Quick Christmas Sewing

The time around Christmas, when Gaby visits us, is usually, apart from all the family cooking and feasting and all the other activities we do together, also time for some last minute frenzied sewing. I'm just that kind of person, I love it when I can make something with my own hands for my close and extended family.

This summer I sewed some curtains for Gaby's kitchen and as an addition to my Christmas presents I decided to sew a matching tablecloth for the kitchen table. I bought a big piece of fabric and made two tablecloths - one for Gaby and Vali's kitchen and a smaller tablecloth for our kitchen table too, out of the remaining fabric. Yes, I love using up all the fabric, when possible!

Earlier this year I made a t-shirt for Vali, which he loved, so I bough another piece of cotton viscose fabric and made him another t-shirt for Christmas.

The fabric is divinely soft and pleasant on touch, I really hope he likes his present.

Pattern: Burda #132 from 12 / 2020

Size: 46

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

This year Gaby joined a folk dance club in Vienna and she asked for a simple black t-shirt and short black skirt for her folk dance practice. For the t-shirt I chose a true-and-tried-many-times Burda basic t-shirt pattern - 6820. My light modifications - I shortened the sleeves to make them 7/8 and raised the neckline, which I finished with a simple covering band.

Pattern: Burda 6820

Size: 36, shortened sleeves, raised neckline

Fabric: black cotton knit

Time to make: 1 day

The skirt is a shortened version of the skirt of the Willow Wrap Dress by Love Notions, which I made this summer for myself, so I knew the pattern. It is super simple, with two seams at the sides and a waistband with an elastic.

Pattern: Willow Wrap dress by Love Notions

Size: xs, shortened

Fabric: french terry

Time to make: 1 day

Purple Blouse with Flounce Sleeves for Gaby

Last year in the section for precut small pieces of fabric and remnants in my favourite fabric shop I came upon a piece of very soft and beautiful cotton jacquard fabric and made myself one of my most favourte blouses, using a fairly fresh for that time Burda 12/ 2023  pattern. Not long afterward I found another piece of the same fabric and I snatched it for Gaby, planning to make her the same blouse.

However, when Gaby came for Christmas, she decided that she would prefer a more fitted blouse with interesting 7/8 flounce sleeves.

For the body of the blouse I used my tried-and-true Burda 6820, which I've sewn so far in plenty of variations - boat neck, henley neck, short, 7/8 and long sleeves, deep scoop and crew neck, almost every variation on the fitted T-shirt I could think of :) If I've counted them correctly, this is the eleventh blouse I've made out of this pattern!

As far as modifications go, this one was fairly close to the pattern. I changed the neckline, which I raised significantly and closed with a band and I took in the width of the shoulders by 1.5 cm, as Gaby has fairly narrow shoulders compared to the standard Burda model.

Pattern: BurdaStyle 6820

Size: 36, modified

Fabric: soft cotton jacquard, 1 m

Time to make: 3 days

The only interesting moment in this iteration of the pattern were of course, the flounce sleeves. I watched a couple of videos on the construction of such sleeves and in the end decided on the slash and spread method. I took a piece of paper, cut it in the form of a rectangle with length - the length of the flounce and width -  the width of the sleeve at the point of joining. Then I decided on the desired circumference of the hem of the sleeve, cut the rectangle in six pieces, spread them fan-like and the pattern of the flounce was ready - it's so easy. And because I'm a nerd, I even made a mock-sleeve out of a remnant fabric piece, to be sure, that I had nailed what Gaby had in mind.

I think the blouse came out fairly interesting and I actually plan to make myself a similar one for the spring/summer season out of light cotton-viscose fabric.

First Make of 2024 and Last Make of 2023

My first make for 2024 is a blouse for my mother, the pattern is from the December issue of Burda magazine. Lately I've been buying the physical issues, but this is the first pattern I actually copied and cut. Printing pdf patterns is so much easier, however, holding the magazine, leafing through the pages and trying to read the German texts and instructions is a part of the whole experience, that has its own delights.

I had bought a different fabric for this pattern, but it turned out I couldn't fit my mother's size in it, so I remembered this nice fluid viscose-polyester blend I recently bought. Actually I had bought it around Christmas for Gaby, but it transpired that she didn't like black, so I put it aside for another project. In the end Gaby's fabric went to my mother, the fabric, intended for her blouse, became mine, and Gaby got a third fabric - more about it at the end of this posting :)

 

The pattern is a tailored knit blouse with richly gathered bishop sleeves and some sort of a half turtle neck. The sleeves and the body of the pattern are designed just fine, but the neck is definitely problematic, which is even apparent  from the photos in the magazine. So, as I had sufficient fabric left, I decided to add a fairly generous cowl collar.

Pattern: BurdaStyle 12 / 2023 #108

Size: 42, shortened

Fabric: viscose-polyester blend, 1.3 m

Time to make: 3 days

 

Modifications: I shortened the body -1 cm above the armholes, -2 cm above the waist and -8 cm below the waist. Proportionally, I shortened the sleeves -2 cm above the armholes and -5 cm from the length below the armholes. I kept the wristbands as per pattern, but cut them horizontally, so that the stripes would be perpendicular to the stripes of the sleeves and I did the same with the cowl collar.

