Fabric shopping in Kiev and update on fabric stash

When we went to Kiev, I naturally couldn't resist visiting the fabric and haberdashery shops. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my mobile at home and couldn't take any photos from the shops. The shops displayed their cut fabrics on the walls, and only one of the shops displayed the actual bolts. The shops in Kiev have the most amazing haberdashery I have seen so far. So many amazing trims (you had to look through books and choose the one you want), buttons in every collar and different types of zippers.

I restricted myself to 4 fabrics (one more than I am actually allowed according to my stash diet rules, ups).

1. Some really soft stretch denim. Who was I, to resist this amazing polka dot denim? I just had to have it. I bought 1 meter and plan to make a skirt from it. Do you have any skirt pattern suggestions for stretch cotton? I initially thought I could make the Colette Beignet, but am worried that because of the stretch it will be too loose.

2. Patterned wool jersey. I spotted this fabric immediately, because it is purple and it has flowers woven (knitted?) into it. It appears a bit old-fashioned, but I think with a thin cream jersey as an lining the flowers will pop and it will make a nice winter dress. I don't have a specific pattern in mind yet, but I am eyeballing the new Moneta dress from Colette patterns.

3. White flower lace cotton. There was some confusion when I bought the fabric, because initially I wanted to have a similar lace cotton with smaller flowers. I wanted two meters to make a summer dress, but there were only 1.3 meters left. Thus the sales person recommended to buy the fabric I got, because it was from their new range - indicating that there should be more. But it turned out they only had 1.5 meters. Maybe something got lost in translation :) I don't speak Russian and relied on Leschas translation. But hopefully it will be enough for a nice floaty summer dress.

4. Hot red corduroy. I was looking for a baby-ribbed corduroy for ages in Goldhawk Road, but couldn't find what I wanted. And then I saw this fabric in Kiev and knew it was what I wanted. Again, they had only 1.5 meters left, but that should just be enough for the Colette Parfait I am planning to make out of it!

I also got some buttons and trims in the haberdashery shops. And why should it be different, I bought the last of the white buttons and the denim trim. I love trims and for some reason haven't used them in a while. But now you can look forward to seeing them soon on one of the summer dresses.

I also found some buttons in an old allotment that belongs to Lescha's family. I was really happy that I could take them (and they might have been happy that the buttons were gone). These buttons were probably cut off old clothes to be thrown away. I don't know how old they are, but I like the idea to wear a piece of history :)

That's were I found the buttons. A good scrub and they will be as good as new.

Back home I organised my fabric stash - to make space for the new arrivals. I have to admit that at the beginning of March I went twice to Goldhawk Road with some lovely blogging friends and naturally couldn't resist buying fabric. However, I stayed true to my stash diet pledge and didn't buy any poplins or quilting cottons.

Contrary, I bought 3 chiffons - a fabric that I haven't sewn with yet and the thought of cutting and sewing it scares me like crazy. But I just couldn't resist: butterflies and birds - my most favorite motives. Actually, Kelly, Claire and I bought 1 meter each of the white and blue bird silk chiffon. Let's see what we all come up with!

I also got some linen with pink flowers on it and some white and gold-striped jersey. Finally, I bough a great rose jersey (not shown), which I wanted to make a slip from (Gerties slip). But as I don't have all the little ingredients for it yet, half of the fabric has already been turned into a jumper from the Burda magazine (as soon as I manage to take photos, you will see it). The blue cotton lawn I got as a Birthday present :)

So my stash in total:
old: 26
in: 9
out: 8
new: 27

Anybody else struggling with keeping to the stash diet rules???

Spring Lady Skater Dress (No 3)

I am back from Kiev and despite the unrest happening all over Ukraine, we had an amazing holiday which involved loads of food (I gained 3 kg, buh), fishing, reading, sauna and fabric shopping. Before leaving for Kiev, I managed to sew two further Lady Skater dresses and finish knitting my Agatha cardigan.

Me getting water from the well - I think we were watering around 30 fruit trees
 and needed loads of water!

Pattern: Today, I am showing you my Lady Skater No 3, which has short sleeves.

First I was not sure if I like this print on me, but having worn the dress a few times,
I feel more happy with the busy print.

Adjustment: After the rather tight fitting bodice of my Lady Skater No 2, I made a few adjustments to it. Essentially, I took one of my much-loved Fat Face jersey dresses (that's what I mainly wear, when not wearing hand-made clothes) and traced the bodice. I then overlayed this bodice with the Lady Skater bodice. The difference between both patterns was mostly apparent at the bust and armholes, which were a bit bigger in the Fat Face bodice. So, I transferred these changes to the Lady Skater and that was it :) Later I found out that I had actually done a cheater full bust adjustment as described here by Amanda from Kitschy Coo.

Still a few wrinkles at the back.

