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The Little Black Dresses in my closet--the travel/concert capsule wardrobe weekend solution, plus a new model, Burda Easy's bandeau sheath, SS 2018

November 4, 2018, 1:45 am
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Chanel said a lady can go anywhere if she has a LBD. The venerable Parisian perfume house Guerlain has even issued a series of perfume flankers over recent years, dedicated to the idea that the LBD is whatever you make of it, from tutu to black leather jacket.

For the end of September, I was planning a Fri-Mon weekend in London to visit offspring. Having last year left an overnight bag of toiletries, makeup, and black cotton T and leggings as pj's with the litter, I wanted to travel ultra-light, with only a medium-sized black leather backpack to weigh me down airport-airport-bus-tube.

The first stop would be a performance of the English National Ballet with FiddlerKid leading a string section  (so proud!) Then museums and lunches and coffees etc. which were all incredible fun, to meet up with each kid and (in some cases, their partners.)

The obvious solution was to wear a black knit dress over a black camisole over black tights and short zipped boots (there would be a lot of city walking, so the ankle boots were low-heeled but not rustic) under a black Promod trench, to be perked-up from the crypt-heavy-blackness with bright jewelry and Hermes-style colorful silk scarves.

So I carried only:

1. pull-on black Vogue OOP trousers in ponte. Kind of a neutral no-style at all statement.
2. black and brown sailor-stripe T

The weather was cool but sunny and it all worked incredibly well. I left the T and trousers behind in the carryall for next time. They don't do much here at home. I did consider leaving the dress instead...which is why...

While I was packing, I reviewed a collection of my LBD's sewn and purchased over the years. With one professional musician in the family, not to mention our love of subscription tickets to concerts anyway, it turned out I had quite a few BLACK concert basics to layer under Chanel-ish jackets, kimonos, or glittery tops. Photos below for some of the sewn options:

1. Donna Karan Vogue Designer OOP dress (worn already to Univ. of Cambridge concerts ten years ago)
2. Burda one-shouldered ponte sheath (worn already as the Verbier Festival summer option two years ago. Burda shows it as part of a clever ensemble, offering a one-shouldered opposite-side overlay which makes it a two-sleeve, warmer dress. A SWAP possibility for the future? Not photographed yet, unfortunately)
3. Burda Chinese-style short-sleeve sleeved sheath w/ exposed gold zip (worn last year on a similar London weekend. CyberDaze (see link in sidebar just made on of these too!)
4. Burda short-sleeve sheath in cloqué (only suitable for evening because of shimmery fabric. Decade-plus old.)
5. short-sleeved, collarless purchased viscose H&M wrap dress, showing its age. I'm considering using that classic Vogue DVF knock-off pattern to make a new black version of this with its 3/4 cuffed sleeve and collar detail. I know I'll use it a lot.
6. spaghetti-strap georgette slip dress (too long, flimsy-floaty for autumn city daywear)
7. two pull-on black knit pencil skirts (required more tops. Stayed at home)
8. floor-length slip dress in cotton knit (only suitable for summer resort wear)
9. Vogue Options wool sheath (way too warm for September. Yoke style outdated)

In the end, I took the viscose wrap dress because it was right for day-to-night and I'm too fond of the home-sewns to consider I might leave one of those in London.

But when I got home, I added this new LBD to my collection which I hope has day-night potential for travel. I've worn it already to a concert at Victoria Hall in Geneva. I liked the Meghan Markle neckline vibe.

Burda Easy SS 2018
This is Burda Easy's SS 2018 knit sheath with the bandeau neckline in a black viscose solid enough to give the collar some body and resilience. With the neckline pulled low, it works as an elegant evening cocktail dress but released higher up with a shawl or scarf or under a cardigan, it can go out in the day. As usual, the collar bounces off the shoulders a bit too much if I'm overactive. I'm considering finding a way to keep it down without permanently tacking it.

Here are some looks at the other LBD's I've mentioned above:
Chinese sheath dress Burda 2-2012-117A, much worn, much mended

Donna Karan Designer Original OPP origami wrap sheath (Daughter is wearing a Burda Galaxy-knockoff sheath in black lace over plain lining. Start them on their LBD's young!)



Vogue  OPP sheath with yoke seaming
Burda cloque sheath






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Second 'Lifestyle Uniforms,' the pseudo Chanel jacket

December 8, 2018, 2:21 pm
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The new blue/black/silver/bronze/white bouclé
the Hong Kong-tailored workhorse from 1990 on its third change of buttons
my favorite V7975 with 3/4 quarter sleeves, waist length
first stab at my own trim
cheerful lining, but could have used contrast band/fringe option
the 'other' Vogue OOP pattern w/self band and four
pockets. I think I prefer four pockets
my first V7975, okay,
but much better once sequins hand-sewn to purchased trim
Tweed too flat, but okay for day. Note "Chanel" buttons!
the longer-waisted V7975 sober daytime option.


Besides a Little Black Dress and a variety of jodphur/leggings to go under knee-high boots, (post to follow) there's another item I've always had on hand when I have to get out of jeans and look more grown-up and citified. Admittedly, that doesn't happen as often as it used to.

I learned the meaning of easy chic when I was a bureau chief in Hong Kong and had a tailor run up a custom-fitted Chanel-style black bouclé jacket. I wore it to our goodbye party as we left Hong Kong forever and then every other diplomatic event required for the five years we were posted to the UN in NY where my husband was a Head of Mission. (This black item is still going strong, although I removed the huge shoulder pads without regret. I've changed the buttons over the years from pearl to gold to sparkly black.)

But one solid black Chanel-ish jacket  is only the baseline, hardly the end of the story. And if you're interested in my Chanel fetish, check out my exploding Pinterest "Chanel Inspiration Board" here:

https://www.pinterest.ch/Inkstain1/chanel-inspiration/

I have just cut out a lovely navy, black and silver bouclé to sew up—hip length with full-length sleeves and four pockets, two more than shown in the Vogue 7975 pattern. I've finished the body and am now adding four pockets trimmed with self-fringe cut on the bias and secured down the middle with navy braid. I'll post a photo of it as soon as it is finished!

