Julie & Thomas

Although it's been a cold and rainy week here, the sun started shining again today... only minutes before Julie and Thomas' wedding.
It was a beautiful celebration. Julie is a strikingly beautiful young woman in everyday life; today, she was simply breathtaking. Thomas was very handsome and classy - as always!

(the rings pictured belong to another couple... )

Julie and Thomas, you make a wonderful pair in every respect. May you continue to have a very happy life together for many, many years.
Merci encore, for inviting me and allowing me to make your pillow... It was a joy and an honour.

Love to you both!

Some days...

... are not meant for sewing!!
Yesterday night went from disappointment to disappointment. At first, it seemed a perfect evening for sewing: I had accomplished some good work and felt I could spend an evening sewing without feeling I should be working instead. Seb was away celebrating his new Doctor title with friends from his lab, and I had decided to skip the occasion as hearing a bunch of scientists talk about theoretical biology over drinks without understanding 10% of what they were saying, was not exactly my idea of fun.
I wanted to work on my Autumn-Winter 07/08 wardrobe (my plan is to have lots of blacks, a bit of white/grey, and just a touch of colour)

First, I wanted to finish the Miss Moneypenny skirt. It was already cut and half assembled from a previous evening. Well, Twollin, it's a pity your comment came after the skirt was cut and half sewn - because the problem you described is exactly what happened. (but, of course, thank you for taking the time to leave your helpful advice!) The skirt fits through the hips and waist, but the brocade fabric has so little give that you can hardly walk with it. Although the idea of a brocade skirt sounded smart, it didn't work at all with that specific fitted style. For now, I have hurled the skirt into a drawer where it will doubtless sleep for months. And, as per Twollin's very helpful advice (thanks again) I need to find a lighter fabric with perhaps some slight stretch to it. Which of course, I do not have.

I refused to call it a day and decided to go back to a pair of pants I started before going to my conference, a couple of weekends ago. Another one from HotPatterns, which I'm really enjoying making. I'm making them in the same fabric as the Indémodable dress.
Trouble is, Seb decided to "tidy up" my sewing stuff while I was away at said conference. I looked for more than an hour, but couldn't find the waistband's back piece - neither the interfaced fabric piece nor the lining, which I'd pinned together and put on top of the project pile before I left. Seb probably thought those were mere scraps of fabric that he could get rid of. Of course, I'm not sure I have enough fabric left to cut another.

Needless to say, I wasn't in the best of moods when he got home! I do hope he can find the "scraps" today...

This got me to wonder, do you have similar frustrating experiences to share?

I promise to be back with a more interesting post later today... :)
Have a GREAT weekend everyone.

Thanks and a new project

Thank you so much for being so understanding and selfless in your response to my need to cut down on blogging/reading/sewing time. I'm not sure I deserve such a warm wave of kindness - but you make me feel very fortunate in having such readers and friends. Thank you! I couldn't even start to tell you how much your kindness bring me every day.

We haven't taken pictures of the Vogue jacket yet, but I wanted to share my future project with you. It is the Hot Patterns Moneypenny Trumpet Skirt, and is also part of my fall/winter wardrobe project. I traced and cut the pattern yesterday.

I am probably going to use the leftover brocade from the corset I made in May 2005... putting a picture here for those of you who didn't read my blog back then.

I'll be making the deep yoke version rather than the 8-panelled one. With a busy and rich fabric, I believe that less is more when it comes to the lines of a garment... Although, ahem, I've just realized that +10-piece corset above is the very argument against it! Oh well.

Isn't that skirt pattern feminine, both chic and sassy? I must confess the name was an added incentive for me... although the brocade fabric though should allow the Moneypenny look to lean more towards the James Bond girl - don't you think?
Can't wait to cut out that one and sew it up!

In closing, here's a sneak peek at a ringbearer pillow I made last weekend:

This is for a couple of friends who are getting married on Saturday... :)

~*~

And now, back to baking. Seb is defending his PhD tomorrow!! I am getting to bake 8 cakes/tarts for the reception afterwards... and I'm halfway there. Off to check my oven now to see if the fondant au chocolat is done.

Hope you're all having a great week! Ours is certainly a busy and momentous one. :)
Thanks again, everyone.

Simplicity 3775 - a little autumn dress

Dear all,
I hope you're having a lovely weekend!
Here's a dress I made a couple of weeks ago.

I bought this pattern in June with plans of making it for summer. I even bought a lovely knit fabric with it in mind.

