Pia party dress

Remember last post, I thought that I didn't need any party dresses. Well turns out I did need an other one. My sister and I are going out at new years eve and apparently a cocktail dress was required. The dress I made last year was pretty but not really a cocktail dress. So of course I made something else. I had some black pleated fabric in my stash and went out and bought some matching black silk. The pattern that I used is the Pia dress from la maison victor. To be honest when I first saw that dress in the magazine I was a bit pissed. I really liked the design but I felt that it was designed to sell there fabric collection because where else would you find a pleated fabric like the one they used? Turns out at the fabric sales in Rotselaar. And in black so that was even better because that made it easy to find a matching fabric. The dress is a fast make, not even a zip needed. The fit from La maison patterns is as always good, I made size 36. So that makes two items for the december theme for the social sew. 

Materials

main fabric: 12€ from the fabric sales

second fabric: silk 10€ from the fabric sales

pattern: Pia from La Maison Victor

Charlie skirt

Remember the bordeaux Pam blouse from earlier this year? That one was actually supposed to be part of an outfit. My aunt bought these two matching fabrics for me and my cousin. Of course it took me a year to start on the skirt. 
I couldn't decide what pattern to use, but eventually I settled for the charlie skirt from La Maison Victor. It is a nice A-line skirt with a pleat in the front and welt pockets. I made a size 38, I made the pleat a little bit deeper than what the patten called for. The fabric is a lovely wool from the fabric sales, but it is a thicker than most fabrics and I wanted to make sure the pleat stayed flat. 
I lined the skirt with a dark grey venezia lining. I just attached the lining to the facing that I made out of wool and I eliminated the pleat in the lining. Because of the thickness of the wool fabric I made the pocket out of lining fabric. The downside is that you can see the grey lining if the pocket gapes open. It would have been nicer if the lining was the same colour but they didn't have that in my local shop. All things considered I love the skirt. I like the way the skirt fits, A-line skirts are always flattering on my figure. The colour also goes great with the majority of my clothes. 

Details:
pattern: Charlie skirt, La Maison Victor
Fabric: the fabric sales, free
lining: venezia lining, local shop, 8€
zip: 2.65€

Silk Stella top

Glamour? Oh what to make... for Decembers Social Sew.

I'm not one to sew up a new dress for every holiday party. Even though I suggested this theme. I just don't have the time... And by the way do you remember what everyone wore last year? I don't. 

So this year I made a silk blouse to be worn with one of my RTW skirts. The Stella top is a pattern from the latest La Maison Victor magazine they used a satin fabric with 94% polyester and 6% elastane. I used a nicer (and cheaper) fabric with 96% silk and 4% elastane. The fabric is again from the fabric sales. They really do have a great selection of designer fabrics. 

I made a size 34 without any alterations. The blouse is supposed to be loose fitting and the patterns from La Maison Victor always fit me well. So I made the decision to start immediately with my nice fabric. I like the pattern a lot, but it is not one that I would use more than once. And the best thing is that it is something that can be finished in an afternoon. 

The nice thing with this blouse is that I could wear it more after the holidays, I'm thinking black jeans and a thick wool cardigan.  What are you wearing? Do you make something new for every occasion? 

Pattern: Stella top, La Maison Victor
Fabric: 96% silk 4% elastane from the fabric sales 30€

The quest for the perfect top: Sutton blouse

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago but this is part two of the quest for the perfect summer blouse. I liked the V-neck and the sleeves of the Donna blouse. But I didn't like the curved hem and the low neckline. So I tried to find a pattern that had a V-neck and a lose shape. So I 'bought' the Sutton Blouse pattern from true bias. 

Again I tried the pattern first in a cheap viscose fabric to try the fit. I made a size 4 and because it is such a loose chape the blouse fits great without any adjustments. I also loved the instructions and the way the blouse is finished. The blouse is almost as nice on the inside than on the outside. Even my grandmother was impressed with the finish of the blouse and how well it is explained in the instructions. She doesn't understand English but I showed her the drawings and she was impressed. She is probably going to make one herself next summer.

So what to do when you have found your perfect pattern? You make one in silk. The one is in a nice silk is perfect to wear with my new culottes.  

Now I'm desperately looking for an equally perfect pattern for a long sleeved blouse. If you know a great long sleeved blouse pattern let me know. 

