KnipMode 2010-09 / 5 Skirt finished

This skirt is finally finished. It took me a week longer than planned because I had a very busy workschedule, but yesterday and today I found the time to get it done.
And I'm happy with it.

The darkgreen stretch-gabardine is really a treat to work with and great fabric for skirts with some kind of structure.

The pleats in the front are really 'doing their thing'. I was a bit anxious that the pleats would only accentuate my tummy-area, but it's really spaceous without being balloon-like. It's just perfect actually. I really recommend this pattern. You have to wear something tucked into the skirt or else the hip-area will look wider than you want it to look.

I wasn't sure at first if I would use the bias strips to finish the pockets and wanted to stick to the oldfashioned way, but I'm glad I did. I did pretty well, if I say so myself:

The height of the waist is something I have to get used to. It's higher than I normally wear and I constantly feel the urge to pull the skirt down a bit. But it's right where it should be.
Lately, Knipmode is using more and more straight waistbands on their trousers and skirts. I'm not happy about that. I believe a slightly curved waistband fits better. But for this skirt it worked out just fine.

I wanted to wear black high-heeled shoes with this outfit but the ones I have are really past their glorytime.
A week ago I bought these pair. They're perfect.




Well, that's about it. I have more to tell and show you, but all in good time.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Gr.
Lilian

Skirt in the making and some rambling...

Dear readers, there's a serious amount of rambling ahead!....I tried to 'pimp' it a little with a serious amount of pictures though.

At the moment I'm working on this skirt. It's from KnipMode September 2010.




                  And this is what I've done so far:

There will probably be no sewing or finished projects to show you until friday, but I just felt like blogging tonight. So what am I gonna talk to you about?? Hmmm...let's see......


Ok, let me start by saying that the KnipMode that contains this skirt, has really a LOT of great patterns in it. Just looking at the cover of the magazine makes me happy because I just know that there's a lot of great stuff inside. This is what I'm talking about, I want to sew/have them áll:

                                I made this one already

Something else. Ain't this a clever, little device? It came with one of the latest KnipMode's but I can't remember which one. It's so easy to use and very helpful when cutting seams. Way better than using a measuring tape. It's made from cardboard. Pretty simple actually, you can make one yourself if you want to. It lies still on the fabric, doesn't slide on the floor, and it's little, which makes it very manageble.

This one is pretty clever too. Lies still on the fabric, doesn't slide........ok, I guess you know where this is going. (Don't you just love the patternsheets KM is using compared to the Burda ones? Fat lines (easy to see through tracing paper!), only a few patterns per sheet, each pattern in its own colour..)

Ok, what's next? What about this sad piece of measuring-tape? It's literally hanging on by a few threads and the print is almost invisible at certain places. I don't even know how it got damaged so badly. (I didn't cut through it myself though it looks that way). It's in desperate need to be replaced. Maybe tomorrow during my lunch-break.










That's all folks.
Next time a one-subject-post. Promised!

Gr.
Lilian

Dress Knipmode 2010-10 / 3a finished

This dress turned out great! I love it! But let's not forget that this was the original plan:

Notice anything different between these 2 pictures? Let me help you. The Sleeves!
Last wednesday evening, or should I say: thursdaymorning, at 00.15h, I had finished and set in one sleeve and had high hopes for it. I was still sewing that late because I was just so excited to see how the sleeves would turn out. I think the pattern is absolutely fab and I knew if I could make this work, the dress would be a knockout. So I put it on, looked in the mirror....and was sadly disappointed.

This is what I saw:



Does this sleeve look like the one in the linedrawing? Nope. My sleeve looks like a mushroom! (Or worse..). So after the first moment of disappointment, I didn't want to give up too quickly and started to think how I could solve this. But I just couldn't. Did I make a mistake with the pattern? That wasn't the case. Should I place some vertical elastic to pull up the sagging fabric? No, that would probably just end up in a mess. I decided to think it over for a day and see what I would come up with. No solutions whatsoever popped up so I made the decision to go for the regular sleeves (version 3b). I found out that I didn't have enough fabric to cut 2 new sleeves so for a moment I feared that this was the sad end of a promising start.

But I was happy to find out that the sleeves-that-were-not-to-be, were big enough to use for cutting out the regular ones. The smile on my face re-appeared and I never looked back.

In this picture you can see how the two sleeve-patterns differ from each other.

The fact that it's a special fabric (the dark stripes are velvety) makes this dress work. If this would be fabric in a solid colour I think the dress (version b) would be kind of boring.
All in all, I like it very much. It was super-quick as most of the sewing is done on the serger.
I didn't use a zipper, no need for that when you use fabric with stretch in it.

Trying to find out what the problem was.
In the meantime, I thínk I have figured out the problem. First of all, I have been concentrating way too much on the linedrawing. I should have looked in the magazine itself to remind me how the dress looked made up. Because this doesn't resemble the linedrawing at all (but is still GORGEOUS. After all, it was this picture that made me fall in love with this dress in the first place):

Seeing this, I knew in an instant what was the problem with my initial sleeves: they were too small!! At the widest of my upperarms, the fabric is pulling a bit horizontal which explains the visible horizontal line.
The extra volume in the top is looking for a way to hang down but stops at that point. Sounds logical right?
Maybe a tip for anyone who wants to sew this dress as well.  Make sure they're not too small. Or check it out with a muslin first.
Now I'm off to a work-related party to show off my new dress ☺
I do feel beautiful and that's what counts.

Have a very lovely weekend everyone!

Gr.
Lilian

Let's start 2011 with Top 3b from KnipMode 2008-08

Yoohooo...best wishes for 2011 everyone!!! I hope you all had a great time celebrating.

I know I'm a bit late. But the fact is that I spent the last week in bed because of a flu that had me down in more than one way. Things seem to be looking up however and it was about time I showed my face.

O, wait, that's another story. I'm not showing my face yet for I have an infection on my chin at the place where a mole has been removed 5 weeks ago. It was for pure cosmetical reasons and I can't seem to shut up that little voice in the back of my head saying: "Serves you right for being vaaaaain...!!". I have some cream for it since yesterday and next monday I'm gonna pay my physician another visit to have it checked. I was hoping for a recovery with an almost invisible scar. Now I'm just hoping for a recovery. Strange, how easy you adjust your expectations.

Luckily I have a very pretty, headless model in my house. That's right, The Blue Lady. And she was more than willing to step in for me once again. Because.......tumdadadummmm....I have something new to show you. And this is it. My very first project of this year. And thát's a good start!



Center-backseam at the neck (this picture shows the right colour):

Adorable detail.

I absolutely lóve the fact that it's a simple pattern but with just the right detail for a great effect. The fabric is thicker than you would normally use for this top but the drape is amazing. I'm glad it turned out this way.

It is an easy and fairly quick to make top and I had it in my mind for quite some time. I'm glad it's finally finished and I can move on to new things.
Are there any plans already? Yes, actually there are:

This fabric:                                                                          This KnipMode dress:

What do you think? Could be nice right?

Gr.
Lilian