Hello everybody! If you’re following the Monthly Stitch, this is a repeat for you. This was my entry for week 2 of Indie Pattern Month: one pattern, two ways. I had a bunch of other ideas for this contest. I was … Continue reading
I couldn’t help myself but give this post a ridiculous title. This is the Sigma dress by Papercut Patterns. I got this pattern a little while back when they were having a sale. It’s a semi-close-fitting dress with some lovely … Continue reading
I didn’t mean to be gone so long! I think I lost a bit of momentum after making my maid of honour dress because it was such an intense project and it wasn’t something I chose to make myself. I … Continue reading
Yes, I know. I’ve been a bad blogger. I have many excuses, but instead of boring you all with them, I’ll just get right into the juicy stuff: my maid of honour dress reveal. It’s been more than 2 months since … Continue reading
Hello everyone! Dag iedereen! In the midst of my busy May month, I put together this dress. It’s quite lovely, no? I started cutting the fabric before I left for Italy to meet up with my parents, actually wanting to … Continue reading
If you haven’t heard already, Roisin of Dolly Clackett is getting married. To get the online sewing community involved in the celebration, Rhinestones and Telephones is hosting a competition, aptly named #sewdollyclackett. The rules are simple:
The contest will run from February 23, 2014, and close on April 23, 2014. Roisin will be our illustrious judge and award our generously donated prizes. Contestants will sew a dress (it must be a dress as Roisin is the Queen of Dresses) that emulates her style.
Als je nog niet hebt gehoord, Roisin van Dolly Clackett gaat trouwen. Om de online naaien gemeenschap bij te betrekken, Rhinestones and Telephones heeft een wedstrijd bedacht, met de toepasselijke naam #sewdollyclackett. De regels zijn simpel:
De wedstrijd loopt van 23 februari 2014 en sluit op 23 april 2014. Roisin zal onze illustere rechter zijn en gunnen ons gedoneerd prijzen. Deelnemers zullen een jurk naaien (het moet een jurk als Roisin is de koningin van Dresses) dat haar stijl emuleert.
I just had to jump on board. I am a sucker for a pretty dress, and I live in them in warmer weather. Roisin is known for her off-beat fabric choices, so once the contest was announced I knew exactly which fabric I would choose. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know which one I chose.
Ik MOEST mee doen. Ik ben een sucker voor een mooie jurk, en ik draag altijd jurken met warm weer. Roisin is bekend van haar unique stof keuzes, dus zodra de wedstrijd werd aangekondigd wist ik precies welke stof ik zou kiezen. Als je me op Instagram volgt, weet je al welke ik koos.
My only problem was, I haven’t sewn any one of Roisin’s favourite dress patterns! I did, however, go for an indie pattern – the Belladone by Deer and Doe, which I think she would approve of. This is my third attempt at this dress (see attempt 1 and 2). And I think I’ve finally figured it out! The darts are in the right place and the back doesn’t gape. WIN!
Mijn enige probleem was, heb ik niet een van de Roisin’s favoriete jurk patronen ooit genaaid! Ik dacht, ik ga dan voor een indie patroon – de Belladone door Deer and Doe, waarvan ik denk dat ze zou goedkeuren. Dit is mijn derde poging om deze jurk (zie poging 1 en 2). En ik denk dat ik het eindelijk snap! De darts zijn op de juiste plaats en de rug zit niet losjes. WIN!
I finally figured out how to fix my fitting problem with this dress. Instead of trying to add length to the bodice and then moving the dart down, I added length above the dart (let me know if you’d like a little tutorial on how I did this). For the back, I used this tutorial over at Lladybird’s blog to reduce the gaping at the top of the bodice back, and I also pinched out a centimeter on either side of the zipper to make the lower bodice fit. Also, I finished the edges on the back bodice pieces using bias tape, so hopefully it won’t stretch out over time.