Fabric: A really thin jersey that I bought in Goldhawk Road. Usually I wouldn't go for such a print but it just spoke to me because of all the pink in it! Luckily, my stash diet does not restrict me buying jersey! But otherwise, jersey is not really part of my stash as I use it almost immediately :)

Do I like it? I do, although I am still not 100% happy with the fit. There is a massive fabric fold under my arms and having a look on the Kitschy Coo website, I think that is because the upper chest/armhole is too long. But that can easily be resolved by just pinching out the fabric, measuring the pinched amount and shorten the pattern pieces by this amount (Amanda describes it here as well).

Here you can see the wrinkles under the arms and my top-stitched neckline.

Have I worn it yet? Yes I did in Kiev! As you can see on the photos it was an amazing warm day and the thin dress turned out to be perfect. Please excuse my footwear, but we were gardening and walking on the river that day and I had no shoes with me to change.

You will see these shoes a few more times, ups.

Also thanks so much for your comments about my latest Simplicity dress. They really motivate me to get started with the next dress, especially because I have everything I need in my stash.

Have a lovely weekend everybody!

Floral Lady Skater Dress

So, finally I hopped on the bandwagon as well and made my own version of the lady skater dress! Shall we have a look?

I made a pantie as well!

Fabric: I was really lucky and got the loveliest jersey ever from Goldhawk Road. It is a grey jersey with pink roses all printed over it. It was around £8/meter and I managed to squeeze my long sleeve version out of 1.5 meters! And I had even enough left to make a pantie :) So far, this jersey is the softest one I ever used and I almost overlooked it in the shop. The shopkeeper was just going to start cutting a different (but not as nice) jersey, when I spotted this one over her shoulder and started yelling "stop" :) My budget allowed me only to buy one fabric, so that was a close call! And as I bought the fabric and made this dress at the end of 2014, I didn't violate my stash diet rules (They are in my head, but I still have to write them down).

Pattern: The well-known Lady Skater Dress from Kitschy Coo.

Alterations: I only did a sloping shoulder adjustment by moving the shoulder seams forward 5/8". Surprisingly, I didn't need a sway back adjustment, so yeah! I cut out a size 2 for the bust and graded to size 3 towards the waist.

Constructions: The pattern is stated as a beginner pattern and gives you detailed instructions how to sew with knits. You also have to attach clear elastic to the shoulder and waist seams (before sewing the actual seams together) to prevent their stretching. It was my first time working with clear elastic and I absolutely didn't like it. The needle had problems piercing the elastic and I ended up stretching out my seams, although I tried to not stretch at all. So, if anybody has some tips how to stitch on clear elastic, please share!!

I stitched most of my seams with my serger, which was quick and easy and used the twin needle for the hem. I do have the feeling that my twin needle liked this jersey more, as I had no problems with skipped stitches this time :) The only thing I had problems with, was to attach the neckline. I had to stretch it like crazy and than it was a bit short at the end and I had to stretch even more. But luckily jersey is forgiving and you can't see a thing!

It took me only about 5 hours to sew the dress (minus cutting out time that I did the night before) and it is thus the fastest make I have ever made!!!

Have I worn it yet? Yes I have, several times and I just love how comfy and soft it is!

Will I make it again? Cover your ears: YES! The pattern is just perfect and I know that there is more lovely jersey at Goldhawk Road. Actually, I have to keep myself from going to Goldhawk Road for the last 2 weeks, because I vowed to use up some fabric from my stash first and unluckily there is no jersey in there! So let's see how long I can resist...

Almost forgot the pantie! I was planning to make some panties for ages and as I had just enough jersey left, I finally gave it a try. I used the pattern made by Zoe from So.Zo...What do you know?. Zoe even wrote a lovely tutorial about how to construct these pants, so if you haven't tried it, you are missing out! And also check out Novitas tutorial over at very purple person about how to use different elastics, super helpful as well.

It took me only 1.5 hours from start to finish to make these panties, yeah. I can see myself making more! The only think I have to improve are my elastic sewing skills! I think I didn't stretch it enough and now the panties feels a bit loose, because the elastic is not pulling in. But it is still very comfy to wear, does not move around or down by itself, hehe. You know what I mean!

Have a lovely Sunday! 

Some advice please!

I will just leave you with a quick question before the weekend, because my best friend is visiting me for the next four days and I will not have time to make or write something :) Hah, I can't wait for her to arrive!

left: brushed; right: not brushed

A few weeks ago, I bought this lovely brushed cotton in Goldhawk Road. I will make a wintery Colette Beignet from it. However, the cotton is brushed only on one side and now I am not sure which side is the right and wrong one? Intuition-wise I thing the brushed and warmer side will be the wrong one. But then the bushed side looks prettier and maybe it is the right side? It would be great, if you could help me with this, because otherwise I am never going to make this skirt, buh.

brushed side

not brushed side

Otherwise, I have started already to make Christmas presents! For me its only five weekends left before I go home to Germany, so I really have to get started! No more selfish sewing :( For my grandparents I am going to make pillow cases. And you probably know, that my favourite colour for quilting is pink! Not a good choice for them. But I was lucky and won in August the stash match organised by Alexandra from a squared w. So I got a lovely fat eights Hand Drawn Garden bundle  and although these colours are not mine at all, they will be perfect for my grandparents.

