Mila shirt from Itch to Stitch

If I have to classify my sewing style, it is Kids Clothes from jersey. Due to the stretchiness of jersey, clothes from knit fabric are forgiving. I have been sewing actively for a bit over two years, so I feel I now really should move into the scary area of woven woman's clothes. When Itch To Stitch put on her testers call for this shirt, I bravely waived a digital arm and hoped for the best. Besides my slight fear of woven patterns for woman, I have a full bust compared to the rest of my body (although the rest has been catching up the last years) so I never found a retail blouse that fitted well.

Kennis, the designer from Itch to Stitch is a perfectionist so after the first round, we did a second testing round to make the shirt really perfect. I will start this post with photos of the second blouse I made and end with the first one, which I adjusted to be very fitted.

The Mila shirt is a Boyfriend shirt. A loose woven blouse with button-down placket, optional sleeve tabs and pocket, and two collar options. What I love the most about the Itch to Stitch patterns is that they regularly come in different cup sizes and so does this blouse. No full bust correction necessary, just cut the right part of the pattern.

Kennis encouraged us to use plaid flannel, but I didn't own any. I did have a shirt from my husband on the upcycle pile though, perfect for a Boyfriend shirt, am I right? I had to make a few (almost) invisible seams to be able to cut all the required pieces but you know I like that extra challenge. You probably would not have noticed the distortion in the pattern (two times a wide row next to each other) on the front if I would have not have mentioned it.

I combined the fabric from the upcycled shirt, with a uni Soft Cactus fabric. I really didn't have enough fabric to hem the blouse the regular way, so I used a bias at the bottom hem, I really like the little contrast. I feel it makes it a bit more feminine. You can wear the blouse with the sleeves rolled up or down, so it is good for all seasons. The fit of the blouse is great, due to the gathers and the shoulders my bust fits perfectly.

The first version of this blouse is made from Soft Cactus fabric only. When the new fabric line released I immediately bought two meter from this one, to be used on a garment for me. This first version of the pattern was a bit wider than the final pattern and I decided to tweak the finished blouse by adding figure seams from just below the bust down to the bottom hem. I had seen the same seams on a blouse that a colleague wore and I liked the look a lot. I really like how it turned out.

The thing I didn't realize when I picked my fabric, is that the Soft Cactus fabric is white on the inside and that that shows at the collar. This is something to keep in mind when are choosing your fabric, but you can solve the issue by adding a facing there.

Kennis showed us a picture that inspired her to design this blouse and it was of a model looking lush in the camera after probably a wild night. I tried to go for the same vibe, hope you got it ;)

You can buy the Mila blouse now as part of the Indiesew Winter collection, check out the full package here. On Monday, next week the pattern will also be available from the Itch to Stitch website. Kennis will be releasing three pattern that day and because I was allowed to test them all, I will show the rest next week.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).  

Pieced Julia

There isn't much that is more satisfying than sewing yourself a quick shirt. The Julia from Compagnie M is a perfect pattern for such quick satisfaction. I do have a small personal issue with this pattern though. Due to the big pattern piece (and therefore very quick sew) you need 1.25 meter of fabric.

Every time I have sewn this pattern I find myself battling that fabric requirement. Re-positioning my pattern piece over and over again because I still have not given up cutting the sweater from one meter of main fabric. This urge is created by the abundance of one meter coupons in my closet.

This time I almost lost the battle. I had made a strategy and started cutting but around the end I realized that I cut two right front arms! I suppose you can imagine my despair. The original plan was to have one diagonal wide petrol line on the front, but that was not going to work out now.  Did I just ruin the whole plan, how could I ever solve it?

Then the Fold collection from Made it designs came to mind and I decided to "cut" my losses and just go with it. I pieced a correct front left side together by adding another piece of petrol and just sewed it up. Although I feel my other solution for using one meter is better, I do not think it is a total loss. I am a brave person anyway, so I will wear it confidently outside.

The main bird fabric is from Lillestoff and I bought it "long" ago from Joyfits. The petrol fabric is also from Lillestoff, but it is not an organic one. I bought it directly from Lillestoff at an dazling 4 euro per meter (that first Julia also contained this fabric). The petrol fabric is thinner than the jersey I usually use, so my usually lucky guess for the neckline piece didn't work out. The neckline is a bit wrinkled now, but I think it will become better after washing it a few times.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). 

