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…
The quest for the Ultimate pants (part 1)
I vividly remember the first pair of trousers I made. They were shorts we had to sew at school and made of horrendous bright blue patterned quilting cotton. We had to use pattern that was too big for at least for me (I was about 12 years old and super skinny) and the teacher never suggested doing any fitting. A few years later I tried again and made a pair of sporty cargo pants. I chose the smallest size and ended up handing the finished pair to my mom since they were way too big. If the jeans I posted before don’t count I don’t have many good experiences with sewing trousers.…
Spring blouse (Lekala 4420)
I found this wonderful viscose fabric from the remnants section of the local Eurokangas fabric shop. I think that the colour works nicely with the beiges and nudes of my spring wardrobe so I decided to make a blouse of it. I have made Lekala 4420 blouse once before and after going through several other pattern options I decided for it. I made a few modifications. First, I left out the center front seam, then I took a quite a bit out from the width of the sleeves that were a bit too much for my taste and finally I decided to replace the clasp above the keyhole opening with narrow ties.…
Grey hoodie
I sewed myself a hoodie using the Burda young 7148 as a pattern.
My favourite Zinnia and the Pussy Bow blouse
This time I want to show you two of my favourite self-made garments. I already mentioned previously that I have made several skirts using Colette Zinnia pattern. This is my favourite one for winter – in fact, I’m wearing it right now! I have used this tweed fabric a lot, since it is super comfortable and doesn’t wrinkle easily. It also drapes well, as you can see. To make most of the fabric that I had I made the pleats in the pattern a bit deeper. Then I wanted to add something extra by sewing a black sating piping to the edge of the waistband and attaching a tab at…
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…
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…
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.…
