#SewingCoco Party – Coco meets Miette!

I’m celebrating Tilly‘s Coco Party today with a stripy Breton-inspired Coco top paired with my midi and maxi Miette skirts.

Coco top in organic interlock jersey and maxi Miette skirt in linen by Tilly and the Buttons

Until yesterday evening, I hadn’t done any sewing this week, so Coco was the perfect quick basic pattern to get me back into the swing of things. I sewed the whole thing up apart from the neck and the hems on my overlocker in about an hour.

Coco and John Smedley cardigan

Coco and John Smedley cardigan and scarf

I really like that the blue and red top can be teamed up with both my blue and magenta skirts and each skirt brings out a different colour in the top! So versatile!

Well done Tilly, you’ve produced another great pattern to add to my wardrobe staples.

Cheers!

 

Perfect Pattern Parcel #1 and Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee

Carnival must have worked its winter-banishing magic because cold weather seems far behind us now and the sunny spell has me itching to get cracking on my 2014 summer wardrobe.

As luck would have it, just as I’d begun excitedly daydreaming about patterns and fabrics, lovelies Jill (Made with Moxie) and Rachael (Imagine Gnats) approached me to get involved with the launch of Perfect Pattern Parcel #1! The timing couldn’t have been better and I couldn’t have been happier to lend a hand!

Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee in Italian viscose jersey

Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee

Perfect Pattern Parcel (http://patternparcel.com) is an initiative that supports indie pattern designers, donates to children’s education charity and supports the sewing community by offering great deals on patterns – we get to choose how much we pay for each Pattern Parcel! (See the bottom of this post for all the deets.) It’s a win, win, win all round!

Perfect Pattern Parcel #1 includes five fantastic PDF patterns.

• The Skater Dress by Kitschy Coo – (Made already – see my review here)
• Dandelion Dress & Top by Disparate Disciplines – (as soon as I can bear to bear my legs again, I’ll be making this dress!)
• Summer Concert Tee by Dixie DIY – (Made already – see below)
• Ava by Victory Patterns – (Ditto with the legs and want to make top)
• Accordion Bag by Sew Sweetness – (Need to make several of these!)

For my first pick from the PPP #1 bundle, I went with the relaxed Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee because, despite the good weather, I can’t prise myself out of my jeans just yet – I’m a Brit brought up in cooler climes who needs easing into summer – very gradually!

Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee in Italian viscose jersey

The Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tee pattern is a ‘loose fitting knit t-shirt with scoop neck and drop shoulders. Hem cropped in front and long in back. Cool enough for hot summer days and hip enough for a music festival.’

We haven’t quite reached ‘hot summer days’ yet, so this is how I’m layering mine up in the meantime – with a self-made vest and jacket.

I used a drapey Italian viscose from my stash to make this. The pattern suggests using almost two yards of fabric but my fabric was wide enough to need only one metre. Patterns requiring one metre or less of fabric are my absolute favourite kind, just perfect for using up remnants or expensive fabrics that you can only afford the tiniest bit of.

Organic cotton ribbing used for neck and sleeve bands

I used an organic cotton rib knit for the neck and sleeve bands. I made the sleeves into bands instead of hemming them because I’m a bit lazy and it just seemed easier. I sewed the hem of the tee and topstitched the neck and sleeve bands on my regular sewing machine using a zig-zag stitch and a jersey sewing needle. I used my overlocker for all the other seams, but you could also easily make this top using just a regular sewing machine, provided you use a jersey sewing needle and a stretchy stitch such as zig-zag.

The beauty of this pattern is that it takes no time at all to whip up. In fact, once you have your pattern cut out, you could have this sewn up in the time it would take you to watch an episode of ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’!

I made mine in the smallest size XS. I lengthened the front piece by about ten centimetres and the back piece by about seven centimetres and took in each side by a couple of centimetres to cut some of the fullness. It’s still pretty roomy but that’s the breezy nature of this tee. I also lengthened the neck-band to fit the neck opening because my fabric isn’t very stretchy.

It’s a relaxed fit but I’m sure that as the weather heats up, I’ll be glad of a bit of ventilation and of course, it’ll be perfect for when I’m hanging at the summer music festivals!

