Let’s start chronologically with the scraps of the Amal dress ?


So, believe me, there really was not much left. But as the fabric was relatively mixed, I wanted at all costs to cut something for Paul. I brainstormed, searched through my magazines, made incantations to Fabric God (what, with a little luck he multiplies the scraps in my sleep ! :D) … and finally, got an idea by falling on this book.

Here you can see the book of Bisoudoudou, released this fall: full of patterns to dress your little boy, from 3 months to 3 years. For those who own the opus, you can read my blog quoted in the acknowledgments: I had indeed helped Maud during the test phases. And it is while admiring the little tank top on the cover page that it rang a bell !

But many changes were needed to get something going on in my scraps. So I copied the front, but pulling out the wrap design. I copied the back, but rising the neckline up. I also reduced the length of these two pieces so that they fit into my scraps, keeping the width in 3 years size. In order for Paul’s head to pass, it was necessary to think of a slit deep enough: when this point was drawn, I could draw the facing, back and front.

(How dare you, young man! 😀 )

And then when finalizing the neckline, creative delirium: I wanted to put eyelets and add a link. In addition to visually reducing the depth of the slit, this gives a rather original style to this little top.

The armholes are finished with bias: I could have drawn an armhole facing there too, but to be honest with you, I wanted to associate this little bit of bias, which was trailing in my stash.

Verdict: listen, it costs nothing, it delights the baby boy and it makes a top more in the chest of drawers … it’s a great deal my Captain!

(No, but look how my son is BEAUTIFUL!) ❤ We go to the scraps of the Katy dress ?

Juliette found me this fabric: it goes without saying that to cut a little something for her was compulsory. It is probably inspired by the strong heat of June that I turned to this pattern.

So, we are facing the top N of the “Fait Main” magazine of June 2012. I still had enough fabric to lengthen the top in dress: what’s funny is that when I recopied the pattern, I realized that the lines had also been lengthened on the board with patterns, without officially proposing the variant in the magazine. Probably an editorial change of last minute, but what matters: know, if you own this magazine, that the variant for a dress is traced on the board with patterns.

It is a simple dress to sew, and thanks to the lined yoke, the interior finishes are very neat.

So, of course, the poplin is quite stiff, the gathers lack fluidity, but hey, my baby girl is so skinny, there is little risk that the dress is not flattering. (And I believe especially that at this age we don’t give a damn about it.) (Blessed baby girl. :D)

In terms of size, knowing that “Fait Main” patterns are quite large, I opted for 4 years in width, and for 6 years in length, and the fit is pretty good.

The dress is topped with ties to the shoulders …

… and the back is closed by two wooden buttons. Only small infidelity to the booklet : I replaced the embroidered bars by fine loops, sewn in the scraps. (of the scraps. 😀 ) I also topstitched the ties, for better rendering.

It’s beautiful, huh? Not to say, poplin is really one of the simplest sewing fabrics, and ideal for any beginner.

Verdict: the baby girl adores it and finds it, quoting “very pleasant to wear when it is hot”. Well, it’s quite great, you live in the South! 😀

Yes I know, I’m a very funny mom. 😀 Come on, let’s skip to the scraps of the Zéphyr dress ?

SHORT MANIA STRIKED AGAIN ! 😀 You know my passion for cutting shorts in the scraps, and with this fabric I had just enough what I needed to spoil Paul.

One day I should count the number of versions I made of this short pattern. (Too many probably D) (pattern 140 of Burda of June 2014) Here I simplified it to the extreme: no side pockets, nor those back. Two fronts, two backs, a folded and elasticated waistband, two double needle hems, and hop! The case is settled, in size 92 this time.

Note that with the little fabric I had left, there was no pattern matching on the sides. 😀

And I don’t care at all ! 😀

Paul … do you have a problem with your tongue ??? 😀

Oh, okay, I’m not gonna cut it either! : D

Verdict: I will not give you the thousandth praise of this short pattern … woven, knit, pocket, not pocket, elasticated belt, or finished with buttonholes or eyelots … it is a vast blank page where my scraps love to lodge!