As this is a 4-way stretch, I wanted to play around with the stripes, have them horizontally at the midriff and vertically everywhere else. Wouldn't it be pretty?
However, the weather had other plans for us in Western Europe. As many of you know, summer was nonexistent and there was no point in making a dress I wouldn't be wearing. With a sigh, I decided to put away the pattern and fabric and save them for next year.

Then Adrienne, whose blog I had only just discovered thanks to her fantastic podcasts (I love them, Adrienne!), showed us a darling version of the same pattern. As I admired it in my comment, I told her how much I wished the weather had been kinder to us in France. Adrienne replied with a very sweet note and a smart idea: why not make it in a fall fabric?
And that's what I did, thanks to Adrienne. Instead of the sleeveless version I had in mind, I made a long-sleeved version, with a scoop neck and a ruchéd midriff (the interesting midriff is what drew me to that pattern in the first place).

(this picture was lightened up to show the ruché better)

I used a Roberto Cavalli lightweight stretch velvet that I got for a great price from a German online store. Black with anthracite accents. It is, in fact, the black version of the brown fabric I used for my first very lame attempt at the Hot Patterns Cosmo dress. You see, I wanted to find a means to overcome this previous experience, and the feeling of failure and distress it was associated with. This is why I chose a very similar fabric - but not quite; took a pattern with similar details - though not the same pattern. I did lower the neckline slightly to make it closer to the Cosmo dress (although the original neckline on the Cosmo is very low).
I shall be making the Cosmo dress again some time - I'm just not quite ready yet.

You can read a more detailed and technical review of my experience with Simplicity 3775 here. This is a nice transitional dress for the beginning of autumn.

~*~

On a personal level (feel free to skip the next 2 paragraphs if you're just interested in the sewing project!), I am happy this dress helped me overcome some of my feelings while working on the Cosmo Dress. I remember thinking I may never be able to sew again at that time. It was just a few days before my Mamie left us.
Sewing however remains a bitter-sweet experience since my Grandma's passing. Keeping on sewing is essential to me because I know how interested and happy Mamie was in my sewing endeavours; those are the times when I remember her most - but also when her miss most.
I miss her so much. There is still hardly a day when I don't have to fight back tears when thinking about her. Her absence still feels so unacceptable, you know? Saturdays are especially hard; she left us on a Saturday evening.

~*~

This is the second item in my autumn wardrobe. The third one is the little black jacket I made last Sunday, and did finish right in time for the conference. Thank you very much for your helpful and enthusiastic comments about my little jacket dilemma! I finally made Vogue 8300, but with significant alterations to the style. It turned out adorable, if I may say so myself, and I really enjoyed wearing it to the conference. I'll post about it as soon as I can. Which may not be very soon, though. :) (see above post to understand).

~*~

To make up for the sad note above (and so you know I do count my blessings and embrace what joy there is in life - and there is plenty to be had), here is an adorable picture of Robin that my sister sent me.

My brother joked that if this was indeed what you could find in nappy boxes, he'd be buying out the whole stock in his supermarket - especially when you can have a 33% bonus like here!
Robin's abilities seem to be developing by leaps and bounds recently. I'm going to Lille tomorrow morning and can't wait to see him again. It means a very quick return trip, but it's worth it. I miss my parents, sister, BIL and nephew.

~*~
Hoping this finds you all enjoying your weekend!

New Year, Life Changes

Dear all,
I am just back from my conference and the time away has made me come to some important decisions regarding this blog and my presence within our community.

This beginning academic year marks (provided all goes well) the final year of my PhD. I feel there is still so much I want to ponder, discover, and put into it. There are also, of course, the literature classes I teach. As far as I may remember, I've always had a profound calling for teaching, and I therefore put as much dedication as I can into it. I am so perfectly happy when I'm teaching - especially English literature!
That means, obviously, a very full - and fulfilling - schedule; and my life this year will be even busier than previously, owing to the fact this is my last PhD year - my last chance to really put as much as I want into my thesis.
There are times when you realize you can't do it all. For my own good, I'm having to reconsider the way I organize my time.

What it comes down to, for you, dear readers, stitching and sewing friends, is this:

1. I have decided to sew and stitch less, so I can still have some quality time with Seb. I won't sacrifice our time together to getting immersed in sewing every time I decide to take a break.
   
