The job interview dress

The Gertie Sew Along is going to need a lot of time, and, following her planning, we'll be done for Halloween! I have decided to relax between the different steps and do other projects.

This is the last one!

I had a job interview this Tuesday and I wanted something new. I have decided that on Sunday evening :S. What does a girl do? Well, she uses TNT patterns ;) For this project, I have used the "Loveliness" from Ottobre S/S 2010 and the bust of a Burdastyle shift dress (140 from May 2010). I am using a nice grey thick tricot.

I love that neckline. It looks so flattering and serious but not too much either!

The whole dress is lined with a thin cotton fabric. It is white with light blue stripes. I have also used some blue ribbon on the inside hem. It is my cute touch that none has to know about ;) I love this dress because you can wear it with a blazer (which I did yesterday), with a cardigan, or even with something under it! I have been Miss Grey lately, and I will still for a bit!


We took the pictures in the building. You can see that they are not as light as usual, but my Mister says that it is because of the neon...

Gertie's sew along: Pre-shrinking!

For the first time EVER, I have pre-shrunk my wool fabric. I know, I know, it is bad. But I actually did not know that you had to do it. I guess that that is an issue that you have when you learn by yourself AND on the spot...

I was not ready to pay for a visit at the dry cleaner and I tried to figure out how to do it by myself. And the answer presented itself in the small forum that we have in our flickr group! There was a link to an easy breezy tutorial.

Here is the basic how to (of course, the tutorial explains it better):
- you zig zag the sides of your fabric
- you take 2 or 3 big bath towels dipped into warm water
- you put them in your dryer with your fabric for a while

And Tadaaaaaa!

See you tomorrow for more adventures!

Vogue Winter: my top three!

Hello people!

So far, I have only written about the Burdastyle patterns that come out every month. This time, I change up a little! The winter Vogue collection has appeared this week end on their website and a lot of bloggers have already picked their favorites. I love a lot of the dresses, but unfortunately, quite a few of them would not work for me.

My top 3 is a combination of what I find pretty AND of what could look good on me.

1) Dress from Cynthia Steffe - V1207

I think that this dress looks more interesting when you look at the technical drawing. I would prefere it with a plain fabric and a belt though.

What would work for me?
- the sleeves (they hide the top of the arm)
- the pleats of the skirt (they hide a few bits are better left alone)

Why do I like it?
- the back!!!
- the neckline
- the sleeves

2) Dress from Rachel Comey - V1209

This dress is so cute. I am not sure that I could upgrade it, but I would love to try!

What would work for me?
- the sleeves (same idea than the previous one)
- the front draping will cinch at the waist to show off the bust area (my favorite)
- the skirt is almost A-line

Why do I like it?
- I love the peplum at the back, especially as it does not continue to the front in a way that it does not cut the silhouette
- once again, the back!!!

3) Wardrobe - V8701

I really enjoy those Vogue Wardrobe. They have very simple pieces that you can make your own!

What would work for me?
- the dress (sleeves and the shape of the skirt)
- the blazer (fitted and a nice cleavage)

Why do I like it?
- the dress seems quite easy to sew
- the blazer has such a nice back to it!

So basically, I cannot wait for the sales ;)

Tomorrow, I will probably post about a quick project that I am making now.

What do you think about the winter collection?
Do you have any favorites?
Do you like their designer patterns?

Muslin from hell, take 2!

I am finally done with it!

After my adventures with the shoulders, the bust, and the hips, I stumbled upon other issues...

Laurence and the collar...

After cutting every re-worked piece in my other muslin fabric, I realized I did not have enough for the second piece of the collar. To the hell with it. Only one was necessary ;)

Laurence and the sleeves...

After all those changes on the top part of the coat, I had corrected the sleeves too so they would follow the adjustments. Yeah, right... It did not work at all. In a final attempt, I tried using the sleeves of the old muslin, and they work! This must be magic! However, it feels like they are a little bit too long and form a box (as they are the same length as the coat).