I wish you all a good weekend, a beautiful Bastille day to all tomorrow and take good care of you! ❤

Let’s go straight to the point today : FEEL GOOD DRESS ! ❤

When I started drafting lessons, I had a dream: the little summer dress with straps. A beautiful fitted bodice, open shoulders, a flared skirt … the ultimate pattern when living in the South. There was Centaurée, but I always had a concern with the geometric paneled bodice. Finalizing the Whitney dress  last summer was a real happiness: I finally realized one of my dreams …. woven version at least. Because yes … my passion for knit fabrics is legendary !

To be done I didn’t look far: Deer and Doe Zephyr fitting me well, I took the pieces of the bodice. I didn’t touch the pieces on the front and back sides, and only modified the middle pieces front and back. I made a comparative picture of the pieces.

For the middle front, you can see that I slightly raised the neckline. I first sewn the middle front with the front sides, then measure the length of the neckline, and cut a strip of 90% of the given length (and 4cm wide). It was then enough to sew the band and to topstitch it. And do the same for the back.

Then the skirts are sewn together, the sides are sewn too, and then the straps: I have cut long strips 3.5cm wide (and 1m long), which I have Folded and sewn such as bias. A quarter of the width of the strap is sewn on the armhole, the whole is folded up, and the entire band is topstitched. Here it is topstitched with double needle.

And hop, a hem later, we get a Zephyr with straps!

Only small concern that you see on this picture of the back: the back straps are not centered on my bra straps. This is not very aesthetic: for the next one, I will further dig the armhole at the level of the piece on the back side.

The dress is made in a beautiful cotton knit, found at the Plaine market last summer. I was very happy cutting it, I saw myself already cut a great tank top for Tom in the scraps when I realized … that I was going to face pattern matching.

And as much to say that it was quite hard with this psychedelic fabric … in the end, if the pattern matchings are good on the bodice, they are less successful on the sides of the skirt.

But to be totally honest with you … I don’t care at all. 😀

As usual with Zéphyr, I cut a 38, sewn with seam allowances of 6mm (instead of 1cm, included in the pattern), hemmed my skirts on 1,5cm (instead of the 2cms recommended in the booklet) , And the fit is good!

When I received Heidi, my new machine, it was delivered with bobbins of Mettler thread, specially this one. I have long wondered what I was going to be able to do with it … until this project. This bobbin and this fabric were made for each other : for my topstitching it was perfect!

Verdict: at the beginning of this post I told you about “feel good dress”, and that’s exactly what I feel when I wear it: happiness ! In addition to being very comfortable (thank you knit fabric !), It is perfect for the heatwave. If you add the flattering princess cut on the chest, the dancing side of the skirt, and the small straps tied on the shoulders … I want to tell you that I hold my summer pattern for knit fabric ! For the next one I want to try a version with normal shoulder straps, closed in circles. Will have to make some expedition in the stash ! 😉

I wish you all a good weekend, happy holidays to our schoolchildren, and take care of you! ❤

Most often, I am inspired by fabrics: they are the ones who guide the lines of the future garment. More occasionally, a pattern is clearly defined in my head: then comes the long quest for the perfect fabric. Sometimes, the evidence is dazzling … and sometimes, especially when you’re stubborn like me, it’s more arduous. Ah if we could all print our dreamy fabric, wouldn’t it be heaven?

At the very beginning, there was this dress, in the Burda of November 2016.

Love at first sight for the pattern, but knowing that many modifications would be necessary to get a perfect fit, I thought that drafting it from my basic dress would not be too difficult. Now was to find the perfect fabric.

Not having many dresses with short sleeves totally validated (I realized it by wearing the Nissa dress every 3 days ^ ^), this point was defined. I imagined it in a vintage fabric, a little retro, a little fun. A funny dress, which would make me smiling. I wanted pink flamingos (yes yes) but impossible to find the perfect fabric: I hoped a lot on this one, ordered at Tissus Papi, but on reception it was really too thick for my project. The weeks went by, and my project of a little dress was gently moving away. :/

And then one day, while obviously I was needed only buttons (lie number 1 of any good seamstress ^ ^), Juliette and I were walking at the “Tissus des Ursules” when my baby girl started shouting “MOM, LOOK!! !! THIS FABRIC IS SO CUTE !!! ” (Yes, the saleswomen know us now, we are the mother and the daughter who touch the fabrics, drape us with it, exchanging the roll in front of a mirror and checking whether the colors flatter our skin. This crazy duet.)

