le mani d'oro

After my winter coat, what am I working on

2012-01-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

I finished my Burda 8017 winter coat and I love the final result. I should be posting picture of me wearing really soon.

Today, is a fun day designing a dress that will be done in wool jersey. It is inspired of those two wonderful Marie Saint-Pierre creations.

1) this dress I have already spoke about in this blog from the winter 2008-2009 collection

and

2) this dress part of the Spring 2012 collection.

It will be cut in the next hour or so. ahhh pleasure in creating the clothes I want !!

It is almost done - Il est presque terminé

2011-12-28T16:01:00.000-05:00

For the past 3 weeks, I was busy getting everything ready for Christmas (that means rushing to have 3 muslins done for my little sister). Now that all parties are over... well until new year's eve, I can sew a little for me.

This is what my Burda 8017 coat looks like today. I simply have to attach the lining and sew the oversize snaps. After that, I will enjoy !

Comme j'ai consacré les trois derniers semaines aux préparatifs de Noël, j'ai peu cousu pour moi. J'ai prix le temps de monter 3 toiles pour ma petite soeur et aujourd'hui, j'avance mon manteau. Il ne me reste qu'à coudre la doublure au manteau et à installer les boutons pressions géants. Ensuite, j'aurai un nouveau compagnon pour l'hiver. J'ai très hâte !!

A beauty from the 1950's - Une beauté des années 1950

2011-12-05T21:49:00.000-05:00

As much as I can, I try to stay away from Ebay, Etsy and other websites where I can buy vintage patterns. Most of the ones I already bought are A line dresses I might sew one day.

The other day I succumbed to temptation and I bought nothing less than the coat pattern of my dreams. The ample skirt, the collar, the fitted body, the large shaped patch pockets... ahh (big sigh) it was love at first site. It took me 3 hours to decide if I would bet on it (I bought it on Ebay) and 24 hours to decide how much I was willing to pay for this pattern. I put a crazy amount of money on the table (well crazy for me which is not necessarily crazy for you). Oh was I ever stressed when I saw that I had won the item and Ha! was I ever relieved when I saw that I got it for less that I thought. In brief this is probably the pattern that brought me the largest amount of emotions... and I did not even start sewing it.

Today I received the beast by registered mail. Though I had to pay customs over it, I still think this was worth it.

The first thing I did was to check out the pieces.

But before I say anything about the pieces, have you ever had a pattern from the 1950's in your hands? Well this was my first time ever.

My biggest surprise: "There is nothing written on the pattern!!" Nothing, zip nothing no number of piece, no quantity for cutting, no grain line... a piece of tissue paper with not indication, only little holes here and there. By chance the piece where already cut in the right shape. After relaxing a bit, I realized that the name of the pattern is indicated on each piece... No, not will invisible ink put with perforations. The name is written in "inverse braille" ;-). The notches are there as well and I found later that the grain line is indicated in the instruction sheets. Am I ready to start the project?! Not that fast, I have to finish my orange coat (which is almost finished) and to sew the toreador pants. Something is clear for me. I want it of Christmas 2012.

Français
Bien sincèrement, je résiste de toutes mes forces l'envie de trainer sur des sites comme Ebay ou Etsy, où l'on trouve à profusion des patrons vintages. De temps à autres, je me laisse tenter par une robe des années 60, dont la ligne franchement A me rappelle les robes que portait ma mère durant ma tendre enfance. Ahh les années à gogo. (je suis née à la toute fin des années 1960, vraiment la toute fin ;-)

L'autre jour, j'ai comis l'erreur de chercher un patron introuvable sur Ebay et de tomber sur ce patron de manteau. Ahh là, je suis restée de longues, longues minutes à le regarder. Je venais tout simplement de trouver le patron du manteau de mes rêves. Tout me plaît dans ce patron: la jupe ample, le haut ajusté, les poches plaquées en triangle, le col, la longeur parfaite, tout, tout, tout. Et bien c'était le coup de foudre, j'ai tout de même réfléchis pendant 3 hours avant de miser et 24 hours avant de déterminer la somme folle maximale que j'était prête à mettre sur la table pour l'obtenir. 2 jours plus tard, je note que j'ai gagné le lot ! Ah ciel, quelle folle dépense (toute chose étant relative)! Oh merci la vie ! Les enchères se sont arrêtés nettement sous la somme maximale misée. J'étais soulagée.

Deux semaines plus tard, je mets finalement la main sur ce petit bijou de patron. Je ne sais pas si vous avez déjà vu et manipulé un patron des années 1950, mais il n'y a rien d'écrit dessus... rien, rien, rien, ni le droit fil, ni le numéro de la pièce, ni combien vous devez en couper. Heuu, je me suis sérieusement grattée la tête à savoir comment j'allais monter cet adorable vêtement. J'ai finalement découvert que le nom des pièces est perforé sur chacune d'elle. ouf, ouf, ouf ! J'ai ensuite trouvé que le droit fil est indiqué sur les feuilles d'instructions.

Je suis prête à concevoir un nouveau projet... humm avant, je dois terminer mon manteau orange brûlé et faire mon pantalon toréador. Après ce manteau ?! Je ne sais pas. Chose certaine, je le veux pour Noël 2012. Cela me semble réaliste puisque je dois l'agrandir et l'ajuster à la perfection.

Here is the back of the envelop.

Have you ever worked with a pattern from the 1950's - Avez-vous déjà cousu avec un patron des années 1950?

En admiration devant le travail de Paco Peralta

2011-11-27T12:08:00.000-05:00

Photo par Vera Ciria voir l'excellent article sur son blog

All apologies, this post is only in French. Click here for English.
Aqui para Castillano

Il y a de ça quelques années, en lisant le Blog de Laura Lo, je suis tombée sur une référence au travail de Paco Peralta. Une référence à sa technique de réalisation des boutonnières fait-main pour être plus précise. Dès les premiers instants, j'ai été impressionnée par la qualité de son travail, l'angle de ses photos toujours impeccable et bien sûr la grande beauté de ses créations.

Moi qui ai peine à dessiner mes idées, je ne pouvais être qu'admirative devant ses croquis. Je me rappelle particulièrement de ceux-ci:

Robe gitane Paco Perlata

Robe de soie signée Paco Perlata

Comment ne par être admirative devant tant de talent, de créativité et devant ce coup de crayon parfait. Depuis la fin de 2007, je suis attentivement tous les messages qu'il met en ligne sur son Blog. De la robe de soirée, au costume pour le boulot, en passant pas le pantalon impeccable et la robe de mariée, toutes, toutes, toutes ses créations demeurent à mes yeux des pièces magnifiques.

Outre ce talent et cette dextérité, il y aussi chez Paco une grande générosité. Dans d'autre domaine comme la photographie par exemple, vous tomberez rarement sur un pro en pleine carrière qui daigne livrer ses secrets... À moins qu'il ne soit payé grassement pour le faire. Je ne pouvais en croire mes yeux, Paco nous livrait ses secrets en ligne, à nous toutes avides de manier plus habilement l'étoffe et le fil.

Ainsi d'articles en commentaires, j'ai noué une amitié virtuel avec ce modiste pas ordinaire. Et puis, en gagnant un ami, je gagnais aussi une amie la belle Isabel, la soeur de Paco que vous avez sûrement vu jouant les mannequins sur son Blog.

Alors que je visitais Barcelone en mars 2011, j'ai pu finalement serrer la pince et faire la bise à mes deux nouveaux amis espagnols. Ils ont eu la grande patience d'écouter mon espéranto... quel charabia quand j'essaie de parler espagnol. ;-) Nous avons mangé, ri et conversé à plein. Je suis revenue au Québec avec des patrons, du tissu, des images magnifiques de la ville et deux nouvelles amitiés. Quel voyage fantastique!!

En touchant et en regardant de près les vêtements de ses clientes, je n'ai pu résisté l'envie d'en avoir un ou deux dans ma garde robe. Ainsi en troquant un peu, j'ai aussi eu l'immense privilège de recevoir par la suite deux vêtements signés Paco Perlata Barcelona. Oh la la, chaque fois que je les porte, les gens m'arrêtent sur la rue pour me complimenter.

Il y a eu tout d'abord la veste magnifique...

Veste Paco Peralta

Et ensuite le haut en organza de soie

Je crois que Paco ne peut pas mesurer l'étendue de mon bonheur lorsque je porte et admire ses deux pièces de vêtements. Rarement dans ma vie j'aurai la chance de porter pareils vêtements dessinés et confectionnés par un pro de la haute couture, juste pour moi. Ces deux vêtements et surtout la rencontre avec la famille Peralta demeurent un événement pour moi.

Depuis plusieurs mois, une collection de patrons en vente sur Etsy s'est ajoutée aux créations de Paco. Voici ceux que j'ai reçus en cadeau ou achetés:

Patron de tunique

Patron de haut gratuit à l'achat d'un autre patron

Ensemble haut, veste et jupe circulaire

Patron de veste

Jupe circulaire

Jupe portefeuille à la Yves Saint-Laurent

Patron de manteau

Patron de manteau léger

J'ai aussi reçu trois magnifiques cadeaux, soit le patron de ma vesteconfectionnée par Paco, du haut en organza de soie illustré ci-dessus et unpatron de pantalon de toréador.

Ce dernier patron sera sûrement la premier réalisé dans cette série.

Comme je le disais plus tôt, Paco je suis totalement charmée et en admiration devant ton travail... Merci de ton amitié, de ton talent et de ta générosité.

besos di Montreal para ti y Isabel

Anne-Marie

I will love that coat! - Je sens qu'il me plaira ce manteau

2011-11-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

Marking is a long process, but it always pays

It is rare that I sew at night during the week. I am am always afraid of making mistakes when I am tired. The only exception is cutting fabric. I takes less skills but still the same level of concentration. Plus the sound of the scissors on the table is relaxing and zen, it is great before going bed... but still it does not put me to bed. ;-)

Il est rare pour moi de coudre le soir la semaine. J'ai toujours peur de faire une erreur stupide et irréversible. La seule étape qui fait exception demeure celle de la coupe des pièces du vêtement. La coupe demande moins d'habilité que d'autres étapes, mais autant de concentration. Le bruit des ciseaux sur la table est relaxant et zen... C'est parfait avant d'aller au lit, sans pour autant m'endormir. Il ne faut pas mélanger les deux.

One other step that pleases me greatly is the marking step. It is often perceived as being boring. In my opinion it is so essential in order to have a strait and balanced garment. I feel more secure when I mark the important lines (centre front, centre back, waist line, bust level etc.). For this coat pattern the placement lines on the bottom part require to be well traced, or else I will not be able to superimposed the top part at the right place These days I am reading Claire Shaeffer's books on Couture techniques. The next marking I will be doing is marking the seam lines, to achieve a more couture result.

L'autre étape que je trouve cruciale demeure celle du marquage des pièces de patrons. Je le fais avec patience et application. Je considère ce marquage comme essentiel à la réalisation d'un vêtement droit et bien balancé. En fait, je me sens à l’abri de certaines erreurs lorsque je marque le plus de lignes importantes possibles, comme le centre dos, le centre devant, la ligne de taille ou la hauteur du buste. Pour ce patron, les lignes les plus importantes à marquer sont sans contredit les lignes de placement de la partie supérieure sur le bas. Sans cela, je ne vois pas comment on peut réaliser un vêtement réussi. Ces jours-ci, je lis l'ouvrage de Claire Shaeffer sur les techniques de haute couture. Le prochaine type de marquage que j'expérimenterai, c'est celui des lignes de couture afin d'obtenir un résultat vraiment couture.

Since this coat is made in a top and bottom part sewn together, it is not a mistake if it looks short at this step. I am starting all the pad stitching required to get a perfectly and softly rolling collar.

