It happened again. Just when I was so glad I was three days from doing a trip and not madly sewing, it occurred to me I just needed leather shorts to go to the Prong concert in London. I had the pattern (my own), I had leather left form my leather dress, so I started sewing.
I know the procedure to make some trousers by heart, so I cut the leather, I first did the fly and the pockets, and went on from there. I applied surgical tape next to the seams that can stretch, I hammered my seams open and then topstitched, I glued seams, all the procedure to sew leather is special.
My Bernina sometimes breaks or unravels the thread, specially if the needle goes near the surgical tape. Avoid that and problem solver. Sometimes the machine skips stitches when there are too much layers, and that is a real problem and a small disappointment in my VERY expensive machine.
In spite of trying on the pants during construction, it is when we finish them that we really see if the are the right size. They have to be tight without pulling, and these were a little loose on the bum part, so I had to undo the waist band, enter the centre back seam 3 cm each side, and finish the waistband again.
I used some organic cotton as lining, hanging form the waistband.
The result is almost perfect, oh yeah!
Another of the fabrics I bought from Stone Fabrics this winter is this black viscose/wool. It is almost perfect, a bit itchy, but not to the point of being uncomfortable.
I decided to make a short Coco out of it, to test the wearability of the desing. It is perfect for jeans, but the wide bottom does not go well with A-shaped skirts.
This is my third Coco, and the pattern, as I explained in my first, is my own drawing.
I still have some remaining fabric, so I ordered some more to make a dress out of it.
Hello!
This is one of the fabrics I bought in Stone Fabrics last month. They have wonderful fabrics at very good prices, pity that the shipping costs to Catalonia are SO expensive. I am realizing the UK is fabric shopping paradise these days...
Well, I had a date with a friend of mine, I had just finished my new jacket a la Chanel (minus the embellishments, more on that later) and I wanted to wear it but I did not know what to match it with (when theoretically it a jacket to match everthing!).
You know, the crazy seamstress that we have inside got really active and started sewing the previous day after dinner. I sewed the very day in my lunch break, and sewed all afternoon until it was finished, I cut all the threads and flew to the city to meet my friend. I do not know what is wrong with me and the totally crazy deadlines, me sewing like it was the end of the world and I have nothing to wear, me knowing this is crazy, me completely unable to put some sense and stop the madness!
Well, the outfit was nice , I think, although the dress was too wide and needed major adjustments that I did the following day, with the hangover.
My man says it is an ugly dress that does not favour my figure. He does not like it at all. My friend said it was very nice, she was lying through her nose (I can tell, Marta :-*), but it was prior-repair. My students say they liked it, but they are six year olds and in love with their teacher, as it should be. The thing is I like it! When I found the pattern in my pattern collection (from Burda magazine) I was thrilled to have found just what I was looking for (which launched me into crazy seamstress madness), and the fabric pattern is a little bit loud, but my boyfriend says he likes the butterflies and little hearts, and that is not the problem. So, anyone, give me your sincere opinion, please?
Yeah?
Nope?
We have been living in this house for seven years now, and gradually we have been repairing, renovating and decorating it. It is situated in a small rural village inland Catalonia, where I also work as a primary school teacher. With the addition of some cupboards just last week, we can almost conclude the repairs of all this floor, my sewing nest included.
This room has also my walking machine, which I use every day in winter, a big freezer for food and a big cupboard for tools and other gadgets.
It is a small room, but it has a big window (to my small patio) and it is very pleasant to my senses. Being it so small, I like to have it neat and proper between sessions, since we all know haw chaotic we can be when sewing. Most of the furniture has two states, folded and spread out.
In the black cupboard, I have my patterns, magazine and sewing book collection, fabric stash and all my tools and notions.
I only put the ironing board when really need it, because the space is tight then. I use the small sleeve ironing board on the table for in-construction pressings often. Sometimes I only set the table and chair to hand sew, I set my laptop with some series on the table then. If I have to use the sewing machine, I listen to radio podcasts or music from my ipod.
I am really glad I bought my mannequin (The Shop Company), I use it in most of my projects, and I have not still learned how to drape yet, although it is a future project of mine.
The white cupboard in the left is for my shoe collection, and the white cupboard on the right is for general tools, paints, bits and pieces for house maintenance.
I needed some holders for my kitchen and I decided to make them myself. I like the techniques used in patchwork, and some day I might even give it a try, but what really mesmerises me is the popularity of this discipline, which in my country at least, goes far beyond sewing clothes.
