A little cardigan for a dress

Like I mentioned yesterday, I've been busy whilst not blogging. One of my newest finished profects is this cardigan. Originally it was at least 15 cm (6") longer, but I changed that. De reason for changing it is that I bought this cardigan with it's sole purpose to be worn with dresses. Unfortunately it just didn't suit the dresses. It looked like the dress suddenly poofed from beneath, instead of a smooth transition. So that's why I decided to crop it a bit. Now its soooo much better than the original! By the way: this was my first time with sewing knits. It isn't that hard after all, especially when you have the opportunity to finish the seams with an overlocker. Just put a stretchneedle on your machine, choose a stretchstitch and voila, that's it!

The second cardigan - some model, different color - will also be alterred, same way as it's lighter version: I'll cut about 15 cm (6") out between the bottom and buste (that way I can use that nice finished bottom), take it 1,5cm (1/2") in at the waist [6 cm (2 3/8") in total], tapering to 0 right below the armpit. 

Conclusion? A simpel but oh-so-necessary project!

Clever links: May 21st, 2013

Pfoe, time really does fly by! Appaerently it's been two weeks since I last posted somthing on the blog! I know, shame on me. Since we moved, my days seem to be 'fuller' with everything: cooking, cleaning, relaxing, sewing, blogging, ... Before you know it, a couple of weeks have past. In those weeks I didn't slow down and sat back. No-sir-ee. There are several projects waiting to be finished, a new project itching to be sewed, 2 projects to blog about and 1 tried-and-true pattern to get a little more 'cake' and a little less 'frosting' in my closet.

But today I've got a couple of links you might find useful, fun or interesting. Keep on reading to know wich ones!

Crash Course in dartmoving

This tutorial really is something useful! If you asked me, you NEED to print these out and put them beside you when you're alterring a pattern. It shows you what happens when you move a dart, create an extra or eliminate them! You can find everything on Tatterdemalion's Tutorial.

Tatterdemalion
Originally I wanted to post yet another tutorial of  Tatterdemalion considering Yokes. But she has a lot of great tutorials, so I decided to link all her tutorials! If you're busy adjusting a pattern or making one from scratch, these should help you along the way!  Yokes and darts, Moving Darts, Moving darts to the side seams.

Zippers
I have already dedicated numerous post on zippers. Perhaps that's because I find them one of the most diffficult things to sew. I really - REALLY - do not like sewing zippers. Alas, I can't live without zippers, especially with all those dresses I like. So, to highlight the zippers and all it's tutorials, I've got a few more:  Centered zipper, Lapped zipper, Invisible zipper.

Make your own furniture cover

Here it is: the tutorial for making your very own furniture cover! Since I didn't take pictures while sewing the side table cover, I made a few drawings to help you visualize the instructions. Sewing this cover isn't hard or time-consuming: you'll be able to draft and sew this in one evening. Keep on reading to know how!

Step 1

Measures your furniture: depth/length (a), width (b) and height (c). These are all the measurements you"ll need, unless one of the sides is smaller or larger than the opossite side. Than I would measures those too. Don't forget to add at least a 1cm (3/8") seam allowance (1,5 cm aka 5/8" is perhaps even better).

(a) = 45 cm + 1 cm

(b) = 45 cm + 1 cm

(c) = 55 cm + 1 cm

Stap 2

My side table has 1 topsurface and 4 sides with the same dimensions. So I need 1 topfabric and 4 sidefabrics. For the top: use your measurements for (a) and (b). In my case, these are the same, so I have a square that measures 46cm x 46cm (fig. 1). Cut out once.

For the sidepanels you need the measurements for (b) and (c). In my example this gives a rectangle that measures 56cm x 56cm (fig. 2). Since I have 4 sides, I need to cut this out 4 times.

Stap 3

Sew the rectangles (fig.2) to the square (fig. 1) with the 46cm-sides (b) nicely aligned.

Stap 4

Sew the sides to each other. In the picture I gave the corresponding sides a color so you'll now wich sides to sew together. For the best results, you should start sewing at the bottom. When you get to the top, slow down a bit. This way you can manoeuvre the fabric around a bit to get a neat corner. Trim these corner afterwards so they don't bulk.

Stap 5

It's time for our final step: the hemming. Finish the edge with a zigzag or your overlocker. Iron the hem 1cm on the inside and sew.