I don't know if you notice, but I cut the size 36 and it fits much, much better.

Comme ce manteau se compose d'un partie supérieure et d'une partie inférieure, il est normal que le manteau soit encore court à cette étape-ci. Maintenant, j'entame le montage du col avec tous les points tailleurs nécessaires à l'obtention d'un col roulant avec souplesse et perfection.

Je ne sais pas si vous pouvez remarquer la différence de taille, mais j'ai taillé le 36. Je trouve l'ajustement beaucoup plus en lien avec mes objectifs.

_________

What I like about that future coat: the colour and the sofness of the wool .

Ce que j'aime de ce futur manteau, la couleur et la texture merveilleuse de cette laine.

Burda 8017 - I can lift my arm ! Un manteau Burda confortable

2011-11-13T21:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the closed eyes... I thought it was cute any way so here it is

You see I can lift my arm and the coat reacts well. You probably wonder why I am writing this. My friend Kay, the famous Sewing Lawyer (her sewing blog is wonderful), had a real Burda coat gate with their pattern #7731. While trying on her almost finished coat, she realized that she was not able to lift her arm because of the very low armhole. If you look at the picture, you will agree with me that the muslin does not look very comfortable. If you want to read about the entire saga on her blog click here

The burda 7731 gate ;-) the Sewing Lawyer had problems with a coat pattern

Français
Quel soulagement de pouvoir lever mon bras. Après la lutte acharnée de mon amie Kay (The Sewing Lawyer) avec le patron de manteau Burda 7731, j'avais vraiment peur de me retrouver avec un patron mignon, mais non fonctionnel. Ouf, le manteau possède une emmanchure dont la profondeur laisse toute liberté aux mouvements vers le haut. Vous m'en voyez soulagée. Alors j'aime ou j'aime pas ? Voici la suite des photos:

I like or I do not like? Here are the other pictures DH took today.

This pattern is very loose fitting. Burda calls it loose fitting, I think that the word very needs necessarily to be added... The is boxy (this is what I was looking for) and it flares a little toward the bottom of the garment. See the line drawing here.


Line drawing Burda 8017 click to blow

The front and the side fitting are ok. Not more than ok. On those pictures, I am not wearing a jacket, like I will when I go to the office and I did not put the small raglan shoulder pads that I will use. But still.. L'ajustement du devant et la vue de côté me conviennent. La coupe très ample doit pouvoir prendre des petites épaulettes raglan ainsi que les vestes que je porte pour le travail. Lorsqu'il fait très froid, je porte aussi une veste de duvet mince et sans manche. Il peut faire vraiment froid au Québec!!

The pictures that is the most eloquent on the fact that I find this muslin a bit too big is this one:

La photo qui met le mieux en relief le petit côté trop grand de cette toile est sans doute celle-ci:

I cut the size 38, when my regular size in Burda is 36. My choice was based on a MAX MARA coat I have at home that I thought fitted nicely. The back pictures chose two zone where the extra ease is giving a bad look. It seams like I am wearing my dad's coat, which is not the look I want. If you look at Burda's picture, you might come to the same conclusion then me: I will cut the size smaller.

J'ai taillé le 38 quand je porte habituellement du 36 avec les patrons Burda (pochette ou magazine). J'avais basé ma décision sur les mesures d'un manteau MAX MARA que j'adore. Ce manteau a des manches kimonos avec soufflet et la coupe est plus droite. L'ajutement est très bien. Toutefois, la présente toile me donne l'impression de porter le manteau de mon père. Humm ce n'est pas ce que je cherchais. Si vous regardez à nouveau la photo de la pochette vous arriverez peut être à la même conclusion que moi: je taille le 36.

What do you think? - Qu'en pensez-vous ?

Ego trip - Quand l'égo prend trop de place

2011-11-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

The oaks in front of my flat

Aujourd'hui je pensais travailler sur mon manteau orange, mais il fait si beau que j'irai à vélo. Il a sûrement un petit 60km de bonheur sur deux roues disponible pour moi. Je ferai de la couture plus tard quand le soleil sera moins chaud. Il annonce 10oC comme température maximale.

I had originally planned on sewing today, but the weather is so nice. I am riding my bicycle for a little 60 km. I will have time after to sew.

The view from my living room window - I love the colour it gives to the light

Avant de me coucher hier, j'en ai profiter pour m'inspirer en admirant les créations de grands designer, je suis tombée sur ces clichés de Giorgio Armani.

Before going to be last night, I took a little to get inspired by the designers creations on Style.com. I save those looks from Giorgio Armani.

Tout d'abord, j'adore cette veste aux lignes simples et pures. Mes amies vous diraient sûrement qu'elles reconnaissent mon type de vêtements préférés. Le tissu est totalement renverssant. Je serai scurieuse d'y toucher.

First I stopped to admire this simple chic jacket with pure lines. It made me sigh of envy. My friends would tell you that they recognize clothes I have had previously... oh well... The fabric look like an enchantment. The skirt ? Not for me.

Giorgio Armani Automne-Hiver 2011-2012

Ensuite, je me suis mise à imaginer des solutions maison pour me confectionner ce haut. J'ai un tricot un peu special et texturé de chez Emma One Sock qui agencé à un elastique lustré pour finir l'encolure, les manche et le bas donnerai un effet vraiment super. La jupe est trop large, mais le mélange des deux tissus m'intéresse. J'ai assez de laine noir poilue pour me fair une jupe amusante dans le même esprit.

Then, I started imagining how I could create a top with the same spirit as this one. I think I have a knit form Emma One Sock that could work. By adding a neat elastic at the neck opening as well as the sleeve and bottom hem, it could work out. For the skirt. it is a bit too large, but I have the perfect wool to play with and create an interesting skirt.

Giorgio Armani collection Automne-Hiver 2011-2012

Voici la photo du tricot noir en question

Here is the picture of the black knit I am talking about.

Le dernier ensemble qui a attiré mon attention est celui-ci. La ligne de la tunique est superbe et le pantalon de velour de rayonne, rayonne vraiement. Mais le motif de la tunique NON, NON, NON... quel excès de narcissisme. Je ne peux pas. S'il avait mis la tête d'un grand acteur italien disparu, OUI, mais la sienne, NON !!! Changeons la photo pour celle de Vittorio Gassman.

The last look that caught my attention was this one. The line of the tunic - perfect, the pants in rayon velvet - perfect, the sandals - perfect, but the print of the tunic, NO' NO' NO'. In what Ego Trip is he ?? He could have use the picture of Vittorio Gassman for example, but his NO, NO, NO.

The Frankenstein dress was ready for Halloween - La robe Frankenstein un soir d'halloween

2011-11-01T22:01:00.002-04:00

I finished my dress last week on time for a Gala night for students (I work in a university). A group of students from the faculty where I work won the second price in their category. It was a great night.

This dress is up to all my expectations. It is soft (the knit is made of wool, silk, cashmere and a bit of cotton), light, very comfortable and supposedly elegant if I believe the colleagues and friend who complemented me. I like the fit as well. My pattern is exactly like I wanted it. The only thing I do not like, it is the fact that I did not leave it enough time on Daisy (my mannequin) so that the knit could fully stretch. This is surprising, I left it on daisy for two days!! I will have to re-hem it, which is not that bad. It shall take me no more then 60 minutes.

Though I thank DH for the pictures, I will probably post new ones taken during day light. I do not like pictures taken with a flash.

As I reminder, my pattern was created with the following pieces:

For the neck line and the rest of the top front the drafting is inpired by Vogue 8413 and Vogue 1250
For drawing the back, I took pieces of Vogue 8413 and Butterick 4976
For the sleeves I use the ones from view B in Vogue 8413 easy choice.
Finally for the skirt, I took a little bit of Butterick 4976 (for the waist line) and Kwik Sew 3472 for the rest.

Français
J'ai terminé ma robe Frankenstein juste à temps pour le Gala Forces Avenir. Des étudiants de notre Faculté étaient en nomination et ils ont gagné le second prix. Quelle belle soirée émouvante.

Décidément, cette robe remplie toutes mes attentes. Elle est douce (le tricot se compose de laine, de soie, de cashmere et de coton), légère, féminine, confortable et à en croire mes collègues et amies, elle est aussi élégante. J'ai atteint mes objectifs. Voilà un projet couture qui me comblent. Le seul détail à corriger sur cette robe c'est l'ourlet. Bien que j'ai laissé la robe s'étirer sur Daisy (mon mannequin) durant preque deux jours, je note que la ligne d'ourlet nécessite quelques corrections. Avant de la retoucher, je la laverai et une fois sèche elle passera encore un bon 24 heures en compagnie de Daisy. Il me reste donc un petit 60 minutes de travail et pas plus.

En résumé, j'ai utilisé les patrons suivants:

Pour l'encolure et le devant en général je me suis inspiré des patrons Vogue 8413 et Vogue 1250
Pour dessiner le dos, le Vogue 8413 et Butterick 4976 m'ont été fort utiles
Les manches sont prise tel quel de la robe B du Vogue 8413
Finalement, la jupe amalgame la ligne de taille du Butterick 4976 et le reste vient du Kwik Sew 3472.

Bien que j'apprécie le temps passé par mon conjoint à photographier la robe, le résultat avec le flash ne me plait pas. Je mettrai des photos de jours avec un éclairage pour intéressant cette fin de semaine.

Avec ma veste de cuir brun-aubergine

Vue de dos robe Frankenstein

As for most of my dress I added two darts to the back neckline. They disappear in the print. Since the misfit caused by my tiny neck and strait back is not covered by any of the two fitting books I own, I developed my own technique by try and error. Now I know what to do.

Comme pour presque toutes mes robes, j'ai ajouté des pinces à l'encolure dos. Elles disparraissent dans le motif. Point intéressant, je ne trouve jamais dans les livres sur les ajustements le type de mauvais plis que mon petit cou et mon dos très droit engendre. J'ai du développer ma technique pas essai - erreur.

__________________________________________________________

New project on the table - Mon nouveau projet- Burda 8017

I took over a project planed last year. Muslin for my Burda 8017 jacket is done... at least for the top part. I did not sew the bottom yet. I will try it on and let you know what it requires to be up to my taste.

Comme nouveau projet, j'ai repris la confection d'un manteau planifié l'an dernier. Il s'agit d'un manteau en laine bouillie orange brûlée. J'utilise le patron Burda 8017. La toile est à moitié montée. Il me reste la portion du bas à ajouter (le manteau et fait de deux sections cousues l'une sur l'autre). J'ai fait la photo avec une veste (non terminée) en dessous. Je jugerai vraiment de l'ajustement une fois sur moi. À suivre.

I love my boots

2011-10-23T00:51:00.005-04:00

Just a little note to introduce my new Lucchese's boots. I am so in love with them. They are very comfortable

Dress: Wool double knit in Vogue 7898
Cape: Vogue 7110 (OOP for at least 15 years ;-)
Boot: Lucchese's English riding boot
Hat: A good friend found it in a flea market in Paris
Belt: Muse Belts on Etsy

Belt from Muse Belt on ETSY

They are waiting at the post office - Le shopping sur Internet

2011-10-16T10:45:00.001-04:00

I have been shopping for nice boots for months and I could not find any that would stir my heart enough. I need to fall in love with shoes. After looking on so many Websites, I decided to jump and buy boots online. This is the first time I do that. I find it more risky then for fabric at Emma One Sock, one of my favourite online fabric stores. So, those boots are Lucchese's English riding boots bought for a decent price at Sterling Leather in United States. They are specialised in cowboy boots, but they also had those little treasures I was looking for. Yesterday, I got late at the post office to pick them up. Sadly, they are waiting for me until Monday night. I can't wait to pick them up.

