Tropical leaves aka vintage pattern adventures
I love vintage patterns that have a bit different cuts than can be seen in the modern sewing patterns. However, the images don’t always tell how the final dress actually looks on me so there is some trial and error included. Simplicity 1587 has an interesting bodice and I thought it might work for me. I found this nice rayon with leaf print and got to sewing. The bodice pleating was a pain to do. I did have to rip the pleats away a few times and fit the yoke to the lower part at least twice before the bodice sat right without the fabric pulling into weird directions. Luckily…
Mélilot shirt by Deer and Doe
There are so many different shirt and blouse patterns online that I usually spend hours searching the perfect one when I already have some kind of an idea of what to sew. Deer and Doe’s Mélilot combines modern loose fit and dropped shoulders with vintage like round collar which I like very much. According to the sewing directions I sewed the whole blouse using French seams which I have started to like more and more. At first I felt they were too much to bother but then I realized I didn’t have to change my serger threads and the idea of French seaming became more appealing. I had only a…
Princess birthday
I can’t believe my girl is already 7 years old! We went shopping last week to buy her pretty shoes for the birthday party and she found a glittery pair of shoes with little heels. Of course she wanted a dress to match the shoes and I got the task of sewing her a dress. I’ve had this very light linen in my stash for years and it was perfect for the dress. I used the pattern from the tried and tested Olabelhe Miranda although this time I decided it was due time to go up a size. The linen was so thin that it required a pink lining…
Red and black sport outfit
It’s been a while since I made something for my son. Yesterday K mentioned needing some nice shorts for his PE class. I immediately saw my chance and dug up all my stretchy fabrics for him to choose the best fabrics and colours. Ottobre 3/2010 had nice patterns for both Marley shorts and Riff t-shirt. I liked the little dash of colour at the pocket edges and the length of the shorts that would protect my son’s knees. The original t-shirt pattern had a cool guitar applique design but I wanted just a basic pattern with nothing extra. I had about the same amount of red and black jersey, so…
I made jeans!
Making my own jeans has been in my plans for a long while. There is always the terrible moment when you realize you have to get a new pair of jeans and go to the store only finding out that nothing fits well. I decided to try the custom-fit sewing pattern I found on Bootstrapfashion.com. I logged in my measurements and got a print-at-home pattern. The first pattern had a bug in it and the pattern was huge. Luckily the guys at Bootstrapfashion quicly fixed the issue and sent me a replacement. There was also a small mistake on my part which made the inseam length too small, but that was…
Cute playwear for my girl
This morning S complained about a t-shirt that was too small. As I removed the old garment from her closet I decided to replace it with a new one. I found a nice tunic pattern called Shy eyes from Ottobre 6/2016 magazine. There wasn’t enough of the light violet jersey, so I added the white sleeves and the collar finishing. I was a bit afraid of doing the rolled hem for the ruffles with my serger, since the last time I tried was a total disaster. However, after consulting the guide book and reading carefully my notes, I managed to sew the rolled hem perfectly. I am proud of myself! The…
Lizzie skirt from Sew Over It
The newest pattern from Sew Over It caught my eye immediately. I was only waiting for a right kind of fabric. Then one day I was going through the discount section in a small fabric shop in Helsinki and found a bit damaged end of roll wool crepe in a beautiful shade of mint green. The fabric was a bit yellowed and probably gotten wet at the other end at some point but there was nothing to suggest that I couldn’t clean it. The salesperson offered me the whole big piece with only 16 €, so I took a risk. Wool crepe is normally so expensive that I wouldn’t buy…
My first Zinnia skirt and Tiim blouse
Colette patterns Zinnia is and old pattern but it seems to be loved by a lot of sewists online. I decided to try my version of a lightweight poly-viscose crepe I bought from The Splended Stitch. The colour of the fabric is nice rusty orange and the only drawback of it is that it creases quite easily. Since sewing this skirt I have made a total of four Zinnias from different fabrics and with some adjustments so stay tuned! Oki-style is perhaps a bit less known indie pattern brand but for anyone interested in more unusual garment designs this is a good place to visit. Thus far I have made…
Gertie dress with some sisu
Gertie designed a nice 40s inspired dress for Butterick (B6380) and I wanted to try it since I had a bit similar genuine vintage dress that was lovely but the fabric of which was not very good quality. The floral viscose crepe had been sitting in my stash for a long time waiting for a good project. Since I was a bit unsure of the fit I decided to use this cheap fabric. All in all the fabric fas a nightmare to sew with. The crepe shifted and stretched in weird directions and the seams looked quite wonky. Luckily some heavy work with iron straightened the most of the wonkiness.…
Scottish wool for my mother
A year ago I visited Edinburgh and bought some 100 % Scottish wool for my mother. She hasn’t dared to sew anything of it being too afraid of ruining the lovely fabric. On my winter break I decided to offer my help. I had selected some patterns from McCall’s sales and after some consideration decided on McCall’s 7241. We were a bit concerned whether the pleated hem would look good on an older woman than the one in the envelope picture but took a risk knowing that the pleats could come off easily. There was some 2 metres of the fabric but after some serious pattern tetris I managed to…
