How to alter Colette Patterns’ Sorbetto into a kimono sleeved tunic-dress over on lazystitching.com.
A New Address…
7 Feb
Well, it took a little while, but the bags are packed and I’m ready to move on over to my address at my very own domain, lazystitching.com.
And because nothing in life is simple, wordpress doesn’t let you move your followers from one blog to another so to keep getting up-dates you will need to follow lazystitching.com and not this one (lazystitching.wordpress.com). On the new site, the subscription buttons (including email alerts) are on the top of the sidebar or alternatively you can click one of the buttons below to follow with bloglovin’ or google reader:
I’m still tweaking things so please let me know if anything is a little buggy and I’m so excited to see you all over there.
xo Alana
Working Girl: Pure Wool Pencil Skirt
29 JanThe thing about job-hunting is that it goes painfully slow and then suddenly very fast. After the Crafter’s Ceilidh last weekend I had a second interview on Monday then an offer through on Monday evening, and by Wednesday morning I was in the office for my first day.
During the job search I wasn’t sure what kind of environment I was going to end up in – office, retail, hospitality etc. so it was sort of hard to start planning the appropriate clothes. Now I know it’s in a smart-casual office (the women often wear dark skinny jeans and smart tops) I can make garments appropriately, starting with this skirt I made for the interview process.
With such a tried & true pattern like Burdastyle’s Jenny this was a very fast make. The fabric is 100% pure wool bought in this stash from Walthamstow Market for £5/m and the lining from the same place for £1.50/m. The lining is my favourite part, like a hidden ray of sunshine.
This version varies from the standard pattern by removing the front darts and instead easing the front into the waistband which is cut on the straight grain rather than the bias. I also eliminated the split at the center back as I find there’s enough room to walk fine. The lining is about 2in wider than the fashion fabric for ease of wear and is gathered into the waistband front and back.
It feels pretty good to be working again and the company is an exciting and expanding one, although it’s pretty nerve-wracking being the new person and trying to read all the personal dynamics. I hope you’ll all bear with me while I adjust to the new schedule, it’s Monday to Friday for the most part and with a whole hour for lunch (in NZ 30 minutes is pretty standard) I’m going to trial posting at lunchtime.
Also progressing nicely, is the new blog design and move to the lazystitching.com domain. Watch this space and hopefully next Monday I can announce the launch!
Tags: Burda Style, Jenny, Pencil Skirt, Skirt, Wool, Work
The Gray Swan Dress
23 JanA sudden rush of sewing mojo has me twirling like a ballerina.
Sometimes, things work out better when you stop worrying about the consequences and so it went with this dress. This winter, it seemed all the high street stores had these little ponte skating dresses with circle skirts and although I had some left over double-knit from my Minoru muslin I had no pattern that would work.
In the end, I used Ali’s method of pin-tracing the bodice pattern pieces from my Gertie dress (which originally used New Look 6824); the sleeves came from my newly adjusted Victory Hazel Dress Pattern and the skirt is a 3/4 circle. The construction was a case of trial and error.
The princess line fit well but gaped a wee bit at the centre front so I gathered approximately 2in of length out there. I free-handed the cut of the neckline then added a band of the same fabric using this tutorial to get it sitting flat. My favourite thing though,was top-stitching all the seams; thanks to Tasia’s instructions on the Minoru jacket I already knew I liked the effect on this fabric. I even topstitched the darts at the back! For the circle skirt I used Patty’s calculator to do the maths.
I love the end result and feel I could fit right in with the Corps in Black Swan…
{illustration} Amy Westcott : {source} Clothes on Film
Okay well maybe not but if you need me I’ll be pirouetting over here.
Epilogue:
Note to self – do not let fantasies of ballet stardom distract you from the weather report… unfortunate circumstances may result in windy Scottish cities.
{source} Kestrel Finds & Makes
Tags: 6824, ballet dress, Circle Skirt, crafter's ceilidh, Double-knit, New Look, Princess Line, skater dress
T.G.I.F. + More Croquis
20 JanJust wanted to pop in to say hi and a humongous thank you for all the encouragement too. Things have been plenty better this week with several interviews. The positions are mostly a step down from what I was doing but with good companies so keep your fingers crossed. Unfortunately, the whole process has kept me off the internet for the most part but here are a couple of things entertaining me this week:
Personalised croquis are popping up all over – I think the Colette Sewing Handbook was a popular present this Christmas! The one above is from one of my favourite new discoveries – Shona Stitches.