(BTW – if you’re wondering why I’m jumping around like a fool in these pics, it’s because I’m really uncomfortable posing and in reality, I’m rarely still for long. So I set the camera on self timer, put my favourite tunes on and had a little dance party! Don’t know if it improved the photos, but at least I had more fun!!)

To get your mitts on this and the other patterns in this parcel, head over to Perfect Pattern Parcel now and name your price! But hurry the sale ends on March 21st 2014.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a fabulous giveaway to celebrate the launch of this worthy venture, with some really great prizes, so don’t miss out!

Thanks so much Jill and Rachael for bringing me on board for this launch. You picked a cracking set of patterns for this first Parcel, I was spoilt for choice about which to make first! And I now feel all virtuous for helping out in aid of such worthy causes that are also dear to my heart! I wish you lots of success with your new venture!

Readers, I’m in very fine company for this blog tour, so go and check out the other bloggers’ sites and see plenty more reviews of these fabulous patterns –

One Little Minute | SeamstressErin Designs | One Girl Circus |casa crafty | the quirky peach | Kadiddlehopper | Sew Caroline | Groovybabyandmama |Fishsticks Designs | the Brodrick blog | verypurpleperson |sew a straight line | Adventures in Dressmaking | true bias | Idle Fancy | La Pantigana | Crafterhours | Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts | Max California | SewBusyLizzy | la inglesita | Diary of a Chainstitcher | four square walls |Lauren Dahl | Sewbon | mingo & grace | Dandelion Drift | VeryShannon | Sanae Ishida |buzzmills | Sew Jereli | Figgy’s | Froo & Boo | a happy stitch | Disaster in a Dress | Things for Boys | mama says sew | sew Amy sew | Made With Moxie | imagine gnats

About Perfect Pattern Parcel:

Put together by two entrepreneurial makers driven by their internal voices and one self-taught hacker with an “if you build it, they will come” mentality, and Perfect Pattern Parcel was born. We are passionate about supporting independent designers in their craft and fostering a community of makers to grow. Our mission is to offer high-quality pdf sewing patterns written by indie designers while supporting children’s education.

About Donors Choose:

Donors Choose is an organization that matches up the needs of teachers and their students for specific projects with willing donors. The funds raised from each Pattern Parcel sale will go to help K-12 students in minimizing educational inequality and encourage a community where children have the tools and experiences necessary for an excellent education.

About Parcel #1:

Pattern Parcel #1 includes sewing patterns for women that are modern classics, featuring both flattering silhouettes and garments that are comfortable to wear. From a new little black dress to weekend play wear, the patterns in Parcel #1 have got you covered.

Support Indie Designers

Independent designers create patterns that are innovative, imaginative and in line with current style trends. Their patterns encompass a broad range of sizes and fabulous “out of the envelope” fit because they’re thoroughly tested by real people. With detailed and well-explained instructions, these patterns often teach as you sew. Independent designers are approachable, providing support, suggestions, publishing additions to your favorite designs, and hosting interactive sewing events. When we are patrons of indie designers, we are supporting small, mostly women owned, businesses. We are developing the community around us. We are helping to making dream come true.

Fancy Dress Costumes – Part Two – ‘Yes little Cinderella, you shall go to the ball!’

Fairy/princess type bits and pieces for my children!

This is the second installment of my Carnival makes for my children although this costume isn’t so much of an outfit, more a collection of accessories that can be worn together or played with separately.

 The main piece is this tulle skirt. I used the tutu pattern from Liesl Gibson’s book ‘Oliver and S Little Things to Sew’ to make this and followed the instructions pretty much word for word. Although I may have skipped a couple of steps such as finishing the ends of the ribbon because my little daughter was so desperate to wear it that she literally ripped it from the sewing machine mid-sew!

It was easy enough to make but it has five layers of tulle all folded double so ten layers effectively and one of my layers had a sparkly treatment to it which makes it a bit thicker than the other tulles and when layered up, this tulle put up the fight of its life to escape! I learnt that working with tulle requires the patience of a saint which evidently I don’t have!

 To accessorise the skirt, I made my daughters a crown each. As with the previous costume, I used wool felt for the band reinforced with a hat band inside and with an overlap and velcro fastening at the back. I used up trims from my stash to embellish them. This was the first time I’d sewn sequins but I found this YouTube video really helpful.