The details:

Pattern: Sutton Blouse true bias (free with a giftcard from indie sew)

Fabric: €6 for the viscose fabric, the stoffenspecktakel and €20 for the silk, den boom

First time vintage: Butternick 9599

This months theme for the social sew is try something new. To be honest I didn't know what to make with this theme. So I waited for the inspiration post... and I still didn't know what to make. I'm not that interested in making jeans. I have tried a lot of tricky fabrics already, I just love all things silk. And faux fur is just not my style. 

I was already thinking of skipping this months social sew but then I remembered the half finished vintage dress that I started in June for the social sew but never finished. I bought Butternick 9599 for my first ever vintage dress! I think the pattern is from the early '60s. I chose the pattern because I liked the neckline so much. I also like the sleeves they have 3 little darts in them. I thought the dress looked vintage but still modern enough to be wearable. 

Because I had never made a vintage dress I choose to make a muslin of the top. I didn't make a lot of adjustments. I only lowered the darts a bit and shortened the skirt 20 cm. To be honest this dress took a lot longer to make than I anticipated. And needed so much fabric as in 2.5 m, making this one of my most expensive dresses. 

The fabric is a cotton blend with a bit elasthan. It has a tiny pattern in it that I love. The fabric is similar as the one that I used for my strapless dress.  It looks so wrinkled in these pictures, I did iron the dress before I took these. I can't iron the dress on a high setting because the fabric discolours. Lucky for me I did test this before I started pressing. 

I like the dress a lot but to be honest I'm not sure how often I will wear this. I still like the high neckline and the zigzag button front. Maybe I need to try and style this a different way? 

The details:
Pattern: Butternick 9599 
Fabric: Den Boom €45
zip: €3.65
buttons: free (grandmothers stash)

The quest for the perfect top: Donna blouse

I noticed during me made may that I hardly have any handmade separates. This blouse was the first attempt to try to find the perfect blouse for summer. It is not perfect. I liked the lose shape, the rolled up sleeves, the V-neck and the buttons. The fabric is a cheap coupon form the stoffenspecktakel, not an amazing quality. The stripes are not exactly printed on the grain, so that made it very difficult to match the stripes. 

The thing I don't like as much is the curved hem. It is nearly impossible to finish in a nice way. The neckline is also to low for my liking. The blouse looks nice with a pair of shorts in summer, styled casual.  But it is not something I would wear to work. 

The details:

Pattern: Donna Blouse La Maison Victor May/june 2016

Fabric: stoffenspecktakel €6

Buttons: free (grandmothers stach)

The best things twice

When I made my fist pair of Milly culottes I was unsure that I would ever wear them. Usually I'm never interested in trendy patterns, I prefer classic styles. When I made them the first time the idea was that if I never ended up wearing them I at least tried to make trousers for the first time. 

Little did I know that I would wear them to dead. I have worn them almost every week during the summer. They are so comfortable and the go with nearly everything. Like an A-line skirt without the impracticality of an actual skirt. The fabric of the first pair started to pill in the back and they where always a bit to large. So it was time for a new and improved pair!

The best improvement that I made was to chose nicer fabric. This is a nice black fabric from the fabric sales. I'm not sure what it is made of but it doesn't wrinkle at all. And it is black so these will go with even more of my clothes. I chose not to use elastic in the back like I did last time and I made them even smaller in the waist. 

The details:

Pattern: Milly Culottes La Maison Victor Jan/Feb 2016

Fabric: €24 The Fabric Sales

zip: €2.65

Burda 107 strapless corset dress

I have a feeling that I have been working on this dress for ever! I choose to make this dress just for the experience, new techniques and all. Every time I saw that dress on de Burda website I wanted to make it, so I bought the pattern when it was half price. And with absolutely no occasion to wear this dress in the near future. But it was so much fun to make. I love the strapless design and sewing boning is fun!

The fabric is a cotton polyester blend from Den Boom. I also used that fabric for the lining of the dress. It was the end of the bold and I got some extra for free. I like that the lining is made of the same fabric as the dress. That way it matches, sometime it is visible at the neckline. 

I don't like to wear strapless bras so I tried a lot to prevent me from having to wear one with this dress. In the end I ripped up an old bra and sewed the cups to the lining. A very amusing sight when you try to pin bra cups to a lining that you have pinned shut. It worked out great! That might also have something to do with the fact that I did made a muslin. 