But as I delved into this project, I felt rusty about my design choices and fit. So I reviewed my 'Chanel-lite' collection so far. And I must say, I do love three of my home-sewn versions, but am less thrilled with a fourth. And frankly, they are all looking a little 'too loved.' Forgive their saggy, tired appearances in the photos above. It just shows how much they've been worn. So it's time I had a new one.

Very long ago, working at the BBC in London around 1979, I invested in a wonderful white bouclé wool and made the Vogue Designer tk. (photo below) And I bought the Vogue Designer Albert Nipon around the same time, (see below.) I've used Vogue 7975 and Vogue tk to make four pseudo Chanel jackets for evening or meeting/conference wear. I say pseudo, because I really do use the Vogue instructions which are less complicated than the 'classic' Chanel's. I fully respect those sewists who do the whole quilting-lining-to-bouclé-by-hand thing for true authenticity. Their results look great with nice fit and drape. And the chain is a nice bit of authenticity as well.

I can't do it. I'm sorry, but I just don't like hand-sewing all that much. And I don't want a chain sewn to the lining running between the small of my back and the hard back of a concert seat for two hours, no matter how authenticate it is.

The next Chanel experiment after the Hong Kong buy, around year 2000, was the black-and-wine bouclé hip-length version. Once I'd put the black braid around it, I wasn't satisfied. So a year later, I hand-sewed black sequins scattered along the trim. Now I was very happy. I've worn it to death over black skirts or pants ever since.

My favorite is the wool pink-baby-blue and bronze-threaded one from 2007, the shorter waist option of Vogue 7975 with three-quarter sleeves. But after a few years, I lent to my daughter in London. She brought it back needing a wash. I hand-washed it to protect the bronze metal threads from our village drycleaner and it now feels a little tight, still workable but maybe this baby needs retirement. I love the gorgeous fabric, a remnant from an elegant shop in Lausanne that closed. I braided my own trim with yarns selected to match the threads of the boucle.

Third outing was the yellow, pink, and black Vogue OOP7860 which I might have exploited a bit better by using a contrast fabric for the banding. SewTawdry used this pattern very nicely here: http://sewtawdry.blogspot.com/2010/08/on-fringe-of-fashion.html
My bouclé here was less expensive than my wool choices, a cotton choice that looks great for spring with pink lining. This Vogue pattern is  boxier than the Vogue 7975 and has big shoulders that needed cutting down. It also has a front seam that curves from the armhole seam into a dart and this construction doesn't lend itself to the traditional quilting process I skipped. I might use this pattern again because it fit me well and possibly the construction lends itself to matching discounted remnants of expensive fabrics.

Fourth outing was my 'loser' in green. I used the longer length of Vogue 7975 again and made my own trim with braided yarns, but  I think I don't get any buzz because I used a tweed remnant of a high quality wool that wasn't a bouclé. But at least I scored some imitation Chanel buttons! Even so, I don't like the look of a buttoned Chanel, especially as none of my sewing machines make perfect buttonholes. Live and learn. This definitely goes over jeans. Maybe my disaffection is also because my hairdo experiment as a redhead is over and my 'redhead' foray into green and jade colorways reminds me of some very, very difficult years past.

There are a couple of Burda jacket patterns I'd like to try. I think Burda measurements allow for more refining and I'm definitely not the body I was when I first sewed V7975. One option is a Burda Easy 2016 with the possibility of a flared sleeve and a peplum. The other is the Burda Classic 2013 that includes a collar option.

The one pattern I haven't been able to find is one that mimics the Chanel jacket shape featuring an upright circular collar that sits wide and clear of the neck. If you see one, please link me to it!

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The latest 'Chanel' type jacket from Vogue 7975

January 7, 2019, 10:32 am
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As promised in the previous post, it was time for a new 'Chanel.' After the Christmas festivities, I finally finished up the longer length version of Vogue 7975 using this lovely tweed with darkest blue, silver, white, black and bronze threads. I wanted to dress this jacket up a little more than previous versions so added two pockets to the two on the pattern—I really only wear these jackets now for evening concert/opera/dinner wear since I quit the office life—and so it is livelier, (but I may have gone over the top!)

In any event, this was the first time I learned to cut a fringe trim from the fashion fabric on the bias to obtain double the fringed threads I'd get from cutting on the straight. Then I anchored the fringe down the center using a 7mm dark navy braid purchased online.

As it was, the result still looked too staid. So I bought pearls in various sizes of my tweed colors and festooned them randomly across the pocket tops and down both fronts. I could have decorated the sleeve hems as well, but I knew that having fringe picking up chip dip might annoy me.

I also skipped another possibility. The last iteration of fringe by Lagerfeld at Chanel featured strips encircling the sleeve cap seams. But I don't think I would carry that off very well. Too 'Marvel Heroine goes Paris.'

The pockets are lined, of course, and handstitched to meld into the tweed pattern invisibly. All the fringe and pearls were hand-stitched to the jacket body. This jacket may someday see a second life, as I can easily remove all the fringe and beads and tone it down or up some other way, depending on my mood down the road. White wool trim might make it look more naval and spring-like, while strict silver braid would be more formal yet.

I'm still thinking I might hide a dozen or so hooks and eyes down the front to close the jacket firmly if I want to wear it 'solo.'

And I'm giving this a rest before I decide whether/how much to trim or square off the fringe. It's a little wild—but hey. It is a busy jacket all on its own, so a very simple top is required underneath. This is going to top off the navy wide-leg georgette jumpsuit with the camisole bodice I wore under my pink and blue Burda kimono to the English wedding. (previous post)

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Well, it follows as the night the day...Model Goddaughter about to give birth, so back to knitting up Elizabeth Zimmerman's Best Baby Sweater in the world!

January 23, 2019, 10:00 am
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Well, how time passes! The Model Goddaughter who 'walked' the runways of Vivian Westwood and Temperley, etc. over the past few years, (even graced a huge billboard over Harrods Department store one Christmas!) got married a year ago September, and now right on time is about to have her own little girl.
This pattern, the classic Elizabeth Zimmerman Best Baby Sweater in the world has already appeared in various colors and yarns on this blog already, including denim blue, wine red, ivory, a paler pink, and dark blue.
I chose a really soft baby wool in good ol' pink this time and returned to the original 'seagull' lace that expands as the baby grows. (Last time I used thicker Aran ivory yarn and experimented with a cable pattern.)
I was visiting London last weekend and MG dropped by with her mum for tea to say thanks, which was lovely.
But obviously, I can't wait for a photo of the new sprog in her designer sweater to add to my collection!
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So imperial! Japan fashion inspiration this week produces another Burda kimono 124 July 2011 and a peek at the newest Burda kimono patterns!

