Completed: BurdaStyle Pencil Skirt and Colette Sorbetto

I haven't sewn a lot lately, and what I've managed to sew I haven't had time to report... oops!

Well, better late than never so here you go. Both items are part of my spring SWAP.

The Colette Sorbetto is sewn in a plaid double cotton, bound with a (synthetic) bias strip with a slight sheen to it. I thought it may do in a job outfit, but now I'm not so sure. I think it looks a little too casual and perhaps a little too much like kitchen curtains...

The pencil skirt, on the other hand, I LOVE!! I managed to get every little bit to perfect finish, like truly invisible zip, truly invisible hem, just the right length and it fits me like a glove!
After having sewn a couple of items out of the BurdaStyle magazines I need to say that their patterns are really well made. Even though their models are super skinny, they usually fit me quite well with very small alterations (compared to many of the indie patterns that need a lot of work to fit well). I'd like to say I prefer the smaller pattern companies, and I do, but fit wise Burda rocks (and I am NOT super skinny by any means).

Here they are together:

By this, my spring SWAP is finished. The planning of my summer SWAP is on!! I think my summer plan will contain at least one remake item. Last summer I sewed up 2 Daisy dresses (during a sew along) from Eliza M's Vintage Patterns, and I didn't know about FBA att the time which made for really poor fit around the bust. Now that I do those bust alterations in my sleep I kind of want to rescue those dresses and make them fit well. I have plenty of the fabric left so I think I'll keep the (full circle) skirts and make new bodices. Or I may make one of them into a skirt and chop of the bodice.

I also want to make a cute summer dress to be worn at my friend's wedding, and I have made a wearable muslin in another BurdaStyle pattern (not hemmed yet as you can see if you really eye ball it) in a summery, crazy, vintage fabric. The dress turned out fine, but I don't think it is what I was looking for so I'm not making that again for the wedding. I might make a "little black dress" out of this pattern later, though.

Other items for the summer may include another Wardrobe Basic for work, in some nice nude suiting, maybe leggings and also, I'd love some navy Colette Iris shorts and a polka dot tie blouse in some sheer fabric. Oh, the joy of dreaming up sewing projects!

Have a nice weekend!
/Alexandra

Completed: Anise Jacket from Colette Patterns

Sorry I haven't been very active on the blog lately, but I've spent some time with my new love; Anise jacket! This is the first jacket I've made in my life and also the first lining of a jacket (obviously) and first bound buttonholes and a lot of other firsts. I am so incredibly pleased with how it turned out!!! This, my friends, is slow fashion at its best!

Pattern review: Love, love, love this pattern! It went together like a dream with really good instructions. It runs a little large though, so after making a muslin I went down one size compared to the pattern suggestions. I also added my usual FBA (full bust adjustment), and it is a little embarrassing  to admit (since I am almost the FBA expert now), I did the bust dart too high... I don't know how that happened. Oh, well.

Love the cropped sleeves! 

Since I am so pleased with the finished result, I decided to add a name tag to prevent it from getting stolen :-) I stamped letters in gold fabric paint onto a piece of cotton. Cute? Cute.

I also decided the jacket was totally worth the flair of real leather buttons as opposed to cheap plastic ones. It does add a certain level of class, I think.

Welt pockets and bound buttonholes turned out beautiful - proud!

Bright ass yellow lining

The jacket has a relaxed fit, despite the tailoring. At first I didn't like it, but now I think it's genius! I can even ride my bike in this without risk of ripping the seams.

Hey, mom - I love your jacket! 

/Alexandra

'Sewing With a Plan' - winter completed, spring starting

In my slow fashion section I post the summary on my SWAP efforts over the year.

The winter period is now up (or actually it was up already before xmas). I had a very ambitious plan for winter - 7 garments of which I had tried non of the patterns before. No real quick projects either. And there was THE PANTS that I feared so much (and still do, to some extent).

The winter plan contained 2 dresses, 2 pants, 2 blouses and 1 jacket. I managed to finish both pants, one dress and exchanged one blouse for another:

The Thurlow #1 was blogged about here, Thurlow #2 here, and here. The bat wing blouse was blogged about here,  and Hazel dress here.

-----o-----

Now, let's move on to the new plan - the SWAP of spring 2014!

Learning from my overly ambitions planning last time - and realising I'll have even less sewing time at hand during this next period I decided to aim for less. The SWAP states you should do 6 garments every season, so I feel totally rebellious showing a plan of only 4! Ha, ha.

