Clothes in art

The Great Memory
by Valerie Hammond
Photolitho/Relief on handmade paper

More things for little people

My niece is a big girl, you know. She'll be 7 years old soon! .-)

While I was at it I wanted to make something special for her to wear for her birthday.

I thought this frilled fabric would make a super cute dress.

And it did! It's even better in person. :-) I used remnants of orange knit and lace ribbon from stash to finish the dress off.

Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't find a way to use the remnants of the frilled knit! Along with more remnants. :-)

It seems that my little S loves her new dress and top. Especially the top!

I'm happy.

:-D

Sketches

These are the sketches of the dresses I've chosen to make for the show:

 Sorry, bad scans, but I hope you get the idea. :-)

I've put together a  pile of yellow and violet colored fabrics and there are enough pieces to make all three dresses. This is really a nice stash busting project, don't you think? :-)

One more upside to my closet fabric hunt is that I've folded and put away my fabric stash. Suddenly there was more room in the closet! Don't worry, the gaps have already been filled with more pieces from my many scrap boxes. When I see them there is more probability of making something out of them than when they are hidden away in some bag or box.


Have a nice Saturday everyone!

So..the dress

Remember the dress I promised to show?

Perhaps the fifth time will be a charm to get a decent photo.

For now, this is the best I can show:

Ciao!

Purple flowers dress Burda 8/2011-125 - FESA 2011 garment No.1

Another version of this great Burda 8/2011-125 dress pattern!

I used a flannelish woven fabric from stash. It is gray-brown with purple and magenta flowers.

This time I lengthened the sleeves, omitted the collar, closed the neckline a bit, added pocket and inserted the zipper on the side. Of course, since I never read the directions (which are in German and I don't understand it) I couldn't find the way to insert that zipper where the pocket is. It was illogical to me that it should be attached to the pocket, but it actually has to. And it is also quite easy to do. :-)

I want to make a couple more changes to the pattern and then make another version. I looove this pattern soo much!!!

We can count this as my first entry for the Fall Essentials Sew-Along 2011! But I still haven't found the Flickr password....

Happy sewing everyone!

Dress Burda 8/2011-125 - part 3

Finally the dress is done! With a couple more changes.

First, I wanted to lengthen the sleeves but the result was really ugly. Since I didn't like the above elbow length I shortened them. The pattern was supposed to have a side zipper, but I inserted it in the back. This change influenced the collar, which is now opened in the back. It looks nice, as well as the knotted front. :-)

I didn't line it because I planned to wear it with a slip.

Oh, I love this dress! I will make it again with longer sleeves.

Ciao! :-))

Dress Burda 8/2011-125 - part 2

Here are the top pattern pieces with the alterations traced in red. I pinched the darts on the paper and then retraced all the pattern pieces before cutting.

And here it is! The first stage of the dress construction. I'm quite happy with the fit!

No creases! Well, it is also a knit so it drapes even better around the body. I want to learn how to achieve this every time!

I have to admit that the more I learn about fitting techniques the more I'm fascinated by the science and art of it.

Dress Burda 8/2011-125 - part 1

It was love at first sight, what else can I say?
Ah, this dress..and it's a "tall" pattern...and I found the perfect fabric!

The fitting went through three stages. Here is the second. Some seams have already been taken in - the front seams, central back seam and the back seam for a swayback adjustment.

There was more to do with the upper part of the top.

This is the second muslin. The bottom was fine so I made only the top. As you can see I constructed the sleeves ( in a rather intuitive fashion), as I envisioned the dress to have 3/4 sleeves.

Quite a nice fit! Except for the pulling around the bra. More room had to be added there.

More in the next post.

Dress fit snippet

More in a minute.

With fitting details.

Gran's green dress refashion

My grandmother's green dress from the 70s! Four sizes too big, I'm afraid...

I had to take it in - a lot, then shortened the sleeves, and changed the buttons. Oh, I felt lots of love and tenderness for her seeing every button sewed on with a different color thread. <3

Ciao!

