Away for a little while

Friends, I need to be away for a little while.
I had a few posts planned, about the gifts I made, a wrap-up of my sewing in 2007, and my goals for 2008.
All this seems a bit futile right now though.
So I'll just leave you with the handmade or sewing-related gifts I received this year, as they warmed my heart - and still do, each time I look at them. Perhaps I'll share the rest some time.

From Sylvie:
A sweet, soft, hand-appliqué and embroidered tea cozy

Way too pretty to use - I would never risk spotting this beaut with tea! It has already found its place as a lovely adornment in our kitchen.

From Doris:

A pillow with a vintage feel, stitched with a verse by one of my best-loved poets... so meaningful in itself, and even more so right now. The design is from Tanya - Tanya, your designs are wonderful.

From Anne-Marie:
A very, very pretty drawstring bag with pulled thread and specialty stitches.

From Allison:

Mc Call's 5471, Vogue 8420 and Vogue 8465... among other lovely gifties.

Vogue was having a $5.99 flash sale a couple of weeks ago, and Seb helped me get a few patterns for Christmas.

Vogue 2945, 8426, 8408 and 8411.

The Hot Patterns Urbanista Coat Dress is a gift from another generous friend. :)

Thanks to each of you... for beautiful handmade gifts and patterns that I am looking forward to using in the year to come.

~*~

To all of you who read this blog... Wishing you festive celebrations tonight, and above all, a happy, healthy, and creative New Year.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

Joyeux Noël Everyone

May you all spend a happy festive season, whatever way you enjoy to have it.
Here is a little music as a gift from me to you - Gounod's Ave Maria.

The link to the full-screen video is here. You'll need to click on the square in the bottom-right corner of the video to go full screen.
ETA: for those of you who can't open the video above, I just uploaded it to YouTube (slightly lower quality).
My fantastic brother was accompanying me on the cello - he created the accompaniment based on the organ's score. You can also see my two dear sisters in the background.

Please don't be hard on me. The sound is a bit off because the camera sometimes caught the echo in the chapel instead of my voice. Hence my hesitation to post this as it is SO imperfect - it took me almost 5 months to have the guts... but I thought it would be on Christmas Eve or never!

Hope you enjoy this gift to you, friends.

Happy Christmas to you all!! Thank you for everything you have brought me this year. I am so grateful to many of you.
Joyeux Noël, mes amis.

Off the crutches...

And a new dress to celebrate!

Simplicity 3678

ETA Saturday evening: it appears I need to go back to the crutches as my foot is hurting again. Ugh. Well, at least I have a new dress ;)

I spent the whole weekend making Christmas gifts, and on Sunday evening decided to take a break and make myself a cute dress. I opened the pattern envelope at 4 pm and finished the dress at 9. All it needed more was hemming, which I did on Wednesday evening after hanging the dress for a few days to let it stretch. This should tell you how easy and fun this dress was to make!

Pattern Description:
Misses knit dress with bodice and sleeve variations, View C

Pattern Sizing:
8-16. I used sizes 6 and 8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yep.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, very. I love these Threads/SewStylish collaboration patterns!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I liked all the neckline and sleeves variations and it was difficult to settle on a choice!

I am quite fond of empire waist dresses, and the midriff piece here prevents any unflattering billowing over the tummy.

I really like the pleats at the bodice and the soft gathers at the front and back. This is the first time I realize how lovely gathers can look on a knit fabric, because the effect is so soft.
The elasticized gathering at the upper sleeve is another nice detail. You can see it (and the back gathers) below:

Fabric Used:
Single jersey - moka brown. It didn't look very impressive as a piece of fabric, but it sewed up really well and it looks good now it is sewn up.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
- I used the longer sleeves, ended up chopping off 10 cm (4"). I made the dress much shorter, partly because I'm very small (5' 1/2" = 1m54), partly because I wanted a dress shorter than designed in the pattern.

