Trip to Utrecht

 Some weeks ago, on May the 1st weekend, we travelled to The Netherlands for a music festival in Hengelo. We decided to travel light, so we only carried one handbag under the seat each. But our bags are smaller than the measures allowed, so I decided to use the oilskin I bought in Merchant & Mills to make two bags of the maximum measures allowed. I bought some cotton to line them and some straps and zippers for inside pockets:

After spending the night in Amsterdam, we travelled to Utrecht to visit the famous fabric market there. It was very a pleasant street full of stalls of fabric, and the prices were quite good. The quality of the fabric was not very high end, but after inspecting all the stalls twice, I managed to find some gems. There was a stall with lovely silks, another with some lovely cotton tartans and another one with nice wools. Well, here is my bounty: 

Black Gingear Jeans

 This is my second attempt at the Ginger Jeans, and I am glad to report these are pretty pretty close to perfection. 

Fabric is perfect, to start with. A black 2% stretch cotton denim, 13,5 oz weight, from Denim Lab. The perfect amount of stretch, the perfect thickness, the perfect shade of black. AWESOME. 

I decided to use again the Middle Rise Ginger Jeans  pattern. I love its seat in the low waist, just under the belly button, and also just the minimum ease all around to be slim and comfy in a 2% stretch fabric. 

Being this fabric narrow, your need the double length to pull a pair of jeans. But then I got all confused when cutting it upside down and turned over to prevent it from spinning, and it does spin around my left leg, all the way to the back. being dark black, nobody notices but me, and it is not uncomfortable, so still a success. But I cannot say they are perfect. 

Pretty cool, though!

Grey Camouflage Cavally Wool Biker Jacket

There is this online shop in Madrid that curates awesome fabrics. They bring some designer remains at very good price. 

This wonderful pure wool is from Cavalli. It is so beautiful I had to buy it and make a jacket I did not need, just to honour such a gorgeous fabric. 

I thought a biker jacket would look great in this fabric, so I searched Burdastyle database, and I found the perfect pattern. I ordered the past number in my local library-bus, and I had a fantastic pattern for free.

The only modification needed was the total length, to which I added about 5 cm.

I bought some awesome zippers in the fabulous haberdashery Santa Anna, in Barcelona. I interlined it with fusible cotton and installed a beautiful grey cupro lining.  

It is awesome, perfect, comfortable, warm and a luxury to wear.  

Tri-Climate Oilskin Parka

 Well, well, well... I am proud of this one, because I used three pieces of fabric I had in my stash with no purpose and ended up in a gorgeous parka that I longed for years. 

Some years ago, I bought a TheNorhtFace tri-climate parka, but after some wear, I ended up selling it, because it was too big on me, and it was made of down, which provokes allergies, and respiratory issues. Since then, I have been wanting to replace it with a memade one, but not buying anything polyester as a rule, this was a tough one... how can we make waterproof clothes that are not made of plastic?

Oilskin, of course! I bought some of it to make Carlos's summer rain jacket, from Merchant and Mills. I ordered three different pieces of fabric, because I did not know which one would be best. I used the thinnest for Carlos' jacket, and kept the medium and the thick one for future projects.

Then, one day I had this inspiration of using the medium one to make a raincoat, and using some insulating fabric I kept in my stash for more than ten years as the inner layer, attached to the raincoat with zippers all along the front. Thus, I had a warm jacket, a long summer raincoat and a winter parka for very cold weather. 

I used a Burdastyle pattern of a thick quilted anorak, but I did not keep it because it was too big a size ad I had to perform too many modifications, taking fabric off every seam, and then giving some, changing the armscyes, adding a hood and adapting the neck cut to accommodate it, etc. At the end of the process I had to undo these two, neck cut and hood, because I had made it too high, and it did not work.

I am very happy with the final result. It is very, very warm, and cosy to wear, and it is very becoming, even being quite thick, all in all. I am now really curious about the water resistance properties of the oilskin. Sometimes, specially in summer festivals outdoors, I must stand in the rain. I will put it to the test then. It would not be the first time I get soaked in a memade rain jacket!

