Red top

I had great winter but I didn't have any time for sewing so I finished my first project of 2017 at May 1! It was a simple woven top from Burda 04/2016. I didn't buy this issue, I got it from a library! Thank you, Surrey libraries, you are saving my money! 

The pattern is pretty loose fitted so I cut size 36 without seam allowance. I didn't change anything in pattern, only way of sewing darts, I made them as pleats. Probably next time I will try to do them by instructions. Oh, I made the top longer, just trying to use the whole length of my piece of fabric, decreasing the waste. 

I used the rayon fabric which I bought 4 years ago in Toronto, during my first and only visit to Canada (second one was actually moving to Vancouver, BC). I supposed to use this fabric as lining for a skirt but I didn't. So the cut came back to Canada%)

This is easy and nice project and the result is pretty good and nice, the top is very comfortable and I can wear it in different outfits. I will make couple more in future ( I should cut neckline  1cm wide, so it would be easier to put it on wearing glasses)

Facts:

• Fabric: red rayon from Toronto (first visit to Canada), 0.65m
• Pattern: Burda 04/2016 118
• Fabric was bought first but as a lining for a skirt
  
• Notions: thread
• Time to complete: 5.2 hours
• First worn: just after finishing
• Wear again: sure!
• Make again: yes, with changes - little bit wider neckline.
• Total cost:  $4 for fabric, $0.5 for thread, 0 - for pattern (I borrowed the magazine in library) = C$4.5

Finished projects of 2016

I am not a very productive seamstress this year. I finished only 4 items till September and don't think I will have much sewing time in the next few months. But 3 of these 4 items are in use all the time. So I made a crop sweater, leggings or yoga pants, cargo shorts for Semeon and a swimsuit.

Semeon is wearing his shorts all the time! Maybe I will make one more pair because it is nice to see him in me-made garments. 

Cargo shorts

I didn't wear the crop sweater yet but hope I will use it later.

Crop sweater

I am not very happy about fit of the swimsuit and how I attached the elastic but I am going to use it and make a better version.

 

Swimsuit

Leggings are not the best fit too but I use them all the time! They are so comfy, I spent a week in them during our road trip. I am going to blog about them very soon!

Leggings 

By the way, I was wearing those not very successful wide pants from previous post very often! I added a wide elastic to the bottom of the legs and liked them more that way. And they were soooo good for cycling! I am looking now for a similar pattern with little bit narrower hips.

Not very successful wide pants

Last September I decided that I wanted new pants for my trip in San Francisco. I visualized some comfy jogger pants in print fabric.

Jogger pants outfit (not my photo)

I run to a store and bought a piece of nice rayon, I like to sew and wear rayon in warm season. I didn't know how I cut the fabric but my pants were too short and too narrow at the bottom. And tooooo wide at hips. I used a pattern from old Patrones, issue 305. I made the belt with elastic.

They look not so bad in action and are pretty comfy for biking.

I probably will make them shorter and try to narrow a little bit in the hips area but maybe will just use them for biking to food stores and the library%) I am too lazy usually for remaking and fixing problems in finished garments%)

Should I shorten the pants?

Facts:

• Fabric: 1.5m of rayon
• Pattern: Patrones 305
• Fabric was bought specially to make these pants
  
• Notions: thread, wide elastic
• Time to complete: 6.2 hours
• First worn: today
• Wear again: I thinks so. Anyway I can wear them at home%)
• Total cost: C$15 per fabric, C$2 per tread and ribbon, C$6 per magazine = C$23

March Burda Challenge. Simple cowl knit top.

My Burda Challenge is not going very well. I still have some issues in my January garment. February I missed because of my trip but I made March one. This is pretty simple knit top from Burda 03/2013 128.

I didn't read a description careful before cutting so the loose fit was big surprise for me. I imagined fitted top so I took almost 6cm from both sides. Next time I will cut it narrower and also will make narrower back. But this top could be pretty nice in its original version from some drape fabric, even not knit one, maybe only you need to make armholes higher. It could be nice idea for summer.

I made top pretty long and like how I can drape it on the waistline. The top is pretty cute so I think I would make more in different colors. I cut it from remnant bought in Dressew store, they often have nice knit pieces so now I know how to use them.

Facts:

• Fabric: 0.9m of cotton knit fabric
• Pattern: Burda 03/2013 128
• Fabric was bought without any ideas.
  
• Notions: thread, twin needle 
• Time to complete: 3.7 hours. The bias bindings took too long.
• First worn: one week ago.
• Wear again: yesterday.
• Total cost:2C$ per fabric, 1C$ per tread, 2C$ per magazine = 5C$.

