Sewing the Trends 2013.

I love the idea for this series that Justine from Sew Country Chick kindly has invited me to participate in. Sew something for yourself showing one or more of the summer trends 2013. One thing is loving the concept another thing is actually knowing what the summer trends 2013 are....I had no clue. 

In my opinion there are two types of trend groups every season - the trends on the runway - as in what did the high fashion designers make for their spring/summer collections 2013 (check out THIS Pinterest board Justine has started) and then there are the trends of what normal people with some fashion interest wear in daily life. Those two trend groups are of course connected but usually the greater population are a few seasons after the designers. And what I am trying to say is that I am not really following what the designers put on the runways anymore (okay, I check my favorites like Marc Jacobs, Marni and Celine but that's about it)....hence the 'no clue' to the summer trends 2013. That does not mean I am not interested in it and in this post I am showing you my version of an outfit that unites the two trend groups.

I took a look at the previous mentioned Pinterest board and of course the graphic trend was calling on me. And to integrate that trend into what people are actually wearing right now I focused on colors that I would say is pretty hot right now the mint/aqua/pastels/metallic. 

The dress I would say is a fairly classic/timeless cut. And what makes me say that? Well, it is actually a dress from my spring/summer 2007 collection back when I had my women apparel company in Denmark, and in my humble opinion I don't think it looks particular outdated. 

The dress has raglan sleeves, covered buttons at the front and a few rows of shirring in the high waist/low empire cut and the sleeves. Simple and extremely wearable.

There is no tutorial for this post but I wanted to show you the pattern pieces for this self-drafted pattern.

I am not quite sure why but I decided to skip the side seams - it's been a while since I made it as you know - but skipped they are. And that gives a funny looking side, front and back top piece as you can see but it totally works, promise. The dress pattern pieces are put next to each other the way they are sewed together. No room on the left photo for the raglan sleeve and neck facing which you can see on the separate photo on the right.

The dress is made with what I think it my favorite buy from Fabric Weekend, LA. This beautiful mint/aqua thin cotton (almost voile type) fabric with those great big polka dots that almost looks like they are glued on top with tiny raw edges all the way around them. I bought it at Mood and that shop is AMAZING - I could have spend days (and fortunes) in there. Don't miss the opportunity if you come by their NY or LA shop.....or check their webshop.
Of course I bought it without having a specific idea of what to make with it so when I decided to make this dress I did not have quite enough fabric sooooo I decided to shorten it a bit.

Photos: Kasper Thye

What you see above are images from my spring/summer 2007 look book and as you can see did I offer it as a top and a knee length dress. For this post I guess I ended up doing a middle version of those two. Seeing the photos of myself I kind of wished I have had enough fabric to make it knee length because...well, you don't exactly think of sticks when you see my thighs but it is okay(-ish), sigh!

And then we have those leggings. It all started with Pinterest (of course). I saw a photo of the ever so cool Jenna Lyons wearing a pair of Celine pants. And first I made a pair of corduroy pants for Wilma. You can see the original Celine pants and my knock off HERE. Then I made a skirt HERE and then I made the kids leggings HERE. Phew, and now I made the adult version leggings too, wohoo. I wear leggings and dresses all the time but have never made a leggings pattern for myself before - ridiculous because that is actually quite easy! I am SO going to make a lot more of them. I mean the color combinations are endless, right! 

I love how the four fabrics in the leggings totally represent Fabric Weekend, LA. It is totally random that it ended like that - I DID choose what I thought looked best with the dress and together of course. Two fabrics from friday's shopping in LA's fabric district with Michael Levine as the biggest attraction and ehhh the other fabric is bought in one of the many small fabric stores that are around there. Then two fabrics from saturday where we first went to Mood and then some of us to SAS - a shop I would never even come near if I passed it alone (pretty sure I would not even go to that neighborhood alone) but I found some really really great things in there. Like narrow striped piping for 15 cent/yard (WHAT??? YES!!).

So here you have it, my version of Sewing the Trends 2013.

Don't forget to check out the other amazing ladies in this series. There will be links to them all on Sew Country Chick.

Thank you Justine for having me.

My first post for the Sewing Rabbit Creative Team 2013.

