Long Vest - Refashioned From Oversize Coat.

Hello fellow sewists, showing you the refashioned garment for my entry to "Frumpy to Fabulous" February - #magamsewalong challenge. Saddly Sarah Liz is no longer hosting the challenge after some years supporting us to make something we really need. But glad that #magamsewalong will continue and we have three lovely ladies hosting the challenge (Sue, Helene and Suzy) 💗

February was a short month and I had limited time to sew, only in 25th I decided that I should refashion my oversize coat into a vest to participate the challenge. Hoping that I will wear the vest more often.

I made the coat in January 2017, pattern  Burdastyle Oversize Coat 08/2014 using wool blend in greyish green colour with silk lining. It was a lot of work, especially to sew the lapels and lining - detail here. But in the end, I don't wear this coat often. It was too long and unpractical, also don't look good in my petite figure. 

My vest inspiration: Olivia Palermo, picture credited to Style Bistro.

The process of refashion started with cut the sleeves, shorten the length, removed in-seam pockets and back vent which in the end I found a big hole at the lining after back vent removed 😃 I have to cover the lining with the same fabric from the sleeve and glad it was in the back and no one will notice.

I was thinking to finish the armhole with hand-sewn the wool and lining together but it wasn't looking good. Then I used bias tape band from stash in almost same colour, pinned and sewed right sides together and hand-sewn to the lining fabric. Love the final armhole, even the hole was too big for my liking but I will be okay as I will wear this vest over t-shirt.

Here is the closer look of the back side where I removed the vent. I sewed the center back until the hem and cut the leftover wool fabric. Pressed with iron but still can see the marking of the previous vent 😕

And here is the look of the lining after the hole (from removed vent) covered with the same fabric. It looks tidy and nobody noticed except me 😄

I added the patch pockets with flaps, I used the fabrics from the sleeves. I changed the buttons and snaps to smaller size compared with the original coat and decided to put three rows instead of two.

Also, I raised the finished lapels because the previous one looks too low and don't suit me.

That's it for today, happy weekend and happy sewing to you all 💗

Farrow Rib Scarf - 2019 Make Nine

Hello, I finished my first project for 2019 Make Nine "Farrow Rib Scarf" faster than expected. Free pattern found on Ravelry. But before I write more about the scarf, I'd love to show you my official plans for Make Nine this year.
This challenge is very popular in Instagram hosted by Rochelle New and I decided to make basic wears and accessories to cover the hole in my winter wardrobe. Also, I want to use yarns and fabrics from my stash but in the end I have to buy the missing yarn for the sweater because I didn't have enough.
All my fabrics and yarns choices are posted here.

About the scarf, I was working on a simple scarf for DS using this deep blue new wool + acrylic yarn but I gave up and unravel the yarn because he didn't like it. After I unravelled, I use the yarn and two more balls from stash to make a scarf for me 😁

Pattern detail: Farrow Rib Scarf by Claudia Krisniski - free pattern found in Ravelry.
Yarn: Lana Liza 6 ply yarn, 40% new wool 60% acrylic. I used 3 balls in deep blue shade (120 m / 50 grams each).
The process of knitting this scarf was enjoyable, I liked the stitches very much and they weren't curling.
I started with cast on 43 stitches (multiple of 3+1) on 4.5 mm circular needle.

After I had enough length, I bind-off in rib and decided to add fringe. I followed tutorial from Very Pink Knits, I like the final result and the process of adding the fringe wasn't difficult.

And here is the whole look of my new scarf, size approximately 148 cm long x 15 cm wide, it's long enough to wrap around my neck to keep me warm in cooler weather.

As the weather is getting hot here in my place, I decided to show you the scarf on Ellie my dress-form. The white tee is me-made, pattern I used from Sew Your Own Active Wear book by Melissa Fehr. I made some and will write a blog post about them later.

That's it for now, happy knitting/sewing lovelies 💕

Draped Jersey Shirt

Hi fellow sewists, here is my first garment of 2019! A jersey shirt based on Burdastyle Draped Jersey Shirt 09/2018. This shirt is my entry to January's #magamsewalong with theme "Joy" and also I've chosen my theme of the year "stashbusting".
So, this month I chose a bright pink jersey fabric from stash and pink is a happy colour to me 😊

I was a little bit worry after reading some reviews from sewing friends in Instagram, they had trouble with this pattern especially with the instruction how to attach the wrap. And I felt the same, I got confused with cutting the front piece - lower edge on the self facing right side. I cut mine as the instruction said but then I had no idea how to continue 😬 After all, I cover the fabric that I cut with fusible interfacing and stitch it with zig-zag and continue attaching the wrap with my self-taught.
Also, I made full arm adjustment and shorten the bodices 7 cm and sleeves 5 cm.

Here are more progress after I attached the bodice and collar. On the left side below is the wrong side of the shirt, you can see the folded fabric from the wrap. I didn't like the messy look of the wrong side but glad I managed to solved the wrap issue.