I love to wear it, I just feel amazing in that dress. When I modelled the dress to show it to some friends they told me it was the sexiest dress. So that is why I thought it would be a nice entry for Allies social sew with the theme hot hot heat. It might not be great for very hot weather but the dress is hot :)

The details:
pattern: +-€2.5 (Burda style)
fabric: €15 (Den Boom)
zip: €3.65      
Boning: free
Bias tape: free

Striped Delphi layered maxi dress

I made this dress the day before I left on holiday. I had bought the pattern already, I had seen so many beautiful versions online, that I could not resist.  I knew I would probably only wear this style of dress on holiday. I don't have any other maxi dress or skirt and I was not sure it was a style that I would like.

The fabric is a coupon from the stoffenspektakel. I bought it with the intention of making a summer dress. But it was only when I got home that I discovered that the fabric was more than two meters in length and I new it was meant to be a Delphi dress. I made a size 6, and thought that I would just treat it as a wearable toile. Because I only had one day left and also had to do some packing. The fabric was a bit to short to make the pattern as intended. So I made the skirt a bit less wide, that way I could lay the two pattern pieces for the skirt next to each other. Because of the stripes I decided to alter the top, instead of making a rounded bottom I cut it parallel with the stripes. This does mean that the sides of the top layer are longer then the middle. I do prefer this look with the striped fabric. 

The instructions are detailed and easy to follow. The only downside is that you can't really tell how the dress is going to fit until you are almost done. 

The dress is to wide at the top. A lot to wide! you can see the fabric droop down in the back and at the sides. I made a size 6 based on the finished measurements on the pattern. My measurements are a little bit larger than the size 6 so I thought that would be fine for a knit. I looked again at the picture of the dress on the named website. I also think the loop at the back of the dress is longer on their dress. And I do think I followed the instructions as to the suggested length.  Anyway next time I make this dress I will make the dress more narrow at the top, or use a size 4 for the top and 6 for the bottom. I'm probably going to make this dress again. Maybe not for myself but for my sister she loved it. 

Delphi layered maxi dress - Named patterns : free (bought it with the gift card that I won)

fabric - stoffenspektakel : €10 for 2.1m (coupon)

Me-Made-May the roundup

I know we are halfway in to June (I have no time because of exams) but here s my roundup of Me-Made-May. Me-Made-May was even more difficult this year. I was expecting it to go easier this year because I have more handmade clothes. I still wear most of the clothes that I made a few years ago, so it adds up. What I didn't count on this year is that I started working. And I have nothing to wear to work. The dress code at the office is pretty casual but even then I didn't have enough to wear. I always wear jeans with a top when I need to go to construction sites. But I don't have any handmade trousers (culottes don't count) and also not that many tops. Lucky for me the first two weeks where warm and I could wear my summer dresses. 

I like to make dresses! I also used to wear them a lot, but now I walk to work and I have not found any comfortable shoes that look good with a dress. If anyone knows some pretty but comfortable shoes please let me know! 

Anyway here are a few of my crappy outfit pictures :) I like those culottes.

The hope cardigan

The first thing I realized during me-made may is that I don't have enough handmade separates. I have made a lot of dresses over the years but not so many tops. And almost no bottoms at all. So basics are much needed. I didn't really know what to make. I wear a lot of long sleeved blouses at the moment but I don't really needed more of them. Trousers would have been an option, if I had more time. I hope I have more time to work on that during my summer break. So what it make? I'm participating again in Allie's social sew I like the concept a lot, an inspiring theme but not to constricting. This month it is me made basics in honour of Me made may.

So I made the hope cardigan from La Maison Victor. A nice easy to make bat-sleeved cardigan. The fabric came form my stash I bought it at a local fabric store. It is a white, navy knit with a bright blue glittering thread running trough. You can see it on the last photo. The navy blue border knit comes from my grandmothers drawer of border knits. I matches the dark blue from the main fabric perfect.

The cardigan was a fast make. I did everything according to the directions except that I turned the collar piece inside-out. And I had the collar run through to the bottom edge instead of cutting it of with the bottom edge of knit ribbing.  

It ended up being a great make for me made may. I have worn the cardigan already a few times. The nice things about this cardigan are the bat-wing sleeves, it means that you can wear them over anything. 

Main fabric:         30€ - Den Boom 

navy ribbing:       free (grandmothers stash)