fabricandthecity

2014-09-15T19:26:00.001+02:00

Sevilla

Up for a nice city trip? Well, then I would suggest Sevilla, Spain

2014-09-14T19:40:00.000+02:00

Old leatherjacket
Some time ago I fixed up an old waistcoat that belongs to my father, and we were both very happy with the result.

So, when my father came up with the idea to "re-condition" his old leatherjacket from 1957 - he thought I might be interested - which was of course correct.
The jacket looked a bit tired... But after changing some of the fabric and fixing up the parts that looked the most torn -

it looks pretty cool again.

The only thing I could not do, the machine could not handle a leather this thick, was to exchange or at least fix the seams around the zipper - but since it is working this should be fine.
Now to the burning question - will he use it again or will it be art on the wall?

2014-07-13T22:18:00.000+02:00

Recycling 2
Second shirt from partner that now hangs on my side of the wardrobe instead of his...

2014-06-01T17:27:00.004+02:00

Recycling
Continued the work on recycling shirts from my partner - this turned out pretty nice.
Starting with one ordinary, orange shirt.....

Cutting off and shortening the arms, and then making the form a bit more a-like...

And voila - the result!

2014-06-01T17:19:00.001+02:00

2014-01-14T22:19:00.002+01:00

A link worth checking out: the-making-of-a-coat-by-rory-duffy/

Wool

2014-01-14T22:16:00.002+01:00

Finished off a pair of 100 % wool trousers - and they are great to wear, no itching there!

Found, as often, the fabric in Paris - in a shop next to Marche St Pierre - paying only 15 Euros for 1.5 metres.

Just love what you can find there for fantastic prices - and how good it is that we are going to Paris for the weekend in about 2 weeks...

Skirt now a dress

2013-12-15T14:46:00.001+01:00

Quite some time ago I found this nice dress on sales, but it was too short for me so I went out to search for similar fabric, in order to make it longer - and I was successful in actually finding the exact same material.

I had some fabric left so when I decided to make a dress out of this grey skirt I though the black jersey could come in handy....which it did.
The skirt being about 3 kilos to small needed to be lifted a bit - this was the first test version.

And here - the final version.

Two sides

2013-12-07T20:50:00.001+01:00

Thought this fabric was fun, with the flowers "on top" of the other more standard pattern. The plan was to use the flower side on the outside - but then I changed my mind....so now they are on the inside instead, but they will be seen when I walk or sit down.

2013-12-01T15:13:00.000+01:00

40's jacket - work continues

2013-11-30T21:22:00.004+01:00

Work continues with the 40's jacket - first thing to do is to make it somewhat less broad shouldered. This means opening up the lining - which has to be done anyway since it does not really look good and has been repaired previously, I guess by someone who really did not know what he/she was doing....

The new armhole was marked up and the arm was moved.

Result looks pretty OK. Now I just have to decide how much of the lining I actually want to replace...

Getting into sewing mode again

2013-11-23T21:30:00.003+01:00

Ah, finally - a whole weekend to spend on my different projects!
As part of the project "finding the best trouser pattern" I finished off these ones - and they are not bad, will use this one again. It is an old pattern but it still works well.

Next project will most likely be the 40's jacket, found in New York. It only really needs to have the lining exchanged so it should not take to long.

To be inspired it is really necessary to play good music - right now this is a good one:

Back from travel

2013-10-23T22:53:00.002+02:00

Boston and New York...such nice places to visit! Lots of things to see, lots of things to listen to - and as always not enough time.Did not really visit a lot of fabric stores this time, but had decided to look for second hand/vintage shops instead - and I was lucky!
It started in Boston, at 2nd time around, where I found this fabulous Armani jacket

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After a few days in Boston we continued to New York, where I had already decided that I wanted to visit Williamsburg and beacons closet- and they have a lot!
Found this great jacket, which I believe was made sometime in the 40's.

It looks really nice, although the lining needs fixing - so I went to Fabrics & Fabrics and I found this, think it will look great!

2013-09-25T20:57:00.001+02:00

Time to leave for Boston / New York !

2013-09-15T14:04:00.005+02:00

Great concert yesterday in Zürich!

September

2013-09-02T21:12:00.002+02:00

Although it is difficult to believe - it is actually september.

Last pair of summer trousers are ready - a bit late but the fabric is pretty heavy so this will work during autumn as well.