- I changed the way of finishing the neckline. I used my favourite technique, which I found in an Onion pattern. To create my binding, I cut the pattern pieces which were intended as facings, but doubled their width; I pinned them to the right side of the neckline, aligning the raw edges. I folded the binding over and stitched over the three layers of fabric (dress + folded binding).
Also, I stretched the binding while pinning it to the neckline, to make sure the opening wouldn't gap. This was also something I learned from my Onion pattern, and it works really well.

- I redrew the pattern's lines along the waist to cinch it a bit. (I usually use a size 6, but the pattern started at an 8).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I can totally see myself sew this one again. There are so many possible variations and it wouldn't even look like the same dress. You can truly use this pattern all year round. I plan to layer it with a black top during the winter months, as shown in this picture. (Actually, I was wearing a couple of knit tops underneath: it was -5°C/23°F in Paris at midday today.)

Yes, I recommend it! This is a very rewarding pattern.

Conclusion
This is a super cute dress! Pairing it with opaque tights and hemming it well above the knee makes it very petite-friendly. I made it much shorter than I usually wear, but the very opaque tights put me at ease. Layering the dress with knit tops makes it perfectly wearable even on the coldest days.

I was wearing woolen tights in the pic and wedge shoes, which are cute and gave me a bit more height, yet were very comfortable for my still sensitive foot.
This was taken tonight after my last day of teaching.

This dress was largely inspired by the lovely petite advice given by Christa Jean on her Petite Fashionista website. Thank you, Christa!

Now I must leave you for a few days. I have a lot of exam marking to do before Christmas!

~*~

Thank you so, so much for the very wonderful comments you left about my coat. I treasure each and everyone of them! *Hugs*

The Ruby-Turquoise Coat

Okay, okay! I'll show you the coat. I must confess that I personally wished to wait a bit longer, because

1. To me, nothing beats the picture of a garment being actually worn; and I wanted to wait until Seb could take pictures of me. No, folks, there's no way I'm hopping to and from a tripod at the moment. Not even to make you happy. ;)
   
2. It seems a fluffy creature with light grey fur has been sleeping on/against the coat some day when I wasn't there. And I can't find the fur remover brush. Again, I'm waiting for Seb to help me there. I fear I'm a bit OCD when it comes to kitty fur on a garment. Especially one I've spent so much care and time over!
   

However, some of you sound a little impatient (hey, Carolyn? Since you inspired and encouraged me greatly with your own beautiful jacket, I feel I owe you this). So, let's say I'll just add a picture of the garment being worn (and un-kitty-fluffed) as soon as we can provide you with one. Deal? Hopefully, it won't bother you as much as me. ;)

Here's my ruby-turquoise coat on the dressform:

Simplicity 3631

Pattern Description:

Misses'/Miss Petite Coat or Jacket, Dress or Jumper, Slim Pants and Skirt. I made the jacket (view B), but it's more of a coat to me.

Pattern Sizing:
6-22. I used sizes 6 and 8. I always need to use a size smaller for the back. I usually use a 10 for the bust, but it didn't seem necessary here, given the coat's amount of ease.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Not much, given my alterations.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, very.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
What drew me to the pattern was the pleats feature, which you sew inside out as compared to regular pleats.

I didn't like the wide, wide sleeves... I mean, I actually do like them; I think all this fabric adds a nice touch of warmth and luxuriousness; but they would have looked ridiculous on poor small me. They would have overwhelmed my 5'1/2" (154-cm) frame, and made me look like a little girl bundled up in a coat that is too big for her.

I found the absence of lining a bit absurd, at least for a winter coat: see below.

Fabric Used:
Shell: burgundy poly-wool blend, bought in the coating section of my favourite fabric store in Paris (chosen with dear Tany, and therefore a treasure!).
Lining: turquoise poly. You can see it peeking through the sleeves here:

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
- I lengthened the sleeves by 6 cm (about 2 1/2").