Sewing on sequins by hand is easy and surprisingly addictive! Sewing these led to this!

Every fairy princess needs a wand so that was the final piece of this outfit. I used wooden sticks 6mm in diameter bought from my local DIY shop to make the main handle of the wand and two star shaped pieces of wool felt sandwiched together to make the wand tops.

I sewed the sequins on before I sandwiched the pieces and sewed them by machine together and hand-sewed the bells on last. The wooden stick is encased in a grosgrain ribbon that was folded over and sewn together to make a tube which encases the stick.

I enjoyed making these pieces even though they took a fair bit of time and my little daughters were really happy to receive them. My little daughter was whizzing down a slide in her tulle skirt shortly after she first put it on – I’m learning that you can’t be too precious about things you make for children!

Ahh Carnival, we’re going to miss you – till next year!

‘Helau, Alaaf!!’, It’s Carnival!!

If Project Sewn or the new season of The Great British Sewing Bee haven’t whet your sewing appetite yet, then I offer you something a little different to get your creative juices flowing!

Check out all this hand-made goodness!

Hand carved and hand painted wooden German Carnival mask

Mayhem has descended on the little southern German town where I live!

Carnival street parade 

You see it’s Fasching – or carnival time!

Hand-made German carnival costumes

A festive season when excessive consumption of food, drink and fun is de rigueur and creativity abounds, as all and sundry clad themselves in fancy dress costumes.

It’s a long weekend of living it up before Ash Wednesday, when the Christian Lenten fasting period begins!

Fasching or Carnival street parade

Yesterday on Rosenmontag, costumed townsfolk took to our streets and led a parade of music, merriment and ….

Hand carved wooden masks and hand-made carnival costumes

MISCHIEF!

Mischief!

There was no escaping the carnival fervor!

Carnival parade drummers

Live music sets the upbeat atmosphere of the carnival parade and gets everyone’s toes tapping and the carnival participants greet each other by shouting ‘Helau, Alaaf!’.

Wooden carnival masks to drive out winter and ‘scare’ away evil spirits

Carnival celebrations are intended to drive out winter and all of its evil spirits – hence the ‘scary’ masks!

Sweets for the children

My little girls love it because they get to dress up and eat lots of sweets!

Elaborate hand-made carnival costumes

But check out the costumes! They’re nearly all hand-made!

The attention to detail and love that has gone into these is palpable!

Hand appliqued jacket!

The carnival participants go to great lengths to make their costumes. These garments and accessories are labours of love and I get it! On a cold winter’s day, all this creativity was enough to warm the cockles of my sewer’s heart!

Horse tail hair!

The man behind this mask told me he’d carved and painted his wooden mask himself and the hair around the mask is a horse’s tail, given to him by a butcher from deep in the Black Forest. His outfit also included sheepskin, foxes tails and cow’s horns!

I marveled at these costumes and props and all the hours of sewing and planning and creativity that have gone into them!

I loved them all!

‘Helau, Alaaf!’

Project Sewn, Final Week – ‘Signature Style’ – Simple with a sprinkle of sparkle!

So it’s the fourth and last week of Project Sewn and what a competition it’s been! The finalists outfits this week are out of this world! I absolutely love the wearability and effortless chic-ness of Alida’s outfit – I want all of it including her fabulous hair! The creative tour-de-force that is Oona just blew me away again –  her dress and coat left me speechless! Uber cool! And finally only a statuesque Brazilian beauty such as Rachel could pull off that amazing sculpted dress with all its fasinating design details! How inspiring it’s all been and what a pity it’s about to end!

As in the previous weeks, the general sewing public are invited to get involved by posting a pic of their ‘signature style’, an outfit that reflects their personal style and sewing ability.

Republique du Chiffon Viviane dress

This challenge got me thinking about my own personal style and how I express this with my sewing. My sewing skills are still somewhat rudimentary and with two small children to take care of and a dog, I don’t have endless time for sewing. So I definitely prefer sewing simple designs that are comfortable and practical to wear for my active lifestyle, aren’t too taxing and time consuming to make and which I can choose to enhance either with fancy fabrics or with embellishments. My latest make is a prime example of this.

