The Meringue was the first Colette pattern I worked with. Despite being a very straightforward pattern and project, and modifying the pattern before sewing I still had to shorten it and fumble with the scallops. I wasn’t sure if I would wear this – it’s somewhere in between sweet and too sweet for me. And the cheap Ikea linen isn’t the best fabric for this pattern either. It wrinkles like crazy and once you wash it, you will never be able to press those scallops flawlessly.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great pattern to have – a basic skirt that’s perfect if you don’t have a skirt sloper – the pattern allow endless modifications. It’s just those scallops, I don’t know…

Next time I’ll rise the waist a bit and I’ll shave a bit more of the fabric at the hip.

What’s your take on scallops? Tell me everything :)

Have you watched The Great British Sewing Bee? I have just watched the second episode and I’m inspired to sew more and learn more.

The contestants are amazing. I don’t know how they could find so many beautiful and talented people who sew so well.

I think the challenges in the show are difficult because of the time limit. This can changes a person’s way of sewing completely. I am a rush sewer (not that I watched the show I know I can say that without thinking people thinking I am a hole in the pavement:) so I think I could have done well in some of the chalenges, especially the 1 hour ones. But for people who take their time (something I am trying to learn), having a time limit might make sewing very stressful. And many of us sew because we like to, not because we have to.

I’ll go back to how amazing these people are. I don’t even know if I could ever be as good and as methodical as Ann or as neat as Lauren. Stuart is fantastic; he’s witty and funny and such a quick learner, I think. Tilly is great too. I can’t believe she’s only been sewing for a couple of years, I didn’t know that. I really like her approach to pattern making, to construction, to sewing in general. She fits sewing to her purpose and her technique with her personality. I think she would have done much better if she was given more time!

My favorite sewer is Mark though. He seems like such a nice person, I really like his style and he seems to have a nice family as well. His costumes are exquisite, they must require a lot of work, lots of time and lot of attention to detail, which is something the judges have said he was lacking. I disagree. It’s just the time limit. And the types of garments that he has to sew. Why would Mark need to sew a skirt? I don’t know how to make men trousers, but I’ve made trousers before and they are pretty similar when it comes to pattern, construction and fitting issues.

What do you think? Have you watched any of the sewing challenges?

First thing on the list: yellow trousers and a blazer. Don’t they look happy together?

Then a pair of oversized, cord, yellow trousers for colder days (maybe for autumn).

Or a pair or hippie yellow pants: white legged and relaxed.

Look at this crazy pair of pants/romper. What is it? I love it!

And last but not last: look at these stylish gentlemen. I want to steal their clothes :)

So, what do you think of yellow pants? :)

Images from: 1), 2), 3), 4), 5).

Finished at last. After bragging about how I organized my time to sew this and before that about fitting the muslin, the tails spring jacket is finally here.

Its been more than a month ago that i started planning my new self-made spring wardrobe and even though I’m a bit behind schedule, I’m happy I’ve finished this project, which was the most complex of all the items in the list.

I’ve made a few mistakes: I’ve sewn the buttons on the wrong side first, had to rip the seams of the sleeves 3 times because I kept matching the wrong notches, and I cut the lining too big (I wanted it to be loose, but now it moves around a bit too much).

However, I’m happy that I now have a pattern I can use again in autumn ;D or whenever I might need a short tux jacket again (I’m thinking about silk brocade, and silky pants!), not to mention that I actually sewn a jacket. Hooray!

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Have a nice Sunday (it’s finally warm and sunny in Barcelona, but luckily still chilly in the mornings :>)

I just finished my spring jacket last night (more about it in a separate post). It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I’ve done the first sketch but it wasn’t that far away from it either. I used fabric I had in my stash and I made a jacket I think I am actually going to wear. And I finished it before summer was here and that’s probably my biggest win with this project.

How did I do it?

I never liked the idea of breaking sewing time into chunks. Sewing is fun, why should fun time have to behave the same rules as work time? Yet this time I wanted to sew this jacket before April ended. So I planned. Biggest surprise ever? It was actually fun AND I reached 25% of my sewing goal this spring.