Laurence and the back...
I completely forgot to adjust it. Therefore, you can see al little crease on the picture. It has been since then corrected ;)

I cannot wait to see what it will look like with the fashion fabric, and especially with the pockets! They will be on the front sides.

I am not an expert, and I call for your tiger eyes.

Do you have extra suggestions?
How short should I make the sleeves?

The muslin from hell!

A few days ago, I have posted pictures of the muslin of my coat. Well, let me tell you, The changes I had to make were too much, so I have reworked the whole pattern and re-cut another muslin! I am now assembling it.

However, the skies are throwing a lot of things at me to prevent me from moving on!

Lightning #1: From Tuesday to Thursday, we went to visit my Mister's parents. He had to go to see his cardiologist at the other side of the country. This resulted in a few hours of train and a lot of talking with his mum and dad. However, I have managed to hand stitch a little bit in the train. Don't I look like a maniac?

Lightning #2: I had to reduce the size of the shoulders, and make a FBA, and re-work on the hip area so the coat is nice and comfy... Especially if you have to sit down and travel in it. I tried this, and hopefully it will help...

Lightning 3#: I have started an ugly flu on Thursday, right after we got back home! I have been staying in bed, with tissues thrown all around me, sucking throat healing candies, and, mainly, harassing my poor Mister.

Tomorrow, I promise, there will be no more presents from the sky, and my second attempt at the muslin from hell will be posted!

TV Thursday: Gloria Delgado

Who does not love her? Well, maybe some jealous women...

Gloria Delgado is in Modern Family. And she is hilarious, and quite gorgeous! With her, everything is about womanly curves. She shows them, and she is right! For those who do not know her, try to guess which one she is ;)

I was not hard to try to figure out what to pick, the online pictures are very coherent: give us some hips, give us some cleavage, give us some legs! I have decided to go for two dresses, a body con, and a wrap dress. There are also skinny pants, a pencil skirt, and a low neckline top.

Gloria knows how to flatter her curves. Of course, Body conscious dresses are the best way to do so (if you have the body for it). I think that this pattern would work great! The V of the neckline is nice and deep. Also, the dress is well cinched at the waist and close to the hips. The knee length helps to keep the whole look classy. Gloria would wear that with both printed or plain fabrics. Very colorful, or classic black. It is mostly the fit that counts!

In the second episode, she was wearing a wrap dress. I do not know why, but I have never really enjoyed them, but that day, it made me feel like trying to sew one for myself! That is how good it looked! I could only find this picture of it... However, I stumbled upon a pretty cute pattern! It has quite a few possible adaptations, and would completely use that one for me! I especially like the collar possibility. It brings a little something more!

Pencil skirts... She wears one almost in every episode! It must be because it is so flattering on her. And also because she completely can pull it off! I have chosen this pattern (my favorite is the light grey version of it) for a few reasons:
- I did not want to post the same one once again
- This one has a few different views
- The construction looks really interesting
- I would actually love to have it :S

Gloria does not only wear dresses and skirts, she wears gorgeous skinny pants. It is still the same idea: showing and flattering. Of course, she does it with high heel shoes ;). I love that pattern. It can work for jeans, or other Body Conscious trousers. Of course, it would be a catastrophe on me...

And last, but not least, what would Gloria do without her tops? Ok, they all are cleavaged, and are very fitted, but they look awesome! She comes from the South, and everything is HOT there. I think that this pattern would be great on her. Especially the beige view. It is still classy while being pretty sexy in the same time.

This is it for this TV Thursday! Do any of you have requests?

Tomorrow, I will post about my Coat Muslin from hell! The photos are ready ;)

See ya!

Gertie's sew along!