May 5, 2019, 2:35 am
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Now you know I love a kimono. In fact, I gave Claire Raymond, my fictional journalist-detective in my three HK mysteries set in the 1990's, a collection of antique kimonos I only wished I had. (My HK detective novels)
But as much as I love my home-made silk and (one) antique kimonos, they're a tad too precious for more casual lunches or daily wear with jeans. But I discovered online a lovely casual chambray, embroidered with glorious silver and gold bees, which reminded me of many everyday Japanese textiles that celebrate nature, often with both humor and affection.
So I whipped up this third version of Burda's best-ever kimono pattern, which is lined, for which I've previously posted very clear instructions for rapid machine construction that still honors the deep traditional kimono sleeves feature, here: Three Part Post on Kimono Dressing.

For those beginner sewers who are just not ready for the authentic square, lined 124-7-2011 sleeve, Burda has just released two much easier kimonos: Burda Style kimono for 2019 (left)
and Burda Easy with three variations:
Burda Easy May 2019 (right)

Last week the world was reminded of the ceremonial purposes of the most extravagant versions of a kimono with the imperial coronation in Japan of Naruhito and Masako in full-blown traditional wear. (I once dined at the home of Masako's ambassador father during my husband's time representing the Int. Committee of the Red Cross at the UN. Her parents were the loveliest couple imaginable.) Here is the generally reclusive new Empress Masako arriving at court in what we assume is the ne-plus-ultra of kimonos for 2019.

But generally, in the West, we associate kimonos with almost louche lounge dressing, harking back to Noel Coward drawing-room comedies or raids on vintage shops by bohemian hippie chicks.

I was thinking of all of this recently afresh. For a joint birthday celebration last month, a girl friend who is a Japan expert planned a two-couple lunch and museum outing and we four had a great time. Best of all, knowing my love of sewing, she booked us tickets for a sewist's dream exhibition. (see below!) It was a fabulous display of Asian textiles and garments, fascinating and beautiful enough in their own right, combined with Western accessories and frame-worthy fashion illustrations showing how much Chinese and Japanese styles influenced high fashion in the 1920's. Almost one hundred years ago, could we be ready for a comeback?

This will not be news to any fans of the Miss Fisher mystery series, which has already inspired Tany of Couture and Tricot to copy some of Miss Fisher's amazing costumes, including a scalloped hacking jacket in damson Chinese brocade. And this 'fusion look' has garnered enough TV audience interest to spawn at least one other museum exhibition, in Rippon Lea, Australia, of Miss Fisher's costumes, including vintage items collected by the costume designer Miriam Boyce.

The perfumes to go with this look? Definitely two Guerlain classics, Jicky or Mitsouko.
For now, sayonara!


ASIA CHIC

The Influence of Chinese and Japanese textiles on the fashions of the Roaring Twenties

10 April 2019 - 7 July 2019

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In France, around the 1920s, a great number of magazines written for and about women were founded. The Gazette du bon ton, art, modes et frivolités was one of the best to reflect the period, but there were also Modes et manières d’aujourd’hui, Costumes parisiens, Journal des dames et des modes, the French version of Vogue and Les Modes, for example. They offered advice on different topics, such as home decoration, lifestyles, the theatre, fashionable holiday resorts, and of course fashion, all abundantly illustrated with colour plates. These were generally created from a drawing whose outlines were first engraved, then printed with black ink. The areas within the outlines were then filled in with watercolours or gouaches, applied using a stencil. The composition of the images, the different stages of their production, and the themes developed all strongly resemble the Japanese woodblock prints by which they were inspired.
The Baur Foundation in Geneva has a sufficiently ample and representative collection of Asian textiles to provide a comparison with the Western fashions of this period. The remarkable encounter of the two has given rise to an exhibition and catalogue in which designs by Parisian creators are displayed alongside pieces of contemporary Far Eastern textiles. The accompanying book makes it possible also to publish the donations of Japanese kimonos and other clothes received by the Baur Foundation – including the Sato Mariko (2008) and Sugawara Keiko (2015) donations – but also certain Chinese textiles that add to the richness of the institution’s collections.
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Burda summery flounced blouse 03/2019 #111

June 15, 2019, 8:18 am
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This is not an exciting addition to my wardrobe, but turned out well enough. I've been trying to keep my fabric choices to variations of blue that work with navy or white bottoms for summer. (Not that we've had any summer so far in Switzerland.)
The pattern interested me because of its unusual design, even though it required tracing and cutting out the front pieces separately.
I ordered this baby-blue viscose with a fine silver stripe running through it online from a swatch. It's almost too soft to make the most of the gatherings in the sleeves and front. On fabric this thin, it might do to add more fabric inches to the pieces' width to enhance the ruffling effect.
Now that I've bothered tracing it, I might try again in a fabric with slightly more body. It's a very easy project and I cut it 42-45, so the bottom has a nice, rather ethereal floating effect.
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Last Minute Summer Maxi for lakeside vacation Burda 07/2019 #104

August 18, 2019, 7:48 am
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Sorry, these photos aren't ideal. I must get a tripod...or a friend. This is Burda #104, the July cover garment here in Switzerland, sewn from 3 metres of viscose voile ordered online from Tissus.net that was perfect for the weight and flow of a dress requiring a double-layered bodice.
It was super simple to sew up, given that the back piece and the waist are elasticated, so fitting wasn't an issue.
I thought...
I was surprised that having cut a 40-42-bodice because I have a very narrow upper chest, the straps turned out to land almost too close to the arm, which would mean it was a size too large, right?, but it was very tight across the upper chest to the point that it stretched straight without the little strap 'points' shown on the model. If I made it again, I would make a muslin to figure out how to reduce the distance between the straps and yet actually give it slightly more ease. It seems a contradiction and I'm not sure what happened.

