Category Archives: Uncategorized

Burda 7723, a pattern review

13/03/2011 6:17 am \ 17 Comments \

These shorts aren’t new here on the blog, I made them over a year ago and have worn them a zillion times since, although not for Me-Made-March yet.  Since this version here was my first attempt at this now fairly well-worn pattern, and the only time I’ve made them up exactly to pattern I thought it was high time to review it… albeit belatedly.  The review I submitted to Pattern Review is below, if you’re interested.
Incidentally the shirt is another of my most-used patterns, Burda 7767 that I’ve made up possibly a dozen times now (?I think?), and also the first cab-off-the-rank from this pattern and the only version made up exactly to this pattern too!!  Hehe, it’s pretty rare for me to stick identically to a pattern the second or more times around… and not introduce little variations and/or improvements (that’s debatable…) for subsequent garments.  Not always fabulously successful alterations, I hasten to point out…  but that’s the beauty of being handy with a needle, if you’re not completely happy you can take steps.  Like I did yesterday…

Details:
Shirt; Burda 7767, pink linen with navy blue top-stitching and buttons, close-up details here, my review of this pattern here
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen, close-up details here
Thongs; Mountain Design
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS

Pattern Description:
High-waisted shorts; with double pleated front, fly front, front slanted pockets.  There is included as well patterns for a pair of trousers, and two variations of a jacket.
Pattern Sizing:
European 34-44 (8-18)  I made up a straight size 10
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
very easy
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love just about everything about this pattern!  The pattern is very well drafted and goes together easily and well.  The pockets are generous and deep, and the double pleated front allows enough fabric fullness for you to shove your hands down deep in those pockets with plenty of room.
Some very very minor issues; it doesn’t have a zip placket, but this is a super easy feature to add yourself.  Also the waistband is not shaped, so subsequent times I’ve made up this pattern I’ve sewn a diagonal joining seam in the centre back of the waistband to accommodate my sway-back.
Fabric Used:
linen
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I added rear patch pockets.  Subsequent times I’ve made up this pattern, I’ve lengthened and flared the legs slightly,  added the aforementioned zip placket, and for one version re-drafted the front piece to eliminate the front pleats, as I was using heavily embroidered fabric and wished to avoid the extra bulk of the pleats.
As mentioned above, I’ve sewn the centre back seam of the waistband with a diagonal seam, to accommodate a swayback.
The waistband is designed to be a double width, that folds in on itself to form its own facing; for two versions of these shorts using bulkier fabric I joined a strip of fashion fabric to a strip of thinner cotton fabric to become the inner facing.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I’ve sewn this shorts pattern up four times now.  It is my tried and true go-to shorts pattern.  I highly recommend this pattern!
Conclusion:
Absolutely, this is one of my favourite patterns that I turn to first when I’m considering a pair of shorts.  I think the shape is very flattering and I love the wide waistband, that sits firmly and securely up high on the waist, holding everything in.

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Get shorty

12/03/2011 5:10 am \ 13 Comments \

Feeling stunned at the tsunami in Japan; relieved that my friends there are OK while simultaneously horrified at the devastating footage we’ve seen…
Briefly; this morning, this dress still looked like this…
Frumpy, yes?  I just felt dowdy.  
So it got some ruthless treatment. 
I’m sure I’ll wear it a lot more like this.

Details:
Dress; modified NewLook 6699, ivory silk, grey cotton/linen and lace, details here
Sandals; Vincenzo, from Soletta shoes
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS

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Dressing for the office…

11/03/2011 6:00 am \ 11 Comments \

hehe…
No really, this is what I wore to the office, today!  I know it appears that I spend all of my time gallivanting about in the great outdoors, and let’s face it, the pictorial evidence is here that I am out and about communing with nature most days… but I do actually have a job.  Very fortunately for me we have an office at home and I am quite allowed to dress for my office anyway I choose.  Every now and again I do feel compelled to dress up all smartish, like I am “going to work” and need to feel appropriately apparelled to get in the mood.  Sometimes I do have to get dressed up, for some work-related stuff.  But it’s nice that I don’t always have to, I guess otherwise I wouldn’t want to every once in a while.
Anyway, introducing here some new shorts!
(Dressmaking details lower, if you’re interested…)

