-
Mélilot-Granville-shirt aka combining two shirt patterns
If you are not interested in the technical description of how I combined the two patterns, scroll to the end to see the results! I have planned to make this post for a while now. Often I feel that one pattern has a really nice fit and the other has very interesting details and that I’d like to have both in the same garment. Combining patterns may be easy if the patterns are very similar or when the mismatch can be easily corrected by adjusting something like gathers at the waistline. For instance, I tend to use the same A-line lining pattern for different skirts since the lining doesn’t have…
-
Navy blue shirtdress with triangles
I found this lovely viscose print fabric from factory remains section of the local fabric Shop Eurokangas and didn’t even have to think whether to buy it. I absolutely love the orange and white triangles on the navy background. The fabric piece was big so there was no doubt that I could make a dress out of it. McCall’s 7351 was listed as one of the best patterns of 2016 on patternreview.com website. I love shirtdresses so I ordered the pattern when I saw it was on sale a few months ago. The pattern has options for both a sleeveless dress and a dress with either short or long sleeves.…
-
A Mother’s day dress
Here in Finland we celebrate Mother’s day on next Sunday. I wanted to make something as a surprise gift for my Mom and decided on a nice summer dress with a bold print. I sent cryptic pictures of different fabrics to get her opinion and together we decided on a graphic leaf print. I used the pattern for the Lizzy dress from the British Simply Sewing magazine, issue eighteen that I had previously used to make myself a linen summer dress. I figured out that this A-line dress would be safe to sew without me being able to do any fitting, using just the body measurements to determine the correct size.…
-
Stella dress with flowers
Stella dress by Ikatee caught my attention immediately, when I saw it. The beautiful frills and light linen were so romantic but also fashionable right now. I was unable to find similar light linen but I had romantic viscose jersey and thought: why not to try a completely different fabric. I made the dress deliberately one size bigger (122 cm) to have some room for S to grow into. The only thing I changed was I turned the edge of the ruffled pieces twice and stitched them rather than making a rolled hem. I had just had some difficulties with my serger and didn’t feel like fiddling with the serger settings.…
-
Summer Zinnias and Mélilot aka my trusted pattern friends
I have mentioned that I like the Colette Zinnia skirt pattern very much and that I have made it four times. (Check the two other times here and here.) Thus far, I haven’t had time to take proper images of the two summer ones but here they are at last with a green Mélilot blouse as a bonus! The first Zinnia has been made of slightly stretchy cotton sateen with a very colourful funky print. I didn’t stitch the pleats closed at the hips but otherwise I followed the pattern. Here is the same skirt from the back. A sharp-eyed person may notice that I missed one belt loop when…
-
Flounces and sunshine
The sun is shining today and makes me so happy. The grass is starting to grow and if the weather keeps like this the leaves are coming out in a couple of days. I am completely in the spring mood and I’m wearing my newest dress I made using Lekala pattern #4279. I mentioned getting this pattern free and was thinking of all kinds of romantic fabrics until I realised that the flounces need a more masculine fabric for the dress not to be overwhelmingly romantic. So I got this navy blue viscose from my stash that did not really appeal to me immediately. What I thought however was that when the…
-
Happy May Day with TV dress
Sometimes ideas just hit me when I come across unusual materials. A while ago a soft plastic storage unit that was hanging in our cleaning closet and storing our wrapping paper broke down. As I was transferring all the stuff to a new one I looked at the plastic pockets of the of the old one and realised that the see-trough plastic material could be reusable. What if I could sew a dress that had a pocket with changing images according to the moods and needs of the person wearing the dress? I started sketching and came up with an idea of a TV screen. I searched trough Pinterest for…
-
Cézembre blouse
This blouse is something that I have completely forgotten to post here. It is by a French pattern designer Anne Kerdilè and can be found here. I have actually made this blouse twice. At first I made the smallest size but after finishing it I realised that it was just slightly too small at the shoulders. Luckily I had still enough fabric left, so I made a second blouse this time using a bigger size and now the fit is perfect. I like the unusual cut of the blouse. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the back piece is wider than usual and the seams joining the…
-
Suomi-neito (Maiden of Finland) dress and leggings
I have been seriously considering making sewing patterns from scratch for a while. I already have enough sewing experience and I have basic patterns for children that can be used as basis for measurements. After I found this Nuppu print company’s Lumipallo cotton I immediately saw it transformed as a dress for S. I wanted something traditional with some modern elements. I decided to make an A line dress and a high-low hem with a wide ruffle to be worn with matching leggings. I played with some different sleeve and collar options and finally left the dress sleeves with a simple white Peter Pan collar. The back fastening was initially a…
-
Trench coat plans
This post contains a few affiliate links. Clicking on them helps me to maintain this blog. I have been dreaming about sewing my own trench coat for a while. Now that my old one is starting to show some wear and tear I have really started planning. It was difficult to find a pattern for the trench coat. Burda has several options: Trench Coat 12/2011 #118 Trench Coat 10/2015 #129 Mint Trench Coat 09/2015 #105 Gabardine Trenchcoat 09/2010 #113B Piped Trench Coat 11/2012 #118 The problem in the Burda patterns for me is that the fit is often quite hit and miss, especially what comes to the shoulders and the…
