Flower Power

I was inspired by Gaby's pink sleeveless blouse and decided to make a similar one for myself. More so, that I have so many pieces of fabric in my fabric drawer, that I have to sew some day.

This particular georgette was purchased last year for Gaby, but she thought it didn't suit her completion, so I left it for myself. While she is "winter", I am definitely "warm autumn" and all of these warm colors are right up my alley. 

The pattern is again Burda 6840, reduced to size 34 and shortened by 7 cm, that is additional 2 cm, compared to Gaby's pink blouse. I like the shortening, but next time I might move the shortening lines above and below the waist and leave the height above the armscye. 

 

Pattern: Burda 6840

Size: 34, modified, shortened by 7 cm

Fabric: polyester georgette

Time to make: five days

The pattern has its own long sleeves, but I wanted flared sleeves, so I changed them based on my Purple Burda Blouse 108 12/2023. Initially I planned to add an elastic at the end of the sleeves, but it somehow cheapened the look of the blouse for me. Then I thought of adding the elastic in a tunnel some 4-5 cm above the hem - I love such sleeves. I might still do it, but as I already have a blouse with such sleeves, in the end I though it might be cool just to leave the sleeves wide and bell-shaped and see how I felt about them - I can always add the elastic later.

Among the minor modifications I added to the pattern is again the collar, which I made angular and not rounded, as in the pattern - somehow I find the angular look better.

The flared sleeves in combination with my flared jeans give a very flower power vibe, which I adore :)

Pink Sleeveless Shirt for Gaby

This is the last item I made for Gaby in April. The shirt was kind of an afterthought after  had finished with the jeans. I bought the fabric last summer, but let it marinate in my fabrics drawer with a lot of other fabric pieces - yes, these tend to increase faster than I manage to sew them, I'm sure it's a tendency known to all seamstresses worldwide :)

I'm not sure what type of fabric it is, but it is something like gauze - fairly loosely woven and slightly transparent, with tweed like insertions of colorful threads. The threads run horizontally, but I though the vertical striping made more sense, so I cut the fabric across the grain. 

I've made this pattern before in red viscose and I knew it fit Gaby well. The original pattern starts from size 36, but I had drawn the 34 size myself, based on the proportions of the given sizes. Cutting the shirt this time was super easy, as I already had the pattern pieces prepared.

I played a little with the stripes, as one does, cutting the yoke so, that the stripes run horizontally. All of the seams are french seams and the yoke seams are enclosed, using the burrito method.

As the main fabric is very loose weaved and frays easily, I chose to use some complementary viscose for the inside of the armhole openings.

Pattern: Burda 6840

Size: 34, modified, shortened by 5 cm

Fabric: cotton\polyester gauze

Time to make: two days

I was very happy to find the perfect colour buttons, although they could have been a tad smaller

The blouse in the photos is still unhemmed, I hemmed it after Gaby tried it on. She liked the length I had cut, so I just folded the curved end twice by 1 cm and sewed it.

Red Burda Blouse 6924

This August is pretty unusual here in Sofia - it's more cold and rainy even for the cold and rainy mountainous climate we are accustomed to. So last Sunday the backpacks were ready, the cheese pie (banitza) was baked and we were hyped to go hiking on Rila, but ... it wouldn't stop raining and the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms all day long. And what else could I do but sew another Burda 6924 blouse :)

Last year I bought this bright red viscose (it is blood red, in case your monitor, similar to mine, displays it otherwise). I believe I had at least 2.5 m of it and I was thinking of a long bright red dress. But I never wear long bright red dresses and where would I do wear them? So, I decided it was time to cut into it and make something, even something as small as this cropped front tie blouse.

 

It is exactly as the white blouse, only red :) I made the same modifications as for the white blouse, including the bias tape coverage of the back neck seam, french seams, four front buttons. Gaby already wore it to the dentists' and declared that she loves it even better than the white one and now wants a third, but with 3/4 sleeves. We'll see about that :)

 

Pattern: Burdastyle 6924

Fabric: 100% viscose, light fusible

Thread: cotton, red

Time to make: 2 days

Cropped Blouse and Paperbag Shorts

My latest makes for Gaby - a cropped blouse with ties at the fronts and paperbag shorts.

For months I've been planning a blouse for her with ties at the front. I considered a Burda pattern from a magazine I own, but it was long sleeved and a bit too open at the front. Then I downloaded a similar free french pattern, but Gaby didn't like the back of the blouse. So last week I browsed the Burda.ru site for sleeveless shirts and came upon Burda 6924 - it is cropped, with ties at the front and tailored at the back - just what I was looking for. I bought it and immediately printed it, cut and glued the pattern pieces and added my usual height corrections - removed 1 cm above the armscye and 1 cm above the waist, as regular Burda patterns are drafted for height 168 cm and Gaby is 163 cm.

My fabric is very light weight, gauze-like cotton, which was barely sufficient for the blouse, as it was single width (90 cm) - something I had somehow missed to notice in the fabric shop.

