Red and White Blouse

I have loved this kind of blouse ever since I was a little girl. I think it is a classic piece that will never go out of style.
It all depends on what it is worn with. A larger top, tighter bottoms, or the other way around, but never together.

I also did this as a sew along idea I found on craftster.

Again I used one of my favorite findings in fabrics, in the little cramped up and dusty Italian fabric store in my home town (Cluj Napoca, Romania). It is a soft and lightweight cotton jersey, in a red and white print with flowers and leaves pattern.

After a while of twisting two patterns (One from Burda another from Boutique) around on it I finally got the fabric pattern to align the same way in the front and back of the blouse, without cuts…

I guess a blouse like this needs no pattern, but then again, I’m too lazy to take measurements so it is quicker for me to copy a pattern out and see how it can be adapted on the material. Twice as much fabric goes into this than in a normal blouse. Two lengths are needed.

So the under arms are sewn first, then the top seam of the arms, up until the neckline.

You end up with a blouse with no finished edges.

I used a narrow cover-stitch for tidy hemming.

I like to wear it either with these red coral necklace, bracelet and earrings I have woven a while ago,

or with this white mother of pearl necklace I have made on curly wire:

I wore this the next day at work and felt as comfortable as in my pajamas, but a lot more casual of course.

I will definitely do this again in black and other colors, maybe even with short sleeves.
Like it?

All in one dress

How come?

It can be elegant or casual, it is comfortable no matter what, very easy and quick to make and very versatile.

It changes in minutes from skirt to dress, to a different dress and another different dress!

It is all that in one dress.

I discovered it on Craftster, the original from Rostitchery. Thank you!

I immediately decided to sew my own. Had this stretch cotton fabric with 3 different pattern prints on it, no idea how I could cut it.




So I thought this could work. Did it? I think so!

Today I already wore it to the beach and felt great in it.

I will definitely sew another in elegant simple black fabric so it will be my little black dress.

At least 100…at least

My sewing adventures on webshots.

Just a collection of whatever photos I could find of stuff I (and my mom sometimes) have created.

Orange Chocolate or Pumpkin?

I know! Christmas, not Halloween… but I had this brown orange fabric stacked up in my closet for about a year.Its color fades from dark chocolate brown to bright orange and it is wrinkled. All this time I was unable find a suitable pattern for it, so that the wrinkles would be vertical, and the contrasting colors match when sewn. I gave it up…and sewed some T-Shirts instead in the meanwhile. Then it hit me! Why place the wrinkles vertically?! “so they don’t make you fat”… yes, good reason, but then again! if I wrinkle it even more on the top part and make it look like a corset, then it would add a few pound right where I wouldn’t mind (aha, bo*bs).

After deciding that the wrinkles can be horizontal, where should I be placing the brown and where does the orange go? ooo…who knows! After a lot of cat walking in front of the mirror with the fabric, it seemed to look better on me with the orange at the bottom. But it was way to looooong like this. I wanted to create a more modern crazy dress, but a satin nightgown. Crazy ha? then why not add a little tulle under it, to puff it up and raise it, without destroying the faded color effect? Said and done.

Here’s my pumpkin dress I wore at the Christmas party in 2006:

Brand

Playing around with 3D fabric paints and writing sequins. Just like you would
try a brand new pen or pencil, I was trying on these paints to see if they
really write on fabric, so instinctively I wrote my name in the corner of a
fabric that was not cut straight.

I awaited with anticipation until the next day to see how it dried out:
great! no more white paste, just sparkling sequins. Now all I had to do is wait
another 24 hours for it to dry.

I chose a simple pattern from one of “La Mia Boutique” Italian pattern
magazines, for a sleeveless T-Shirt.

Next I cut out the signature with my zig-zag scissors and sewn the painted
piece on the T-Shirt.

Careful! I had to wait 7 days before washing the T, then every time I do wash
it in the machine, I place it in the lingerie bag and get it quickly out of the
water. I guess it is safer to dry it hanging, but I have put it in the drier and
it was fine on a lower heat setting.

I got to wear it in Key West, here’s the Southernmost Point in the US:

Green T

from Green T-Shirt or Green Toucan

Here’s my first attempt at a polo T-Shirt, more will definitely be made as
soon as I find the right fabric.

Pattern: Burda Magazine issue 05/2005 model number 104

Embroidered Toucan that irons itself on.

Ribbon to nicely finish the neck line.

Interfacing fuse to keep the collar in place.

Contrast thread to give it a
sporty look.

There are no buttons so this makes it really sexy.

Here’s me florescent in the night: