Tag: bwof

Blog

Gallery

Luscious lavender trousers

Like the matcha green shirt you saw earlier this week, this fabric was also a souvenir from the Atelier Brunette shop in Paris when we were there in February. I bought this 2.0m “Divine Parma” lavender cotton gabardine remnant for €32! This was an extra 30% off the already reduced remnant price, and it normally retails for £30/m, so I got quite the bargain on this.

I knew I wanted to make a pair of trousers with this fabric but I didn’t just want to default to the same TNT patterns I always use, so I had a browse through the past few years of Burda magazines that I couldn’t sew through while I was sick, and liked the look of Burda magazine 11/2024 no115.

Gallery

Parisian turquoise linen shirtdress

We had a lovely little getaway week in Paris in February, and I took the opoprtunity to do some fabric shopping while we were there – both in Montmartre and at the Atelier Brunette shop. From the former, I ended up with 3m of teal linen bought at the Coupons de Saint Pierre for €40. This was the most expensive of the three coupons (pre-cut lengths, usually 3m) I bought but it was a good weight and great price for 100% linen and in a very Me Colour, too. When I bought it I thought the 3m might stretch to a shirt for both J and I but when I changed plans to a dress, it turned out I needed pretty much the whole yardage! (Sorry, J!)

Gallery

A digital print birthday top

Happy (slightly belated) 47th birthday to meeeee! I’m a week late but it’s for good reasons – being healthy enough to get out more means I’ve been celebrating all week long with friends! Multiple cycle rides out to dinners, to see one of my favourite musicians (shout out to the Union Chapel accessibility team for reserving me a box away from others!), out for cocktails, and even a trip to “the boy aquarium”!

You may recall that I sewed Burda Jan 2024 no105 in the first few months after I got sick, in a super soft charcoal grey jersey. I’ve worn it so much that I wanted to sew it again, and have been thinking about fabrics in my stash that could work for it…

Gallery

A red velvet tee and black trousers

During my pre-Paris sewing frenzy, I also made a more practical set of top and trousers to both work down my fabric stash and potentially pack… You already saw my Gemma dress, but there’s one last garment in addition to these trousers and top!

Black Trousers

I’ll start wit the trousers, since I fear such a solid workhorse may get overlooked otherwise.

I’ve had 2.5m of black acetate twill from New Craft House in my stash ever since I used their plum acetate twill for my Claudia trousers back in 2023 (I eagerly await the day I can fit into them again because I love them so much) and went back to buy more. My notes say I paid a bargainous £4.5/m for this, especially good value considering it’s Japanese, from Hironen Mill. It’s long sold out but they’ve got similar acetate twills currently in the clearance section.

Gallery

A Claudia tribute outfit – the trousers

After talking about the inspiration and my goals for this outfit, the drafting and sewing of the cape, and the incredible details of the silk shirt, we’re now onto the final piece – the plum trousers!

If you recall from my first post, the trousers used in the show were high waisted, wide legged, with a wide waistband and presumably a side zipper (as there’s no front opening on the wastband). I actually hate wearing all of these things, so making this fit my own tastes while still looking similar was going to be a challenge!

Gallery

A Claudia tribute outfit – inspiration & finished set

It’s been years since I’ve had a reason to sew something for Halloween. I’m pretty sure the last time was when I made the badger and fox suits for J and myself, and that was 6 years ago. So when I found out we’d be in Cornwall over Halloween AND there was a local outdoor fancy dress party, I started plotting. And when a friend said she’d be hosting a vampire party on Halloween weekend, I really got down to some serious planning.

You’ll already be aware from my tribute teeshirts how much I adore the recent “Interview with the Vampire” tv show (Brits, it’s on iPlayer now!), so my immediate thought was to try and recreate one of the vintage costumes from it. The first season takes place from 1910-1940 but the main female character, Claudia, is introduced in the 4th episode and spans 1920-1940. Unfortunately, for a good portion of that she’s dressed pretty juvenile, so those early outfits really didn’t appeal.

Gallery

A black raglan sweatshirt with a designer touch

Once I could finally sit up for a few minutes after the initial Covid infection had passed, I wanted an easy project to get back into sewing. Something that wouldn’t have too many pieces to cut out, and I could sew on my overlocker, and be something I could sew without having to concentrate too much.

The October Burda magazine was a pretty good issue overall, and I really liked the look of Burda 10/23 #112. It ticked all my boxes for this, plus I had everything I needed in my stash!

Gallery

A rescued Burda summer dress

This dress has quite the long lead-time to being finished, and most of that time was spent hanging on the “hook of shame” where failures and UFOs go to shame me every time I walk into m sewing room until I fix them, repurpose the fabric, or bin them. You see, this pattern was really the only Burda magazine design that grabbed me enough to actually sew up last year, and what luck, it ended up being a rare Burda dud!

Not only did I actually trace and sew it, but I did so during the publication month, too! Burda 07-2021-120 (which I actually found online in the steaming mess that is their English site!) is a loose fitting dress in two lengths (I chose the shorter one) with short sleeves and a gathered, panel skirt (no side seams!) and a centre front panel with bust darts integrated into the panel seams.