the long awaited spring

it’s just what it is. winter equals laziness, though i can assure you what i had was far from being lazy. on the contrary, i was far too productive at work, that when i stayed home all i wanted to do was anything but think. writing on my blog, reading (including reading people’s blogs), sewing, and baking requires thinking. so for months now i stopped all activities at home and just enjoyed a well-deserved break.

but spring is finally here! and with it, came my will to sew! yay!

this organza fabric reminded me of Kenzo from the very first sight. i can’t explain why, maybe it’s all the flowers. anyway, at first i was thinking of making a buttoned up shirt out of it, but then i thought i was too lazy for that. something simpler, please. and then i got it! a sweater! an organza sweater, whoopee!

self-made organza sweater, New Yorker t-shirt, Monki jeans.

as usual, i didn’t use any pattern for this kind of simple sweater, just cut squares etc.. except i suddenly had the brightest idea to copy a COS sweater/dress and decided to have a bow at the back of the sweater.

so i added triangular ‘flaps’ on each side, left & right, front & back side of the sweater. i gathered them at the back and sewed them together to create the bow.

 

the bow is completely loose (not attached to the sweater itself) and if i want to, i could even put it to the front side. but considering the size of my tummy, i don’t think i will, ever. 😀

just like when sewing chiffon, i found out from someone’s blog/article that organza is to be sewn with a sharp needle (so i even bought a new pack of needles) and long stitches. it worked like a charm!

i had also read somewhere that the best & neatest way to sew transparent fabrics are by doing French seams. i had always been tempted by doing things in a shortcut, like instead of French seams, i would just serge the edges and sew normally, but this time since i hadn’t sewn for 2 months (yep) i thought i had to try the correct way.

it turned out to be quite easy! and the result really is neat. just see the right detail picture up there if you don’t believe me! i used the French seam on almost all seams except when combining the organza with the ribbing.

… which was actually the hardest part of this whole project. the ribbing i got is not that stretchy at all, so the collar looks kind of weird, standing up instead of flat like they normally are.

but do i look like i care?

that’s right, i don’t! mwahaha! because i have pretty flowers on my transparent sweater, ladeedah! and this sweater can be worn with t-shirt & jeans or even a dress underneath. now that i succeeded in making this sweater, i kind of feel like sewing organza all the time! 😉 we’ll see what’s next for my sewing project, eh?

have a great Easter and start of spring, everyone! ❤

half happy or half gloomy?

self-made sweater, second hand skirt from Pasar Senen – Jakarta, earrings from Indonesia Wholesaler store, Mica Peet necklace, wooden bracelet from Finnish Lapland, beaded bracelet handmade by my friend S.

i had an entirely different plan for this glittery sweatshirt fabric, which i can tell you was pretty much boring (one of those basic statement sweaters). i wanted it to be a sweater, that much i knew. but the crazy side of me just wanted to add this and that, in the end i needed to find inspiration elsewhere… again.

i thought it was a great idea to “insert” some craziness but not, hopefully, being over the top. hence this sweater of mine.

the v shape on the front part ended up not being as dramatic as the & Other Stories sweater because i made a miscalculation. oh well! maybe next time i’ll know better. i also thought this was the perfect opportunity to try sewing a piping to decorate the sweater.

you might be familiar with piping on pillow/cushion covers, bags, etc. it’s also quite popular for clothes, such as on coats and even on dresses. it just adds extra statement to your sewing project… and to me, it means extra work that i usually don’t like, pfffttt. but since this sweater is otherwise fairly easy to do (i did it with no pattern, just box-shaped parts for the body and rectangle-ish parts for the sleeves), i figured now’s the time to sew it.

aaand it turned out to be quite an annoying experience. because: 1. i didn’t actually have a piping cord, so i made it using an elastic cord + bias tape; 2. my sewing machine’s zipper foot is not the kind that is super narrow, so when i was sewing the piping the elastic cord failed to move forward, making creases etc. on the bias tape; 3. sewing the piping onto a V shape’s corner proved to be hard.

but you know, at least now i can proudly say that i’ve tried it & done it. if i ever feel like it again, i may attempt to make another one someday, but i wouldn’t hold my breath for that to happen.

for the sleeves’ decoration, i just sewed the quilted fabric on top of the sweater fabric, again because it’s less time-consuming & stress. i had a hard time deciding whether to finish the sleeves edges & hem or not, but as i tried the sweater on with numerous bottoms, i decided that i won’t finish them. this was my original plan anyway for the sweatshirt fabric, leave the edges unfinished so they would roll up and show the white colour from the wrong side.

even with all the piping drama, i must say i love the result! 🙂 if i ended up sticking to my original plan, this sweater would’ve been just grey with some statement/word on the front part (made of black sequins). it would just be like anyone else’s statement sweater, don’t you think? and i guess, somewhat gloomy. but now that i added spring colours to it, the sweater has just the perfect dose of cheerfulness & happiness.

it reminds me of a glass filled with water just to the middle part. it can be half empty or half full, depending on what you feel. how would you see this sweater? half gloomy, or half happy?

getting plaid

my sewing machine is back from the dead! yay! 🙂

or perhaps it never died. after my last sewing project i gave it a super-duper-triple cleaning until it was all shiny from oil… and left it for almost a month for the oil to dry up. then, when i couldn’t hold back my sewing urges anymore, it was the moment of truth: would it work or would it still get jammed all the time?

self-made sweatshirt, Zara denim shorts, various unbranded brooches, Forever 21 necklace worn as brooch.

well, it worked. for now. since my sewing machine had just been revived from the dead, i only did a simple project this time.

although i enjoy fashion and dressing up, and God knows how much i love prints and crazy patterns, there are a few things in the varieties of clothes/patterns that i dislike for one reason or another. namely, plaid or tartan pattern. i can’t explain why i don’t really like it, perhaps it’s because i spent 3 years in middle school wearing this certain check pattern as my school uniform. i very rarely get attracted to anything with this kind of pattern, whether it be actual plaid/tartan, or check, gingham, you name it. don’t get me wrong, i can still see the beauty in (some of) them… when worn by someone else. just not for me, thanks. 😀

but then, as you know, all things must come to an end. or maybe, the more appropriate way of saying it is: there’s a first time for everything? either way, a stroll around the mall one day made me change my mind about plaids. suddenly i did not feel as allergic to plaids anymore, and when i saw the perfect plaid fabric, i just decided on a whim to get it (yep, new fabric, naughty me!).

the fabric is wool or wool blend, and although it’s kind of a tight-knit like a coat fabric, it’s still somewhat lightweight. perfect for this purpose.

i did not use any pattern for this project, as you can see, the shapes of the parts are basically just straight. i cut 2 squares for the front and back bodice & cut out a small bit of the top center parts for necklines, and then 2 rectangles for the sleeves. only afterwards i shaped the sleeves to be a bit smaller towards the ends so they won’t look too over-sized. lastly, i cut 1 long rectangle for the hem. to make the sweatshirt look a bit more interesting (since, you know, being a beginner in this plaid thing, the fabric itself just isn’t special enough :p) i decided to add a small patch of tulle between the bodice and the sleeves. these were also just small rectangles.

i started cutting at 3 pm, and finished sewing the last seam at 6 pm. not bad. i only needed 1 m of fabric (140 cm wide), and scraps of tulle fabric for the details.

and i’m actually loving this plaid sweatshirt. now i can say that i have officially got plaid. ❤