Simplicity 4055 Update #2

I was able to finish the bodice yesterday evening!

The is some gathering on the bottom of the front as well as on the top and bottom of each sleeve. I also had to do some hand sewing when I attached the arm bands. Would you believe that I have already invested about 10 hours in to this costume? Granted the 10 hours include the tracing and cutting of the paper pattern, cutting out the fabric pieces and the sewing of the bodice... but  still 10 hours? It's a costume for crying out loud!!! :-)

Next up is the skirt part with  the insertion of a placket as well as the buttons (which reminds me that I still need to buy them!), bodice trim and ribbon attachment. I am also thinking about finishing up the inside arm seams with bias tape. But only if I haven't gotten sick of this dress by that time :-)

Take care,

Me

Simplicity 4055 Status

This pattern has a lot of pieces! A lot more than I thought! I traced off all the bodice pieces in a size 10 to create a muslin. I was really  relieved that there weren't any fitting issues and that I could trace the rest.

 

I don't want to complain (since I volunteered to make this dress!) but this pattern is a lot of work!!! Not difficult just lots of pieces and  quite a bit of fiddling.

 

Last night I cut out all the pieces from the main fabric, lining and the overlay. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy all over again! Here is how far I have gotten last night:

 

I pin-basted the overlay to the main fabric. Tonight I am going to baste it with the machine and make the bodice and sleeves.

 

Pasha wants to go to the Teen Center Halloween dance on Friday... I hope I'll get it done until then!?

 

What are you working on?

 

Take care,

Me

Pride & Prejudice

Do you know of Jane Austen? I am pretty sure you do! Her books have been widely popular. They play around 1800 - 1820 and are set among the gentry in England. My favorites are Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion. I own all the movies ever made and might have several copies of her books. :-)

 

My love for those stories has been passed on to Pasha. For Halloween she decided to be Jane Bennett from Pride & Prejudice. There is this particular ball gown that she loves! Here is a picture (second from the left) of it:

 

I think that Simplicity 4055 will work best for it.

 

 

What do you think?

 

Take care,

Me

 

Ottobre 5/2012 Coat #18

Now that my sewing machine is back from it's extended stay at the health clinic, I am ready to sew and sew and sew. :-)

 

First up was a boiled wool coat out of the Ottobre Women's magazine 5/2012 model #18. I got the fabric from the Holland fabric market the week prior. It's a gorgeous greyish black!

 

I have to tell you... I've never made a coat before for myself. I made a jacket once for Pasha (which I still have even though she has outgrown it for a while now) but never for me! I figured that this would be the perfect coat to get my feet wet for the following reasons:

 

1. It's made from boiled wool. Boiled wool doesn't fray which means that I don't have to worry about finishing all the seams!

 

2. The pattern is classified as a 1 out of 3 points on the difficulty. An easy beginners pattern.

 

And 3. It's Ottobre. Their directions have been always spot on in the past and I was hoping that it would be for this one as well...

 

The construction went really well. The invisible pocket zippers went in like a dream. I did sweat it though! But I made a couple of changes to the coat: I tried it on and noticed that the arms weren't long enough. No problem! I added about 5 inches in length on both sides and voila! Exactly how I like it!

 

I also don't like the big safety pin as a closure that the magazine showed. So I found a simple large black button. I am going to put that one on tonight! So I should have some pictures of me wearing it in the next few days.

 

 The same type of coat has been selling for Euro 400 at our local dirndl store. I paid about Euro100 for all materials. I saved Euro 300. Not bad I say :-)

 

Take care,

Me

Sunday Dessert

Every Sunday I make a dessert for tea. Today we had pear strudel. So good!

The receipe was Attila Hildmann's brain child and I was it's creator ;-) 

If you want to make your own - find it here.

Jeden Sonntag backe ich fuer den Nachmittagstee. Heute war es Birnenstrudel. So gut!

Das Rezept war Attila Hildmann's idee und ich war sein Erschaffer. ;-)

Wenn du dein eigenen backen möchtest dann findest du es hier.

What are you having for tea?

Take care,

Me

The Pink Race

Pasha and I started the "From Couch to 5K" running program in July. We were faithfully running our training units all the way through the end... okay, well, maybe one or two exceptions :-)! But overall we were doing really good!

We got up 3 to 4 times a week at 05.30. Not very many people were out this early! That's particularly important when you know your "fat deposits"are jiggling up and down with each step :-)

Anyway... a community 5k was scheduled around the time we would graduate from our running program. Unfortunately we missed it because Pasha stayed with her grandparents that week. We were a bit bummed about that! But on the way to pick up Pasha I saw several Posters in Munich that advertised for a big women's race (organized by the women's running magazine) about 3 weeks later. I looked it up and signed us up right away!

We had such a blast! We got there at 12. It looked like it would rain a bit but we weren't too worried. We checked in and received our racing package which consisted of our race t-shirt and our starting number. We hung out in the women's village where many vendors where exhibiting their products like soy yoghurts, bags, magazines, watches, running clothes and many other things.

Our 5k race started around 16.30. We lined up with all the other women and were given a ballon which was to be released when the race started.

We had a blast! The sun came out about 30 minutes before the race started. The people were smiling and in such a good mood! The course took us through the entire Olympic Park. Just gorgeous! There were people lined up everywhere cheering us on. There was even a huge Samba band around the 4k mark. That beat was just awesome!

And our worry that we would be the slowest runners went up in smoke fast! We ran right in the middle of the pack. The winner ran the course in 17 minutes and a few seconds and the slowest ran/walked it in 52 minutes! We came in around 34 minutes. By the way, Pasha was telling me some of her stories the entire way. Other runners commented that she wasn't even out of breath and how much they envied that! 

Pasha and I both thought that we probably would have done a teeny tiny little bit better if we would have ran a bit more in the afternoon during our practice runs. But we were so super happy with our performance that we are already looking for our next race! Maybe one that Martin can participate in as well :-)

After the race we took a quick shower in the Olympic Schwimmbad and then we went to "Max Pett". But I will tell you about that in another post!

Take care,

Me

How creative are you?

I always wonder how creative am I? Most of the things I make, I make from a pattern or tutorial. I make it mine by using fabrics that I like and by making changes that better fit my need! But in the end it is still someone else’s brain child and not mine!

So how creative am I truly? I decided to test myself by doing something that I normally don’t do like drawing. I can’t draw a horse or even a tree! So I will take it down a notch and start doodling instead!

I really don’t have time for something new but I figure if I keep a pad of paper and a pencil by the phone I might get some creative juices flowing while talking on the phone???

Here is my first page:

I realize that nothing is more terrifying than a blank piece of paper. No limitations and no rules or guidance. Scary!!!

For my second paper I just took a couple of elements from my first page and came up with this:

I actually like this!

Take care,

Me

P.S. The factory repair shop contacted me today... I am supposed to get my machine by the end of next week!!! Yeah!