This year I also needed a purse, oh I hear you say, yes, yes, yes she must have ten’s of those already. Well I don’t. I am not a purse person. For years I have been buying Kipling purses in black, one at the time, to use them until they wear off. Last winter, the last one died and since then I used an old but still neet The Trend leather bag that was in my closet (since 1990). Totally not trendy, but I was looking for another idea then a Kipling. So, still online, I bought a neat dark brown bag at Roots. It is small, convenient and not too expensive. They even gave me a 30$ rebate and no charge for the Purolator delivery at home. I will shop with them online any time. Excellent service and excellent quality of products at a reasonable price! All I need.

Oh I almost forgot , my Frankenstein dress will be completed today, and it is a beauty !!!!

Je ne sais pas si vous partagez ma peur des achats de chaussures sur Internet. Mais, comme je tournais en rond dans les boutiques de Montréal, je me suis lancée à la recherche de bottes à mon goût sur Internet. Comme je suis une fan finie des bottes Lucchese, je suis tombée sur ces bottes d’inspiration anglaises, j’ai fait des recherches pour trouver une boutique les tenant dans ma taille. Après deux semaines d’attente, elles sont arrivées au bureau de poste et elle m’attend patiemment. Je passe les prendre lundi soir.

Cette année, j’avais aussi besoin d’un sac à main. Ô combien je n’aime pas magasiner ou chercher un sac à main en boutique. C’est long, c’est cher, je ne sais jamais ce que je veux et puis ça m’ennuie tellement. J’aime les sacs petits, discrets et pratiques et, et, et qui ne me ruinent pas. Pardonnez-moi, mais je ne paie pas 300$ pour un sac que je trimbale partout, mal mène et avec lequel je prendrai sûrement la pluie… moi la grande marcheuse. J’ai donc porté mon choix (après avoir regarder les sites de M0815 et de Rudsack) sur un petit sac tellement sympathique de chez Roots. Le cuir est souple et magnifique. La taille est parfaite. Je suis aux anges et mon portefeuille aussi.

J’ai hâte de mettre des photos en ligne avec mes bottes dans les pieds.

En passant la robe Frankenstein sera terminée aujourd’hui et elle est tellement belle !!!

The belt I have been dreaming of for months - La ceinture de mes rêves

2011-09-28T22:05:00.003-04:00

Since I have spotted this belt on Etsy, I have been dreaming about it. Often, I would visit the shop to see if it was still there... that lasted until they sold it. Sighs, oh big sighs were made when I read this very cruel word: s-o-l-d... I told my self that I would buy the next one made in that colour. I waited, waited and nothing came up on their Etsy shop.

Since my Frankenstein (I have to find another name for it) dress pattern is ready and that I still have this wonderful black wool knit to sew it, I needed the belt very badly... well not as badly as I would like it but still...

So I wrote to Mano Bello and, and, and... They are making one for me !!! Isn't it wonderful. ahhh now I sigh again, but of happiness. As I patiently waited for Foksy, I will wait for this rose belt very patiently... ahh beauty is coming by mail

En janvier dernier, je suis tombée sur cette ceinture en fouinant sur Etsy. Le coup de foudre dès le premier regard. Rien à faire, je n'ai pas réussis à l'oublier. Souvent, je suis retrounée sur cette boutique en ligne, pour la regarder, l'admirer et imaginer le vêtement que je confectionnerais pour la mettre en valeur.

Un jour, l'enfer en pixel, j'ai lu ce mot terrible: v-e-n-d-u... quel monde cruel... bon oui, j'avoue il y a pire, mais je l'aimais tellement cette ceinture! Les mois ont passé, à l'occasion j'y suis retournée et toujours pas de ceinture identique à celle-ci à vendre sur leur site.

Comme j'ai terminé de dessiner le patron qui servira à la mettre en valeur, et bien cette ceinture devait arrivée bientôt. Ce matin, j'ai pris une petite pause boulot pour écrire à Mano Bello et oh bonheur, ils me confectionnent la ceinture sur mesure. Elle arrivera chez moi, toute belle par la poste d'ici deux semaines. ahhh du bonheur dans un colis postal. La vie est faite de petits plaisirs tout simples.

The muslin of the Frankenstein dress - La toile de la robe Frankenstein

2011-09-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

Just a short note to show the muslin of my Frankenstein dress. I am very happy with the result. Since the fashion knit as more stretch and is more fluid it should fall wonderfully. I have to correct the back sleeve that is a bit puffy. To correct that, I have to rotate the sleeve cap and take a bit off the armhole in the back... Next the real dress !!

Juste un tout petit message afin de vous montre la toile de ma robe Frankenstein. Je suis heureuse du résultat puisque le vrai tricot est plus extensible et surtout plus fluide. Je ne dois corriger que l'emmanchure dos et la manche dos qui sont trop ample. Prochain message, la vraie robe !! yé

How do you organize your Marfy and Burda patterns? Marfy, Burda comment les rangez-vous?

2011-09-21T23:00:00.002-04:00

My envelop system for Marfy and Burda Magazine patterns

Like many of you, I posses more patterns then I will ever be able to sew in my entire life... and I am still very long, so more are yet to come. Since I forget what I own, I started saving the pictures to create a big photo album on Flickr. Of course for the old patterns, I have to scan the envelop in order to have it in the album.

So when new patterns arrive at home, I try to be organized and I post their pictures as soon as possible. Most of the time, I am disciplined enough to do it.

For the Marfy patterns and the Bruda Magazine pattern, I save but mostly I print the image, the picture or the drawing. One printed it is glued on a yellow envelop. If I made the pattern, my personal notes and instruction are typed and included in the little envelop. After, they are put with the rest of the collection in thematic Ikea white boxes.

Last weekend, I found four Marfy patterns that were still standing like little orphans in their original Italian package. Wonderful, I found number 9683, 0220, 1249 and 1445. I had no clue what they were and McCalls' site no longer had the pictures for those. I tried on Marfy's site and they post only few pictures. None of those were among the float. Wonderful, really wonderful !!

I searched the internet and found only the picture for 1445. I was desperate.

Tonight, I decide to look further and I found all the pictures I need either in my computer or in my Flickr album.

Am I every so happy to be more organized than I think I am... I feel relief.

Marfy 1429 Jacket and 0220 skirt

So tell me, how do you organize your Marfy patterns and the pattern from Burda Magazine that you traced.

Marfy 1445 Jacket

Marfy 9683 skirt and I also have the jacket somewhere ;-)

Je ne sais pas si vous êtes comme moi, mais je possède bien plus de patrons que je ne pourrai jamais en coudre dans ma vie... Le pire c'est que ne n'ai pas fini d'en acheter. Un folie vous me direz.

Comme j'oublie systématiquement ce que j'ai acheté, je me suis créé un album en ligne sur Flickr. Ensuite, c'est un jeu d'enfant de sauvegarder les photos des sites de compagnie et de les glisser à l'album.

Pour Marfy et Burda, j'imprime le dessin, le géométral ou la photo pour le coller ensuite sur une petite enveloppe jaune. Je tape et imprime mes instruction et note si j'ai déjà fait le patron.

Règle générale, je fais preuve de discipline et aussitôt reçus, aussitôt leur portrait s'affiche dans mon album. Les enveloppes papiers se rangent dans les boites blanche IKEA par theme (pantalons et jupes, robe, veste et ensemble, etc...)

Comme tout bon système, l'utilisateur contribue à sa faille. J'ai donc trouvé cette fin de semaine, 4 orphelins provenant d'Italie. La catastrophe, je n'avais aucune idée à quoi pouvait ressembler les numéros 1429, 1445, 0220 ou 9683. Comment puis-je un patron dont je ne connais pas le résultat attendu. McCalls et Marfy n'avaient pas de photos et Google image non plus sauf pour 1445... j'ai mis le tout de coté et ce soir, TA DA, j'ai trouvé sur mon ordi et mon album Flickr la fiche des petits orphelins. Quel soulagement. Je peux les coudre... un jour.

Et vous comment rangez-vous vos patrons Burda et Marfy ?

Dress pattern ready to cut in a muslin fabric - Le patron de robe est prêt pour une toile

2011-09-18T22:02:00.005-04:00

Today, I worked on this pattern a great part of the afternoon. Though their is one missing in the picture, I took four patterns to create the one I want.

For the neck line and the rest of the top front the drafting is inpired by Vogue 8413 and Vogue 1250
For drawing the back, I took pieces of Vogue 8413 and Butterick 4976
For the sleeves I use the ones from view B in Vogue 8413 easy choice.
Finally for the skirt, I took a little bit of Butterick 4976 (for the waist line) and Kwik Sew 3472 for the rest.

The result in two dimension is this :

The front as a self fabric fabric facing since it the inside might be visible. The dress will be lined so I draft a piece for the front lining that will be attached to the facine. The back and back lining are the same and the back neck line will be finished with a narrow band as in Vogue 1250. The sleeve will not be lined and the skirt back and front and lining use the same pattern.
The muslin will be cut tomorrow night.

I forgot to mention this pattern is based on a 5% negative ease. Whish is the minimum I negative ease I use for knits. When the fabric is stretchy, I go up to 12%. I depends on the fabric, the pattern and the spure of the moment.

J'ai passé une bonne partie de mon après midi à me faire plaisir. Contrairement à mes débuts en couture, aujourd'hui j'adore jouet au Dr Frankenstein. Je mets ensemble toute sorte de pièces de patron afin de créer le vêtement dont j'ai envie. Malheureusement, je ne possède pas les connaissances, le savoir faire et le talent de mon ami Paco Peralta. Ciel qu'il est impressionnant à voir travailler.

Ainsi cet après midi, je me suis inspirée de quatre patrons pour concevoir un modèle de robe.

Pour l'encolure et le devant en général je me suis inspiré des patrons Vogue 8413 et Vogue 1250
Pour dessiner le dos, le Vogue 8413 et Butterick 4976 m'ont été fort utiles
Les manches sont prise tel quel de la robe B du Vogue 8413
Finalement, la jupe amalgame la ligne de taille du Butterick 4976 et le reste vient du Kwik Sew 3472.

Vous avez ci-dessus le résultat de mon opération Frankenstein de la journée.
Le devant comporte une parementure à même la pièce du devant. La pièce arrondie constitue la partie devant de la doublure s'attachant à la parementure. Le dos sert aussi pour la doublure et une bande finira l'encolure dos comme pour le Vogue 1250. Le jupe devant et dos ainsi que la doublure utilise la même pièce.

J'oubliais, le patron est basé sur une aisance négative de 5%. Selon, le patron, le tissu et mon goût du moment, je peux aller jusqu'à 12%. Plus que ça ce n'est pas joli.

Je taille la toile demain soir je crois. Je verrai alors si j'ai réussi.

If you forgot this is the fabric. Si vous l'aviez oublié, le tissu sera ceci.

Do you Frankenstein sometimes ??

For Gaylene in Ottawa, I will make a special for my pants very soon. You will have all details.

The last few days of summer - Les derniers jours de l'été

2011-09-15T22:14:00.003-04:00

Autumn will officially be here on September 23. In Montreal, the equinox rimes with crispy cold mornings and beautiful colours. The leafs will soon turn to yellow, red and gold.

But before this change operates, we had some warm days.. . Just at the right temperature for us to keep good memories of all those sweet summer days.

Cruise Collection 2010 Chanel

For the last time this season I wore this outfit I do not wear often at the office. Those linen pants are a prototype or my first attempt to design and sew sailor pants like Chanel made them a few seasons ago.

My pants have a lower waist line and wider legs. But for me the spirit is there. I also made a black version of those pants before going to Barcelona last March, but I do not think I posted pictures of it. I really like the fit on those pants. I might make another pair with narrower legs.

