Just for Info

I just bought another pair - the shop was on my way. It is more of a everyday pair. The leather is soo soft. It was really cheap. Like 80% off and around 30 eu! I should never go to this shop again...

Funny Backstage Fact: Matthieu was looking at the blog to check my new shoes. His words:
" Oh god, I hate them (the blue ones). And I hate the new background of your photos. It is sooo 80s. Oh Geri! This animal print dress, so awful!". There you go...
I must say I laughed so much. You may see how strong our friendship is - even a major taste clash cannot becloud it. He even walk the street down with me every now and then...

Actually his more tactful way to say stuff like this is :"Oh. This are definitely Geri shoes."

Go buy the shoes!

So there is a small info for everybody who is so lucky to live in Berlin!

I just passed by a shoe shop (Next to the bookshop on the corner of Schönhauser Allee and Shivelbeiner Straße - it is almost directly at the U2 Schönhauser Allee subway station) that had a total sale and I spent quite a lot of time there. They have pretty italian shoes marked down 80% and I seriously considered 2 pairs but kept it to one. I am still suffering though.

They had some boots even marked down to 30 euro so it is a diverse choice. I just have no need for boots right now.

Just for info originally they costed 270 euro and I got them for 58.

And again

I think this one is the last tunic based dress for now. I have mixed feeling about it. I still haven't put buttons on it and haven't worn it yet.

The fabric is a beautiful 40% silk 60% cotton voile. I really loved it and it makes me a bit unhappy I don't like the final result. The problem is that I tried to do the dress very carefully but did 2 major mistakes due to my absentmindness...

I put the left sleeve on the right and the other way round... It ended in the front sleeve curve being sewn into the back bodice curve. I noticed it when it was too late and now the sleeves are bending weirdly sometimes...

And the skirt of the dress is a bit to bell shaped. But I don't know which way it will look OK. All in all I feel it is somehow too old for me and I have no idea how to fix it. Maybe I should make it short as a blouse or make the skirt tighter. But somehow I don't imagine it working...

Black Pants and almost last Tunic

I know it is a bit weird the mass production of this tunics I made. There are few parameters coming together that triggered it.
First I think it is a really nice pattern - basic, comfy but tre chic.
Second I am constantly out on tracing paper and just use the already retraced patterns.
Third I am too lazy to retrace new patterns.
And there is even a Forth - I am getting better and quickert each time I sew it again!
The fabric is a cotton plaid that I got from the alfatex online shop.

The fabric is the same as the previous pants - 100% fine wool suiting in black. I got for 1.5 euro per meter as a 3 meter remnant piece in Alfatex. All in the pants cost me 5 euro and the fabric is a better quality as the most you get on ready made clothes. But off course it is a bit of a different account if you count my 6-7 work hours that totally went on this project.

The pants are a very nice shaped pattern with a slim fit. Means you always look good in this kind of cut. I will definetely sew them again. I couldn't find a link to the model on burdafashion. But it is Mod. Nr. 130 von Burda 05/ 2009.

Its a beautiful issue and I am still planing to do this emerald grean jacket:

And all the dresses are just perfect.

Black Baggy Pants

The same pattern as the gray baggy pants. The orignal is the 112 von Burda 06/2009. While doing this pair I made some changes. I made the legs long and narrow. At the same time I added one more pleat at the waist to make them even more baggier. The result needs some getting used to. But the positive thing is that you can always grow into this pants...
The fabric is a very fine black 100 % wool suiting. I got a rest 3 meter piece of it and made 2 pants. The other one is coming soon ;).

Tunic 3?

I think this is the third tunic? Or the second? I don't remember exactly. Fact is I used again the the Burdafashion pattern:



It is 120 from the 02/2009 issue. The changes I made by all tunic are putting elastic on the sides at the waist. The other thing is bottom is finished with a placket.

The fabric is a nice paisley patterned silk I got from Ebay some time ago. I actually didn't like it at he beginning cause I thought it looks a bit old. That was the reason I wanted to give to my mother. But she got a bit annoyed I want to pass things I see as old to her...
At the end I ended loving the final result. Silk is soo nice to wear!

Snake Dress

So snake print indeed. But I must say it is a mutant print - imagine it on an animal with both snake and leopard ancestors. And the photo you see it on is black and white. So.
I bought the fabric on Ebay. It was sold to me as a silk, but it is more of a cotton mix if you ask me. Anyway it feels like a natural fibre and it falls nicely.
I made the pattern myself roughly based on the Burda tunic pattern I made like a 2 million times (I still have to post 2 more of this). It is meant as a muslin for a nice dark blue crepe de chine silk I own.
Inspiration was a Gucci dress I saw in a window on the Friedrichstrasse in Berlin.


And than a photo of a small comfy project. This overall can be worn just as pants too. Next time the photo.

Nude Dress

Oh je. I have sewn so much, but I haven't posted in ages again. The real problem actually is my camera. I get always soo depressed with it. I need a new one soon.