I have been following Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing for quite a while. A few weeks ago, she announced she was doing a sew-along of her own: a coat! At first, I decided to not participate as the pattern they were using was too expensive (costs+shipping to Europe =$$$). Of course, I followed the posts where she discussed the preliminaries. One day, she mentioned that anyone could participate, even with another pattern!

I was in!!!

You might remember that I mentioned my new project two weeks ago: a coat with this fabric and this pattern:

This is what I am going to use for the sew-along. The only difference is that it will be more refined as we are doing some tailoring! I have been reading quite a little about tailoring. It is so interesting! However, I am quite anxious as it is more tricky to accomplish. It will need more patience too. What I am really happy about is that is going to help me considerably to improve my novice sewing skills and broaden the catalog of techniques I use.

So far, I have...

- upgraded the pattern
- traced it on paper
- traced it on my muslin
- assembled most of the muslin
- realized the work that lies ahead.

I am going to need help for the fit, I think. The pictures showing the problems are below. The issues are:
- I must add 2 cm at the waist
- I want to add 5 cm at the hips (for more ease)
- I want to shorten the upper back piece at the waist (1,5 cm)
- the shoulders are too wide which has a lot of consequences (the bust pulls, the arm pulls, the arm is too long)

The three first fitting issues, I can handle. I have done it before. However, I do not know how to proceed properly for the shoulders, especially in the case of of a princess cut... The whole thing looks better when I pull the start of the sleeve closer to the neckline (maybe not as much as on the picture). Do you see what I mean?

Do you know where I could find a tutorial?
Do you also participate to this sew-along?

Bows for coffee!

Finally something new!

Do you remember my post about upgrading patterns? Here is the result! A brand new Coffee Date Dress!

At first, before upgrading the pattern, I thought I would not sew anything with it. But in the end, it would have been too bad! I also thought that it would be interesting to show the result as a proof that it actually works! I went trough my stash and found less then a meter leftover my Burberry inspired dress, and a bit of stretchy beige. It went very fast to sew this dress. The pattern is easy and well made. I only had to change two things: make a longer bust, and add darts from the neck line to the darts of the bust. Now it looks like a "three pieces front".

The last change, a more aesthetic one, was to go for tiny bows instead of the ruffle. I think that it looks so much better with thins fabric! And also, it brings something quirky to a very classic dress and very classic fabrics.

For the photos, I borrowed the new hat that my Mister purchased two weeks ago. It is so much fun to wear! We went to take pictures almost in front of our building. It was really fun because it is mushroom season, and I couldn't help but looking at them!

Have a nice Sunday ;)

Burdastyle: October 2010

Today, I went to pick up my Mister a the airport, and as I was checking out magazines, I was surprised to already see the October issue! And very happy too! So here are my two cents...

The October issue is the very awaited Karl Lagerfeld issue. Indeed, Mister Lagerfeld designed two pieces: a jacket and a skirt. I love the skirt! but I do not see any way to make it fit for me. It will be too short, and I feel like lengthening it will kill what makes it nice. Oh well... The jacket is very interesting! It looks like it would be so fun to construct. But once again, I am not sure that it is upgradable...

There are also some features: "In the nature", "Aviator", "Evergreen", "From another planet", "Children", and "Plus size". As usual, there is one feature that I really do not like: "From another planet".

I was really disappointed by the Plus size feature. It had basic shapeless tees, weird leather pants, collar-less coats, an elastic-waisted skirt, and a shapeless kimono tee. However, I really like the skirt part of this dress (see below). It is another smart way to make a pencil skirt and still hide unflattering bits with the piece that hangs in the front. I would totally try it as a skirt, with a built in belt.

The "Aviator" feature is very nice. It shows great coats and classic shapes. It is so Amelia Earhart! I really like the pants. They are nice and wide at the bottom. I also enjoyed this coat/cardigan. I would completely try it in a heavy knit.