2. As a result, I'll also be blogging much less often.
   
3. Unfortunately, I'll have to unsubscribe from a number of feeds; I just can't keep up with them all. I'll try of course to follow my closest blogging friends' news, but I may not be able to leave comments as often as I used to and as I would like.
   

However, I shall definitely keep sewing and stitching, albeit less; and I shall certainly do my best to write here as often as is possible and reasonable. This blog, the activities that feed it, along with your ever-renewed kindness, encouragement and inspiration, mean too much, and have brought too much joy and balance into my life, to be put to a stop.

I therefore ask for your patience in waiting for my articles (please friends, don't write comments impatiently asking for a sewing update... they make me feel uncomfortable), as well as for your understanding in my scarce presence on your own blogging corners...

I'll be posting an update later this weekend, but the present article will stay at the top of the blog for a while so that everyone may have a chance to see it, and may understand why I can't be as chatty and present within our blogging world as I used to.

Take care, everyone. Oh, and please don't worry about me: I absolutely love my work, and this change in blogging habits is meant for the best. As I said - I can't do it all, and it's good to set a line before feeling utterly swamped - before sewing and blogging end up having opposite results than why I started them in the first time - bringing pressure instead of balance.
I really hope you know this doesn't mean I'll stop thinking about you! You'll still be very much in my thoughts and heart.

Lots of love to all my dear friends online.

Which jacket should I make?

Hi again, everyone!

Wow, I don't usually post twice in a day, but I would really like your opinion here :)

You see, I would like to try and make up a little jacket this weekend, for the conference I'll be attending next week, and then for the start of classes.
I'll be using a black cotton sateen. I would like the jacket to go with the little Indémodable dress I just shared with you.
Both jackets are unlined and seem quick and easy.

Vogue 8319:

I'd probably shorten it to above the waist

Vogue 8300:

I would probably shorten it a little as well, and put only 2 buttons.

I'm rather leaning towards Vogue 8319, as it was designed to go with a sheath dress (and I do plan to make the dress too some time - I love that pattern, and was so excited to see that was the very dress you showed us today, Summerset!). However, I really like the exaggerated Peter Pan collar on Vogue 8300. Time is too tight for me to merge the two patterns together.

Would you mind voting and/or giving me your opinion in the comments, if so inclined?

Edited 19/09: Poll closed... Thank you friends!

The Indémodable Dress

Bonjour, everyone!

You've probably noticed by now that I love giving a name to each dress I make. I called that one L'Indémodable. A Little Black Dress can never go out of fashion, right?

I made this dress last spring, actually - in April, I believe. I have worn it several times since then, but until yesterday evening, either I kept forgetting to review it, or, when I remembered, Seb was too busy to take pictures. I needed Seb's collaboration, because that dress is too fitted in the back to go on my dressform (which was the smallest sized dressform I could find in Europe... An endless subject of frustration, trust me! I mean, come on! it's not as if my frame was abnormally small, is it. Ah well.)

The pattern is New Look 6643, and I give it an A+! (Can you tell classes begin soon? I'm smack in the middle of planning my course for the next half semester)

The dress went together very smoothly and quickly, and since I'm used to the New Look patterns, I knew exactly what size alterations to make. Here, I cut an 8 for the front and a 6 for the back; and I didn't need to change a thing from there. That dress fits like a glove while being very comfortable.

The fabric is a 3-metre cut I got at a sale last year in a Paris store. They were selling 3-metre cuts of "clothing fabric" for 6€. I believe this is a poly-cotton blend. I'm making a pair of pants with the leftover fabric.

This is an easy pattern, but I did learn a new technique with it: creating a back vent. The explanations were very clear. You can see the vent on the side picture (we forgot to take a picture of the back!).

I would love to make that dress again in a Liberty print for next spring.
I love that dress - I always feel elegant and at ease when wearing it, which is saying a lot as I have a critical self-image (who hasn't), especially when it comes to clothes I've made. The V-neck makes it different from the other sheath dresses I own - and from most RTW sheath dresses as well. Another neat feature is the fact that the shoulders are slightly off, oblique rather than straight. It is a discreet, yet graceful detail.

The shoes are new :)

Although I made the dress last spring, I am incorporating it into my autumn wardrobe (especially now that summer has finally reached Paris... 3 months late!). I have been planning a wardrobe for the cold season in black/anthracite and white, with just a touch of colour. I finished sewing another black (knit) dress last week, and there's a pair of black pants in the making, as well - after that, there'll be a blouse and a skirt. Then, we'll see. :)

I'm attending a conference in Italy next week and I'll definitely be wearing that dress. The challenge, as always, shall be to keep it free from kitty hair!