WELL, she found me this light yellow poplin, dotted with small pineapples: here is your funny dress ! The light yellow is probably not the color that most flatter my skin, but it doesn’t matter: I immediately liked the softness of its color, and the pineapples stick tight to my desires of the moment: funny pattern , which does not take itself too seriously.

To do so, nothing complicated: I took back my basic dress, which I lengthened the front center to create a fake buttoning, and I drew a facing for interior finishes.

And this time I thought about stabilizing my neckline !

The fabric being stiff enough, I opted for box pleats for the front skirt, and darts on the back.

The buttons also come from Tissus des Ursules…

… the back is finished by an invisible zipper …

… the hem of the skirt sewn with the invisible point on the sewing machine …

… and as I always have a problem with the idea of overlocking armholes, I sewn some bias.

Verdict: honestly, I’m super happy about this dress. Concerning the drafting first: having used a popeline without the slightest touch of spandex, I was afraid of feeling a bit restricted, and in fact, I really feel comfortable. And concerning the sewing too: I paid attention to my finishes, tirelessly recommencing if the least thing was wrong, and for that also I’m really pleased with this dress. The light yellow is not the best color for me (on the contrary you will see that on my baby girl with porcelain complexion, light brown and blue eyes, the result is just GORGEOUS), but I don’t care : I feel good in this dress, and there is the most important. 😉

And why Katy? Quite simply because I cut this dress on the release day of the last Katy Perry album, and my children being super fan, it’s the music that echoed in my ears when naming this dress. In the end I find that her baptism name suits her well: I like Mademoiselle Perry’s style, her way of fucking conventions, of tracing her path by being in agreement with her and her convictions. She is at the same time sexy, funny, and gifted: she is one of those people who inspire me and that make me want to assume myself as I am.

I wish you all a good week, and take care of yourself. ❤

It was by coming out my summer wardrobe a few weeks ago that the evidence appeared to me: my favorite dresses are undoubtedly shirt dresses. Moreover, the few RTW dresses, long before discovering sewing, and which I continue to wear with pleasure, are shirt dresses. Drafting one to my measurements was obvious : but then, it was quite a huge work !

It was a dress worn by Amal Clooney that was the starting point of my inspiration. Small aside: I am a huge fan of Amal Clooney’s style, a blend of femininity, elegance and absolute class. Add to that that she is sublime, intelligent and married to one of the most seductive men in the world … argh … WELL. Amal Clooney is divine.

I had been dreaming for a long time of a shirt dress with a beautiful tailor collar, this point was established. Wanting to make the dress in a poplin and not having the same morphology as Mrs. Clooney, an adaptation was necessary.

This dress was for me the occasion to draft a dress bodice with bust and chest darts : we made a first toile of the bodice, which was more than saving … I was totally lost in it.

By adapting the toile to my bust, I realized that a very high-sized dart would be needed. At the time, I was ready to give up and go on with my princess cuts, thinking that a dart had to respect a maximum length, not to go too high or whatever. And that’s when my teacher made me a revelation: “But you don’t draft for others: you draft for you!” And if your morphology requires high darts, then let’s go ! Forget the academic rules And sublimate yourself. ”

And indeed, the combination of the two darts creates without a doubt the most flattering bodice that I have been given to realize for my chest. Besides, the teacher on seeing my dress on Monday asked me if I had taken a cup size, can you believe this ! 😀

“Er … no, but maybe I should weigh myself ?” (I never weigh myself. 😀 )

WELL, the bodice finally validated, it was necessary to tackle the hardest: the construction of the collar. In drafting I’m an eternal indecisive person, and define its length and its width still asked me a lot of work.

Concerning the front skirt, I took the pattern of the Cha dress, and opted for flat pleats, while retracing the middle front to create the buttoning. Having loved the rendering of the back darts on my Christmas skirt, I replaced the pleats by darts.

