fabricmania - part one

I've bought some new fabric recently. Actually I got two or three others ,too, of which I took no pictures. The red one I got at my local fabric store, the green and flowered one I ordered at my favourite online fabric shop Anita Pavani Stoffe - I'm  tempted to buy somthing almost every time I visit the homepage ;) - and the navy and white striped one is from an online shop on DaWanda.

Vor kurzem habe ich ein paar neue Stoffe gekauft. Die im Bild sind allerdings nicht alle sondern im Geheimen gibt es soga noch mehr ;) aber ohne Bild. Der rote ist aus einem Stoffladen hier, die mittleren beiden von Anita Pavani Stoffe, meinem liebsten Online Shop (Leider muss ich fast immer etwas kaufen wenn ich die Homepage besuche, also darf ich da nicht zu oft vorbeischauen) und der gestreifte ist von einem DaWanda Shop.

The flowered silk and cotton crepe is my favourite. I know - another flower print although I just stated that flowers aren't my favourites on fabric. But don't women get to be at least a little contradictive at times? 
Soooo, it's my favourite and I'm thinking of making a nice summer dress out of it, maybe flowing over one shoulder with some pleats and straight on the other side. It is light and wonderfully soft against the skin, but also a little sheer. And after washing it crinkles up like mad but when ironed it turnes out almost straight. And as you can see it drapes absolutely gorgeously.
Der Seiden-Baumwoll-Crepe mit dem Blütendruck ist mein Liebling. Ich weiß schon, ich widerspreche mir da grade selber, da ich ja vor kurzem erklärt habe Blütendrucke wären nicht so unter meinen Favoriten - aber sollten Frauen nicht ab und zu mal etwas widersprüchlich sein ;). Naja vielleicht.
Also dann! Ich galaube daraus werde ich ein luftiges Sommerkleidchen machen. Ich stelle mir irgendetwas vor, das über einer Schulter in einer bis vielen Falten und auf der anderen Seite gerade nach unten fällt. Der Stoff ist dafür super geeignet, wenn man davon absieht, dass er nach dem Waschen erst mal vor allem aus vielen Falten besteht, die man dann glatt bügeln muss! Außerdem ist er ein bisschen durchsichtig, aber dafür gibt ja Futter.

I'm reminded of Japanese cherry flowers when I look at it so maybe it deserves a slightly loose cut so that the flowers can bloom best and very maybe the style should remind a little of traditional Japanese ladies?!
Don't mind the quality of the sketch. Just to help your imagination.

This fir green georgette - also of silk and cotton - is my second favourite. It is also very light and soft but I don't think it's too see-through to wear it as a casual blouse or top without lining. Vogue V1387 by Rebecca Taylor is a good option I think.

When I look at the wine red viscose crepe I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. Still I love the feel of it. It has some structure but still is very light. The creases can be pressed quite flat, but if they get wet they bounce back into existance. I hope I soon will get an inspiration since I bought the fabric with a voucher my husband gave me for my birthday and I don't want him to think I don't cherish his present by burying it (or parts of it) in the cupboard under heaps of unused fabric.



The striped jersey is just a regular jersey I ordered to make T-shirts or a dress with - nothing special about it. It probably just wanted its picture to be taken - just kidding. But you probably can imagine what it is like.


Now thinking about tomorrow I'm almost getting a little excited. With Me-Made-May starting and putting my me-made wardrobe to the test. To everyone who is also taking part - Let's have fun girls. Juhuuu....!

Flowered Top and Me-Made-May 15

Yesterday I completed this summer top. My own way of telling the weather what to do ;) or maybe only wishfull thinking. I'm planning on making some more pieces for summer. After the cold months I can't wait for warm weather. (By the way, today it was really nice and sunny.)




























The top is a longer version of Mod.103 of Burda 3/2015 (which is really only the upper part of the dress Mod.105).

