Featured on Burda Style

I was so excited to see that my pink scalloped edge skirt was featured in a recent Style Gallery on the Burda Style website! They did a piece on the scalloped trend that has been around for a while recently and put together a gallery of member projects to compliment the article, and that’s where I spotted myself!

I have to say though, I think mine was perhaps a bit of a cheat to be included as everyone else in the gallery had painstakingly measured, sewn and cut their scallops, while mine were part of the fabric! Saying that though, it did take a fair bit of work to make sure my scallops matched up at the sides. Not quite the same though!

Some of the others that I Love from the gallery (click photos for links):

Check out the rest of the Gallery if you fancy a bit of scallop inspiration!

My Summer Sewing Swap Haul!

Whoops – a bit late in getting this up!!

For those of you who don’t know what the Summer Sewing Swap is, the lovely Kerry from Kestrel Finds and Makes arranged a wee sewing swap for any bloggers who fancied signing up. I jumped at the chance and was very lucky to have Dibs from Dibs and the Machine as my swap partner.

After a quick chat via emails we both agreed to surprise each other with our swap gifts. I spent a good time trawling through her old blog posts and tried to get a vibe as to what she would like to find in her parcel. I then turned to the internet to make my purchases and am subsequently still waiting for one final thing to arrive! Epic FAIL! I’ve apologised profusely to Dibs about the very late arrival of her swap parcel, but she has graciously told me not to fret as she is now off on her hols until the 17th August (lucky duck!). Anyway…I hope it will be winging it’s way to her very shortly…and I hope she likes what I’ve got to her.

Dibs was, however, a lot more punctual with her parcel dispatching and I was completely overwhelmed by her amazing generosity. Seriously – this girl went ABOVE and BEYOND the call of the swap. Her reason – she couldn’t decide what I would like so she just sent me a bit of everything thing! Take a look at this pile of goodies:

Holy Moly!!! Ok, let’s break it down into sections. Dibs said she had written a lovely note explaining her choices, but forgot to put it in the envelope before posting, so I shall attempt to guess her thought processes…

Here we have two lengths of gorgeous stretch lace in black and pink, which I’m guessing are for me to make some more knickers with. Plus 3 narrow stretchy elastic (probably for underwear) and some two lengths of very pretty narrow lace!

Two lengths of gorgeous fabric. Both cotton I think. The one on the left has an almost moleskin-like feel to it, while the one on the right has a bit of stretch to it. At the moment I’m thinking nice skirt for work with the left, and I’m going to see if I can squeeze a shift dress out of the blue/black fabric.

This lovely collection was bundled up together, which made me wonder if perhaps Dibs had put together a little project for me. We have a length of really soft pale yellow jersey fabric, a length of light and soft striped cotton, some thick elastic, some pretty decorative lace and some narrow elastic/strap. What would you make out of this? I’m thinking perhaps this is to be made into a vest/camisole and shorts combo? Jersey vest with spaghetti straps and lace detailing, and then stripy elasticated waist shorts (or trousers if I can get the length).

Yep, there’s more!! I honestly can’t believe how much Dibs sent my way…I am so lucky! Ok, so here we have the coolest little book called “Designer’s guide to color”, which basically is filled with loads of colour combining options. It’s a really great inspirational book which will help me think outside the box when it comes to colour combining. Next we have the “Handbook of Crochet Stitches”. I have ‘learn to crochet’ as one of my 12 in 2012, so I’m guessing that was Dibs thinking behind this book. I’m so excited – I haven’t even started to attempt crochet so this will be a little kick up the butt and a lot of help! Finally from this section is the gorgeous Simplicity 2250 by Cynthia Rowley. I don’t think I have mentioned this pattern on my blog, but I have been wanting this for a while…so Dibs must have just read my mind instead!!! Awesome!! I’m thinking it would make a gorgeous Honeymoon day dress in Chambray.

The final lot. This one is a total mix of goodies. some lovely eyelet floral trim, an apple shaped pin cushion, a fabric marker, some sewing machine oil, more elastic, some shirring elastic (which I’ve never even seen before – how do you use this, does anyone know??), 2 packs of green seam binding and finally, a cut of really awesome purple faux snake skin – which is destined to be turned into a fab envelope clutch bag I think (what would you make out of it?)!

So…not too shabby hey?!!! OMG, I cannot believe how many fab things I got!! Thank you so so much Dibs!!

Catching up

Believe it or not, I am actually still here – just about!

I guess life has just become rather hectic recently and unfortunately it means I don’t have as much time for blogging, or even reading blogs, as I used to. In fact, I have over 1000 blog posts to catch up on (eek!)…and since I suffer from FOMO I can’t bear to ‘mark all as read’! If you haven’t spotted a comment from me on your blog for a while, I’m so sorry – either I haven’t got to your lovely post yet, or I really enjoyed reading it but just didn’t have time to comment (I know, that’s a really crappy thing to admit to, but it’s true!)*.