Trust me, friends, with this ball of fluffiness, that is a never-ending challenge.
I thankfully welcome any tip on efficiently removing kitty hair from a garment! :)

Embroidery... at long last :)

Some of you may have completely given up on my stitching by now - but I did get to use embroidery needles over the summer. Here's the first part of it.

Some time ago, I purchased the Alyssum Scissor Pocket (by The Cat's Whiskers) from Jenna's store - highly recommended for superfast service and unbeatable international shipping rates! (By the way, did you see the new charts and silks in her store? Yummy!!)
I started stitching the pocket in July, and decided it would be a gift for Sylvie's birthday - she loves blue as much as I do. July-September: that gives you an idea of how slow you can get when you don't stitch regularly! (Well, me, anyway. )

It was stitched on the recommended 'Little Boy Blue' Belfast Linen (given to me by a dear friend ) with Dinky Dye silk (provided in the chartpack). In the picture, the blue linen didn't come out too well against the white tablecloth - probably because it was cloudy when I took those pictures.
I couldn't find the matching Gingher scissors (alas!) so I decided instead to go for the French-made, antique style.

Instead of lining the pocket with the blue linen as per the instructions, I decided to add a flowery cotton lining so I could use what was left of the linen to make a scissors fob - I used one of the motifs in the pocket and stitched it over one. It seems several among us had the same idea this summer! That cracked me up, although I obviously had to keep my mouth shut at the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this for Sylvie - the silk was luscious to use (all silk threads are not made equal, but this one is simply wonderful!), and the repetitive design and the hand-sewn finishing very soothing.
I definitely need tips on making cording with silk though - the cording didn't hold well because the silk was as it were slipping upon itself. Makes sense?

~*~

A few answers to some of your questions regarding the previous post:
- I wasn't reading Harry Potter, but an amazing contemporary trilogy of novels dealing with a topic related to my research. I'd love to share the title and author's name here, but when I first did that, a Google search on that author made my blog crop up on the first result page. Not my plan exactly - I wish to keep my work and blog separate - so I promptly deleted the name. Then I started re-reading a Modernist novel (again related to my work - I work on the Modernist period).

- The distance to Normandy (that part of it anyway - Normandy is a large and diverse region) is a 2-hour train ride. I don't know Normandy well at all (I have only been twice and this was my first time in that particular town) but many Parisians enjoy visiting Normandy on holiday or on weekends. Seb's grandparents have had a house near Rouen for many years and mostly live there now. Seb's parents just bought a flat there.

- Anne-Marie, nous n'étions en effet pas très loin de chez toi et j'ai pensé à toi

~*

Just to make you smile, here are before and after pictures of Robin playing havoc with his wardrobe.

Before


After

Can you believe my nephew is turning 10 months on Saturday?

A Norman Weekend

Hello, all!
We are back from our weekend in Normandy. What a lovely time and splendid weather we had!

Seb's parents recently bought a flat on the Norman seaside, so we stayed there, which was quite lovely and meant we were even able to take Lil' Cutie/P'tite Mignonne along. The flat felt even more comfortable and homey with our kitty. We are blessed with an easygoing cat, who doesn't complain in the metro or train, and is happy wherever she is provided she feels loved and safe. She quite enjoyed herself in the flat, which is larger than ours in Paris.
There weren't many people in the train to Normandy, so she even had a seat to herself :)

I was facing her, and you can see my book's pages at the bottom of the picture. I was planning on getting lots of stitching done (at last!), and had packed the Drawn Thread's Treasure Box. I was so looking forward to it! However, as I was getting ready to stitch, I realized that the thread count on the fabrics I'd taken along was too high for the silks to look nice and plump. Not to be able to stitch was a true disappointment; but I indulged in an orgy of reading to make up for it. That can never be bad. :)

Of course we didn't just lounge about on the beach all day, especially with that gorgeous weather (and considering what little sun we'd had the rest of summer). We had a great time walking around barefoot in the sand or the waves.

~*~

I wanted to thank you for your wonderful comments to the previous entry, which I all found on coming back. Thank you so much. I am so grateful and honoured each and every time I read one of your comments.