Beige sweatshirt

I like to buy remnants at fabric stores, especially when you need to search in big boxes%) This is like hunting for me. So I made my new sweatshirt from such remnants which I bought in Dressew shop last year. I was looking for some pattern with raglan sleeves and found one in La Mia Boutique magazine, 01/2009 (Russian version Шитье и крой, 12/2009)

I saw my sweatshirt with wide hem band and long sleeve bands and with pretty loose fit. Finally I got little bit different sweatshirt. I think I had to cut one size up for more loose look and make bands not so wide, also I like my sweatshirt this way too. It is pretty comfy and goes well with a lot of my wardrobe.

Back view

I used a friend's serger for sewing and this was first time I use this kind of machine. But I like outcome, now I want my own serger too.

Maybe I should make narrow hem band

The neckline was made not perfect, with some puckering on the back because I cut too short stripe for finishing neckline. Hope next one will be much better.  

Not perfect neckline

Facts:

• Fabric: 0.5m of rib knit, 0.8m of terry cloth
• Pattern: la mia boutique 01/2009
• Fabric was bought first because of good price and knit cotton can be used always%)
  
• Notions: thread
• Time to complete: 4
• First worn: last week
• Wear again: this week
• Total cost:  2C$ for fabrics, 2C$ for magazine = 4C$

Bamboo orange skirt

Let me continue my skirtlog. Yes, I should admit that I like to sew and to wear skirts a lot! So this post is about pretty simple skirt which I made in October, just before the flight to China, I was sure that this would be pretty warm there and I could walk in my new skirt.

I have home yoga skirt(from recycle.org) and I found that it was very comfortable to wear so I decided to make my version of yoga skirt. It was very easy to make pattern for it - just two trapezia and two rectangles for waistband(the height of rectangle was two times more then height of waistband). Waistband should be pretty wide so the skirt would stay at place.



Sewing was very simple - side seams on the skirt, side seams on the waistband, then fold one in two and attached to the skirt. But even with such simple skirt I made a lot of problem for myself. First mistake was adding pockets. The second one was cutting one pocket from the waistband's detail! So I made one more trip to a fabric store which doubled the price of my skirt. Also this accident postponed my sewing for long time because I started the skirt in August but finished in October.

Finally I made the pockets and they looked pretty bad on such knit skirt. It was not good idea from the beginning but now I learned the lesson. The skirt is pretty comfy and the bamboo fabric is so smooth and soft, I don't mind to have more garments from bamboo.

Facts:

• Fabric:  0.6m (width 1.55m) of bamboo knit. And additional 0.4m because of my bad cutting.
• Pattern: self drafted
• Fabric was bought specially for this skirt
• Notions: thread, twin needle 
• Time to complete: 3.5 hours(1 hour for removing pockets)
• First worn: October 2014 for walking in Suzhou, China.
• Wear again: waiting for warm weather or Me-Made-May.
• Total cost:  15C$, 5.5$ I paid for additional fabric%(

January Burda Challenge. Cushions.

My Burda Challenge, January edition is still in work. I need 4 more hours to finish it and also I need to find buttons but hope there is something in my stash. I am making a blouse 105 from Burda 01/2002.

Burda Challenge, January

But this was not the only one project on my sewing table, of course. I finished second cushion for a couch, the first one was done in the end of December. I saw once in IKEA or maybe in web cushions which look like sweaters so I decided to buy some XXL second-hand sweaters and make these cushions myself. I had some big pillows which I got for free on freecycle.org(very nice site indeed! I recommend it, I also got a box with some sewing stuff  there).

During sale in Value Village I bought 2 big cotton sweaters for 5$. The sewing was pretty simple%) Only the buttonholes troubled me a little bit. And now we have nice cushions!

Buttons from freecycle

Facts:

• Fabric: sweaters from thrift-store
• Pattern: none
• I saw cushions somewhere and decided to make them.
  
• Notions: thread, buttons
• Time to complete: 3h10m  (the most time I spend for buttonholes)
• First worn: December 2014.
• Total cost: 5 Canadian $ for sweaters, buttons were free  = 5C$ per both. I checked in IKEA, they cost there 20C$ each.

I still have sleeves from these sweaters and I am looking for ideas what to make from them%)

Turtleneck, KwikSew 2403

I am not very good blogger this year. Also I am not very productive seamstress this year too. But this post is not about 2014 summary%) This one is about recent me-made.

