Author: Edina @The German Edge

Handmades refashioned

~ Edina @The German Edge ~ 2 Comments

I’ve always loved to refashion clothes. While I’m not doing it a lot anymore (making things from scratch is often less time consuming than refashioning them) I still love the process of turning something not quite perfect into a new favourite piece. This time the starting point are two handmades that I made last year but didn’t wear a lot.

First off the Megan Nielsen Dove blouse which I tested for Megan last year (here is the original post). While I was quite happy with the result and it got a decent amount of wear (even to a fun hen do) it never felt quite right. The pattern is lovely but for the testing I decided to follow the instructions to the dot, and some of the design features are just a little bit of a departure from my usual style.

First the sleeves; while I had a lot of fun experimenting with a new sleeve shape, I never really felt like they were me. This could have something to do with me being a little clumsy and having a tendency of dipping my clothes into food (just ask my boyfriend how often that happens, it’s a lot). So I decided I had to do something about them. Instead of taking them off completely I shortened them to around 12cm, gathered and re-attached them. And I have to say I love them. They are a lot more practical and the sleeve shape feels a lot more boho and less like a wizard shirt ;-)

Next the hem. The pattern has quite a pronounced high-low hem (I believe the tester version was more extreme than the final pattern). It felt kind of cool but a little bit awkward as well, so I decided to take off around 7cm at the back. I just used the same hem facing, which meant a little bit of butchering at the side seams, but nothing a little bit of hand sewing couldn’t fix. The back still is slightly longer than the front but it now feels more wearable.

The last thing was the neck facing. I originally hadn’t top-stitched it to keep the look cleaner (even though the pattern instructions give that as an option) and the facing just always kept peeking out. I hate having to re-adjust my clothes, so top-stitching it was and to be fair, with the print it isn’t even that visible.

So all in all, just some small changes that made a massive difference. I am absolutely in love with the blouse now, the light fabric and the loose cut are the perfect combination for a summer top. It perfectly matched my mood on the lovely spring weekend we just had. I am so ready for spring!

The second piece I refashioned was my jump-lotte experiment that I posted back in November. I wore it to a wedding of a friend and felt very cool in it. Still, the fit of the bodice wasn’t great, and in real life, how many occasions are there to wear a fancy culotte-jumpsuit? So I decided to cut off the top bit and make a pair of culottes out of them. Since the jumpsuit already had a waistband, this hack was super easy. I just shortened the invisible zip and finished the waistband with some grosgrain ribbon. I hope as a separate I might be able to incorporate them in my wardrobe a little bit better. I’m still not 100% sure about the shape, but who knows maybe this will be the summer of the culotte…

So that’s it. Half a day of work and two “new” pieces in the wardrobe. Not too bad right? Hope you are es excited as I am about spring and summer sewing!

Simple Silk Dress

~ Edina @The German Edge ~ 2 Comments

Hi everyone, I can’t believe that this is my first proper blog post of the year! Where did time go? Apart from being super busy, I’m currently working on several garments that need muslining and I don’t have any final garments to show yet. So this little dress is the only thing that I actually made this year. I probably finished it a month ago but thanks to the rubbish weather in the UK I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of it until today. The good thing about that  is though that I have already worn it quite a bit and I can attest that it’s love. It’s exactly the simple versatile dress that I was looking for.

First let’s talk about this fabric. It’s one of the fabrics that I picked up on Goldhawk Road on my birthday. The seller called it sand-washed silk satin and it has the most amazing weight and texture. While it feels luxurious to wear, the irregular structures in the fabric make it look quite casual. Thanks to it’s thickness, it’s the perfect fabric for a dress. It machine-washes and presses beautifully and is almost wrinkle-free. I took these photos after travelling with it to Colombia (it was perfect for the unpredictable weather in Bogotá) and haven’t ironed it since, I just let it hang for a day. I love fabrics like that!

As for the pattern, I used the same as for this orchid-print dress, which was basically the wearable muslin for this dress. It’s a slightly hacked dress pattern from the French sewing magazine fashion Style N°9, which I’ve now realised is just a translation of the Dutch KnipMode magazine (June 2016 edition). I only made minor changes to the pattern compared to the the last dress. I widened the neckline (which is finished with a facing) slightly and slimmed down the sleeves a little bit. Instead of the elasticated waist I added a draw string from the same fabric. I love how it looks and I like being able to wear the waist looser if I want to.

