Leopard Tunic

I watched and read quite a few disappointed reviews of the latest Burdastyle magazine 06 / 2021, but for me this is one of the best issues lately. I want to sew at least five or six of the patterns and I was lucky to win three of them free by participating in a survey on the Burda ru site. 

My first make is top # 114. I had a piece of rayon knit, a fairly large remnant from a Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself two months ago. I'm definitely not an animal print person and this fabric wouldn't have been my first choice if it wasn't for its tempting price (it was on discount) and super soft and stretchy texture. I do not regret sewing my pajamas for a minute, they are definitely the most comfy PJ I've ever had and frankly - my preferred piece of clothing, if only I could stay in my pajamas all day :)))

I hate to throw away fabric and I try to use up all of my remnants, so I was saving the remaining leopard print for probably a t-shirt of some sorts, but hadn't gotten to it. And when I won the three Burda patterns, it occurred to me that the leopard rayon knit would be ideal for a wearable muslin for  top #114.

The top, which is the shortened version of dress #113, the actual pattern I got, is tailored and features a gathered bust area. As I am fairly slim and small busted, such dress design is very flattering on me and I plan to make at least two more versions of this pattern - a short black dress and a long flower print dress. I don't have the fabrics for neither of these future dresses, but that's my plan, anyway.

As Burda patterns are made for height 168 and I am 156 cm and I have narrow shoulders and back, I had to make quite a few mods on the pattern:

• I shortened both the front and the back by 2 cm above the waist
• I shortened additionally the back by 2 cm at the level of the arm opening
• I eliminated the dart at the back neckline
  
• I narrowed the back by straightening the line from the waist to the neck
  

Trying to match my animal print to the texture of the rocks around :)

Pattern: Burda top #114 06/2021

Size: 36, modified

Fabric: rayon knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

 

This is the Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself from the same fabric, I can't recommend enough this free and supercomfy pattern!

And because I still had some scraps, I made a pair of bikinis for myself as well, using Megan Nielsen's Acacia pattern and two different types of elastic for the finishing. Ever since I bought my serger I haven't bought a single pair of undies (blushing) I love sewing them from scraps, they take so little fabric and are such fun to make!

Movie Night Pajamas

A few lounge wear items I made recently for Gaby - Love Notion's Leggin's size 14 and the top of Women's Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam.

I had been eyeing this yellow butterfly bamboo knit for a while specifically with these pajamas in mind and when I finally decided that I like it enough  - it was gone, just about a meter left. I bought the remnant and made the top of the pajamas, but now I'll have to find a matching fabric for the bottom. 

I chose the crew neck with the placket style and long sleeves, but I don't think I'll be making more pajamas with buttons - so much work for nothing. Still, I wanted to experiment with the placket as I also bought a piece of fabric, intended for a t-shirt with a placket, so the practice on these pajamas was definitely useful.

Pattern: Movie Night Pajamas by Sew a Little Seam

Size: 0-2, shortened

Fabric: 100% bamboo knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

I had about 30-40 cm of fabric left, so I made a matching bikini.

Pattern: Acacia by Megan Nielsen

Size: 0 

Fabric: 100% bamboo knit

Time to make: 1 day

Make That Look: Terranova Crop Top

In my favourite fabrics shop downtown I came upon a 50 cm remnant of this sweet viscose knit and I snatched it for a crop top for Gaby. This summer she's been wearing a RTW crop top by Terranova and I knew I could make her a similar one.

On a different note, RTW t-shirts now during the sales at the end of summer are so cheap, that to a non-sewist all that money I've spent into buying sewing machines, fabric, threads and needles (and I'm expecting my own labels to arrive any time soon) seem totally pointless. But it's never been about saving money and it's not even about higher quality, though I try, it's about the love for creating, that's all.

To recreate the pattern, I used as a basis a T-shirt pattern by Shkatulka, which I cropped, extended and further modified to match the original crop top. I even made a mock sample out of a white promotional T-shirt I was about to turn in for recycling - to my surprise it turned out quite nice, Gaby liked it and might wear it at home.

The main seams are sewn on the overlocker, the back of the neck is covered with a band from the same fabric (youtube tutorial here), I cleaned the hem edges on the overlocker and then sewed them on the Elna with twin needle. NB! Always check the settings of the machine when using twin needle - I had forgotten mine on zigzag stitch and of course, I broke my only stretch twin needle :(, so I had to hem the blouse with the twin needle for wovens, using paper straps to make it work on my knit fabric.

After I finished the crop top, I had a small piece of the fabric left, so I made a pair of matching undies. The pattern I used is again one from Shkatulka I've sewn already six times and I know it's a good pattern, though I'm still fiddling with the fit, trying to perfect it.

All in all, pretty happy with this set!

T-shirt Underwear

A while ago I had this idea to try sewing underwear and even bought some picot edge elastic, but my lack of experience with knits and the fact, that I don't have a serger stopped me. Until I came upon Indigochild's free bikini style T-shirt underwear  - an excellent beginner's choice, IMHO. I was so inspired after I read her instructions, that I couldn't wait to finish my work and get to sewing bikinis.
I should mention however, that I had trouble with printing the pattern and the lack of a control box made things even more complicated, but it might have been my computer and/or printer. I managed to get it right in the end and the pattern proved worth the effort - the xs size fits Gaby perfectly.

For my test bikini I used an old Alex's top and Indigochild's instructions for the simplest version, taking advantage of the hem of the top to put an elastic in it.

The bikini came out fitting perfectly, just a bit snug at the waist so I cut the elastic for the next pair a bit longer. The pink pair of undies was made out of an old Gaby's nighty, following the same instructions.

Now I want to try fold-over underwear elastic and some of the extras.

The second free bikini pattern I tried is So-Zo's. The pattern is made very professionally with a test box and printing and preparing it was super easy. However when it came to making the pattern everything went wrong. First - because the T-shirt I chose was long but narrow, I decided to try cutting the pieces not along but across the grain - mistake. I bought 3 mm underwear elastic and finished the leg openings with it, but I don't like it as the picot edge elastic, my stitching is very uneven and very amateur looking. The panties came too deep and too cut-out, sort of 80es style, but it might be just my wrong cutting, so I'll give the pattern a second chance.

In conclusion - making undies is fun and not mission impossible without a serger.  But, as much as I love recycling, the cute and little worn T-shirts I have are from the children and to my surprise they turned too small for a pair of panties and the big old T-shirts of my husband are too worn out and in dull (male) colors. So, having established a pattern, that works well I'll buy some good quality underwear fabric and work with it. But there's going to be some more panty making here soon, that's for sure!