Viviane dress by Republique du Chiffon

This is the Viviane dress pattern from French independent pattern company, Republique du Chiffon. It’s a simple style that is easy to sew up. It pulls on over the head so there’s no need to worry about zips or buttonholes, it just has a simple loop and button at the back of the neck. You can choose to make either a top or a dress from this pattern, which you buy as a PDF download and print out.

Scalloped quilted yoke

I think this dress has many endearing features such as the elbow length sleeves and the dropped waist but it was the quilted yoke that attracted me to this pattern. I love the scalloped quilting lines and wanted to emphasise them in my dress.

Sequins!

I’m blaming my daughters for the sequins! It’s carnival time here in Germany and I’ve been working on costumes for my girls which involved lots of hand sewing of sequins and well, I got a bit carried away!

Quilted yoke and bust darts

I don’t know yet if I’m happy with the result but I don’t really mind because I had a lot of fun trying this out and I enjoy experimenting – nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Plus that yoke isn’t just decorative, it’s functional too! Oh yes, it’s this dress’s secret weapon, it’s a Trojan horse, if you will. You see this baby is working double duty because it’s stuffed with this:

Organic wool!

Wool! – pure and unadulterated complete with bits of straw, fresh from the German organic sheep farm it came from. And boy does this make a difference to the warmth of this dress! It’s toasty! I may have to work a bit of this insulation into all my winter garments!

Dress fully lined with viscose lining fabric that needs pressing!

The dress is fully lined with a viscose lining fabric. I actually treated the top of the dress and the lining as one to sew up because it all got too complicated with the yoke attachment and the sleeves.

If you’re unfamiliar with Republique du Chiffon, then go and check them out, they’ve got some great French chic patterns and have just released a free dress pattern to kick off the launch of their 2014 pattern collection.

For oodles more French inspiration, also stop by the Republique du Chiffon fan blog, where you can see the wonderful creations that have been made by fans of the Republique du Chiffon patterns.

Pattern recap

Pattern used – Viviane dress by Republique du Chiffon PDF download. Made in Size 36

Fabric used – Wool suiting, linen for the yoke, organic wool batting for the quilting, viscose lining and sequins – all from stash!

Pattern Difficulty Rating – Easy

Don’t forget to exercise your democratic right and cast your vote for your favourite outfit over at Project Sewn!

Have you added any secret details to any of your hand sewn garments? How would you describe your personal style?  What’s the most experimental thing you’ve made? I’d love to hear about it, so please leave a comment below.

Happy 2014 and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Skirt’!

Happy 2014 everyone! I hope you’ve all had a ‘Guten Rutsch’ (good slide) into the New Year, as they say in these parts!

I’m posting this skirt review later than I’d planned. Holiday travel, sick children and other seasonal distractions completely derailed my blog posting schedule at the end of 2013 and thus far this year – but I’m British, so I’m keeping calm and carrying on regardless!

This is Skirt Three of my ‘Schwarzwald Autumn/Winter 2013 skirt trio collection made from BurdaStyle skirt pattern 12/2012 #105.

BurdaStyle 12/2012 skirt pattern in sequin wool fabric

The Schwarzwald inspiration for this skirt was the beautiful and sparkly frosts we get here in the Black Forest in winter.

Frosty Black Forest in Germany

To combat said chilly frosts, I made this skirt out of a thick wool fabric with a sequin top layer bought from Canepa Spa Outlet – the factory shop of Canepa Spa Italian designer fabric manufacturer at Lake Como, Italy.

Wool from Canepa Spa Outlet, Lake Como, Italy

The wool keeps me toasty warm even on the frostiest days. However the thick sparkly fabric adds bulk where I’d rather not highlight bulkiness and so if I were to make another sparkly skirt, I would definitely choose a slinkier sparkly fabric with better drape!

bulky fabric highlights all lumps and bumps!

No need to ask ‘Does my bum look big in this?’, I already have the big, shiny answer!

Anyway, moving on!

Again this skirt pattern was super simple to make even in this thick wool although the invisible zip that I put in the back centre seam has misbehaved a bit and keeps jamming in the wool. I may have to replace this at some point.