But all that aside, I have actually been doing a little sewing (shock horror!).

I finally got my ass in gear and hemmed my purple Jenny skirt:

But I don’t have photos of me wearing it yet. Perhaps I’ll manage that this week sometime so that I can share it on the blog next week.

I have been beavering away on my Craftsy Bombshell Dress. The plan is to have the done in time for a wedding on the 30th July. At the moment I’m confident that I’ll make that deadline…but I’m hoping I haven’t underestimated the difficulty of the remaining portions of the course.

The photo above was one that I tweeted over the weekend. I was lucky enough to have the whole weekend to work on the dress, so I managed to get the outer bodice complete. I have since cut out the skirt, underlined (because the focus fabric is quite sheer), and I’m currently basting the seam lines. I still have to sew up the skirt, attach to the bodice, sew in the zip, sew up the bodice lining, insert the boning, hand-stitch the lining to the outer bodice, insert a waist-stay and hem. CRAP! Maybe I don’t have enough time! Plus I’m away most of next week with work (back to Zagreb…hoping to get a trip to some lovely fabric shops again!), so that’s even less time to work on the dress. EEK! Anyway, I’ll try and keep you guys posted on my progress.

And finally, in other sewing related news, I signed up for Kerry’s awesome Summer Sewing Swap, and got paired with the lovely Dibbs! I’ve followed Dibbs’ blog for a couple of years now, so I had quite a good idea about what her sewing style was, but since being paired with her for the swap, I have been doing some serious blog stalking! lol. So, I have bought one of my gifts for her already, but have a couple more to get (but I know what they are). Can’t wait to get it all assembled, wrapped and posted – hope she likes it!!!! And of course I can’t wait to see what she sends me!

That’s about me caught up now. Hopefully I’ll get a little more regular with my posting – hopefully!

 

* And on the subject of comments – how much do I hate ‘Captcha’ (or similar) comments. Am I the only one who can’t read the letter/number combos? Honestly, I get it wrong every time…and I promise I’m not a machine! If you have that on your blog, I probably won’t leave a comment because of that. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not because I don’t want to leave a comment!**

** What do people think of my comment system? Annoying? Fine? Let me know! If it’s really bad and you can’t even leave a comment, then send me an e-mail on: wilson.suzanna (AT) gmail.com

12 in 2012 Update and a Revision

 

So, I’m coming up to the half-way mark for my 12 in 2012 challenge (omg, has nearly half the year gone by already??!!) and I thought it was time to reflect on my progress and see what I still needed to focus on. Let’s have a look at how things are looking at the moment:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:
1. Shirt (or shirt dress)
2. Jacket
3. Trousers
4. Some sort of under-garment - Lace Bandeau Knickers (inc. a tutorial)
5. Pencil skirt – I just have to hem this and then can tick this off
6. Summer Dress - A Nautical Knit
7. Bombshell Dress
8.Wildcard! - Pink Curtain Skirt
9. Wildcard! - Primrose Cowl Top - Purple Voile
10.Wildcard! - Primrose Cowl Top - Black polkadot chiffon
11. Wildcard! - Ikat and Lace shift dress
12.Wildcard! - Black and white shift dress

12 New Sewing Techniques:
1. Collar
2. Sleeves
3. Lapped zip
4. Hand-picked zip - Pink Curtain Skirt
5. Mitered corners
6. Baby/rolled hem - Self-drafted Cowl Top
      - Also used on my Lace Bandeau Knickers (with overlocker)
7. Piping
8. Scallops
9. Inset a Godet
10. Make own bias binding
11. Underlining
12. Boning

12 New Sewing Skills:
1. Sew from a vintage pattern - A Nautical Knit
2. Draft a skirt sloper/block
3. Draft a bodice sloper/block
4. Make a self-drafted half-circle skirt
5. Remove and replace a zip from a bought garment
6. Make my own Croquis...in progress
7. Sew with jersey - A Nautical Knit
8. Try patchwork
9. Make a garment from a Burda Magazine pattern (successfully!)
10. Learn to use an overlocker/serger
         - first post
- Rolled hem
11. Learn to crochet
12. Make a Colette Patterns garment

So I am well on target for my 12 pieces of handmade clothing, with only 4 more items to complete the list, but I’m sadly falling behind with my sewing techniques and sewing skills! On reflection I can see that, while I thought I was tying these lists together, I realise that I could have been a lot smarter. For example I have listed that I want to ‘make a self-drafted half-circle skirt’ under my sewing skills list, but I didn’t add it as one of the pieces of handmade clothing list! That was a bit of a slip-up there really. I also gave myself some ‘wildcards’ with the thought that you can’t plan a whole years worth of sewing because you never know what life if going to throw at you (like getting engaged!), but I should have built these into my techniques and skills lists too unfortunately.

