Stripped Cotton Rib Bodyshaper

This is a simple and practical project. One of those you repeat again and again, because it is a basic base in our wardrobe. I love these tight bodices that go under pinafores, dungarees wool pullovers and jackets... I wear them half of the time in winter, and I have a collection in different colours. 

I found this fabric in Tygverket shop, Stockholm, in our last holidays. It was a tubular piece of ribbed stripped cotton. The measure of the tube was just my torso, so I put it on in my dress form and cut the neck, the shoulders, the armholes and the crotch areas with my scissors directly. 

Then I used the sleeves from my bodyshaper pattern, which I constructed from Aldrich's book.

All in all, a success. It is comfortable, sweet to the skin, tight but with very good recovery to the stretch, despite being 100% cotton, thanks to the ribbing structure. I love it!

Tartan Wool Rub-Off Dress

 I bought this wonderful tartan wool from Dïtto fabrics back in December, thinking about a long skirt, but when it arrived I realized I had ordered too little to make it bias as I wanted, so I finally decided to replicate a mini dress or pinafore I have and I love to wear. 
Well, I cannot say it has been a total success or that I am super happy with it. No. And that is a second semi-failure in a row... still the black wool jacket I did before is being a total success, I have a plan to recover the pink pinafore, and this own is not so bad. I will still wear it, I think. 

Well, I copied my old dress by the rub off method I learnt in this book. I do not know what it went wrong, but the bust dart were all wrong and I had to undo them twice. Finally, I put the bodice over my dress form and mad the darts there. I decided to make two bodices, one of them as facing, so the darts were replicated in this second bodice. I had also to correct the shoulders' seams inclination.

 Finally, there was another problem which I could not get rid of: the gaping of the neckline. It is not very bad, and i am probably the only one noticing, I have only to give the shoulder straps a tug outwards and it disappears, but it comes back soon enough. It is wrong and I cannot repair it,because I had cut the fabric at the shoulders when I noticed, at first fitting. 
And yet another problem, I do not like how it looks on me. My bust appears to be too big proportionally to my hips. I hate that. The bias cut skirt clings to my legs when I walk and I think it would be wider. 

What a pity of a dress, a gorgeous fabric gone to almost waste.
The truth is that I wore it at work and I was super comfy in it, so I will probably wear it, but somehow the rubbing off has not worked this time, and I have to make a mental note to be very careful and precise next time. And not to cut the neckline fabric completely until first fitting. 
That is all. 
I have a lot of trust put into my next project, so let us be 
optimistic and resilient!

Pink Corduroy Pinafore - A Failure Story

 Not all makes are successful. Sometimes they become art masterworks and sometimes they are a loss of time and money. Like in this case. 
I found this gorgeous dust pink corduroy in Soff & Still in Goteborg, in our last holidays. I though it would be perfect to replicate a black corduroy pinafore I made many years ago and I totally love.
So I dig in my pattern stash to look for the pattern and there it was, a thin tracing paper bundle with saying "pinafore". 

I enjoyed making it, felling the seams, topstitching it with pink thread, putting the buttons with the hammer... everything was fine... 
... until the moment of wearing it. It makes me fat, probably because of the colour, becasue the black one makes me look slim as a spaguetti. 
Why did I think I needed another version of the same piece? Only changing the colour is not reason enough to have a duplicated pinafore, becasue I will always choose the slimering one. 

So please, future me, learn your lesson. One piece of each is enough. So when you think, for example, that that wonderful Joni dress would be lovely in a dark blue velvet, remember: nope.
See The Pink Corduroy Mini Skirt Modification

Black Wool Zipper Jacket

I am specially proud of this project because it is both my design and my pattern. 
I needed a warm black wool jacket and when I found this fabric in Amsterdam for only 40 Eur the metre (wool and cashmere) I knew I had hit the jackpot. 
I wanted some cool design, and I found these in Pinterest:

I did not know any pattern like that, so I decided to ask in The Foldline FB forum for ideas. As usual, they helped a lot with patterns and ideas, I was so happy! Amanda Syslvester gave me a very good idea of a pattern, and I used it to hack of one mine.

 Using my jacket pattern, which I drafted using Aldrich's book, I enlarged it 10 cm, extended the central pannel to the princess seam minus 4cm for the zipper, and I also extended the neck, copying Amanda's pattern. 

The construction was slow, becasue I like to sew well. I applied thermofusible interlining to the whole bodice, attached the pieces together, applying the zipper on one lapel and machine stitching the other just next to the opposite princess seam. 

