Black shorts of sobriety

Well there's not much to say regarding the style of my latest garment: it's a pair of basic black shorts but I'm so happy I made them because I know I'm going to wear them all the time! The denim version got worn to death, I actually had to handsew it back together the last time I travelled so obviously I needed new ones.
But the thing is there's a fly zipper and that's something I realllly dislike installing so I just pushed that project aside until a recent bout of sewing mojo where everything seemed possible^^. Also I had the perfect heavy twill in my stash and so voilà, my shorts:

 Worn with my favourite Uniqlo shirt, I WISH I could sew something that cool.

The instructions didn't say to sew the pleats down but I did on 2cm because the design is quite bouffant and I think this helped reduce the volume a little. Same thing with the loops, I added them because I love wearing belts:

And yes I'm living like a millionaire, using Liberty fabric for the pockets:

I think I may push my luck and sew another pair in striped or flowery cotton so that these ones get a little rest :)

Me-Made-May 2012: week 1 recap

Hey there! Here are the garments I wore for the first week of MMM:
- on 01st, 06th and 08th I stayed at home in my old coral linen Burda shorts. I love this pattern (from the May 2010 mag) because you need very little fabric to make them and it's a great way of busting remnants!

- on 02nd I wore my new Burda shorts made using the wrong side of some light weight denim, it's a great pattern, easy to make and comfortable yet quite classy with the front pleats. The tunic is from Pochée, I used some repro fabric of a civil war wallpaper for it -I'm always amazed at what cool origins this top has :)

- on 03rd I wore the same shorts with a Burda top made from strange synthetic fabric whose red and blue ume flowers print I love!

- on 04th the weather turned super cold and rainy so I could wear my favourite jacket frankesteined from a Pochée pattern and made of mustard linen and polyester blend. I added a simple V-neck, kimono sleeved black and white top from Female and navy cotton shorts adapted from a Pochée pattern again.

- on 05th I wore a pull-over dress made from a 70's Simplicity pattern, I love the pintuck pleats on the bodice and butterfly sleeves and the fabric has cute tiny orangey flowers so this dress is really a favourite!

- on 07th I finally decided to wear an oversized shirt made from a Female pattern, you can tie the front (which I did) or let it loose. I love this garment because the design is quite original IMO and I used striped cotton that my boyfriend gave me for my birthday last year and pretty red buttons bought in a small haberdashery in Asakusa so it's really dear to me. The denim shorts are a bit small but I wear them a lot anyway, they're from the French crafts magazine Fait Main.

Now for my mum's outfits:
- on 02nd she wore a low waist dress adapted from a Japanese pattern and made with Ikea fabric.

- and on 07th she wore an A-line skirt, another Japanese pattern with polycotton bought in a local shop.

See you soon with more me-made garments :)

Guess what? More dresses!

So I solved the problem with the infamous birdy dress and to celebrate the fact that I'm literally drowning in dresses I made another one! It's a wrap dress from the same ol' Burda bodice and the fabric is a light polycotton with nice yellow tones. It's really grown on me since said fabric had been lying next to the shop's door for years without my looking at it until I dreamt of it a few weeks ago and went straight to buy it on the next day^^. I'm not completely sold on the design, I thought that since the bodice part is quite fitted with its slimming darts I would avoid the your-body's-quite-the-block-isn't-it effect but the fabric does bunch a little around my -ahem- waist :( On the bright side it has a totally cute 60's vibe and it's really pleasant to wear since it's so light.




The other dress I wanted to show you is a wax variation of my mum's favourite pattern: I only added a sweetheart detail on the front and a contrasting fabric belt. I think she was quite pleased and I must say I'm quite proud of the result :)




Have a nice week, see you!

A typical bi-day outfit or why I love sewing

So today as is often the case, I've had the morning free and I'm working later which means I'll wear two variations of the same outfit, one to go walking and shopping and the other for more professional purposes. Here's the freetime version:


My eternal me-made denim shorts paired with a new top, the I've-almost-tamed-that-damn-fit version of New Look 6808 that I managed to squeeze in a yard of quilting cotton bought on sale. Even though I forget to take pics of them I've actually made a few of these tops and I like to add little changes from one to the other. For instance here I've bound the neckline and sleeves with navy bias topstitched in white and I've put a little bow on the side. I'm glad I found this fabric because it's super cute with its pink and blue confetti print and also because it was a real bargain since it went from 19€ to 6€ a yard -yes, that shop has crazy prices but fortunately there are plenty others which are much more affordable where I live :)

Close-up of the fabric and details and maybe a hint of the side handpicked zipper

Back to the outfit, as you can see it's pretty laid back and nice to wear in the current summer. Now for the teaching version, well I'll put on some jeans, pumps and I'll bring a pale yellow cardigan and that's it:

I LOVE my dazed face on this one, you can tell my baby cat was acting the fool behind the window^^

I don't think I have to ramble on and on about why I love sewing so much, obviously it's just too excellent to spend the entire day in stuff you've made yourself! Have a nice week and see you soon!

