Who says it’s better to wear darker colors in the winter? And who says white makes you look fat?!…

I have my coffee latte at one hand and going through some magazines for an inspiration piece for my next sewing project and I realize that I still haven’t tried out one of my recent purchases from Vogue Patterns. So I rushed to my fabric stash and started searching for a nice piece of fabric that I could use for this intriguing pattern. As it turned out, I did not have one piece enough to make a dress, but two great fabric pieces that would either look great together or would make me look like a cup of Coffee Latte! (i’m hoping that I succeeded in getting the former result…)

Most of you would remember the v8685  from earlier collections of Vogue Patterns. Although I had my eye on this pattern for a long time, I could not sew my version of one of the 6 versions presented in the pattern envelope. 

The dress on the model looks like it would go perfect with a lightweight fabric. But my enthusiasm to use the pattern was too much to wait for couple of more months. So I decide that I would go for a two color look and keep the eye-catching effect of a white dress. 

PATTERN REVIEW

Although the seams on the bust look quite intriguing at first sight, on my first fitting, I realized that it was for flat chest chics and would create a magnifier effect for an average cup size chic like myself! But at that point I had already cut my fabric and couldn’t alter the pattern. So instead of crying for my bad luck, I overstitched the seams and created quite a nice look in the end. 

The best part of this pattern is the way they’ve hidden the pleats in the circular cuts. I thought that since I had a very limited amount of fabric, I could go for a layered look with my coffee latte colors and make the dress look even more interesting. 

As for the long sleeved version of the dress, I think there’s a serious problem in the patterning. The size of the sleeves looked gigantic and I had to reduce the width of the sleeves quite a lot in order to get a sleek look. FYI…

As for the skirt part, I kept the layered look and stitched the waist part onto the skirt part on contrary to the pattern instructions. The truth is I still have problems in finishing the circular seams in a clean way. 

Although I’m not fond of back zippers, for a thick and layered dress, I could not move the zipper on the side and kept it at the back. But I still do not like the idea of getting help from someone else when zipping up! :)

I think the circular seam lines would look much better with a lighter color fabric and not so much with heavy prints. So I’m quite content with my coffee latte choice of colors :)

In the end, I loved the dress! It’s so comfy and quite flattering for a pear shape body type as well. I will be using this pattern with spring / summer time fabrics as well. 

happy sewing! :))

I have even less time I can spare for my sewing passion this month. But I’m determined to keep up with my sewing life and blogging about it! :) 

I’m dedicated to finish this jacket for this month. The pattern was published in Burda Style’s August 2012 issue with pattern no. 137. It can also be purchased from here: Shawl Collar Jacket

I really liked this collar style as it allows free movement when wearing a jacket for work. 

I’ve never made a shawl collar before and I really liked the way it looks on the model. We’ll see whether I’ll be able to pose like her when I finish the project :) Considering my 6 feet tall figure, I think I should shorten the waist part a bit. 

As I cannot go for a fabric shopping, I have to use something from my fabric stash. So I decided to use this gray lightweight woven fabric with a satin facing that I’ve used for a blouse before. I just adore colorful facings! :)

Although the pattern looks stunning on the model, I suspect that part of is has to do with the tempting blue color of the fabric used. So my fairly modest gray fabric may not be able to show off as I much as I wanted. Thus, I’m thinking about putting a contrast color bias on the shawl collar. We’ll see how it’ll end up :)

It is very easy to make your own wardrobe with some simple steps! I mean, not everything you sew should be featured in a fashion magazine… If you are a consumer of RTW world, then with average sewing skills, you can easily make a good quality RTW outfit as well!

Moreover, it is quite easy to create different outfits by using simple and basic patterns, like the one I used in this dress. This was created with a basic t-shirt pattern. 

Well, you don’t know how to sew a t-shirt either? No problem! You can use one of your t-shirts that you already got bored with.

All you need is half a meter fabric that you’d like to sew onto your t-shirt .  

For example, I wanted to make use of a denim fabric leftover which was barely half a meter. In the meantime, I wanted to practice (and hopefully improve) my aplique making skills, so I made this flimsy patch onto my skirt piece. Am I not the designer? I can create whatever I want and call it a new style! :P

All you need to do is to measure the length of your hips, cut that much of fabric and sew it onto your t-shirt hem. 

But I must warn you on one thing. If the fabric you’re using is thicker and thus heavier than your jersey, then your dress may get a little longer than you want. 

Or maybe more…

Anyhow… let me pull up the dress for now and shorten the jersey top after writing this post. But isn’t it easy and fun?! In half an hour, I turned a boring t-shirt into a chic outfit. Would you like to try it as well? :D

When I started my blog, this pattern was one of the first projects I made, again with a little twist… If you like to check it out visit: Making a Chic Top from a Basic T-shirt Pattern

happy sewing!

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BE ALWAYS STYLISH!

lol… Sewing Your Style…

Hello! I have a brown colored velvet fabric at home (for about 3 meters) and I can’t decide what to do with it.  :) I was thinking maybe you could help me make up my mind about how to use it :D

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Hi! As the winter is coming, it might be a good idea to get ready with chic outfits and velvet is indeed a nice choice when used wisely :P

How about a velvet dress? Combine it with a sheer fabric  or lace and get a great look. How about this? 

You can find many similar patterns to make this look. One of them could be the Swing Dress  from BurdaStyle. It is simple to sew and would turn into a very chic outfit if you just shorten the skirt a little and add a lace at the hem!

Or you can sew something like this which I have recently made as a summer dress: 

I have used a classic pattern from McCall’s (m6460). You can get more information about this project in this post: Polka Dots and Childish Dreams

Do not throw away the leftover fabric! You can make yourself a great necklace like this: 

Happy sewing! :)

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I’ve torn myself apart but finally finished it! Despite the few flaws in the lining, I managed to sew this jacket right :D

My sewing ego just boosted… Who’s gonna stop me now?! Would I be exaggerating a little if I aim New York Fashion Week for next year?…

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I just love the knock off patterns from Vogue :) This time I tried the V8718 jacket which is almost the identical pattern of Akris’ 2010 resort collection. See for yourself:

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Hello, I just discovered your blog and  there’s great stuff in it! Is it possible to get some information about how to sew a maxi skirt as well?

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Hi! Maxi skirts are indeed quite trendy these days. I can see it on almost everyone when I walk around the streets, with various colors and patterns. I, however, got really bored with wearing maxi skirts, since they used to be my no.1 outfit when I was in university. So, you probably won’t see any maxi dress sewing posts from me :) However, let me try to guide you in making a maxi skirt by yourself with easy to make steps. 

You may find quite useful tips in sewing a basic skirt from this post: Watch and Learn Grasshopper: Sewing a Basic Skirt

Follow the steps described in here to make a basic skirt pattern. Then, starting from the fullest part of your hip extend the side line like a triangle that you add on the original side line on the skirt pattern. 

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