Projects – Page 57 – Hopefully Creative

Vintage Pattern Blouse

So I started this project of making a blouse from a vintage pattern (Simplicity 1236) in a white linen ages ago. But at a certain moment I was so confused by the instructions that I sort of gave up, put it in a drawer and looked back at it once in a while.

But yesterday I finally had to courage and enthusiasm to try it again. And this time, after again carefully reading the instructions I finally figured out what they wanted with the collar. As you can probably (hopefully) see on the picture though, the bust area of the blouse is supposed to be really baggy, which personally I thought looked really terrible. So I took the darts up about 10 cm or so, so now it’s rather more fitted and I like it much more. I took some buttons that I got somewhere and put those on, and I think the effect is rather nice. The wonderful button making foot and options of my sewing machine were also used gratefully. I even closed of all raw seams, so I’m quite proud of myself.
I’ll show the result later when I feel like taking pictures, and have actually ironed the thing. Anyways, I’m proud of myself for finally finishing it. Only a few more unfinished projects to go.

And I think I’m going to start on one that has been in my head for a while, because I finally figured out a way to make it work. I’ll keep you posted.

Creativity ruled today, I hope to see more of that.

New Skirt Project

My mom has given me an assignment. Not too long ago my parents and me were visiting the fabric market in Utrecht. My mom had been impressed with my skirt not too long before so we went in search of a nice fabric so I could make a similar skirt for her.

Eventually we found one, it’s nice and spring ish, with red, white and other nice colour threads. I’ll post a picture later.

I’ve finally started trying to figure out how to make it work for her. I hope it’s going to work, but I don’t know yet because the problem is that she has an apple type shape, and normal sewing magazines don’t support that figure. So I am going to have to grade 4 sizes down from waist to hips. I guess it’s going to be a lot of fitting basically.

I’ve cut the pattern and I’m pinning it onto the lining, and tomorrow I’ll sew the waistband lining together and start fitting. But I’m not feeling that tonight, so that will have to wait.

Anyway, enjoy!

Pictures

So yesterday we took pictures of my parents and me in our Carnavals outfits. I think they did not want to be on the internet with their faces on, so I blurred those, but the suits are still visible. So my dad is on the left. He looks a bit like a bird especially from the back.

And this is a picture of my pirate costume. The sword that I have in my hands is a LARP sword, but it’s a little to expensive to possibly lose, so I’ve made a fabric one that’s really wonky. But it’s the idea that counts, right?

Ah well, I hope we will have fun tonight.

Carnaval Outfit

So today I was trying to make my own Carnavals outfit. I was quite inspirationless but eventually I settled on pirate. I know very not original, but I wasn’t very creative the last couple of days and I couldn’t think of anything else. Well actually I could, I wanted to go as a dinosaur/dragon, and make myself something like these below. I’d make the right one with the left one’s head. Because the left one’s head looks like Toothless and Toothless is awesome! Anyways, no inspiration or green fabric, bye bye dragon idea (pictures from here and here).

So now I’ve made a white shirt with drawstrings along the top. Based on this pattern, but I made long sleeves, thought that was more piraty. And I’m wearing a black fake leather underbust corset over that. I’m wearing a similar blue coverall under it and black boots. The coveralls are so big that I’ve got poofy pants and I fit in with the rest of the group, so perfect. I hope it’ll be fun tomorrow. We’ll see.
I’ll post a picture once I’ve managed to fit the camera to the computer.

Enjoy!

Corset

Not very long ago I added another project to my to do list: a corset. I’ve made one from the Dutch pattern journal Knipmode, and it looks really nice. But a couple of days ago I found a pattern for an underbust corset and instructions at BurdaStyle, for free. .
So currently I’m making a muslin out of some funky children’s curtainish fabric. It’s got pink, orange and yellow stripes (quite wide, I’d say 20 cm?) and green frogs and red ladybugs. It’s really cute but not something you really want your clothes made out of. I think I might have printed it out incorrectly because it seems really small. But we’ll see when it’s finished.

Carnaval Ready

Today I finished my fathers suit for Carnaval too (more on Carnaval here). I’ll try and photograph them in it Monday. I actually quite like them, they are quit fun too look at. And it’s the type of thing that you only wear for Carnalval-ish occasions. It did wreak havoc on my room, everything was covered in pink, red, green and blue fuzz. It took me quite some time with the special stairs attachment of the vacuum cleaner to get my floor looking dark blue again, and not like some weird fluorescing yeti skin. But I’ve finished them in time, and I even have some of the fuzzy fabric left, so maybe some slippers or another costume for next year can be added to the project list.