Short shorts

Hi there! Summer has totally come where I live, it's already 30° in the morning! In order to try and survive this heatwave I've sewn a couple of shorts but since I wasn't sold out on the designs I made them out of remnants from other projects. Well, they actually turned out quite nice!
The first pair was made using remaining toile de Jouy I used for a dress for my mum, the pattern comes from the French crafts mag Fait Main and even though I had already sewn it a few months ago this time I changed size and wasn' t sure about the result but they're really nice, look:

There is NO way I'm showing my morning face

That long-sleeved tee was only for photo purpose, you can't wear something that hot at the moment. I want to make a shocking pink loose, light top to go with the shorts, I need to find the correct fabric -and some time!
The second shorts are from Burda mag, still the May 2010 issue (it has so many excellent patterns!) and the fabric was a tiny piece of sateen cotton I had left, I like them too but even though I narrowed most seams they're still a bit big, but I didn't make a waistband as advised so this probably explains it. However they look really good worn with classy platforms or high heels and a simple white top :)


See you!

Dresses galore

Let's get straight to the point: I haz pictures -finally!- of dresses I've recently made. First another trompe l'oeil dress, navy crepe for the top and white suiting tergal for the bottom:



Then my first two-coulour dress WORN (thanks to my Baby):


And two dresses I made for my mama, the R design from the latest SDB in white cotton veil and tropical blue rayon:


And an umpteenth version of her favourite dress, this time in cotton toile de jouy:


Last but not least you should have a look at this, so many beauties to see and so much inspiration! That's it, see you!

Me-Made-June Day seven

Hello, how are you? I'm happy I have brand new shorts to show you today :) The pattern comes from the French crafts magazine "Fait Main" and it was super pleasant to sew: it has great details such as front pockets, a wide waistband, cute pleats on the front and more importantly it still went together very well despite my butchering the front closure! There were supposed to be exposed buttons on the fly but I hid them instead except for the waistband ones for which I used a couple of cute kitty buttons I bought in Japan last year. Frankly after seeing the horror that was my fly at first it was a nice surprise that the shorts ended perfectly wearable. I'll definitely keep my mistakes in mind for the next pair -I intend to sew more, they're so comfy and pretty! Oh, and for these ones I used green twill stolen from mama's stash:


See you!

Me-Made-March Day twenty-six

Hiya, how are you? I hope your weekend's been better than mine because it's been rough here :( Anyway I have a garment to show you:

I spare you my Saturday morning ghost face

It's a classic blouse with tie, I found the pattern in the French magazine Fait Main and used crazy 70's-ish flower lawn. I love this fabric, I don't even know why since I usually don't like these shades of yellow and red -especially mixed together- but this one really caught my fancy^^. I have another 1.5 yard that I'd like to turn into one of my Burda tulip skirts, or maybe a simple A-line cut in the bias. See you on Monday with another MMM day (I can't believe there are only 4 left!)

Me-Made-March Day four

Hello! Today's outfit:

Same handmade blouse as yesterday
Skirt: handmade

I also took pics of another variation of the LBD I made for my mum:


Yep, this one closes at the back and has extended shoulders to make cap sleeves and a gathered skirt. See you tomorrow!

LBD!

Hello there, how are you? I hope you're having a great weekend :) Mine is going on quite well, I've just completed my very first little black dress! Indeed, even though I've had little navy dresses or little flashy dresses I had never tried the classic, black version simply because it looked too classy to be worn at school or at the bar^^. However I've been in the mood for femininine outfits recently and I can proudly say that I now wear skirts and dresses as often as jeans so I've overcome my fear of the LBD and here it is:


It's a super simple design from Fait Main, a French crafts magazine, the bodice has French darts in the front and classic darts in the back and the skirt is the same in the front and the back with 6 pleats. I had to gather the neckline a little to get rid of fabric excess, I finished it with black bias tape as well as the armholes and there's a handsewn regular zipper at the side. I know this dress by heart since it's my mum's favourite one, I've made at least ten versions of it for her -I really need to take pictures of them so you can see the little variations from one to the other^^- so it took me like 2 hours to make it, including handtacking the bias tape and sewing the zipper. I'm showing you the dress without any accessories but I found (and washed!) an old white collar I had made when I started to sew again a few years ago and I'm going to try and make a removable bib to dress it up a little. Big necklaces would also work well I guess, a bolero or a frilly cardigan too... I'll see how I can make it more interesting :) Since then see you friends!