Details:
Shorts; much modified Burda 7723, yellow embroidered cotton, details below
Top; Butterick 4985, baby blue embroidered cotton with lace pockets and a lace tie (normally hanging down the front, not the back; it’s a bit windy today)
Thongs; Mountain Designs
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS

The shorts are made using my old favourite Burda 7723, out of fabric I bought before Christmas, so it hasn’t been a super long-term stash resident.  I was originally planning a little skirt but by the time I decided I wanted shorts it had sold out from the fabric store, and I had to make do with what I had.  Even so, I managed to make my usual modifications to this pattern, namely adding as much length as I could (about 6-7cm) and flaring the legs as much as I could (roughly a few cm)
The fabric is a lovely very strong acidic yellow cotton, with heavily embroidered flowers.  The embroidery on these flowers is extremely thick, and actually on the wrong side of the fabric the back of the embroidery is just as thickly interwoven with yarn as the front, which made working with it a little tricky.  To remove bulk (and because of the fabric shortage) I used the fashion fabric for only the upper part of the pocket and yoke piece, attaching pieces of a much thinner cotton for the invisible lower parts of the pocket.  Like wise, the same plain fabric was used for the pocket piece, and for the waistband facing.

Also because of bulkage, and fabric shortage, I drafted the pattern to be flat-fronted, and removed the pleat that is at the front of this pattern.
Also added a zip placket… I took a few pictures of this very simple modification.  This is such an easy thing to add to your waist-banded pants and shorts; I don’t know why the pattern companies don’t always have it as a standard feature.  You simply overlock the raw edges of a strip of fabric, folded wrong sides together.   This little bit was from the selvedge, and so unembroidered…  Interesting side-note?  I had previously used up most of the selvedge already for another project, here.

Then you sew it in place behind the left front of your zip.

Finally, when adding the waistband you then enclose the top end in the waistband along with the rest of the top end of your shorts.  Voila.  Super easy, and you’ll never have to worry about cold zip teeth against your tender tummy skin again, or even worse, skin getting caught in zipper teeth… ouch.

You can probably just make out in this close-up here where I had to remove an embroidered flower from the right front fly area, just to fold the fabric sufficiently get the zip in.  Seriously, those flowers are a lot bulkier than they look, no kidding I had about a whole handful of thread from just taking out this one flower here… I had to do the same thing several times along the waistband too.
I found this perfect button, made of coconut shell.   Unfortunately you couldn’t just buy one button, like I wanted, they came in packs of four…  Tres cute, no…?  Now I just have to find some project that is going to be perfect for those remaining three buttons…

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An uninspired pairing

10/03/2011 7:35 am \ 16 Comments \

Me-Made-March, Day 10; an (older) skirt, with a (newer) top.
Today I hopped into Spotlight for thread, and miraculously got out without buying any more fabric.  Came this close, but steeled my will.  But bought a shawl-collared blouse pattern, Burda 8218, because I have plans for a blouse with a shawl-collar and Lauriana mentioned they were the most difficult to self-draft.  I trust her judgement.  

This pattern was like literally the only shawl-collared blouse pattern in all of the Vogue, Burda, McCalls, Simplicity, New Look and Butterick catalogues.  Yes, I checked all of them.  So I count finding it a win.
It is not an ideal pattern rather blah on its own really but here’s the thing; I saw a lovely floaty blouse in a Burdastyle magazine I liked, only I really wanted a shawl-collar instead of the one they had.  So I’m planning to cobble together the sleeves and other details I want with the shawl collar.
Wish me luck…
Details:
Top; “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, made of white cotton, details here
Skirt; Vogue 2894, printed cotton, to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Sandals; Pedro Miralles, from Soletta shoes
Nail varnish; Glamourpuss, BYS
Sunnies; RayBan
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The Indestructible Dress

09/03/2011 5:00 am \ 13 Comments \

Me-Made-March, Day 9
Today involved a visit to the vet, which required grappling with and stuffing two cats into one cat box, very much against their will, and a dog on her lead who was so excited at thinking she was having a walkies today with the pussycats in tow she wanted to drag me off at twice her normal speed.  And that is quite quite fast…
So I chose the Indestructible Dress, in anticipation.
So, this dress has been seen here before, I made it about five or six years ago.  I’ve even contemplated tossing it out a few times, through sheer boredom with wearing it.  But when something is this cool, and this practical, and this indestructible, and always turns up out of the wash looking as pristine and white-as-white as the day its fabric came home from the fabric shop, oh yeah, and no ironing required…  I think maybe it’s earned permanent hanger space.

