1 year late, pt. 5 (the final one!)

i honestly can’t think of a better title. may i just dump this post here? 😛

seeing that this is my own blog, the answer is yes. i may. and i will.

so we’re finally in winter 2021, and i’m finally posting my very last sewing projects of the year. i’m actually very proud of each and every one of the items i made last year, it’s just that i want to get going with this year’s projects already. 😅 now, shall we start?

self-made blouse and shorts.

if you’ve been a reader of my blog for a long while, you’d have known that i always have a soft spot for Moomin fabrics. i may not grow up with Moomin books/cartoons, but seeing the characters and their behaviours, and the fact that i used to saw a lot of their merchandise in Japanese fashion magazines made me feel just as close to them as a true Finn.

this one i had to get because it’s a scene from a story that meant a lot to my husband. the print is called Tivoli and it’s cotton jersey with a bit of elastane. i got about 80 cm of the fabric, and the width is about 150 cm.

i didn’t use any pattern for this one and did the usual square method AKA boxy shirt. just for a bit of a twist, i decided to add black lace between the body and sleeve pieces, aaaand some pompom trimming on the cuffs. because of the lace addition, i managed to get semi-long sleeves for this one, so it’s perfect for autumn/winter.

for the neckline, i used the trusted elastic edge band again (of course)! this one is not made of the same material as the previous ones i’ve used, though, and because of the tiny ribbing lines, it looks a bit more ‘sporty’. not that that’s a problem, it still makes my life a lot easier than to make a separate neckline band or use a bias tape for necklines.

the next project was supposed to be my last sewing project of 2021.

self-made dress, COS shoes.

ever since i worked with punto jersey (can’t even remember when that first time was!), i had always loved how easy it is to sew it. it’s just as easy as working with scuba jersey, but the material itself is usually much more comfortable and less ‘plastic’ky than scuba, which is nice.

so when i saw this solid coloured one in green (gotta love green!), i knew i had to get it. in the beginning i was thinking of making pants, but i unsuccessfully tried a new pants pattern last summer (i mean, summer 2021) and so that plan went out the window. thankfully, that time i used another fabric, so this one was still completely unscathed.

i had about 1,5 m of this fabric, and the width was around 140 cm. i was feeling too lazy to copy new dress patterns, so in the end i decided to use the same pattern as the one for this dress.

i didn’t remember what was so hard about making this dress, especially since i could omit the zipper because i was using a stretchy fabric.

but as soon as i started sewing the v-neckline, it all came back to me. needless to say, it’s not exactly neat and crisp, but i did my best.

what i’m most proud of is, of course, the origami pleat at the front part of the waistline. it came out beautifully (for my standard), so i’m super satisfied with that. to make it look more polished, i used ochre-coloured topstitch thread for the yoke’s topstitches… and of course, a few metal studs on the yokes wouldn’t hurt.

after finishing this dress and feeling super proud of it, i couldn’t help grabbing another fabric. i mean, hey, i was feeling super lucky!

self-made fanny pack.

it was that time of the year! you know, the time when my previous self-made fanny pack broke down (the fabric just frayed too much, the zipper got stuck way too often) that i just had to make a new one!

this time, i copied a co-worker’s fanny pack which had just one wide elastic strip covering the width of the bag to put the tools in. the fabric i used is some sort of neoprene, so this time it shouldn’t fray at all, ha!

i’ve been using it since the beginning of this year, and it’s been great so far, except for the elastic band that holds the whole bag that’s been stretching and stretching non-stop because of all the weight inside the bag. 😂 i just have to keep shortening it, but whatever. at least the bag itself is still usable! it does make me wonder how much stuff i carry around at work. and i don’t even carry my mobile phone there!

but what do you know? i’ve finally caught up with myself in the year 2022, whoppee! now let’s just hope the next post will be some time this year! 😆

(silverain x skoci)²

summertime is the best time for blog hibernation, but now i’m slowly coming to life again with new sewing projects.