- Given my short size, I shoud have "petited" (shortened) the pattern; the pattern even had lines to do it; but I prefered a longer jacket, since this is more a coat than a jacket for me.

- Since I liked the width of the sleeves but not the figure it created, I decided to keep the width, but cinch the sleeves with belts. This was suggested in the Fall issue of the Sew Stylish magazine.

Sleeve belts, topstitched:

Buttonhole at one of the edge:

As you know, I used fabric-covered buttons to close the sleeve belts. ;)

- I lined the coat entirely.
Lining a jacket was a first for me... imagine adding your first lining to a jacket where the pattern didn't have any pattern or directions for one. It required a lot of thinking and reading; a couple of friends kindly offered advice, as well. Many thanks to them! :)
I documented the whole process here.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I won't sew the coat/jacket again. You only need one such coat in your closet! :)

I certainly hope to make something from the rest of this wardrobe pattern. There are lots of opportunities with this pattern.

I would definitely recommend it; the pattern is well drafted, the explanations very clear, and SewStylish magazine demonstrates how easy it is to take the pattern as a sheer base and alter it to make it fully yours.

The colour is very true to life here: a deep, ever so slightly pinkish burgundy. I love wearing this kind of deep red with a cold tinge. Red looks good against my hair, but since I have a cold (pink, not peachy) colouring, anything with yellow/orange undertones will look terrible against my skin; whereas purply/pinkish reds are great.
I thought this would add a nice touch of colour among my black and white autumn/winter 07/08 wardrobe.

Conclusion
I believe this is one of my best sewing achievements so far. I learned lots while making this coat, went the extra mile to make it special (adding a pretty lining, handstitching the hem and collar band, etc); and I shall wear it with pride!

I would like to add special thoughts for Tany. From beginning to end, I created this with Tany in mind. She helped me choose the fabric, introduced me to knit interfacing (which is fantastic), taught me in the store to add interfacing to the hem... Tany, while making the coat, I could hear and see you, just as if you were with me. Just as when you were with me, on Oct. 31. *Hugs!*

I had made a plum coat last year, but it was unlined (it was thick boiled wool); it's pretty, and doesn't have any technical faults that I'm aware of; however, comparing my two coats today, I can see how much I have learned over the past year.
I feel that every progress I make with my sewing draws me closer to my Grandma. This is greatly thanks to many of you wonderful seamstresses who are so generous with your talent and inspiration. Thank you!!

Back to gift sewing! :) Have a great day/evening, everybody.

Ruby-Turquoise Coat: Adding a Lining (Tutorial)

Friends, before I show you the finished coat, I wish to share, step by step, how I made the lining for Simplicity 3631. This may help other beginner/intermediate seamstresses and seamsters who haven't yet tackled lining a coat or a jacket.

I lined the coat entirely. An unlined fall/winter coat doesn't make much sense in Paris... especially this year! It's been a really cold season.
Now, not only did Simplicity 3631 not have any pattern or directions for a lining; this was also the first time I lined a coat or jacket.
The process required therefore a good deal of reading and mulling over; a few friends also kindly offered advice and encouragement when I mentioned my thoughts on the lining here. Thank you, Carolyn and Tany! Thanks also to everyone who encouraged me on the way.

Main sources:

• Claire Shaeffer's Couture Sewing techniques;
• My French sewing manual: Le grand livre de la couture, by Sylvie Gauthier, published by France Loisirs; it is indeed un grand livre: both big and great;
• A wonderful Threads article on bagging a lining. This tutorial is chock-full of information if you click on all the enclosed links. I compiled them within a single printer-friendly document and printed it out for reference at the sewing table. (anyone wanting the printer-friendly document, just ask!)

Summary of what I did:

I didn't exactly bag the lining, because this is not a jacket with a regular collar and back facings. This is a jacket with front facings and a neck band. As I explained in the third part of this entry, I simply stitched the shell's and lining's fronts together at the sides, turned them inside out, hemmed the sleeves by machine, turned the jacket right sides out, and then sandwiched the two layers, wrong sides together, between the neck band.