Viscose lining and ribbon waistband

I lined the skirt with a viscose lining and used more of the Mokuba grosgrain ribbon that I used for the other two skirts as the waistband with an invisible zip in the back centre seam with a hook and eye closing at the top.

Frumpy length?

I hand-stitched the hem after pondering for some time about ways to finish the hem off nicely. After I’d finished the skirt, I spotted a sparkly skirt on my travels in Zadig and Voltaire in France. For their version, they left the hem raw and the poly lining of the skirt protruded down below the hem a couple of centimetres, frayed for about a centimetre at the end, which gave the bottom of the skirt a softened look and also made it edgy looking. I prefer this finish so if I make this skirt over, I’d finish the hem like Zadig and Voltaire did.

Frumpy length?

The other main difference between their skirt and mine apart from the huge price tag of the Zadig one! is the length – Zadig and Voltaire’s skirt is fashionably mini.

‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Skirt’

Despite my skirt being a frumpy length and exaggerating all my lumps and bumps, it does keep me warm and the magpie in me does like the way the fabric sparkles!

Have you made anything that may not have been the most flattering thing for you but you liked it and wore it anyway??

The ‘Schwarzwald’ Autumn/Winter 2013 Skirt Collection – Skirt One – ‘Wild’

Ralph Pink Patterns ran a competition earlier this month to create a mood board for a couture collection. I didn’t enter but it sounded like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d get into the spirit of theme creating for this collection of three skirts using one pattern – BurdaStyle 12/2012 #105.

The theme is the ‘Schwarzwald’ or ‘Black Forest’, inspired by the region of Germany where I live, where France, Germany and Switzerland meet.

BurdaStyle 12/2012 #105

This first skirt is ‘Wild’–  in German these are the game animals resident in the Black Forest. Such as this critter –

‘Wildschwein’ or wild boar

and these!

Deer

And if you aren’t lucky enough to bump into these on a forest walk, then you can always eat them in the local restaurants!

BurdaStyle 12/2012 #105

The beauty of this BurdaStyle pattern in my opinion, is its simple style. It’s the perfect blank canvas to showcase fancy fabrics, such as this wool with this interesting raised animal print texture, bought at the Hollander Stoff Market in Germany.

Petersham ribbon waistband

It is a beginner-friendly pattern that has step by step pictoral instructions in the Burdastyle magazine. The design couldn’t be simpler with only four darts at the back and four at the front and an invisible zip in the back centre seam. There is no waistband to make, just attach Petersham ribbon and add a hook and eye closure to the top of the zip and you’re done!

I lined the skirt with a viscose lining attached at the waist of the skirt. I did this by sewing the skirt and lining with right sides together along the top edge of the waist, then I flipped the lining over to the inside of the skirt, ready to attach the ribbon waistband.

I didn’t need to make any fitting alterations to the pattern either – always a bonus I think!

Stay tuned for Skirt Two – ‘Forest Foliage’ coming soon!

Enjoy the weekend,

Christine

M.M.M.’13 Version 2.1 and Collegien Giveaway news!

My-Maxi-Miette 2013.

This pattern hack of the Miette skirt pattern by Tilly and the Buttons, was the result of an online search of Miette pattern reviews and a suggestion by the lovely Oonaballoona on her blog to make the Miette into a maxi. I thought this was a great idea and immediately stole it  was inspired to make one myself.

Maxi Miette skirt on tour in Venice, Italy

It’s really easy to make this pattern into a maxi. All you have to do is lengthen the bottom of the front and back pattern pieces to your desired final skirt length, being careful to follow the angle of the outer lines of the original pattern and remembering to include a hem allowance. Then construct the skirt as usual and voila, you have a maxi!

One more maxi skirt to add to this summer’s growing collection

I used a really lightweight and fine linen bought from Anita Pavani online shop (http://www.naturstoff.de) in the Italian designer fabrics section, to make mine. It’s really nice to wear and has washed well. I did French seams to join the main skirt pieces.

(BTW – Anita Pavani provide washing care instructions for the fabrics they sell and they recommend not spinning linen in the washing machine when you wash it, you should hang it and allow it to drip dry instead.)

