Just one quick shot!

That's all I could take, because as usual I waited to the last minute to take pictures and then it was so much more difficult than I expected it to be.
I tried to sew a little red riding hood costume for Hilde's doll and I will have to show you the whole outfit some other day. This is just the little dress. I also made her a pair of pajamas but again no picture. Hmpf.
And before you all ask: No, I did not make the gorgeous doll! I'd love to try again though - once I find some vegan yarn that will make good doll's hair (any ideas?!). Until then I'll just stick with my little version of it... or sew some more clothes for Hilde's.

Not so great!

This morning I found my fabric unoccupied and got started on my top. I had bought this Simplicity pattern after I had seen it here. I'm not really a skirt person and unfortunately I'm definately not a dress person, but I liked the pattern for the top and the possibility to choose different styles for the sleeves.

Except for a little trouble with the elastic everything went quite smoothly. Trying this top on was much nicer than the last time. You could say that it fits in general. There are parts of it that I really like (the part you can see above) and there are parts that I'm not so happy with (the fitting around my waist and hip). I think for a while I'm through with sewing clothes for myself... (except for maybe another skirt or two).
Making bags, pillow cases, a.s.o. or sewing clothes for other people is so much more rewarding for me right now and leaves me feeling way more satisfied.

Still: Maybe someone can recommend a good book on how to adjust patterns to personal needs? I feel a little helpless here... Going on a diet would probably do, too. Argh!

Alrighty...

So I made a top from my beloved Liberty fabric. The pattern was super easy. It's from burda Modemagazin 7/2007. I made some changes to it, because it was supposed to have a knot in the back and I didn't want that. My sewing machine worked fine for the jersey fabric. (Darn, so now I don't have to buy a serger!) Of course I still managed to mess something up and then had to cut out another sleeve, but I didn't expect it any other way. In the end it looked perfectly fine and I proudly tried to put it on and... it's too small! I'm really disappointed now, because there is no way I can wear it without looking ridiculous and I don't think I'll have enough fabric for another one. I don't know why this happened. I did measure myself before deciding on a size. It was supposed to be tight, but this is way too tight. Oh well...

Now or never!

Yesterday I made a skirt for myself. I know I said that there wouldn't be any sewing that week, but then all of a sudden it got so hot here. After weeks of rain they promised us three days of summer and I thought if I don't sew myself a skirt right now, it will not happen this year at all. The pattern I used is the same as usual, eventhough I bought this great Japanese magazine that has 27 beautiful skirt patterns in it and I would have loved to make one of those. I simply thought that it should be something quick and easy. Probably most of the skirts in the magazine are quick and easy… for someone who has a bit more experience with sewing clothes. I find the instructions in the Japanese magazines usually really good to understand, but with the skirts I will need some time to figure it out...
Anyway, eventhough I didn't choose a pattern from the magazine I still added some handsewn detail to my skirt after getting inspired by this picture (can you actually see it?):
Edited to upload a bigger picture of the magazine page.
Edited yet again... and still no better view of the picture!

Finally...

... I took some pictures of the skirts. First up is a detail of the blue skirt. I added a little flag to the side. You can see it on the second picture too, if you look closely but the hydrangea sort of blends into it. This is the skirt that I'll send to a very special and extremely generous person very soon. Next up is the second skirt for my mom. It's a bit shorter than the other one. I have to say again how much I like the pattern (it is this one by the way) but I also have to say that getting the zipper in the right way wasn't so easy after all. The first time I did that I must have been just lucky. Well, it's not really difficult but I had some trouble with the blue skirt ... and I didn't even notice it until I was done. Then I saw (or should I say got told by my boyfriend (!)), that the ends of the zipper didn't match up. I had to undo all my finishing seams and start over. Argh!

As I said a picture of the third skirt will have to wait a while but then again... it looks just like the other ones - except for its color!

First Skirt!

When I was writing about the berry fabric yesterday I suddenly knew that I wanted to make the skirt right away. It's the first skirt I made and also the first piece of clothes with a zipper and I'm very pleased with the result. It fits my mom perfectly and I wish that making a skirt for me will be just as simple, but I'm sure that it will be a lot more difficult since I can't compare the pattern to a skirt that fits me well before getting started - I don't have one!
(Next to my mom you can see my cat Mücke (mosquito), he sure likes to be in the centre of attention!)