The little blousey thing is made of a light cotton print with little snow-flakey dots. 
The fabric is from Restehaus Maier, my favourite local fabric store - I know it doesn't sound very fancy but they have a nice selection of different materials and I think they really made an effort to get more up to date during the last couple of years. 
I lengthened the pattern pieces to the point where the upper side pannels for the dress Mod.105 end. Instead of closing the seams top to bottom I left the last 12 centimeters open as slits because the top sat a bit snug around the hips. At first it shuffled its way up until it was bunched around my waist. This way didn't look very chic or easy. 
I always have some problems finding the right size and then I still have to modify the pattern for a good fit unless I'm using jersey. Women seem to have very fixed proportions in pattern makers minds. Of course patterns have to be made for the more standard body types. But I think it would really be pleasant to make a garment exactly like the pattern given just once. If you're making patterns yourself, don't feel critizised, I know you must be having a hard job finding a good fit for as many women as possible.
The arm holes, neckline and bottom seams are hand stiched. I tried machine stiching first but it made the edges wavy.

I like this new top although usually flower prints are not my first choice of fabric. Probably I will give this pattern a second go with a non-print. Or maybe even make the dress?
Here are the front and back view of the top. 

Has anyone made on of the dresses of the March 2015 magazine, yet?  I think there are some really wonderful dress patterns in this issue. My favourites are probably the three striped ones. (pictures coming soon)

Me-Made-May 2015

Another thing I wanted to mention. 
I'm taking part in Me-Made-May. I just signed up today. 
Here's my pledge:

I, Kathrin, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2015. I will finally complete the jeans blazer that has been sleeping at the back of my sewing cupboard for at least ten years and I will sew one top or skirt that actually matches one other me-made item.


I won't be posting daily outfit pictures, but maybe every few days? 
The last thing I'd like to share today is the current state of the jeans blazer. I started it when I was still at school and then lost faith that it would look fashionable or wearable. But now I think it isn't so bad and I want to give it a second chance.

BABY BLUE COAT

 
So finally here is what I've been working on the last five weeks. Actually even picking the pattern for my fabric - light blue fulled wool and soft dark blue coat fabric - took some time.
Then I decided to make this coat pattern from Burda 10/2013. 

 
Here is what I made in the end. Slightly different from the magazine pattern.
I didn't like the furry part of the coat so I cut the front and back panels as one piece and cut the lower sleeve of blue wool ,too.
For the facings and lapels I used the darker wool. I left off the buttons and inserted a zipper instead. I didn't make a belt as well, but added back tucks to get a better fit. 
If you have a closer look at the front you will also notice the diagonal bands where the pockets are located. These are my addition as well.

 
The hood pattern is really nice and if I were more into hoods I would definitely use it again. But otherwise next time I would pick a more fitted coat pattern but that's only because of my own tastes. I always feel kind of uncomfortable if a jacket or coat is very loose although I like them on other people ;)

Of course the coat is lined in all parts. I sewed all hems ,wool and lining, by hand with herringbone stiches. (Please, tell me if it is called differently!)

 I like the overall impression of my new coat although next time I would make a smaller size as the fit is very loose. I'm not sure if this was intended as the original pattern wouls include a belt but I still think the fit was too loose before I took in the side seams quite a bit. Usually I make a size 38 because of my shoulder and chest width but this time I guess a size 36 would have had ample room.

When I was preparing to write this post a serious problem turned up. It was completely impossible for me to take any acceptable pictures of myself. Last time I made a few good ones in the end. 
Pictures 3 and 4 above are examples of the better ones I took when I first tried to take them inside this time. But taking a photo of one's back is just not as challengeing as one of the front and face.
First the light was wrong, then the posture, then my expression, ... I hadn't really anticipated how many things could go wrong!
In the end after almost none of the felt 200 pics were ok and I was really close to giving up the idea of blogging any pictures ever again I decided to try a last time and take some outside. I read somewhere that the light in the shade would be good. And surprise, besides some inevitable grimaces I got some quite nice pictures, too.

So now I'm really really interested how do you take your pictures? I would love to hear what you do to get good ones?