me-Made-May part 1

So far my first Me-Made-May is going good! Apart from a horrible day with a huge hangover and three days when I had to wear a eye patch because of something strange with my eye, I managed to get Instagram pics every day :) 

On the non-Instagrammed days I did wear me mades, mostly my geometric pleated pants and hot cocoa top.. I just wanted to spare you (and myself) those pics.. 

Day 1: My first wiggle dress, pre-blog, but one of my favourite makes so far. 

Day 2: Roxanne shirt, also one of my favourite makes!

 Day 3: Also pre-blog, a self drafted shirt made with super soft cats and rabbit print cotton from Purl Soho.. I had a 24 hour work shift, so comfort was very important :)

 Day 4: After a 24 hr work shift comfort is also important, so I wore my self drafted knit shirt (same pattern as day 3). Milo was very photogenic that day..

 Day 5: Plaid Archer and my waterproof Minoru, it was a very rainy day so perfect choice!

 Day 6: Rigel bomber, Portside duffle and unblogged Hot cocoa top. I got an unexpected call that I had to work another double shift, luckily I had Me-Made-May covered..

 Day 7: Relaxing after another double shift in my geometric print pleated pants, made from the same self drafted pattern as these.

 Day 8: Drape Drape dress, which I'm going to blog about soon!

Day 9: My Sew it up jacket and Itajime silk shirt.

Day 14: Geometric sweater and again the pleated pants.. Feeling slightly better, but still one-eyed so therefore a headless pic.. 

Day 15: Victoria blazer in silk/linen, also still unblogged.. One of my makes for Sewing Indie Month, so going to be blogged soon! As you can see my right eye is still acting strange.. 

Day 16: My Belladone, super comfy and great for a nice summer day like today!

So far I really like Me-Made-May, although I do wish we would get some warmer weather. I found out that I either have wool/winter things or summer dresses. Most of my summer dresses can be worn with tights/sweaters, but they are still packed away because of the cold and rainy weather we were having..

Also I already found out that I like to sew tops and dresses, but I'm lacking self made skirts badly.. Vogue 1247 just arrived in my mail box, so I'm hoping to remedy that soon :)

How is your Me-Made-May going? I'm enjoying seeing all of your outfits so much! It's super cool to see how everyone styles their outfits differently..

Sew it up week 1, dreaming of Tokyo..

Hi guys! 

For the first challenge we were given a pattern that we had to work with. The pattern was for a Chanel style jacket. It was as if Caroline and Hanne (the organisers) had read my summer to-sew list.. 

But since it’s impossible to finish a proper Chanel style little black jacket in two weeks (for me at least as I wanted to use couture techniques) I decided to take a completely different approach for this weeks challenge.

I’ve been inspired by Japanese sewing and embroidery techniques for a while now. I think I made about 4 Drape Drape projects in the last 2 months.. So I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to combine a couple of them.

My jacket is made out of a lightweight linen and I chose to add embellishments in the form of Sashiko embroidery. Sashiko means little stabs in Japanese and it is a form of embroidery that uses the running stitch to create geometric patterns. I stitched them onto the linen after sewing the shoulder seams together. For a clean inside I added an extra layer to disguise all the stitches.

Stitches? Which stitches?

For the pants I used my own drafted pleated pants pattern. It’s quite a simple pattern but I think that the pleats just give it that something special. I also added pockets, just because you never know when you might need them. The pants are made out of a very soft stretch cotton and they are so comfy that I don’t want to take them off anymore!

To complete my outfit I knew I had the perfect shirt. I’ve made this shirt from the silk fabric I dyed in the Itajime dye class while I was in New York last year. I really like the pop of colour that it adds to the outfit.

I hope you like my creations for this challenge and I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been planning for the other ones..  I do have some pretty cool ideas, can't wait! 

If you've got an extra minute (or seconds maybe even) please vote for me! Here's the link:

Sew it up

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

• Another Saltspring dress
• Hopefully the Robson trenchcoat will be happening this summer.. I've got the fabric and the pattern, so who knows.. 

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?