The cowl collar is from the Sinclair Lotte hoodie, but a bit shortened and modified. I debated with myself whether to make it triangular or rounded at the point of connection at the back and husband convinced me to add the angular feature for some interest. I don't mind it, but I don't think I'll repeat it.

And here's what I made for New Year's Eve for Gaby - a similar blouse out of sparkling purple fabric. The pattern is another Burda blouse - 6820, but the sleeves are modified, based on Burda #112 10/2021 and the droplet neck opening is from my Burda 117 01/2021. 

There is a curious story behind this blouse. As I mentioned I had bought the black fabric, intending it for Burda #108 12/2023 for Gaby. I expected I would be able to make her only one item while she was visiting, so she chose the lined Andean jacket. On the evening of the day before her flight back to Vienna she lamented, that she hadn't been able to find a nice blouse in Sofia for her Silvester party. And early on the morning of her departure day, while drinking my coffee, I decided that I could manage it - go downtown, buy a piece of fabric, make a blouse and finish it before she left for her flight in the late afternoon. This was the most hectic cutting and sewing I've ever done, but yes, I did it, even with a couple of hours to spare, and she was very happy with the result!

Pattern: Burda 6820 + #112 10/2021 sleeves

Size: 34

Fabric: sparkly knit fabric, 1.2 m 

Time to make: a few hours

Tropical Stripes

Last month I bought a few pieces of nice summer fabric in order to make some new T-shirts and blouses for Gaby. We expect her next week for the Orthodox Easter and I was hoping to welcome her with a whole new spring wardrobe. 

As it happened, I wasn't productive at all last month and I only managed to sew one of the fabrics - cotton viscose knit in bright tropical stripes. 

The pattern is a Burda T-shirt pattern with interesting sleeves I bought last year, but never actually made. The pattern is a version of my favourite Burda 6820 (I compared the pattern pieces), the only mods they've made to their original pattern are a bit wider neckline and the cherry of the cake - the sleeves.

As I like the form of the neckline of 6820 better, I actually used my true and tried pattern pieces for the front and the back of Burda 6820 and only the sleeves from Burda 119 07/2019.

 

Pattern: Burda 6820 + Burda 119 07/2019

Size: 36, with corrections

Fabric: striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

The blouse came out nice and cheery, I hope Gaby will wear it this summer; I can already see it with a few bottoms I know she has in her summer wardrobe that would match the colors of the blouse perfectly.

Striped Longsleeve

My latest make - another hybrid blouse.

Last year in their September issue Burda released a boatneck pattern and I watched it eagerly for almost two months, until I caught a sale and bought it. Unfortunately the pattern didn't live up to the hype - in reality it was somewhat shapeless and the arm opening was much wider than the sleeve circumference - a definite no-no in pattern making. I made the blouse, making corrections in the process, but was dissatisfied with the design.

So, when I bought this soft drape cotton-viscose striped knit fabric, I knew I wanted a boatneck fitted tee, something similar to my favourite Schkatulka tees or the tried-and-true Burda 6820 basic fitted tee, but with a twist - the boatneck design element from the 09/2021 issue.

And thus this hybrid blouse was born - the body up to the armholes and the sleeves are from Burda 6820, and the parts above the armholes of the front and the back are from the #102 09/2021, with the necessary corrections in width, so that the armholes would fit the 6820 sleeves. 

How about stripe matching! :)))

When I cut the body of the 6820, I added 1.5 cm seam allowances, but took off only 0.8 cm on the overlocker, so the body is a bit more relaxed than the usual fit of the 6820 for size 36. I also added 3 cm to the width of the sleeves at the cuffs, so that the sleeves are not so fitted and I can pull them up easily on a warm spring/autumn day.

 

Pattern: Burda 6820 + Burda 102 09/2021

Size: 36, with corrections

Fabric: striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days

As, with my first make of this pattern, I sewed fixed the overlap at the shoulders - the open shoulder didn't sit well at all, but the fixed closure is comfortable and makes the T-shirt just a little bit more unusual than a simple store-bought sailor t-shirt.

Now that I have this boatneck pattern out of my system, I can move on to other T-shirt designs.

Kopitoto 2022

A short but very pleasant hike on Vitosha, from Zlatnite mostove to Kopitoto tv tower, and from there to Momina skala and back to Zlatnite along a circular trail.

Hike info:

Destination: peak Kopitoto (1345 m)

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 7.3 km

Elevation gain: 140 m

Total duration (plus picnic): 2 hours

Average difficulty: 2 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

I: lingerie, Burda 6820 Henley T-shirt, Sabrina Slims, Houndstooth Hoodie

Husband: men's boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

 

:The TV tower Kopitoto and the abandoned lift station

:On peak Kopitoto

:Boyana river