Showing posts with label top. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top. Show all posts

Monday, 25 May 2015

Venue top


My June dress from la maison victor was a large success! And because the fit was so great I could not wait to make something else from their designs. I wear a lot of blouses in spring so I immediately thought of the venue top.

The fabric is a coupon from the stoffen spectakel, no surprise there. I have no idea what the fabric is made of, I’m guessing that it is a polyester blend of some kind. Maybe polyester and viscose blend? The fabric looks shiny but is surprisingly soft and comfortable to wear. But it was a nightmare to sew with, it is slippery and frays like crazy. The blouse has been finished for a few weeks and I still find little threads everywhere.


I had enough fabric to start with, a little over 1.5 meter but then I made a mistake. I tried to match the pattern as well as I could. But when I cut the sleeves I made a mistake and I cut the sleeves upside down. (Great tip, don’t cut fabric when you are about to fall asleep) I didn’t have enough fabric left over to cut the sleeves a second time the way they designed it. So I shorted the sleeves and left out the slit. Instead I made it look like I rolled up the sleeves. I think it is a nice alternative of the original design and I needed less fabric!

I like the pattern a lot, the fit is not as perfect as with my June dress but still good. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that the blouse is a bit narrow at the shoulders. I will try to make them a bit wider next time I use this pattern. Not sure how you do that but I will find out because I really like the pattern.



Because I like their patterns that much I got myself a subscription, they had an amazing discount for the occasion of fashion revolution day. So you will see a lot more of their designs on the blog in the future. 

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Blue Lane raglan


Some time ago I cleared out my closed, it was a mess. I filled an entire bin bag with old clothes to throw away and donate. I had a sort true the clothes that I’m keeping, still quite a lot of them. I don’t have a lot of classes anymore this semester and when I don’t, I don’t bother to dress up. I basically live in sweatpants and sweaters (only at home). Recently I have made two pairs of sweatpants but now I really needed some more casual sweaters.


I really want to sew more casual clothes that I can wear on a day to day basis. It was difficult to decide which pattern to buy. At first I wanted to buy the linden pattern by grainline studio but eventually I bought the lane raglan pattern by hey june. I let my sister chose between the two of them. She bought the same fabric as I did in black for a new sweater.


Well now about the sweatshirt, I cut the size medium. According to my measurements I should make size small but I wanted a looser fit. The examples they give are made of a T-shirt material but I wanted to make it in a thicker sweater fabric. So it made sense to go one size up. The fabric is a coupon that I bought at the stoffenspectakel.

The only change I made was to make the neck binding a bit shorter, it was a bit lose. I also attached it differently than as instructed. According to the instructions you are supposed to attach the neck binding to the shirt and then stich the last shoulder seam. I have stitched all the shoulder seams first. Than I have sown the collar shut and attached it to the sweater. I think doing it my way is neater. If someone understands that explanation.



I took the sweater with me on holiday to Stockholm and was planning to take pictures there. But it was way too cold to go outside without a coat. So I took them in the garden, with a tripod this time. I think it worked well and I don’t have to annoy someone to take them for me. 

Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Mimi blouse in African fabric


Al lot of you are probably familiar with the Mimi blouse, it is one of the patterns in the love at first stitch book. It’s the first pattern I have tried from the book and I love it. According to my measurements I should have made size 4. But the book also has the measurements of the finished garment and based on that I decided to make size 3 instead of size 4. I like my blouses to be more fitted. I would even consider making a size 2 next time.



The fabric I used is a cotton print that I bought when I was in Tanzania for a school project. I love the print of the fabric. The fabric was rather stiff when I bought it but the local students told me that it was because they add starch to the fabric. They told me it would come out when I washed it. But I still think the fabric is rather stiff for the pattern. I hope the fabric will get softer if I wash it more.

The instructions in the book where easy to follow with plenty pictures and detailed instructions. The only thing I struggled with were pleads in the sleeves. It took me ages to figure out how to fold them.  

This is one of the more complicated patterns I have made lately. It has a collar and pleated sleeves. I loved making something that I required a bit more concentration than my latest projects. I made this blouse in small steps, drew the pattern one evening, cut the fabric another and sewed the bodice one evening, the sleeves another time. I did that because I thought it would help me be more concentrated. It worked until I wanted to overclock the facing and accidentally cut of the tip of the collar. Please tell me I’m not the only one that has done that, I feel so stupid.


