January 2009

the silver lining

January 28, 2009

kind of…

I have only to sew the bottom of the lining to the jacket left, that and to do the same in the sleeves and to sew in two buttons :) Almost done, that makes me happy :D

Today as usual at Tuesdays we were “thrown out” from our classroom, the gymnasium students are having “free choise” lessons and one can chose to have sewing then, and they need our machines and rooms. So there is not a whole lot of sewing on Tuesdays, but I actually feel that I made something for a change. I made pockets (one is finished and one is half finished)

steampunk shirt

January 26, 2009

I am finally using this nice brown on brown striped polyester fabric that I got this summer at Ohlssons tyger. I knew that I wanted to do something steampunk with it but it needed some “shelf time” to be the best it could be. So I am making a casualsteam shirt, with some black lace from Vena Cava Design on the collar and the buttons are probably going to be brass colored and vintage. I have a whole bunch of button batches checked out on Tradera, I just need to win them ;)

burned books

January 25, 2009

A new version of my “burned books” necklaces. These will land on my etsy in a week or so.

the jacket (again)

January 25, 2009

Now I can make pretend that it is finished, but there are still some stuff to do on it. It needs hand sewn buttonholes, pockets and it needs to have the lining attached. But I expect it to be done at the end of next week. On the picture I have pinned a paper pocket shape on the jacket, and the buttons are also only pinned on.

the striped jacket

January 21, 2009

In school I am currently working on a jacket, I actually weaved this fabric myself, it is wool weft with cotton warp. I actually don’t know any weaving terms in English, but Ill make it up as I go along ;)
The warp is solid black cotton, to get the sharpest colors I decided to not have the warp in stripes, that made me weave the fabric the “wrong” way stripes laying down in stead of the normal way.

This is the sketch I made for this jacket.

New years eve dress 2008

January 19, 2009

This new years eve was a bit special, two friends to the family got married and I sewed her dress. I know that one should not wear black to a wedding but as this was a “not so formal” wedding and it was new years eve and the bride told me that it was totally fine I ignored that.
This dress is sewn in gray (see, not totally black!) taffeta with a black flock printed pattern on it that I found at Ohlssons tyger, I have the exact same fabric but in red as curtains in my bedroom ;) I really like this fabric.

I tried to match the pattern on the bodice part, but I gave up. To much shapes to make it possible so I decided to have gray piping in the seams in stead, to make the parts divided and the “brake” between the patterns sharp and clear. That way you would not be bothered if the pattern did not match. I did match the pattern center back were the hidden zipper is.

The dress is sewn to fit my body with a corset on, 10 cm smaller than my natural waist. I wanted the “new look” visuals, wasp waist and big skirt so I used the same petticoat as I had under my Christmas dress.

The pattern for this dress is based on the same as the one for my Christmas dress but with a lot of alterations. As the icing on the cake I have a detachable bow in the back.

embroidered pendants

January 18, 2009

A new kind of necklaces that I am pondering on, I kind of like the colored one more then the all black, I got the inspiration from my pincushion that I made a while back in school. The pattern is from 1934 and is probably supposed to be white work embroidery on a tablecloth, I scaled it down and made it black on black in stead.

18th century pair of stays

January 17, 2009

To my Robe a la Francaise I need a pair of stays, I found the pattern in “Corsets and crinolines” by Norah Waugh and used the same technique as I did with my pocket hoops I scaled the pattern using a overhead projector on the wall and then putting up some paper and draw the pattern on it, to make it fit my measurements I just moved the over head projector further back or nearer the paper to make the pattern on the wall bigger or smaller, and then I measured the bust measurement on the pattern on the wall and made sure that it was the same as mine – 10cm (approximately – 4 inches)

the top boning channel is kind of messed up, without thinking I sewed the other channels shut, when I should have done as I did with the channel under it, I have fixed that now.

So now I am making a mock up corset, to make sure that it actually fit me before I cut into the coutil and silk. But I am sewing it as a real corset, with boning, strength fabric (non stretchy twill) and nice binding. If it fit me I have a functional pair of stays that perhaps is not as strong as my silk one will be, but that works. If it is to big or to small, I can sell it without feeling bad about it.

The Christmas dress 2008

January 17, 2009

I thought that I would share with you my Christmas dress (click to enlarge images). It is in red taffeta from Stoff och Stil and decorated with this really pretty lace from Vena Cava Design
I have used this lace before and I just adore it, subtle and small but beautiful and the quality is nice to.

I made the pattern for this dress myself, it is really the pattern that I made for a blouse a while back, I just added the skirt part and made a new collar and so.

To make the skirt full, I have a separate petticoat under it, I like having poofy skirts, but sometimes I feel so lolita wannabe in them.