The first feature printed in this mag is "in the nature". It has cute comfy country pieces. I really like this skirt. It looks so comfy, and still nice to wear. It seems like you can pair it to so many tops! I would construct the waist differently. I would do tiny pleats and a built in belt, with an elastic back. I has in-seam pockets too! It would look great in a more flowy fabric.

I must admit that my favorite feature is the one called "EVERGREEN". I love every single piece of it! They are cute and colorful! Everyone is going to love THE dress! It has a wonderful skirt (side pleats, cute fitted top, nice cleavage, cap sleeves). The also have an underskirt pattern for it in the magazine. It looks very upgradable! And it definitively will be upgraded *winky winky*. Next is a cute simple skirt. I have been in such a skirt mood lately, it must be because I realized that I have very few of them. I love the pleats! And last but not least, a bow shirt! It is simple, and easy to personalize. You can use a quirky fabric for it!

Did any of you purchased this issue?
Do you plan on getting it?
What is your favorite piece?
What do you think about Karl Lagerfeld?

TV Thursday: Neal Caffrey

Hello Hello!

Why is there almost a week before this post??? First, my Mister is in Spain for a conference, and he's the one with the photo power. Not easy to post pictures if I cannot upload them... Second, I have not been feeling well, I think I might have an ear infection or something. Anyway, enough excuses, back to the party!

This week, I am trying to get into Neal Caffrey's Wardrobe. Ladies, how many of you feel like re-looking your man? Gentlemen, don't you feel sometimes like dressing it up?

Neal Caffrey is the main character in the series "White Collar". He is one of the world's greatest con artists. After escaping from prison – and getting caught by the man who put him there in the first place, Agent Peter Burke - Neal strikes a bargain: In exchange for his freedom, Neal will help the FBI catch the most elusive White Collar criminals in the country. Let's stop with the Blah Blah. Neal Caffrey is my TV crush of the moment. He wears Gucci, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Dior and many many more! And he looks gorgeous while doing it! 

How to copy his wardrobe? Well, you need great suits, nice coats, gorgeous shirts, vests, and a lot of ties. I have been looking online for male patterns and I am really disappointed. There is never more then 20 patterns per website, and they are very often not very stylish... Though, I managed to find happiness!

Neal would be very very sad with his suits! They are fitting, and sharp! Perfect pieces! I am very happy because I have purchased a nice pattern last month, and I have talked about it in my haul post. It is a vintage Simplicity pattern. The pants and blazer would look great in navy blue, in black, or grey! And like Barney would say: suit up! I have yet to try to build these pieces, but they are on my to-do list!

Very often, Neal wears vests. Under his suits, or even without his blazer. I do not know about you, but I love men in vests! They look so nice! I have found a nice pattern on Burdastyle. Of course, it has those EVIL welt pockets that are made ON the darts. But in the end, it is totally worth it! I would use the same fabrics as for the suits, but I actually would not mind trying tweed or other patterned wools.

And this got my boyfriend thinking! And you know how it is when men think... I finally ended up sewing a nice vest for him. I have used the pattern that comes with the three pieces suit. It is in one of my previous posts too. Doesn't he look like Neal Caffrey, my Mister?

When it is cold outside, every Neal Caffrey wannabe needs a nice coat. I have found a nice pattern on Vogue. I would use view A or maybe view B. I would use heavy navy blue wool, or maybe camel. This pattern can almost be used for a "Navy" kind of coat, with golden buttons. This male pattern is my favorite finding online!

I wonder how many ties a stylish man like Neal can have? My Mister has three nice ones. But they have such great ones in shops! I love thin black or navy ties at the moment. You can even make them yourself! Here is a Burdastyle pattern.

I have been looking for a nice and sharp shirt pattern for men but could not find any. Do you know where I could find one?


After this Eye Candy post,...


Do you sew men clothing?
Do you know where to find designer men patterns?
Don't you just wish you could bite into Neal Caffrey?
But don't you prefer your own Mister at the end of the day?
Who would you like to see next week for TV Thursday?