I decided to do some pockets with welts, so I followed Shaeffer's book to do them and they became perfect. 

Then I ensambled the sleeves and attached them to the bodice and finally, I lined the whole jacket with a quality lining. I have always regretted cheap lining fabrics, so I have learnt my lesson now. 

The jacket is lovely... it could be more flattering to my figuere if it were tighter, but I this is a winter garment and I wanted it to be roomy for thick layers under it. 

  

 In the pictures you can see there are three possible ways of wearing the jacket: open, semi-zipped and totally zipped.

Organic Grey Velour Joni Dress

 What a wonderful book, Tilly and the Buttons's STRETCH, what a great pattern the Joni is, and what great fabric from Stoff & Still.
Seeing my massive boobs in the pics I don't know if this apropiate to work in my school, but it feels great and cool (temperature like). I am gonna repeat both, fabric and pattern, although I am proud to announce I have convinced myself of not doing them together. 

Well, nothing special to report here... the neckline is tricky, mine came up looking good, but it is bulky inside, and I used a really thin cotton jersey, and applied it no as the instructions tell us, but as a facing, and then encaging all seam allowances inside a 2cm ruleau, hand sewn to the wrong side of the dress, invisible. No big ugly zig zags for me in a dress like this. Too sporty, I think.

The same for the sleeves and dress bottom, all hand sewn. 
I copied the pattern to tissue paper minus the 1.5 cm seam allowance included. I basted and tried it on to fit (it was perfect at first trial) before machine- stitched as advices. No overlock. No iron. 

For the rest, I followed the instructions, which are great. 
I think the twist in the middle front (gorgeous design hit) is too high in most of the pictures I had seen of it, and the waist tended to be very high. I decided to lengthen the soulder seams 1.5cm. Not too much, it could become too open, but this is a dress to show cleavage, do not try to make it modest. 

I made it some 5cm shorter, becasue my fabric was scarce and the pattern too long, too. In fact, I pulled out with 1.5m, hahaha! It is a wide fabric. Did I say it is a wonderful fabric? And they sell it dark blue, and it is even better. (In a mid day excursion to the shop in Goterborg, I had a weak moment and let my boyfriend pick up the colour. How sweet of me)

Well, it is a great dress, maybe not very practical for work. I plan to make a black jersey version as a night summer dress.

Red and Coral Tape Carpet

A fellow knitter gave me the idea of finally doing the carpet I needed for the 1st floor outdoors terrace door. Gather stitch, big recycled cotton jersey tape, the coral one with some lycra. I bought it in a local shop, where they had a limited number of same colour tape, only three in red. I choosed the coral to make a combination but still getting a RED carpet, even when it had some lycra in it, being it recycled. 

I used 12 mm circular kneedles an dit was a very fast but very unconfortable knitting project. In fact, both my needles BROKE in the process, the tips of them. First one, then another. I was flipping!
Well, I finished in almost 2 months, knitting only the weekends, and not for long, because it was even painful in my back, arms and hands, the bigger the worst. But it was nice to go fast. So, a good, practical and gorgeous project. I love it. 

Here in Ralvery

Bicolored Viscose Françoise Dress

 This is my second rendition of Tilly's pattern Françoise dress, which is awesome and very becoming in wool or winter fabrics. In this case, it is a viscose that combines black and white threads in an ear pattern that appears mottled grey. I used black silk to make the collar and the lining of the dress, as I did with the previous version. The feeling of silk touching the skin is wonderful. 

I like this pattern because it is becoming to my figure, being fitted around the bust and underbust area and with a flare beginning in the waist to the bottom of the dress. 

I followed the traditional method of marking the pattern pieces with tailor tucks, basting it, trying it on to fit it (no changes had to be made) and machine-stitching it. 

 

Then I constructed the collar in silk and thermofusible interlining and basted it to the right side of the dress. 
In the next stage, I marked the black silk lining with a tailor's chalk and directly stitched it with the machine, leaving one extra cm all around. I put then the lining over the dress on my dummy, right side over right side, and pin it around the neck. I stitched with the machine all the neckline, turn it towards the inside of the dress, and secured it in place with invisible hand stitches under the collar. 
 

I hand-sewed it along the invisible zip and around the sleeves' bottoms. I finished the lining's bottom hem with machine top-stitch along a self-encased turn. 

It is a wonderful dress and I plan to wear it in all my family reunions these holidays. 

I took these pictures after a whole morning working with kids in the winter festival, running up and down and sitting around. It felt as I wore nothing, comfortable and light, and I felt elegant and modern. I love it! I am afraid it is not going to be my last Françoise!