I followed the scanty instructions of the Burda pattern, my only modifications, beside the height adjustment, were my seams, which are french, and I covered the seam at the back between the neck and the collar with a bias tape, so I have no exposed fabric ends. And I reduced the buttons to four - five seemed a bit redundant for such a small cropped blouse with a lapel :)

Pattern: Burda 6924

Size: 34, shortened by 2 cm

Fabric: Cotton Gauze, 1 m

Thread: Polyester, cream

Time to make: 2 days

 

My second make are the shorts. I browsed for paperbag shorts and liked a lot of RTW items. The main features i wanted to recreate were the pockets, the paperbag waist, the turned cuffs and the large belt holders and the belt. For the basis of the pattern I used a true and tried Burda pattern - #117 of issue 05 / 2013.

 

I modified heavily the original long pants design - shortened them to 20 cm below the crotch, removed the upper elongations of the parts and added a separate belt, into half of which I added an elastic. I also made 5 long belt holders and a 6 cm wide 170 cm long belt, which Gaby skipped yesterday, as the tie of the shirt didn't combine well with the tie of the shorts belt.

Pattern: Burda # 117 05 / 2013, heavily modified

Size: 34

Fabric: cotton/linen blend, remnant from my husband's shirt

Thread: Polyester, cream color

Time to make:  1 day

 

A view of the shorts with the belt, tied in a butterfly:

Burda 06 2016 Shirt for My Husband

This is the second shirt #143 from Burda 06 / 2016, which I made this summer, this time for my husband. This is a short sleeved men's shirt, slightly tailored.

I made size 52, the same as for my father, and it fits husband beautifully. The fabric is a linen/cotton blend, fairly light and not that prone to wrinkling.

As the fabric is striped, I played with the direction of the stripes in the yoke and tried to perfectly match them in the sleeve cuffs and the pocket, as far as I could.

All in all, I'm happy with the final outcome and even more with a husband, willing to put up with me and pose for a photo session in his new shirt :)

Men's Shirt Burda 06 2016

Last year I sewed a shirt for my father, using Burda 6874 pattern and I was so proud of my work, until my father measured it. It was small and short. I took his measures properly and this year I made a new one, using another recently bought Burda pattern - shirt #143 from Burda 06 / 2016. This is a short sleeved men's shirt, slightly tailored.

This time I chose size 52 and made the shirt without any modifications. However I skipped some of the bells and whistles, like the split side hems, the shoulder patches and the pocket patches, as I wanted the shirt to have a more formal look.

As my fabric has vertical stripes, I played with the direction of the stripes and cut the yokes, the stand and the color and the patches of the sleeves across the grain, while the body of the shirt is cut along the grain.

I just heard from my father and this time he is very happy with the fit - so it's a success!

Purple Shirt from Shkatulka

I started sewing this shirt way back in October last year. The pattern is from the Russian site Shkatulka and it is free for my size (Russian size 42, height 164 cm). For the shirt I bought a large piece of purple cotton viscose, which has very nice luster and drape and rich color, but turned out to be too thin, too much subject to wrinkling and with some defects.

I cut the fabric without making any height adjustments to the pattern, as it was stated to be for a smaller height (164 vs. the usual 168). I'm not quite certain what was my thinking at the time, but at 156 I'm still far from the stated height and two centimeters adjustment above the waist would have been beneficial for the fit.

Where I hit the rock were the sleeves - the pattern did not envision the usual cuts and cuffs, and though I've made already half a dozen shirt sleeves, I felt uncertain how to proceed. I abandoned the project, thinking it was only for a while, but the hiatus extended to January the next year, until I made Gaby's latest hooded shirt. It turned to be the make that kicked my behind to get a grip and finish the wretched thing.

And I'm glad I did. The fit is not perfect, the collar is not placed with the greatest attention to precision and the fabric is somewhat cheaply thin, but the overall garment is wearable and I adore the color, I've even already worn it a couple of times in public :)

Burda 01 / 2020 Hoodie #107

This is probably one of my best makes recently - hoodie #107 of Burda 01/2020. I love everything about it - the playful combination of the elegant shirt sleeves with cuffs and the casual hood and how well it goes with the rich natural viscose fabric and the little colorful monkeys on it :)
I had four small light green buttons, that suited the fabric surprisingly well and I wanted to make the cord of the hoodie in the same light green color, but I couldn't find the right color ribbon. I'm still searching and if I come upon one, I might change the cord.

The fabric is again a gift from my friend (I have a whole box of these fabrics) and it was almost 3 m, so I have quite a lot of it left and I plan a dress for myself from the same magazine.

I cut the smallest size of the pattern - 36 and downgraded it to 34 and also shortened the length of the body and the sleeves, following Gaby's individual measures. All of the seams are narrow french seams - lately I find it so much more pleasing, when the inside of the garment is neat and without any zigzaged fabric edges.

We didn't have much luck today with the weather - it was cold and cloudy and Gaby was freezing within minutes in her light viscose blouse

so off we go :)