Making the lining pattern:

• I cut the front and back pieces slightly shorter than the shell, but left the full length in the sleeves. I liked the idea of the turquoise showing discreetly when I lifted the arm.
  
• I added an inch to the back's middle, in order to create a pleat for added ease.
  

• I cut the lining's front by removing the whole facing's width and adding a seam allowance. The shell's facing is an extension of the front, folded upon itself; so you have to fold the pattern piece twice over itself to get the lining's width, and add a seam allowance.
  

Fold facing once


Fold facing over itself once more:


Add a seam allowance:
(I unfolded the pattern by 1.5 cm to add the SA)

• I cut the sleeves as per the original pattern.

Construction:

• I assembled the lining as I'd assembled the shell: pleats, side seams, raglan sleeves. (At which point, Seb said I should keep the lining as it was and wear it as a jacket.) However, I assembled and finished the lining all in one go, on the serger. For the shell, on the other hand, I serged the seam allowances separately and pressed all seams open (tip given by Threads).
  
• At this point, I read about Carolyn's jacket; Carolyn also lined her 3631 jacket, and funnily enough, we made most of it on the same weekend (well, she finished hers; I almost finished mine, but then sprained my foot, and the jacket suffered a two-week hiatus). I decided to follow Carolyn's lead and keep the lining's and shell's hems independent, simply joining them by thread chains. I therefore hemmed the lining by machine and hemmed the shell invisibly, by hand. Tany had given me a great tip when we met in Paris about adding fusible interfacing to the hem, to give it shape. She also shows it very well here. It also helps greatly for stitching an invisible hem. I stopped the invisible hem 1 cm before the facing.

OK, this picture is slightly misleading. Here, I had started hemming the shell with the project of assembling the lining's and shell's hems. Only after did I read Carolyn's post and decided to keep the hems separate. I therefore ripped this and folded over the hem twice instead of once, for a more finished look. However, it does show you where I started the hem: just beyond where the facing would be folded over itself.

Here are the hems:
machine-stitched lining (right side facing up),
hand-stitched shell (wrong side facing up)

• I assembled the shell's and lining's front edges (right sides together), stopping a few inches before the bottom.
• I stitched the shell's facing as per the pattern's instruction: folding it to the outside (the right side) of the jacket and stitching the bottom edge, then trimming the seam, and finally turning it to the inside.
• I hemmed the sleeves by machine, as explained by Threads here
• I turned the jacket to the right side, pinned the shell and lining along the neckline, and attached the collar band to the inside as per the pattern's instructions, treating the shell and lining as one.
• I attached the collar band to the outside by hand, unlike the pattern's instruction which tell you to stitch in the ditch. Stitching in the ditch is much less neat than slipstitching for an invisible seam. After all the work I'd already devoted to this coat, I thought it deserved the extra niceness of a hand-tacked collar.
  

Here is the jacket inside out:

The picture was taken on a sunny day without the flash (the flash makes the lining much shinier than it really is), and this is the closest I could get to the lining's and outer fabric's true colours. In real life, the turquoise is just a tad darker.

Wow! That was long. I hope this step-by-step tutorial may help some.
I'll be showing you the finished coat very, very shortly... Probably tonight.
Happy sewing, everyone! and a happy day to you all. :)

Blahs Over!

Hi, everyone!
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've simply felt very blah for the past two weeks, but didn't want to whine about it; and the end of the semester has also been very, very busy. I wanted to catch up on the classes I was unable to teach a couple of weeks ago, and encouraged my students to hand in extra work to practise for their exams. This week is the last week of term.

My foot is better, but not quite healed yet; I still need crutches for anything that involves walking for more than a few hundred meters; otherwise, I find I regret it afterwards.
This is making me very concerned about my Christmas gifts. I can't even shop for food, let alone shopping for anything else. Those of you who've followed this blog for a few years know how much it means to me to give handmade gifts at Christmas... I needed some material for gifts I'd planned to make, but this simply had to go out of the window. The fabric store is too far away, and the shopping crowds too dangerous to tackle with crutches at that time of the year.

