My Summer Green Blues Aquarelle Flower Tunic Dress

When I saw this fabric in a Slovenian online shop https://www.liupka.com/ I just had to buy it even though it wasn't discounted. I usually look for special offers because I have tons of fabric at home. I love these blue green flowers, it reminds me of summertime. 

I got 1.4 m for 14.78 EUR (10.56 EUR per meter)  and I got 2 garments out of it! Can you imagine? I'll show you my other top very soon. Not bad. Very cheap. And the fabric is so beautiful in my opinion.

I decided to make this Burda dress from Burda 7/ 2023; model 119, size 40 because it is a simple and fast project. It is great for a busy pattern like this. I wear it as a tunic dress over my jeans. Street elegance, that's what I like.

The changes I have made:

- obviously I have changed the neckline; it seemed too high up for me, so I kept making it deeper (I had no feeling what would look good) and I was just lucky that it ended up just right, almost too low, but not really.

- I have shortened the bottom of the dress for 8 cm (64 - 8 = 56 - another 3 cm) and it was still too long; then I cut another 3 cm at the bottom and ! HA! can you imagine: this band was just the exact length and width to use it for the neckline finish. Wow! Pure luck! You cut it away at one place and use it somewhere else where you need it. I'm not sure what's the original finish of the neckline but I did it like this. I used twin needle and then I just sewed another straight stitch near the neck band. Actually my first finish of the neckline was horrible - wonky, so this is my second finish. Yeah, if something bothers you just unpick the seams and correct it. I have worn some of my garments for 12 years or more. It's worth that extra effort to correct your mistake

- I added only 1 cm of seam allowance; and my mistake: I didn't add anything at the back neckline because I knew I will make this finish BUT the back is just to low. My bra is showing and I really hate this. I work at a primary school and I'm 45 years old I really dislike showing my undergarment, it's not esthetic.

My mistake: the bra is showing, ugh!

So my solution is instant, I just tuck a bit of fabric over my bra, it works for a short time.

Oh, yeah, I added the back ties. At the moment they are sewed on by hand and I just picked up some of my daughters' beads and put it on randomly - it works OK. I guess I do alot of improvising, I mean I think carefully about certain things but I also go with the flow. Maybe I should take them off because the neckline is beautiful without them. Now it looks stretched.

Oh, I should cut the back part as 2 pieces but I forgot, so before I finished the back neckline I just cut a couple of centimetres down the middle of the back and sewed it as a dart. It's not bad. When I make a garment for the first time (even if it's very simple) I never know the exact procedure, I always learn as I go.

 

It's a great pattern, it fits nicely, don't make the back neckline too low. Maybe I'll publish my modified neckline here as a PDF- document.

My Chanel-inspired bell-sleeve boucle top

I wanted to to do bell sleeves in a top and I wanted to have a boucle top because it looks so fancy and sophisticated. So this is what I made last year in May (for my son's First Communion). And I did my signature style - a chiffon ribbon down my back. Just an extra touch when you turn your back for others to see.

Honestly, boucle fabric is really elegant. I should take photos and showcase my collection of garments made from boucle fabric, if I think carefully I have (I had) about 5 pieces (hmm ?!) to show. It's not a lot but I regularly come back to boucle (pink, black'n white, mustard, blue). It can be a difficult fabric to sew because when you cut pattern pieces they start falling apart so you have to serge them fast.

I took pattern from Burda 7/ 1994, size 40; mod. 113; a simple T-shirt pattern but if done in a beautiful fabric it is elevated from simple to beautiful. I think that the neckline is too wide and deep so I could make it narrower but I forgot to do that. I changed the opening to a side invisible zipper. I made front and back darts to make it fitter.

I would love to make a skirt to go with it but I don't want to look old or older. I hope I won't look like and old lady in this. I have grey hair so ... 

I bought the fabric in this online shop (it's Croatian): https://mattex.hr/
I don't know how much it cost me but I took everything they had - maybe 3 m or 3.6 m of this fabric - I'm not sure. When you see a nice boucle fabric for a decent price just take a lot of it, don't skimp.

Oh, and I love my new sandals. I got them from Spartoo, they are Pikolinos (a Spanish brand) and worth their money - 119 EUR. They are made of real leather, golden and very soft to wear. I'm a very thrifty person because I plan to use them for trousers, shorts (bermudas) and, of course, for dresses - one for all.

My aquarelle spring-time blouse

I actually made this blouse around Christmas time. I love this fabric. It reminds me of aquarelle = watercolour technique. I love bold colours.

I bought it online in Driessen Stoffen https://driessenstoffen.nl/de/ . It's 100% viscose. It cost me 7.90 EUR for 2 m of fabric (so 3.95 EUR for 1 m of fabric).

It is a very busy pattern so I wanted to make something between a dress - a tunic and a shirt. So I made this pattern from Burda 1/ 2008; mod. 125, size 40.

I have mixed feelings about it. The frill/ ruffle stands a bit weirdly. I'm not sure if it fits my body nicely because it is not a dress (it's too short for a dress) but it's too long for a shirt/ blouse.

I took the sleeves from this blouse Burda 10/ 2023, mod. 101, size 40.

I always prefer a stand-up collar because I just don't like standard shirt collars. And I think that there is less work for this kind of collar.

I was scared of buttonholes as usual. But my machine Elna excellence 680 is quite good. I used just four buttons (2 white, 2 yellow) because it was difficult to find any at home. 

Well, I tried something new. I love viscose fabric but I hate ironing.

The ruffle is a bit weird in my opinion: at some places it stands up, then it almost falls down. I tried ironing it up, then down, then up again. I can't decide and it looks like it can't decide how to stand either. I might just sew another row of stitches around the existing one - to keep the frill up. 

I like trying out different Burda patterns - I think I have around 500 burda magazines - I don't dare to count them. I have (almost) all from 1992 up to now. And a couple of them from earlier years. I have also some special Burda editions and some Diana Moden and Nahtrends. Oh, and some La Mia Boutique Magazines (Italian). It's fun to go back in time. The magazines were different in the past than they are now. 

Some pictures of the process: