Blue dress
Did it again....planned to finish off this linen dress in a fabulous blue colour

Instead I started cutting two other fabrics...

This fabric, navy blue with white dots, will be a tunic, using an old pattern - already tried this one and it worked very well, unfortunately the red tunic I made the last time is too small and can not be used anymore...
The fabric is a leftover after making a dress last summer, and the fabric I bought in Berlin.

Here is the second one - one of the fabrics found in Toronto earlier this summer. 

Obviously this will turn into a pair of trousers.

So, back to the blue dress - will it be ready in time to use this summer? Something tells me no...

Cutting a suit
Oh, how easy it looks when they do it....

Dressmaking or tailoring for women?

Link to photo                                                                   Link to photo

Here is an interesting text about the Difference between dressmaking and tailoring for women

Toronto

Spending a few days in Toronto recently it turned

out that they have a nice choice of fabric stores.

Could not visit all of them, and the size of the luggage was somewhat limited, but the following two had a great choice of very nice material - Affordable textiles and Designfabrics (even more here the best fabric stores in toronto)

Four different fabrics were bought, and the most likely is that at least 3 of them will turn out to be trousers 

 The fourth will most likely be a dress, and maybe even a jacket (should be enough material to do this).

 

Except for buying fabrics and visiting second hand / vintage stores, there were other interesting things to do: Visiting "Toronto Steam punk fair" (admit I did not really know that this existed) with some nice singing 

or walking along Lake Ontario

After that it was time to work for another two weeks, and then - holiday. This means that there are other things that has to be done, other than sewing ...

Summer trousers
The third time I use this pattern - now for a pair of summer trousers in a soft cotton, bought in Berlin in January.

I was a bit afraid that this would be the kind of fabric that looks really bad after sitting a hot day in the office, but actually it was much better than I thought - not particularly wrinkled, even after several hours.

Think I will continue to use this pattern for some time!

Sewing course
A long time ago, more specifically at the end of the eighties, I taught some sewing classes. I have not done it since then until today, when I helped a friend of mine to make a skirt. 

When we went to Berlin for a course in January this year, I brought her to a very nice fabric store - and after I told her that making an A-line skirt is as easy as making a cushion cover she decided to go for it, and bought a nice khaki-green cotton fabric.

Today it was time to see if I was right...
I could tell that she was not a novice when it comes to using a sewing machine, but so far she told me her experience has been mainly to make cushion covers and similar things. 
We spent less than 4 hours with me telling her what to do and her doing exactly what I said - it is really great to have such pupils - and we we're both very excited over the result!

Just look at this zipper - I would be happy if mine would always look like this, and I have been sewing since...no, lets not go there...

The skirt fits very well, my friend is very happy and can not wait to make more skirts like this - and I am a very proud teacher!

Passing by Paris anytime soon?

If you are passing by Paris before 16 september 2012 - why not visit this exhibition?

The rain is pouring down
The good thing about rainy weather is that you can stay inside without having a bad conscience - and if you are lucky you might even finish off the summer sewing projects before the summer is over.
The fabric for this skirt I found in Leuven, Belgium. It was on sale and only 1 meter available. Since you can see through it I used a white cotton fabric as lining, this should do it.

 Although I like to wear cotton / linen in the summer, I really do not like working with it - I miss my wool, that can be shaped into a nice form... 
If I am quick and finish off the remaining summer projects I can go back to my wool dresses....

View from hotel window in Barcelona

Just have to show the fantastic view I had this week in Barcelona - unfortunately it was a very short visit...

Not just sewing....
Thought it would be fun to do something else than sewing for a change, so I looked in my drawers if I had anything I could play with - and was lucky to find material for a necklace:

I bought the material several years ago at the museum shop at the Louvre Museum in Paris - think it was actually meant for kids to play with but I think it's pretty OK like this!

Summer preparation continues...
So, the summer clothes are slowly coming together, just finished off a tunic in a red cotton fabric with white dots.

I have to admit that I am not fully convinced about the pattern. It was Burda again, number 6/11, and the arms was difficult to get to look nice - I prefer round armholes, not square.

Think it will still work though, and the color is great.

Browsing Through Tender Buttons, on the Upper East Side

Browsing Through Tender Buttons, on the Upper East Side

Have to go there!

(Pictures from the great blog New York Portraits)

Paris is calling...


As always at this time of the year I feel the need to go Fabric shopping in Paris...


It is time to book a trip!

Finally some free time
After a couple of busy weeks - at last I had some time to get going with my sewing projects again. The first thing to do was to finish off two projects that had been lying around for the last weeks, starting with a sleeveless tunic for the summer, made be a red really heave linen fabric.

 The pattern originally had small sleeves, but it was not really comfortable so I decided to remove them and finish off with these nice bands instead.

 After the tunic was ready it was time to move on to a pair of trousers - made of a lightweight corduroy in a blue/green color (the pictures does not really show the color correctly). I used the pattern I had recently used for my Barcelona trousers and it worked very well also for this fabric.

 Now what I need to do is to go pattern-hunting, would really like to find a nice tunic-pattern for the summer...