Skoci is an Indonesian brand that produces bags, purses, and home accessories with cute handmade prints. you can see their works here and here. i just adore their prints, and i personally think these would sell well in Finland & other Nordic countries, heehee!

years ago when they just started their business, i had begged for them to sell their ‘rejected’ scraps of fabrics with hand-stamped prints so i could use them for my own sewing projects. well, now i finally got what i wished for when some of their relatives visited Helsinki a few months back & brought me some of their fabric scraps for my birthday present! ❤

the first project i made was a simple one. small fabric scraps are easiest to be used as pockets on clothes, and i happen to like dresses with pockets!

self-made dress, H&M socks, Zara sneakers, Skoci pouch.

i used medium weight cotton jersey for the dress. for the upper part, i used the ever-so-versatile pattern from Ottobre design woman magazine 5/2016. i extended the length and made it wider as it went down so i could attach elastic bands on the sides & they would scrunch up nicely.

other than the pockets, for an extra detail i made a low scoop for the backside and added a strip of elastic band to keep the shoulder parts in place.

see? simple.

for the second project, i literally had to push myself to even start it (i was still half hibernating that time). i had to retrace the pattern #126 from BurdaStyle magazine 03/2015 because the last time i used size 38 the culottes fell on my hips, not waist. so this time i used size 36 and prayed that they would fit me. (they did. phew!) of course it was a good thing i also lost a little bit of weight during my hibernation!

H&M sweater, self-made shorts, Just Kulkith shoes.

i used viscose twill fabric i got from Marimekko Outlet last year. i would like to point out that when i was checking out my purchases at the cashier there (less than 10€ in total for 2 fabric ‘scraps’) the cashier lady laughed at me/the sum of my purchases. i don’t know, i guess she was used to seeing tourists and Finns alike going all out there and buy things for at least 50€ and above. i would love to show this cashier lady what i managed to do out of my ridiculously cheap purchases. :p

back to Skoci now. i knew i wanted to make shorter version of these culottes with the viscose twill, and first contemplated adding pockets to the backside where i could again use the Skoci fabric scraps. but i decided that i wanted the culottes to look a bit more formal so… how about using the scraps for the hidden pockets instead?

for that, i first sewed some scraps together (like patchwork) and then traced the pocket pattern on it. since these scraps are made of stiff cotton fabric, i only used them for the inner side of the pockets and used the viscose twill for the other side.

and then i added orange pompoms underneath the waistband (i know i said i wanted them to look a bit more formal… but don’t you agree that the orange pompoms work well with the green fabric??). i got this pompom band for free from my friend J, and i had been waiting for the perfect project to put it to use! however, attaching the pompoms here was a pain to do, and i had to redo some parts of it a few times because i just realized after they were done that the pleats on the culottes were not symmetrical. they still aren’t, and the waistband’s center back seam is also off but this was the best i could do so i’ll leave them at that.

lastly, the button i used was something i got from Indonesia back in 2010. i almost used a dark green one that L–another friend–gave me (she also got it from Marimekko Outlet store), but then thought that yellow button was what the culotttes needed.

i was so happy to get the culottes done and saw & wore the result!

the 2 projects were perfect combinations of Silverain & Skoci, and i hope R & P from Skoci agree, too! ❤ thank you ever so much for the birthday present, guys! you rock!

a study in stripes

i guess i have decided that this year i will be studying stripes and how to best sew them. this is my third sewing project this year, and already my second time using stripey fabric.

self-made dress, H&M tights, COS shoes.

for this dress, i took the idea from my co-worker’s New Yorker dress which is made of rib knit/jersey. the rib knit was sewn so that the lines are diagonal on the front, and the bottom part is vertical.

for my dress, i decided that horizontal stripes would be better for the bottom part. and as for the pattern, surprisingly, i again used the one from Ottobre design woman magazine 5/2016. this is now the 4th time i used it, because it’s just such a basic pattern that is so easy for me to modify.

the fabric is thin viscose jersey where the black stripes are knitted (so from the wrong side you can also still see the black stripes) and the silver dots are printed. thankfully, unlike the green-blue stripes fabric, this one actually stretches both ways! phew.

i think i did a pretty good job in aligning the stripes for this one! the only mishap that happened was when i was sewing the collar/neckline and some of the dress fabric got crinkled too much.

