Pastel

After almost five month of doing almost nothing, I started my job training at a big concern which produces car parts. I really like my new job and I am really looking forward the training period. The colleagues are really enchanting and we have a lot of fun already. Spending eight hours in the bureau, unfortunately, also means having less time for sewing. Allthough I could manage to finish these two pieces.

I've started the blazer in mid-July. But I hate to sew the lining into jackets and so the blazer was on the waiting line since then. It's made of a grey suit fabric with a little green cast. I did not add buttons because I don't wear it closed anyway. The flap pockets were a little bit more challenging but I think I could manage it quite well.

The dress was in the german burda 08/11. I didn't buy this edition and so I had to improve the pattern. It was really not that difficult to develop the pattern. Not too much effort but much more satisfaction in the end with the finished dress. The fabric has the same texture as the blazer but is in a soft lilac tone. It is quite eays to sew and feels comfortable on the skin.

Summertime is festivaltime

Good music coming out of hudge speaker boxes. A lot of people dancing to the dj's beats. The sun burns down and good mood everywhere. YES! You're at a music festival!

I was at the Echelon-Festival in the former US-caserne Bad Aibling yesterday. A lot of well-known minimal, electro, techno, etc. djs perform their music on two areas. The atmosphere was great. Thousands of music lovers were celebrating in the sun together. For the required cooling the organisation team has allocated a outdoor shower, which has been very frequented.
Let's come to the actual reason of this post. The festival-shirts. I make one for every festival I visit. This time I made on for me and my best friend, who has invited me to Echelon.

His t-shirt is purchased and painted with fabric color. For the motive I chose an elefant since he always says he wants to have a minielefant that is as tiny as a small dog. Crazy but that's why I like him. The elefant is surrounded by records to link the motive with electronic music.
My oversize top is sewed by myself because I could not find anywhere a top like this. I painted a monkey with a banana and a record on it. I really like my shirt and now I even have the autographs of 'Moonbootica' on it. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of this but the shirts where so dirty at the end of the day that we took them off.

 In the back I tied the top with a black piece of fabric togehther. The armholes are cut very widely so I have to wear another top under it.


By the way, the neckglace I am wearing is made according to a DIY on Maegan's blog.

My new Hobby

...is to make my own sewing patterns. I'm bored of just copying the patterns of the common sewing magazines. So I bought the book "Systemschnitt I" by Juttan Jansen. The book shows how to make your own sewing patterns adapted to your measurements. It's really fun to draw patterns and I already have hundreds of  design-ideas in my head I want to make.

Here are my fist two attempts:

This white dress is made out of a suit fabric with a very soft surface feel. I wannted to remove all darts and replace them with deviding seams. To give the etui-dress a better shape I topstitched close to all of the seams. Unfortunately the fabric was slighthly transparent and so I had to make a seperate undergarment.

The second dress is not that exciting in shape. I choose a princess silhouette to keep it simple because the design of the silk fabric is turbulent enough. The only detail of the pattern that makes it a little bit more interesting are the cutted sleeves.












All in all, the dresses are kept very simple so I can wear them as basics and combine the easily with other clothes.
This was it for today. Have a nice week!

Getting ready for the cold Season

If you look onto the calendar it is midsummer. But if we look outside the window in Germany one will think it is already October. It is so cold and rainy that you cannot go outside without a warm jacket. So it is no surprise that my latest sewing project are no summer items but a trenchcoat for fall and a warm cape for winter.

I used a waterproof beige fabric for the trench. I don't know if it is actually really waterproof but let's assume the best. The pattern for this coat was in burda 8/11. I did like the loose shape of the coat as it has a deep box pleat in the back. Originally the pattern had trumpet sleeves but I decided to keep them straight and simple since it fits better to my style.

This wool fabric is actually one of the most expesive ones I have ever bouht. But when I saw it i absolutely had to purchase it. The pattern for this cape was also in the current edition of the fashion magazine burda. The amssembly of this piece of clothing was no big deal. But I had to draw a own pattern for the lining. I don't know why but lately burda drops the lining by most of the patterns. In my opinion this really sucks since lining raises the quality of clothes a lot. 