This was whipped up for a four-day lakeside semi-camping trip at the Lake of Zug, but it never got an outing. The night I planned to wear it for a casual dinner I whipped up for some in-laws on a single gas burner by flashlight, it rained! Well, like so many of my later summer makes, this will still have the 'new clothes' buzz when I bring it out next year.
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Two autumn dresses.... first one, BurdaEasy, Spring-Summer 2019 (three versions combined for maximum ruffle oomph!)

November 10, 2019, 11:15 pm
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Skirt hems have been dropping for some seasons but many came with a buttoned-up, ruffled-bodice 'prairie girl' look which is too costumey for someone my age. So I planned two dresses in viscose in my favorite color-way of navy blue to satisfy the urge to try these longer dresses, without going for the bulk of accordion pleats (that would sit on my very wide hips pretty badly,) or spending too much on so much fabric for a look I'm not sure of.
This is concocted from Burda Easy Models 2, A+B+C from the Spring Summer 2019. This design had three variations and I chose the longest and then maxed out the ruffle options, (see tech illustrations below) combining the offerings from three versions into one:

The fabric is a viscose twill, a very good weight for chilly autumn weather which gives some body to the ruffles. I found the perfect boots to wear with this length—some graceful height, a  delicate heel, but not too high.

I did go wrong with this Frankenstein, however. Normally I have to adjust a 51 cm dress hem to 58 to hit at the bottom of my knee. So I automatically added 7 cm to the hem of the main dress body, then added my two ruffles to its bottom. But the dress dropped practically to my ankles which didn't match the photo in the magazine at all. I think I was working with the wrong option's hem? I took in a tuck totaling 8 cm just above the ruffles to form an extra pleat and the dress is still long, but closer to the model shown. I'm generally happy with this dress, though the size 42 neckline is wider than the illustration and slips off one shoulder or another in the wearing.
I've worn this dress twice already to friends' Sunday lunch/tea and it seems just the right style for casual dining without being either overdressed or too casual, especially under a leather jacket and a beige scarf. But it's not a look I'd wear for anything dressier or the office.

I'll deal with the second dress in a separate post...




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From trash to class in one pattern...To survive the first rainy days, the Vogue OOP 2614 gray wool wrap jacket and its 'evil twin' the blue snake leather biker jacket.

November 15, 2019, 12:54 am
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Have you ever seen a snake this blue? So kill me. I know, the collar! This blue jacket comes from a wonderful Vogue OOP 2614 pattern offering some great options.  When I saw this snake-embossed 'pleather' I splurged without thinking and even found a perfect little gray buckle, but I immediately regretted the per metre cost. It is eye-catching but cheering for the first days of full-on rain here in Switzerland. It pairs well with this great Central Asian scarf gifted by a well-travelled neighbor. It makes the bad weather actually fun.

Wait! The same pattern?? The gray jacket was also made from this SAME pattern, which is some kind of object lesson in the difference changing 'options' and fabric can make. It's made of a very good quality gray-black chevron-weave wool coating and I did some pretty good top-stitching down the princess seams which gives it something extra. From trash to class in one pattern...
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Burda peasant blouse 03/2020 #116

April 28, 2020, 2:17 am
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Of course there seems little point in sewing when you're stuck at home for months on end, (not only because of Swiss limits to groupings of five but out of concern for an elderly spouse with chronic respiratory problems.) But before the virus doldrums really hit, I sewed this item, which came out pretty well. I made the mistake of lengthening it by some inches, confusing it with the similar #117 which is shorter with 3/4 length open sleeve hems, so my version could even serve as a bathing suit coverup.
I mail-ordered the fabric, a polyester navy chiffon with a kind of ditzy praire print, with a reasonable hand, from tissus.net. This blouse requires a lot of tedious gathering and I think the interest of the time-consuming double yoke and double tie design feature is lost in the pattern of the fabric I chose. Now that I know it works out, with the double ties and all, I might make another and simpler one that shows off the design.


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CONFINEMENT SEWING, PART I Rescuing the 'Epic Fail' blue linen jumpsuit and a new white Burda Easy Japanese workshirt in broderie Anglaise cotton.

September 9, 2020, 3:12 am
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As the late, great Alan Rickman says in the comic film, Galaxy Quest, 'Never Give Up, Never Surrender!'

Remember the 'Epic Fail' blue linen jumpsuit on which I spent so much money for high-quality imported linen, only to end up with a baggy, crumply mess I wore only once, to the Verbier Music Festival when our Fiddlerkid was performing? (below) The Burda Style pattern featured a very long torso and the design was suitable only to Burda's choice of a satiny, drapey fabric that settled discreetly over the elasticated waist. My quality linen puffed out too much.

The waste of such good fabric hurt my heart. I finally bit the bullet and ripped out the waist seam and made a very serviceable work shirt and pair of pull-on pants that I've been actually getting wear out of all summer. Here's my new rescue version, cut in half.



The new white wrap shirt above is a second version of the Burda Easy Japanese workshirt I already blogged, below, (this time without the sleeves.) The white version is a direct copy of the model featured on the cover of that edition of Burda Easy,


which is why I fell in love with the pattern in the first place. Because of its tight wrap effect at the waist, I can get away with a pretty unexciting elasticated waist from the jumpsuit as it was.



The blue ruffled shirt below also covers the 'sin' of the elasticated waistband and is Burda Style 3-2019-111, also blogged before.

My revised, rescued linen shirt goes well with my hardworking jean skirt constructed as learned in Berkeley in 1970. (Vaccuum not included.) Here the excess fabric that ruined the drape of the jumpsuit bodice turned out to give me enough shirttail to tuck it into a belted bottom. 

SUCCESS!



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CONFINEMENT SEWING PART II Croquet Dresses for Lockdown Games, Burda Easy March 2020 #4C, Burda Style 6-2020-118, and Burda Style 4-2020 cover model, with Burda's Hollywood homage

September 9, 2020, 6:41 am
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During a summer of serious Covid confinement, keeping in consideration my soon-80-year-old husband's lung frailties and my own last decade of serious health treatments, we needed to find a more and immediate source of daily joy here in our Swiss village in hard-hit virus-heavy Vaud. Our three adult kids were in lockdown in London. Our constant worries for them with their employment abruptly curtailed or, in one case seriously overloaded, were sometimes overwhelming. Our routine companions here were also being ultra-careful because of age and health histories and sticking close to home. I continued writing and husband continued his own projects, but...meh...

