Graduation dress

It has been a while since I posted, that is because I was busy working on my final design project. I didn’t do anything else than work on that one assignment for over a month so I didn’t sew anything for a while. But now I’m officially a master in the architecture. I was so happy to have the time to sew again and deiced to make my graduation dress. But then life happened (read sleep deprived) and I was left with only 3 days to make the dress. I bought the fabric on Wednesday and the graduation ceremony was on Saturday at 10 am.

I had my mind set on a silk dress, in 3 days I know. They had a few options in the store and of course I chose the very thin flowy option. They had a few thicker options but I didn’t like the prints that much and a few cotton and silk blends. I love the fabric it is so beautiful, soft flowy and I love the print. But the best thing is 20 euro the meter, for 100% silk, a bargain compared to the lining, antistatic and nice to wear but 10 euro the meter.

Okay enough praise for the fabric now the pattern, I wasn’t going to cut into my beautiful fabric without knowing if my dress was going to fit. So I made the June dress form la maison victor again, you can see the first version here. Because the silk is transparent I was worried about the seam finishes. I tried overlocking the silk but that was not as neat as I wanted it to be. So I finished it with French seams, I think it is so weird that they are called French seams in English because they are called English seams in Dutch. 

The pattern is not actually made for transparent fabrics because it doesn’t have a lining. I made the front and the back of the dress in silk and lining. Once these were finished I pined the silk to the lining and used them as if they were one fabric. I didn’t want to underline the entire dress because then it would not show the flow of the silk anymore. The reason why I pined them together is because I thought it would be nearly impossible to insert a zipper in the silk. The neckline and straps were finished with facings.

Needless to say I was hemming my dress at 11pm the day before the ceremony, but it was worth it!

PS. Some of you might have realized that I never posted the second half of me made May. I just wore the same items as in the first half and I thought it would be a bit boring to take the same crappy selfies and was too busy to come up with something more interesting.

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. 

Me Made May 2015: The first half

You can see the pictures that I took for the purpose of documenting me made may on the blog. They are all crappy mirror selfies because it could not be bothered to make good ones. Also this month is probably not the best month to try to figure out how well suiting my handmade wardrobe is for my lifestyle. I only have classes once or twice a week in May and I spend most of the other days at home working on my final design project. And I don’t always bother to get dressed if I don’t have to leave the house. But I tried to make an effort to choose my handmade over the others and this was the result.

Hudson pants

plantain tee

ava top

lane raglan sweater

Hudson pants

concert tee

venue top (on the blog next week)

lane raglan sweater

plantain tee

I found a pair of pyjamas that I made when I was about 16, the finish is not great they are one of the first things I made. But I love the border on the top and one extra outfit for me made may.

wrinkled pyjamas

I still have noticed somethings about my handmade wardrobe.

•         I don’t have any handmade skirts anymore and I miss them, I made some years ago but threw them away because they don’t fit my style anymore.
•          I love my Hudson pants but I need a pair in a thinner fabric, mine are a bit warm.
•       If I do have class I’m used to wear trousers and a blouse when the weather is not that nice. At the moment I only have one suitable blouse, the venue top that I finished recently (and will be on the blog next week).
•        Most of my dresses are sleeveless and the weather has not always been nice enough to wear them. I should make some with sleeves, maybe in a knit fabric?

navy plantain T-shirt

I’m trying to make more clothes that I can wear on a daily basis. Of course I started with a T-shirt.

It’s my second plantain T-shirt, the last one was a light blue long sleeved version. There is not that much to say about this version. The fabric is a lot thinner than the one I used in my previous make. I think this one is a lot nicer, the T-shirt is wider at the bottom and the thinner fabric suits that better.

Also with the last one I had a problems with my threat breaking when I used the twin needle to hem the sleeves and the bottom. The threat broke once when I was hemming this T-shirt and I have no idea why. If someone has an idea why this happens please let me know. It is so annoying when that happens if you are nearly finished.

And I love the tulips in the garden to bad I’m not working on anything pink at the moment that would make the perfect back round. 

Me Made May

I took a pledge for 'Me Made May'

'I, Nathalie from http://nathaliesews.blogspot.be/, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear a handmade garment 5 times per week for the duration of May 2015'

I’m going to try 5 days a week instead of every day because I don’t have that much handmade clothes yet. I’m happy that it’s in May because if it would be in winter I would not even be able to make 5 days a week. So I have already noticed that I seriously lack handmade winter clothes. That is kind of the purpose of ‘Me Made May’ to find out what the holes are in your me made wardrobe. Get to know you style better and it’s just a time to appreciate your handmade clothes. I might post some pictures on the Pinterest board. And a round up on my blog, probably crappy mirror pictures. Nothing is sure I will see at the end of May how many time I  remembered to take a picture.

If you want to know more about Me Made May than have a look on Zoe’s blog. 

My perfect summer dress

Okay I know it’s a big statement ‘my perfect summer dress’ but it really is the perfect dress for me. So I can hear you wondering why perfect? Let me tell you…

First there is the fabric. I bought it at the ‘stoffenspectakel’ like most of my fabrics. It was a coupon that I found at the bottom of the pile and it was 10€, a bargain. And who doesn’t love a bargain? I know I do! It’s a very nice cotton with the perfect weight and drape for a dress. The fabric actually feels rather heavy but perfect for this dress. And then the pattern, navy and white dots. What I like that much about it is that the dots are scattered on instead of being aligned in a grid. And the dots themselves are not perfectly round but irregular in shape.

So to me it’s the perfect fabric that fits my style so well and that goes with all my other clothes.

Than the pattern it is the June dress from the la maison victor pattern magazine. It came in the magazine form the summer in 2014 but you can buy it separately on their site as well. I can’t believe that I have waited so long to make this dress. The June dress was the reason that I bought this magazine.

So the pattern, on the website it is described as flattering for every figure and with a bit of ’50 glamour. They didn’t exaggerate, it is super flattering and I feel wonderful and glamorous wearing it.

I love the high neckline at the front in combination with a lower v-line in the back. The skirt is pleated but because of the lovely drape of the fabric it is really flowy and not bulky at all, something I’m always a bit worried about.  

Than what I like the best about the pattern is that I feel that it is drafted specially for my body. I made a size 38 and made no alterations. It just fits perfectly right out of the magazine. I was a bit worried that I would mess up my beautiful fabric when I would realise that the dress didn’t fit. (But not worried enough to make a muslin, haha)

But the best thing about the dress is the finish! For once I took my time to achieve the best possible finish. And it worked, part of that is probably that I didn't need to make any alterations. Normally I sew something try it on notice that it didn't fit properly and that is where it goes wrong. I get frustrated and impatient and mess up even more. But not with this dress, I tried it on what surprised about how well it fitted and took my time to finish everything. The neckline is understitched to the facing and the facing is sown by hand on to the zipper. The hem is finished with and invisible stitch on the sewing machine.

That’s why it is perfect, the fabric, the fit of the pattern and the finish.

I’m already working on my next project a blouse form another la maison victor magazine and that one is far from perfect. But more on that when it is finished. 

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.