Very fine and slightly transparent Italian linen

I partially lined my maxi-skirt with more of the organic cotton batiste that I bought at http://www.lebenskleidung.com, that has served me so well as a lining for all of my summer makes this year. The batiste is really lightweight so it hardly added to the weight of the skirt at all but just gave me enough coverage and confidence to step out in bright sunlight, safe in the knowledge that my undies weren’t on show! I didn’t line the overlap piece at the back because it wasn’t necessary.

Lined partially with organic cotton batiste.

I made another Wiksten tank top in a Liberty Art Fabrics cotton print to go with this skirt, which I wore on this day-trip to Venice, Italy during our summer holiday this year. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of it in Venice because by the time we’d reached the city from where we were staying, I’d already put my jumper on over the top of it, so here it is on my dress-form Beatrice.

Wiksten tank top and Tilly and the Buttons Miette skirt

Wiksten tank top in Liberty Art Fabric cotton print

BTW – If you’re planning to visit Venice, I would suggest getting to the Rialto bridge in time to catch the sun setting over the Grand Canal – the view is spectacular!

The view from the Rialto bridge over the Grand Canal, in Venice, Italy

It gets a bit jammed with tourists though! You wouldn’t believe how many people I had to elbow in the face to get a bit of clearance for this photo!

The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Elbows come in handy here!

Of course I’m exaggerating – it wasn’t that many!!

Anyway back to the Miette maxi skirt. It was comfortable and practical to wear for a day’s sightseeing around the quaint little streets of Venice.

Hanging with my kids in Venice

The skirt performed well under pressure, even under the harshest of test conditions, such as when I was hurling my toddler over the bridge into the canal for misbehaving! The back flap of the wrap didn’t budge all day, successfully avoiding any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions!

No wardrobe malfunctions of the back wrapover flap.

Again, only joking of course – MY kids don’t misbehave!!

Very posy looking – I was actually just readjusting the wrap when my husband snapped this!

All in all, Tilly and the Buttons has created a very versatile skirt pattern and I love it!

As I write this, Tilly’s busy finishing off her first book for sewing beginners which is due out next spring. I can only imagine how good that’ll be! I wish her lots of luck with it and I’m sure it’ll be a huge success!

More YoSaMi news – don’t forget to stay tuned for the giveaway soon, it really is worth waiting for! You could win your very own pair of these delightful Collegien slipper socks!

Collegien slipper socks – they’re French!

Also, I’ve finally finished my red silk Anna dress by By Hand London after what feels like f-o-r-e-v-e-r! I’ll be posting it as soon as I’ve had a chance to photograph it!!

Have a great week,

Christine

Minikrea Anorak 30500 review

It feels like a while since my last post and honestly I don’t seem to have had much time to sew or blog since the new school term began! It’s getting closer to winter every day and I haven’t even really begun my autumn sewing!

But onwards and upwards as they say. No time to dwell on what’s not been done! So I’m reviewing a kid’s pattern that I actually made last year, although these photos of my daughter were taken about a month ago.

The sleeves aren’t quite as long as they appear here, it’s just my daughter being an uncooperative model and keeping her hands inside the sleeves.

This is ‘Anorak – 30500’ by Minikrea, a Danish children’s pattern company. Minikrea have a large selection of kid’s patterns and this is the first that I’ve tried so far. The patterns are written in Danish but you can download English instructions from their website – http://www.minikrea.dk.

‘Anorak’ is a hooded pullover or dress pattern that comes in sizes age four to ten and I made the size age four.

More like a sweatshirt dress than a top

As you can see in the photo, the sizing is quite generous. My daughter’s five and half and it’s more of a dress on her than a top.

I think the pattern makes a cute sweatshirt dress for girls. My daughter isn’t very keen on dresses at the moment – she’s into climbing trees and other not very dress-worthy activities so she insisted on wearing trousers under the dress so she can break out into action at a moments notice!

Practical hood

This dress is ideal for active kids. The styling of it reminds me of Finnish kid’s clothing brand, ‘Finkid’ which I love. The pattern’s designed for fleece or sweatshirt knit fabrics and is simple to make.  It’s practical and cosy with the hood but with some cute details too, like the front patch pocket.

