Fabric Haul - Málaga Souvenirs

By now you've seen a few snapshots from my recent holiday in Málaga, Spain. Today, I'm here to finish of my month of Málaga blog posts and show you a haul of my souvenirs from the trip.

I love buying fabric and haberdashery items as souvenirs while on holiday, as it is something that I treasure both as a stash piece and as a finished garment once sewn up. I have a very good memory of fabric pieces that I've gotten as gifts or souvenirs, and I will forever remember the person or trip from which I got it just by touching or wearing it.

I had most of the mornings and early afternoons to myself and spent them wandering the inner city. I came across 2 fabric shops, KiloCentro and KiloMetro. I have marked them on the map below:

While most fabric shopping guides to Málaga are praising KiloCentro as the #1 and/or only fabric shop, I actually liked KiloMetro the best. I felt they had a bigger selection of garment fabrics and frankly, it was less crowded and the service was better.

From KiloMetro, I got the two fabrics shown above. The first is a beautiful italian swiss dot with florals on a black background. I got 2 meters which is enough to make a flowy blouse or skirt.
The second is a soft cotton lawn with a 40's inspired floral print on a cream background. I got 1,5 meters and will make a sweet little blouse out of it.

Next up is the fabric from KiloCentro. The first of the two are a white cotton poplin with a vintage-inspired cherry print. They had it on a black background as well, but I made myself choose between them. I have 1 meter for a Rita Blouse.
The second one is a "Carneval Foam" that I got for bag interlining. I have been looking out for an alternative for ByAnnie "Soft&Stable", as it costS a whopping 250 kr (30 GBP or 40 USD) per yard here in Denmark. 1 meter of this Carneval Foam cost 5 euros in comparison. I will let you know how it performs as bag interlining, when I have tried it out.

I also managed to get hold of a few sewing magazines, as shown above. I have included the fashion shots and line drawings of a few favorite designs.

And lastly, I got myself a few accessories in the form of 2 fans (the pink one was identical on the 2 sides), some hair clips and a satin scarf.

Do you buy sewing souvenirs home from your travels?

Charming Chica

Today, I bring you the last of my holiday outfit photos. These pictures were taken on an early morning tour of the Alcazaba of Málaga, a beautiful eastern-influenced castle ruin from the 11th century. 

It is a well-known fact, that when a seamstress is going on a holiday, no matter the duration or destination, she needs a fresh, new wardrobe to bring with her. And being the seamstress that she is, she is going to make it herself in a matter of days before departure.

That seamstress might be me. 

Luckily, I had a stack of new, fresh summer dresses that hadn't been worn due to the crappy summer weather, so I told myself I only really needed to make this one outfit. 

I made this blouse back in September, just a few days after the pattern was released. It is, of course, the Rita Blouse from Charm Patterns by Gertie.

The fabric was a small scrap of floral cotton poplin bought in a sweet little fabric shop in Flensburg a few years ago. I had about 30 cm of full-width fabric and a handful of medium-sized scraps left and I used every last bit to cut out this blouse. In fact, I had to piece the sleeves, but it is not too noticeable once they have been gathered. 

I made a straight size 6, and I am very happy with the overall fit of the blouse. I can wear it both on and off the shoulders (mostly on the shoulders) and still move around comfortably in it. My measurements were between the 6 and 8, but I sized down after consulting the finished measurement chart and facebook.

I did have to shorten the elastics quite a bit but didn't make any other adjustments.

The skirt is the Zinnia skirt by Colette Patterns. I recently had a lot of unused SeamWork credits burning in my online pocket and used a couple (3 to be exact) on the Zinnia skirt, as I had had my eye on it for a while. I sewed a size 6 and the only adjustment was to swap the waistband pattern piece out with my beloved waistband interfacing tape for a clean look and a slightly narrower width.

I sewed it up in a wonderfully soft, hot pink linen fabric that has been in my stash for about 5-6 years. I had 2 meters of linen and just about managed to save some large scraps for another planned project.

The buttons are from Stof2000. The pattern calls for 10 buttons, but I omitted the last button because I felt it was placed too close to the hem to be really useful.

