polkadots

shirt dress - burda magazine 01/2019 #108

this particular dress was on my mind since january

when i first saw it in magazine..

burda's version isn't really an inspiring one

but i loved the technical drawing

and was pretty sure that this pattern need to be made in contrasting fabrics

that will show those beautiful lines

..

around that time i stumbled upon these two fabrics

and i knew i found the perfect match..

so i got home, prewashed fabrics, traced the pattern

and then did nothing about it for next 10 months..

happens to me a lot these days..

 it's a very simple project
but when i finally started working on it

 somehow it took me an entire week to finish it..

i should rename my blog to 'a week of naps'

as nowadays every single project takes a week of naps

to get finished,

even the simplest one

.. 

usually i sew very fast

a dress like this would be finished in under two hours..

and when you're fast and take no breaks

you don't tend to overthink things, you just do..

but when there's so many breaks

you keep wondering 'should i change this'

and 'should i change that'

and that adds couple more hours to production..

and said hours are spent in front of mirror

thinking and rethinking 

..

at some point i got the idea that i should chop 40cm from the bottom,

skip the collar

and turn the whole thing into a bomber jacket..

but somehow i managed to talk myself out of that

and i'm glad i did, as i really love how the dress turned out in the end

..

and i love how it looks styled differently

it's always nice to have options, right?

..

now all the different versions are poppin in my brain:

should i make a version with transparent sleeves?

what would it look like as maxi?

should i make that bomber version happen?

a bodysuit version?

am i overthinking it again?

..

mokosha

boilersuit

boiler suit - burda magazine 04/2019/#121

while i hardly ever make something that's currently fashionable

from whatever reason i felt like i had to sew this boilersuit

the moment i saw preview of april issue

..

there's a lot of pattern pieces

and it took forever to finish

(forever being a full week of naptimes

for a project that could easily be finished in one afternoon)

and while i'm not 100% happy with final result

i still love it an wear it a ton

..

  

my issue with the pattern

(and most burda pants patterns, for that matter)

is that from whatever reason legs are way too long on me

which is rather strange

as i'm actually 168cm tall

and that's the height that burda claims to drafts patterns for..

and i'm not short legged..

but, from whatever reason, i always have to shorten the legs

and i have to shorten them a lot

..

i am short waisted though

so i guess altering the bodice would help a bit,

but even then i would have to shorten the legs some 10cm

..

with this particular pattern

i think i chopped some 15cm in the end, or maybe more..

and i also hemmed and ripped and shortened 

and hemmed and ripped more times than i care to count..

and, since i took all that fabric from the bottom

instead of doing alterations prior to cutting

and taking it somewhere at knee height

i ended up with pants being way wider 

than what i expected them to be..

and while i could go back and rip hems one more time

narrow legs down and hem again

i just didn't have it in me

and called it a day

..

but, pants issues aside

i freaking love my new boilersuit!

it's very comfy

nursing friendly

black, meaning all the inevitable milk stains 

won't be too visible

and i kinda feel chic wearing it

which i haven't felt in a while

..

 i regret that i skipped adding pockets

so will have to sew another one eventually

and try to fix other issues as well

..

mokosha

shirt dress challenge

dress - burda magazine 04/2019/#119

i really loved april issue of burda magazine

and even managed to sew two patterns from the issue already

(other is a boiler suit pattern, that i'm crazy about)..

have also traced couple more patterns 

hopefully i'll get to make those soon as well

..

anyways, one day i was chatting with my friend tea

and we realized that we both have planed

to sew this very dress

(except that she wanted to make other version

with ruffled sleeves and hem)

and the idea of 'shirt dress challenge' was born

as it reminded us of those golden blogging days

and our previous coat challenge

our deadline this time was easter

but, as per the ushe, i failed to do that in time

and finished mine couple days later

which turned out to be completely unimportant,

since we're heaving a really cold month of may

and dress just hung in my closet

waiting for that one sunny day

when we can get our new dresses out for the spin

dress is a really easy one to make

not too much to say about it

other than you'll probably want to size down 

if you're making it,

as it runs pretty large..

i made a size 38, and can get in and out of the dress

without unbuttoning it..

also, it definitely needs a belt

as it's pretty shapeless without one

and not in a cool way..

but i love it, it's comfy, and a plan to make one more

but in solid color

and with breast pockets and shoulder details

as per the pattern instructions

..

this is what most of my pictures look nowadays

when my young shooting assistant is around:

and here's a sneak peek of tea's gorgeous dress

now go to her place to find out more about it

year eight

pretty sure no one reads blogs nowadays

but i kinda like having these yearly round up posts

they're like some sort of a diary

(and a great way to save some of my photos

from being lost in computer crashes..

because i'm way too lazy to back up)

..

anyways

year eight

wasn't a really eventful one

when it comes to sewing

..

i made only couple things for myself

    

  

and couple things for my store..

mostly v9253 dresses

but some other stuff too

made more backpacks with my husband

  

and made pattern for perfect leather bag

that my husband made for me

two of my girlfriends got married

in dresses i made for them..

although i have pictures just of one of those dresses

and, of course

my biggest creation of all

is this little bundle of joy

that has kept me occupied this past 6 months

and inspired me to try 

sewing something a bit different

like this play mat.. or a sloth plush

and half a dozen baby leggings

i'm slowly getting back to sewing..

made this very colorful kimono the other day

and there are so many things i'd like to sew this year..

and i'd like to be able to get back to blogging again

but we'll see

some days i struggle finding time to eat or shower

so i'll be happy if i make at least 10% of those plans happen