Hello dear readers!
Phew! I’ve migrated to a new theme (Oxygen) and after some hours struggling with how to get the feature slider to work, I’ve done my blog upgrades! What do you think? I think the theme is just beautiful and functional. I hope it helps everyone get around a bit easier and have a more pleasant visit.
But what was that stuff about new projects, hey?
Well, I took some photos of my sewing retreat outfit and at first they were a big fat flop. The light outside was just too bright and overhead (it was around 1pm) and my white skirt was totally washed out – you couldn’t even see the pretty buttons (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!). So, today I waited until an hour before sunset (as suggested here) and it worked much better.
But first, some deets (it’s what I do best) 
The top was relatively straight forward, it was this pattern (click on picture to link to pattern)
Lovely how the model hides the clothing, eh? Sigh…BurdaStyle. Essentially it’s the flounce blouse without the flounce. But I had to do something creative, remember??? So, I made some fabric flowers following this tutorial and they turned out fabulous!
I made 3 and put them down one side and I think they looks quite artistic!
Now onto the skirt (click on picture to link to pattern)
Since I used a lovely linen/tencel blend and it was thin enough I used french seams throughout to great effect. The skirt has many seams and the french seams show just a bit and look fabulous.
But the one major thing I changed was how I did the facings. I try to incorporate little couture techniques into my projects. I read in Clare Shaeffer’s book that facings in couture sewing prefer to be extensions of the fashion fabric and folded over and not separate. The pattern had separate facings, but I decided to add 5cm to the top of each skirt pattern piece and interface only that bit. This was going to be my facing
Then sewed all the pieces together and folded over the facing. Problem here was that for some pieces the top of the facing was smaller than the fashion fabric at that point. This was easily solved by stretching the top edge of the facing using my steam iron. I only needed a few more mm anyways.
I finished the facings off with a hong kong finish with white cotton cut on the bias. Here’s what the skirt looks like from the inside. Beauty!
I really like the French seams and the HK finish – kinda multicultural, don’t you think? :P
Here’s the skirt all done – I used 4 self fabric covered buttons to finish her all off!
Here’s the whole shebang on me!
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a Gallery page on the top tool bar. Here I’ll put all my finished projects for your viewing pleasure!
Hope you Christmas shinanigans are going well – do you have time to do some sewing? If so, what are you up to?
Relax and Enjoy,
Kat
This is an adorable outfit – truly it is. Love the finishing touches on the white skirt, perfect. I’m learning couture techniques too, so I love seeing what you do.
Thank you Karengass! I’m so glad you’re exploring the world of couture sewing…it’s so rewarding and they’re so much to learn. It’s really exciting and I hope you have fun
Wow….a trifecta! Blog, blouse and a beautiful skirt! Love the flowers on both blog and blouse …and the
couture details on the skirt are swoon-worthy! I love French seams…have yet to perfect HK finishes like you have. The covered snaps explanation is clear…such a simple exercise to make a very special looking finish.
PS the gallery section is a great resource….
Glad you think so! I was thinking of linking each picture to the post it appeared in too.
Good idea…Don’t know about others, but I enjoy reading about construction adventures!
Oh good to hear it…I like the construction phase of making a garment and enjoy learning/applying new techniques, so I’m glad you find it useful (that’s kind of the point!). Can’t seem to link a photo in the gallery to existing content…
Thank you and glad you liked! I haven’t perfected the HK finish by any means…my stitch in the ditch is mostly out of the ditch…you just can’t see it! Practice makes good, though. French seams are the best, I use them whenever the fabric lets me. Glad you liked the covered snap, it’s actually functional too; which was amazing to me. I guess if the fabric was too thick it wouldn’t work, so you’d have to use a thinner fabric. I think mine was on the border.
Very pretty – the outfit looks lovely and fresh!
Thank you twotoast! That’s a lovely complement