If you saw the announcement a few weeks back you know that I was one of the lucky ones who got chosen to the Sewing Rabbit Creative Team 2013 and today my first post is on.

I am one of the last ones on the team to do my post and I am definitely feeling the pressure. My teammates have been amazing so far! You should definitely check them out. See the button on my sidebar.

I have made another version of the skirt I made for Skirt Week at Crafterhours. And as you might remember that was a pattern drafting tutorial so this time I made a full sewing tutorial for it like I promised.

It is photo overload for sure but I think you will find some tricks there that you might not knew before......maybe.

Here is the new version. 

Here is the first version.

Funny how different fabrics can give SO different looks, right!

Now jump over the Me Sew Crazy and see the tutorial.

I hope you like it!

And if want to see other skirts from me check out my tutorial page on Sew Set or HERE on the blog.

SONP 2013 - Elastic waist skirt with in-seam single welt pockets - TUTORIAL.

Holy smokes do I have a tutorial for you guys today.

This is part of Summer of No Pants 2013 (SONP) on the great blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! (yes I know, that name is hilarious! And since I had the pleasure of meeting Marigold (and how is that for a cool name by the way!) at Fabric Weekend, LA I can tell you she is exactly the opposite - beautiful, clever, funny....and not stinky at all, ha!) So if you are coming by from there....welcome to my blog! 

So what are we doing today you might ask? Well, around a year ago I made a pattern drafting tutorial to THESE elastic waist skirts with pockets and when I got the chance to do a tutorial for SONP I thought hmmmm, I have actually never made a sewing tutorial for that type of skirt. That changes today! Being the annoying person I am, of course I had to change something from the skirts I have already made. And I came up with this in-seam single welt pocket (yes, I have totally gotten help to that description - thanks Shannon!).

But the measurements from the pattern drafting tutorial are still working and I am giving you the info you need for these pockets in this post - I hope...otherwise please feel free to ask!!

Let me first give you a short explanation to the magic change of fabric and colors along the photos in the tutorial...argh, I know!! So I was sewing the orange and coral skirt and taking the photos for the tutorial along the way. When I was done sewing I uploaded the photos and saw that the photos for sewing the single welt on the skirt - and this is for sure the hardest part of this skirt - does not work at all - grrrrrrrrrrr! SO what to do...well, the easiest solution for me, since I can't do graphic design, is to simply cut another skirt and photograph the steps I needed again. And this time I got what I needed. But there was no way I was going to make another skirt in the same two fabrics (I am not that crazy) and since this neon pink polka dot from Michael Levine had been calling on me since Fabric Weekend I decided to use that instead. You can see the other finished skirt HERE.

So now that we are past the little bumps on the way let's get this tutorial started, shall we!

I am only showing you the pattern piece for the front skirt because the back skirt is exactly the same as the one showed on in the pattern drafting tutorial - except you have to cut of that top strip for the color block piece and add seam allowance (if you want the color block version of course).

I am adding interlining to the 6 x 20 cm welt pocket pieces. I would for sure recommend you do that too so that the pocket openings holds up.

After you put the interlining on then fold and iron the welt pocket pieces so they becomes 3 x 20 cm - right side out.

And now I hope the photo collages should tell you the rest you need.

I do have one small change that I only did on the neon pink dot version. Before sewing the side seams together on the waistband, I cut of 1 cm on each side of ONLY what then becomes the front waistband. That way the side seam and therefor also the pockets gets pushed a bit forward on your body and simply looks better when the skirt is worn.

And now to the finished result worn by yours truly.

Oh and this is the full skirt version and the neon pink dot/yellow is the less full version. (You will understand what I am talking about when you see the pattern drafting tutorial.)

That's all for me. Thanks Marigold for having me.

Fabric Weekend 2013 - Los Angeles + GIVEAWAY.

I have made a new skirt. But not just a new skirt..... it is the first item I have made with fabric bought on the Fabric Weekend 2013 - Los Angeles-trip. Yeah!

And it kind of makes sense that this was the first fabric I cut into because it was my first stop on our trip, Michael Levine. Smack in the middle of fabric district in LA.
Me and Christina from 2 Little Hooligans came basically directly from the airport (with 5 minutes break at the hotel to drop off our luggage) both from 5 hour cross country flights and the lunch they served probably saved our lives a little bit before they gave us a tour of their 3 stores right next to each other and then send us off on a fabric frenzy.