All in all, I love both Rita and Zinnia, and they make a very cute outfit when put together. I will be making more of both of them, but especially the Rita! I have a lot of ideas for pattern hacks, including long sleeves, dress variations, and neckline ruffles!

Do you also sew last minute garments before a holiday or is it just me?

Have a nice day,

Angelica

Giga Gingham

Hello, Lovelies!

I'm back with another new dress and more gorgeous pictures from my recent holiday in beautiful, sunny Málaga, Spain.
These pictures were taken in the Jardines de Pedro Loui Alonso, a beautiful rose garden located next to the Town Hall and also in the Parque de la Alameda, just across the street.

This dress is my 2nd version of B6453, the best-seller dress pattern by Gertie for Butterick. While the original design is based mostly on the Pinup Girl "Jenny" dresses, I based this dress on the The Pretty Dress Company "Priscilla" dress in pink gingham, as shown below:

I didn't originally intend to copy the dress quite as literally as I did, but when I saw the perfect large-scale pink gingham fabric at the Stoffmarkt Holland in Flensburg earlier this summer, I simply couldn't resist.

The fabric cost me a whopping 2 euros (2,5 USD/1,75 GBP/15 DKK) per meter, and I got 4 meters to play around with. In the end, I used about 3,5 meters in order to match the gingham and to cut around a small flaw in the fabric.

I swapped the dirndl skirt of the pattern out with the box pleated circle skirt from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book, as it looks exactly like the skirt on the Priscilla dress. I have used this skirt pattern before, and since both bodice and skirt patterns fit me well, I didn't make alterations before cutting out.

I did fiddle around with the side seam pleats of the skirt to make the 2 parts fit in the end, but it was very easy to do so and it is not too noticeable.

I think I might prefer this skirt shape over the included dirndl, as it has less bulk around the waist and less weight to it. The weight of the tightly gathered dirndl has a tendency to flatten my petticoat out over the course of the day, while this skirt and other circle skirts seems to just float above it, making the skirt more bouncy and flirty.

I also changed the straps from fixed to tied. I had seen a few people in the facebook sew-along group to this with great result and wanted to try it out. I love the dainty look and the ease of adjusting the straps as well as the ease of sewing them.
On my other versions, I've had to sew the neckline in 3-4 sections because the straps were too short to allow for smooth sewing around the armholes.

I finished the ends of the straps with little knots.

The dress is unlined, with a simple facing around the neckline in white cotton batiste, as the gingham would have shown through. I used some leftover interfacing from my grandmothers' stash, but it turned out a little bit stiffer than my normal interfacing.

As with most of my tight-fitting dresses, I interlined the bodice with more white cotton batiste to add a bit of structure and opacity, while enhancing the white color of the print. I did this by hand in my usual way, as illustrated below:

1. cut pattern pieces in both fashion fabric and interlining fabric. 2. lay wrong sides together 3. pin together, making sure to pin from the middle out to create a bit of tension. 4. baste by hand 1-2 mm inside the seam allowance

The finished dress feels very "me", and I love wearing it paired with this white parasol I got for my birthday from a few friends.

Unfortunately, it is not a very practical dress for the Danish autumn/winter. As my holiday is now over, and autumn has come to Denmark for good, I am a bit sad to pack this dress away. Let's hope for a mild winter and an early spring, so we can all wear summer dresses again :)

Yours,
Angelica

Fabric Haul - Neumünster 2017

Today, I am here to interrupt my own self-imposed fabric downsizing project with a teeny tiny fabric haul. Wooops. #sorrynotsorry

In late September, a friends couple, my boyfriend and I went to Germany for a weekend of shopping, relaxing and the bi-annual Stoffmarkt Holland fabric market in Neumünster.
The relaxing part got kind of canceled, as I got sick with the flu on the morning of departure, but I powered through it like a fabric addict champ.

I used to go to these markets with my mother and grandmother, but it has been impossible to go for the last few years because of some insane illness history in my family (don't ask). Anyway, it was so enjoyable to be back at the market, this time with good friends and my boyfriend as company.

