Fabric shopping in Berlin

Tags

Berlin, Fabric, sewing machines, Shopping

Boy, is work keeping me busy at the moment! But I’m trying to fight back and squeeze some quality sewing time here and there

Almost two weeks ago I’ve been to Berlin for purely touristic purposes. I want to move there early 2013, and needed to convince my hubby that Berlin’s the best place to live – mission accomplished

Next to the tourist kind of activities, I also managed to do some fabric shopping – we went to a market at Maybachufer. We didn’t have much time, running to a meeting with friends, so I’ve only seen small part of it, but did manage to get some fabrics!

The grey polka dot fabric was 5€/m, the blue was 4€ and the other two brown fabrics were 2€/m! So I’d say it was a really good deal. Now I need to make something really special from these different fabrics, that will help me pass the time until we finally mover there…

We also passed a place called ‘The museum of scurrile things’ – and guess what, in the front window there was this: some sort of huge, old, industrial machine:

I wonder what kind of machine that is..

Another tunic dress

Tags

burda february 2012, burda tunic, summer dress

After making the first dress from this pattern I knew I will make another one, and finally there it is:

I had to line it, because the fashion fabric was too much see through. That’s why I didn’t do the facing in different fabric around the neck.

The previous version wasn’t lined, but I didn’t do contrasting facing either. I did a facing to finish the neckline, but I put it inside the dress not outside like in the pattern. I still owe pictures from the back to Emily from Calico Stretch who asked for them

And here, without asking back picture of the beige version:

Because it is lined, it feels bit bulky when I wear it – on the other hand it is bit warmer than the black dress so that I can wear it even now, when the weather still sucks over here.

I initially made it longer but it look very grandma style, don’t you think?

Is Burda June 2012 worth it?

Tags

burda, jackets

The thing with Burda is that sometimes it’s full of great project and sometimes it all crap. I skipped the March issue this year, and am not sure if June is going to make it…

There is one, absolutely and truly fantastic model in it:

And few ok ones:

And that’s it. The rest is either boring or weird. So I’m asking you readers – is it worth it buying the whole issue for one model? I can download it from their website for 3,99€ instead of paying something like 6€ for the issue… But then I have to print it and so one, print edition is easier to handle – so I don’t really know what to do?

How many projects is too many?

Tags

burda, Craftsy, Muslin

These are all the projects I am currently working on:

On my dress form, in case you wonder – which main role at the moment is not fitting but being convenient hanger for all the projects. From the bottom up there are:

1. The Italian Jacket – which didn’t progress since the preview post about it
2. The pyjamas – for the Pyjama Party
3. Tunic-like dress, second version of this one here
4. Muslin for the Craftsy couture dress, one of my sewing goals for 2012
5. And last but not least – I started working on the summer dress with the puffy sleeves I mentioned in my Burda April picks

I took that picture mid last week, and honestly felt bit overwhelmed at that moment, since I felt more like starting a new project than finishing all those… It’s not like me to be working on so many things at the same time, I prefer to start and finish a project, and I didn’t know how I got there!

Luckily there was a long weekend in the meantime and determined as I was to get the simultaneous projects number to maximum two, I did make quite a progress so that:

• The PJ’s are finished
• The tunic dress is finished too, pictures will follow
• Muslin is finished and approved by the Kitteh of the house and I will be starting cutting the fashion fabric next weekend

• And also the puffy sleeves Burda dress is finished, pictures will follow

Instead of relaxing a bit, I just went to the fabric store nearby to look for interfacing for the couture dress and ended up buying a piece of nice fabric and a pattern I don’t indent to start working on any time soon,  but I was dreaming of it for a long time:

From the fabric I will make a blouse I think – there wasn’t much of it left, it’s only 1.5 m.

And what about you? How many projects do you tend to be working on at the same time?

Pyjama party – the finals

Tags

Pajamas, pyjamas

Yes, I made it to the end as well!

Sewing your own pyjama's!

I made both bottom and top, since as I mentioned I started this project back more than a year ago during  my sewing class. I didn’t actually think I would ever finish it, but this sewalong was a perfect motivation.