Patch pocket

I used a natural coloured organic sweatshirt-knit from http://www.lebenskleidung.de to make this. It’s a heavy duty sweater knit fabric and is super fluffy on the inside making it really cosy and warm. I bought ten metres of this last year when there was a sale on with the intention of dyeing some but I haven’t got round to that yet. I have made a pair of pants for me and a sweatshirt from BurdaStyle patterns from last year and they are really comfy to wear at home.

If you haven’t already checked them out, I highly recommend a virtual visit to Lebenskleidung or an actual visit if you happen to be in Berlin, Germany. The company is German but all the staff speak English and the website is also available in English.

I first met them at Munich Fabric Start, (the twice yearly fashion industry fabric trade fair held in Munich) and whilst most of what’s on offer at this fair is beyond the scope of the home sewist – unless you’re in need of a few thousand metres of fabric of course which is quite a few maxi dresses – but there are some gems within our reach and Lebenskleidung is one of them.

Lebenskleidung is a retailer of organic fabrics, both woven and jersey knits which is primarily for B2B but the minimum order is five metres so I think that it is also within the reach of the rest of us. It has a vast variety of fabrics on offer at reasonable prices.

I used some of their cotton batiste woven fabric on the inside of the hood and on the front pocket on this sweatshirt dress to give it a bit of detail. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

organic cotton printed batiste used to add detail inside the hood and on the patch front pocket

Lebenskleidung have an interesting system for ordering new fabrics too. They have a regular stock of basic knits and woven fabrics and they also offer group bulk buys on other fabrics. You can chip in with a minimum individual order of five metres and be part of a larger group collective order. If collectively enough people place orders to reach the minimum amount needed for production then the order is successful and is processed but if not enough people collectively want it, then it doesn’t go through to production.

The company also actively encourage and showcase new emerging German designers who are using their fabrics and you can check them out on their website. I tried to persuade them to release patterns from these new designers when I met them this year at the fair. Of course I was only joking with them but maybe if enough of us ‘lobby’ them, then it may happen!! They were wearing some very cool knit tops from German designers, when I met them, that I would love to make!

Anyway back to the dress. I also used natural coloured organic cotton rib knit (also from Lebenskleidung) for the cuffs.

Organic cotton rib knit used for cuffs

I’m no expert when it comes to sewing with knits, they still intimidate me a lot if truth be known, but this was really easy to sew and with good results I think – even my daughter likes it and she’s particularly difficult to please!

Have a great week,

Christine

Anna dress sew-a-long and YoSaMi news.

A quick update of what’s going on here at YoSaMi.

First up, preparations are underway to join in with the Anna dress sew-along hosted by, By Hand London.

Here’s my little helper today, assisting with hand washing some silk twill fabric by Italian designer Etro that I snaffled up from the Anita Pavani Stoffe webshop, as soon as the new autumn designer collection hit the virtual shelves. It’s a lovely deep red colour and I really love it.

I’m planning on making another midi-version of the Anna dress because I think that’ll get most wear. I’ve already got the pattern cut out but I think that I’ll reduce the seam allowances to only one centimetre this time just to give a bit more ease to the bodice of the dress – it’s a bit too snug for my liking! I’ll also make it a bit more autumn appropriate by adding three quarter length sleeves which are now a viable option thanks to the By Hand London sleeve drafting tutorial which has been included in the sew-along resources. I’m looking forward to trying this out.

I’m a bit late with my preparations because I’ve just returned from a family trip around Europe. We literally travelled far and wide and high and low and I did lots of research into European resources for the home sewer and textile designers.

Here’s just a taste of where we got to:

    

From mountain peaks to world famous cities and relics of ancient cities, to lakeside towns to turquoise seas, we literally saw it all.

I also stopped by Munich Fabric Start, the international fashion industry fabric trade fair and caught up on the coming fashion fabric trends and talked with some interesting companies at the forefront of the European fashion industry..

I visited a leading Italian textile design studio and interviewed the owner.

I visited various fabric factory outlets and bought copious amounts of fabric and took a suitcase full of my recent makes so that I could photograph them. I’m hoping that the pretty backgrounds will distract you from my poor modeling!

I’ve collected some great resources and I’m looking forward to sharing it all here with you as soon as I’ve caught my breath!

Have a great week,

Christine