Ik heb eindelijk bedacht hoe ik deze jurk passend kon maken. In plaats van te proberen om de lengte toe te voegen aan het lijfje en dan het verplaatsen van de dart naar beneden, voegde ik lengte boven de dart (laat me weten als je wilt een uitleg over hoe ik dit deed). Voor de rug, gebruikte ik deze tutorial op de blog van Lladybird over vermindering van het vergapen aan de bovenkant. Ik kneep ook een centimeter uit op beide kanten van de rits.. Ik heb ook de randen aan de achterkant netjes afgemaakt met behulp van biaisband, dus hopelijk zal het niet uitstrekken.
Now that I have it all figured out, I am excited to try different variations of this dress, like adding a pleated skirt or narrowing the shoulders or lowering the neckline. I’m wondering if the chardon skirt can be attached to this dress…
Nu dat deze patroon heel goed past, vind ik het boeiend om verschillende varianten van deze jurk te proberen, zoals het toevoegen van een geplooide rok of verkleinen van de schouders of het verlagen van de halslijn. Ik ben benieuwd of de Chardon rok past op deze jurk …
But before that, I must start on my bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding. Starting with a muslin, because that’s just the right thing to do…
Maar eerst moet ik mijn jurk maken voor mijn zusje’s bruiloft. Ik ga beginnen met een muslin, want dat moet je gewoon doen…
Congratulations to Roisin! And good luck to the other contestants!
The deets:
Pattern/Patroon: Belladone by Deer and Doe
Size/Maat: 40/42
Fabric/Stof: 100% cotton/katoen from the stash
Notions/Fournituren: thread, biastape, zipper, all from the stash.
Cardigan/Vest: Zara
Shoes/Schoenen: Irregular Choice (of course I had to wear my irregular choice shoes for this shoot!)
My gorgeous friend allowed me to photograph her in all of her pregnant glory wearing the maternity skirt I made for her.
Mijn prachtige vriendin stond me toe om haar te fotograferen in al haar zwangere glorie. Ze draagt een zwangerschaps rok die ik voor haar gemaakt heb.
Shortly after she announced she was pregnant, I asked if there was anything I could make for her. I sent her some photos of the maternity patterns I already had, and also sent her to Megan Nielsen’s maternity website for some tips and tricks. After browsing that website, she said she actually really liked the maternity skirt, so I ordered it and sewed it up for her in two colours: royal blue and dark grey.
Na dat ze kondigde dat ze zwanger was, vroeg ik of er iets wat ik voor haar konden maken. Ik stuurde haar enkele foto’s van het zwangerschaps patronen die ik al had, en ook stuurde haar naar de website van Megan Nielsen voor enkele tips en trucs. Na het bekijken van die website, zei ze dat ze eigenlijk het zwangerschaps rok heel leuk vond dus ik bestelde en naaide het voor haar in twee kleuren: blauw en donkergrijs.
I finished the grey one first and gave it to her for her birthday in October. I finished the blue one in November. She is especially happy with the blue one, even though it was not one of the colours she requested. She also gets the most compliments on it. 🙂
Ik was als eerst klaar met de grijze en gaf het aan haar voor haar verjaardag in oktober. Ik was klaar met de blauwe in november. Ze is vooral blij met de blauwe, ook al was het niet een van de kleuren die zij aangevraagd. Ze krijgt ook de meeste complimenten op deze. 🙂
Isn’t she beautiful? I am very grateful she let me take photos of her in her skirt, especially since the baby could come at any moment.
Is ze niet prachtig? Ik ben erg dankbaar ze liet me foto’s van haar maken in haar rok, vooral omdat de baby op ieder moment kan komen.
A little note on sewing: This is one of the easiest pieces of maternity clothing you could make. It is only TWO pieces! If it weren’t for the elastic, this would probably be a half hour make! I made them both on my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch. I matched the thread pretty well, so you can’t even see the top stitching. I’d definitely recommend this pattern!