also for some strange reason my super cheap overlocker has now been acting weird: the left most thread (that goes through the left needle) always snaps off when i sew, no matter how tight or loose the setting is. i finally gave up and started sewing with only 1 needle and 3 threads.

but then again, there you go. i finally figured out how to sew with an overlocker using only 1 needle & 3 threads. i still learned something in the end! 😀

my co-worker predicted that my super cheap overlocker will break down on the second year (which is some time during this year), simply because nothing cheap can last longer than that. so maybe she’s right. but until then, i will still make use of what it can still do. and i’m thankful enough for it to still be able to make this lovely dress!

i’m super proud of this dress. everything went smoothly from modifying the pattern to the aligning of the stripes on all sides, which is a quite rare thing to happen to me! i guess it’s because these days i no longer put pressure on myself to finish everything quickly just for the sake of doing the next sewing project, and instead really enjoy all the process of making a garment.

this dress, along with the other two i’ve done this year, are already my new fave items in my wardrobe so there’s no doubt i will use them repeatedly. all is well with my 2017 sewing resolution indeed!

see what you want to see

just a little test: what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this print?

 

when i saw this fabric, what came to my mind was Frida Kahlo. i don’t know why, maybe it’s the bold colours and the flowers. and maybe because i like her works a lot.

self-made dress, earrings from Tekka Centre, Little India-Singapore, second hand belt from UFF, unbranded tights, Casio watch.

but when i showed it to my co-worker, she said, “ooh, what a nice Slavic print!”. it made me think afterwards that i guess it does look kind of similar to some print you might see on a matryoshka doll.

isn’t it funny though that we always first see what we want to see, and people’s perspective about one same thing can be completely different than the others? the same goes for a lot of other things, like we only read (and understand) what we want to read, we hear what we want to hear, etc. what our brains perceive often depends on our moods, personal preference, and i guess it also has a lot to do with our own knowledge.

in this case, since i’m more familiar with Frida Kahlo, i decided that to me this dress is a Frida dress no matter what other people say about the print. 😀

 

the pattern is something i’ve used multiple times before, called Drop-Waist Gather Drape Dress from Drape Drape book vol. 1. the last dress i made from the same pattern was a success because of its ease (both to sew and to wear), and since i had been using that one a lot of times, it was time to make another one.

after taking the pictures, i just realized that the seams on the sleeves were off (leftmost picture), but rest assured that they were corrected afterwards! 😀

just like the previous dress, i made the hem 15 cm longer so i can wear this dress for work. the material of this fabric is also the same as the last one, viscose jersey.

now that i see this picture from the back side, the silhouette & print of the dress actually kind of remind me of a Chinese cheongsam. see, even my own perspective changes easily!

other than the sleeves’ seams, there’s really nothing new to say about this dress, which is exactly the reason why i made this: it’s a tried & true pattern, made with a tried & true type of material, guaranteed to be worn many times throughout the year. and may i just say that i had fun dressing up as Frida? ❤

second sewing project of the year is done and i’m still keeping my resolution so far! 😉

simplified

i believe my husband, family, and probably my ex-boyfriends can vouch for me when i say that i have a complicated mind. and, maybe, it shows by what kind of style, art, and design interests me most. dramatic ones, full of things going on here and there, full of colours: all of those speak to me best, because we speak the same language.

that’s the best excuse i have for loving intricate patterns, bold prints, and strange shapes in fashion. that’s what i had been pursuing in most of my sewing projects since i learned how to sew.

but this year i wanted to try something else. i promised myself to make something i really need, something i would wear over and over again, though still clearly saying to the world: this is me.

i needed to simplify. it shouldn’t be hard, because otherwise that would contradict the whole purpose of being simple. i chose something i have done before and gave it a little bit of twist, while still being simple.

self-made dress, Daiso stockings, COS shoes, Casio watch.

my relationship with green colour has always been close, especially since discovering last year that it will be THE colour of 2017. and the base pattern of this dress is the same as the green & pink slit dresses i made last year, from Ottobre design woman magazine.

