blue pencil skirt

After trying out all these new (to me) patterns I felt confident enough to venture into drafting stuff myself again. I have this black high-waisted pencil skirt which fits me great. It was actually a hand-me-down from my mom, but I always get compliments on it when I wear it. I don’t wear much black and it’s getting a bit snug aynway (I guess my body’s starting to tell me I’m not eighteen anymore), so I wanted to try and copy it. Using this tutorial as a guide I traced the pattern onto paper and added the darts back in. And yes, I completely forgot to take photos of these steps or of the finished pattern.
I used the same blue flannel as for the Salme cropped blazer, which means I can wear them together as an ensemble.

It has two darts at the back and four at the front. Dark blue is really impossible to photograph. I lined it to prevent the flannel sticking to the tights and hand-picked the zipper (tutorial here). Making it up as I went along I got quite creative with the lining and the finishes.


It closes with both hooks and eyes and buttons with thread loops. The buttons were added as an afterthought, because the hooks kept coming undone but now I love the look and will definitely do buttons again for the next skirt. The buttons are just covered in fabric like this and there’s a great tutorial for simple thread loops over here.

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burda sheath dress

I’m not usually a big Burda fan, but as soon as I saw this dress I knew I had to make it.

I had only ever made one pattern from Burda before, a skirt which I didn’t even finish because it was obvious that it was going to be way too big and hideous. So I had my reservations about this dress pattern which turned out to be totally unfounded. It fits great and I only had to take in the waist seam a bit.
The fabric is a lovely, soft flannel which is heavenly to wear.

I have to admit I’m not fond of adding seam allowances at the cutting stage. It’s probably just that I’m not used to it, but I felt it makes the sewing more inaccurate and in retrospect I’d have loved to do french seams which would have been harder with wonky seam allowances as well. So next time I’ll stick with my usual procedure and add the seam allowance to the pattern pieces before cutting. I finished the seams with zig-zag – not too fond of that either, it looks too messy for my liking. Yep, french seams really is the way for me!
I knew I would need to line the dress, because I’d wear it with tights and the flannel would stick to those. I thought about how I was going to go about lining it for a couple of days until I realized – I can just make a half-slip with an elastic waist and be done with it!

So that’s what I did, using some left over lining fabric (left over from a skirt I’ll post soon, yay). I just took my hip measurement, cut two rectangles and made a casing to thread some elastic through – no pattern, done in 30 minutes. I didn’t even take the time to iron it, obviously. Here’s a good tutorial though if you need instructions. And I can wear the slip with any other dress as well!

Worn with my Salme cropped blazer and a vintage orange coral necklace, another thrift store treasure.
I made two more alterations to the pattern: I shortened the hem slightly (though I think I may have overdone it here) and skipped the back zipper. Yep, skipped. I originally intended to insert a side seam zipper but I found that when the dress was done I could still pull it over my head if I took care.
All in all, I’m completely in love with this dress. It’s flattering yet super comfy and easy to dress up or down. And I’ve had lots of compliments at work for how cute it looks 🙂

tutorial: sewing a fabric scarf – the cheater / fabric saving way

Ok, so I promised a tutorial for my plaid scarf in this post:

Normally, when you want to make a fabric scarf, the process is pretty straightforward: you cut off a piece of fabric that is between 2 and 3 yards long in the width you like, hem all raw edges and be done. This would leave you with lots of excess fabric.
But what do you do when you don’t have two or three yards of the fabric you want to use, or the fabric is expensive and you can’t afford much? I really wanted a plaid scarf, but I couldn’t find one I liked and this plaid flannel was pretty dear. I just didn’t want to buy 3 yards of it, so I only bought 1 yard and made my scarf this way:
Your piece of fabric is 55″ (or 44″ depending on the fabric) by 36″ (1 yard). You want the longest sides to stay, so you divide your fabric in two halfs of 55″ by 18″ (the 18″ will be plenty width).
I drew the rest of the process up for you (click on the image to inlarge):

I promise you will not see the seam on the right side of the fabric at all, if you take care to match your pieces and if you use a thread in the color of your fabric. Obviously I forgot to match my plaids, but still, the seam is only visible when the scarf is laid out flat:

Your scarf will be pretty long and you have lots of options to wear it. Here’s how I do it:

I fold it in half, wrap the open end around my neck once, pull it through the looped other end and tuck the end under the loop. I really really love my long, comfy scarf in that soft soft flannel and I wear it all the time. It’s perfect for spring too, because the flannel is light yet warm enough for chilly mornings.

Done! Have fun sewing light fabric scarves for summer!

tova dress

I did a bit of patternmaking and dressmaking last year and I was dying to get into it again. When Jenny put a few of her famous tova patterns in her shop, I just had to have it. I looked for the right fabric a good while until I found this beautiful soft plaid flannel and here is my tova dress:

I must say I loved loved loved Jenny’s pattern and it was worth every penny. It shipped very quickly from NYC to Germany and it is beautifully made.

As I made the smallest size available (xs) I traced the pattern onto paper first. I bought some vellum paper but ended up not having enough, so I taped the pattern up against the window and used normal white paper to trace it.

The instructions were very clear. I had been a bit worried because the pattern was marked “for intermediate sewers” and I would definitely count myself as a beginner, but I didn’t have any trouble following the instructions at all.

Even though I made some of my own patterns last year I’m very glad that I did the Tova dress with Jenny’s pattern and instructions, because I ended up learning a couple of new techniques. It was also my first time setting the sleeves in the correct way instead of doing cheater sleeves by gathering at the top. I’m not the most patient sewer nor the most accurate so it is really due to the fantastic pattern and instructions that everything came out looking exactly as it should!

My treadle did a great job again, I only had trouble in areas where stitching through multiple layers of the flannel was required but I was able to get by. I ended up wishing I had done french seams in some places though, because it would have been no trouble and it would look so much nicer (wonder if I’ll find a serger on one of my next thrift store hunts).
I’m thrilled with how the dress came out!

The only thing that bugs me is that the wrong side of the fabric isn’t very nice to look at and it shows as the collar flaps open. I should have lined it (not that I know how to do that). The fit is great, definitely better than my own patterns from last year and it is just such a nice dress.

Thank you Jenny, for making such wonderful patterns! (I just had to go ahead and buy another one, I’m waiting for the fabric to make it right now).