Laura: Burda Jacket

Hi everyone I've not posted anything in such a long time now. I have been making plenty its the writing part I find difficult, So this is the first of hopefully a lot of posts of what i've been busy making.

This is my version of the Burda Jacket pattern.(Bridie made one from the same pattern late last year) I chose to make the boxy jacket out of the two, which turns out boxy doesn't suit me so I ended up making it fitted by putting darts and more seams in.

I made the bottom one. (photo stolen from Bridie sorry)

The pattern was nice to work with very simple instructions, I'd say one for a beginner. I altered the pattern quite a bit actually, I made the sleeves puffed and 3/4 added bust darts and seams in the front and back to reduced the bulk to it and make it fitted. I made the collar all in one and missed out the collar stand (my attempt at making it casual)

So the first photo I took was of the jacket bodice made up. The fabric I used was white cotton with a faint white swirl pattern, which you can only see when close up.

The collar top stitched on without the stand. (looks a bit dirty in this picture but I assure you its not)

I then top stitched the patch pockets on, i'm loving top stitching recently. I then set to work on the sleeves which I altered so that they were slighty puffed & now 3/4 length

Setting the sleeve in is pretty fiddly 

And finally the hem, which I ended up machine stitching because my hand stitching is just awful.

so here it is the finished jacket it looks so much better on...

See I told you looks better on, Styled with a pair of dark skinny jeans, black vest top and leopard print heels and done.

This photo just shows how long ago I made this for 3 reasons;

1, I  have a tan because it was summer then

2, I have a fringe which has now grown out which I am now tempted to put back in.

3, I no longer have that phone in fact I upgraded it in September

I promise I won't be this lazy in writing up posts in the future.

If you fancy making this jacket Or the one Bridie made the pattern is from

http://thepatternpages.com

Thank you for reading 

xx

Bridie: White Tree Fabrics Pretty Pajamas Part 1

So these have been a long time in the making, I decided my first project as part of the White Tree Blogging Group would be to make some Pajamas as I'd never made anything like this before! Needless to say life has gotten in the way of me making them until recently. That is the only downside to the challenge, when your jeans get holes in them and you need to make a new outfit, that comes before pretty pajamas that I defiantly shouldn't go outside the house in!

     The pattern I picked was Vogue 7837 I loved design and the amount of options available to make. The pattern gives you a few fabric suggestions but decided to go with Crepe Back Satin after receiving some samples from White Tree and liking the quality and feel of them. I was in two minds between the royal blue and navy or the peach and white. In the end I went for the Peach and White, I thought the blues would was me out. I also had some cream vintage lace trim that would work really well with the Peach!  

I decided to make shorts and cropped top first I'm not sure why I just thought they looked really pretty and a far cry from the flannel pajamas or huge T shirt I'm used to!   

I read through the instructions a couple of times and found them easy to follow, I'm dyslexic so always appreciate clear diagrams! I also liked the fact that the lay plans use up all the material with little wastage.

So here we go, I'd not used Crepe Back Satin before so wasn't too sure how it would handle but I didn't have any issues cutting it out. This might be because I pinned the pattern pieces to the wrong side (its not silky so didn't slip when cutting) of the fabric.

I decided to use a french seam on the side seams and shoulder seams this isn't in the instructions but I don't have an overlocker and wanted a neat finish plus I do love a french seam! They look really professional but are really super easy once you know how!

Then came the binding, now I won't lie bias binding in Crepe Back Satin is a slippery sucker that does not want to do as it's told, but be patient it's worth it I promise. You'll need a lot of pins to! 

Then came the finishing touch of the lovely vintage lace trim lace which was a lot easier to apply then I thought it would be! You pin it to the right side of the fabric, sew it in place then cut away the excess fabric underneath. I am glad i picked a lace trim with a straight edge though it did make life simpler! 

Top done and I have to say I was pretty pleased with it!

Then came the bottoms, which have no binding so were so much quicker to make! Like the top I french seamed the side seams but couldn't use a french seam in the crouch seam ( I wish you could use french seams every every where but sadly you can't ) so used my pinking sheers instead.

The waist band was simple enough to! That is until it came to threading my elastic through, I had made the waistband a little narrow so it took some serious, pulling and wiggling along with a lot of perseverance to get the elastic through but I got there in the end!  

The final finishing touch was the lace trim, I had run out of the lace trim from the top but found some that was a pretty much spot on colour match, just a little narrower but I think that works well on the shorts!

So these are my pretty pajamas all finished and I'm really happy with them! I would usually post a pic of me modeling them but I'm not that brave this time! I will say they look lovely on! 

I'm going to be making another set soon with the longer pajama bottoms in white so I can mix and match so keep an eye out for those.

Hope you enjoyed my post and here's a little something for you.

20% off and free P&P when you order from

www.whitetreefabrics.com

Just enter the code 

SIY challenge

Happy sewing folks x