The tunic was made in 2008 from a dress I hated with passion and that I had put in pieces.I was a good rescue operation.

I feel good in that out fit. It is light and summery. I will miss it this winter ...

Other views...

Avant que l'automne arrive, j'ai profité des dernières journées de chaleur pour porter des vêtements franchement estivaux. Bien que je ne les porte pas très souvent pour le bureau, j'aime ces deux vêtements. Le pantalon est un prototype en lin dessiné à partir d'un patron Burda dont jamais l'ajustement. Je désirais avoir des pantalons de type marin semblables à ceux faits par Chanel dans sa collection Croisière 2010. Mon prototype a une ligne de taille plus basse et des jambes plus évasées. J'ai fait quelques erreurs en dessinant la parmenture avant, mais personne ne la voit. De plus, le lin n'est pas fantastique, il comporte un peu de synthétique et il brille par sa transparence malgré la doublure. Il faut porter des sous-vêtements couleur chaire. Bref, je n'ai pas eu peur de faire un essai en l'utilisant. Un tissu de moins dans la boutique maison.

La deuxième paire était franchement plus réussie pour la finition intérieure. Je les ai taillés dans une gabardine de coton extensible noire pour mon voyage à Barcelone en mars 2011.

La tunique est le fruit d'une mission sauvetage d'une robe que je détestais avec passion. En la mettant en pièce, j'ai juste assez de tissu pour la tunique... hourra. Le tissu provient d'Autriche à l'époque ou les moulins autrichiens fabriquaient des voiles de coton magnifiques.

L'ensemble est frais et agréable à porter... il me manquera cet hiver.

ahh déjà l'automne!! Are you already thinking about winter? (Except for Gail who is thinking about spring I guess ;-) )

P.S. Those sandals are not worn at the office. They are used to walk to the metro. En passant, je ne porte pas ces sandales au boulot. Je marche beaucoup avec le transport en commun et je veux avoir le pied confortable. (Très nord-américain)

The little pleasures of having a stash - Les plaisirs d'une boutique à la maison

2011-09-12T22:55:00.002-04:00

Français au bas de la page

After finishing my beloved black tunic, I was in a quest for a new sewing projects. I hesitated between a new project and finishing a UFO. Among the UFOs I have, two preoccupy me more, two Vogue jacket.

I decided to finish my Claire Schaffer jacket (Vogue 8333). It is in the same state as in January 2011. So it look like this...

It is a wonderful pattern and it took me so much time to adjust is, I am not going to let it rot in my closet. I will have it ready for the 1st of November. This is the little challenge I gave my self.

So that is for the UFO. As for the new project, well while looking into my stash, I found this lovely wool knit from Emma One Sock. It is light, silky and it has a very soft hand.

I know I want a dress in it but what pattern ?? I need your help for this one. I was thinking about a neck like on Vogue 8413. For the sleeve they have to be long for winter and the skirt... flared my be?

I am not certain. What do you think ? What are your suggestions.

Après avoir terminée ma super tunique Burda, j'étais en quête d'une nouveau projet de couture. J'ai hésité entre un projet nouveau et la finalisation de projets laissés en plan. J'ai deux vestes en plan dans ma pendrie, une depuis 2008 et l'autre depuis 2009 ... C'est terrible je sais. Cette veste noir (Vogue 8333) est taillée dans une laine superbe. Comme j'y est investis beaucoup de temps en ajustement, j'ai vraiment envie de la terminée. À suivre...

En contre partie, j'avais envie de travailler des tissus nouveaux.

En cherchant dans ma boutique à la maison, j'ai découvert deux tricots dont j'avais totalement oublié l'existence. Celui figurant au haut de la page provient de chez Emma One Sock. Il s'agit d'un mélange de laine et acrylique très soyeux et relativement fluide compte tenu de sa densité. Il ressemble un peu à un "faux-cashmire". J'ai envie pour ce tissu d'une robe à l'encolure semblable au patron Vogue 8413. Pour la jupe, je songe à une jupe circulaire avec beaucoup de volume. Comme j'ai 3 mètres de tricots, je peux m'amuser un peu.

Puisque rien n'est décidé encore, je suis ouverte à vos suggestions. Que feriez-vous avec ce tricot ??

Burda Tunic done - a few pictures on Daisy

2011-08-31T22:27:00.005-04:00

For the first time today, I wore my tunic to work. I wore it with a black silk knit slip. This Italian linen is very thin. With the sun in my back, there are no ways to hide my shape. Since this is not the style I like, the slip was on without any hesitation.

Though this thin linen is very crisp, I was impressed on how well it still looked at the end of a day running around and sitting at my desk.

Here are some pictures on Daisy, since DH and I always forget to take pictures before the sun is down.


Burda 2011-06-109 front on Daisy

Burda 2011-06-109 back on Daisy

Detail of the neck opening.


Detail of the square sleeve.

This tunic is very boxy. If you do not like that style, this is not a pattern for you. The sleeves are very special to sew. I read the instruction over and over to understand what they meant. Once I was sewing them, it all came easily. I will make a special post on that subject later on.

One other special feature is the front and back facing. They are showing on the outside of the tunic and top stitched close to the edge. I took all the time in the world for those edges to be very, very strait. My edge foot was such a good friend for finishing the work nicely.

The last nice detail on this tunic is the sleeve vent... I cannot find the English word for that type of vent :-(

And one last self portrait with lots and lots of digital noise.

I like those new skinny jeans... but not to be worn for work without a long tunic .

Vogue 2091 - DKNY dress that is simple and efficient

2011-08-20T22:10:00.004-04:00

During my vacations I did not sew much, nor did I surf the Net very much. I was off line for three weeks. Humm it did me lots of good! Enjoying fully the great outdoors feelt really good.

The Burda tunic is done, but I did not take pictures of it yet. Well I should say, DH was not available to take pictures.

Today, I was alone at home sewing. I did not want to work on UFO's, I wanted a new toy to play with ;-) sort to speak. I launched a quick survey on Facebook to decide which pattern I would cut today between Vogue 2091 and Vogue 1250 (see picture below).

Since I felt that Vogue 2091 was more my style and all opinions were pointing in that direction, this is what I cut. Here are picture of the unfinished dress. I still need to set the sleeves and ot hem the dress. I grabbed DH for a quick photos session as he was getting ready to BBQ our dinner. I was pushing my luck, but I did not care.

Vogue 2091 view b - under construction


Vogue 2091 view b - under construction

Vogue 2091 view b - under construction

That's it for today, I have to go and finish it.

One knockoff on the way - I need your help

2011-07-10T13:01:00.003-04:00

My Tunic Burda 2011-06-109 is almost finished.

I am then thinking about my next project. I want to sew a knock off this dress from Akris. Note the princess seam that starts at the neck line. Would any of you have a suggest of princess seam dress pattern, not cut at the waist line to start from? I pattern with a strait princess seam that start at the should would work well. What do you think ?

You want to know Uma Thurman's secret ?

2011-06-24T12:19:00.003-04:00

You might have seen those pictures illustrating a ravishing 41 years old Uma Thurman in a blue Armani Privé gown. I kept looking at those pictures wondering how could she look so good and what was her secret. I am thin, I am fit, but would I have such a sleek silhouette? Humm I don't know.

Two tiny details gave away parts of her secret:

1. The lines of her underwear. Smart lady, I say. She must be wearing a shaper.

I first noticed the line on her thigh so I thought that she might be wearing this:

Shaper by Spanx picture taken on Neiman Marcus

But the top line of the shaper tells me that she would have chosen this one instead.

Shaper by Spanx picture taken on Neiman Marcus

The other detail that comes to sustain the second hypothesis is the bra line in the back (click to blow up)

If the back of the shaper is low enough, my suggestion would have been this one made by Wolford an Austrian company:

picture taken on Neiman Marcus

I know, this is not the most glamorous post you can read on a blog, but I thought that it could make you feel better to see that perfection does not exist in this world. Well, with a little help from our friend "Ze Shaper", we can look more then amazing in the knit dress we sew.

Since my suggestion is a little bit expensive here are other choices:
For oval or round neckline that are note too vertiginous: Wolford natural line shaper
Spanx Slim Cognito Shape-suit
Spanx Simplicity High-Waist Shaper

One designer even included the shaper in the dress and it is Roland Mouret with his more then famous Galaxie dress. The Roland Mouret's shaper is also available online (at a big price).

Here are two articles about his galaxie dress and the shaper:
The Telegraph
Style.com

Gertie's excellent blog also mentions it.

It is raining today. I decided not go camping and I cannot train on my bicycle. Well sewing comes to the rescue. With good music, it should pop me up !

The dress never to wear on tv - more pictures than you want

2011-06-13T22:34:00.005-04:00

The Burda Magazine 2011-03-130 dress is done, finished. Do I like it?

A) For the beach : yes

B) For the office : never

C) For a summer dinner at home with friends : yes

D) For grocery shopping : yes

The fabric is a cute nylon/lycra knit form Emma One Sock... I will make a bathing suit with the rest of the fabric. It is a bit scratchy, but nothing serious.

For the next one (yes I like that pattern), I want a nice grey cotton knit and the band as well as the collar shall be in in blue chambray.. And the third one made in a beefy rayon or silk knit in black with satin band and collar.

DH was nice to take pictures to night... though it makes a huge shadow... that's life

Here are the photos... There is a bit of humour in all of them. I had a hard time staying serious... Modelling could never be a job for me. I am not in for that type of mood.

CLICK TO BLOW

I forgot to tell you DH comments on the dress... humm cute, good length... but to many strips, don't wear this on TV ...

Ok next project now : the Burda Magazine Tunique 2011-06-109. I am tracing it Wednesday night. The black linen is already washed, I have studied the instructions, made a paper model to understand them. The paper model was well worth it to understand that the facing is turned on the outside (front and back). This means that the wrong side of the fabric is showing... You will see what I mean soon !

see you !

Knit dress Burda 2011-03-130 almost done

2011-06-06T13:11:00.000-04:00

My dress is almost finished. I just have to close the front opening at the bottom and the rest is very easy to do. Though the pattern does not call for it, I might add a square a fabric, cut on bias, at the bottom of the front opening. I like those little details. It also reduces the stress on the seam and it prevents extra stretching in the zone.

If everything goes well. It might be finished tonight or tomorrow night. I will see !

I need a project that will work - Après la déception un peu de plaisir

2011-06-01T22:24:00.003-04:00

On this blog or on Facebook, all as been said about the last sheath dress I made. I don't like. I might wear it with opaque tights in early spring or fall an that's it.

Next project now. Of course I have two jackets that have been unfinished for over 2 years... yes, 2 years and more, but I want a project that will be done in a weekend or so. I hesitate between one of those tunic-dress from Burda.

Tout a été dit sur ma dernière robe qui ne passe pas le test pour moi. Peut-être la porterai-je avec des collants noirs très opaques tôt au printemps ou à l'automne qui sait..

Maintenant, j'ai besoin d'un nouveau projet... bien sûr j'ai deux vestes qui ne demandent qu'à être terminées. Toutefois, j'ai envie d'un projet court et chouette avec résultats emballants. Deux robes-tuniques Burda me font de l'oeil.

1. BURDA 2011-03-130b For this project I have neat and fluid nylon-lycra knit in black with thin off-white horizontal stripes. I would do the front band with vertical stripes. There is enough fabric for a bathing suit as well. - Pour ce projet j'ai un tricot de nylon et lycra noir à fines rayures blanc cassé. Pour la bande je mettrai les rayures à la verticale. J'en ai même assez pour un maillot de bain. Ça me ferait un si joli ensemble pour la piscine ou la plage .