We had wonderful weather, a large house and garden to enjoy, a vast library of music and books to rediscover, the internet and a new Netflix account, and myriad digital contacts with friends and family. And we've kept our health, fingers crossed, so far. The numbers are shooting up again and we know we're counted among the 'vulnerable.'

But we mourned our cancelled vacation to a beloved hotel on the Ligurian shore in Italy, where the virus has been raging up and down the coast with the coffins piling up, as well as our traditional visits to rough it lakesite at camp with extended Swiss family in Walchwil, not far from Zurich, another national hotspot of infection. I also missed all our usual outings to concerts in Lausanne and Geneva for which I love getting properly dressed.

So, no occasions, no meetups, no sewing?

Working hard as usual, we still needed to play away from the computers on a regular basis. So we settled into a serious season of good old-fashioned American croquet, with suitable iced drinks and lots of laughs. And I sewed three 'croquet' dresses, (as this is a decorous sport, to say the least.) White sneakers were de rigeur.

First, the striped linen-viscose number, with its very loose-fitting, dropped waist and unfitted bodice is my tribute to the 1920's resort of Deauville, using Burda's Easy March 2020, 4C. The only challenge of this model was to match up the stripes and reverse the given layout for the more interesting horizon/vertical effect of the stripes.




The second dress, Burda Style's 6-2020-118, is my tribute to a 1940's tea dress, with its chintzy viscose print, fitted waistband, and slightly puffed shoulder seam. To mature this wrap dress a little for a woman my age, I finished the lower edge of the sleeve without the gathered puff. The construction of this design's waist band extending into ties turned out to be a bit of a puzzle. I had to take it slowly, and translate Burda's cryptic instructions from the French into English with an uncharacteristic level of attention. Their construction of what should have been a straightforward collar was also odd and I ended up just reverting to what I was used to doing with similar collars, using a technique from a book of couture shortcuts.





My third 'croquet dress' is a rip-off of the Pretty Woman polka dot dress, done in a lively red viscose.

This is a beast of a skirt to hem, as the skirt pieces are cut on the bias, but the result gives a really lovely flow. I skipped the slit cut at the back neckline as I found this construction cheaply designed, without a center seam and in the end, unnecessary. The dress slips over your head without any special opening at the back.
This was the featured cover dress of the April 2020 Burda which included a wonderful tribute to memorable dresses from Hollywood, including Julia Roberts' brown version in Pretty Woman. I love the rare occasions when Burda does this.





The Russian cover for the same Burda Style April edition featured Grace Kelly's outfit by the wonderful Edith Head from Rear Window. But notice that Grace's version, in an expensive silk faille? or taffeta? has been carefully lined, while the Burda version isn't. I'd add a lining for more elegance.








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ARRRGGH! Trying to delete some spam comment, I lost all your wonderful comments going back at least a year! I'm so sorry! (meanwhile...) Burda Easy Cardigan January 2020 models 4A+C. A modest replacement with a few hesitations.

September 10, 2020, 11:02 pm
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Okay, I think I've sorted out this new Blogger format and restored all your valuable comments that do cheer up my days. If I missed an important one, let me know...and I'm trying to thank KS below for her kindness about the Epic Fail jumpsuit, and Blogger keeps saying I'm in error, so...arh again.

Sadly, I long had a beloved navy blue cardigan that finally died. I had just successfully built up a capsule wardrobe of navy blue items, (various blue blouses, a pull-on stretch pencil skirt from Burda Easy, navy jeans, tights, culottes, leggings, navy and white striped T's, a navy cashmere turtleneck stolen from my husband,) you get the idea.
For me, navy had become 'the new black' over the last few winters. The jewels in my capsule were two navy-blue jumpsuits to be worn under various kimonos in silky blue prints for evenings with friends at home. I wore one to the wonderful wedding of goddaughter in England under one of my kimonos, blogged already.
But the basic piece that pulled many of these combos together by day was my basic navy cardigan.
Now dead. I scraped it across some wet white paint and when I tried to remove the paint, I rubbed an actual hole in the weave in the front tail.
I have tried here, with only some success, to replace it. With the best of intentions, I ordered a navy blue knit online that turns out to have just a tinge of too much violet to it. And the pattern I chose, which looked quite trendy in Burda Easy in January 2020 may not be my style. The hem is asymmetric, the sleeves are a bit too dolman for my taste and without neater finishing by a knit cuff or elastic, the sleeves require being pushed up the arm not to look a bit naff. There are no buttons, so the tie from Version A is a must, as are the pockets from Version C. I had to make little thread belt loops which I hate doing, too.
But let's give it a winter to break in and I may learn to love it as much as my long, slim-line classic with the buttons.









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Back to the Future, the second Burda longer dress, (a 'handkerchief') dress meant for autumn, November, 2019 103 A/B EPIC FAIL. Should it see out 2020 or die an (ig)noble death?

November 3, 2020, 9:48 am
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 The second autumn dress I sewed up for Fall-Winter 2019 repeat 2019 pre-Covid was another attempt to wear the longer skirts lengths without looking dowdy. I wore skirts and culottes this length in the 70's the first time around and still have some fantastic Vogue Designer patterns from that era to prove it. It's a little harder to wear now that I'm so much older, with wider hips, a shortening torso, and the inability to trot all day in the high-heeled boots that make it work best. But I liked the grace of this silhouette after so many years of tight, knee-length sheaths.

This was made up in a drapey navy-blue leopard viscose print ordered online.  There are two unsatisfactory things about my fabric choice for this design: First, the 'leopard print' is too busy to see any of the waist piecing and second, the underside of the fabric is noticeably different from the printed side. Ideally, the skirt should flow without drawing attention to the two sides of the hemline.

This dress is a fabric hog as the skirt pieces are cut on the bias. I'm not sure I'm really feeling this handkerchief hem. And to do it, I needed 3.5 metres of fabric, almost twice the fabric needed for a sheath dress.

