Tag: Colette

Shweshwe Hazel dress

Sometime ago I got a message from Emily who has just opened her online sewing store in South Africa. She offered me a few metres of Shweshwe fabric of my choice to use for my sewing. Maybe I’m ignorant, but it was the first time I’ve ever heard about Shweshwe fabric so of course I was quite interested. When I browsed around her store and saw the fabric, I realized that I’ve seen them before but I just didn’t know the name of that fabric. The more you know! Shweshwe is 100% cotton that is preserved with starch in the […]

Green Pastille dress (The Colette Sewing Handbook)

A pretty dress was hanging on the wall of my clean room, as if it was magically appeared out of thin air. There were no traces at all that not a few hours before, the dress was a nightmare and the room was a complete mess. Surely I have to thank the magical power of a vacuum cleaner. The pattern is Pastille dress from The Colette Sewing Handbook, the one on the cover. I’ve loved the pattern since the first time I saw it, but kept postponing to make it because apparently I’m too small for Colette patterns. Doing a […]

Banksia top and Iris shorts

  Actually I’ve finished this top sometime ago before we moved to this house, but haven’t got time to take proper pictures. I’m still looking for a nice spot for taking pictures, I kinda miss the blank wall in my old apartment. The pattern is Banksia top by Megan Nielsen. From the pattern envelope: “Semi fitted with button up placket front, and large peter pan collar it also features elbow length sleeves and shaping darts at the bust line. Pattern includes two different placket finishes based on skill level.”  It was my first time sewing a button placket like this, […]

Taffy blouse and Meringue Skirt

  Here’s a couple of projects that I made from Colette Sewing Handbook. I really love this book! I just can’t stop reading it cover to cover. The book has five patterns for size 0-18 in it, but this is not just a pattern book. It covers all the basic knowledge about garment construction with clear explanation and step by step pictures. I love that it also covers about good fitting, types of alteration and how to do it. My first Colette pattern is Negroni that I’ve used to make countless shirts for my husband. Taffy blouse would be my first Colette women’s pattern, this is quite a […]

On the sewing table

    These last couple of days I’ve been working on this little number from the Colette Sewing Handbook. The book  was as one of my birthday book gifts from my husband. It is such a gorgeous book! The fabric is mustard yellow charmeuse found in my favorite local shop that sells cheap out of print/end of bolt  fabric. It had a nice sheen, draped beautifully, and was easy to sew. The silvery beige bindings was also made from charmeuse, but it was more flimsy than the yellow fabric so sewing them was quite a challenge. Unfortunately it is raining the whole […]

Shot cotton shirt

A shirt for my husband, made with Kaffe Fasset shot cotton in the color Persimmon. You might remember that I won the Best Top Judges’ Choice for the Spring Top sewalong last May. One of the many prizes is this 2 yards of Kaffe fasset shot cotton in from Pink Castle Fabrics. Shot cotton has 2 different colors of threads woven together, creating a special color with certain depth. These pictures don’t do any justice as shot cotton fabric is more beautiful when it moves. The Persimmon color that I chose has orange and red threads woven together. The pattern is my true and tested Negroni […]

naniIRO Negroni shirt

Instead of all the projects I was talking about yesterday, I made another shirt for my husband. I suppose I’m not very good at planning projects. Anyway, my husband has been wearing his three Negroni shirts almost every day, so I think a fourth one is necessary. The fabric is double-gauze cotton by naniIRO in white with jagged grey stripes. I love how the lines are somewhat irregular and not really straight, a character that shows in almost all naniIRO fabric. Pattern is Negroni from Colette patterns.

Men’s shirt: Finally!

Earlier this year, I made a resolution to learn not to rush when working on my projects. Apparently I took the resolution too far because it took me more than a month to finish my husband’s shirt! I guess the reason why I always rush my projects was because I need to finish them before laziness kick in. Anyway, finally here’s the shirt! My husband loves fabric with interesting texture, so I use this Japanese cotton/linen with embroidered indigo and rust threads for the shirt. I must say that I’m very satisfied with it. All those fitting adjustment has paid off […]

Men’s shirt: second (and wearable) muslin!

This is the second muslin with pattern adjustment as described in the previous post. My husband doesn’t like to wear plaid fabric, so there are no plaid patterns in his wardrobe, all solid colors with occasional stripes. I always think that he would look good in plaids though. So I used this opportunity to make him wear them by making a muslin shirt from madras fabric. I’m very sneaky. The madras fabric was only 2 meters, just enough for a short sleeves shirt with no pocket. Making shirt in plaids is also an exercise for me in matching lines. I […]

Men’s shirt: adjusting the muslin

Maybe you still remember the muslin shirt for my husband, it has been sitting beside my sewing machine the whole time begging me to do something about it. After Peter published his last post for the Men’s shirt sew-along several days ago, I finally picked up the muslin shirt and continue from that point. In the first fitting, I thought the crease and folds problem were caused by the neckline being too high. However, Peter suggested here that the problem was that the shoulders need to be lowered. He was right! There are two pattern drafting books in my bookshelves, they are for […]