JACKET WITH SEQUINS / JACKE MIT PAILLETTEN

This is not exactly a new jacket but one I love very much! It doesn't see much wear though. Mind you, when do you exactly wear a woolen jacket (quite warm) with hardly any closure (not so warm) and sequins at neck line and sleeve seams (at least a little bit unpractical)?
But I love it all the more as I'm a tiny little bit pigheaded. :) It would go prettily with almost any evening robe if I had the chance to wear one once in a while! So to spite its uselessness I took it out today to a day with my kids and a friend and her kids. Quite the perfect mommy style ;) Maybe also a little because it's still Me-Made-May and I don't want to repeat my other me-mades time and again.

Now a few more details for any the other interested sewistas. The pattern is Mod.126 from Burda magazine 8/2012. I lengthened the sleeves 2 cm and the back and front pieces 3cm. That's the usual length I have to add to accomodate my arms and torso comfortably. Otherwise the pattern is unaltered. I chose a wool bouclé as my fashion fabric.
The trim is made of sequinned tulle and sewn on per hand. First I cut out the tulle pieces with old scissors. Then I cut away all sequins on the seam allowance. Afterwards I simply folded under the seam allowance and pinned the pieces along the neck line and sleeve hems. About two hours of hand sewing later the jacket had sequin trimming but still with quite a few missing sequins along the edges. So I took a thread and needle and sewed sequins back on where too many were missing.

As you can see the jacket has raglan sleeves which makes for a very good fit in my opinion. It may also be possible that I'm just a person made for raglan patterns. I have very straight shoulders. Therefore I often have to adjust the fit of jackets and tops to my personnel shape especially along the armscye and neck line.
For closure I sewed on two small hooks. The jacket is fully lined in violet viscose lining fabric. I sewed the lining to the jacket with my machine and only did the hem by hand. In the center back I sewed in a 2 cm deep fold for comfortable wearing. In the picture the lining frizzles a little along the line where I sewed it in probably due to the strechiness of the bouclé. Maybe a bit of steaming could tame it to evenness?!

Something I like very much about my jacket is the slight A-line. It isn't actually A-lined but the mostly missing closure lets it gape open a little which looks very nice.
You see I really have to recommend this pattern very much! ;)

Ahem... if you've noticed the tiny bump in my back pocket. I'm carrying my daughter's favourite bracelet she had to take off because it hampered her when riding her bike.

One final matter I'd like to adress (very formal here :)) is the former biligualism of this blog which will end as of today. No votes against!!
Meaning from today on I will write in English only. Some short paragraphs of German may pop up but not regularly. So see you soon and I hope I didn't just put off every German blogger or blog reader who's ever found my blog! I would really aprreciate you visiting again very much.
Have a nice evening everyone. :)

Kathrin

Recap Me-Made-May and Pincess Dress / Rückschau Teil 2 Me-Made-May und Fischgratkleid im Prinzessstil

The days of Me-Made-May are running past so quickly. Only nine days left not counting today! I've already dragged out the biggest part of my me-mades and have mostly dresses left for the time to come. I hope the weather is willing to oblige and give us some warm days. Here are a few pictures of my favourite outfits during the last days - here you can look at all the others if you are interested ;)
Der Mai vergeht wie im Flug und die Me-Made-May Aktion ist schon halb wieder vorbei, nur neun Tage noch! Ich habe schon den größten Teil meiner selbstgenähten und gestrickten Sachen hervorgeholt und für die kommenden Tage sind an noch ungetragenen Stücken fast nur noch Kleider übrig. Da muss jetzt das Wetter mitmachen, sonst wird's bald nur noch langweilige Wiederholungen geben! 
Hier ein paar Bilder meiner Lieblingsoutfits der letzten Tage - alle anderen sind auf hier zu sehen.

cardigan and top / Strickjacke und Top

flowered top / geblümte Bluse

flowery summer dress / geblümtes Sommerkleid

slipover and skirt / Pullunder und Rock

Most sewn garments I wore for Me-Made-May are made from various Burda patterns.

The cardigans' patterns have different origins. But today's outfit is a little different - the pattern is self-drafted and the dress is really only the first wearable muslin I made when I was working on making my own block two years ago. It's not yet a perfect fit, but not too bad either. 
Die Schnitte der allermeisten selbstgenähten Stücke die ich für den Me-Made-May getragen habe kommen aus der ein oder anderen Burda Ausgabe. Die Stricksachen haben ganz verschiedene Vorlagen. Aber was ich heute trage ist anders :) das Schnittmuster für das Fischgratkleid ist selbst entworfen. Natürlich ist es nicht besonders experimentell, es ist ja auch nur die erste wirklich tragbare Toile die ich genäht habe, aber ein bisschen stolz darauf bin ich trotzdem. Der Schnitt ist entstanden als ich vor ungefähr zwei Jahren angefangen habe an einem eigenen Block zu werkeln. 

