Tomorrow...

... I shall:

- Sleep until I wake up
- Photograph my first vintage sewing-creation, a blouse from 1946.
- Begin to make a wearable toile for the dress I intend to make for christmas, based on Butterick 7127. I was inspired to finally take it up by the picture below (from 1936), the sleeves reminded me of it... (I love their shape!).

- Attend this year's first Mulled Wine-party (first for me that is, they've been going on for a few weeks already).
- Go to an advent concert at church (I'm not a regular church visitor... but it'll be nice!).
- Eat some more of the mushrooms I found in the forest today.

I love weekends!

Vouge 1932, now that's a lady!

This is what I would like to look like... in an ideal world where you could ride your bicycle to work in any kind of clothes (I do love my little red 1951-bicycle!).

Maybe it would work for me as a jacket rather than a coat... I think my Marian Martin-pattern might work to create somethin similar, or at least as inspiration.

I would omit the fur on the sleeves, but the fur-collar is a great idea, don't you think?

I also really like the hat. Another hat that totally makes me want to wear hats is minnithemink's Lanvin bonnet. Only I almost always wear a bike-helmet (I wish they looked like hats instead!).

The image above is from 1932, and I found it at My Vintage Vogue.

I've been cleaning!

I've had this camisole/dress lying around for nearly a year... it's by the Swedish brand Whyred.

I love their designs, the founder of the company used to be a tailor and they always use detailing that make the clothes very special in a discreet way, but when I bought this one at a clearance sale I knew I would have to change it to want to wear it.

It was a good length to wear as a dress in summer, but just to see-through, and too long to wear as a top. And the neckline was oh-so-low.

And then I never got around to it. Until now! I intended to clean my flat a bit today (I hate cleaning, but I love it afterwards...) and found it, so I decided it was a good thing to fix (little steps towards a better organised home is my intention).

All I did was to shorten it, and to raise the neckline a bit by shortening the straps.

Sorry about the tired look in the pictures, I am a bit tired, first I went to a couple of lectures in the morning ( it's SATURDAY) and then I cycled all around the city (a couple of laps) buying flowers for my flat (november is so dark here you just have to brighten it up a bit!), japanese food-things (shiawase!) and researching sergers (why do all male sewing-machine-vendors claim that all machines but the ones they sell are useless crap? I don't get it...).

All in all a good day! With a bit of a too early start... (I will make up for it tomorrow).

The Pledge

I, Karin, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of  4  months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

So, here I am! No shopping to speak of for the next four months. Hopefully loads of sewing though... :-)!

Read more at Wardrobe Refashion

Circle Scarf, with tutorial

So, I've finally made something! I got my invitation to join the wardrobe refashion-project today, so I had to celebrate it with something quick and easy!
This is the simplest thing possible to make, but I think I'll get good use out of it.
I've just got to wash it first, the jersey (that I got from my stash) bleeds black dye (as I discovered the hard way when I woke up the morning after the first time I wore a dress I made from it, only to discover that my once white sheets were a greyish puple hue where I had slept.... oh, such a not-nice awakening!).

I will not make that mistake again...

Here's how to make it:

Cut a piece of jersey about 60cm's wide and about 140cm's long, with the greatest direction of stretch across it (the little lines of the knit should run along its length).

I'm a size xs, if you're bigger than me you probably want to make it both a bit longer and a bit wider.

It should look something like this (but I forgot to photograph it before sewing, this is a smaller piece of fabric).

Now fold it in half like in the picture, align the two short ends - right sides facing - and sew along the edge(s) using a stitch for stretch, like a zig-zag, or an ovelock-stitch.

I still use my regular sewing machine (it has a couple of simple over-lock stitches) for knits, but ideally I would have used a serger for this. It's on my wishlist!

You usually don't need to finish the edges of jersey (I LOVE that!), but if you have a serger it might make a nice effect.

You end up with a circular scarf, like a big tube, that can be worn in a variety of ways, for inspiration look here.

For another tutorial on how to make the circle-scarf take a look here.

 I will probably wear it with black clothes most of the time, I like the effect it makes, where you can't really tell if it's a part of the dress/top or a separate piece of clothing...