Little dress

From the UFO pile. :-)
Finished with ruffled elastic, button at the back neckline and handmade flower brooch.

Ciao!

Two more dress muslins

And now there are no more dress muslins on the UFO pile! I'm almost done with it,haha!!!

This is a dress that ended up being a line matching exercise. Not too bad, but I'm absolutely not that thrilled with it to make all the alterations needed to make it perfect. The pattern is Burda 6/1995-114. I'm going to reuse the skirt piece to make a bag. Or let it remain a skirt?

To make this one I combined a top and a skirt pattern that are a good fit. And it is visible on this muslin. The thing I don't like is the dark color on top and white on the bottom. Somehow I'm not comfortable with this combination.
This one also proves (once again) that soft and flared skirts are a much better choice for my shape. With fitted tops. No questions about that.
So this dress is not going to be finished either, but I have plans for the skirt... :-)))

Have a nice Saturday!

Dress La mia Boutique 5/2000-18 - Details

As promised, here is the line drawing of the Red flowers dress La mia Boutique 5/2000-18 :

I like it a lot and will probably make another, but this time with a slit in the back of the skirt. As this is an absolute zen dress! It gets you focused on your steps and makes you slow down - because you can't make long steps no matter what. Perfect for a peaceful stroll. :-))

The pattern doesn't call for it, but I inserted snaps in the front and a side zipper for easier manipulation. See the arrows? It is not so clear, sorry. And the casing for the back strings with the cute little bow.

And now - more pics - just for fun!

Oh, have you noticed? New haircut! :-)))

Ciao!

Red flowers dress

I forgot to post these pictures!
The dress was finished about a month ago.
The pattern is from La mia Boutique. A very nice design with fitted bodice and balloon skirt.

I had barely enough of this narrow width cotton print fabric for the pattern. It was gifted to me by my friend M, and it is lightwaight and soft but crisp enough to keep the shape.

I will take photos of some details and will also post the line drawing because the design is truly lovely.

Have a nice and creative day!
Ciao!
Ba

Test garments - part 1

As you know, my UFO pile is biiiiig. As well as my unwanted fabrics stash. And most of the UFOs are muslins.
Lately, I've been diligently working to make them smaller. :-))
Proof:

Pattern: Burda 5/2004-115
I like it a lot.

The pattern asks for a knit (which I used to sew this dress last year) but I was curious to see how it would work with a woven fabric. I used two pieces of not so nice fabrics from stash.
I only lengthened the pattern before sewing the muslin. The top is nice. The bottom piece needs alterations. The obvious and usual swayback alteration (so, why don't I do it right away???) and , how strange, some fabric needs to be taken from the front, as well. Then, the back of the skirt needs to be lengthened.

Sigh.. I don't know. This could remain an UFO until I put my new dress form on a proper stand. Or forever. We shall see. I'm not so easily discouraged, but really not in the mood to finish this dress right now.

Pattern: Burda 12/2008-121
Just...bleh. It's in the trash now. I used remnants to make the muslin, so no damage done. I kept the bottom pieces of the pattern, though. They could be used to make a skirt.

Pattern: Burda 6/2003-108
This is the best dress pattern ever, as I am concerned.
I made some basic alterations and used this yellow silk (that used to be curtains) to make the muslin (if wearable could be a nightgown..?).
A couple of issues emerged.

The front was good, but pulled on the sides near the bust. Then I noticed why! How come? Because I'm not particularly gifted in that area, hehe!? This was easy to change on the pattern. The pulling on the left foto is due to my posture. Also, I had to scoop the front armscy a bit.

The back surplus issue got resolved with a little help from Z. He is really getting into pinning, hehe!
Now the pattern is ready for some faboulous fabric!
I'm really looking forward to sewing this one.

More UFOs info in the next post.
Ciaoo!
Have a nice weekend!
Finally it is hot hot hot and I can wear my pretty dresses, yay! :-)))