So after I complained about it again I can post some clothes. First a jersey dress I made in 3-4 hours. Very easy, made out of my basic knit sloper. I will try to make a tutorial soon.

Funny Backstage Fact: I am totally horrified by snakes. It is a real phobia. But I really hate to have it, so I am trying to beat it all the time. The result is a snake print obsession. This leggings were love at first sight and a chance for a free therapy. Indeed the first time I wore them I couldn't look at my legs. Now it is all ok, so maybe I will try the terrarium next.

Baggy Pants

I love this pants. They are made from an elastic wool gabardine I got on ebay some time ago. At the beginning I was unsure if the pattern will work with the fabric. I even hesitated to use it. Oh how wrong I was!
The fabric is perfect for the pattern.
And the pattern comes from Burda. Since my subscription I started using mostly Burda patterns. My laziness is forcing me into tracing one pattern and reusing it by minor tweaks. I am definetely making this pants in 1000 colours and fabrics. I already made a brown jeans one and a black wool is on the way.
The only change I made was narrowing the legs at the ankle height. In this way I made the pants became a bit more carrot formed and not straight as in the original.
Check Tanys version here.



As you can see on the details - I topstitched everything with rectangulars. I just thought it will look nice.

Tunic 1.0

I made this pattern 3 times by now. It is a pretty easy straight foward pattern, the only difficulty being the collar and the placket. The original pattern is comming from burda ( I will track it down and post it with the next blouse.)

I varied the length and the sleeves each time. The only major change I did is putting elastic pieces at waist height since the pattern was a bit too boxy for my taste.

The fabric is a cotton with black latex print. Very cool, but called a shower curtain by Matthieu there. I must say that I've already sewn up all the fabrics from that post. Not bad.

I look sooo sad on that photo. Funny.









Sorry for the bad photos - I should soon replace my camera.

Back from Holidays

Hi Everybody!

I am just back from Holidays in Bulgaria. We went on a big mountain trip - muscle ache and sunburn all inclusive. Here are some fotos (different days):

Waterfall:

First Lake on around 2000 meters:


Second lake above the waterfall.



Full house at the hut on the lake. It was an important holiday of some nature guys.




The peaks in the back:


Nearer, looking back down:



On the peaks around 2600 meters. It was quite scary:



Going down:


Still going down:

Down:



And some backstage facts:


My phone was still working above the 2000...



With Matthieu and Patrick.

Dowdy Details

So here we go with some dress detail. I always find them helpful to image how the garment works.
So I must say that this was an experiment and a lot of the stuff happened by going along. I took the blouse pattern and cut it in the assumed height. Also I made the front in one piece with a placket. At this point I must say, this was a bit stupid. I could have just taken an already one piece blouse pattern like in later garments. So learn from my laziness and do that.

The collar is just a straight stripe attached to the neckline.







The skirt is basically a straight rectangle and the waist ist define by pleating.



The waste got too wide, but I couldn't make it tighter. It would have been impossible to put it on that way. So i solved it by sewing elastic at the sides.



The front was still to wide so I made two darts in the same line as the pleating.



The sleeves are finished simply with fantastic elastic again...

How dowdy you can get?

I made this I think back in April. I remember February and March were the pure hell in the office ending in me making 40 hours overtime. So really no sewing involved...
And than April came with some nice spring weather and there was this flower Burda issue, so I bought the fabric at alfatex online (since I cannot go to the store that regularly any more) and made this dress.
I must say it is actually a dowdy dress made with a crazy, a bit retro fabric - in reality it is more saturated. I really like it...







I made the pattern myself based I believe on this blouse pattern. I got lazy about tracing new patterns...

Slowly Warming Up

Hi Guys,

I know I've been missing on the blog for the last half an year. I was having tons of work at the office (I counted it - I made 10 projects in 8 months!) and in the same time my camera stopped working. But I still managed to get some stuff sewn. So due to the beginning of vacation and swap of jobs I will start slowly posting the things I made in the last months!

So till later!

Flower Blouse

The Pattern:

All good things come at least three times... Yeah I am too lazy to trace new patterns - so reused the same pattern as for the Wallpaper Dress und Psycho wave blouse... The good thing about reusing patterns is that you get better and better in sewing them. You kind of learn from your mistakes... Mostly. I did a better collar indeed, but the extremely curved hem got wonky. What I changed is that I omitted the waist elastic and used pleats instead. The pattern had also too wide shoulders for me.


The Fabric:

Here is the post about it, when I purchased it.


The Blouse:

I have a feeling it got a bit of a Dynasty or Dallas style to it. And I somehow love it... I like the contuinity of the print that cannot be distorted through the pattern.






Funny Backstage Fact:

I somehow look stoned it this pictures - there is an easy explaination about it. I put the camera on the TV. And on the the TV was running a crime serie and I was watching it while I was making the photos. That is maybe a good visual about the effect of watching on humans...