Een kleine opmerking over naaien: Dit is een van de makkelijkste stukken zwangerschaps kleding die je kan maken. Het is slechts TWEE stukken! Als het niet voor de elastiek was, zou dit waarschijnlijk een half uur naaitijd duren! Ik heb ze allebei op mijn naaimachine met een zigzagsteek gemaakt. Ik paste de draad vrij goed, dus je kunt niet eens de top stiksels zien. Ik zou zeker dit patroon aanraden.
This was my first time using Dutch and English. What do you think? Or should I quit while I’m ahead?
Dit was de eerste keer die ik allebei Nederlands en Engels gebruik. Wat denk je? Moet ik snel ophouden met mijn slechte Nederlands?
First off, a big thank-you to Cation Designs and EmSewCrazy for hosting the stashbusting challenges this year and for creating the monthly challenge for us to get inspired.
At the beginning of the year, I took the stashbusting sew-along challenge. I vowed to use 13 pieces of fabric from my stash this year. Here’s a recap of what I made:
I started off with fabric from over 10 years old, from when I worked at the local fabric store in high school and beginning of college. During the year I switched back and forth between old and new. For example, I got a bunch of knit fabrics at the fabric fair last year and the year before with the dream of making and selling my knit dresses. Instead, they turned into Megan Nielsen’s Briars (row 2). My sewing machine broke at the beginning of summer, so there was a bit of a lull in my sewing queue. I got some Colette pattern sewing in, went on vacation, then came back and sewed a couple of stash busting projects. But mainly my summer sewing was made from new fabrics.
A lot of nice pieces from my stash, especially those from 10 years or older, were originally intended for small projects, like camisoles or short skirts. Now that I have a love of dresses, I often feel defeated by the lovely things in my stash I can’t make any dresses with. However, I purchased a few nice blouse patterns that will likely work better with my small pieces, such as the Eucalypt and Datura. From this experience, I have been buying more than a meter of most of my new fabrics, unless they are intended for toddler clothes, for which 1m often suffices, or if the fabric will not make it to my stash as it is intended to be sewn right away.
I sewed a few more projects than I actually blogged about, like the ones above I only posted on instagram. I also made a top for my SIL, which I didn’t take a picture of, and a jacket for my niece, which I only posted to my facebook page. I also have a few UFOs that I made with stash fabrics (sewaholic thurlow trousers, another briar, a burda top), but I don’t think I can really count them for 2013 as I will not be finishing any of them on new year’s eve. I also made a few softies out of scraps as christmas gifts, but I don’t really want to count those either.
Summary:
Did you reach your stashbusting goals this year?
Unfortunately, it is easier to list my misses than my hits this year. Some of it has to do with fit, and some of it has to do with sewing mishaps, and then there’s losing interest and moving on to new projects. Without further ado, here are the misses of 2013, in no particular order.
Black and White Cordova: A missed opportunity, in a way, because when I wrote this post early in the year I said I only had to add lining to the sleeves. I have yet to finish this jacket, and the more I look at the pictures the less I want to. I don’t think it fits too well, actually.
Pink Sureau: This photo shows exactly why I hate this dress. It bunches up around the upper bust. And you can see the bust darts come up way too high. I even held a giveaway to get rid of this pattern! I wore it only twice: to take these pictures and one day for MMM13. Someone in the comments mentioned I probably need a FBA, so I suppose I will try to master that in the new year.
copycat challenge dress: Why is this a fail, you may ask? If you read my post, then you know how much I love this dress. Well, when I attached the skirt to the bodice, I didn’t extend the zipper into the bodice. So I am afraid to wear this dress and break the waist seam, as it is already ripping near the zipper.
Laurel contest entry: I’m not a fan of this make at all. I wore it only for the photoshoot. I tried to be all creative and shit for the Laurel challenge and by copycatting a cool, colour-blocked shift dress I found on the internet. I think the fit is a bit too loose for my liking and the block in the front makes my boobs look enormous. I was, however, super stoked at my sewing skills getting around those tricky corners.