 

The dress is made of a fine chevron cotton-poly-mix fabric. It's fully lined, so it's also a good choice for colder days. The lining is sewn to the hem by hand so it can't crawl up my legs even if I'm wearing warm winter tights and I don't have to fiddle around to get it back down. When I had the chevron dress finished I decided it was quite boring and office-like and added some lace trim around the neck line and sleeve seams. I believe it's better now, a bit romantic but not too undistinguished I like to think! ;)

Das Kleid ist aus einem feinen Fischgratstoff, irgendeiner Baumwoll-Poly Mischung, genauer weiß ich es leider nicht mehr. Es ist komplett gefüttert, also auch an kälteren Tagen gut zu tragen. Das Futter habe ich per Hand an der Saumzugabe locker angenäht, so dass es auch bei dickeren Strumpfhosen im Winter nicht die Beine hochwandern kann! Das ist sonst manchmal ein ewiges Rumgezupfe. Als ich das Kleid in seiner Anfangsversion fertig hatte, fehlte mir irgenwie noch ein Twist, so das gewisse Etwas, ... Es war einfach langweilig. Mit der Spitzenborte finde ich sieht es nun besser aus - ein bisschen romantisch und nicht ganz so gewöhnlich hoffe ich! ;) 

I think I said that the dress was a muslin? It was! I chose a pretty cheap fabric to try out my block after making two bed sheet muslins first which I cut up again for fitting. I kept changing the block pieces until the fit was about right and then decided to make a first test dress - this one :). I'm always very risk-conscious when cutting into a new fabric, I'd rather not cut into the more costly ones at all :) diagnosis advanced cutting anxiety.

A bit silly, I know... but then I found out that the fit still isn't perfect. What a relief not to have used anything more expensive! A bit too tight in the waist, the darts in the back end a few centimeters too high and the cleavage is a bit  ... roomy?
Hmm... maybe I should change the block again! No, at the moment I'm fine with a semi-perfect block until I'm in the mood to use it again! But perhaps if I should feel veeery bored when my kids stay at their Grandparents' ...? I'll see.

Ich habe gesagt das Kleid wäre eine Toile? Das stimmt, aber nicht die erste ;) Ich habe es aus einem recht günstigen Stoff genäht, nachdem ich meinen Block zuerst mit Hilfe von zwei Bettlakenmustern verbessert habe. Die Blockteile habe ich so lange verändert bis die Passform ungefähr gestimmt hat, bevor ich mich entschlossen habe ein erstes Testkleid zu nähen - das hier :). Irgendwie bin ich immer wahnsinnig vorsichtig mit teureren Stoffen. Am liebsten würde ich die immer gar nicht anschneiden, sondern im Schrank lagern bis sie anfangen zu muffeln. Diagnose ausgeprägte Zuschneideangst.
Naja, hmm ... also beim Probekleidnähen habe ich dann auch herausgefunden, dass die Passform immer noch nicht perfekt ist. An der Taille ist es ein bisschen zu eng, die rückwärtigen Abnäher im Rockteil enden zu weit oben und der Ausschnitt steht etwas ab, aber ich kann das Kleid gut anziehen und es ist trotzdem super bequem. Also gut, dass ich keinen teuren Stoff vernäht habe!! Ha!

Irgendwann wird es also noch ein paar Änderungen am Block geben müssen, ... oder? Aber ich glaube nicht jetzt, vielleicht wenn mir einmal seeehr langweilig sein sollte, wenn die Kinder mal bei Oma und Opa sind oder so.... Mal schauen!

Danke fürs Vorbeischauen! Falls ihr die Zeit für einen kurzen Comment habt, wüsste ich gerne, ob ihr die zweisprachige Version notwendig findet oder nicht! Falls nicht unbedingt würde ich mir überlegen in Zukunft vielleicht nur auf Englisch zu schreiben.
Thank you for stopping by! :)
If you find the time to write a comment, please tell me what you think about the bilingual posting style? Necessary or not so? If not, maybe I would write only an English version in future out of base motifs only ;)

Bis bald, see you soon,

Kathrin

Grey Sweater with back view

Today I went for a little hike with my family in a Nature Reserve near our home town. It was very enjoyable and the flowers for which it is famous were blooming and really beautiful!

Heute war ich mit meiner Familie auf einer kleinen Wanderung in einem Naturschutzgebiet in unserer Nähe. Es war wirklich wunderschön, denn nach dem vielen Regen in den letzten Tagen war alles grün und der Enzian für den die Heide bekannt ist blühte noch.

spring gentian / Frühlingsenzian

To come back to my topic here, besides from my family I also took my newly finished sweater for its first outing which it mastered successfully of course ;)
It is just a simple grey sweater after a Burda pattern (Burda 9/2012 Mod.106) but I'm quite fond of its style. 

