Pyjama Party in 5 Easy Steps

1. Take a cuddly, fluffy kitty

2. Take a cosy wool jersey matching your cat's colour.
Cut out cute and comfy pajamas.

3. Personalize the pyjamas appropriately:

Embroider the pants' cuffs with kitty paws

Adorn the top with a spiffy cat

4. Sew up the pyjamas,
working out the patterns' kinks and adding your own touches
(pattern review and details to follow)


5. Put pyjamas on. Take kitty in your arms.


Enjoy!

ps: I haven't been able to read blogs for a few days and am 200 feeds behind... Sorry about that! I'll try and catch up with you all in the next few days. Wishing everyone a happy week!

Fashion Blog Award - thoughts on stylishness and "kitty sewing" in Paris

Severine of Inner French Girl gave me a Fashion Blog Award this week. What an honour! Severine's bulletins are such an enjoyable read; they provide fantastic inspiration as Severine analyses the runway styles and matches them with existing patterns. There are lots of other goodies and tips to be found in each bulletin and on Severine's site. As I told Severine, being featured in a bulletin which also presents Oscar de la Renta is something I totally not deserve - but feels good nonetheless! ;) Merci, Severine!
Severine and I discussed the concept of "Frenchiness" together a few weeks ago. Stylishness for Severine is epitomized by her personal vision of France - but as she explained to me, this is her view. Your inner girl can be whatever talks to you most. To me, it means, "embrace your inner beauty, and make it shine outwards"!
As you all know, I am all for creating a personal and unique stylishness with your own hands to make it you and to make it meaningful. This is all my blog is about; and this is exactly what Inner French Girl encourages us to do!

Since Severine in the bulletin mentioned that I sewed with a feline little helper, and that I sewed in Paris, I wanted to share how both truly inform my way of sewing.

Here's a picture I snapped this morning,
which illustrates my blog's name to a tee:

P'tite Mignonne insists on participating in every single step of the sewing process - from lying on the pattern and fabrics whenever I lay them on the floor to cut them out (to smooth them out, you know), to checking me out once I'm wearing the completed garment. Here, she is inspecting the outer darts and the thread tracing I did to mark the facing section on the jacket's front pieces.

This also gives you an insight into my sewing space, and makes me reflect that the way you sew is undeniably influenced by where in the world you are, in a material way as much as regards ideas. Sure, I am influenced by beautiful and fashionable shopwindows whenever I'm walking in Paris (i.e., several times a day). BUT, poky interiors are also part and parcel of Paris. Our flat is 45m² (that is 147 square feet), and that is certainly not bad for a couple in Paris (and I love it!); it is comprised of 2 rooms (besides the bathroom and the tiny kitchen where you can't even sit): a bedroom and a room for everything else, where we dine, work, relax, and where of course I sew! The table you see is our dining table. The right end carries my sewing machine and serger; I simply move the sewing machine to the middle of the table when I want to sew. The other end of the table also doubles as a desk for Seb's laptop when he's home. I need to be very tidy and organized with my projects or the whole place would be a mess and my precious fabrics would be showing traces of the previous dinner. I don't think that is a bad thing. It encourages me to be organized and also implies I cannot have more than a couple projects on the go - meaning, no UFOs.

~*~

And now, a few words about the work in progress pictured above.
Some of you may recognize the pattern as Simplicity 3631. I am making the jacket but want to add a lining to accommodate for our very wintry weather (it may actually snow later today!). The pattern doesn't call for a lining, so there are neither a pattern nor instructions to add one. This means I've been reading and researching quite a bit on jacket linings! I know how to make my lining pattern now (including adding a one-inch pleat to the back), but am still unsure about how to attach it. This jacket doesn't have a real collar with a back facing, but a band collarn; so instead of fully bagging the lining, I'm thinking I should join the lining and shell together at the sides (right sides together), but leave the top edges unstitched until I apply the collar band. I would thus be joining the lining and outer shell, wrong sides together, at the same time as I add the collar band. Does this sound like it makes sense?

The jacket may not be completed before a while, though. I am taking my time with it as this is the fabric I bought with dear Tany, and I am therefore dedicating this work to her. Besides, Seb is home for the weekend, we are celebrating our seventh anniversary together, and I want to take it easy as I am plain exhausted with a nagging tendency to insomnia!

There are several finished projects I would like to share with you friends, but I need to prioritize my time right now - I'm sure you understand! I'll be sharing a few cute and cosy projects with you real soon.

In closing, my kitty cup has a message for you:

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Kindness

This pillow came from my friend Doris today. Her unexpected act of kindness blew me over. I love the design, the soft, soft colours, and the cute ribbon hanger (it says "handmade", the hand being drawn instead of written).
This makes me want to stitch again. If only for the sake of sending gifts. A hand-stitched gift is so precious.

Merci beaucoup, Doris. J'adore ce motif et ses couleurs toutes douces. Tu sais déjà combien ce geste de gentillesse et le mot qui allait avec m'ont touchée. Ca me donne envie de recommencer à broder des cadeaux. Merci mille fois et gros bisous !

In closing, P'tite Mignonne says thank you all for your kind and caring words... and so do I. Thank you!

Still alive

Dear friends,

Since some of you kindly asked (thank you!), I am still alive! Just snowed under with work at the moment. No sewing for me this weekend... and the whole week has been insane. Next week will be just the same!