Gracious Thread's New Look Blogtour: the Petra Star Anise mash up

Today, I am part of Gracious Threads' New Look blog tour. Gracious Tour has changed the look of her website and to celebrate this fresh take, she gathered a group of bloggers who all created a "new look" with one or multiple of the Gracious Threads' patterns. Besides the inspirational eye candy, Gracious Threads is also treating you on a big sale!

First things first, my "new look". Jess encouraged us to hack (or mix) her patterns, there is not much that brings me more (sewing) joy than getting designer encouragement to play. From the start I picked the Petra pattern, a jersey shirt and dress pattern, with a circle skirt. I had several plans, I thought about turning it into a faux wrap dress or  do a patch work dress, but both ideas I have sewn already and I felt I could make it more special.

While I was writing the post for the Star Anise dress release, it just came to me. I was going to use the Star Anise skirt on the Petra bodice! Jersey patterns usually do not use pleats (this is the only pattern that I have sewn with jersey pleats). Two big pleats in a jersey dress would be new to me and a new fresh look in general.

The big advantage of the two pleats is that the skirt takes a fraction of the amount of fabric compared to a circle skirt and your print will not be turned. I feel that the pleats give this jersey dress the same sophisticated look as the original woven one. That strange area on the right of the lower picture is the pocket. Usually it is not really visible, but I did not see that the pocket piece is almost falling out in this shot.

As most of my digital print jersey, this one is again from Stoffenelf. I just fell in love with print, I had planned it for myself, but I think this relatively grown up (but romantic) print is a nice "new look" on my almost 8 year old.

I really like the puffy shoulders of the Petra pattern.

Putting the two pattern together was extremely easy. The bodice widths of the two dresses do not differ much and the small difference was easily added to the pleats. I really just reused the Start Anise skirt part, easy peasy. This sophisticated dress has a high playability factor.

Check out the other bloggers and their interpretation of the blog tours theme.
 

Nov 16 - Handmade Boy * From A Box * Inspinration * Blessed X 5

Nov 17 - Sew Starly * Sewing by Ti * Climbing the Willow * Kopy Kat Kidz

Nov 18 - Rebel and Malice * Willow and Stitch * Tales of a Tester

Nov 19 - Sew Happily Ever After* Lulu and Celeste * Sew Sophie Lynn

Nov 20 - Handcrafted by Red * Just Add Fabric * Made by Sara

Nov 21 - Create Three Point Five * Lacasa Cactus * The Wholesome Mama

As promised in the beginning, some information on that huge sale. Gracious Threads is having a 40% sale store wide during the blog tour, go and check out the store now!

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).

Slouchy sweater pattern release

Today Emily from Nap Time Creations is releasing the Slouchy Sweatshirt pattern for woman. The pattern is a nice basic pattern with two sleeve lengths (Yeah for 3/4 sleeves). It is a very quick sew because it uses a flat sleeve head, like I sewed here as well. Cutting the fabric will take more time than sewing it (on your serger).

It is great for layering, such that the underneath blouse is visible at the bottom, but it can also be worn as a single item (which I prefer myself). You could easily lengthen the sweater a bit if that is more your style. The big advantage of basic pattern is that you can easily adjust them to your own tastes.

I used only one meter of main fabric for this sweater. I mostly have 1 meter coupons of jersey and due to the 3/4 sleeves I could easily cut all pieces from my flower fabric. I bought it last year at a web shop that closed in the meantime. I didn't have myself in mind when I ordered it but I fell in love with this shade of blue. The black uni colored black fabric is from Joyfits.

The whole sweater can be sewn on your serger, no regular sewing machine needed for hemming. I adore those types of projects. I have a good sewing machine, but I somehow have a better relationship with my serger.

The fit was immediately perfect, I love my new shirt, it combines great with blue jeans. The shirt comes in the sizes XS to XXL. Check out Emily's release post for more information about the pattern! The pattern will be discounted for the first two weeks, so until Black Friday, the pattern is on sale for just 4 dollars.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).