2. BURDA 2011-06-109 I was in love with that pattern the minute I saw it. In the metro on my way to work, I red 2 or 3 times the instructions. They seam weird, but what else is new for Burda.. ;-) I have black linen for it... which is so not surprising coming out of my stash. - Ce patron m'est tombé dans l'oeil dès que je l'ai vue. C'est simple et efficace. Rien de nouveau pour Burda, les instructions semblent un peu étranges. Je les ai pourtant lues 2 ou 3 fois dans le métro en allant au boulot. J'aime d'ailleurs bien voir la binette des gens lors que j'ouvre un cahier de patron ou bien une feuille d'instructions de Vogue. Peu de gens connaissent la couture de nos jours. Les couturières passent souvent incognito, sauf sur le Web.

Since both of them would be black, I need a splash of colour. I love those comfy sandals .... ahhh big sigh.

Puisque l'un ou l'autre de ces tuniques-robes serait noire, j'ai besoin d'un tache de couleur. ahhh je rêve de ces sandales.

So for which pattern would you go first?

Alors pour quel patron pencheriez-vous en premier?

The dress that took for ever part 2 - L'interminable robe prise 2

2011-05-31T21:50:00.005-04:00

After a long day at work, just before the sun goes down, I was able to get DH for a very quick photo shoot. We took my little camera and the light was not perfect. There is a bit of digital noise on them :-( Not the effect I wanted but, that is ok for tonight.

Après une longue journée au bureau, mon conjoint a accepté de prendre quelques clichés de ma robe, un peu à la sauvette. Nous avions tous les deux bien hâte de manger. Les photos ne sont pas excellentes, veuillez m'en excuser. Il a un peu de bruit numérique lié à la basse lumière et parce que nous avons utilisé mon petit appareil de poche.

Do I like the dress? No not really. What don't I like... I am not certain though. The fabric probably. The pattern is neat and simple. The fabric makes me look too serious or old. As my friend Annette would say, this dress is perfect to walk the dogs... but I don't have a dog. Nevertheless some aspects of the dress are positive:

Est-ce que j'aime cette robe? Non, pas vraiment. À vrai dire, je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je ne l'aime pas c'est tout. C'est le tissu fort probablement, le patron est charmant. Comme dirait mon amie Annette, elle est parfaite pour aller prendre une marche avec les chiens... mais je n'ai pas de chien. Malgré tout, il y a plusieurs aspects positif à ce projet tels:

My sway back correction is excellent. Well done ! La correction pour la cambrure du dos est parfaite.
The back neckline dart gives excellent fit in a zone that is very often problematic for me - L'ajout de la pince à l'encolure dos arrive à donner un très bon ajustement.
I learned a lot about the lining quilting method - Et puis finalement, j'ai beaucoup appris en réalisant cette robe.

If you do not remember, I used the Vogue 8146 pattern for that project. - Si vous n'avez pas souvenir, j'ai utilisé le patron Vogue 8146 pour ce projet.

I think I know what I don't like !!! It is 1 to 2 inches too short.

The dress that took for ever to finish - Une robe interminable ...

2011-05-30T22:12:00.001-04:00

That's it, I finished it! I thought that I would never be able to finish it. I seriously believed at one point that this dress would become a UFO.

It is perfect? .... NO ! Am I worried because it is imperfect? NO! Why should I be? I took an inexpensive fabric with regular lining to learn the quilting method developed by Chanel. Now I am ready for the real thing.

Before I post pictures of the dress on me, here are picture of the outside and the inside. I really like the black top. If done all in the same fabric. I think it would be very dull.

Ciel, je ne pensais jamais terminer ce projet de couture. J'ai sincèrement cru que cette robe resterait dans ma penderie, penaude, "interminée" parce qu'interminable. Je pense avoir fait un kilomètre de points à la main pour finir l'intérieur de ce vêtement.

Elle-t-elle parfaite cette robe? Non ... Suis-je triste qu'elle ne le soit pas? Non... La réalisation de cette robe a été une belle expérience de couture. Un cours autodidacte. Tout d'abord j'ai ajouter un empiècement alors qu'elle n'en avait pas et pour la doublure matelassée, j'ai avancé pas en pas en lisant et en réfléchissant sur la bonne façon de le faire.

Maintenant, je suis prête pour la grande aventure. Je suis prête pour le bouclé de chez Linton et la doublure de soie.

Avant d'afficher des photos de moi portant la robe, je vous mets vite, vite des photos de l'intérieur et de l'extérieur.

Front view of the quilted lining

back view of the quilted lining

Of course, during all the sewing process I had to press my dress. But... I do not like that fabric all pressed and flat. So my dress is drying flat. I am wearing it tomorrow for work. Ahh yes, for the moement I do not think that I will but a biais tape on it.

Bien sûr, durant la confection, j'ai dû presser le tissu. Comme je préfère sa texture et son apparence lorsqu'il n'est pas pressé, j'ai lavé ma robe ce soir. Elle sèche bien sagement à plat. Si elle est prête, je la porte au bureau demain. youpi ! ah oui, j'oubliais, pour l'instant j'ai décidé de ne pas mettre de biais pour la "décorer". J'aime beaucoup la combinaison des deux tissus. Sans cela, ma robe serait définitivement terne.

Jeans... just a fun video for the middle of the week

2011-05-25T20:39:00.002-04:00

You can also read about Roy and his Jeans on Fashion Incubator.

Enjoy the video !

Roy's Jeans - Video by Self Edge from Self Edge on Vimeo.

Paris style, la suite

2011-05-23T12:25:00.007-04:00

After finishing Inès de la Fressange's book I have been "walking" on her foot steps discretely. The book contains all web addresses for the shops and cool spots she mentiones, but what I wanted to see more of her not only the "It spots and items" she suggests.

In 1985,I saw Inès de la Fressange in Paris. It was my first trip to Paris. I was 18 years old, she was 28. Quietly shopping at Kenzo, I first noticed her dog, a brown Labrador. Then I was intrigued buy the legs, those infinitely thin and long legs... to tell the truth I felt like those legs were totally lost in her jeans. I had a strange impression when I saw her. I was wondering how she could walk with such a thin and overly delicate body. At the same time, she was breading style and sophistication.

Right : Inès for Chanel in 1985

Down: Inès in 2010 (unknown photographer)

I felt that I was coming from a totally different DNA world. I was built for walking, cycling, hiking, kayaking. She was built to be beautiful. ;-) That is physically at least. Her beauty was not inhibiting mine in my point of view, we were as I said, simply in two different worlds.

During my searches on the net, I found a series of pictures of Inès wearing the staple Parisian cloths she suggests. Those pictures show her side by side with her daughter Nine. Nine is the model in Inès's book as I said in my previous post. All the following pictures are from Benoit Peverlli and taken on Luxe, Glam et Volupté.

The "marinière bretonne" simple and great with diamonds

White jeans and blue cashmere V neck

The white jeans, blue V neck and the leather bomber

White T-shirt and cargo pants

Ze trench coat

What I like about Inès is that she ages well (though at 50 something she is still so young) and she is very natural. Instead of using Botox she suggests to dress smartly (avoid prints that could make you look like a granny) and to make love ;-) or get a good night sleep. I could not agree more. I selected three pictures that show her very naturally with wrinkles like woman her age and my age ( I am 44) have. click to blow

Picture (Flynn picture.com and Abaca for th center one)

You want more of Inès? I also suggest you those three diaporama:

Inès de la Fressange prend la pose dans Paris form L'Express.fr
Inès in 114 pictures on Zimbio (look at the black dress she wore in Cannes)
Inès a selection of her covers with Elle France

With another suggestion, visit the Roger Vivier Web site, the intro will make you want to have shoes like Inès's.

Next post, my Chanel dress finished but still needing your advice for the bias tape and the beginning of MY 100 list... a fusion of Paris and New York style. With that, I would like to have your items as well to have the universal 100 list . See you soon!

What style is your style, New York or Paris ?

2011-05-18T22:28:00.005-04:00

If you are like me, going to the bookstore in order to pick up only the one book I ordered the week before, paying and leaving is not something I can do easily do, unless I am very much in rush. Last Saturday, I took a good hour looking in all corners of the small bookshop nearby my house. I love books as objects on top of what they contain. They are beautiful, they make you travel, they give you good advice and they tell you wonderful stories.

Attracted by the deep red cover, intrigued by the cute and stylish drawing I pickup "La Parisienne" by Inès de la Fressange and Sophie Gachet. Inès was, during the 1980's, Karl Lagerfeld's muse. She posed exclusively for Chanel during 5-6 years I think. Well, I did not know she could write and draw.

What is that book all about ? Fun details you need to know if you want to adopt the real Paris style. Fashion, Beauty, Shopping addresses, Decorating tips, Hot places to dînne and be seen... As I said, this book is all about being a real "Parisienne".

So far my favourite section ( I read 3/4 of it) is the first one regarding Fashion. What are the must have in your wardrobe, what are the do's and the don'ts in mixing items... Beautifully illustrated, fun to read, If you love Paris you NEED this book... no hesitation to have here.

You do not read French ! no panic. It is available in English. You can even listen Inès tell you all about her book (see the video at the end of this post).

Paris, Paris yes Parisian have style but are they the ONLY one in the world? Certainly not.

Though Inès really knows what style and being stylish is, You and I do not have to agree with all the tips she gives us. Some of the guidelines, though, seam to be universal, even for a New York lady.

In 2008 Nina Garcia, you all know as a judge in Project Runway, lunched the cutest book of all: "The One Hundred : A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Should Have". This book is as much fun as Inès's. Placed in alphabetical order this book gives the ABC of style by suggesting you 100 items your closet should really contain. You don't like all of those 100, no worries make your own list Nina says. Here is what you should have according to Nina (click to blow the pictures)

.

Here are the items they both suggest to have:

A Burberry trench
Pearls
A little black dress (but of course)
A pair of Converse ( I have 2)
A leather bomber
Jeans that fit
A tailored jacket

What do they both say one should never do ?

An overdose of animal prints is a definite NO, NO.
Over doing it with jewellery could be a catastrophe. You have to choose: earring or necklace, not both.

I really love both books. I intend on using both to guide me in expressing MY style, hopefully without to much "Faux Pas"

Click Here to watch the Parisian Chic Trailer. Si vous avez lu le livre d'Inès et habitez l'hexagone, donnez-moi vos impressions.

Please note that all illustrations (except the first one are from Nina Garcia's book taken on Amazon.com)

Montréal welcomes Jean Paul Gaultier - Montréal accueil Gaultier

2011-05-09T12:58:00.005-04:00

Venez visiter l'exposition et donnons-nous rendez-vous pour un café. J'organise d'ailleurs un groupe avec visite guidée. Soyez présente avec nous ;-)

Jean Paul Gaultier Retrospective from Coco Rocha on Vimeo.

Come to visit the exhibition and be part of the group I am organizing. We will have a private guided tour.

See you ! À plus !

Happy Mother's Day - Joyeuse fête des mères !

2011-05-08T12:30:00.006-04:00

My son and I 13 years ago - Mon fils et moi, il y a 13 ans

Joyeuse fête des mères à toutes les mamans du cyber espace!
Happy mother's day to all cyber mothers!

Quilting was easy, finishing is more challenging

2011-05-05T08:34:00.008-04:00

After reading blogs, articles, reviews on quilting lining to fashion fabric, I jumped into the adventure. Why not, my first few tests were conclusive and my walking foot was so much willing to help.

Quilting per se is not difficult at all you start with a strait line, you stitch strait, use a waling foot with a guide and you go.

My dress is simple, I only had to quilt three pieces. Two for the back and one for the front.

One of the best reference, if you start such a project, is Birgitte's blog: Bubblegum4breakfat. Read all of her projects on the Chanel technique, you will not be deceived.