Well, it was a good thing I had extra; I decided that Burda's strange single bow design looked sad, even half-assed. (Even though a secretary wears one of these single-bow blouses in white silk in the recent BBC David Hare thriller Roadkill starring Hugh Laurie.) My solution was to cut mirror pieces of the long tie for a classic pussy bow blouse instead.

This dress was also a frightening reminder of how much my skills and patience have slipped. I forgot how to do a proper invisible zipper and made a bit of a mess of it. Only later did I review Kenneth Lane's excellent Youtube on this particular step and have resolved not to mess up again.

But worse! I misread the instructions and doggedly went ahead putting in the zipper below the collar point, assuming the collar folded down over the zip in the back. Wrong. So I had to add a dirty fix—to close the collar at the top.

Added to that frustration the fact that, in the end, I wouldn't have chosen this fabric online if I'd had a chance to see it up close. It doesn't look like leopard print at all, just a messy, ugly print. An entire long dress of this stuff just looks... awful. I'm not sure how much wear, if any, this dress will see.

UPDATE as of January 2020, not worn once. EPIC FAIL
UPDATE as of February, 2020 worn once under a long navy cardigan to casual dinner out. Looked all right, just, as the cardigan gave it a bit of shape at the waistline.
UPDATE as of March, quarantined, so no need to wear a dress until 2021.
UPDATE Lost weight during lockdown, so took it in at the side seams. Looking at it again and thinking it's okay to bring out for autumn 2020. So maybe I'll post this to ask all of you:
UPDATE okay, it's the one-year anniversary of wearing this dress exacly once. So I put it on and styled it with a similar long cashmere cardigan, this time in beige.

I think it just passes, but hell, it took me a year to figure out what to do.What do you think? Is it okay or the ugliest dress in town?

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Spring is about to spring again and 'model' goddaughter about to sprout a Hector

February 4, 2021, 4:15 am
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Yes, I've been doing some sewing of a rather modest variety: two tube skirts in black and blue heavy stretch knit to fill out my Covid-simple needs— to go with all the blue and black tops that I have. I have of late noticed that my wardrobe is hanging together more colorwise, around a palate of white/cream, black, navy, with red or mustard accents. I reckon two navy and two black skirts over tights and ankle boots are good, staple substitutes for the ubiquitous leggings and motorcycle boots I so often reach for.
(And I needed a backup black skirt for future travel, should I be so lucky. Fiddlerkid washed my London-capsule-wardrobe after my last visit over a year ago,  as a courtesy. But he accidentally put my black tube skirt on his kitchen counter top, which had just been bleached. So...deep-six that skirt!)

Over Christmas, I also sewed an Easy Burda dolman-sleeved cowl-neck sweater dress in a cozy poly-rayon navy knit and I'll blog that after sewing the slimmer turtleneck top in the latest Burda Easy edition for comparison. Belted sweater dresses over tights and ankle boots seem to be just the right balance of being dressed, yet home-comfortable for Switzerland's extended COVID lockdown.

And more on a bigger project to come later. I'm turning a drawerful of old jeans into a quilted jacket for the gardening season to come.

But as you can see, a few January days went into knitting my London-based goddaughter a boyish version of my go-to baby sweater pattern seen so many times on this blog before. (I've done the seagull lace version in grey, pine green, denim blue, ivory, and two different pinks.)

This time instead of doing the prescribed lace stitch or the Aran cable I tried on the ivory version, I invented the 'Jurassic Scandi' navy number pictured above for the little guy due in a month. I reckoned someone about to be christened the virile-sounding 'Hector' won't be into duckies. Sadly, the straight stitch means it won't stretch for a growing baby for as many months as the classic Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, below.


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Burda is repeating too many designs...COVID side effect or new policy?

March 22, 2021, 1:27 am
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Seen that twisted top design before? I have, and in fact, I sewed it up in the dress version many years ago. But it has just reappeared in a 2021 Burda Style magazine. As did the parka below, in an edition that appeared some ten years ago. So did the elasticated skirt with the slit, above, only a few years ago. In fact, Burda Easy seems to think we just want the same knit sheath dress with a collar variation and yet another pair of joggers or leggings to get by. Come on, Burda. The Easy editions were much better before you increased the number of issues per year.

This 'new money for old rope' approach with Burda seems to have stepped up—or I've just collected thirteen years of Burda only to discover that they always recycle old designs?

For me, the disappointment started with Burda Style monthly reprinting some of their featured retro designs that had been collected for their 'one off' vintage issues of the past, the 50's, the 60's, etc. But they were upfront about that. They weren't trying to sell their vintage greats as if they were new product, but marketing them in a different publication for a wider audience. I could forgive that, as many people passed up those special editions and missed some great designs.

But now, those of us who collect BurdaStyle mags might have noticed that we're often just getting recycled patterns without any admission that these were sold to us already.

Take April 2021, for example: here are two jackets, the one with the button the 'new' April 2021 version and the one with the snapped collar, the version from 2011.



 

There is a possibility that this is a sad side effect of the COVID crisis which may have reduced Burda's creative possibilities. Okay, that I will certainly understand. In our own extended family, we've suffered two deaths and nine cases to date. People are grieving near and far and what's a little duplication from Burda?

So, no, I'm not going to go on over trivia, but I'll keep an eye out.
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THE LONG READ; My version of the season's quilted jacket, made from six pairs of old jeans and lined with a patchwork of remnants, using Burda Easy pattern 06/20 #1B

March 22, 2021, 2:21 am
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This project was more ambitious that many of my recent stints at the sewing machine. It started with one of my grown sons pulling a pile of used jeans out of his closet over Christmas  in a big clean-up of his childhood bedroom. 
I picked apart all these jeans to see what I could rescue. I became interested in doing a version of the popular quilted jacket with a touch of the Japanese denim work-jacket look, (although I wasn't prepared to go full-on recycled rags with shashiko embroidery.)
 I considered a number of patterns, including a recent, collarless, Burda Style version of the popular Tamarack Jacket. But already, the basic shell of the jacket design above, from Burda Easy last summer, had caught my eye for that extra touch of the mandarin collar.

Well, it's done, at last. Enfin. Nailed it.  But the whole project was a bit of a long-haul bitch, tbh.