A facing later, and it was time to draft the sleeves: at the beginning we had drawn very wide sleeves, starting from a circle of which we had decreased the amplitude while wearing it. But it was at home, cutting into my poplin, that I understood that it was not going to work. My fabric was way too stiff for the rendering to look pretty. I wanted to have sleeves that stand, which give me a beautiful head-bearing, you know, like shoulder pads. I didn’t know at all what it would make, whether it was going to be pretty or not, but it doesn’t matter: that’s what I wanted, so I took the head of sleeves that we had drawn at the very start , And I flared of 8 cms on its middle, keeping the cap aspect. And after a few toiles, I finally got satisfaction!

It was hard to get beautiful finishes: in the end, I lined the sleeves, and sewed a bias to finish the underside of the armholes.

(I’m obsessed right now on armholes finishes. I hate to overlock at this place, but I don’t know why. 😀 )

The facing and the collar are interfaced with a woven one, my teacher has made me discover this tool, which, it must be admitted, is a thousand times more appreciable to work than the non-woven interfacing. And it’s no surprise that I chose mother-of-pearl buttons. (I have a passion for mother-of-pearl buttons, they are fine, delicate and fit with everything.❤)

The hem is made with the invisible point of the sewing machine.

The fabric used is therefore a striped poplin that comes from Cousette: I’ve got the idea to embroider something on the bodice, and in the end, the dress pleases me perfectly. I will be too afraid to spoil it with an approximate embroidery, and I think that its classicism will allow it never to go out of style.

Verdict: I have a guaranteed thing to know if a dress is successful: it’s the way I move the first time I wear it. If I immediately straighten up, if I have my head high, if I start to waddle … it is won! A dress for me is only successful if I feel feminine and sublimated in it, and this is the case for this one. Not having added a lot of ease, I was afraid to feel myself engulged, and not at all! I feel really good in it. Monday was the last drafting lesson of the year, and we had time to draw a sleeveless version, which I hope to present to you in the coming weeks. Chantal, if you read me, thank you again for all that you brought me this year. For sewing obviously, but for everything that reads between the lines, too. ❤

A very nice week to all, and take care of yourself! ❤

After all this time, I have many hand-stitched bags. But my favorite, the one I hold most, is older than me.

It was a bag that belonged to my mother when she was quite young. If my memories are good, my uncle brought it back from Africa. She then gave it to me, while I was a teenager too. Since then, he never left me. I like it very much, and love to wear it: its seventies style never goes out of fashion and it fits perfectly with my outfits. Alas, it goes into ruin: then regularly, I mend it, and only wear it occasionally. (And especially not in rainy weather, I discovered the other day that wet, it gives off a rather odd smell … I won’t tell you my shame on the subway, sniff around me to find out where a such odor comes from … and realize that it actually came from my bag !: D)

WELL, it’s by tracing the scallop bag this fall, that I realized that instinctively, I wanted to draw a bag quite similar to my favorite one. Well, the scallops stayed on the program for last fall, but I was holding my idea for the next summer!

As it would be a summer bag, I wanted pastel leather, nude, something that easily matches with my summer wardrobe. I returned to Varjan (26 Boulevard des Dames, 13002 Marseille), and found this leather, smaller than the fall blue one, but of a beautiful sand color.

The leather is quite soft, I chose to reinforce it with Decovil Light, interfaced on the lining: the result holds more and it’s the effect that I was looking for. Here the bag is presented empty: you can see that it remains straight, and does not sag.

The lining (75% viscose, 25% polyester) comes from Tissus des Ursules: big crush for this design, and the colors are matching well with the leather.

I added a small zipped pocket inside, and reproduces the tricks learned with the scallop bag for the handles: rivets and strap tips make it possible to get beautiful finishes without getting irritated on the machine.

The machine, however, had a hard time topstitching the loops : the points were not beautiful, but I sewn them by hand and the result was more harmonious afterwards.

My favorite detail is the closure one : I loved this system so much on my mother’s bag that I reproduced here. It is rather original and simple enough to sew!

Verdict: I am happy with this bag, which will go with me all summer. As the leather was quite small, the bottom is less wide than desired, but most of my belongings come in and that’s all that counts!

I wish you all a great weekend, and take care of yourself! ❤