Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Patrones 310

Happy Christmas!

And here is the Festive Season Patrones - of black clothes.  That's unusual isn't it?  A little gloomy but very practical.  
As you would expect, lots of dresses for the party season. 
Ok, here we go.  The first section is cocktail dresses.  I love this one but...cough.... it takes 17.05 metres of fabric!  Look at the interesting cutting layout.
This little jacket is nice too. 
This one is a bit dubious though.
Next we have Rebel Without a Cause which I think is party separates with a Western feel.  A strappy dress, singlet, 2 suit jackets, bustier, jumpsuit, tie neck blouse, frilly lace blouse, baggy crotch pants and this frilly blouse, waistcoat and skirt.
And next Tango Attitude, which has a lingerie-ish feel.  3 petticoatish dresses, a waistcoat, jacket, top, topper and skirt. 
And these very smart looking trousers.
Next (the best bit I think) is a section on Little Black Dresses. 8 in all, with different styles and some very smart ones. My favourite is the draped black dress below.  Isn't it nice?
And finally - colour!  The larger size section with 3 dresses including this lovely red one. 
The next Patrones is the advance Spring. 
Have a lovely time everyone!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Blouse 109 Burda 8/2011

Calling Darby!   The Patrones you won is still here.  If you email me by the end of the week I'll send it on to you.   

I've been a bad, bad blogger and blog reader!     

There hasn't been much sewing mojo around my sewing room for a while.  After a few things on the trot that went awry and looked awful, I decided to hang up the scissors of doom for a while and concentrate on other things (mostly blobbing in front of the TV).  But it's time to get over it - I'm running out of summer work clothes.

Moderately successful is blouse 109 from August Burda.  
It's a lovely design.  It's a very basic pattern with the addition of a raw edged frill.  My frill is slightly less frilly than it would normally be as I didn't have enough fabric to cut it fully on the bias but it looks fine.  There are a few blouses in the same mag made out of this pattern.
I used navy silk charmeuse.  The body is made on the non shiny side.
The blouse is quite roomy so I didn't do a full bust adjustment.
It was a lot longer in the back than the front.  I had to shorten the back a bit as it looked weird.
The frill is raw edged and I suspect you need a rotary cutter to get the edge looking totally straight.  The blouse has rather interesting concealed buttons. 
I didn't follow the Burda instructions as their way of neatening the frill sounded a bit fiddly.  I did the hem last rather than first and made the frill in the following way.
Sew along fold line on right side.
Trim, turn and sew. 
And then when you turn the facing back and sew a line to create the placket, it looks like this.
Something colourful next time methinks.  I bought these great cottons a little while ago at Potters Outlet store.  Yummy.  Now... what to make?