You can find them here: 

Michael Levine, Inc. - Main Store  “Everything In Fabrics & Notions” 920 Maple Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90015 Phone: 213-622-6259 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 9:00am - 5:30pm Sunday: 11:00am - 4:00pm email: store@lowpricefabric.com	www.LowPriceFabric.com  Website Customer Service & Internet Division Phone: 213-488-9003 Customer Service Phone Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00am - 5:30pm
Home Décor Store Upholstery, Indoor & Outdoor Fabrics Located across the street from the Main Store 919 Maple Ave. Los Angeles, CA. 90015 Phone: 213-689-1363 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 9:00am - 5:30pm Sunday: 11:00am - 4:00pm	the Loft Fabric sold by the pound! Located on the 2nd floor above the Home Decor Store 917 Maple Ave. Los Angeles, CA.  90015 Phone: 213-622-0507 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 9:00am - 5:30pm Sunday: CLOSED

If you don't live near LA they also have an excellent website where you fx can buy the neon dot quilting fabric I used for this skirt. Find it HERE. I also bought it in orange and yellow - I could simply not choose. So look out for that on the blog another time.
I already had the bright yellow cotton poplin at home but THIS - also from Michael Levine - seems like a pretty good match.

You could also check out your local Jo-Ann Fabric store who always seems to have what ever you need.
They carry tons of quilting fabrics and poplins which is perfect for this type of skirt. And of course the elastic, interlining and thread that you need also to make this skirt.
My local Jo-Ann has this address:

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft
4412 Falls of Neuse Rd
Raleigh, NC 27609-6230
919-876-8803

But with 790 stores in 49 states there is for sure one near you too!

If you like the skirt I have made you should check back in here this monday where I am posting a full sewing tutorial plus showing another version of this skirt as part of the Summer of No Pants 2013 series on the lovely Marigold's blog Hidious! Dreadful! Stinky! 

One GRAND PRIZE winner!

Brother 1034D serger! (donated by GoToPatterns.com)

Four lucky winners will receive $150 in prizes!

$50 to GoToPatterns.com

$50 to LowPriceFabric.com

$50 for a class at Craftsy.com

Contest Rules:
Giveaway open internationally to contestants 18 years or older. Contestants must enter their email address to be added to the LowPriceFabric.com and GoToPatterns.com email newsletters to win. All prizes are awarded in the form of gift certificates. Winners responsible for paying shipping. Gift certificate value of serger is $210. Contest open from June 11, 2013 through June 20, 2013 EST. Winners will be notified within 24 hours of winning. Winners have 48 hours to claim their reward. New winners will be chosen if prizes are unclaimed. Winners will be emailed their rewards within 7 days of claiming their prize. ONE ENTRY per person. This contest is being held on multiple blogs. Please enter only once. You will be counted only once.

Culottes, Pattern Drafting Tutorial

I realized I have done a few tutorials as guest posts but I have never brought them home to my own blog which is kind of silly because that makes linking them up on my TUTORIAL page a bit complicated. Soooo here comes one of them from a guest post last summer on the lovely Justine's (which I now after Fabric Weekend consider my friend - we were roomies and boy is she funny!!) blog Sew Country Chick. This is part one that focus on drafting the pattern for the culottes. For part two, which is a sewing tutorial to the culottes that was posted on my own blog, click HERE. 

I will hurry up and admit that these culottes are a GAP knock off. 

Here you see the 'original' GAP culottes.

Tutorial:

1) To make the pattern I started thinking whether I already had a pattern I could use as a base for these shorts and I was in luck. Do you remember THESE shorts? The pattern for those shorts is what you see above. What you need to use this tutorial is any pair of shorts with an elastic waist. So to make the culottes we need to add much more width in the legs - kind of logic, right!

2) It is obviously a big help to have the item you are copying liking so much that you want another one, in your possession. I measured the GAP culottes and compared it to my base pattern. I started by adjusting the side seams, then the curve of the waist and finally elongated the crotch seam.  