Details:
Dress; Burda 8511, with fitting modifications and zip moved to left side seam so as to interfere as little as possible with the border print.  Made out of some sort of synthetic stuff.
Thongs; Mountain Designs
Nail Varnish; (appropriately named, given my morning’s activites, no?) Glamourpuss, BYS

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What day is it today?

08/03/2011 7:08 am \ 15 Comments \

Oh yeah.  The Tuesday after a long weekend always leaves me a little befuddled.  True, I’m easily befuddled.

Details:
Hoodie; adapted from Butterick 4985, added a hood and with different sleeves, white lace, more details here
Petticoat (not seen) Burda 8071, beige silk satin, more details here
Skirt; skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, pinky-grey linen mix, more details here
Shoes; Country Road

 

I’ve been awarded an Awesome Blog award, by Stacy!  Thank you so much, Stacy!
Now I’ve got to think of 7 things about myself.  Oh dear.  This bit is really hard, because I can never think of a thing… but this blog is about sewing, knitting and fashion, so I guess I’ll try to aim in that direction.

1.  I can’t get enough of fashion. I subscribe to Australian Vogue, and I get so excited when I see my new Vogue magazine sitting in the letterbox.   Part of me just wants to dive in immediately and devour it cover to cover, but I’m strict with myself.  I only allow myself to thoroughly soak up little portions at a time, in quiet moments.  So I can stretch it out over the month.

picture from here

2. I hardly ever sew up a muslin.  That is how slack I am.  Once in a blue moon I will bother with this tiresome task.  99.99999% of the time I’ve felt no need to go down this path, and have just fitted with the garment along the way.  This has always worked just fine.   I just find muslins to be almost completely unnecessary.  Especially for simple daywear.  I admire people who go that extra (superfluous) mile, and admit the necessity when dealing with wedding dresses say, or very expensive or rare fabrics, but when it’s a simple little cotton or linen dress well really…   Of course I am completely contradicting myself because I recently published here exhaustive pictures of my glove muslins.  Yah, I’m a hypocrite, so?  And also having said that, I am planning a tailored jacket for this winter, for which I probably will do a muslin.  yawn.  I promise there will be no photos.

3. Commenting… I guess I might say something here about commenting in blogland.  Commenting is kind of tricky, is it not?  Everyone seems to employ a different MO.  I personally hop over to somebody’s blog to reply to their comment, or if someone has asked a direct question which I think others might wish to know I write the answer in my own comments section as well.  I also apologise in both our comments sections if someone has seemed offended by my blog post.  I try to visit everybody’s blog who has commented.  Sometimes in my travels I’ve noticed that other people reply to comments in their own comments section all the time.  This tickles me, that someone might be having a conversation with me in their own comments section.  If you have replied to my comment in your own comment section then there is a pretty good chance I haven’t read it because I never return to the same comment section again.

4. I just asked my son for suggestions, and he said “favourite colour”.  Thanks darling.  But even that helpful suggestion has me writhing in indecision, because my favourite colour changes seasonally.  Or monthly.  Or even weekly..?  I used to have a stock standard answer “white” to that question, to make it easy.  But really I love all colours and it would be impossible to pick a favourite!
Perhaps I could talk about least favourite colour combinations.  I definitely avoid certain combinations and especially in my apparel.  Black and red together is a big one.  I look truly awful in that combo.  Ill.

5.I’ve been sewing for about thirty years.  Wait I might have used that one previously, for some other award.  Meh.  It takes up another “thing”.

6. Knitting; I’ve probably been knitting for just as long, but less consistently.  My mother taught me to knit, as she did sewing too, and my first project was a dark green scarf for our cat Fluffy.  I struggled through a few rows, about 10cm worth.  It was extremely holey and weird; “arty” is the nicest way of putting it.  Like contemporary modern art.  My mother finished it off with her beautiful even stitches, and I forced Fluffy to wear it once or twice.  She was a patient cat.