All fabric was already cut, and the top was mostly sewn together, except for the collar, buttons and hem. The bottom was only cut, still it did speed things up  - so despite my late joining the pyjama party, I still made it on time.

I especially like the green buttons

It feels good to end a day with finished project – going to bed now in my new PJ’s. And on my night table:

In short, it is about how and where fashion and fabric are made. I had a general idea how it works, but this book describes the details – and boy, I’d say I had no idea… I think it should be obligatory lecture at school. Maybe then people would think twice before buying a lot of (cheap) stuff.

Related articles

• Pyjama Party Sewalong (didyoumakethat.wordpress.com)
• Pyjama Party – Making The Elasticated Waistband (didyoumakethat.wordpress.com)
• Bed-Jumping Health and Safety (theperfectnose.wordpress.com)
• Are you going to the pyjama party? (veravenus.com)

The Italian jacket – preview

Tags

burda february 2012, jackets

Long time ago in March I gave myself sewing goals for the month… Of course they turned to be too ambitious compared to the available time, but although slower, I am completing those goals.

One of them was to make this Italian jacket and skirt from Burda Feb 2011 issue:

And actually, I am really glad with the progress of the jacket – I didn’t bother to make a muslin and still the fit is really good, I didn’t have to make any adjustments.

However, after cutting the jacket I still had plenty of fabric left and decided it would be to petty to cut the skirt and have some amount left that is good for nothing else. Thus I decided I will not make the skirt but a dress from the remaining fabric. But then again, this jacket would go so well with that skirt – and I don’t really have anything else to wear with it…

Pyjama party, yuhuu!

Tags

pyjama, sewalong

Karen is having a pyjama party and I’m totally in! Bit late, yes – but not too late. I have been quite offline the last week or two and am now still catching up with the blog feeds I follow, that’s why I only learned about it today.

It’s such a great idea! When I was following sewing classes last year, one of the projects was pyjamas – only that I got bored of the very slowly moving forward class before I could finish it.

I have cut the bottoms however, so I feel that I can still catch up with the sewalong even if I’m bit late. I ‘only’ have to sew them together.. sigh

The fabric is a thin cotton – perfect for the coming summer:

I already thought that sewing pyjama bottoms would be a perfect first pants project, so it’s really convenient

 

Burda May 2012

Tags

burda may, burda patterns, summer patterns

It’s been a while… a while since I wrote something but also a while since the May Burda is in preview. I have been away during Easter and managed to get totally disconnected from my normal life, and boy – does that feel good!

But now, that I’m back to ‘normal’ life, here it is – my pick of the next Burda:

This absolutely awesome skirt that I will most definitely make:

This skirt is also interesting but not sure if I’ll actually make it:

It seems that the May Burda is the edition of skirts. Another one very appealing:

Nice and simple summer dress:

And another one:

This nice jacket looks relatively simple construction wise:

And finally a pair of interesting though bit weird pants:

But, since I’m busy with too many sewing projects at the moment – compared to the free time I (don’t) have, I am not likely to start working on any of these this month. Sigh…

Vintage Burda 1965 patterns

Tags

burda, vintage patterns

Recently I’ve been looking for inspiration and I  came across my favorite vintage Burda edition, the oldest I have from October 1965, mentioned already here.

It’s amazing for me to open those magazines, because it’s not one pattern but whole number of them stuffed in one edition! Treasure island  But of course there had to be so many patterns, because sadly enough, they are only in one size.

Nevertheless there were few coats worth looking at (the second one with the big collar I actually may decide to make one day):

And this lovely set that is on my to do list, as proudly announced in my 2012 goal setting post:

Summer dress #1 – done

Tags

burda february 2012, burda tunic, dress

Guess what, I’ve made the first one of my announced five summer dresses Well, it’s more a tunic than a dress, and more for what’s called ‘summer’ in Belgium than for a hot Mediterranean summer, nevertheless it’s finished and I like it!

 

I had many positive comments from my colleagues, somehow they were all asking if I made it myself – I wonder what that means? I hope it’s positive… The great look of the dress comes mainly from the beautiful fabric that I got on sale for something like 6€. The pattern is from Burda Style magazine February 2012, and it’s pretty easy.

I am aiming to make another one in nude when I find the right fabric.