Monday, November 29, 2010

two small pieces

Hello!

I sewed two pieces of garments lately. Probably these are to be the last two sewing projects in this year. They are nothing special but they seem quite "me", to my eyes.


(1) I used a pullover pattern for the cardigan.
As I mentioned in this post, it's quite easy to make fitted cardigans from a pullover/jersey top pattern. I have one favorite pattern that fits me, and have been generating millions(a typical exaggeration) of cardigans from it. This cardigan is one of the millions and fits to my wintry life. Garments in the shops are generally too short in lengthwise for me, and they tend to make me feel awkward, cold, and miserable especially in winter. As my closet has been entirely occupied by handmade clothes for some time, I'm talking about the past, though. I'm zillion times happier than ever before about what to wear since I started wearing my humble self made rags. I mean, they fit my life.

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pattern: TAMANEGI-KOBO, Fujiko pullover(PDF)
-One size bigger than my usual pullover size because it's winter.
-Wool/acrylic jersey. Soft, spongy, stretchy and warm. Light brown, with white tiny neps.
-Pearl decorated snap buttons. Lengthened both sleeves and body quite a lot (about more than 5cm/2" each)
-I growingly love this tool for button placement.
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(2) I recycled my old A-line skirt and sewed it into a new short skirt.
This is an experiment to see how the skirt looks on me. The pattern was released recently and I found it very refreshing. However, I thought it was kinda short, and, it is quite short. But in the end, who cares, I wanted to try. I had an old skirt that was perfect for this experiment as a fabric resource too. So I checked.
I find it comfortable, and I think it looks pretty when accompanied with wintry colored tights.

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pattern: anneeduex*, 9Cavarie skirt(PDF)
-No alteration or fitting adjustment, a complete default
-Wool/cotton tweed, cut from an old and tired handmade skirt. My first Linton tweed.
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the fabric resource



***

I'll be glad if you could come back sometime in January, because there will be probably no new post in December.

I wish your holiday season and the rest of this year be very delightful.


Cheers!!
xoxo
yoshimi

Saturday, November 20, 2010

My first circle skirt that was a dress

I started to sew a dress called Quitterie because I liked the skirt of it very much, but eventually I had to find that I chose the wrong fabric for the bodice part. The impression of the ongoing dress looked too juvenile and I started to feel insecure. I used a yellow-ish ecru jersey for the bodice, and the dress was getting too "dolly" which I wouldn't be happy with.

Then, of course, I chopped the upper half off the skirt before I completed it!

I added a full lining and also fixed the zipper end for clean finishing. Though the dress-chopped-resulting skirt sits quite low on my waist because Quitterie is not a tight fit dress, I don't mind it at all. Actually, I like the fact that it made the skirt hem even lower.

The fabric was polyester jersey with the black flock print. I like jersey long skirts because they don't crease much (what a practical reason to tell, but it is very important to look OK after a long desk work, I know you'd agree with me). They tend to hang nicely and softly, and I love it too. This must be a very common circle skirt in the end, but it's a very happy ending to me. It's casual and pretty.


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dress Quitterie(PDF) from TAMANEGI-KOBO
lined, lengthened
polyester jersey with black flower flock print on cream background, not stretchy, middle bodied
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**
By the way, I'd like to tell you in advance that I'm not going to be available for blogging in December. I'll be traveling a lot and literally off-line in December, probably. Hopefully I can blog one more post before the next month starts, but please allow me to send you seasonal greetings now, in case I have no time to tell.

I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a long lasting happy sewing! Thanks for keeping coming back to my blog, I reaaaallly appreciate it. I wish you know how much I do.
xo

love,
yoshimi

Friday, November 12, 2010

Turban-ite Head Wrap

I've been looking for the knitting patterns for turban-type slouchy cap for some time. Yep, you can see that I found one which I'm really happy with.


I love it, my whole family love it too (they seem that they're quite amused to see me in it at home, yeah, I wear it at home, because it's fun to act peculiarly and see everybody giggling at me).

Believe me, this is so cute.

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pattern : turban-ite head wrap (PDF)
by Melissa Halvorson from year of the goat
You may also feel to visit my Ravelry page for more info and other photographs.

