Thursday, November 14

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





Friday, June 28

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




Wednesday, May 29

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


Monday, March 11

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