I made a new collar and I think the finish is great. I finished the hem and the sleeves by hand with an invisible stitch. I noticed that my sewing machine can automatically attach buttons.  So now I have got perfect buttonholes and it took me 5 minutes to attach all the buttons. I love it.

What is your favourite pattern form the book? Which one should I try next? 

Friday, 20 February 2015

Julia cardigan and fabric shopping



When I saw this fabric I knew immediately that I was going to use it to make the Julia cardigan by mouse house. The cardigan has a drapy front without any buttons or zipper. And that model really shows the colour on the inside of the fabric because of the drape.




It’s also the first time I made an entire garment using only my overlocker. And I love it! It goes so fast, I made the cardigan in a little over an hour, not including the time spent on cutting. I used grey thread on the majority of the seams, because I only had white and grey. I didn’t know how I wanted to finish the edge on the collar. I didn’t want to double the fabric because that you would not be able to see the turquoise inside. The instructions suggest a rolled hem but it looked too bulky. So I left it for over a week and then my grandmother gave us a box with four spools of thread in different colours. And eventually I decided to finish the collar with black thread. I segerd the edge with a very small stitch and it looks very neat if I say so myself. I’m still not sure about the fit, lt looks nice form the front but I’m not sure about the back. I don’t even know what is wrong with it.


The pictures are too bright again, sorry. It was difficult to photograph a black garment and I should make more of an effort.


Last Sunday I went fabric shopping at ‘stoffenspectakel’ in Leuven with my mom and sister. And I bought a lot! I had hardly any fabric left in my stash and can’t wait to start working with them. I definitely got better at sewing because my sister asked me to make her black Hudson pants and a sweater. She never wanted to wear handmade clothes and now she asked if I could make her something.

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Blue AVA top




The second pattern I have used from my perfect pattern parcel 1 purchase is the AVA dress pattern by Victory patterns. They included a copy shop sized pattern as well as a print at home A4 size. That was awesome, I’m an architecture student and I have easy access to A1-A0 sized printers so not having to tape al the pattern pieces together was great I really like the peplum look of the top so I decided to make that one. I wanted to use the leftover fabric from the transparent dark blue knipmode dress as contrast at the top. So I went to the same fabric outlet shop to find a blue opaque fabric that I could use as the shell fabric. I did fined fabric in the same colour as the fabric from the dress. It’s not the same texture, it’s a lot softer and more drapy that the cotton but I like them together.
According to my measurements I’m a size 6 (the bust matches perfectly and my waist is slightly bigger). The size 6 was way too big for me, it is supposed to fit at the bust and flare out from the waist. So I made the top 3cm smaller on each side at the bust and 1.5cm at the waist. I think a size 4 would have fit me without any alterations so I make a size smaller next time. I didn’t understand the instructions completely, I made version 2 but shorter. After I finised the top I realised that I didn’t use two pieces  G and H, the front and back bodice binding. The instructions say that F and G are optional (the front and back bodice binding). So didn’t need to use G (the front bodice binding) but no idea why I would need to use bias binding when sewing the two back pieces together. I just sewed them together and that worked out fine. Please tell me if you know what I did wrong.


I will make this pattern again, I love the fit and look of the top and I want to make the dress as well. With a thicker fabric and maybe lace on the top it would be an awesome party dress for the holidays.  

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Bright pink Summer concert tee


too sunny to take photos?


A very long time ago I bought the perfect pattern parcel 1 and I have finally used one of the patterns. I made the Summer concert tee by dixy DIY. It’s the first ‘indie pattern’ that I have used. Normally I use the sewing magazines like knipmode, burda,… They are convenient because I can buy them in all the local bookshops. My mum also buys a lot of them and they get used by my mum, grandmother and me. But the instructions are not always clear and without asking my grandmother I often would not be able to understand it all. I was a bit hesitant to buy patterns in English because than my grandmother would not be able to explain the instructions to me. (I don’t know why because I read a ton of sewing blogs in English and I understand all of that.)


But the instructions from the concert tee where clear and I loved the drawings with every step. The loose fit and the high low hem are really nice for summer and I love that its different from a standard T-shirt. I used a pink jersey fabric that I had in my stash. I didn’t realise that it is the exact same colour than my last project but I promise not all of my clothes are pink :) .