seamRIPper

I'm working on a pair of shorts. I've never made anything remotely resembling shorts before, so this is quite an adventure! 

We're going on holiday soon (camping in Switzerland) so I need a pair of shorts. That speaks for itself. Right? I'm using this pattern form the July issue of Burda Magazine. (The only garment worth making in that whole issue! As you can read here and here.)

You need a tiny zipper for this pattern, so I decided to harvest one from an old pair of my boyfriend's jeans. This was the result:

The zipper had no stop and I pulled that tiny sliding thing off. Anyway, not being one of the faint hearted, I decided to give it another go. I used an old skirt of mine this time and made sure that the zipper had a stop, before getting it out. I hadn't even got halfway through, before this happened:

RIP my trusty seamripper :-(

So, I bought a new one from PRYM:

It's a small one. The shop I bought it from also sells large ones. I figure that they're more difficult to handle. Or am I wrong? Does anyone know what the difference actually is?

And I also bought a small zipper. Fate does not want me to use an old zipper on this project for sure!

Happy Birthday Belgium!

Yesterday was our National Day! Hooray! We got ourselves a new king as well! Time to party: we had a nice and relaxed bbq :-) The weather was also exceptionally good.
Surely this called for a beautiful dress.

I made this dress from this 'new vintage' pattern.

The fabric is a red linen. It wrinkles a bit but not too much luckily. I lined the bodice in that same linen fabric and the skirt in something synthetic. (Can't really remember what exactly.) I hadn't planned on lining the skirt, but the linen was just a little too see through for my taste.

I matched my dress with my black Nero Giardini shoes and a gold elastic hairband. I bet you can't see it, but it is actually a reference to this:

(Yes! That's our flag!)
I made some minor adjustments to the bodice but left the skirt exactly as it was on the pattern. I added some boning in the bodice along the center front seam, the side seams, in between those seams and of course in the back as well. This way it really stays up without having me pulling it up every few minutes. I also deepened the neckline a bit for a more flattering and sexy look.

It's very comfortable to wear and I've been wearing it a lot already.
Happy Birthday Belgium!
And one last happy silly face:

Plans changed again!

In my last post I pledged myself to the circle skirt sew-along when I'm alradeady withdrawing in this post. *Grmbl*
Something came up which makes that I'm going to sew something else first (the jiffy dress pattern actually). The circle skirt (I actually plan on making a half circle skirt..) will hopefully be tackled a bit later in the season... - Oh and I have a VERY good excuse for this change of plans! -
Next time: fabric sneak peek :-)

New patterns :-)

My second schoolyear's resolution: Stash Bust!
To stash bust, one of course needs patterns. Hence I bought 2 vintage 60ies patterns. Can't wait to get started.

Green Hat

I made a green hat last week. Not for me, but for my baby sister (oh, she hates this word). It was a fun and easy project. And a quick one too!

The only problem was this. I was going to use six panels on the hat, but that made it too small. I hadn't thought about the fact that the strip of fabric thickens the whole hat. See what I mean? So I had to cut a seventh one last minute and sew that one in too. Which made it the right size.
I still would like to see a six panel version, so I might give it a try soon.
The strass button is my favourite detail and probably the most expensive part: 5,50€ Can you imagine? (From Veritas of course)
Oh, and I love the lining!

Some pics with my sister modelling:

The curse of the Christmas gifts

Yesterday I was making a Christmas gift. Yes, I've already started making them as I really really want to give handmade presents this year.
So, in the process of bending over to look at a piece of pattern lying on the table, I hurt my back. I couldn't move for at least ten minutes. The pain didn't go away. Not even when my boyfriend gave me real nice massage. Everything went from bad to worse: night was hell. Every time I tried to turn over, I woke up because of the pain in my back.
Getting in my car this morning and driving for more than an hour to teach 3 hours (which equals more jumping around and more pain) was something I couldn't even bear to think about. So now I'm sitting at home and I'm not able to do anything. Horror!
Is this the curse of the Christmas gifts?

Rainy season blues

A bit of a rainy season blues. Am busy with two secret projects, so I can't post pics right now. They will follow though.
Mr. Lientje Driel and I are going to officially live together in January (we're going to sign a 'living together contract' at the city hall). The 8th to be precise. But I'm a bit worried about the financial aspects of the party. I don't know if my bank account will be a willing sponsor. Which means that at this point we're even not sure anymore if we're going to give a party at all. And of course I've been so stupid to tell everybody already all about it.. :-(
And sad but true: the rainy season has begun.