But - Seb is coming home, at last, and he'll be staying until the beginning of January!! We even have a small trip to England in the plans at the beginning of 2008. Whoopee!

I have made a few gifts for my family, but can't share them here yet, as they enjoy visiting my blog every now and then. ;)

Here's something else I made over the past few weeks, but of a different kind: translating pretty French children's books into English, for a little girl in New Jersey.

This is a gift for Allison's daughter. Some of you may remember that Allison and I started a swap a few weeks ago. She sends me American patterns from my wishlist when they're on sale, and I send her things she wants from France. It's been such a lovely experience. I've always had a passion for translation (I was trained in translation as well as literature) and greatly enjoyed working on this for little Daphne.

Sewing news:
I finally managed to finish my Simplicity coat this weekend - hurray! I am so happy with it. This is definitely one of the projects I'm the most proud of; and being able to get back to sewing is certainly making me feel better. I'll share pictures soon! Perhaps even tonight.

Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek for you... He he.

With a fabric-covered button. ;)

I was also accepted at Ravelry and was glad to discover a loom-knitting community over there. Yes, I do have an article on loom-knitting planned for you as well!
For those of you who'd like to check me up on Ravelry, my name is IsabelleB.

So long, everyone. I promise to be back real soon, with pictures!
Have a lovely week.

"Come on, Button!" - fabric-covered buttons video tutorial

Bonjour, tout le monde !

I am making fabric-covered buttons for my Simplicity 3631 jacket and thought I'd share how to do it. I love fabric-covered buttons, but when I started sewing this used to intimidate me... until I tried making some, and realized how fun and easy they were.
This is for those of you who haven't tried them yet... just to show you how easy this is!
This is also lovely to finish embroidery projects... so it may also be useful for the stitchers among who haven't used this technique yet :)

I did this with the webcam I got to chat with Seb, and the sound isn't too great... Hope it's still audible for you! :)
Also, the video is inverted (as in a mirror) so you can't actually see what's written on the kit... Sorry! I didn't know how to fix this. I need to look into this.

Shownotes:
I made these buttons to close sleeve belts for my Simplicity 3631 coat, which should soon be finished :)
The sleeve belt idea was suggested in the Fall 2007 issue of the SewStylish magazine.

The beautiful Hardanger scissors were painted and given to me by dear Jenna. :)

Hope you enjoy this! Have a great weekend!

Update on foot ... and the kindness of friends

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing good.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful words and your wise advice.

I'm OK, but the doctor forbade me yesterday to go back to work. I was so counting on getting back to teaching, and was very disappointed; today, however, I feel he's taken the wise decision. My foot is hurting more than the previous days, and that is simply because of the trip I took yesterday (with crutches) to the doctor's, the chemist's, and the PO. All of which are just across the street. I am very concerned about my students because the exams are really soon... Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about it. My foot really needs healing.
(what got hurt is not exactly my ankle, but the tarsus.)

So, I am doing (or trying to do) my own work from home. I've been indoors for a week now, completely on my own except for the weekend, when Seb was there. I just want to go out and meet some people! Seb won't be coming back until mid-December. He was wonderful when he was here, doing absolutely everything and shopping for groceries to stock me up and all that. He's just the best.

~*~

Moving on to something much more fun...I have received lovely things in the mail lately, which I wanted to share with you as they are craft-related. :)

First, from the very lovely Tracy. I won a contest on Tracy's blog a few weeks ago... When her package reached me, oh, I felt so spoiled!

Tracy sent me Norwegian chocolate, an interesting crafts magazine, and 4 cards she made herself - one in which she wrote, and the others I can use to send away... if I manage to part with them! Thank you so much, Tracy!

Now, from our dear Tany...