Here's where my sewing projects are right now - I'm using this list as a way to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

• I did start and almost finished some pyjamas last weekend (Simplicity 5923). I promise to write up a review as soon as I've finished the neckline (that's all there's left to be done!). I am in great need of new pyjamas and really ought to finish them soon! These will come with a fun twist, you'll see :) although I certainly do NOT recommend the pattern for the pyjama tops.
  

• I also cut out New Look 6727, but want to get some lining for it. This dress/tunic is supposed to be unlined, but I don't like the idea, especially with our current weather and temps.

I want to make this as a short dress with bell sleeves, to be worn over a knit top and thick stockings. This is going to be different from my usual style, but I think it will be cute for weekends and casual occasions.

• I am waiting for a moka stretch fabric to make the infamous October Burda dress, and a beautiful jersey print for Simplicity 3678.
  

Can't wait to get those fabrics... and to have a little more time to sew! Hopefully, both will happen soon - or I shall lose my mind.

~*~

In closing, here are a couple of pictures of P'tite Mignonne/Little Cutie. I know some of you enjoy kitty pics as much as I enjoying seeing them on your blogs! :)

P'tite Mignonne has been feeling lost since Seb's departure and has been extra close to me. Given how close she already was, I didn't think she could be any closer - but she is. It's even a bit freaky sometimes. Whenever I'm home, she's hardly ever more than a metre away. What makes me sad is how she cries sometimes in the evening and looks for Seb everywhere in the flat (she is a very talkative and expressive cat). This being on our own somehow doesn't feel right to her either - she is so used to our being 3!

~*~

Now back to work! Hopefully I'll manage to finish my work for today at 8 pm (haven't taken a break all weekend) and then I'll just chill out with my kitty in my lap :)

Friends, I hope your weekend was good! Have a great week, everyone!

L'Automne à Paris

Autumn in Paris...

(picture taken by Seb on Sunday... on the sly!)

It inspires me

Scented Pillows


Miniature Quilt

I've finally started to re-stock my Etsy shop! :)
(For those of you using Euros, you can also find me on Da Wanda).

Meeting Tany

I know lots of you were excited that I was fortunate enough to meet Tany last Wednesday, so here is a small report for you. :)
Trust me, friends, despite all the goodness that transpires through her blog, Tany is even more wonderful in real life!

With Tany's permission I am posting this picture of her...
Take this as a gift to you :)

(my hair is usually considered dark! It looks so light here, set against Tany's beautiful mane)

In the picture, we were having sandwiches on the steps of the Opéra Garnier after shopping for fabric. It was the first sunny day in a long time... it was a perfect day! The weather was too gorgeous to have lunch indoors. I even removed my coat and scarf and pulled up my sleeves (we had been having some close to freezing temps for 2 weeks)!

Some of you may recognize the coat Tany made earlier this year... Let me tell you, it is amazing up close. So haute couture. Tany's hard work and delicate hand-sewn details certainly pay off.

Boy, did we talk. About fabrics, sewing, techniques how we came to sewing, cats, blogs, blogging friends, everything. I think we could easily spend a whole week together and still be chatting just as much.
We went to the Bouchara fabric store, where the selection is getting decidedly better and better every time I visit. Many fabrics there are expensive, but the value is better than in most of the fabric district (the high-quality fabrics are less expensive here). There is also a selection of more reasonably priced fabrics, although I know they would seem expensive for those of you in the US.
After browsing all our heart's content, we both picked one fabric, but chose it at length! Tany also taught me some great stuff about knit interfacing and I got some thanks to her advice.

I got this deep cranberry polyester in the coat fabrics section for the Simplicity 3631 jacket. It feels very soft, like wool.

Tany's coming to Paris was such thrilling news. I kept thinking about it in the weeks before she came, and it helped cheer me up in difficult times.
Now I keep thinking about the time we spent together - in terms of the joy our friendship brings me, but also of the inspiration provided by Tany's skill and talent. I am even more inspired than before by her sewing, now that I got to feel her passion in real life. Sure, I am passionate about sewing, too - but Tany is passionate about sewing exquisitely.

Merci, Tany!! We have to meet again

Patterns Galore!

Just a small note today to share my excitement with you friends!

Allison in New Jersey (who doesn't have a blog... yet!) saw the post where I offered to get Burda issues for anyone in the US having a hard time finding them. I liked the idea of a trade better than receiving money, and so did she. Her Joann's store was having a pattern sale so we traded the Burda for 5 patterns! I sent her another sewing magazine as well though, because, well, one magazine just didn't seem a fair trade for FIVE patterns. The euro-dollar rate was not very fair on her end of the deal.
Allison's package came today and I am so excited. I've never got so many patterns at the same time before. As I was telling Allison today, I feel like a kid at Christmas!

These are Simplicity 3678, 3631, 3744, 5923, and Newlook 6727.

Some of those patterns had been on my wishlist for a loooong time... I can scratch them off now.
I even chose a fabric with dear Tany last Wednesday to make the 3631 jacket... and will follow Tany's precious advice through and through. Can't wait. Although, I may start with the 3678 knit dress first. Boy, I want to do them all at the same time!
Friends, I'm going to be busy!

Thank you Allison, you really made my day; and it's been lovely getting to know you. We'll definitely be doing this again!

I also started writing an entry about my meeting with Tany... I'll post it tomorrow, most probably! :)

Have a lovely weekend, everyone. I know I shall!