I'm back

I am back from a fantastic vacation to a temporarily tidy sewing room, 2 new Burdas, 2 Patrones, hundreds of blog posts and lots of torrential rain! I may not be commenting much while I catch up, but I hope not to miss anything and I hope too that there will be some sewing from me soon.

I visited Peru, the Galapagos Islands and a stop off in Vegas on the way back home, a lot of flying but totally worth it, truly the trip of a lifetime. Thank you all for the comments on the 1 yard dress, it got a couple of wears in Vegas!

Burda Style 06/2004 130 Dress

I found this remnant of fabric in the market and simply had to buy it and even there was barely a yard of it I wanted it to be a dress. I trawled through all my old Burda magazines trying to find a pattern that would work and after a lot of trial and error that I won't bore you with, came up with this one - 06/2004 - 130.

It is so easy to make that I had 95% of it finished in one evening. Mine is unlined because my fabric has a lot of stretch and I didn't want to lose the comfort factor by adding less stretchy lining. Then I decided it would be better with sleeves and I did nothing more on it for about a week while I procrastinated about it. Finally I added some cap sleeves which came from Burda 11/2010 - 119. I just had enough fabric left to cut them double so I didn't have to hem them.

The fabric was ridiculously cheap (HK$20 or about US$2.50) so this is one bargain dress and I think I have found another TNT dress pattern in the process!

Sewists are Stylists too!

Guys thank you all for the great suggestions on the kimono top, you have saved it from the PJ pile! I am about to go on a trip so if it goes a bit quite round here for a bit that is why (my posting is a bit sketchy so maybe no one would have noticed!). I am hoping to get a post up that will appear while I am away but, well, lets see how today goes......

Burda Style 06/2010 121 Kimono Jacket/Blouse

I really should know better by now, but I got seduced by this look from June's Burda Style magazine;

So I made the simple kimono style blouse #121 from some leftover cotton and cotton sateen trim.

Alas on me it is a different story to the magazine photo. I look like I am either on my way to bed or to a karate class. If anyone has suggestions for how to tame the crazy sleeves I am all ears, otherwise I think I will admit defeat and make a coordinating pair of black silk pajama pants . Or take up karate!

No better with a skirt.

Burda Style 05/2011 103 Tunic Top

Just to prove that sometimes I make and wear things that are not dresses, I made a top!


Actually my top is a combination of pattern 103 and 104 which is in fact a dress pattern. On my top I left off the sleeve slits and added in the elastic and casing featured in the dress version.

The fabric seems to be a silk/cotton blend if such a thing exists. I bought this last year in Mood on my New York trip where I met up with Carolyn, Elizabeth and LindsayT. I remember LindsayT asking at the time if I was going to make a tunic top with it and I (naturally) said no it was going to be a dress. Something from that day obviously stuck in my brain. I do still have plenty left so it might make it into a dress too someday.

This is a very easy to make and relaxed top for summer, I really love the silk in Burda's photo so I may look out for some similar fabric for another version.