No no no... sewing.

What ever happened to January 2012? Not much it seems, at least not on the sewing front. I've been on a bunch of job interviews, no luck yet. I've been singing and playing my guitar at a local open stage, more luck there. And then at long last winter arrived here in Sweden, and with it, though a bit delayed, came the ever returning nasty throat infection.

So, little Miss 'I love to dress up and be GLAM' is getting pretty much nothing done, and is looking quite a lot like this:

Nope, there is no way I would have shared an actual photo, I don't want to give you lot a heart attack! So, drawing it is then. Btw, I wonder when was the last time anyone actually really looked great in a turtleneck sweater? They're nice and warm though.

I really hope to get back to sewing soon, I have a massive amount of new and gorgeous vintage patterns I want to try out, and loads of ideas!

A little bit Armani perhaps?

It looks like I'll be making something like one of these looks for myself this spring. Giorgio Armani Spring 2012 fashion... and I just lovelovelove those shantung trousers!

All pictures courtesy of elle.com

Finished: laptop case

Yay, finished! I really loved to make something using only my hands this time, no sewing machine at all. I made the case/bag a bit big, so I can fit the charger and possibly some other stuff in there as well!

Nice, huh?

My next project will be to find what Designer Spring2012 garment I'll make a copy of! I have unfortunately saved about fifty awesome looks so far... well, I'll see what fabrics I have at home and go from there! I'll let you know how the plans are going with some collage soon.

New hand sewn project - Laptop case

This is what I'm working on right now. Figured it was time for a little hand sewing (although sewing through this waxed fabric/fake leather-ish stuff requires constant use of pliers...) I've had my laptop for... three years or so, been meaning to make a case for it for about that long. Wanna bet the bugger's gonna die on me as soon as I finish this?

The “Accessorized Accidental Hippie” Blouse

This week started with thinking about 2012, and what I want to make (of) this year. After summing up 2011 I realized I might not need that many more dresses to be honest… so, time for separates! (I bet I’ll still make a huge amount of dresses this year…) Also I figured I would love to add some more blue to my wardrobe. Therefore, when starting this challenge, I took out some favorite blue accessories of mine: A pair of light turquoise 1970s party shoes from my mum, a silver necklace with a blue stone my dad gave me for my 20th birthday (I think it was for that one at least), and a canvas bag with a rococo-inspired pattern in white and blue. The inspiration led to this collage, and here's the finished blouse!

I ended up with more of a tunic than a blouse, but apart from that, It’s fairly close to the peasant blouses of late 1940s and the 1950s… when it doesn’t look like something from the good old Hippie days I guess. Ooups.

I didn’t count on adding such a long piece of the sheer dark fabric, and once I did, well, there is no way I am taking scissors to that one again, ever! Construction-wise I’m just happy I drafted raglan sleeves and didn’t mess those up all too much. I’m thinking I could loosen up the neckline elastic a bit… we’ll see. And the blouse is a little bit too big. But comfy!

The Facts

⁃ Fabric: One loosely woven lightweight cotton/linen curtain, a scrap piece of what I think is chiffon , both given to me for free

⁃ Pattern: None, I drafted it mostly based on the pattern envelope pictures of McCall 6625 and Advance 5856

⁃ Year: The McCall pattern was 1946, the Advance 1950s, my drafting circa today…

⁃ Notions: Elastic

⁃ Time to complete: 4 hours, two of them just to get that sheer fabric to stop fraying and get in place!

⁃ First worn: Jan 2012

⁃ Wear again? Yes, it will be nice for summer!

⁃ Total price: Less than $0,50. Only thing I paid for was thread and elastic!

The sheer fabric bit will be nice paired with short shorts I think or maybe just having the blouse as a cover-up for the beach this summer! And I really like the layering effect on top of the paisley skirt. (It’s a vintage RTW skirt, I’ve had it in my wardrobe for ages.)

Oh, and did you notice I just can’t stop accessorizing, I had to add a belt as well! 

Inspiration collage for something blue...

Going over what I sewed last year made me realize a few things...

#1 I need to make more separates
#2 I want to make more blue things

So, starting 2012 sewing with the accessory challenge over at Sew Weekly, here's my inspiration.

My inspiration comes from three accessories (I couldn't just pick one, being little miss styling&accessorizing). The first is mum's party shoes from the 1970's, they are light blue, amazing, and still wearable! The second inspiration is a wonderful old necklace I got from dad on (I think) my 20th birthday. And the third one is a Friis&Co. bag that has this lovely rococo-ish print!

As usual I don't have a pattern for what I want to make, but a peasant blouse can't really be that hard after drafting and sewing the Dior style dress I wore on New Years.

The 'Oh, right' sweater

Oh, right as in 'I had totally forgotten about making this one and found it buried in a pile of clothes in the bedroom'.

Guess I made 34 garments last year then! Cause I haven't forgot about anything else, or have I? Don't think so, therefore:

Looking very fancy in my Christmas 2011 PJ-pants. This sweater is made from a super heavy knit fabric, I have no idea what's in it but it's nice and warm anyway! (And loaded with static electricity, heh...)

No pattern used, I improvised something like this: (I'm sorry but I love that it looks like a 3-year old did this sketch. I made it in good old program Paint because I didn't feel like sketching on paper and dragging out the camera again!)

Anyway so the simple instructions goes like this: I cut the bodice, folded in half and cut out the neckline using a sweater I like as a reference. The sleeves were first attached to the bodice then I sewed the side seam and sleeve together in one seam going from waist to wrist! Since I don't own a serger I folded and zigzagged the edges.


It's probably impossible to see, but the dark stripes are not black but a very lovey moss green.

2011 Sewing in Review

Like many fellow sewing bloggers, I wanted to look back at what I accomplished last year. It was quite fun for me to see what I made, I didn't think it was that much but... well, it is!

No sewing in January. Oversized dress (post in Swedish from my old blog), 70's Shirt Dress, the first new project I posted when I started this blog in March! 30's Pants, Matching jacket for 30's pants, 60's shift dress, 40's beach ensemble.

No sewing in May either, because I was working day and night finishing up my Master Thesis in Management, researching how career women are portrayed in daily newspapers, and how those pictures affect us in our daily lives at work. Super fun study, but oh so time consuming.

The Amazing fabric dress, Silky T-shirt, Midsummers dress, Silk paisley tunic, UFO Crochet bikini, Rainbow dress, UFO Drafted 1932 dress that refused to come out right, Cotton pillowcase tops

Somewhere around here I started to actually buy fabrics I like, instead of just grabbing what I had lying around since the dawn of times. For a long while I did very little sewing, and had a pretty dull stash, where almost everything was of the "what on earth am I going to make with this"-kind. No wonder I never felt like making anything!

Birthday dress, Hand sewn fleece jacket, Midi skirt, 70's glam girl party dress This is when I first joined Sew Weekly, and began to follow the weekly challenges. Many, but not all, of the following garments have been made because of Sew Weekly!, The Plaid suit, The 'When life gives you lemons' dress, The Homage to Mucha dress, The Ghetto Fab Grafitti dress, The growing corduroy pants 

The Carrie Bradshaw dress, The Spanish Harlem skirt, Creepy Crazy Doll Halloween dress, 1920's slip, Hippie pants, The 'Christmas as in the old days' dress, Dress for mum and tunic for sis, Drafted Dior New Look party dress

All in all, 33 finished garments, and two unfinished. Not bad I must say! 

I have learned so much the past year, and found so much love and support in other sewing bloggers that inspire me to get better and better. I am very exited to see what new and fun things 2012 will bring!