Yesterday my mom was shopping and she bought a beautyful black wool fabric for me. So the next thing I am going to sew will be a jacket. Allthough I am ready for the cold season now I wish we still will get a little bit of sun in this summer.

Green like Gras

OH MY GOD! I made shorts out of a fabric that is printed all over with gras. And I actually don't know what to think about it.
I bought the fabric 2 years ago for my cocktaildress collection. But in the end the draft didn't make it into the top 3 and so I had this piece of linen and did not know what to do with it.
Luckily I found a pattern for shorts on http://wkdesigner.wordpress.com/ last week and decided to assembly them with the gras-fabric. And here is the result:

New Stuff...

Yippie. Only 6 days left and then I go on holidays:)
Since my hair is now verry verry short and you can even see the scalp, I decided to make a new summer hat to be protected from sun. I used white linen for it. Actually, I' m thinking about wheter I should add some decorate it but I don't have any good ideas at the moment. And sometimes SIMPLE is simply better;)

Another one of Dad's trousers. :D This time it ended up as a knee-length skirt.

And this lether skirt has once been midi. Though I shortened it to mini because thats rather the way I want to wear it. I will make a clutch out of the rest of the skirt since I love this color.

From Trousers to Dress

Hello everybody:)

I'm sorry for stopping posting for a while. But now I'm back and more motivated than ever:)
My dad has recently sorted out his wardrobe and gave some of his old suit trousers and jackets to me.
Here is the first trial to recycle an old trouser into a dress.

What you need: trousers, scissors, thread, tailor's chalk and needles

Ladder the inner seam of the trousers completely.

Put the trousers on like a dress and mark with pins the center front seam.
Make sure where you want your neckline to start and mark it aswell.

Mark the center front seam with tailor'chalk so that you know where you have to sew. (I took a biro because of the white feeding).

Having sewed the center front put on the dress agail and mark on the outer seam of the trousers where you want your arm holes. Ladder the seam between the tags and secure the ends with thread..

For the back of the dress turn it inside out and place it flatly on the table. Draw a line frow where the bow of the former pattern starts to the point, where you want to start the rear neckline. Sew the center back.

For the shoulder seams lie the front and rear trouser leg onto each other and fold the rear trouser leg like you can see in the picture. The seam should start at the upper end of the arm hole and end at a point you have to find out by trying the dress on.

This is the finished dress:)
I like it because of its balloony shape. I think you can wear it to work and to party.

Have fun trying it out! It takes only one hour.:)

Cocktaildresses

Dresses: made by me
Photography: JTR
Make-Up: Anita

Milk & Money

My problem is I never know what to do on Sundays. On the one hand you want to relax to start powerfull into a new week. But on the other hand just doing nothing is really, really boring. So doing some DIY is probably the best way to spend Sundays. I have a very simple one for you. Recycle a Tetra Pak into a wallet.

Ich weiß nie was ich an Sonntagen machen soll. Einerseits will man sich ja nicht überanstrengen, aber andererseits ist nur herumsitzen auch langweilig. Das Beste für Sonntage ist wahrscheinlich einige DIYs zu machen Hier ist ein sehr einfaches. Eine Tetra-Pak-Geldbörse.

You need: Tetra Pak, scissors, stapler, Velcro
Ihr braucht: Tetra Pak, Schere, Heftgerät, Klettband mit Kleberücken

Cut off the top and the bottom of the Tetra Pak and fold the sides of the Tetra Pak to the inside so that the front and backside touch.
Schneidet den Deckel und den Boden des Tetra Paks ab und faltet die Seitenflächen nach innen, sodass sich die Vorder- und Rückseite berühren.

Fold the downside upwards and mark with a pencil, where the bottom meets the backside of the Tetra Pak.
Faltet die Unterseite nach oben und markiert, wo der Boden auf die Rückseite des Tetra Paks trifft.

Cut off three sides of the Tetra Pak sides above the marked line, but keep one side.
Schneidet überhalb der Markierung drei Seiten des Tetra Paks weg, aber lasst eine Seite stehen.

Again, fold the downside upwards and staple the meeting sides.
Faltet nun die Unterseite wieder nach oben und heftet die Mittelteile zusammen.

Place the Velcro as a closure on the inside of your wallet.
Klebt das Klettband in die Geldbörse als Verschluss.