I also suggest the following readings:

Go Chanel or go home
The Sewing Divas
Deconstructing the Chanel Jacket
Orchids in May

Since I encountered situations for which those references did not have answers, here are my recommendations.

Before you start quilting

cut your fashion fabric 5 mm longer (top and bottom) and wider (both sides). Quilting might make your pieces smaller,
stitch all darts and make sure they are all very well pressed,
cut your lining pieces at least 1 cm longer (top and bottom) and wider (both sides) then the original pattern,
put lining and fashion on top of one other wrong sides together while doing so, carefully aligning the centre of the pieces (lining and fashion fabric),
pin the lining to the fashion fabric

Now you are ready to quilt each pieces. Of course the lining pieces exceed the size of the fashion fabric pieces it is attached to. This does not matter at all.

For the quilting operation

test with scraps of lining and fashion fabric see here. It might sometimes be easier to quilt with fashion fabric on top or underneath. In my case the fashion fabric was so bouclé that it got caught into the walking foot one every second stitch.
if your fabric does not have vertical line (like the one I used) draw in strait line in the centre of your pieces (front or back). It will be the first one you quilt.
use your guide at 2.5 cm wide to quilt the rest
leave at least 3 cm on side and top hedges not quilted. This is necessary for your seams with extra space for last minute alteration.
for the hem, if you hem width is of 5 cm stop at least 7 cm above hem line.
keep very long threads both at the beginning and end of you quilting lines. Those will be knotted only at the end.
you can quilt vertically only or make squares as you which. Here are examples of both techniques. Here as well. Choose the one for you.
When the quilting is all done, put the tissue pieces over the fashion fabric to verify that the size of piece is appropriate.
Mark all seam line with thread.
Assemble your garment.
Finish the lining seams by hand.

As you can see in the first picture, the dress is all assembled. I simply need to hand stitch the lining seams and attach it to the zipper. I should finish it this weekend.

For the outside (I am working so much on the inside that I forget that the dress as a right side ;-)), I am thinking about adding a braid.

To trim or not to trim, what do you think?

N.B. The picture with the trim was taken in an earlier stage of construction.

Osé le Rose - Daring Pink

2011-04-12T17:20:00.005-04:00

Source: inslee.net via Patti on Pinterest

I think that a long time ago I mentioned that I really love Neu4baeur a blog owned by Thea, the most charming German woman I have never met :-). Thea is also linked to Pinterest, a site where members pin on a numerical bulletin board, things they love. Clear as mud ?? take a look at the site, you will understand and fall in love with lots of items and members as well.

So the link with Pink ... ?? Thea posted on her blog the drawing of a magnificent Pink (with a big P because it is so Pink) raincoat. Ohh, I am always or almost always dressed in Black. I am tired of it. I want colours. I want a Pink raincoat like this one. It would be so beautiful with the dress and jacket I am working on.

What do you think. Do you like Pink ? Where can I fin that fabric ???????? OH lala, I have a perfect pattern for it in Burda.

Learning how to use a walking foot

2011-04-10T10:41:00.004-04:00

.

I was already tempeted to quilt the lining to my dress, Rosy's comment convinced me to at least give it a try. I already have a walking foot. So today is testing day. I will post pictures later today with my first samples.

see you later !

This is the results of my first tests:

To quilt or not to quilt the dress's lining

2011-04-09T19:06:00.007-04:00

I finished cutting and marking all pieces for my dress (V8146). The top part is cut in left of over crepe use for a previous project (pants for DS). The lining pieces are also cut. Since this bouclé is very soft and thin, I know that I will be quilting the lining to the jacket pieces, but my question is: "Should I quilt the lining to the dress as well?" Has one of you ever done that? Oh big question.

I know that Birgitte, the author of the so excellent blog Bubblegum4Breakfast had done it on a skirt (lucky daughter to have such a generous and talented mother) Here is the interior look of the skirt

Picture by Bubblegum4Breakfast

The result is wonderful. Anything Birgitte does is wonderful, anyway. If it works on a skirt. Why not doing it on a dress? I will give it a try on scrap of fabric and then decide.

What do you think?

My lining is not silk charmeuse. I don't think my fabric was worth enough for that. I use a beautiful serged bemberg lining that will do the trick.

Running and sewing

2011-04-09T09:25:00.005-04:00

At first glance, there is no link between the two activities. Well, in my life there is. All week, I run. Run in the morning to get my son and I ready in the morning, I run during the day to get all my work done (universities in Quebec are chronically understaffed) and I run at night not to arrive to late at home to prepare dinner. By the time I am done cleaning, verifying my son's home work and putting him to be it is well past 21 h... There is no way that I have enough energy to sew. I read about sewing, blog about it, read your blogs, think about current or future sewing project, discuss with my beloved one and run to bed exhausted of my days. This week was even worst. 50 hours of work... last night I was on the floor.

With that description, you would never think that my weekend physical activity is running. Well it is. This week was so crazy that I did not have energy to train. In my point of view, training, even just a little bit, is essential to keep my mind and body sane. It relaxes me, it makes me more focused, it improves my muscular tone and that is important to be able to sew long hours. See, everything in life is linked. So the program for today, jogging, exercise with my Swiss ball, free weigh lifting (6 pounds only), shower, super breakfast and the cherry on the sundae... SEWING my dress.

It is 7 degrees Celsius. Perfect temperature for a jog.

See you later !

One concept - two different looks / Variation sur un même thème

2011-04-06T12:48:00.006-04:00

During lunch time, I love to look at the designers creations on Style.com. I select one and watch the fashion show as I eat my lunch

As I was watching over Jason Wu's Spring 2011 collection, it made me think of a superb outfit I saw with Hermes.

En lunchant, j'aime bien regarder des défilés de mode sur Style.com. Je me laisse inspirer en dégustant mes petits plats.

Ce midi, j'ai été frappé par la ressemblance de looks, l'un de Jason Wu et l'autre de Hermès. Voici mes impressions

Hermès

Un look décontracté composé d'une vest safari, d'un short de cuir et des chaussures déclinées sur le thème de la spartiate version courte et plus fermée.

Relax look with a Saharian vest, leather shorts and roman inspired open shoes.

Jason Wu

Plus chic et structurée, la veste aux poches plaquées épouse à la fois de ligne Chanel et le look Prince de Galles donné par le tissus. Le short de soie, les sandales hautes et la blouse à large boucle donne le ton définitivement plus féminin à cet ensemble.

More structured, more chic, this vest reminds me with of Chanel because of it's pockets with a British touch given by the Prince of Wales fabric. The high shoes, the silk short and the blouse are definitely more feminine.

Which one do you prefer ?? I vote for Hermès... Lequel préférez-vous ?? Pour ma part, je penche pour la version Hermès.

Water for Elephant - The costumes

2011-04-05T16:50:00.005-04:00

photos from the Water for Elephant official site

What attracts us to a movie my vary from time to time. An article written, a word from a friend, a trailer watched on the net or the beauty of the costumes are all possible reasons to be wanting to see a movie.

In the present case, I simply fell in love for the picture of Robert Pattisson sitting beside the elephant while wearing a tuxedo. Then, I looked up the site during my lunch hour. Lovely costumes ! I love the stripped top with the white skirt and the beret... Inspiring images. That's it.

photos from the Water for Elephant official site

Pattern corrections on Vogue 8146 - done

2011-04-04T21:35:00.012-04:00

I don't know how you proceed to correct your pattern from muslin adjustments but this is how I have learned it with Elisabeth Dionne, my favourite sewing teaching of all time.

1. I mark over the pins with marker on muslin or chalk on fashion fabric.

2. Do it on both sides

3. If you work with a muslin you can flatten it well on your work plan, superimpose your pattern on top (don't forget that seam allowance are in extra on the side) and retrace the new line on paper.

4. If you work with fashion fabric, bast over the chalk lines, rip the seam in that zone, lay it flat, correct the paper and then sew on the new seam line indicted by your contrasting baste line.

5. After enlarging the hip area and making the bust zone narrower this is what my pattern looked like. I took off 3.6 cm in the bust area and added 2.4 at the hips.

6. The back of the dress also required corrections. In my point of view the sway back correction is a tricky one ,when the back line is initially curved. Over lapping the paper to shorted the back accentuates the back curve. You then have to straiten it or reshape it similarly to its original curve. Don't forget to redraw the grain line in the lower part of your dress (under the correction) and straiten your dart

The final look of my pattern pieces is the following one.

Now before cutting the fashion fabric I have to decide if I use the underlining - Hong Kong finish in one step as explained here by Laura. Since my dress is fitted, the bottom part at least should be like that. The top will be different. Probably with a regular technique that consist on attaching the lining to the facing.

Fitting Vogue 8146 for my "Chanel" outfit

2011-04-03T14:29:00.005-04:00

I thank Sue for her pattern suggestion. She had suggested the Simplicity 2404 pattern to make my dress. since I decided on having the black piece above my chest, I finally stay with my initial pattern choice. Never the less, the Simplicity option will be in my next project for sure.

Today was muslin fitting day. Oh my, am I ever happy to have done a muslin. I usually cut my pattern with the following combinations of sizes: size 10 for the chest, size 6 for the waist and size 8 for the hips. This time it did not work as well as usual though the finished size indicated on the pattern matched my plan.

Here is the result with my comments on the pictures. Click to see better.

For the front I have to cut at least one size smaller for the top front part. I have 1.5 cm to take off. Keep in mind that I was looking for a close to very close fitting for this dress. The the breast area needs to be tighten, the waist is fine and the hips... need one size bigger.

For fitting the back, DH helped me. Please don't laugh at his fabric pinching in the neck area ;-)) This is far from being his favourite activity.Note here that I need to correct the neckline ... Don't worry, it will be more symmetrical. He is really kind to help me. I will not complain. As usual, I should have made a sway back correction... and maybe take fabric off in the centre back or deepen the dart. Hips need to be a bit enlarged. This pattern did not have volumes as other have. This is strange.

The neckline was higher initially. I should have left it where is was. Next time I will correct that after fitting ;-) I had made this correction after I read comments on Pattern Review that it was too big. What is good for Jane is not necessarily good for me. Corrections and cutting fabric will be done today.

Coup de coeur - Very favourite

2011-03-28T10:38:00.003-04:00

Everyday, or almost everyday, I post on my Facebook page a fashion picture that represents the fashion "Coup de coeur" of the day or Very Favourite in English I think.

Today, the coup de coeur was full of humour and very French - or very French cancan. This dress is part of Jean Paul Gauthier's spring 2011 collection. I hope to make you smile with this posture full of humour and French history.

On a more "serious" note, this weekend, I had the time to cut the muslin for my "Chanel" dress, sew the muslin for my Burda winter coat and to trace a top pattern Kay landed me two years ago... Talk about procrastination !!!

If DH is free one night this week, I will post pictures of both muslins.

And you, what are you working on ? What are your fashion coup de coeur ?

I love easy to care fabrics

2011-03-21T21:34:00.007-04:00

I had bought this pink and black blouclé at Emma One Sock some 2 or even years ago. Originally, I had bought the fabric to make a DKNY outfit from Vogue (1067). As it often happen, I grew out of this project, jumped on another one and left the fabric all nicely folded in my fabric closet.

I would sometimes look at it and thought I could give it away or donate it for Kay's Fabric Flee Market or leave it there until I like it again.

The miracle happened. After reading Tany's excellent blog, I decided to mix Celine's style from spring 2010 with a touch of Chanel, to create an outfit I like...

Often on EOS's site, they recommend to dry clean fabrics. After washing a little square of it, I was amazed of I well it reacted. There it was all in the machine a delicate. It came out without wrinkles just nicely fluffier. I left dry in the air. Amazing, this fabric is amazing. Easy washing, fast drying and no ironing required. Oh My, I call that perfection in the fabric department. Perfect to for work !!