I'll be going back to work soon, after almost a year on maternity leave, so I need to add some smartish outfits my wardrobe. The item I'm most excited about is the Anise jacket from Colette Patterns. I have never sewn a jacket before and I aim to make this one perfect! Gotta put the bar up high, right?

As any observant reader may notice, the fabric chosen for Anise is quite far from the samples I showed the other day (here). The reason is that I finally got around to check how much fabric I needed, which turned out to be a lot! Nearly 3y! So with the Harris Tweed costing a small fortune I chickened out and got some no name wool tweed from Sweden instead. It'll do just fine and has a spring feeling about it, I think. Besides, it is my first jacket and who nows how it'll turn out!


/Alexandra

Anise Jacket - MadMen Style

During the December sales I bought the Anise Jacket pattern from Colette. I like it because it is both stylish and classic but at the same time modern with the short sleeves and cropped design.

https://www.colettepatterns.com/shop/anise

My true inspiration to how I want my Anise to look is a child's wardrobe (yes, it's true!) namely the one of the MadMen character Sally Draper. I know she's like 10y old, but I can't help but love her style...

This is roughly what I am envisioning, although shorter:

Sally Draper, MadMen season 5/episode 12

I like the teddy/faux fur collar, particularly since I am sensitive to itchy wool - and wool tweed is itchy like hell. No way I can have that towards my neck without wearing a scarf.

Anyway... I have now ordered samples of wool tweed fabric from Harris Tweed UK. And now I don't have a clue which one I like more!!! Blue may be more sober and easier to combine, but I am a sucker for bright red too. Help!

Tweed samples.

/Alexandra

Packing for a week in the sun

Soon we're off for a precious family holiday and a week in the sun. So, what do I bring?


First, I am delighted to show off my holiday wardrobe - because it is ALL MADE BY ME! Even the bikini!! Did I hear awesome!! ?

Secondly, I'd like to share my toiletry bag, because I believe that you can be pretty organic even when you're away (yes I know this is like a fart in space compared to the environmental stress caused by actually getting there, but you gotta do something, right?):

The beauty box itself is made from upcycled vintage fabric, not made by me though. I actually bought it from a crafty person on Facebook. I love it!!

- Sunscreen: after lots of research with contradicting information I have decided that the least bad shit you can use against the harmful rays (other than clothes) contain no chemical filters (only physical) and are based on zink as opposed to titanium dioxide. And maybe the most important factor: no nano particles! The choice for the kids came down to Badger, found here. For us parents we have decided to use the stuff we already have, but try to use as little as possible. Staying in the shade is pretty effective too, as is wearing clothes of course.

- Then, as I keep raving about coconut oil, going on holiday without it is not an option. It actually offers low sun protection too, about SPF 7.1, so it should work during late afternoon instead of the regular creams.
- Olive oil, for removing make up and facial cleansing. Also offers about SPF 7.5 naturally by the way.
- Conditioner, "no poo"-style from Faith in Nature. This is used by the entire family, or at least those of us who have any hair...
- Aleppo soap for body and hand wash, for everyone.
- Shampoo, dry cake from Lush Cosmetics. Parabene free but contains SLS. Used by the rest of the family. Bonus feature - you don't have to carry any heavy water!

• Wooden hairbrushes.
• Tooth brushes made of bamboo and organic toothpaste.

Also, we mainly use GLASS travel sized containers. Won't they break? God, no! These are VERY thick and durable. They add a little extra weight compared to plastic, sure, but it is worth it. I have actually had both exploded plastic shampoo bottles as well as cracked ones in my luggage in the past. No issues with the glass ones.


For the small baby we have to bring some special stuff, like diapers. We use cloth at home and cloth away. The only thing we change is that when we travel, we pretty much only use flats (muslin squares) instead of all-in-ones or pocket style diaps. These are very easy to clean, even without a proper washing machine, and they dry in 15 minutes in the sun - no kidding. Just need to remember to bring a washing line and some pegs in case we need more drying space, and a little washing powder. We also bring our glass baby bottle and a cotton bib.

Flat diapers from Småfolk and Minimundus.

PUL-bag for dirty diapers and a bunch of cloth baby wipes.

Very soon I'll be hanging out here:

Photo borrowed from Bahia Principe's website.

Have a nice week people! In the meantime you can check out my Green Stuff section - it is now updated and covers everything in our bathroom. Next area will be kitchen, stay tuned!

Peace and love!
/Alexandra