First I collected and quilted a lot of blue and white remnants from last summer's dress projects to produce a cotton lining, making sure that the sleeve linings would be in proper slippery fabric, of which I happily had just enough navy blue. 
The next stage of construction was a matter of feeling my way without the benefit of any instructions.

(After patchworking together enough yardage for the lining, see below) I assessed as best I could the placement of the exterior pattern pieces on the denim. One of the reasons to opt for the Burda Easy pattern was the two-piece sleeve. I did not have any jeans piece that could accommodate an entire width of a standard sleeve.
Then after putting in the neckline darts on the four front pieces, I quilted all the denim pieces to the lining pieces one by one, allowing enough extra margin to allow for shrinkage during the quilting and to allow me to re-cut a cleaner seam allowance once the batting was sandwiched inside. The patchworking and quilting of all the elements of the jacket took a couple of weekends.

A more serious drag was next: I constructed the side and shoulder seams and then found myself making bias binding from lining leftovers to enclose all the quilted interior seams that were pressed open. These raw seam edges couldn't be biased together because of the sheer thickness of each seam allowance. In retrospect, perhaps I should have assembled the jacket body and lining body pieces at the side and shoulder seams (I also had to introduce a center back seam to accommodate my narrow jeans pieces) and then quilted those two body pieces together before inserting the sleeves. And then there was the binding of the sleeve seams to do as well, requiring some very hot, tough steaming pressing to get them to behave, pressed outward.

I wasn't sure how to manage the collar which I wanted to ensure would stand high and not flop over. I  ended up constructing a finished collar, very carefully quilting it after slipping the cut batting inside, and then attaching the finished collar directly to the jacket. This left me with a difficult bulk of seam around the neck but I didn't trim it down--that width of fat bulk was going to serve as a sort of stand supporting the collar upwards. I finished it by pressing the whole thick seam allowance affair down into the interior of the jacket and closing it up by hand-stitching an opened-up length of the bias over the interior as a clean facing.

I finished the edge of the jacket sleeves, front and bottom by HAND on both sides of the edges with the 30 cm navy blue cotton seam binding that I ordered online, along with the batting. I used the same bias binding to cover two large jacket snaps. I skipped the inserted pockets in the Burda pattern, as I wasn't sure how to do a clean insertion with all the quilted seams going on, so instead I stole two patch pockets from the jeans scraps to apply to the front.

I also rescued two belt loops from the jeans and found a completely forgotten belt in a shoebox. It's a bit of a tight cinch for me to close the belt and maybe I'm better off letting it hang, hence the belt loops.

But overall, it's been a good COVID confinement project and I think it's a good jacket for casual, work and garden wear.
And apart from the time expended, it was pretty much FREE.









 






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Another blue shirt with inserted, full dolman sleeves Burda 113, April 2020

July 5, 2021, 7:38 am
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 As part of a wardrobe that's becoming rather 'capsulized' around variations of French, cornflower, or light blue, this was a wildcard, a blouse with a difficult and voluminous cut that demands sharp interior corners to accommodate large dolman sleeves. Notice in the Burda photos just above the difference that fabrication makes--in the crisp cotton you get fuller sleeves and a good peek at the interesting design, while the viscose green on the righthand side droops to ill effect.

Unfortunately, I did my version in a strange blue viscose ordered online that lacks enough crisp hand to keep the definition. This blouse seems to be an unconscious echo of the drapey Burda blouse I made last year in a similar blue with a similarly strange diagonal cut and less than successful flouncy sleeves. 

It seems that I just can't learn this lesson. If you want to get into architecturally-cut blouses that show off novelty lines, don't sew them in shapeless viscose!

Anyway, it's a cool-looking, loose-fitting piece that demands very hot weather, crisp white pants and a Greek shore.

Next up--I confess to an experiment with Fibre Mood, a nostalgic dip back into the McCall's pattern world of my youth and the famous (almost) Burda origami twist V-neck dress!

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Burda's 'origami?' or 'Japanese?' wrap dress, February 2/2021/101

July 13, 2021, 1:14 am
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This dress couldn't be simpler to make and I imagine what determines the outcome, even more than usual, is your choice of fabric. I used a pure cotton remnant from Coupons de St Pierre in Paris (https://www.les-coupons-de-saint-pierre.fr/fr/) 
who supply offcuts of 3 metres each for a song. It took me a while to get them to ship into Switzerland where I have to make sure that every order comes in under Sf60 including postage, so the total doesn't double because of added import taxes (EU to Switz).
I chose a floral that looks rather Japanese because the wrapped tie design struck me as slightly reminiscent of an obi tied at the back of a geisha's waist. My fabric might even be a quilting cotton, since it isn't drapey or see-through but it is certainly lightweight and I wore a short slip underneath for a little body here in the Swiss mountain summer.
I might have lengthened the skirt slightly, but not by much, and I included a bit of side slit to ease walking. The folded cuff is interfaced and sewn down which I like (not rolled, like in Burda's photo) and I finished off the seam edges inside with a simple zigzag stitch. (I don't have a serger, and frankly, have survived over 50 years without one.) 
My one complaint about the design is that this dress begs for pockets, which I will add.
From the front, the design can have a slightly dowdy housecoat feel to it, (needs a necklace to improve the plain V neckline) but the bow over the butt at the back is very saucy, if done in a crisp fabric. Linen might also be nice. Burda used a viscose for their rendition (see below) which might reduce the perky bow effect, but seems to have made their bodice more flatteringly drapey. (Mine comes off as a bit boxy.)
Anyway, it was perfect for a recent Sunday lunch here at home where I did all the cooking and didn't want to wear anything floaty or unwashable over a gas flame and spattering frying pan.
I would say this is a perfect dress to throw on for an elegant breakfast buffet in a really nice hotel resort, or sightseeing with hat and sandals. Not as vulgar as shorts or as revealing as a sarong, but very easy to pack flat, light and simple as a bathrobe, yet flirty and fresh.