Pillow case - not quilted yet

So, here just a little sneak peek of the first pillow case that is still in the make!
Have you started to make presents? Or have you decided what to give whom?

Have a lovely weekend!

Blogger meet-up at Goldhawk Road

On Saturday the 3rd of August I made my way to Goldhawk Road to meet up with almost 40 strangers from the Internet. Claire from sew-incidentally had organised a blogger meeting including fabric shopping and lunch and let me tell you it was absolutely stunning. Hop over to Claire's blog to read her post about the meeting which has more details about lunch and about the organisation than mine has. She also has a list with all the participants and their blogs! So, go and check them out! Lovely Dibs from Dibs & the machine took a huge amount of photos on the day and kindly allowed me to put them on my blog (thanks a lot Dibs!).

Lovely little name tags!

As I have never been to a meet-up before, I was super nervous and also a little bit scarred (because normally I am not meeting up with strangers and there were so many of them!). When leaving the tube at Goldhawk Road Station I could hear them already and my excitement grew. How should I approach them? How do I introduce myself? But actually, there was no need to worry because I was welcomed immediately with cookies and a little name tag. Everybody was wearing their own creations and there were many uhs and ahs when looking at each other. Sooooo pretty. Although I didn't recognise the patterns (not yet, but hopefully soon) I was impressed by all the lovely dresses, trousers and blouses.

Claire.

After almost everybody had arrived we split up in little groups and "attacked" the fabric shops. First stop was "Classic Textiles" my favourite fabric shop where you can get cotton silk for 4£/meter and also Liberty copy prints and lots more. I avoided looking at the Liberty fabrics because I fall in this trap every time I am there. I was astonished by all the fabric knowledge everybody had. One touch, one view and yeah it is a Chambray. We moved from shop to shop and it was really fun because every shop you entered there would be somebody with the little yellow name tag. The advantage (or disadvantage?) when fabric shopping with several people is that everybody spots different fabrics. Fabrics that I liked as well and wouldn't have seen otherwise! So I was tempted several times to buy - but didn't! 

Dibs and Wendy.

In Fabric House I bought my first jersey ever which was 3.50£/meter. I was not sure if I should buy it or not because I have never sewn with jersey before and thought I need an overlocker to sew it - although several people told me you don't! So, Jamila convinced me to buy it for later when I am more confident. I just love the pink flamingos on the jersey. I am hoping to sew a dress from this, but have to find a pattern first. Any recommendations? I also found some cheap cottons in the scraps bin of A one fabrics.

Flamingo jersey and some cottons.

Then it was time for lunch and Claire had managed to grab us a table the whole cafe. Lunch was amazing and I had the possibility to chat with a few people, especially with Charlie from This Blog Is Not For You. Funnily enough we found out that we are originally from the same area, hihi. I would have never guessed that I would meet somebody who has been living so close to where I am from.

After lunch it was time for the epic fabric swap! Everybody had brought some fabric, notions and/or patterns that they wanted to swap. As my fabric stash isn’t that big yet I brought only a liberty copy print (leftover from my meringue skirt), a pattern and a few vintage-looking buttons. Everything was put on big tables forming a massive heap. Actually it reminded me of the days when the sales start in the big department stores. There would be heaps of clothes on the tables as well as lots of woman waiting to dive into it :) We were a bit more restrained and everybody got the chance to find a lovely fabric or pattern. There was no rule for how many items you are allowed to take. So at the end I ended up with quite a bit of fabric. I felt a bit greedy though (usually I am a modest person), but for me it was a possibility to pick up fabric that I wouldn’t usually buy because I am afraid of sewing with it yet (I just say stretch). 

Patterns!!!

Fabrics!!!

So here is what I got: A few lovely cottons which will also be perfect for patch working. Then some ice blue lining which I got from Emma from My Oh Sew Vintage Life (I just thought that would be perfect for the Victoria blazer) and some flower fabric with a bit of stretch donated by Kat from Krafty Kat. The last one has already made its way into a dress :)

I also got some lovely vintage patterns and a modern pattern, which I am going to try soon! I just love the dresses! After the swap we split in groups again and went for some more shopping. I left shortly after because my bag started to get really heavy!

So, if you ever have the chance to attend a meet-up just go! All the lovely people you meet will not be strangers any more at the end of the day! I honestly enjoyed meeting everybody. It was also my first opportunity to meet up with other sewing enthusiast and I had the feeling we were all talking the same language! I know a few of the patterns we talked about just from reading other peoples blogs and it was just amazing to have an idea what was going on. So thank you ladies for such an amazing day!!!