This is for you all:

I'll be back very soon with - believe or not - a stitching finish to show :)
There are also still three sewing projects in the queue (New Look 6643, sewn last spring; Simplicity 3867 (top), from last June; Simplicity 3775, from a few days ago). Neither of those fit the dressform, as they are close-fitting in the back, so they'll be reviewed as soon as Seb fancies a shooting session. :)

Hope you all had a nice weekend, and that your weeks are off to a great start.

My wedding gown - the "real" one

Hi everyone!
Finally, here are the pictures of the gown I made for the wedding ceremony

Apologies if some of the pictures are not fantastic quality. It was dark in the church, and the fabric appears much shinier than it really is, because of the flash.

The pattern is Butterick 4452.

I liked the fact that, while the front is quite simple, with a slim A-line skirt, the back on the other hand features a laced closure and two deep box pleats on each side of the skirt's middle. The back neckline is interesting as well.
This way, the dress felt very "me" in that it wasn't a busy, poofy gown in which I would have felt very uneasy and costumed; but the details in the back still made for an original and interesting gown.

I shortened the train a little from the original design. I wasn't keen on the train at first, but when I made the skirt and tried it on, the train looked so graceful that I compromised with a shorter train - but did retain it. :) I also believe the effect of the deep pleats in the back would have been lost without a train.

The line, with a flat, narrow front and a fuller back, reminds a lot of the tournures of the late 1800s/early 1900s. That is why I called that dress the Henry James Gown, while I called the empire dupioni gown the Jane Austen Gown. I know neither of them are in any way historically correct, of course; but the figures they create are reminiscent of those two periods - and Austen and James are among my best-best-loved authors.

The bodice is lined, underlined and boned; the skirt is underlined. I used batiste for the lining/underlining (left over from the dupioni gown).

For the gown, I used a fabric that was labelled as "indiscriminate" in the fabric store (which is probably why I got it for a good price), but which to me is most definitely taffeta. I got it in the designer/bridal/evening section of the store, where most fabrics are around 70 euros/metre, if not more. The "cheapest" fabric in that section is 25 euros. That bolt was hidden away in a corner and because it was labelled "indiscriminate", it was only 6 euros a metre. It caught my eye because I absolutely loved the colour and dull sheen. I needed 2,5 metres for my gown.

with Robin and his mommy, my sister Catherine

The pattern cost me 9 euros, which is the usual price in France, but is expensive to me! I usually get my patterns from the US or the UK, and even with the shipping fees, they are often half that price, thanks to the $/€ conversion rates. I honestly don't know what's wrong with craft stores in France. However, since I decided to make that dress 10 days earlier, I couldn't possibly order it online or it would never have been there on time. That is why I had to bite the bullet and buy it from my fabric store instead.
The white satin ribbon cost 50 cents a metre and I used 2 metres.

Total cost: €15 fabric + €9 pattern + €1 ribbon = 25 euro ($34). Not bad, eh? I joked with Sébastien that my TWO made to measure, one-of-a-kind gowns cost me together less than his suit and shirt (although God knows we were thrifty in that regard, too. BTW, we went shopping for his suit and shirt with scraps from my gowns, to make sure they would match perfectly!). I do wish I'd had the skills to make his suit or at least his shirt, but I certainly haven't reached that level yet. Making clothes for men is a whole other story, so I had to be content with hemming his pants myself and changing the jacket's buttons as per Seb's liking.

~*~

Preparing to sing Gounod's Ave Maria,
with my brother accompanying at the cello.
Another photo from Sylvie. :)

I realize the above pictures probably do not show the actual colour of the gown; so here are a couple of pictures taken in daylight, at our flat:

Left: with my little sis Hélène (she'll be 25 tomorrow) and our nephew Robin;
Right: with my brother Jean-François (28), cracking up as usual!

~*~

I've been to the P.O. every day this week, mailing out gifties, a couple of AOKs, contest prizes (Su, Tany and Helen, watch your mailboxes; Ali, I haven't quite finished your gift yet - but almost! It took a little more time than I envisioned), and most of my Etsy shop items to Josy for the mucoviscidosis charity sale. (feel free to participate - this is to help the research, so it will benefit all the sick children in the world!)

~*~

My next post won't happen before next week, as Seb, Lil' Cutie and I are going to Normandy for a long weekend. :)

I would therefore like to wish in advance a
Very Happy Birthday to Sylvie and Julie,
who were both born on September 8!

May you both have a fabulous day on Saturday.

And have a very lovely weekend everyone. :)