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Monday, November 8, 2010

Sarah in Pink

A shrug type jacket called Sarah, pattern from BurdaStyle.

On the other day, my lovely friend Kapo bought this fabric on her holiday trip. She found it at the local fabric store and took it home with her, just because it was "SO YOSHIMI". Yes, she bought it for me. Sounds weird but I totally know how it can happen to us... Our consensus is that fabrics rule how we look (in our self-made garments) quite very much. I guess that we are concerned with them, nearly too much.

Much as we are concerned, it is totally uncontrollable to encounter nice and reasonably priced fabrics, and it is also so depending on our luck. Moreover, one good found pretty fabric can be the best choice for a person, but not always the same for others. So, I can understand why she kindly thought she had to send it to me with no return when she found it. I guess she had more than the "Oh it's pretty, it would make a nice present" moment. It must have been "No way to miss the chance about perfect fabric whenever and WHOSEVER, if there is any".
Anyway, surprising gifts are always the sweetest ingredients in my humble life. They grow me as a happier and nicer person by feeding me love and caring. I know that you know I'm not talking materialistic... do I sound materialistic?? aaaaugh...

***

I was fairly sure that there was no better way for using it other than making it into a jacket which is big, simple, and something not serious. The fabric is so original by itself. It is like a sparkling pink version of fisherman's net with many thin and pretty ribbons. I bet that I can catch fish with it.

So I made a Sarah in this fabric.
Because the fabric was wide enough, I cut the fabric "on fold" instead of cutting two pieces for the right and left parts independently, and took the grain lengthwise too. I bound all hems with color matching woolen jersey strips in a very casual manner, and here I finished.

I like this very much and would love to wear it with jeans a lot!




Thank you so much, Kapo, you, and everybody else, for being there. I wish Happy Sewing to you all.
yoshimixoxo



P.S. Could anyone suggest me some good places for sewing related shopping in London, please? I'm going there in December and would love to visit some shops which stock sewing patterns, tools, and notions, if I can have a spare time. I'm going to research by myself too but if you have an idea about it, could you please share it with me? I'd appreciate your kind help. Thank you very much!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

vogue1194


Ta-da! I had a go on another vogue dress. To be completely honest with you, I feel like dressing very casual recently... So, I don't know how much wear I'd get from the dress (guilty!), even though I think the dress itself turned quite pretty. However, I have a certain occasion to dress neatly and properly (than usual) in December. I may attend the meeting in this dress, so that it can bring the justice... I'll see.


I had few small problems or alterations when sewing this dress, but I copy&paste my review for the pattern as it can be possibly helpful to some of you.

Next time I'll post about the shrug that is in the first photo.
Talk to you soon!

Much love,
yoshimi

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vogue1194
Pattern Description:
Pullover, mid-knee length dress has loose-fitting, front pleated and gathered bodice, bands (twisted front), raised waist, A-line, front pleated and back gathered skirt, side pockets, stitched hems and long sleeves.
Pattern Sizing:
8-22, I made a size 8.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, I think pretty much so.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
I think so, but I personally don't like "double stitching" on jersey fabric. I used a particular thread for jersey sewing and stitched once. So far I have no problem with its durability of seams on my dress.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the style of the dress. It requires 2 way stretch fabric, and that means the result achieve both nice fit and comfort. I appreciate the long sleeve, although I have shortened them quite a bit for a better proportion. I think the pleats under bust are absolutely pretty too. I am not so fond of using the elastic bands into waist bands, and I have to say it was absolutely no need to insert elastic bands in the waist line for a reasonable fitting, in my case.
Fabric Used:
2 way stretch polyester jersey, thin and a bit sheer.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I omitted all elastic bands that the pattern instructed to insert in the waist bands. I omitted the pockets too. I raised the neck line about 1". I noticed that I needed a small swayback adjustment on this pattern after all. I'd try to make the back length 1/2" to 1" shorter next time, if any.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I may sew this again. If so, I'd love to sew it with a gorgeous fabric for some special occasion. This can make a quite dressy dress. I'm more than happy to recommend it to you as well!
Conclusion:
I'm pretty happy with the result. It is very comfortable to wear and very easy to sew. Great dress.
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