Making a coat

It is high time to sew a coat and I am making this one:

I love that it is collarless, the buttons are invisible, it has a band to accentuate the waist, and it is slightly gathered at the waist. The pattern is made for short misses, I hope it will fit, because I won't be making a test coat. I will be posting about different stages of making it. I am so excited to see it done! :)

I have never made a coat before. Have you?

Crochetie's faux fur earmuffs giveaway!

My fellow-blogger, Crochetie, is hosting a giveaway. One lucky reader will get these cosy faux fur earmuffs - of his own colour choice! You can choose amongst ivory, grey and brown.

Since the winter is quickly approaching, I am pretty sure you don't want to miss the opportunity to win them. Click here to enter and try your luck. And even if you don't win, you can still buy them in Crochetie's lovely shop emorie.

How to sew an exposed zipper

  

Exposed zippers have been quite popular lately, so I decided to make a tutorial on how to sew them. You will need an unfinished garment, a (metal) zipper and some fusible interfacing.

1. Iron 2.5 cm wide fusible interfacing to the right side of both zipper seam allowances. The interfacing should be 0.5 cm shorter than the full length of the zipper. Mark a line, where the zipper ends.

 

2. Staystitch  (length of a stitch is approximately 1.8-1.9 mm) along the edge, 1.9 cm wide. When you come to the drawn line, turn the fabric for 90 degrees and sew off the edge.

3. With the right sides together, stitch the seam below the zipper opening, 1.5 cm wide.

 4. Cut a notch diagonally into the seam allowances of the zipper base, but be careful not to cut the staystitching. I recommend you to cut into each seam allowance separately.

5. Fold and press the triangles along the staystitching to the wrong side of the seam allowances below the zipper.

6. Press open the seam allowances below the zipper opening.

 7. Turn the zipper seam allowances to the right side along the staystitching and press.

8. Place the zipper on the right side of the fabric. Make sure that the zipper teeth are not covered with the fabric on the wrong side. Fold the raw ends of the zipper under the zipper and pin. Baste the zipper to the seam allowances only, 1 mm away from the teeth.

 

9. Use a zipper foot and stitch the zipper to the seam allowances along the basting, 1 mm away from the teeth, on both sides. Don't forget to backstitch. Use a thread in the same colour as the zipper tape (I used green for you to see the stitching). Remove the basting thread.

10. Trim the seam allowances, so they do not extend beyond the zipper tape.

 11. Edgestitch the zipper in place from top to bottom on one side, sew across the zipper base to secure, and edgestitch from bottom to the top on the other side of the zipper.

12. Finished!

Dare to design: chosen designs

Yesterday, Shabby Apple's Frances has posted 15 favourite designs that took part in the Dare to design contest. Some of the dresses are too plain and simple for my taste, but I really like these two:

by The Chipper Snipper

by Sarah of Welcome to the good life...

I already voted for my favourite. Which one do you like the most?

Today ...

is a special day, because:


1. it is my birthday and I got this

2. I opened my Etsy shop!

Sneak peek!

I will be opening an Etsy shop very very soon. Here, you can have a little sneak peek.

Dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

I dared to design a dress for Shabby Apple's dare to design contest. The dress is inspired by flowers and represents their delicacy and peculiar shape. It is a Spring dress and it would be really nice to be able to take photos in the meadow. Unfortunately, it is almost freezing out there, so you will have to content with those:

 

The bodice of the dress is embellished with a big frill, flutter sleeves and a beautiful pearl ball button, while the skirt is plain but still very full and flowy due to its cut. The upper and lower dress parts are connected with a flowery band, which accentuates the waist. The dress has a zipper and another ball button in the back.

Fabric for the dress should be light and soft flowing, except for the waistband, which should be stiffer. I used cotton for the waistband and blends for bodice (lightweight) and skirt (mediumweight). I imagine this dress in colours like rose, peach and apricot, but the skirt should always be darker than the bodice.

Hello world!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a few years, but never plucked up enough courage to set it up. It is here now and I hope you will like it. ;)