(this isn’t Fluffy but she did look a bit like this…  I found this picture on the internet, here)

7.  A final thought, about fabric in sewing; I think the fabric you choose is the deciding factor in how well your garment is going to turn out.  Truly, locating a really good fabric supply is the seamstress’ best asset.  I once formulated a theory, that you should be able to make something really fabulous out of any fabric and that a person is only limited by their imagination.  I do still harbour that belief; but I temper it with this truth, that with really beautiful fabric you are much more likely to have a fabulous result.  I might add, that’s been theory hard tested around here and a truth hard won…

picture from here

So now I’ve got to pick 5 wonderful bloggers to pass this award on to.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it….
Veronica, from Veronica Darling
Sherry, from pattern ~ scissors ~ cloth
Sharon, from Communing with Fabric
Terri, from Rags in the Machine
Jacinta, from ModelMumma

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Labour Day

07/03/2011 6:08 am \ 5 Comments \

Labour Day; to commemorate the rights of workers, is always held here in Western Australia on the first Monday in March.  So, that is today, people…  Specifically celebrating the utopian ideal for all workers of a day comprising eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation and eight hours for rest, introduced at various dates during the late 1800’s for various states throughout Australia…  And pondering this titbit of history brings me naturally around to the subject of, well really people, what would we do without Wikipedia, hmmm?  Such a modern-day marvel…  Trivial information, tantalisingly eluding one’s memory, is now but a google away.  Not that the history behind this day is trivial, far from it, but you know what I mean…  I mean that all these sorts of historical dates and events we had to memorise in primary school and probably had to write multitude little projects on to drill it into our young brains so that we could just pluck out said information easily in the future… sadly optimistic, as these facts are often lost to me now and have to be looked up each time all over again.  Well, realistically my amnesia for historical facts was a career choice;  ask me a chemistry question and I’m OK but history has been a long-closed book…
Having to look it up just now was good for me because I’ll probably remember it now…!
Whatever, we took the opportunity to go kayaking out on the river with some friends, followed by brekkie at a divine little cafe on the water’s edge.  It’s been one of those magical mornings.
And although you can’t see them in the photo, my bathers (worn for the actual kayaking) are on underneath my shorts and top too, so unlike other days in which my underthings are shop-bought, this is a wholly me-made day!
(Oh, and re the original look of these bathers, I’ve long since taken out those bra cups.  They were moving around during swimming and bugging me.)

Details:
Top; Burda 7834, silver crepe, and striped cotton/spandex trim, a review of this pattern is here
Shorts; Burda 7723 modified to be more flared, charcoal grey gabardine 
Sunnies; RayBan

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Sunday, and thoughts on black

06/03/2011 4:44 am \ 11 Comments \

Me-Made-March, Day 6
I’ve decided to try wearing clothes I hadn’t worn during Self-Stitched September, to mix it up for that group a bit.  That means going through the wardrobe and pulling out things that haven’t seen active duty for a while… this black dress was originally part of an evening-y ensemble, that included a black lace overdress, which I cut up for something else at some point.  Since then I’ve worn it as a petticoat occasionally, but not for much else.  However, I should wear it more because it is a perfectly good dress by itself.  The fabric is a thick glossy synthetic satin which does feel quite nice and ripply/flowy to wear.  It’s real easy-care, just toss it in the machine.  Er, actually come to think of it, I just toss everything in the machine…   
I added some leftover black lace at the front of the bodice, so it wasn’t too plain.  The straps are just out of skinny little satin ribbon, which combined with this type of fabric and the style makes the whole thing feel a bit lingerie-y, so it really needs a cardigan over the top, for public viewing.  I think maybe I don’t wear it much because black isn’t really my thing.  Putting a little neutral beige cardi over it is “me-ifying” it somewhat.
Why don’t I wear much black?… is something I think about sometimes.  You see it everywhere.  Lots of people wear a lot of black, a lot.  And I don’t much.  I associate black with funerals, and goths, and depression.  That’s when I put it on myself.  Paradoxically, when I see someone else wearing black, I often think they look quite smart.  With-it, cool and out-there.  Not always, sometimes I mentally wish serial all-black wearers would be a bit more imaginative, but usually black is a colour I like.  On others.  Just not on me.  Weird, huh?
A big plus about black; it’s real easy to mix and match, and you can always find shoes to go with your outfit.  When you’re into colours it’s a darn sight more challenging!

Details:
Dress; an adapted version of NewLook 6035? (I think?? it’s been a while since I made this thing…) black synthetic satin and lace
Cardigan; my own design, coffee and white net, grosgrain ribbon

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