I cut part of my muslin tonight, the rest will be done Thursday and soon sewn.

As I said before, the jacket is based on a Burda pattern (BWF 2010-11-104) and one Etro jacket I saw at Holt Renfrew. They use bands of fabric with beaded trims. I wonder if the fabric bands are on bias or not ??? The fabric use for the trim is the same as the one use in this skirt project.

I know I said it, I am very much exited about this project.

photo credit: Etro.it

Sunday will be a dress design day for me

2011-03-20T10:12:00.005-04:00

Today will be dress design day. I am starting with Vogue 8146 as a base.

Since I want to the upper chest part to be in a different fabric, I think that princess seams would not be suitable. This Vogue pattern has long and deep darts instead.

The neck opening is not what I want. I will draw it based on my Go Pattern dress. The rest will or might stay as is, I will see.

To go with it, I want a short and simple no collar, round neck line Chanel type of jacket. I digged into my Burda and Patrones magazines for it and this is what I selected:

Unless you have a suggestion...

Bedtime reading ??

2011-03-18T22:49:00.003-04:00

I briefly introduced the fact that I am very bad at drawing. Being a shame of my huge lack of skills in that matter, I often mention to my work colleagues that I cannot draw... while Working in a faculty of architecture, interior design and industrial design could give any one or many ones serious doubts on their drawing ability. In my case, it did the inverse.

Professors told me that very talented students arrived in their program with zero back ground in drawing, with no perception of perspective. For those professors, drawing nicely is mainly a question of observation, practice and creativity. They strongly encourage me in giving my self a chance by simply taking a pencil, paper and time.

My second source of inspiration was watching Paco Peralta drawing. It seemed so easy... I though I could at least draw like 1/100 of what he does and I would be happy.

Yesterday I drew my first dress in a decent way for a forty something neophyte. Today I bought a book about fashion drawing. I read it in the metro while coming back home. I quickly has dinner to try their tips.

I am launching my self in public... The posture of the model in this picture inspired me:

And this is my first attempt of sketching a human posture just for the fun of it. Not perfect, I agree... but so much better than what I have done in my entire life ... :-) I have to redo the waist slop it is inverted and the angle of the hips. More time spend in this tonight.
I think this is fun ... in 20 years I will be not bad !

What is done - What I am dreaming of

2011-03-17T22:24:00.004-04:00

As I said I would, I finished both my wool fleece jacket and my Chanel inspired sailor pants. I will not present this jacket as a total sucess. Let say that it is not bad, but not as perfect as I would like it to be.

First of all, using a coverstitch machine to decorate strait lines is not a difficult thing. Theoratically, you start and finish a vertical line down at the hem and you are suppose to either take the extra threads and insert them in the seam (not possible on the right side of your garment) or make a knot... Which I did. Well the knot did not stay with me, the decorative stitch then decided on leaving my jacket to hang loose in the atmosphere. Of course this is what I wanted!!

The other thing that does NOT please me at all is that, you cannot, not, not, not, redo a little part of your decorative stitch ( I used the underside as the top stitch). You did a tiny booboo... Well, ripe the stitch and do it all over again Sam !!!

The other challenge was making curves blindly. You probably wonder what I mean here. Well, if you use the underside of the cover stitch, stitch, well the top of your jacket is underneath and the inside is on the top... oh this is very funny in curves !!!

The last thing that bugs me with this cover stitch... forget about Velcro any wear near your garment. A subtle scratch and your seam is ruined.

As my dear friend Annette says, this jacket will be used to walk the dog... humm does any one have a dog I could walk? The only thing that made me feel good was that Paco Peralta told me (when I was over at his place ha ah) that it happens to him as well not to succeed with a garment... I am checking is garbage ever since ...

The other project I was planning was a pair of sailor pants based on Chanel's model of Spring 2010. Those pants are wonderful!!!! I love them. They are made in stretch cotton of medium weight. I love the fit and style. If I stop running, skiing or cycling during weekends, you get pictures of the 10 last garments I finished, did not review on PR and did not take pictures of.

Those pants have a centre front seam, two functional side openings (one on each side of course) and strait legs from the thigh down. The centre front seam replaces the dart in the upper side (just under the waist line). The back as one dart on each side. I drew them my self as I wanted them.

Since my jacket is not the success I wanted, I need a sugar pie type of garment. I have a dress in mind I though I could draw and sew. Usually, I am reluctant in drawing anything... but... I looked at Paco drawing a jacket for me and thought I could give it a try as well.

Please do not laugh, I have never drew anything since kindergarten and I have never been good at it. This is my first attempt in fashion drawing.

This is the dress I drew tonight. I have this nice and light black and pink bouclé. I want to use it with a plain black top, maybe in very light Ultrasuede, an empire waist and the bottom in bouclé. I got inspiration from Holt Renfrew for that jacket that will go with it. It is a garment from Etro.

click to blow

Les temps sont durs - la mode est sombre

2011-03-08T21:48:00.008-05:00

Tailleur Chanel Automne 2011

Ce soir, je n'ai pas envie d'écrire en anglais. Mille excuses à tous, ce message sera en français. Il y a tout de même un outil de traduction en haut de la page.

Depuis mon retour de Barcelone, j'ai envie de "feuilleter" les pages web montrant les tendances pour l'automne 2011. Je regarde, défilé après défilé et j'enregistre les looks que j'aime, que j'aime moins et ceux que je déteste.

Ce qui me frappe pour l'automne 2011, c'est l'omniprésence du noir. Chanel, Ungaro, Valentino, Chloé, Céline, etc. du noir, du noir, du noir ou des teintes presque noir. L'autre chose qui a capté mon attention, c'est le style très "grunge" qu'ont adopté plusieurs designers. Même Chanel fait "grunge"... selon mon humble point de vue. Voici quelques exemples de mes observations:

Chanel dans le style vaguement Comte Dracula

ou bien tricot des montagnes angoissées

Je ne reconnais plus la signature habituelle de la maison. Bon cet hiver il avait le look yéti pas très saillant...

Céline fait un peu plus festive avec un ensemble de fourrure... qui est tout de même noire

Même Kenzo, connu pour ses tenues très colorés opte pour un look d'outre tombe, du type Fester dans la Famille Adams

J'aime beaucoup le noir pour sa simplicité et les possibilités infinies d'agencement, mais là trop c'est trop.

Je suis allée voir Yoji Yamamoto qui dessine depuis toujours des tenues un peu underground ,en me disant qu'il avait peut être fait bande à part en étant plus gai... Et bien non, ces vêtements semblent avoir été créés pour un spectacle du Cirque du soleil, tel que Zoomanity. En fait, il est plus sombre que jamais.

Et bien je vous l'annonce, je n'aime pas ce qui arrivera comme vêtements pour l'automne 2011. C'est tout. Outre cette appréciation purement subjective, je pose des questions sur l'aire du temps. Lorsque les jupes sont longues, l'économie va mal, c'est là un indice reconnu comme en témoigne le Financial Post. Quand la mode est sombre et grunge, qu'est-ce que celà indique... le déclin d'un empire fondé sur l'argent, le sexe et la gloire ???

Ahhh j'oubliais Emmanuel Ungaro présente quand à lui une tenue de type folie bergère ;-)

en noir bien sûr !! La nudité apparente et les plumes la rendent plus festive je présume.

Burda 8018 - I am getting there

2011-02-19T21:45:00.005-05:00

As Mary Beth said practice was the only way to succeed in" cover stitching" the pockets. I must have spent 2 hours sewing samples. Ô did I not think twice when I chose to use the under part of the cover stitch. I had to sew blindly the right side of the pockets. Nevertheless, I consider that differences that are under 2 mm from one pocket to other (width, height of the pocket etc.) are not worth mentioning. Though the picture gives you the impression that those pockets are not at the same level, they are.

So I went further with the rest. Now the sleeves are hand basted and I am waiting tomorrow morning to finish it. Please note that I have to trim the seam allowance. The final look will be like the green one I sew.

Then the pants will be made.

Coverstitch help needed !!

2011-02-16T12:04:00.005-05:00

Ladies, I need tips on how to properly cover stitch the pockets of my jacket. Does any one have a tutorial to suggest ? I am struggling with this aspect of my project. I need to cover stitch the pockets and the flaps (round shape in both cases) before going any further.

I am willing to transform the flaps and pockets into square ones if you have tips for cover stitching perfect corners. I really need HELP ! with this one.

Thank you in anticipation for your generosity.

Threading Ze Cover Stitch machine !

2011-02-14T22:59:00.005-05:00

Did I say that last summer I bought one Baby lock 4 thread overlock (the Enlighten) and one Cover Stitch machine from the same company? I inherited a little bit of money and I thought it would be a good investment. Well it is indeed.

The only draw back: threading the Cover Stitch correctly is NOT that easy. Grrr

Oh my, my, I just spent 30 minutes trying to find what was wrong with my machine or the way I threaded. Jeanne from Jalie Pattern once told me that when the stitching is wrong underneath there is a problem with the top threads.

She was right the thread did not go through the tension node corectly. 30 minutes of cover stitch waisted :-(

Front dart done on both sides on my Burda 8018. That's it for tonight. (I cut all pieces yesterday).

Getting ready for Barcelona !

2011-02-13T10:53:00.003-05:00

For spring break this year, I had offer my son a trip to Bonaire. I wanted to introduce him to snorkelling in a paradisaical setting.

Very kindly my 13 year-old son, who dreams to be an architect, asked if we could travel to Barcelona instead. He wanted to see and visit Gaudi's creations. This trip was originally plan for him. Then, how could I say no to a destination that would please him more ?

We started planning last Septembre. The airplane ticket has been bought last fall and we reserved the apartment in Eixampe, a trendy area of Barcelona according to my Lonely Planet travelling guide.

I revised my wardrobe and though of what I should bring. I enjoy travelling very light. My son and I will be there for 7 days and there is a washing machine in the flat. So for both of us a small 23 inches suit case, one cabin tote and a messenger bag will be way enough. Clothes wise, we don't want to be spotted as tourists who carry lost of money. So jeans and simple clothes will be brought along.

In Montreal I wear lost of outdoors type of clothes, but in Europe this is not as trendy. The great outdoors are a little further away from the city.

So quick, I am putting away my current sewing project to make one little wool fleece jacket and one pair of black cotton pants.

For the jacket, I will use my Burda 8018 pattern. Fast and effective. I have in hand a double face wool fleece with nylon mesh on the other side. This fabric will be nice to wear over a long sleeve t-shirt and won't have such a sporty look. Top stitch in light grey will give it a nice look.

Here is a close look of the fabric
(click to see better).

For the second project. I don't know yet which pattern I will use. I am leaving on February 25 so there not that much time left. I wanted to sew pants with in seam side pocket, a front fly and welt pockets in the back but just the welt pockets take to much time :-(. Humm the black bottom weight cotton may be use for an easier pattern. I have this nice Burda pattern (those pants pattern fit me perfectly) I had transformed to create this effectThe only difference with those pants is a centre front seam that add a little texture and allows me to take the dart away. Those pants and very quickly sewn. So it will be my choice. One pair of black pants, one pair of jeans, my little fleece jacket, one jeans jacket to wear with the black pants, t-shirts (all black easier to match), one pair of black booties, my son's dress simply as well. Off we go!!!

I will also bring my little camera (the Nikon D40 is to big to be discreet and light) a Canon S95 that shoots beautifully in RAW format and my Cocotte Équipement messenger bag made in Montreal from recycled nylon ( I am in love with that bag) to carry the water bottles, the camera, the guide and the map. Speaking of maps, did you notice the silk map in the first picture ? This is a replicate of huge silk maps pilots had in the second world war. Silk does not get thorn or wet. This is a nice scarf as well...