Star Anise Dress release from Gracious Threads

Last Friday Gracious Threads released a new dress pattern, the Star Anise and I was allowed to test it. This pattern for woven fabrics gives a look that I normally do not sew, I couldn't explain what was different until Jess wrote it herself, this is a sophisticated dress. My almost eight year old indeed looks much more grown up in this dress than in the twirly dresses I usually sew her. I feared for a moment my client wouldn't want a not so twirly dress, but she likes it a lot and so do I, so prepare for a picture overload!

My girl is a skinny one, so I had to combine a size 5 chest with a size 8 length. Somewhere something went wrong and my seams do not match. I rechecked the pattern and that wasn't the problem, the pattern is perfect! It is not a huge problem to me, the main fabric is that crowded that the lines are not very visible. Check out the official release post of this dress to see how beautifully the seams are supposed to line up.

The dress is designed with mid length puffy sleeves that end just above the elbow. Jess showed me a dress she sewed with slightly longer sleeves and I asked permission to sew the same length. With winter around the corner I think 3/4 sleeves are a bit more suitable (seeing as my girl doesn't really has layering stuff). The funny thing is that the sleeves and waistband now line up almost perfectly with these 3/4 sleeves, almost like I intended it like that, but do not be fooled, it is totally coincidental. The pockets are my own addition.

I bought the fabric at fabric.com almost a year ago. It is called Moda Folklore Otomi Cloud-Pumpkin. It was on clearance sale then and now seems to be sold out everywhere. I took great care to put the main graphic on the front of the bodice. I tried to have a perfect back as well, but somehow screwed up the cutting part. I think it still looks nice though. I could have put the top left side of the zipper such that the print would have been perfect, but I feared the bodice would become too small then.

The contrasting rust fabric is from Soft Cactus. Most of the testers choose a contrasting waistband, but this dress is also very pretty in one uni color, the seams are true eye catchers then. Although it might be an official "special occasion" dress, it works great for school dresses or any other day dresses as well, so hop over to Gracious Threads and checkout the pattern!

 I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).

ADTV T-shirt pattern release

I sew all kind of projects rangling from simple ones to very challenging ones, but the simple, quick projects that can be worn a lot are probably my favorites. Nothing as satisfying as being able to cut, glue the  pattern, cut and sew the project all in one evening. Or sewing up multiple in an evening if you had already done the glueing and cutting of the pattern. T-shirt patterns are ideal for that. Today Sofilantjes  is releasing a versatile T-shirt pattern, the ADTV pattern. You can use it to make quick staple goods, or more sophisticated looking (but still quickly sewn) versions.

The pattern has two official looks, one with a V neck and one with buttons. I have been wanting to sew a perfect V for a while and was happy I could test this pattern. This time I behaved like a good student, not skipping any step (even adding another basting stitch) and I am very satisfied with the result. Especially Anne's advise to first baste the neck, check and seam rip, was very valuable! We all want to sew it right the first time, but taking out a basting stitch is so much easier than taking out a stretch stitch!

I went wild with my fabrics, my husband actually laughed out loud when she saw the mushroom version. He asked me where the hell did I find that fabric (stoffenelf). I totally understand his reaction, One and a half year ago my reaction would have been the same, now I love it! Fabrics are changing due to changing fashion and it really took me a while to get used to the photo print versions. But over time, seeing them in other projects really turned me around. This artichoke dress is still the most memorable dress in this category.

I first wanted to combine the mushroom fabric with red white polka dots (a left over from this project), but I feared that the result would  be too girly.  Therefore I went for a blue polka dot. Both kids like the mushroom shirt the best. I have a good amount left so I think that I willl combine it with the red and white polka dot for a next project. The fairytail fabric is from Lillestoff.

Both shirts are the same size, my son's size. The other testers were showing off sibling pictures so I decided to put the second shirt on my slightly bigger elder kid (this way I also avoided having to redress and reshoot my son). The prints are unisex  anyway. She doesn't have much growth room, but it is perfect for now. She is eying the mushroom shirt as well, so it will not get much closet time for sure.

Although the buttons are functional, my kids can put the shirt on or off without using the buttons. In the smaller sizes the buttons will be very usefull though! When you are an efficient sewist like me, you can just cut the version of the buttons and fold it in half for the V-neck. No worries if you do not get it, when you buy the pattern you will understand.

The pattern is on sale during the weekend so hop over to Sofilantjes now! You could also pick up the Domi pattern to sew up the crazy quick pair of trousers my son is wearing.

 I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).