as i wrote on my previous blog post, i have been wearing my green slit dress on repeat because of its classic cut & material. for this one, i chose a material that doesn’t even wrinkle in use, let alone after wash.

the ‘me’ in this dress is obviously in the details. the studs on the shoulders should give this dress a little bit of a ‘rocker’ factor, and the little teardrop hole surprise at the back would say that “i’m probably not like what you think i am”. simple, yet still me. 🙂

when i said i’ve used this pattern before, you’d think this project was a breeze for me. well, guess what? of course it wasn’t. this fabric is polyester knit, and i swear i tried to stretch it when i bought it. as i was cutting the sleeves after modifying it to be longer than the original version, i tried again just how stretchy this material is… and was aghast at the realization that it stretched the WRONG WAY. so even though i cut the fabric the correct way (straight grains etc.) the fabric unfortunately stretches lengthwise. and i realized this after everything was cut. PERFECT! *cries blood*

thankfully, since it is knit, albeit a thick one, it still stretches a tiiiiiny bit widthwise as well. so i sewed this dress with only half expectation that i would actually fit into this dress. i thought that if i couldn’t wear it, i could probably try to sell it, somehow.

so you can imagine how thrilled i was, after i sewed all the parts & tried it on, to find that it fitted perfectly! yay! that’s it, and no more donuts or buns for me! 😀

this dress was also a good practice for me to align the stripes (= quite stressful). i didn’t do a perfect job, but i’m getting there. the hardest part for me was the collar, because i had to stretch it the best way i could while keeping in mind that the stripes have to be in the right places. well, maybe i’ll ace it next time.

this first project of 2017 certainly satisfied my itch for sewing, and i have a feeling i will wear this dress many, many times. ❤

double, double, toil and trouble

for some reason, lately i’ve been getting or doing things in double. first there were the Tweedledum and Tweedledee dresses i made, back to back. afterwards, though i didn’t make two pairs at once, but i made a twin of my fave pair of boyfriend jeans. and now, these.

can you guess which ones i made and which ones i bought? 😀

the correct answer are the dresses. (did you get that right?)

the rib knit shirts were from H&M, i liked them so much i decided to get 2 of the same model!

as for the dresses, i first made the pink one using a super cheap tube jersey fabric, thinking that it would just be a prototype, so even if it fails i wouldn’t be too sorry about it. it’s 100% cotton, and it looks like interlock jersey, so it’s slightly thick.

self-made dress and vest, H&M tights, shoes gift from my friend S, earrings from Metro Dept. Store – Jakarta.

i wanted to make a simple dress with these rib knit dresses as inspirations.

i wasn’t planning on using any pattern, but then i happened to come across this lovely & easy top pattern from Ottobre design woman 5/2016 magazine, pattern no. 5 (Vintage Lines), thanks to my colleague L who lent it to me!

 

instead of cutting the front part on fold, i made it into 2 separate parts so that i could add the slit at the bottom. i added about 70 cm length from the waistline and sewed close the center front seam until about 22 cm from the raw edged bottom. the rest was done according to the original pattern.

it worked out so well, i just had to make another one! the so-called prototype dress became a real dress that i can wear to the outside world.

the green jersey was of the same price as the pink one, also a tube jersey, and also 100% cotton, but it looks more like rib knit & is a lot thinner than the pink one. i started cutting the fabric at around 3 pm, and was done with the very last stitch at a bit after 5 pm.

self-made dress, second hand belt from UFF, Indiska bracelets, Just Kulkith shoes.

of course i was too lazy to change the overlocker threads to another colour, so i used the same for both dresses: white. so what, right? 😀

i really liked how they both turned out. sometimes i’m just too lazy to think of what to wear for work, or what to mix and match… with these dresses i just need to grab them from the closet and wear them like that (though i guess i have to use tights underneath for the pink one, as it’s quite transparent due to the light colour!).

i think i have proven that everything good comes in twos. maybe one day they will change to be threes if i feel like repeating myself again, ha!

and have you noticed how i’ve been embracing solid coloured fabrics these days? i hope i will continue to surprise you. 😉

PS. please excuse my tired face, i just had a long week of work and was having a pretty bad migraine when i took the pics.