3) What we have done up to this point is added width to the crotch area and we obviously want width in the whole shorts leg. And the way to get that is what you see above. I needed to add 8 cm / 3.1 in to the back and 9 cm / 3.5 in to the front pattern piece. If I would have needed to add more width I would have cut up the pattern more but for these numbers I only cut each pattern 3 times. You cut all the way up until there is like 1 mm (in inches? Very little ;-) left and then spread the pattern part till you get the desired gap (you can see the numbers on the photo above). 

4) Then you fill out the gaps by putting paper under and draw your new and now curved lower shorts edge with lots of width and you are now ready to cut and sew your culottes.

I have put on the measurements on the pattern parts for a size 3T* on the photo above and I hope you will be able to make them yourself. 

Please note that the measurements above are WITHOUT seam allowances so please add that in the drafting process.

*You might wonder why I am showing you a pattern for a size 3T and then showing you photos of my 4.5 year old daughter who use size 5T. Weeeell, ideas has been flowing between Justine and I and originally I made a pair for my 2.5 year old who uses size 3. In the end we decided to focus on the (reversible) pair that Wilma is showing below. Don't worry though I will show Evelyn and her pair of culottes next week. (you can see them HERE).

Since I also own the GAP culottes in size 5 (yes, at least I did pay for the product and then copied liked so much I had to make more) I compared the size 3T and 5T and the only difference was the length of the legs that was 1.5 cm / 0.6 in longer than 3T. I decided to extend them further and make them 3 cm / 1.2 in longer than size 3T. Otherwise I kept  them exactly the same.

Click HERE for part two of this post that focuses on the sewing.

2013 Sewing Rabbit Creative Team

As if me being on my way to Fabric Weekend 2013 and GNO in Los Angeles like right now is not exciting enough (read all about it HERE) then I have another veeeery exciting announcement:

I have been chosen as a contributing member of the 2013 Sewing Rabbit Creative Team.

I knooooooooooow! 

Once a month me (and a bunch of other really talented ladies (see them all HERE) are having a guest post on the blog Me Sew Crazy who is run by one of the people in the blogging world that I admire the most, the AMAZING Jess. 

I mean not only is she making her own blog that always have relevant and interesting posts, she is also participating in blog series and Project Sewn (where she of course made it to the finale - results today friday 31st - so maybe you should check that out too). But she is also the woman behind the amazing site SewSet where YOU can upload your patterns and tutorial for sale or for free, she arranges Girl's Night Out (I am attending my first one this weekend in Los Angeles which means I am actually going to meet her...and a lot of other amazing ladies) and The Digital Needle. And now she is giving smaller blogs like me a chance to showcase our stuff 'on the big screen'. Totally totally excited.
So keep an eye out for my first guest post there in June. Oh, and don't worry if you follow Sewing Like Mad I will for sure let you know when it is posting....(and I know you otherwise would, right!)
If you are a new reader coming from Me Sew Crazy to check out the new kid(s) in class (welcome!!) you can see some of my personal favorites and the links to the blog posts below.

Here are the links to the photos in the collage above.

Top row from left:
Celine pants knock off.
Japanese bubble dress.
Bulle de Savon knock off.
Knit culottes.
Red shirring shirt dress.
Jersey dress with a vintage feel.
My inner Grandma jersey dress.
Peplum sweatshirt.

Middle row:
Free printable separate collar pattern.
Summer jersey dress.

Bottom row:
Color block leggings.
Cotton summer skirts tutorial.
A-line skirt with snaps and pockets.

I have also updated my Sewing Tutorials page here on the blog and you can find all my tutorials so far there plus at SewSet.....many more to come with this new 'job'.
Anything specific you are dreaming of me making tutorials about?....within the sewing and pattern drafting area!...then leave me a comment, thanks!

See you soon again here and there!

Skirt Week 2013 - How to draft a custom fit skirt pattern with a wide waistband.

Okay, ooooookay first of all YAY for Skirt Week 2013.

If you have no idea what I am talking about I would suggest you check out THIS post at Crafterhours because that explains it all. But come right back because you don't want to miss this post, okay!