And Lauren from Lladybird has a great tutorial for creating a digital version.
Other Mini-versions of your favourite bloggers:
- Ms Modiste
- K-Line
- Un Peu de Couture
- Fabenfreude
- Bee-Bee’s Vintage Dress
- Lux Per Diem
- And then there is the queen of croquis Polka Dot Overload who was all over this long before it was cool (;-)) with her amazing illustrated versions.
Elsewhere:
{source} Handmade Mess
- Handmade Mess has a hilarious pictorial description of the trials of making your own wardrobe.
{source} bernieandi.wordpress.com
- Bernie and I makes great Detail Inspiration posts like the collars one above.
I’m off to the Crafters Ceilidh first thing tomorrow so it’s early to bed with me. I’ll leave you with this gorgeous sunrise at my Aunty’s place north of Auckland and the playlist I’ve been listening to all week. Have a peaceful weekend and if you’re off to Edinburgh too – See You Soon!
Personal Post
10 Jan
I almost accidently uploaded my CV instead of an image, which is why I’m taking a wee break.
Hey guys,
The job hunting situation in London has me a little consumed at the moment so I’m going to take a blogging break for a couple of weeks. I appreciate all the support you guys give me and I didn’t want to just drop off the face of the earth. Hopefully I can manage a post here or there and I’ll be checking in on twitter but I need to be head down, bum up right now or there’ll be no money for sewing at all.
xo Alana
T.G.I.F + Foreign Language Blogs
6 JanAnd what a Friday it has been! I’ve spent a lovely day on Goldhawk Road with Handmade Jane, Su-Sews-So-So and Myfabrication and as per usual I forgot to bring a camera. Question: if there are no images of the purchases made, do they really count?
Meanwhile, here’s another question for you:
Do you read sewing blogs in languages you don’t speak?
It may just be my Fear of Missing Out (FOMO if you will) talking but I feel like there’s a whole lot of sewing action I’m missing out on. Plus, when you use Google Translate to decipher them, it has it’s own entertainment value ( no really, try reading the garment descriptions on burdastyle.de).
Here are some that I have stumbled across:
J.na Lesno Marchewkowej in Polish
Can you believe this is the same coat as the one on the cover of the December Burda Magazine?
pachi-pachi in French.
Madame Palagie in Greek.
And finally, because I am un-employed, I have time to scour the internet just for you*. Here are my favourite things this week.
"Make it work!* (*After you have lost an arbitrary amount of weight.)" - Caption from Lesley @ xojane.com
- “Criticizing Tim Gunn is like calling Kermit the Frog an asshole: Not only is nobody going to take your side, the odds are good that many people will be actively offended by your sharing this minority opinion.” From My Big Fat Problem with Tim Gunn on xoJane. Keep reading down to the comments because there’s some interesting discussions going on.
- “There were all sorts of choices, of course. I could buy thongs, hipsters, bikinis, and even something called a cheeky panty. (That last, I can only guess is some sort of insolent, but loveable, undergarment. Perhaps it has Oscar Wilde quotes on the tag?)” From The Case of the Tiny Knickers on A Confederacy of Spinsters.
- “I was pondering why an old story about a delicate, emotional, drug addled actress from the 50s is so much more romantic than hearing about a supermodel hitting the runway with half a bag of coke littered around her nose. Easy. Photographic evidence. “ From How the Internet Has Taken the Glamour Out of Behaving Badly on Smaggle.
- ”Resist the urge to over-design: Chevron squiggles and textures and shadowed fonts, oh my! Once you discover the wonderful world of templates and photo editing it can be a slippery slope down to this. Resist the urge, my friends! You are stronger than the gif!” From Making Your Blog Look Like A Million Bucks on Yes and Yes. Guilty as charged, especially while I’m working on the move to my .com address. I need this tattooed on my hand.
*No way near as glamorous as it sounds.
Tags: Blogs, Goldhawk Road
