How to make (lined!) Espadrilles: Full Tutorial!

Finally, home-made Espadrilles - DONE!

...and it really wasn't a difficult thing at all! I had the soles already made - see my post HERE, and my video-tutorial on YouTube.

These are definitely more than house-shoes, since I added some rubber soling to make them durable.
All the tools/materials you need are these:

The Promise of Summer!

This dress is exactly what I needed now. No, not because I can actually wear it right away - for summer hasn't arrived yet where I live (Vienna). Indeed, it is so cold that I almost made a fire yesterday evening. But this dress has a promise, a hope, and even a special purpose for warmer weather. I will be wearing it for my next opening night - it will be on July 18th, a summer festival, and I shall be twirling in it like in the photo at the end of the post. Summer HAS to arrive until then!

I did not make this from scratch. My aunt gave it to me and it looked like this:

T-Shirt Refashion-Extravaganza! Grand Finale - Full Tutorial/How-To!

Here is the grand finale of my T-Shirt Refashion Extravaganza: Made from small scraps of jersey, and some crepe added for the skirt parts:

As you see, I made two versions, slight improvements and variations between them. And yes, it comes with a full how-to/tutorial!

The differences are the sleeves versus a neck holder, the different hight for the waist, and a small change on how I put together the skirt. I will give you both options in the tutorial, so lets get right to it!

Summer in the City: Tutorial, free pattern, how-to!

Here it is, the how-to for this great summer dress:

If you'd like to see more pictures of it first, I posted plenty HERE!

What you need:

Summer in the City: Dress Showcase

Readers, I hope you agree that it was worth the wait - here is my new free pattern, as promised!

From what I hear on the news, Vienna isn't the only city writing record highs this week...

It's amazing how much more bearable it is if you are dressed appropriately... Well, this dress makes me love the summer!

This post is only the showcase of the dress - you find the tutorial, free pattern, how-to for it HERE!

Making Moccasins! With full How-To...

MOCCASINS DIY..

The Cast:

• A Wife
• A Husband

My "Pillow Cape"!

Nope, it is not a misprint, I really mean Pillow CaPe. Because well, it used to be a Pillow Case, and it is now a Cape. *Grin*

 This is my contribution to the refashion co-op, a bit late, I apologize. Not only have things been crazy in my "real life", I have also been away from the sewing machine AND from any decent internet connection. So the few things I DID make, I haven't posted about. Sometime later this month everything should calm down.

The "Vintage-Inspired, Modern Style" Design Challenge!

Well well, wasn't this contest right up my alley!?

BurdaStyle has organized a contest, see rules and information HERE. We were to take an existing pattern and make our own variation from it. There were plenty of different patterns to choose from, amongst them four vintage patterns free of charge! The one that jumped right at me upon very first glance was the "Slip-On Jumper Dress".

Click HERE to get to all the patterns, though I don't know if they stay available after the deadline on March 12th 2012.

Broken Zipper Solution: From "Oh-No!" To "Oh-Yes!"

Broken Zippers are the worst. Even more so if they break on a piece of clothing you love, and double that if you made it yourself and just finished it... It so happened on my beloved Panda-Hug-Cape posted HERE
With the facing and bias-tape binding it would have been such a pain to take the zipper out and put a new one in, so I was in need of a clever plan B. It came to me, and it's one of those super easy solutions that one fails to see sometimes. At least I think so. I simply attached the new one to the old one, adding a bit of zipper coolness...:

Passport/Credit Card Wallet for Guys - Tutorial

Isn't it always so much harder to find presents for guys than for women? And if you want to hand-make something, it gets even more difficult, right?
Well, this one was a real winner - I made it for my husbands birthday a while ago and he loves it.

I had sewn him one out of fabric before, which was in constant use, and I decided it is time to make him one out of leather now. It was also a good project for me to gather more experience with leather, as I am still into my shoe-adventure and need to learn some basics with this material...

You can easily translate it to fabric, you will use bias tape at the edges, but otherwise it isn't really much different.

This project is definitely one of my longer "quick projects". I didn't time it, but I guess it was around 3 hours.

TUTORIAL / HOW-TO:

The Diva Coat! Making-of #1

As promised, after giving you a first overview of my coat making-of in THIS POST, I will show and tell some more details in about 3 more posts. Today, I will cover what I accomplished on my first four out of a total of 12 work days for this coat.

This coat was my contribution to the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook.

A Traditional Chinese Pants Pattern!

YOGA HOSE AM ME-MADE-MITTWOCH #17!

This pattern really attracted me right away - not so much because of the final shape of the pants, but because of the simplicity of the pattern. It is put together from two rectangles and an elastic waist band. Nothing else! See here:

(Don't worry about figuring this out yet, I will explain it later in this post!)

Maybe you have already seen my circle jacket or the one I made out of a simple rectangle - yes, I am fascinated by turning simple geometric shapes into garments.

The final pant shape is similar to harem pants. I actually still haven't made up my mind about harem pants yet, and I haven't even made up my mind about these Chinese pants either. I consider the two versions I am showing you here muslins... wearable maybe, as pajamas and/or yoga pants, but I am curious whether I could turn this into elegant street pants... What do you think? Do they have potential? I'd love to hear your input!