Sweet Seaside Dreams

 

So much time has passed by since I was at the seaside the last time. I really miss swimming in the azure water and walking over the hot sand. Fortunately my next holiday trip will lead me to the beach of Cala Ratjada (Majorca). I'm really excited about it and I already think of what I want to sew for this week of vacation.

Here I have the tuturial for the first item I made. It is a beach bag which you can wear both-sided.

Es ist schon so lange her, seit ich das letzte Mal am Strand war. Ich wüde gern mal wieder im Meer baden oder barfuß über den Sand zu laufen. Glücklicherweise geht mein nächster Urlaub an die malloquinische Küste. Ich freue mich schon sehr darauf und überlege mir bereits was ich alles für den Urlaub nähen will.

Hier könnt ihr das Tuturial für meine Wendestrandtasche sehen:

You need: fabric, thread and a sewing machine

Ihr braucht: Stoff, Garn und eine Nähmaschine

First step is to make the pattern. For the bottom part you need half of an oval that is about 30 cm at its long and 15 cm at its short axis. The main part of the bag is formed as seen in the picture. At its topside it meassures about 30 cm. The downside should be as long as a quarter of the circumference of the whole oval. For the straps you need two rectangles, with a length of about 45 cm and a width of 6 cm.

Als erstes braucht ihr ein Schnittmuster. Für den Taschenboden braucht ihr die Hälfte eines Ovals, das an der langen Achse 30 cm und an der kurzen 15 cm misst. Die Vorder- und Rückseite wird aus einer tassenartigen Form geschnitten. Oben ist die Form 30 cm lang und unten etwa so lang wie ein Viertel des Umfangs des Taschenbodens. Für die Träger braucht man ein Rechteck, dass 6cm mal 45cm misst.

Cut these forms out of the fabric with a about 1,5 cm seam allowance. You need twice the bottom and the straps. And four times the bodypart. Make sure you lay all the patterns on the centerfold with the side I marked with fold.

Legt die Schnittmuster auf den Stoff und schneidet sie mit etwa 1,5 cm Nahtzugabe aus. Alle Teile liegen im Stoffbruch (markiert mit FOLD). Den Boden braucht ihr zweimal, genauso wie die Träger. Die Vorderseite schneidet ihr viermal aus.

Sew the sides of the bodypart...
Näht die Seitennähte der Vorder-/Rückseite...

the bottom on the bodypart...
den Boden auf die Vorder-/Rückseite...

and the straps and turn them inside out.
und die Träger und dreht diese auf die rechte Seite.

Tack the shoulder straps on the topside of the bodypart and lay the other bodypart into the one with the straps. The right sides shouls be inside.
Heftet die Träger an die Oberseite der Tasche und legt beide Taschenteile rechts auf rechts aufeinander.

Sew the two parts together but leave a hole of about 8 cm to turn the inside out. Having turned the inside out close this hole with thread.
Näht die Taschenteile zusammen, aber lasst eine Öffnung von etwa 8 cm, damit ihr die Tasche umdrehen könnt. Nach dem Wenden, Öffnung zunähen. 

This is my beach bag with its two sides. One is rather sporty and the other one romantic.
Das ist meine Wendestrandtasche. Eine Seite ist eher sportlich, die andere romantisch.

Let`s get it on

Hello everybody,
my name is Sonja and I've just graduated from school. Since I have a looooot of spare time now and don't want to hang around all the time, I started this blog. I want to show you some of my sewing-projects and hope to inspire you with some DIY.

To get startet I have a simple DIY for a denim skirt. I got this one from burdastyle and it's a great opportunity to turn something old into a modern piece of clothing.

You need: an old denim shirt, an about 5 cm broad elastic, thread and a sewing machine.

First cut off the bodypart of the shirt beginning from the point where the sleeves start. Then tack the center front where the two sides of the shirt meet.

After having finished this step you have to gather the topside of the skirt to hip measurement.

 Now take the elastic. It should have the length of your waist measurement. Sew the Elastic together at the small sides so that it builds a ring.

Sew the stretched elastic on the denim fabric. You should use a zigzag stitch because its more robust.

Tadaaaa, ready is your new skirt. Have fun sewing!