Where I went to the Netherlands

Hello there!
I hope everyone is doing fine. I am adjusting to my new life and still finding time to do all I like doing.

Yes, I have a new life to talk about: I got a job! It is an amazing position (like the one of my dreams) and I am so glad all my research has paid out and I am now happy-super happy from a working point of view.
The new job is in Toulouse, so I'll stay here for as long as it takes, and Chéri is doing his best to get a position at least in the same country. From this point of view life is still a bit challenging, but we are not going to be stopped by these "details": we have goals together and we will reach them!

The title of this post comes from a one-week business trip I made to the Netherlands in mid-February: I went to Leiden and took advantage of the Saturday market to buy some fabric, of course!
They have a couple of fabric and haberdashery shops in the market and I was impressed by the choice available and the good prices! Needless to say, I bought *a lot* of fabric...

So here I am showing a very simple but cute blouse.

It is from the book "Fashion with Fabric" by TGBSB authors.
I have made this pattern before so nothing special to add: size 14 at the shoulders, with 10 cm FBA. With respect to the last time, in this sturdier cotton the final result is not too big but correct. Yuppy!

This time I made no back buttons, only a tiny tie in the back, and shortened the back hem, to make it wearable under jackets.
Also, no bias finishing but neck and armholes facing, and double rolled hem.

The main point of this simple blouse is of course the amazing fabric: nothing says more Netherlands than a Delft blue variation in a quality cotton. I think this would have also made a cute tablecloth (and Chéri agrees with me), but hey, I sew my clothes so I can choose to wear a tablecloth and do it in style!

I had fun matching the print as much as I could with one meter fabric, and I managed to do it also for the facing, but not perfectly on centre-back seam. So proud anyway!

I have been wearing it a lot at work, with a simple cardigan on top, or dressed up under a jacket, and I like to look away from the screen and see this joyful print and be reminded that I got a marvelous chance to start a new life and I'd better make the most out of it!

Where 2015 comes to an end

Hello there,
today I am sharing my very last makes of 2015!

First up a drapey dress included in the book Fashion with Fabric, by the authors of The Great British Sewing Bee.

 

I fell in love with this dress since it appeared in the book blog tour, and have been hunting the perfect fabric for a long time. Finally I found the exact grey Ponte di Roma I was looking for. It was in Toto Tissus in Toulouse and the price was affordable.

 

I cut a size M and made no modifications. The fit on the model was quite generous and I was ever so afraid of the potato sack effect. We all know boxy designs don't compliment my silhouette (or lack thereof).

I now think I should have graded to an L at the hips in order to make the fit more fluid on me, cause looking at the pictures I have the impression that the dress stops at the hips and a lot of fabric is kept at the waist, giving a not so nice pregnant lady effect, especially when you are not pregnant. 

Oddly enough I don't hate the back view, which almost never happens to me. It was my first time sewing Ponte di Roma and I truly enjoyed it!

  

The two main features of the dress are the generous inseam pockets and the asymmetric front design. They don't show in this fabric and in these pictures, but you have to trust me that in real life they are amazing features and I have received a lot of compliments.

I made this dress at the beginning of November and it has been ever since in constant rotation, with brogues or boots, under a cardigan or directly under the coat, given the mild autumn and winter here in Toulouse. I brought it to Italy for Christmas holidays and I have enjoyed it a lot!

Despite the fitting issue I love it and I might make it again!

A nice side note is that all the pictures of this dress were taken by Anne Lise and Magalie. Thanks girls! 

Now for the very last make of 2015, you have some awful bathroom selfies. Sorry but this is a present and I finished it quite last minute, so I definitely had no time for proper pictures.

Well, it is a snood/cowl I made for my friend Manu. She can wear it all folded, over the head or over the shoulders. 

Construction-wise is quite simple, just endless 1x1 ribbing and a few augmentations towards the end. The pattern is free on Ravelry. 

When she opened the present she loved it and the look on her face made me so happy!

Where I am a colourful bird

Hello there,
I hope this new week is going to be good for everyone, me included. I had a terrible past week and I am enjoying this new beginning as a chance to be happier. First thing to be happy, is wear something you enjoy wearing, like this top.

It is a quite simple "Button back blouse", found in the book "The Great British Sewing Bee: Fashion with Fabric". Since the pattern is an easy one, I took the occasion to better work my fitting skills, also because the fabric is on the non expensive side, so it was worth to be sacrificed as a wearable muslin.

Let's talk FBA: my upper bust is 95 cm, while my full bust is 105 cm, resulting in a D cup (105-95=10 cm) and the necessity of a 10/2=5 cm FBA. Hence the huge dart, visible in this picture:

Now, this is clear to me (if it is not correct please shout out, I am here to share and to learn). My problem is from which size to start the FBA. My poor knowledge says I have to start from the size which describes my upper bust measurement.

In this book, this is between size 12 (93 cm) and size 14 (98 cm). For this top, I used size 14, and then added 10 cm FBA in total (5 + 5). As you can clearly see, the blouse is too wide.

Writing this post up, I am checking again the measurements to give correct information, and honestly I can not understand why I went for such big alteration, ignoring the finished measurement provided for the garment: I should have noticed that the finished bust measurement is 104 cm for size 14, so the design has a large fit...

So ok, now I understand my mistake, and maybe next time I try this pattern I will start the FBA at size 12, because also on the shoulders I can use a smaller size.

Anyway, fitting issues aside, I do like the result. Maybe I am too sentimentally attached to anything I sew. In this case, the main features are the back buttons and the fabric. This is my first make from the book, but I foresee more, because I like the style, and because every single pattern has a sufficient amount of details to make it interesting.

I picked 3 different colours of buttons: light green, blue and red, to match the fabric. I could not settle on one colour so I went for all of them (hoarder alert). As usual I was over-scared to sew buttonholes. They are not perfect but good enough. I blame my machine, but don't tell her, she can get upset.

At my favourite local heberdashery, I also bought the bias tape which finished neck, hem, and armholes. In this colour they only had a kind of satin one, that in my modest opinion it is not really bias, since it has no give at all. The nightmare for those armholes!
I am so sorry for the over exposed pictures. Note to self: no more pictures at noon! Even if my balcony is in the shadows at that time of the day, it is difficult to clearly see details and fabric.

Speaking of fabric, it is a lovely cotton by Toto Tissus, where I bought this precut remnant for something like 3 €. I still have a tiny little scrap of it, maybe I'll do something for Chéri's niece. But we'll see about that. The print is a series of birds in and out their little cute cages.

In conclusion, I like this blouse, for the birds, the buttons, the nice feel of cotton on the skirt under the sun, and because it goes very well with all my bottom separates for this summer. I bet it will go into my holiday suitcase!

I wish you a nice evening, I go back to listening to "Sense and Sensibility" audiobook while tracing something new for my big project... (I'm such a teaser!)