Other (unblogged) misses include:
– Redvelvet dress from Cake Patterns or as I like to call it, saggy side boobs: I was pumped for this dress from the get-go. However, the bust pleats ended up at the side of my boobs instead of in the center of them. I’m pretty sure it’s an easy fix but I just don’t feel like it… The good thing about this project is I found out my boobs are low.
– The Ava dress muslin disaster: After taking the time to do a FBA, even tediously photographing the process to make my first tutorial, when I actually went to sew the muslin, it was an epic fail! I went with the larger size for my upper bust (a size 6 instead of size 4, even though it would end up being ½ inch too big), and then completely forgot about it when doing the FBA, therefore adding about 3 cm more than was necessary. I also completely forgot that most bodice darts are too high for me, so when I made the effort to make the bodice muslin (out of a slippery cheap satin, I might add), I tried it on and almost cried. So much for a last-minute New Year’s Eve dress… The only thing good about it was that I had remembered to add length to the bodice – 7 cm of length….
– Skinnified Thurlow trousers: Making wide-legged trousers is not as easy as it looks. Fitted through the hips and upper thighs, and beyond that turned into a disaster. I already tried to take them in myself, but I actually need someone to help me pin them. It’s not easy tailoring on your own!
What were your sewing misses this year? What have you learned from them?
Happy Holidays Everyone!
I shall be joining in on the top 5 lists for 2013. I have been experiencing a bit of a creative block as life has creeped upon me the last few months, so I haven’t really been sewing or blogging in that time. In October, I defended my thesis, then ended up having to hassle a few teachers to get my grades in by the end of the month, but missed the cut-off by a few days. I officially graduated on November 4th and went to the ceremony at the end november even though my diploma wasn’t ready, because my mom flew all the way from Canada to join in on the festivities. We had a lovely couple of weeks together hanging out, watching movies, and shopping. We even went to the infamous christmas market in Germany.
So on that happy note, I shall get into the top 5 Hits.
#5: Vogue 8651 tunic: I did not blog about it, and I did not take any pictures of it, but I made the sleeveless tunic for my sister-in-law and she wears it almost every time I see her since I made it for her birthday in August. I also made her a different tunic for her birthday last year and she wears that a lot as well. My brother-in-law tells me that she wears the things I made her ALOT, so I definitely consider this make a win.
#4: The Rebecca Taylor design dress (Vogue 1152): This dress doesn’t fit perfectly, and maybe I didn’t use the best fabric for the pattern, but I really like it anyway. I can wear it in the summer, or in the winter with leggings and a long-sleeved tshirt underneath. I am a big fan of versatility (and dresses!).
#3: The retro-print, stash-busting Briar: This is probably my most-worn me-made make of 2013. I absolutely love this top. It is super comfortable and (imho) looks good too. I made two other briars in two different sleeve lengths, but I like the long-sleeved one the best because I am cold more days out of the year than not. There are also two more in my sewing queue – one for me and one for someone else. And I might just use up the rest of my knit stash for briars…
#2: Purple and green polkadot belladone: The Belladone from Deer and Doe is quite possibly my favourite pattern. Even though there are still fit issues (ahem, do a bloody FBA already, Joanne!), I love this dress! I love purple on me, and I coveted this fabric for almost half a year online before I bought it at a fraction of the cost at the bi-annual fabric fair in Leeuwarden. And don’t forget that green piping! I feel as though this garment was kind of an aha moment. It only took me 15 years to figure out that my torso is 4-6cm longer than commercial pattern bodices!
And the #1 hit of 2013: The not-so-retro dress. It just goes to show how important a muslin is! I shall never make a fancy dress from a new pattern again without making a muslin first. This dress fits me like a glove! I got a lot of compliments on the dress, and had fun doing the crazy photoshoot with my best friend back home in Canada.
What were your hits for 2013?
Leraar, durf te claimen!
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