With these thoughts in mind, I have decided to revise my 12 in 2012 goals:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:
1. Some sort of under-garment - Lace Bandeau Knickers (inc. a tutorial)
2. Pleated Skirt - Pink Curtain Skirt
3. Cowl Top - Primrose Cowl Top - Purple Voile
                  - Primrose Cowl Top - Black polkadot chiffon
4. Shift Dress - Ikat and Lace shift dress
                     - Black and white shift dress
5. Summer Dress - A Nautical Knit
6. Pencil skirt – I just have to hem this and then can tick this off
7. Bombshell Dress (Craftsy Class)
8. Half-circle skirt
9. Jacket
10. Couture dress (Craftsy Class)
11. Shirt dress
12. Cape – (I have started this, so I’m keen to actually complete it!)

12 New Sewing Techniques:
1. Hand-picked zip - Pink Curtain Skirt
2. Baby/rolled hem - Self-drafted Cowl Top
- Also used on my Lace Bandeau Knickers (with overlocker)
3. Underlining (Bombshell and Couture dress)
4. Boning (Bombshell dress)
5. Carbon paper marking (Bombshell and Couture dress)
6. Thread-traced seams (Bombshell and Couture dress)
7. Setting sleeves (jacket and maybe couture dress)
8. Collar (shirt dress)
9. Buttonholes (shirt dress)
10. Working with silk organza (couture dress)
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

12 New Sewing Skills:
1. Sew from a vintage pattern - A Nautical Knit
2. Make my own Croquis...in progress
3. Sew with jersey - A Nautical Knit
4. Learn to use an overlocker/serger
- first post
- Rolled hem
5. Make a self-drafted half-circle skirt
6. Remove and replace a zip from a bought garment (I have a charity shop dress that needs this done!)
7. Make a garment from a Burda Magazine pattern (successfully!) (Bombshell dress and jacket)
8. Draft own pattern (Primrose Cowl Top)
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

 

We shall see how I get on with my revised lists now! I have two MAJOR projects still to complete (the Bombshell and the Couture dresses) so I hope I’m not biting off more than I can chew…

How is everyone else getting on with their own 12 in 2012 lists? And revisions required or are you all sticking to your plans better than me?

A Nautical Knit

Ahoy there! Long-time, no blog! Sorry about the lack of blogging around here recently – I’ve been going through a lot of stressful/emotional/unnecessary-to-blog-about wedding-related crap recently (who knew I would find planning a wedding one of the most un-enjoyable things I’ve ever done!!) and it’s zapped my sewing mo-jo a bit. But I think I’m turning a corner and things could be looking up…after all, I have a lovely new jersey dress to wear!

This is my first proper attempt to sew with jersey (previously I made this skirt…but it was super-duper easy so I wasn’t really counting it!) and I used my lovely overlocker as much as possible. The jersey that I bought was part of a big haul that I picked up during a sale at my local fabric shop. I loved the stripes (I am a sucker for anything striped!), but it’s rather drapey, and while that might be nice for the end result, trying to tame it while sewing was a bit trickier than I thought. I had also planned for this to be a maxi-dress, but unfortunately didn’t have enough fabric for this pattern.

 

The pattern I used was McCall’s 5490, a ‘vintage’ 70’s pattern from an Ebay job-lot I won a few years back. It is specifically for stretch-knits…but requires a zip at the back. I don’t get that! I knew my jersey was stretchy enough to not need a zip, plus I knew a zip would weigh the fabric down, so I omitted it.

You may be able to see that the pattern also comes with your classic 70’s mega-collar. Not normally my style, but I thought I’d give it a go anyway. Turns out, I didn’t have enough fabric to add the collar! I was a bit disappointed about that, but I do like the dress as is nonetheless.

 

I cut the front yolk and the waist tie with the stripes perpendicular to the main body for a nice contrast effect, which I really love. The waist tie (or empire-line tie really!) is a god-send because without it the dress would be a bit sac-like. It does have a bit of shaping, but the tie really pulls it all in and make it a lot more flattering.

It’s not perfectly executed by any means, but as a first attempt at jersey, I’m pretty happy! I can see myself wearing this a LOT over the Summer (Northern Irish weather permitting!!!).

 

12 in 2012 update:

I am please to say that this project ticks off a massive THREE goals from my 12 in 2012 list:

12 Pieces of Handmade Clothing:

• A Summer Dress

12 New Sewing Skills:

• Sew from a vintage pattern
• Sew with jersey

Woo-hoo!!

Right…I’m off now to kick some wedding-planning butt!

 

P.S. For those of you who may be curious the photos were taken on Ballyholme beach, N.I. (where future-hubs and I are hoping to move to soon…if the wedding doesn’t consume all of our savings!!!)