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. 

Second pair of Hudson pants

I wanted to make an easy piece to make it possible to participate in selfish sewing week. (Normally I don’t finish a piece of clothing in a week.) But I thought I should be fine with something I already made once ( and started last week). And what is more selfish than sweatpants that I only wear inside the house. I made my first pair of Hudson pants early November and I loved them. They were far from perfect but I have worn them a lot.

When I made the alterations on my first pair I also adapted the pattern. I made the waist 6 cm smaller and made the legs 5 cm longer. So in general I made them smaller and longer and I also tightened the elastic a bit more. I also started on a pair for my sister (not selfish I know) and made hers 10 cm longer. I have the feeling that the inseam on the pattern is really short. We are both 1,70m so not that tall. The Hudson pants are the first pants I have made so I have no idea if this is normal. Length is not that much of an issue when I make a dress or skirt.

This time I made them in black but the same rather thick fabric. That fabric is incredibly soft on the inside. I bought the fabric last time I went to the stoffenspectakel for 12€. I love that I can make pants for as little as 12€ of course it will be more if you need to buy thread and elastic, but I got mine for free from my grandmother.  I used a piece of robe that I found in my grandmothers stash instead of making the ribbon myself like I did last time. The black fabric would have been way too thick anyway.

I’m so happy with the result, the extra length makes the fit in general so much better. 

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? 

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.

From party dress to sweatpants

I finally got good enough pictures to upload this post. I made these pants in November and I took pictures back then but they were blurry and the colours where off. And I never had the time or good enough weather to make new ones.

I made the Hudson pant form true bias. I bought the perfect pattern parcel 6 because I really wanted to make the Hudson pants, and I liked the other patterns as well. I could use some more sweat pants to wear over my leotards when I go to ballet. As I said, I made these last year when it was getting colder in November. And as expected I wore them a lot, at least a few times a week. I’m wearing them at the moment when I’m writing this, and I should be writing my thesis. They are my go to lounge pants so soft and warm.

The fabric is a ponte roma knit from the ‘stoffen spectakel’. A lot of vendors offered ponte roma or other sweatshirt fabric for €10 a meter. Eventually I bought a coupon for €10 and the fabric was a little over 1,5m!!! The pink contrast fabric is leftover from my Christmas party dress.

I made a size 12, based on my hip measurements. The pants fit well on the legs and hips but were too big at the waist. I took out 3cm in the front seam and 3cm in the back and shortened the waistband. I used the pink jersey on the pocket detail, the pocket facing and the string. The pink fabric is a lot thinner and is a nice contrast. The grey fabric is rather thick and I didn’t want the extra bulk on the waist.

Next time I make them I’m going lengthen the legs a few cm and tighten the elastic at the waist a bit more. These pants are barely long enough, a bit too short for my liking. It’s fine because I hardly ever wear them outdoors but next time I will change that. Next time I’m going to use fabric that is a bit stretchier and has better recovery. The ankle band doesn’t stretch a lot so that makes it a bit difficult to get my heel through the opening. Or some ribbing at the ankle and waist, my mom has some dark purple ribbing leftover that would be perfect. But I’m definitely going to make some more.

These pants don’t count for the 12 pieces that I’m planning to make this year but I already started on a Julia cardigan and a Mimi blouse.  

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you all had a lovely festive season with lots of love and even more food. I had a wonderful time with my family and friends.

Last year I finally started sewing a lot more after a few years of not making anything. I’m getting better at selecting fabric and patterns that I will actually wear. The clothes I made before rarely got worn. Either the fit wasn’t right or the finish wasn’t good enough.  All the clothes that I have made this year I wore at least a few times. Some a lot more, but I have not blogged about them yet.

So my goal for 2015 is to make more clothes that I will wear. I’m aiming for 1 piece of clothing a month. In 2014 I made 9 pieces of clothing and accessories and I only started sewing in June.

My Christmas present might help, my dad got me with secret Santa and he got me the book love at first stitch by Tilly Walnes. But my mom got an even better present for New Year from her parents, an overlocker/seger. Yeah I wanted one for ages. Look at my our lovely sewing corner in my room. 

And I want to blog about my projects more regularly than I’m doing at the moment. It’s not because I lacking an interest but because I need someone to make pictures of me wearing the clothing. I haven’t told anyone that I’m writhing a sewing blog so nobody understands why I want photos of me wearing my handmade clothes. Maybe I should tell someone? 

Christmas party dress

I already made a top of the AVA dress by Victory patterns, my blue AVA top. So I already know how the pattern looks on me. The flower printed fabric used to be a skirt, with a very ugly elasticated waist. I never wore the skirt but I really liked the fabric. The fabric I used for the dress comes from the ‘stoffen spectakel’ in Hasselt. I walked up and down the entire marked twice to find the right colour to match to the fabric of the skirt. I was looking for a tick cotton or other woven fabric, but I could not find any in the right colour.

I made the dress in size in size 4 without any changes. Last time I made a size 6 but ended up way to big. I was afraid that the size 4 would still be too big because of the stretch in the fabric. The fabric that I used is a cotton jersey that has barely any stretch to it, but it is still a jersey knit. On the positive side because of the stretchy fabric I didn’t need a zip.

This time I realised what I needed to do with all the pattern pieces. (You only need pieces G and H if you use very thin or lace fabric.) But I didn’t make my own binding, the fabric shifted too much. I did use it on the hem of the dress because I wanted to integrate the fabric on another place than just the top. But the finish isn’t neat, but you can’t see that on the outside!) My grandmother gave me bias tape in a matching colour. The binding looks a lot better on the dress than on the top I made last year. This time it lays nearly flat to the skin.

I love to twirl around in the dress it is such a flowy fabric. I wore the dress on Christmas and got a lot of compliments.