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The two 'Elle' Pink Dresses Experiment that almost didn't happen...because of fabric disasters. McCall's 7974 and Burda 'buffet dress' 4/2021/102

July 21, 2021, 11:04 am
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One of my COVID confinement resolutions over the past 18 months has been to improve my French and learn German, two of Switzerland's four official languages. It's about time! To help my French fluency and vocabulary, I subscribed to the daily Le Temps and the weekly Elle (which is pretty much eye candy, I admit.) There's not much to say here about the newspaper, which certainly informs me about local affairs. As for German, I finished with Duolingo and am now stumbling through murder mysteries by Donna Leon in the German editions by Diogenes.
Meanwhile, each week, (at least until the summer set in,) Elle did a set of dedicated fashion pages every week, which I always found inspiring during these unfashiony, depressing pandemic seasons. There was one page featuring their 'Dress of Spring' in pink ( see below) that I just fell in love with.
 I quickly ordered some viscose crepe and viscose rayony stuff in two retro flowered prints that I hoped would capture the 'feel' of the Elle looks. Please note that these were bargain-basement buys in pre-cut 3 metre lengths from Coupons de St-Pierre in Paris. We're not talking big bucks here.

And I searched far and wide (okay, okay I ran through my decades of Burda for an afternoon) looking at years of maxi patterns. Despite some misgivings about the 'muumuu' effect of a so-called 'buffet dress' on a woman my age, I finally opted to try the April 2021 Burda cover design (see in green below) after watching the Great British Sewing Bee episode on that style. I was taken with Burda's nice detail of turning the endless gatherings into stand-up ruffles along the cascading tiers. (I realize now that a buffet dress was precisely one look this Elle page avoided!)

For the second dress, I was going to settle for a Burda wrap dress when I fell in love instead with a cute model of McCall's 7974 worn on YouTube by the beautiful French sewist, Raphaelle Dvn, (see her version below) but Raphaelle is some forty years younger than I am. I should know better, right? This popular model is supposed to be a knockoff of something called the Cult Gaia Willow Dress. Okay. I'd never heard of it, but I'm not exactly ahead of trends.

For weeks McCalls didn't have a paper version in stock, so I finally broke a longstanding resistance to PDF patterns and downloaded it during a $4.99 sale. I always hate Burda tracing, but I hate printing and scotch-taping computer paper even more. 

I cut out the McCall's dress first. 
DISASTER! Only after I'd suffered through constructing the pattern, reminding myself that one time, long ago, I sewed with Big 4 patterns with seams included, and congratulated myself on an exhausting evening of pushing pins through stiff paper, did I glance down at the floor and see a long and important pattern piece still waiting UNUSED. It was the side back section of the skirt, "cut 2" no less..
And I had no more fabric.
And of course, neither did the good people in Paris, because that is the point of their existence, selling remnants into nonexistence, right?
So now what?
I had only five sections of a seven-section full gathered skirt: two front, two front side, and one back cut on fold.  Anyway, after a night of kicking myself, I resolved to see if the sections of the skirt that I did have would reach around the waist seam, and praise the Sewing Gods, after basting with very narrow seams, they did—just. My dress now featured a kind of thirties-ish fitted and flowing skirt rather than a cottagey, gathered skirt. The result is not what McCalls intended, but perhaps a little less 'milkmaidy' on a woman of my years. (btw, the very low-cut  V-neck required some digging into the lingerie drawer for an almost forgotten nude bra with a very low-cut middle.
The final insult of this project was that 7974 requires 13 buttons 13!!!!@$% and I had to order self-cover buttons all the way from Germany because my local Swiss outlets didn't have any in stock.  Continuing my Olympic quest for Dodo of the Year Gold, I ordered 11 cm size when I should have ordered 15 cm; getting these tiny buggers covered with slippery viscose was the work of a whole weekend and many curses.

Raphaelle Dvn, in Corsica, a lovely sewist on instagram, and Pinterest. Her vlog is great for practicing French comprehension with a slightly regional twist.



And Disaster Two? On to the Burda cover dress. This demanded a mammoth job of cutting out many ever-increasingly large rectangles and again, I was trying to squeeze a 4-metre maxi pattern into a 3-metre remnant. I was pretty crafty by now and managed it by cutting the bottom tier as economically as possible and making up a little shortfall of about twelve inches wide using fabric left uncut elsewhere along the margine of the shortest, upper tier.

This is a slightly kinder V-neck than the McCalls in the bust area—still deep but not 'find me a special bra' deep. Also it asks for rouleau button loops. I hate making rouleau loops. Mine came out like little origami folded triangles, instead of loops.
Also, you can't tell from Burda's line drawing (below) but it includes a simple, non-gathered mini-lining under the neck-facings  down to mid-thigh. This gives you a built-in slip—nice if you're using very lightweight fabric as your main fabric. Not nice, if you forgot to order lining fabric and have to waste time going to a store to get it. (Me, of course.)

But you should use a very, very, very lightweight fabric. Even my crinkly viscose crepe is a little too thick. Because this dress is a fabric hog. You want to feel like you're flowing in the light seabreeze, not drowning in a shroud, readied for burial, right?

But that wasn't the disaster, believe it or not. I could live with the sneaky piecing in the back of the lowest tier, and the pointy button loops, and the missing-lining-fabric-excursion, but only after assembling the dress (by which I mean endless nights of gathering) did I notice a hole and a rip about an inch long, damage from the tagging by St-Pierre in the warehouse, smack in the center front of the upper tier.  Had I examined the fabric before cutting, these tears would have been relegated to the back of the bottom tier or left altogether on the cutting room floor.

Well, I'd had it by then—well past cursing. This whole Pink-Dress-of-Spring-Thing had taken up weeks of my time and spring 2021 was well over! So I just finely machine-seamed these two tears closed and hoped for the best, ironing them as flat as possible. Luckily wrinkly crepe takes an iron well. Can you find them now? I can't— and I'm wearing the damn thing.

But let's be frank. There is a Sad Sack thing going on with this Burda model on me. Notice the lighter fabric on the Burda girl doesn't pull down the Empire waistline like my viscose crepe does. Short of a seabreeze on a terrace in an Italian hotel at sunset, I feel more 'muumuu' than buffet. But before I bin it, I think perhaps I'll raise the hem a few inches and sit on a jungle tree stump in heels like the lady above. Or at least give it a straw hat and some higher wedge sandals...and a cocktail.








 

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