UPDATE: It is waterproof! I wear it always in the rain, and I have stood twice under a downpour, with only the outer shell, because it was summer. I was completely dry inside, and the jacket was also dry in a short time after the rain stopped, it was amazing. 

Dark Blue Viscose Midi Shirt Dress

This is another chapter in my eternal quest for the perfect shirt dress. Not bad, but not perfect nor definite. 

I got inspired in my local shop, a lady was wearing this gorgeous black and green shirt dress and I decided to copy it. I found this Églantine and Zoe viscose print perfect, although now I see it wrinkles too much with wear. 

For the pattern, I used an old commercial dress of mine. I cut all the pieces separate and use them as pattern, elongating the skirt panels, and giving them some evasée lines, about 2 cm at the bottom of each 8 of them. I also made longer sleeves. 

I self-enclosed all seams and made the centre front button and buttonhole plackets, folding the central panel in itself. 

The result is quite nice, but not as good as I projected. The fabric was really tight, and now I have doubts about mores flared skirt at the bottom would have been better.

In my mind, a princess-lined shirt dress with a shaped waist and a flared skirt should be perfect. I have made many attempts at it, but I still have not found what I am looking for in terms of pattern and fabric. 

I will keep trying. 

Mitchell Trousers in Black Wool Crêpe

Gorgeous pattern in a gorgeous fabric... not resulting into a gorgeous piece of clothing, because this is not the best becoming pattern to my figure, go figure. But I do not care, and I will wear them, cause if I do not take pictures of myself and I do not look in the mirror, I love to wear them and the feel of them. 

I decided to purchase this pattern for this black wool crêpe I bought in Bacci Tessutti, in Firenze, last summer. 

I decided to make a smaller size, since the Ginger jeans became too big for me. At the end I had to give some more room to the waist, but they were perfect in the hips. 

Apart from the same old issues I have with commercial individual patterns (aka, pricing, arduous job of printing, cutting, assembling, never properly assemble, retrace without seam allowances) and all that, it is a good pattern. Instructions are pretty good, except for the zip opening, which I did not completely grasp and made wrong somehow, although it proved right, because I needed the extra room in the tummy area after all.

I also added self encased seams everywhere, as I always do, and bias binding around the silk pocket bags and waist facings. 

I absolutely love wool crêpe fabric, and I would love to make a black blazer with it, but it does not iron well, and that in a tailored jacket could be bad. 

I have yet to make some upper piece to wear with them, like a thick short-waisted knit. 

Red Leather Mini Skirt and Tweed Channel Jacket

This is my winter holidays start outfit. 

I had this skin in my stash since my last but one visit to London, I bought it in MaCulloch and Wallis. I planned to make a handbag with it, but I got this inspiration of making an eight piece mini skirt using my A long skirt pattern, after making my midi denim skirt. So, after some more pattern hacking, I checked that it fitted the skin and went ahead and cut it. I even had the red lining ready.

It was a nice construction process, with no problems or drawbacks, but after finishing it and wearing to a concert, I realized it was too big, and I had to modify the central back seam, taking a total of 4 cm off. All in all, it is a great skirt, comfortable and becoming. 

The jacket was totally inspired by the fabric. There is this new fabric online shop in Madrid that has great material, and they have remains from big designers. I have been looking for a red, white and black checked fabric to make a tight channel jacket, but since I try to use only natural fibres, I cannot find anything in cotton. This being cotton (with some elastan too- and it is annoying not to know the percentage)  a similar palette, and beautiful, it tempted me. 

I used a Burda Style pattern I had used before, in a jacket that I love. I took the neck tie off and made a closer neckline. I also made narrower sleeves and used pressure buttons to close it is the middle front. 

The result is quite nice and it will be worn,  I guess, specially at work. I do not like the cheap lining, though. Such a nice jacket, quilted and assembled by hand, as with a couture piece, deserves a good bemberg cupro lining, but I cannot find it in my neck of the goods, regretfully. 

Here I am wearing a recent unposted make, a cotton-licra bodysuit with a crossed front and a V-neck.