 The pattern is put together from two identical rectangles like this one:

This rectangle will make up one pant leg and half of the crotch/hip part. Because it is so simple, the  measurements you decide on will be crucial. I wear a European 34/36 and I will tell you the measurements I used, along with the explanations how I came up with them.

This rectangle is actually made up of three parts (indicated by the vertical dashes). You could just use one piece of fabric, but the extra seams add interesting style lines. I did my first muslin with just one piece, so you see what that looks like in the pictures below.

Line A-C = 95 cm (37,5''), this is the total pant leg length from the waist band down.
Line A-F = 3 x 25 cm ( 10'') = 75 cm (30'') (They don't necessarily have to be equal though!)
Line A-G = A-B = 28 cm (11'')

No seam allowances included!

The distance from A-G (A-B) is how far you will overlap the two rectangles for the legs and it decides how low the crotch will drop!

The remaining length G-F is half the width of your hip opening, so unless you want to add a zipper, it has to be at least half of the measurement at the widest part of your hip.

Circle Pocket Skirt Tutorial/Pattern/How-To

Welcome to my skirt tutorial!

Here is a HOW-TO for this cute skirt with half-circle pockets:

It features a visible zipper in the back and satin tape finishings:

You will be surprised how simple it is to make this skirt. You can use your own measurements very easily and have a tailored fit - it is well worth the little bit of calculation needed...
However, I also included my measurements for you to have a reference. I wear a European size 34 or 36, a Small, usually.
If there are any questions, please feel free to let me know! I am still learning the art of writing tutorials without too many, yet just enough words!

Free Blouse Pattern and How-To!

Alright, here is my first pattern/how-to/tutorial! This blouse is part of my 10 piece winter travel set and I came up with the pattern myself. Here I will show you how! It is super simple and you can adjust it to your own measurements.

There are two ways you can use this pattern. Either use my measurements - I wear a European size 36, a Small usually. But I will also tell you how I came up with the numbers, and by taking your own measurements you can easily customize this pattern to your very own liking and shape. It is a super simple pattern and as it is meant to fit loosely. You will have an elastic in your waist, and an adjustable band for the top, so the measurements don't need to be super exact.

For a first overview, this is roughly what the pattern pieces will look like:

Kind of cool, right? Definitely not intimidating!

These are the measurements you will need:

If you want to compare yours to mine to see if my pattern would fit you, here they are:

1. Bust measurement at strongest point, 88 cm (34,5 in.)

2. From sternum (height of armpits) to finished hem 40 cm (15 3/4 in.) (Mine was quite short, you might want to add some)

5. Around the body at shoulder level, including the arms, about 100 cm ( 39,5 in.)
6. Width of arm at strongest point (flex your biceps!): 28 cm (11 in.)
7. Length of sleeve from shoulder point to where you want your hem: 53 cm (20 3/4 in.)

You will also need the wrist measurement and the waist measurement later.

And here is how you construct the pieces:

Ok, now you can start sewing. Sew the side seams and the sleeve seams first. If you want elastic for your wrists, you can sew the sleeves all the way and make the hem the same way I made my hem for the bodice. If you want little sleeve cuffs like mine, leave them open at the bottom by about 18 cm (7in.).
Sew the sleeves to the bodice (the raglan seams), including the 10 cm allowance at the top. Now fold the 10 cm (4 in.) allowance at the top (neck) in half (use your iron!) and zigzag it to the wrong side of the blouse:

The pin is my marker for the center

Don't worry if it doesn't look great, you will now pin and sew a band over that stitching line. Leave a little opening and fold under the ends:

Use a cord or make your own self-fabric band like I did and pull it through that channel you just made.

For the hem, I folded under the allowance (about 6 cm, 2,5 in), however long you want your blouse to be. I stitched it to the wrong side just like I did at the neck. Then in three rows, I sewed a wide elastic to the back (over the hemline), using a zigzag stitch again:

I hate tight elastics in my waist. I suggest you make the elastic fit your waist without stretching it

For the sleeve hems you can do the same thing. Or you leave the bottoms open, use bias tape for that slit or make a very small little rolled hem like me (but do a nicer job than me!):

Fold under the hem, zigzag it to the inside like the other hems, gather the sleeves to the width of your wrist (but don't forget to add a bit of ease for the button...). Now sew a band over the hem stitching line and the gatherings. You can sew in a little loop for a pearl button like mine:

I did not do a very nice job, I was so giddy to get done... The fabric is forgiving, though...

You are done!

The sleeves are hanging at a weird angle because we used the 45 ° angle (actually 135°), which makes the underside of the sleeve longer than the upper side. For this kind of blouse, this is intentional, because it gives that nice loose, flowy shape to the sleeves. I like it that way. If you don't, you can experiment with different angles. It does not have to be the same angle at the bodice and the sleeve, but the raglan seams have to be the same length, so the pieces match...

Let me know if any of this is too vague for you, please. My English sewing terms are still not really where they need to be to write proper tutorials, but try me - I can learn! :-)