The back of the dress has a centre seam with a keyhole detail at the neck and a simple slit at the skirt. It’s not the most sophisticated version of a vent, but I love how the tip stitching detail of the keyhole is mirrored in the vent.

All in all, it’s quite a simple dress, but I love it. It’s super versatile, I can wear it to work with a blazer and more casually with a cardigan. In case you are not a fan of sewing magazine patterns, I think this dress could be easily recreated with Marilla Walker’s Maya Dress pattern.

Oh, and the necklace that I’m wearing was my 2017 Secret Valentine Exchange present from the lovely Rachel at Freckle & Co. Isn’t it the perfect match?

Top 5 Hits of 2016 and some Misses

~ Edina @The German Edge ~ 2 Comments

Hi everyone , I hope you had a great Christmas break! I had some lovely, very busy days with friends and family. This year our presents were primarily handmade but I didn’t manage to take any good pictures and now they’ve all disappeared to their new homes. In contrast to some other years, I really enjoyed the process. We started making presents already in November, and had enough time to finish all of them without too much stress.

The Christmas craftiness however meant that I didn’t have time for any selfish sewing and don’t have anything new to show here. However, since it’s the time of year for reflection, I thought it would be great to join Crafting Rainbow’s Top 5 of 2016. I don’t have the same output as some others out there, but still 2016 has definitely been quite a productive year. Looking back through my posts, these are the 5 hits of 2016:

Noelle Swimsuit: My favourite project this year was this swimsuit. The combination of the self-designed fabric and the modern cut of the Noelle pattern, just work so well together. Even though this was my first swimsuit ever, the construction went really well, and I learned a lot of new skills during the project. It’s really unique and got lots of compliments. It’s just a shame that I have to wait until next summer to wear it again.

 Tea House Dress: I had been obsessed with this Nani Iro fabric for ages, and all the wedding invitations this summer meant that I had a good reason for making a new, pretty dress. The shape of the dress is very flattering and it was very comfortable to wear, even through the hottest summer weddings. The dress has so many gorgeous details (big pockets, sash, kimono sleeves) that make it an interesting garment to sew and wear. I’m tempted to make another one maybe in a solid colour and more drapey fabric for a different look.

Liberty Print Blouse: This blouse was quite an unexpected hit in my work wardrobe this year. When I picked up this Liberty print at Shaukat in London, I was really unsure what to make with it. I loved the print on its own, but couldn’t picture it as a garment. Now in combination with this blouse (copied from a rtw garment) I absolutely love it. It makes me smile when I put it on and brightens up my work wardrobe.

Sand-washed Silk Top: On my first trip to Goldhawk Road I fell in love with this rust-coloured sand-washed silk. It’s the most gorgeous colour and it feels amazing. I combined it with the simple Shell Top from the GBSB Fashion with Fabric book and they are perfect together. It’s a great top for work, it works well under a blazer and tucked into skirts. I love it so much that I bought the same fabric in a lovely teal colour to make another one.Checked shirt for him: while I occasionally do some selfless sewing, this shirt was the first real garment that I made for my boyfriend. I love making shirts and this one came together without any problems. Even the fit was pretty good right from the package (I will shorten the sleeves next time though). This double sided fabric was fun to work with, as I used the smaller scale pattern for subtle contrasts at the button band, cuffs and undercollar. The bonus when sewing for your boyfriend: he is well dressed and you can look at your creations.

Misses:

This was a year of very few misses. I have learned to take my time to construct garments and also to figure out what I actually need in my wardrobe. So instead of 5 misses there are only two and even those are not disastrous makes by any means.

Granville Shirt: This shirt in theory should be a wardrobe staple, it fits and is well made. Still when I dress for work I never reach for it. It’s something about this navy fabric that makes this shirt look very outdated. The texture of this Japanese shirting is gorgeous up close but from afar it just looks like a stripe. In the end it just doesn’t feel very modern and will probably end up in the charity shop.

Self-drafted high neck top: The issue here is really the fabric, it’s a weird linen/polyester blend, that is just difficult to work with. This is already the second top I tried to make from this fabric and again I’m not really in love with the result. It didn’t help that the pattern that I used just didn’t fit very well. The many iterations combined with the impatience that I always seem to develop when working with cheap fabrics, led to a garment that is OK to wear but could fit better. The fabric also seems to be too stiff for the gathers and in general I am not sure about the peplum shape. All in all an experiment in new-to-me shapes that just didn’t convince.

So, this was 2016, sewing-wise an exciting and successful year. Can’t wait to see how the next year will go, I have some big projects planned. I wish you all a very creative 2017!