There are big fairs here dedicated to patchwork, shops selling all the paraphernalia, courses happening everywhere... I think it is wonderful that it is so popular, but I do not understand how can it be better that sewing??? How many kid blankets, pot-holders and mats can one own? I have checked the two big creative fairs celebrated in Barcelona and Sitges, and the stands or brands dedicated to sewing clothes are almost nonexistent, while the stands selling notions, fabric or machinery for patchwork are hundreds. And it is not cheap to work in patchwork world, only the machines cost thousands! Recently I bought my Bernina precisely in a patchwork workshop in Lleida, neighbouring city. The owner has five Berninas and a quilting 3 metres long monster. Understand me, I think it is just great, but how come there is no sewing workshop? I can find patchwork fabric everywhere, but I have to buy my fabrics in England!
Anyways, sometimes human beings are puzzling...
Here I bought some thermic padding (I do not even know my words for patchwork, ha ha..) and some beautiful cotton, with some matching plain fabric to do the biases. I cut all the pieces, quilted them with my Bernina and its walking food, and finished them with the biases. First I tried to cut every side of the square, but in the second I decided to do it in a continuous line and the result was better.
I felt pleasure in seeing how neat and proper it all looked at the end. Maybe I will do some more patchwork again in my life!
My third one! This time I wanted the contrast yoke Tilly proposes in her block. So I bought some organic double knit in Maud's Finds, I followed Tilly's instructions to draw a contrasting yoke, and cut it in the two fabrics. Nothing fancy or difficult here. One can even follow the lazy method cutting the pattern with an even 2cm hem allowance all around, pin it and machine stitch it just like that.
I used the double jersey needle for the dress and sleeve hems, and for the neck also.
This colour block system is a good idea when we have an extreme, loud or weird fabric. This dress all in cerise would be too much for me, I think. So, you add some black, and you sober it up.
Aquesta la meva tercera versió del vestit que em vagi copiar de la Tilly, que ella anomena Coco. Aquest cop he seguit les seves instruccions per fer les mà nigues i la part superior del cosset en un color que contrasti amb la resta. Simplement hem de traçar una lÃnia a 2'5cm del començament de la sisa. És una bona idea per utilitzar estampats cridaners o colors atrevits, com aquest rosa intens.
El cotó per fer aquest vestit el vaig comprar a Maud's Finds, i és ecològic.
Amb projectes com aquest, podem fer servir el mètode rà pid: tallem la roba 2cm al voltant del patró, unim les peces amb agulles de cap, i cosim a la mà quina amb un zigzag molt estret per donar-li elasticitat.
I cannot understand how I was going on through life without this dress until now. I want to wear it anywhere, at any occasion.
Com he pogut viure sense aquest vestit més de 40 anys, no ho entenc! Me'l posaria cada dia!
It is a true LBD in the whole sense of the phrase: comfortable, versatile, practical and suiting its owner!
I used a cheap black jersey (probably some poly blend, ekks!) that behaves well under the press and feels good to the skin. And the Coco pattern I drew myself last summer. It is the perfect design (thank you Tilly) and the perfect pattern.
És allò que s'anomena en anglès "petit vestit negre", còmode, portador, prà ctic, elegant i a sobre em queda bé!
He utilitzat un punt barat del Kilotela, que probablement és més polièster que altra cosa(eks), però és comporta molt bé en la construcció i és agradable al tacte. He utilitzat el patró que vaig fer jo mateixa a l'estiu, inspirat (per no dir copiat) del vestit Coco de la Tilly and the buttons.
Easy and fast to sew, it is perfect on me, elegant, comfortable, dressy but modern, I can only sing its wonders!
És molt fà cil de fer, m'afavoreix la figura, és còmode i portador!
The construction is easy, it has no darts anywhere, since it is forgiving jersey. I simply zig-zagged the seams allowances and pressed them open. I turned the bottom, sleeve and neck hem towards the inside, basting and hand-sewing them with an invisible stitch.
Fà cil de fer, no té cap pinça enlloc, només la lÃnia evasé dels costats i el que el punt dóna de si. En vaig cosir les costures a mà quina amb un zig-zag molt estret per donar-li elasticitat a les costures, vaig sobrefilar-lo a mà quina, planxant les costures obertes. La vora de baix, de les mà nigues i del coll, estan simplement entornades cap dins un parell de centÃmetres i cosides al vestit a mà amb un punt invisible.