I am still to sew the denim shirt dress, the yellow pants and the stripey sleeveless dress, but having sewn a jacket (a real jacket, lining and all!) makes the other garments seem easier to make.

Ok, ok, enough with the bragging

What I did was just break the goal into smaller ones, and I put each one a few days apart, so I had enough time to think about it and not stress over the deadline. My list of tasks looked like this:

1. Pick pattern
2. Understand how a jacket is sewn
3. Understand the pattern modifications I need to make for my design
4. Modify pattern and sew muslin
5. Fit muslin and understand what has to change
6. Pick fabric and accessories
7. Cut fabric
8. Sew jacket
9. Finish jacket
10. Wear and enjoy

I had it written out so I could see how far in the project I’ve got.

It also help from wanting/trying to sew other things or start new projects. It helped me focus.

By giving myself time to think about what I wanted to sew and how I improved my sewing experience. Ok, I did sew and unpick the sleeves’s seams 3 times and had some issues with the lining showing through the sleeves, but understanding what went where and what the order of the steps was made sewing a new garment much less frustrating that the norm :)

I think I’ll tackle my next project, the denim shirt dress the same way.

What about you? Do you organize when you sew? Do you finish projects sewing a little bit every day or do you sew an entire day to finish a garment?

A muslin! And an almost ready jacket pattern! It’s been a good day.

Pattern modifications:

The only thing I modified on the Patrones pattern was the front-back shape. What you see here is a second, shortened version, as the longer version looked too boxy. Maybe I’ll play with this more for my next jacket.

Pattern modifications to make after fist muslin fit:

• Raising the sleeve
• Taking in 0.2 inches all around the front and back pieces – or cutting the pattern in a smaller size (it’s a spring jacket so the fabric isn’t that thick, plus I am probably going to layer it over a tshirt, so it should fir pretty snug).
• reshaping the lapels, making them 0.8 inches smaller (I want to sew them in a contrasting lighter fabric and they’ll be too dramatic if I keep them this size)
• slimming the sleeve
• finally, tailoring it at the waist, taking in another 0.8 inches (i’ll have to reshape the side pieces)

Important constructions notes:

• If the fabric doesn’t have a clear front and back mark it with pins so you don’t sew things wrong side up (ups!)
• When inserting the sleeve, the sleeve should be turned inside out (the right side up)

That’a it from me this time. What else would you change?

I have finally decided on a pattern for my Spring jacket, a long coat from Patrones 295.

This pattern is very similar to what I had in mind for my spring tails jacket. It’s bit boxier than the jacket in my sketch, but that can be corrected after the first fitting. I’m a bit worried that the reshaping of the front pieces might look odd, but you don’t learn until you try so keep your fingers crossed for me :)

I’ve already cut the pattern, now to decide which fabric I should ruin use.

In the meantime check out these awesome videos on sewing jackets:

In this video Peggy Sagers explains how to get perfect collar corners (I had seen this in my classic shirt Craftsy class too but it still looks genius!), how to set in the sleeve and how to make welf pockets. But the best of this video is the mood she puts you in: you want to make a million jackets! She makes it sound that easy.

The second one is uploaded by Chris White. While this is not a method I use (I am still learning flat pattern making), it’s great to see how other sewists work. Plus, he’s tons of fun and his jacket is beautiful.

The last recommendation today is this two video set from threads. It’s slow and old-school but it does take you over the steps you need to take when you’re sewing a jacket.

In the first part you learn about preshrinking fabric and interfacing (do you do that?), correcting the grain line, cutting your pattern, adding interfacing. I am guessing you are not a beginner if you’re trying to sew a jacket, so you can just skip this one and I don’t think you’ll suffer much. If you’re curious, here it is:

In the second part you see how to sew a puffy cuff, how to attach lapels to the body of the jacket, how to topstitch, and how to finish a raw edge with bias tape if you’re not lining the jacket.