Since September will be pretty busy on the weekends the fabric has already been prepared:
One pair of trousers

One skirt

And one skirt that should become a dress, with black jersey fabric for the top.

In between it is time for two city trips...will come back to that.
This should keep me busy!

We are getting there

2013-08-13T19:41:00.002+02:00

Always forget how hot it can be in July / August in Switzerland...

2013-08-04T16:37:00.002+02:00

When this happens

There is usually no other place to spend time than here

In the company of these friends, who will hopefully change colour soon

and something like this.

The sewing room is way too hot on most days

but I did actually finish off these ones!

Have started to look at fabric for the colder season coming up, but first I have to do something about this fabric, since I did get it from my mother -in -law - and it will look great as a tunic with white trousers.

As for this one - it will probably be hanging there until next summer......

Making a skirt out of a shirt

2013-07-17T22:29:00.001+02:00

My partner had a very nice shirt, but one day he discovered a stain on it...which could not be removed by washing it.

So, what is a girl to do?
Why not make a skirt out of it?
Said and done - work started, which meant all pieces were taken apart.

After that two pieces were cut out for the skirt.

The top 12 cm were prepared to make it possible just to sew down the top 6 cm, without making an extra waist band. The buttons/buttonholes were left intact.

The last thing I did was to cover the stain - the reason why all this happened in the first place - by moving the pocket a bit.

Think it worked out really well!

My grandmother's sewing table

2013-07-07T22:47:00.001+02:00

When I visited Sweden this summer I took the opportunity to bring back with me my grandmother's old sewing table.

On the inside of it it says "Sonja 1937", Sonja being by grandmother and 1937 the year when she got it. She was then 24 years old and married since one year.

Before she married she had been working as a seamstress in Stockholm, and although she moved away from Stockholm she continued to make clothes her whole life, also inspiring me to start doing this.

The sewing table has not been touched since her death, everything in there is left as it were, even material for bobbin lacemaking - see video.

2013-06-26T13:27:00.002+02:00

Summer holiday
Time for the yearly couple of weeks on a swedish island, it can sometimes look like this....

I should not complain though, most of the days have been lovely so far, with lots of sun.
The only bad thing is that there is no sewing machine available here...

So what do you do? Well, read books, go for walks, listen to all the podcasts that you have downloaded but never took the time for - and visit little antique shops!
There is a little shop just next to the food store that we usually go to, and this time they had got their hands on some old cotton pieces - like this coat (or whatever to call it) here.

The woman in the shop thought it would be great as a painters coat, but I guess to call it a tailors coat will work just as well.

There are a couple of small holes, but they can be left as they are or covered by some decorative piece, like a small white flower - will see what I can find in the fabric store when I am back home.

All of the pieces come from the same place, and they all have the initials S.R on them. They are thought to be from around 1898-1900.

2013-06-11T23:05:00.006+02:00

Linen fabric for trousers
Just started to make 2 pair of trousers, using a pattern I think must be 25 years old at least...

Didn't have so much time lately, bought a lot of good books instead - especially this one from swedish fashion journalist Sofia Hedström.

Very inspiring reading - the best idea I got from the book was to make one of my partners shirts into a skirt...but more on that later!

2013-06-01T22:02:00.002+02:00

Summerdress ready to be used
Whenever the sun returns - the dress is ready!

2013-05-28T22:22:00.001+02:00

Summerdress?

I am trying to remember why I am making a summer dress....

Weather Forecast Winterthur - next 5 days

Tuesday
Heavy Showers	Max: 19°C Min: 7°C

Wednesday
Heavy Showers	Max: 12°C Min: 6°C

Thursday
Rain Showers	Max: 14°C Min: 8°C

Friday
Heavy Showers	Max: 10°C Min: 9°C

Saturday
Heavy Showers

2013-05-20T23:07:00.001+02:00

The remaining 3rd skirt
I have been kept busy the last few days....

But all good things come to an end, and work could finally be resumed to get the 3rd old skirt ready for summer.

This one will be done differently (the 2 previous ones were changed by basically sewing them onto a normal t-shirt) - in this case I will use some leftover cotton fabric for the top.

Although I did make a toile first (which I rarely do), I still managed to make the front piece too large - so I had to find another solution...but I was happy with the result.

Some fabric needs to be removed in the back, around the armholes, it is still too wide.

Now I just need to get some more material before I can finish it off...