The final shirt looks lovely on Ellie my dress-form.

After I saw this picture, I realised that I have to make some adjustments on the back area when I make this blouse again. There are excess fabric on the waist up to the armhole.

I'm liking the side view from this shirt and the wrap closed properly and tight.

That's it for today, happy sewing!

2018 Make Nine Round Up

Happy New Year 2019 to all fellow sewists and followers.

I've been away for a while, busy with a lot of good things but still sewing and knitting. Hope all of you had a lovely time as much as I did.
And today, I decided to share my 2018 Make Nine round up. I didn't complete the nine garments that I was planning but glad I finished six garments and one in progress.

1). Hand-knitted Cardigan.
Pattern: free pattern from Estuary Berroco  and I used wool yarns in deep blue colours from stash, the original pattern has colour-block, buttons and buttonholes but I decided to skip them. You can find more details of this v-neck cardigan in my previous post

2). Burdastyle Bomber Jacket.
For this jacket I used knit fabric in Dahlia print and lightweight brown knit as lining and the pattern was Burdastyle Double Button Bomber Jacket What I really liked about this jacket was the welt pocket, you can find more about this on my previous post ~ here ~

3). Green Scarf.
Pattern: One Skein Wonder by Amanda Woeger - found this free pattern on ravelry. For the yarn, I used three skeins (150 gr) of very soft wool + acrylic yarn.

I didn't write a blog post about this scarf but I posted my progress in My Instagram and here are the collage of the progress. Funny to see that my final scarf was looking different from the original scarf but I loved it and wore it some times in cooler weather.

4). Floral Marua Tunic Dress.
My plan was to make a simple shift dress from My Image pattern S1034 but it didn't turn out well, so I changed to tunic dress S1033. Fabric was medium weight knit in purple floral with black background.
I didn't write a blog post about this dress but you can find my other dress based on the same pattern ~ here ~

5). Colour-block Sweater
I was having fun knitting this sweater because the yarn was so soft and pleasant. Pattern I used: All Free Knitting Favorite Fashion Sweater and used wool+acrylic yarns in two colours (baby blue and off-white.

I used smaller sizes of needles and adjusted the gauge. I didn't write a blog post as well but published my process on my Instagram and here are the collage:

6). Hand-knitted Socks.
The original pattern of these socks are sneaker socks, free pattern from Haalu The Ugly Bunny Haalu Sneaker Socks I decided to lengthen the leg and used smaller heel. Yarn I used: Opal socks yarn that I bought during my trip to Japan in summer. Really love this yarn, soft and colourful.

Here are my knitting progress, it was fun and finished faster than I expected.

That's it for today and I will publish my 2019 Make Nine plans over my Instagram in the next few days.

Happy Sewing!

Boucle Jacket And High Neck Top

Hi fellow sewists, I mentioned in my Instagram post two weeks ago that I finished the boucle jacket but I postponed my blog post because I wanted to make a new high neck top to wear with it as the model wearing in the picture below. Both garments are my entry to #magamsewalong October and November "Seasonal Stashbuster" hosted by Sarah Liz.

The boucle and brown colour silk satin lining fabrics were inside stash for ages and I bought the grey knit jersey last year.

The jacket pattern is Burdastyle Boucle Jacket 08/2016 - 114 size 36. I wanted to make this jacket for a long time but always delayed with other garments, so it was a relief to make it and will wear it soon in the cooler weather.

The sewing process took longer than my other jackets and I didn't make a muslin because the jacket has boxy and drop shoulder style.
The tartan was a pain to match and I decided to use different direction for the flap and welt band piece. I like the result and less time consuming as I don't need to worry with pattern matching in this small areas.
I was a little confused with the welt pocket instruction but glad I found an easy video tutorial how to sew a welt pocket with flap in YouTube. I just follow the welt pocket and skip the flap. Here the link if you are interested.
My pocket flap sewn separately little bit on top of the welt as the fabric was too thick.

The pocket bag was very simple rectangular shape, I used the same fabric as lining.
I sewed the lining separately and then attached to the jacket. I used sewing machine to sew most of the lining to the bodice and hand sewn a little hole after all the process done.

Overall the final jacket is lovely and cosy, I like the boxy shape and drop shoulder style. The armhole area just perfect and I just shorten the sleeve 6.5 cm.

The back finished with big belt sewn directly on both sides. I was so surprised that the side belt pieces were too long for me, so I cut 8 cm but the middle belt piece stayed the same.

For the high neck top, I used basic close fitting top block pattern from Sew Your Own Active Wear book by  Melissa Fehr and I added high neck band (as shown in one of the top pattern variations).
This high neck tee is my first garment for November's Magamsewalong, I was planning to make four tees based on the same pattern and used fabric from stash. And I will show you all the finished tees later.

That's it for today post, hope you have a lovely Sunday 💗