I made stripe turtleneck from KwikSew 2403 pattern. I bought it in thrift store. This was first time I used this pattern company. I cut XS but for my opinion this size was too big for me so I took a lot in side seams and underarm too. Also I narrowed the sleeves a lot! I will transfer these changes to my copy and will have nice turtleneck pattern for next garment.

Kwik Sew 2403

For stabilizing shoulder seams I used stay-tape by Collins instead of piece of fabric but I think now this was waste of money because it was itchy. Good lesson for me. Maybe I will find use for it but I am not sure.

Front view%)

This garment is my first fully Canadian as the fabric and the pattern was bought in Vancouver%) Even with itchy shoulders I like my "memade" especially neck and long sleeves, I am big fan of long sleeves, next time I will make cuffs with holes for thumbs.

Awful winter light%(

Facts:

• Fabric:  remnant of cotton rib knit, 1.4 m, I still have pretty big piece of it.
• Pattern: KwikSew 2403
• I bought the fabric and the pattern without any specific plans.
  
• Notions: thread, twin needle, stay-tape 
• Time to complete:  5.8 hours (too much because of alterations)
• First worn: November 2014.
• Wear again:  already.
• Total cost:  2 Canadian $ for fabric + 0.5 for pattern (was $1, but I used it twice)  = C$2.5

Butterflies T-shirt

This is long time since my last post about finished project. I have checked right now - it was one year ago!! Oh no! I made a lot of garments but didn't blog them, I should improve this situation.

I finished a t-shirt in this June. It was half done so I didn't spend a lot of time with it.

Summer Butterflies Top

The pattern and fabric were bought in Tampere, Finland during short trip with my aunt. She attended the conference and I visited the city and fabric shop%)) Also I visited some fabric shops in Helsinki and bought this butterflies knit print there.

Finish shopping made last year

I bought Ottobre magazine, issue 02/2013. I like their designs, the patterns are pretty basic but with nice details and interesting cut. So I choose the pattern number 2 - Summer Basic Top. This is loose knit top with short kimono sleeves and additional draping in the bottom.

Ottobre 02-2013-02

It looks the same as tech drawing

It seems to me that I cut size 36 but I am not sure%)) Because the instructions were in Finnish I cannot say anything about them but for this simple design you don't need instructions. The sewing process was very easy,maybe the only problem for me was to bind the neckline and not to stretch it.

I like how this top looks, it was very comfy to wear during hot days. I like the neckline, pretty feminine. I think I make more such tops, maybe one version with more draping on the bottom and one just straight.

Facts:

• Fabric:  1m (width 1.55m) of rayon knit from Finland. I have pretty big piece after cutting. maybe for cami.
• Pattern: Ottobre 02/2013 02
• Fabric was bought first because of nice print.
  
• Notions: thread, twin needle 
• Time to complete: 3 hours
• First worn: June 2014 for walking.
• Wear again:  Yes! Already.
• Total cost:  6 euro for fabric + 1.8 euro for thread + 9 euro for magazine  = 16.8 euro. This is pretty much for t-shirt but I plan to make more from this magazine so this increase the cost%)

Also you can see my pattern review.

PS. The skirt I worn was refashioned by me, it was too long and looked boring so I cut it and worn a lot this summer.

Refashioned skirt with me-made t-shirt

More of June creations

I made a knit skirt for my friend. She is a big fan of stars so when I saw this fabric in a shop I knew at once whom should had it%))

The most difficult part was to find simple black knit fabric for belt!!Sewing was very easy because this is pretty simple skirt.

Skirt for a friend

Also I made a shopper bag, now this is my favorite one. I made it from my lovely cargo trousers which I bought in the ancient 2004 or may be even 2003%))) I wore them out to the death but couldn't just throw away! So now I have nice bag with pocket for keys and wallet.

Shopper bag

Maxi knit skirt

It is so difficult to post something during a nice summer time! But I should keep tracking my sewing projects!%))

I have finished a maxi skirt in June. I saw the prototype in Jcrew shop in March in Toronto and decided that I should make such skirt!%)) I used a fabric which I bought at a market in Berlin. This was some cheap knit rayon (not very high quality btw).

Jcrew skirt

While I was googling how to make the belt on such skirt, I found the photos of another skirt where the front was made from pieces and made up my mind%)

The sewing process was not difficult but I made a mistake when cut the biggest front piece inside out. So my front piece became from 4 pieces%) I tried to stabilized seams with fusible stay tape but even this way sewing of knit pieces cut in different directions was not easy because the top fabric stretched during sewing. But I like final result!

My skirt!

I added the lining which I made from old t-shirt%)

Lining!%)

The back part is simple.