Voila! Your cover is ready to use!

A Weekend Project

It took a little while, but we're finally getting used to living together and such. That means that I have more time to sew. Yay! There are numerous project waiting to be sewn, but for now, I'll just stick to sewing for the home.

So the day before yesterday I finished the first one of my projects: a cover for our side table. An easy and quick project with a big impact. Do you want to make your very own cover for any kind of furniture? Today's your lucky day! I made a little tutorial. Check back in a day or two to get it!

Before

After

Mad Men Challenge Finished

As you all know by now, I entered the Mad Men Challenge. I always adored Joan's green dress, but due to lack of time (moving and such), I decided to sew an other dress. One wich I already made twice and knew would fit. That saved me some time that I didn't have at that moment.

 

To be honest: the challenge wasn't the only reason to sew this dress. Moving made me realise that I don't have enough dresses and skirts. Time to change that. Aside from that, I also wanted some dresses I could wear with my petticoats. Because I did have petticoats, but no dresses to wear them with. It's my own fault: I shouldn't have donated the dresses I thought I didn't wear anymore. Because as it turns out: I do now! Oh well, just another excuse to sew :)

 

Back to the dress for the challenge. I used V8766 again, like I did for these two dresses. I really like the pattern: it's not hard and comes together easily. Ideal for a project like this. I kept the alterations i made before, but removed an extra 3cm on both sides of the center back; running to 0 just across the hip-line. Before I made these changes, it looked like my back was swimming in my dress, and I didn't really like that.

 

This time I omitted the lining, but underlined the buste because of the sheerness of the fabric. I didn't do this for the skirt because it's meant to be worn with petticoats.

 

There were a few pictures of Mad Men that contibuted to the inspiration for the dress. These next two are the most important ones. On the picture of the finished dress, it's not very visible, but the dress has a gold shine, quiet simular to this dress. I got my inspiration for the cut of the dress from the left dress and the flower motif from the right dress of this picture.

Pattern inspiration: left dress
Flower inspiration: right dress

Color inspiration

 

Clever Links: April 19, 2013

With moving into our appartment, getting used to my own household and the Mad Men Challenge, it's been a while since I kept you up-to-date about what you can find on the internet. It's about time that changed!

Jeans

For starters, there is this really amazing tutorial from C&C. I have no doubt you can relate with the following: You're shopping for a new pair of pants and while fitting, everything fits perfectly. Everything, except one thing: you can barely close it! The waistband isn't wide enough or doensn't flex enough! In the future, this won't be a problem anymore, as long as you follow Cotton&Curls' instructions!

Tailer's Knot
Portia from Miss P. has a simple and really useful tip for finishing darts. If you're like me, you usually just snip the ends of and leave it like that, with the risk of unraveling the dart(s). From now on, you'll never do that again, because you've read Portia's tutorial and don't know how you never came up with this idea!

V-neck with facings

Lastly I've got a tip on how to sew that tip of your V-neck like a pro. The Fashion Incubator shows you 2 ways to do this. Don't hesitate, read and sew!

Cotton&Curls

Miss P.

Fashion Incubator

Moving-day

Yesssssss! Finally the time is near for moving-day! Just one more week and I'll be hoaling boxes and furniture. To prepare myself, I've been putting all of my stuff in boxes. Yesterday was - sadly enough - the day I put all of my sewing equipment in boxes. And by all, I mean everything: fabric, vlieseline, sashes, needles, ... There was no escaping it. This means that I won't be able to compete with the Mad Men Challenge. The time limit is april 17 and that is just after our moving-day. Since I don't feel like sewing like a lunatic to get everything done in time for the Mad Men Challenge, I won't be in time to enter the contest. However, I'll still sew the dress, after I did some domestic sewing.

The first thing on my To-Do-list are some pillowcases for our table chairs. I already drafted the pattern and cut out the muslin. All I have to do, as soon as we've moved, is to sew the muslin, see if it fits and make a couple more.

Moving-day is also the reason why it's been so quiet on the blog. Because moving is all I can think about at the moment - I even get distracted at work everytime I hear the movingdate - I've been neglecting knitting, sewing and blogging. It's about time that we get this show on the road so I can start focussing on the normal, everyday things of life, instead of planning!
But untill that day, I just have one more thing to say: Happy Easter to you all! Enjoy those (chocolate) eggs!  :-)