I went into the market with only a limited budget, as I didn't want to add too many meters to my Cora count. Let's see how I did:

 Starting with some un-selfish purchases, the 2 pictures above shows some lovely wool knits destined to become a pair of Thread Theory "Finlayson" sweaters for my boyfriend. The fabric was cut into coupons of 1,5*1,4 m, so I got 2 coupons of each color. The colors are olive green and charcoal grey, respectively.

Next up, home dec! These 2 coupons of thick wool felt will be sewn into a new blanket for the couch. I am thinking of cutting them into strips or squares for a slight patchwork-y look?

Onto knits for meeee! Both pieces are soft cotton jersey, 1 m each. The upper picture is navy blue with white anchors while the bottom one is a medium grey with white hearts. Both will probably become cardigans or t-shirts.

The above-shown fabric was the splurge of the trip. 3 meters of soft wool cloth in a "salt & pepper" weave. I really want to make this Lena Hoschek dress, and luck would have it that Burda made a pattern for it!

The last piece of fabric is this gorgeous lining fabric with a woven paisley motif in bright pink. It was a bit expensive at 8 euros/m, but it will look SO cool inside a winter coat that I just couldn't leave it behind.

And lastly, the haberdashery! I got 4 cones of overlocker thread in both off-white and blue. I also got some fresh needles and a new seam gauge as well as some elastic and buttons. For an up-coming bag project, I got some tap closures in brass.

All in all, I got 15 meters of fabric. Woooops. I DO have projects for all of it, and less than half of it is for myself, so I'm trying not to be too hard on myself over it.

Do you ever buy fabric at a market or do you prefer in-shop or online fabric shopping?

/Angelica

Paradise Roses

Greetings from Paradise, aka Málaga, Spain!

I'm currently here on holiday with my boyfriend and took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of some recent, summery makes, while out and about in the city.
These pictures were taken in the Parque de la Alameda, a 33 hectar park, filled with flowers and sculptures, located between the promenade, the inner city and the castle.

This is my 4th version of the super popular B6453, a Gertie for Butterick pattern heavily inspired by the Pinup Girl "Jenny" and/or The Pretty Dress Company "Priscilla" dresses. While being my 4th version of this pattern, it is my first non-hack, as the rest has different skirts and/or neckline variations. They will come to the blog in time, so keep tuned in to see those.

The fabric is Liberty of London cotton poplin in the gorgeous "Carline" print in the pink on cream colorway. I got 3 meters of it as part of my birthday gift from my boyfriend and I am very happy to have sewn it up this fast (only took me 4 months, lol). I still have about half a meter left over, and I might turn that into an accessory of some kind, but I guess only time will tell.

If you have ever had the opportunity to work with Liberty of London fabric, you'll already know what a pleasure it is to work with. It is thin and crisp, very opaque and insanely soft to the touch. It behaves well under the machine as well as both scissors and the iron.

I did a few minor adjustments to the pattern. First, I made fixed straps out of personal preference. I also cut the skirt on the lengthwise grain as opposed to the crosswise grain as the pattern says. I did this by cutting 2 panels of the entire fabric width and 1 panel half the width. The smaller panel is at mid front with the side seams at the side front. The skirt has the same hem circumference as the original.

I made a toile before sewing the first dress, and took 2 tiny wedges out of the front armscye and the underbust seam on the size 10 bodice. No other fit adjustments were made.

From a bit more wear, I think the bodice could be shortened about a cm or so, with the straps being lengthened by the same amount. In my fitting, I must have shortened the straps a bit too much to compensate for the slightly too long bodice, and as a result, the princess seams sits just a bit too high and doesn't lay as nice over my bust as it could have.

It is only nitpicking, tough, and nothing as far as to stop me from wearing the dress.

I interlined the bodice in a soft, brushed cotton. The bodice isn't fully lined, and the interlining adds the opacity and comfort of the missing lining, while supporting the bodice fabric, giving it a bit of extra structure. The interfacing is an extra fancy lightweight woven iron-on interfacing stolen borrowed from my mothers stash. Thanks, mom!

I absolutely LOVE the finished dress, and have already worn it for a few occasions. For now, I'll enjoy swanning around in it here in warm and sunny Paradise, but I have a RTW cardigan in the exact green color of the print to help me wear it year-round in not-quite-as-sunny Denmark.

Yours,
Angelica