Facts:

• Fabric:  1.2m (width 1.5m) of rayon knit + old t-shirt.
• Pattern: me-made
• The idea came first then I found a fabric in my stash.
• Notions: thread, twin needle, fusible stay tape
• Time to complete: 7.40 hours. Too much time for a knit skirt but I spent a lot making front piece.
• First worn: 22 June for walking.
• Wear again:  Yes.
• Total cost:  3.6 euro for fabric + 0.5 euro for thread + 1 euro for elastic   = 5.1 euro

From dress to skirt: quick refashion.

Sometimes I want to make anything pretty quick especially when I am struggling with a project%))  This was the same case, I was sticking in my maxi skirt project and decided to finish a dress-to-skirt. it seems to be the easiest refashion project!%))

I bought this dress from ASOS pretty long time ago and worn it just once for new year celebration.  It had too deep decollete and the straps at the end were too wide so the knot looked pretty big and ugly!

ASOS dress

I liked this dress so decided to change it into something more wearable for me. At first I decided to change the top of body, maybe by shortening the straps, adding buttons etc. I realized in process that for changing a body you had to cut new one, eh!

So I decided to make skirt from it, I like the maxi but you need a lot of fabric for them%)) The rest was easy - to rip straps, to cut a belt because it was too wide, to make the skirt shorter because it was too long! So now I have new nice skirt! I think it will have more opportunity for going out%))))

Bad photo, I know%))

 

Burda Sew-along - Raglan shirt 02/2013 127

In the end of April I decided to participate in Burda sew-along. Almost all my garments were made from Burda patterns so I couldn't miss this sew-along%)

I made a raglan shirt from Burda 02/2013. I liked this pattern from the first moment. I used a fabric from my stash but now I think that this was not the best choice. The fabric is too thin and sheer, I prefer more thick tees. Also I had problems with a neckline and ripping (small holes formed on the fabric, rrrrrrrrrr).

So, my pattern review:
Pattern Sizing: 34, 38, 40, 42, 42. I cut 36.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, the look is pretty the same.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. But I did a neckline a little bit different. I made the shorter stripe for the neckline and sewn stretching the stripe. Also I topstitched neckline with twin needle. But this is not saved me from stretching neckline a little bit%(
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like raglan and the gathers on the shoulders, they look nice, and don't like the low armhole.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I didn't add 7cm at sleeves for hemming. Also I made the tee a little bit shorter. My shoulder seams are 1cm lower because I made mistake and when ripping I made holes on the fabric, so I had to sew with bigger seam allowance to hide the holes. This was not bad because the tee was little bit to big in the shoulders.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will try to make it with more thick fabric. Also I will cut 34 size next time.
Conclusion: Nice raglan tee with interesting details.

Facts:

• Fabric:  1.1m (width 1.5m) of rayon knit, very thin.
• Pattern: Burda magazine 02/2013 127
• Fabric was bought first, to companion to my blue dress.
• Notions: thread, twin needle, fusible stay tape
• Time to complete: 7.20 hours. I spent a lot of time for the neckline and fixing my mistakes on the shoulder seams.
• First worn: 26 April for walking.
• Wear again:  Yes! Yesterday%))
• Total cost:  8.8 euro for fabric + 0.9 euro for thread + 2 euro for magazine  = 11.7 euro

From trousers to a skirt!

I suppose that everybody one day does it! I mean making a skirt from trousers%))

These were my corduroy jeans!

I like these jeans, wore them a lot so the bottoms of legs became pretty threadbare. Then I put them in my recycle box going to leave them near garbage bins. This is Russian way for recycling. But they don't want to leave me!  I decided to make a skirt. I wanted to sew new orange corduroy skirt but I didn't  find a fabric of my dream!%)) So I decided that my favorite jeans could work a little bit more for me.

The hardest part was to unpick seams%) Then I just cut extra fabric from inseam, try it one and decided that it would work! I even bought the thick thread for topstitching. Now I know that this is not my favorite part, I need more experience.

The result

Of course, this is not a perfect skirt, you can see some wrinkles, but pretty the same behave my RTW narrow denim skirts. By the way, fabric had some stretch in it, so I don't fill narrowness of the skirt. This is very comfortable skirt and I like it!%))

I made the pictures myself so nobody said
me I should to set the leggings well%))

Rear view%)

Facts:

• Fabric:  old trousers
• Pattern: none
• Notions: thick thread
• Time to complete: about 2 hours plus walking to the shop for thread%)
• First worn: 13 April at home%)
• Wear again:  Yes!
• Total cost:  1.5 euro (but almost all thread stay for the next projects%)