Black Linen Vest

 

I made this to wear it with my linen suit, but I've discovered recently that pant suits are good with tight informal tops, at least on me. 

Anyway, this vest is very versatile, as it can be worn with trousers, skirts, dresses, etc. 

I bought the linen online in Ribes i Casals' shop. 

For the pattern, I used a vest pattern from Patrones magazine, with a FBA.

I made it double and used the burrito method to sew it all around and pass it through a cut in a inner side seam, so that the whole vest is faced with another whole vest. It is a lovely way to finish a vest in a totally polished way. 

Skort

I received this gorgeous pink and blue cotton tweed fabric as a gift from my friend Ana. 

It was only 1 m of material, and it was more than one year waiting in my stash for the right project. 

Finally, I got the inspiration of making a skort, and I am really happy with the result, this is a top project, perfect.

I used my recurrent trousers' pattern again, this time with the waistband included. I simply added my A-skirt pattern, cutting it 10 cm before the side seam.

Comfortable, wearable, becoming to my figure and versatile. I expect to wear it a lot. 

Beige Linen Suit & Navy Bodice

 I bought this beige linen in Porto last year and I finally made it. I used my favourite pants in the wider version, and a Burda Style blazer jacket perfect for linen because it has not many pieces, straight enough seams to self enclose them and patch pockets. 

I am quite satisfied with it all, and my only regret are sleeve caps. I was in a hurry and I speeded up the rufling ans self encasing of the seam allowances. They are OK, but they could be better. 

I have a recurrent fitting issue with Burda jackets: the shoulder rims are too wide and i always have to rise the sleeves at the top a couple of cms. I have to make some research on that, but I suspect I am making a size for my full bust measure instead of doing my upper bust size (with FBA). U leave it here as a note to myself for next Burda jacket. 

As for the bodice, I used my own crafted pattern, from Aldrich's book. It is perfect. This time, I made a deep round neck cut and 2/4 sleeves, as Indian women wear under their saris. I love it. 

Here I am styling it with my relatively new boots from AS98. They are absolutely fabulous. 

Beige Fair Cotton Walking on Air Top

 

This is another project to put my yarn remnants to use. I had three whole Katia Fair Cotton Yarn left from a project I made 4 years ago. 

I found this pattern online, for free, in the Drops website and I loved it.

I just followed the instructions straight, no modifications. I made an L size in 4 mm circular needles. 

It took me all summer to knit it, and when I finished, the weather had turned and I could only wear it one day in September. I will have to wait till next summer to see if I wear it enough. 

I like it quite much, and I think it will be lovely with anything denim as bottoms, but, I feel my tits are too big for this and the top keeps sliding backwards, and consequently, the front bottom curves upwards. We'll see if it is comfortable and easy to wear. 

Project in Ravelry

Cigarrette Jeans

 

I bought this indigo middle weight elasticated denim in Denim.lab. It was in my stash for three years before I made up my mind as to what to do with it. The fabric was only 70 cm wide, and I'd bought 2 meters, so the material was tight. 

I decided to make some cigarette short pants using the Ginger Middle rise Jeans pattern, by Closet Core Patterns, which is spot on for this kind of middle weight elasticated denim. 

No modifications made, except cutting the bottom short, but the fabric was so tight that I had to make narrow pockets, specially one of them. When I realized it was no good, I modified the second one using the lining fabric, and that one is better. Anyway, it is only wrong if I use it. Pity, but... they are very becoming and comfortable. 

Grey & Yellow Suit and Ribbed Cotton Top

I have a dear friend whose mother was a professional seamstress. Last year, she retired and was so kind as to donate some fabrics (the ones I chose) to me. This is one of those fabrics. It is a viscose-polyester blend, but I am not entirely sure. 

I immediately envisioned a suit, so I decided to make a double-breasted jacket and some straight pants. She also gave me some yellow fabric, and I made a sleeveless blouse with it, but the fabric was so tight that I had to make it too short, and it ended up in the bin. 

The pattern of the jacket is from Burda Style magazine. It hangs handsomely, but I do not like the buttons' positioning, so it is not a keeper, I think. 

For the trousers, I used the pattern from this book I have, for the nth time, perfect again. 

I finished the suit in June, and I could not wear it then, because it was too hot when I finally finished it. Last October, when I tried it on, I got inspired and made this sleeveless top from the same book, with a ribbed organic cotton I've had for ages. It goes very well with my suit, it makes it modern and casual, I love it, and prefer it to a blouse. 

White Long Cotton Skirt

 

A white, long, summer skirt was in my mind for some time now, and when I went to Lleida to buy some gingham for my next project, I found this gorgeous cotton English embroidery with 3D margaritas sewn into it. It is beautiful, and although it was expensive, at 32 €/M, I bought 1.5m to make a long skirt. 

The plan was a gathered, or pleated one... but then this fabric would not go well with added volume, specially in white... So after much thought, I decided to make it on the bias, using an old pattern of mine, which works like magic every time. 

The problem was that the usual add-on I have to make to pull an ankle long bias skirt with 1.5 m of fabric, and only one seam at the centre back, did not look good in the sheer fabric. I hid it with an embellishment cut from the fabric borders, which was destined for the bottom in the initial plan. I think the effect is nice, and makes the add-on inconspicuous. 

It was difficult to find a top to wear it with, but then I remembered the awesome denim vest I bought in my Toronto honeymoon last year. We found it in a 2nd hand shop in Kensington Market, one of the coolest neighbourhoods, if not the coolest, we've been to. 

I had to make a white jersey loose lining to give it weight and not see-through. 

All in all, it is perfect in any sense. Very proud of this special one.