Do you have any jacket sewing tips? What were the biggest mistakes you made?

Here are some ideas:

1. The Long Shirt

This is only a dress because of the length but it’s basically a longer denim shirt. You can use a shirt pattern you have in the house and just decide on the length of your hemline. If you’re going to belt it, ad few inches to your desired length, as the belt will lift it a bit.

2) The half shirt, half dress

This dress is a shirt down to the waist, where a slight A-line skirt is attached. The belt hides the seam. I also like how the sleeves look a bit puffy; this must be a very thin denim.

3. The babydoll denim dress

The shirt ends at the bust area, where a trapeze-shaped high skirt is added. I like how casual this looks; my guess is the denim has a bit of lycra in it.

4. The washed denim shirt dress

Even though I prefer dark denim for this type of dress, the wash makes it look very casual. I like how she’s wearing it as a coat. The best part about this dress though is the tailoring - see how beautiful the shape of the skirt sits on her waist and hip?

5. The Waistless Shirt Dress

This dress borrows the cuffs and the pocket from a shirt and only a deep v button placket, without the collar. I like the pockets and the fit but can’t help thinking it can look quite boxy unless you’re silhouette is very thin and boyish.

Images from:

1) Etsy, 2) My Daily Glamour, 3) La Redoute, 4) Aliexpress, 5) Bloomingdales.

“What constitues great personal style? This is one of the questions I get asked the most. We tend to think that to achieve great personal style someone must have perfect clarity about who they are and what they stand for. I politely disagree. I think conflict about who you are often leads o even greater expression. This is why young people, or the young at heart, are those that inspire or move fashion forward. They are still strugling to find themselves: “Am I a rocker? A footbaler? Or a little bit of both?” These contradictions produce the most interesting looks.”

Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist

I bought Scott’s first book because there is something in the people he photographs that is deeply interesting. Maybe it’s because we all love to look at other people and that has somehow become weird or dangerous to do on the street. To be able to look at interesting people from the comfort of your own sofa or desk, to study them and try to understand what is it about them that you like so much – that’s maybe why street style photography has become so popular.

We all see all kinds of interesting people everyday, but do you ever stop to really look at them?

This spring I am going to limit myself to only 4 items. This means I have 3 weeks to plan, find or draft a pattern, find the fabric and sew each item. Seems manageable, right?

I want to sew:

1. A Spring Coat/Jacket

I’m thinking of a cropped tuxedo-like jacket for spring. Maybe in green, maybe in blue, we’ll see.

• Things to learn: sew jackets (scary)
• Fabric: medium weight cotton fabrics, whatever I could use for a jacket
• Colours: green, blue, grey (solids)
• Compromise: Sew it without a lining (is this awful?)
• Danger zone: it gets warm outside before I even start sewing this

2. A Denim Shirt Dress

A dark, thick denim shirt tailored at the waist and with an above the knee hemline. Rolled sleeves are a must.

• Things to learn: sewing a shirt (postponed for months)
• Fabric: dark, thick, cotton rich denim
• Colours: dark blue
• Compromise: Sew it with short blouse sleeves (no cuffs, nothing to roll)
• Danger zone: the denim I want to use is too thick and the dress looks boxy

3. Yellow Pants

Straight leg yellow fabric pants with tiny black triangles fabric (I am not sure I can find this, but I could stamp it).

• Things to learn: print fabric in a tiny print
• Fabric: medium weight cotton polyester mix (so ironing won’t be hell in the future)
• Colours: yellow
• Compromise: Sew it without the print
• Danger zone: the fabric could look like animal print (not a good idea)

4. A Striped 60′s Inspired Dress

A simple shirt dress: no collar, no pockets, no sleeves, made in a thin cotton batiste.

• Things to learn: button plackets
• Fabric: striped cotton, maybe even jersey
• Colours: undecided
• Compromise: Draft a rather square pattern, and belt it to create a waist
• Danger zone: it doesn’t look like I imagined and it ends up being worn once

Uugh, fingers crossed!

What are you sewing this spring?