Tany and I made a kind of swap lately. A while ago, I had got V2943 in a size too large; when Tany learned about it, and since she wanted this pattern, too, she offered me to order the V2943 in my size and I could give her mine instead. Great idea indeed. Now, not only did Tany send me Vogue 2943; she also generously got and sent me the amazing Galaxy dress pattern, V8280. (The "easy options" label on this one is making me laugh!)

Thank you so much Tany... I loved your version of this dress and can't wait to make one. Obrigada! :)

The mysterious Santa from Belgium, who is all the talk of stitching blogland, has paid a visit to Paris, too. The thread that was sent me is a soft, fresh green, aptly called "mistletoe". It was SO sweet to receive this!! Felt just like a hug :)

Whoever you are Santa (or are you Sinterklaas??), thank you! I wish I knew who you were.

Finally, dear, sweet Sylvie sent me a beautiful handmade card. She made it over the weekend as soon as she heard I had sprained my foot. How thoughtful is that?

I took the photo aslant so you could see the various textures of Sylvie's collage. Beautiful!
I just love the little girl playing with her teddy bear. As I joked with Sylvie, this is indeed very close to how I spent my weekend: with my own plush kitty. ;)

~*~

I have not been able to sew over the weekend, but I have been loom-knitting and embroidering... since neither require my standing up or walking about. I was on a roll! I made 5 new onesies, 2 of which were custom orders (yay!), but the other 3 are in the shop.

I also made a scarflette in a soft, fluffy yarn.

Taking a picture of my neck while I had a foot in the air was NOT easy!

As always, available both in $ and €

I also made some other stuff... but it's secret!

Hope you are all having a great week. Thank you for your kindness, for visiting here, and for all you are writing and showing on your own blogs... All this sure makes life happier!

Thump

That was me, falling on the slippery floor of a metro station, while rushing to work on Thursday morning (I'm always rushing... Always so much to do!). I was carrying my laptop and a bunch of books on my back, which did not help.
Laptop is fine. My foot is not. The bruises I can deal with, no problem. A sprained foot I've now realized is something else. I stupidly persisted in teaching until 7 pm, because I didn't see how I could otherwise finish the curriculum in time for my students' exams in 3 weeks. I do teach standing up, as otherwise the students probably wouldn't see me... and I need the blackboard all the time.
Then I hobbled home, one tiny step at a time.
I went to the hospital on Friday morning, where they diagnosed a sprained tarsus and put me on strict rest until at least next Wednesday. I'm not supposed to walk at all, or the ligaments may not heal correctly. Considering I walk at least 2 kms a day, and that I *love* walking, that would be a problem indeed.

Great - that means time to sew, I hear you say? Well, no. I need to kneel on the floor to cut out a pattern or fabric, which is a big no-no for my foot. Besides, the ironing board is in the bedroom, which means I usually keep going from one room to the other when I'm sewing.
I had planned to finish the lined Simplicity 3631 jacket this weekend, and couldn't wait (I haven't been able to work on it for 3 weeks). well, it'll just have to wait!
At least I can still work from home, as long as it's not teaching. Can't wait for the end of the semester!

I do have a few things to show you, though, that I made earlier for the shop.

This is a reversible pleated purse in toile de Jouy:

I love the fact that you can take it inside out and have a completely different look. In fact, I like this one so much I was very tempted to keep it for myself... BUT if I want to be able to buy some new fabrics... I have to sell some of my items first! Finances are tight this year, what with us paying two rents now. Since last summer, I have not allowed myself to buy fabric unless I could pay it with my funds from the shop.

There are also a few new baby shirts... Including a very girly tunic

Both are also for sale in euros, on DaWanda.

I am also thinking about embroidering a few tops in ladies' sizes... soon, hopefully!

~*~

Thank you for all your comments regarding the pyjamas last week! Wow, I never dreamed pyjamas would inspire such a response. Thank you!!
Wishing you all a great weeekend.