I’m now going to continue studying for my driving test, the rules and regulations.

New Project

My parents are in a samba band, and they are planning to perform in Den Bosch next week. The reason for this is Carnaval, a festival that widely celebrated in the south of the Netherlands, it marks the beginning of Lent I believe. Anyways, it’s always a lot of fun, everyone is dressed up as whatever you can think of and a lot of beer changes hands. It’s always very ‘gezellig’, a Dutch word that cannot really be translated, let us keep it at sociable. Anyways, all the members of the samba band received a blue one use painting coverall that they had to decorate the way they wanted too. My parents hired me for the job. We went to fabric market and got some really ugly furry red, green, pink and blue fabric. I’ve cut it up and am now stapling it onto the suits. It looks really terrible, but also a lot of fun. I have to finish them before Monday. One is done, but I still need to start on the other one. So wish me luck.

Oh, on the fabric market I bought some other fabrics too, a navy linen for pants, some white cotton for a shirt and purple and red linen that has to designated project jet. Any ideas?

Enjoy crafting!

Finished!

I finished the skirt, the zipper is still kind of crooked at places, and was an absolute disaster, I had to take out each side 3 times because other bits got sewed with it which were not meant to. But now it is finished, suspenders and all. I do find it really short, and it is definitely more a skirt for standing in. I don’t think cycling is going to be a viable option without a long coat. But well I’ll test run it soon. I drafted the skirt section myself, the waistband is from a high waisted trouser pattern. However, I’m actually quite happy with it.

I hope you like it too.
Now on to the next project!

Skirt

So I actually tried to get the zipper right yesterday, I ended up taking out about 5 cm of excess fabric at the waist. The skirt is going to be really short (for my normal wardrobe anyway) and have ‘suspender’ type ties over the shoulders. It’s high-waisted and hopefully fitting nicely. However, so far I’ve only basted it in, so I should actually go find my sewing machine and sew it in place. Then I can see if it will actually fit now. I do hope so. My mother really likes it, and she wants me to make something similar for her. So I guess I’m going to have to locate some fabric for that. I’m currently also studying for the theoretical part of my driving exam. It’s quite exhausting, so this is my break. I’m going to sew that zipper in now..

Again, wish me luck, I’ll send some your way too.

Oh this is the fabric for the skirt, I think it’s wool like:

Ongoing Projects

So, currently I’m working on a number of projects, mostly clothing. I am currently working on a:
– Red black plaid skirt,
– Greyish brown dress with piping along the waist,
– Black dress with a deep back,
– Bag knitted from strips of plastic bags,
– Grey and white dress inspired by a vintage one I saw a picture of on Etsy and
– White blouse from a vintage pattern (which I’m scared off since the instructions are.. weird),
– Champagne (for lack of better word) coloured full skirt, which needs hemming.

And the problem is, I have many more projects that I would like to do, such as:
– Covering a grey strapless shirt with a lacey fabric (although I haven’t the foggiest idea how),
– Making another pair of high-waisted pants (now hopefully slightly slimmer legs) and
– A skirt with a waist tie,
– Draw more,
– Do some embroidery (although on what and how is not sure yet),
– Make a skirt for my mother.

However, since I’ve stopped with school I have finished some projects, well I mostly started new ones so the old ones are still lying around. These are:
– Two pairs of high-waisted pants (of which I’ve ruined one the day after I finished it, by dropping super glue on it),
– Embellishing a strapless shirt by creating straps from fabric Yo-Yo’s (Tutorial here),
– Red and black plaid skirt with two zippers in the front,
– Lining my homemade black coat with a yellow padded fabric, so I can wear it through the winter,
– Sewing a stuffed bunny, which is really cute,
– Corset out of asian style fabric.

As you can see I’ve got loads more to do, but not so much incentive. I find it difficult to focus on one project, once I get stuck somewhere. The grey and white dress for instance has some spots of bother around the bust. The red skirt has a badly placed zipper that gives me a pointed bum which I need to fix and hem also. The greyish dress has a skirt that is not attached in nice way so that needs to be redone too. I always find it easier to start a new project than to finish one. Not the best way of working I know.

Anyway, I think I’ll see if I can mend the red skirt zipper, so I can wear it for a birthday coming weekend. Maybe if I do it by hand it can work out.. hmm..
Wish me luck, I’ll wish some to you too!

Category: Projects