Um zum eigentlichen Thema zu kommen durfte außer meiner Familie noch mein frisch fertig gestelltes Sweatshirt seinen ersten Ausflug machen - der natürlich auch recht erfolgreich verlief! :)  Es ist ein recht einfacher grauer Pulli nach einem Burdaschnittmuster (Burda9/2012 Mod.106). Trotzdem bin ich von seinem Schnitt und Stil recht angenehm überrascht.

There are long side darts which give a good fit to the sweater. And you can also adjust the fit by letting out/ taking in the central back seam, which I did. The neck line and bottom seam are finished with bias bands. That's very pretty in my opinion - doesn't look too ordinary. In the back there is a V-neck line and the sleeves have only 3/4-length and are a little flared. I'm feeling a bit like a 50es girl when I wear it. I guess a slim skirt would also be a nice combination which I still have to find out for real.

 

Wie man unten gut sehen kann hat der Pulli lange Seitenabnäher die einen guten Sitz machen. Außerdem finde ich den angesteppten Saum und Kragen hübsch. Obwohl es beim Kragen doch etwas ungewohnt ist, dass er vorne so hochgeschlossen ist - dafür gibt es dann hinten einen kleinen V-Ausschnitt. Auch ganz nett! Ach ja, etwas ausgestellte Dreiviertelärmel hat er auch, so dass - wie ich finde - ein bisschen 50er-Jahre Gefühle aufkommen. Würde sicher auch gut zum engen Rock passen, muss ich aber noch ausprobieren!

 

Maybe, just maybe this could pass as the one garment I wanted to make to fullfill my Me-Made-May pledge. (It would have to match another item I made but perhaps it does?!) I'll have to see how my very limited sewing time can suffice to complete one more garment and finish my jacket.

Ganz vielleicht wird dieser Pulli nun das eine Kleidungsstück das ich für den Me-Made-May neu machen wollte sein, allerdings muss ich erst noch rausfinden ob und wie gut er zum Rest meiner selbst gemachten Garderobe passt! ;) Mal sehen, ob meine doch recht begrenzte Nähzeit ausreicht neben der Jacke nochmal ein ganz neues Teil zu machen.

Me-Made-May first round and bolero cardigan

 

Me-Made-May recap Day 1- 10

Ten days of Me-Made-May have passed already. I didn't expect to be that busy with taking pictures and writing comments ;) Not that it's taking me hours but still! But huge BUT, it's also loads of FUN!!! I've also found various patterns I'd like to try myself and many fellow sewistas with amazing abilities and style. So the coming months are going to be full of sewing exercise ;)
I don't think I will get through the month without any serious me-made garment repetitions though. It's already dawned on me that I do need some jeans and maybe other trousers. The weather here doesn't always permit skirts or dresses (just my opinion). I hope that it's going to warm up a little soon, so that I can wear more of these.
Pledges: I still haven't begun to fullfill my pledges concerning the jacket and matching garment. I was too busy finishing a little blouse I made for my little missy which had highest priority of course! 

But now the sewing road is clear and I can start my own projects.
Now for anyone who is interested and as a kind of documentation for myself the last ten days of Me-Made-May.
This is today's outfit - which was until now completely unblogged.




The skirt (Burda 6/2009 Mod.103) was too rumpled for good pictures after today, but the cardigan is still alright, so you are going to see it first (meaning in this post). It is a very easy pattern (Filati magazine) consisting of a rectangle that is sewn together on two sides. This means that it doesn't have any great fit to speak of. But after you sewn the sides together you crochet around the neck-/bottomline. This is in my opinion the most remarkable feature of this little piece. I also like the cotton yarn because of the colour and its irregular structure. I think you could achieve a more regular look of the crochet trim if you chose a more evenly spun yarn.

And here is what held me from fullfilling my Me-Made-May duties so fa.
My Missy's little ruffled blouse. So she is ready for spring ;) And in the last two pictures the features that took me the longest, ruffles (Not difficult but a little time consuming. Of course each little ruffle's got to be seamed as well!) and hand sewn armscyes (I guess my seamstress pride couldn't accept another solution).

So let's see how Me-Made-May goes on and happy sewing! And Happy Mother's Day to those of you who celebrate with their kids! And just if you are wondering why on earth I stopped writing in German at all. I'm planning to catch up on that, but I think I will need a little while to do so ;)

Und jetzt nochmal kurz auf Deutsch. Für alle die sich wundern warum ich eigentlich nur noch auf Englisch schreibe und mit Deutsch komplett aufgehört habe: Ich habe vor das bald wieder zu ändern, aber brauche leider noch etwas die letzten Beiträge damit zu vervollständigen! Also für alle die lieber deutsch lesen, bitte ein ganz kleines bisschen Geduld ;)

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?