A year ago I participated in Skirt Week for the first time and I got the surprise of a lifetime. First of all I got pretty surprised that one of my skirts was chosen from the Flickr group to actual go to voting. Then I got not-so-surprised when my skirt got like the lowest number of votes (yeah, thanks for nothing guys ;-))) BUT I guess the judges felt sorry for me or something because (and now comes the surprise of a lifetime-part) then I won Judge's Choice for THIS a-line skirt. Whaaaaat, man I am still so proud of that. 

And now I almost feel like I won something again by being invited back to do a tutorial to (hopefully) inspire others to make skirts. Thanks Susan and Adrianna from Crafterhours who arrange Skirt Week!

So I was thinking how can I help and inspire the most and my answer (which is not necessary the right one but never the less my answer) a tutorial on how to draft a custom fit skirt pattern with your own measurements (hence custom fit...but you know......) 

The skirt I am going to show you how to make is a (kind of) half circle skirt with a wide fitted waistband. 

A wide fitted waistband is a great tummy control type of waistband (pretty sure I learned that word from What Not to Wear (when they teach them what to actually wear....not when they basically break them and their wardrobe down in the beginning!). AND a half circle skirt is great for thigh disguise (yep, totally made that word up myself).

In other words I am making a skirt that would look good on a lot of different female body types. And you don't actually have to have a tummy or thighs that needs any disguising to look good in the skirt. Juuust saying!!!

In the end I will show you a skirt I made using this method with my measurements. But the possibilities are really endless with this model so lots of chances to use your creativity.

First we need 4 measurements....let's call them A, B, C & D.

A: Circumference of your stomach/waist area where you want the waistband to start. Generally (on post teenage years people) this is like 1-2 in./2.5-5 cm below your belly button. But YOU decide remember! Do what looks best on your frame and what you feel most comfortable with.   

B: The height of your desired waistband. I made mine 3 in/7.5 cm.

C: Circumference of your low stomach/high hip area where you want your waistband to stop. You get this by: start where you measured A, then measure down with the B that you decided and at that spot you measure the circumference and you got C.

D: From C to your desired length of the skirt. I choose just around knee length and ended up with 20.5 in/52 cm.

Along the way you need to make some Kindergarten level calculations....you will be juuust fine!

 Now that you made your muslin, tried it on and made the changes to the skirt and waistband pattern (if there were any) you are ready to draft the pattern for the lining....if you want lining in your skirt. I kind of prefer not - especially in summer skirts - but some of my fabric for the finished skirt was a bit sheer so there was no way around it.

1) You use your skirt pattern but you don't need it as wide as the actual skirt. So what do you do? YES, you use same method that we used to make the waistband more narrow to fit measurement A. 

But because you don't want to cut in your finished paper skirt pattern you simply just fold it somewhere in the middle. Why do we not just take it off from the side seam? Because then we would loose our 90 degree angles which are so important for the finished 'lines' in the skirt. Try to sew something together with a 80 degree angle and you will see what I mean....it will be pointy not a straight line.

I have already made the fold on this 1) photo between the dotted lines.

The top curve (that is going to be sewed on the bottom of the inner waistband) will become a bit pointy when you fold (those pesky angles) so when you copy the pattern you will need to smoothen that out. See yellow dotted lines on photo 1).

2) Here you see the copied lining pattern with a smooth top curve and still all 90 degree angles. Since you copied your skirt pattern that already have seam allowance you don't need to add that. But you do need to shorten it so it does not stick out under your skirt fabric. It shortened it so it just covers the sheer fabric but again that is up to your skirt design.

3) This photo is just to show you how to sew the inner waistband to the lining. When you, in the very end, sew outer waistband (with skirt) and inner waistband (with lining) together  - right against right side of fabric - at the top waistband seams, you will get a skirt with no visible seam allowance - at least when you look from the top. Since the skirt and lining does not have same length and width we obviously does not close it by the hems.

And now I think it is time to see that skirt I made, right!

A curvy/wavy color block skirt made with three different thin cotton fabrics that all have a great drape which is kind of important in this type of skirt.

In case you are interested in an actual sewing tutorial for this specific skirt I can tell you I have plans of making that too in the near future. So keep an eye on my blog and if you are a new reader visiting from Crafterhours (welcome!!) maaaaybe you should consider following me with Facebook, Bloglovin or how you prefer to follow blogs! Whatever you need for this is in my right side column.

Now go make your own skirts! (Told you I can be bossy!)