I am ready and so much looking forward to that trip. I hope Paco will have time to come and fabric shop with me. Ole !

p.s. A Cocotte is pine cone...

Such a sad week for my sewing life !!!!

2011-02-07T14:12:00.007-05:00

.
Carole from Madelaine Soie et Laine

I have been a desperate "slow mo" in all my sewing projects. Last Saturday, I though I would sew for at least 5 hours and instead I did a little 90 minutes before taking a walk with my DH and spending with him the rest of the after noon in a tile store to finish our bathroom renovation project.

This is terrible, I have nothing interesting to show :-( bad blogger that I am.

On top of this sewing lethargy, this week is a very sad week "sewingly" speaking. A very sad week for me. My favourite fabric store is closing. Not closing to go on vacation, but closing for ever. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

I can here you say that there are other stores in Montréal. Like this one, none, there are none!!!

Madeleine soie et laine was the fabric store where I bought 90% of fabric and notions I use. They had fabric my style, in all categories of prices, for all occasions and seasons. They had wonderful buttons, zippers and such a great spirit!

I am very sad. May be this a bit why I don't feel like sewing. All I have in my stash (more or less) comes from Madeleine. All my current project are made with wool I bought there.

I would love to find a solid partner and keep it open. Do you know any one living in Montreal who would like to have a fabric store ? I am open to all suggestions. I have great ideas to make this store a very popular and unique one. With my managing position at the Université de Montréal, I need a partner who could be there 5 days a week. I cannot do it alone.

I am very, very sad. :-(

The Sartorialist - Video on the street

2011-01-22T20:35:00.005-05:00

I spent sometime today on Ze Sartorialist blog as dinner was being cooked in the oven... I candidly listen to this video and really flipped over two affirmations:

1. Paying 8 000$ for a coat !!!

2. Having over 300 pair of shoes and about the same amount of purses !!!

Hello futile and over consuming world, the other half is starving! Sorry, I am far from being mother Theresa, but it sincerely bugs me when people are over doing it.

Oh my ! ...

Tell me you do not have 300 pair of shoes.

Coudre au masculin - Masculine Sewing Project

2011-01-20T20:52:00.009-05:00

On the street sartorial denim ... Florence August 2010

Bien que j'ai à mon actif quelques patrons pour hommes, je suis rarement habitée par un projet de couture pour MON homme. Aujourd'hui, c'est une autre histoire, j'ai eu un coup de foudre. Bang ! J'ai eu envie de coudre une veste et un pantalon en voyant cette photo sur le Sartorialist. Je ne sais plus comment je suis arrivée à cette page et cela m'importe peu en fait.

Je suis simplement heureuse d'avoir un projet de couture pour mon amoureux. Si vous vous demandez ce qu'est son look habituel, le voici en plein reportage photographique sur une rivière de Charlevoix. Je crois que la transposition se fera à merveille.

Le patron Vogue 8719 servira de base, le col tailleur est étroit et le design plutôt sport. La photo de Vogue fait toutefois un peu trop soignée contrairement à celle du Sartoriatlist. Mon conjoint portera sûrement ces vêtements dans la même esprit que ce florantin.

Though I have a few, lets 3-5 patterns for men in my stash, I am very rarely transported by the idea of sewing for MY men. Well, that was until I found this picture on the Sartorialist. It was love at first sight. Bang! I loved the manly look of the model, the jacket, the shirts, the pants and the cigar...

No, no, no, I am not with a smoker, but on a picture, I find that sexy (not in real life).

The Vogue 8719 pattern will serve as a base. The notched collar is simple, narrow and very similar to the one on the picture. The pants seem very interesting in that pattern as well. Their picture is a little too sleek compare to the one on the Sartorialist.

I am certain that my men, will wear it in the same spirit as the Italian men. You have a picture of my husband here during a photo-reportage in Charlevoix Québec.

Lets see if that project will ever be realized on day!

Do you often change your mind ?

2011-01-16T17:38:00.004-05:00

I bought about 5 meters of black wool knit to sew two projects. The first one is a knock off this Marie St-Pierre dress (previously presented on the blog). The pattern is ready, I drew and I just need to cut the wool. The second one is this very interesting OOP Burda pattern that my generous friend Annette sent me. (She made 2 or 3 gorgeous tops with it, see the review here ). My plan was to sew the hooded top, add sleeves to it and make the hood in café au lait satin back crepe (100% silk).

Those are plans I made last fall. Meanwhile, or last week to be more precise, I fell in love with this belt.

When I say fall in love, I really, really, really mean it !!!! Now I am thinking, should I skip the Marie St-Pierre dress and design another pattern to show case this magnificent belt and still sew the Burda outfit or should I skip the Burda outfit and use the wool for ... a dress ... and still make the Marie St-Pierre dress ???

Dilemma, dilemma !!!

To show case the belt (not bought yet), I have in mind a knit dress, cut at the waist, with a fitted top, long sleeves or 3/4, boat neck and a full, full skirt that goes down to just under my calf... to be worn with high heel boots.

First of all, what do you think ? And second of all, have you ever seen such a pattern? I never did... I guess I will have to make it (not complicated I know).

For your information, the belt is for sale on Etsy.

I need your Q's and opinion ...

see you ;-) Anne-Marie

Two more UFO's done, finished, completed !

2011-01-09T20:34:00.016-05:00

Resolutions are not at common for me. I tend to think that my life is conducted on a rather disciplined tempo. Therefore, I never felt I had to take resolutions... except, may be for this year...

...Resolution Z1A19: Finish sewing projects that have been standing there for too long, sometimes for years.

My motivation: 1) have enough clothes to go to work, 2) finish outfits before the other garment (the one that I finished) starts to be too worn-out, 3) have them finished before they are out of style. Those reasons sound good and above all, they are not entangle with guilt which is a none constructive feeling in my point of view... unless one has committed a crime.

Are UFO's a crime? NO ... well at least not yet.

So in the list of the freshly finished garments we have today :

A) One Burda jacket started in March 2009...(8018 view B) Yes, yes, yes in March 2009 ... See the post I wrote at the moment. I cannot believe I waited that long to hand sew the lining to the hem of the jacket and the hem of the sleeve. Then I just had to make the button holes and sew the buttons. Oh my my... My desire to wear this jacket was not strong enough, until this week. One movie Friday night to sew the lining and today for the rest, was done today. I am happy it is done. It is only asking to be worn.

This is the look of my version.

Fabric: Prada wool knit bought at Emma One Sock. It has very little stretch.

Bemberg lining in red and the T-shirt is a Jalie pattern 2805 . That gorgeous knit is from Roberto Cavalli again bought at Emma One Sock.

I am thinking of making pants in a very dark olive green or very dark khaki. The decision is not taken yet. The fabric far from being found. Meanwhile, jeans are nice with it, brown leather pants as well. Or the skirt that I made with the same fabric ??? According to me, it is to much of a little pejoratively cute outfit.

B) The second jacket I so kindly stopped from being alone and unfinished in my closet is also from Burda. Bruda Fashion Magazine 2008-01-117 .

I used a beautiful linen fabric bought at the (soon closed) Madeleine Soie et Laine. The fabric was too busy to add the front and back "flaps" they designed for it.

I used the "Underlinning - Hong Kong finish all in one step" to finish the body of the jacket. This technique is very well explained by Laura on her blog.

Clic on the following picture to see the result.
I am in love with the jacket. Is it a mix of girly fabric and sporty jacket. Girly - Sporty, that could be used to describe me... may be ... I call this fabric "Breakfast at Tiffany's". The ladies drawn on the fabric remind of the Audrey Hepburn in this classical movie. A movie in to which, I often dreamt of jumping in...

The snaps are from the so great Prym company. The lining is a texture men lining. Those are so easy to work with. They have enough weight and crisp. This pattern is very interesting. I strongly recommend it. It was not meant to be lined. I will soon post my review on PR for both garments, so you will see more picture of the inside.

The jacket is meant to be worn with this red linen dress.

I also have enough linen for a pair of pants... those still inhabit the galaxy of my sewing dreams ... shall be done one day may be in 2011. Who knows? I also have a beautiful off white silk knit for a t-shirt.

That's it for tonight.

35625

Today is UFO day

2011-01-02T10:53:00.007-05:00

On my Facebook page, I mentioned that my empire waist knit dress was almost done. I just had to choose a proper hemming technique. Initially, I had plan to fold in the lila/grey line inside and hem this way. When I finished the dress, I thought that this pale line at the bottom finished the dress perfectly.

Finally I made a rolled hem using my old Janome machine (it is now 25 years old). I love my Baby lock Enlighten, but the roll hem is nice on my Janome... I think that the needle plate you need to use with the roll hem makes the difference.

Now I have to hem the sleeves with an invisible hand stitch and ta da ! The dress is done. I am in love with it. As soon as DH has a minute, I will post many pictures of many pieces I finished in the past month or so.

**********

Since today is UFO day, I will be working on my Vogue 8333 jacket.

I started this jacker a year ago in a sewing class. That costly class was a big deception. Not that the school was not good but their pedagogic method was not adapted for me. I was going too slow, a great majority of the ladies in my group seemed to be there more for social reasons then to learn sewing. We all work on different project at our rhythm and I often had to wait to speak with the teacher. In brief I did not enjoy it.

Because of that, I have not work on my jacket for months. In other point that irrated me was that the teacher made me correct the sleeve's width and head's hight. Who was I to contradict her instructions? Nobody... So I did not contradict her and I ended with a sleeve that falls very badly.
If you look on the picture, you will see that I correct back the right sleeve and it falls much better while the left one is to high and as way too much amplitude in the back part.

Front of the jacket

Today, I am:

taking off the left sleeve
sliming it of 1 cm in the top and lowering it in the centre top of 1 cm as well
sewing the tailor collar on the jacket and on the facing
after, I will see.

This jacket has very pocket details. Though my version looks the same, I skipped the pocket, it was too small to be worth the trouble.

The fabric used for this project is a very nice soft textured wool with medium drape. The texture is illustrated in the following picture.

*****

Tonight, in the none UFO department, I will trace this top's pattern in Burda.

What are you working on? Leave me the address of your blog (if not in my list) so that I can read about your work.

35111

Who is a Plus size model and who is a minus size model ?

2010-12-19T22:15:00.006-05:00

For many years I was a fanatic reader of Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar and so forth. I would spend lots of money of fashion magazine, on clothes as well as spending so much time thinking about my look. These days, I have less time for all that. These days, I am unfaithful to those paper magazines. I often prefer to surf on the Net. From time, to time, I feel guilty not to support the local version of Elle or Clin d'oeil (another local fashion magazine). So last week, I bought the December issue of Elle Québec.

On the collaborator's page, there is a short note on Crystal Renn, one of the most famous, and I quote, "Plus Size" model in the world. PLUS SIZE MODEL !! Are they out of their mind ? If Crystal Renne was once a plus model, she no longer is. I would rather say that she is a beautifully shape NORMAL woman. Hello any body home?

Elle Québec had previously issued a bathing suit report featuring Crystal. She was so elegantly photographed. I loved her fully curved body and I never for a minute thought she could be classified as Plus Size. It is only DH who made me realized that she looked healthy and sexy, with her normal shape ;_)

This month, she is back in a beautiful Red Dress report... but tell me, what is Plus Size in her curves. Humm I would rather give her an A+ for beauty, natural look and great curves. Don't we want more of that type of model in magazines?
In my point of view, if this is their definition of Plus, the following type a silhouette is then Normal. Well according to me, that type of look is definitely a MINUS.
But then again, this is a question of perception. (Garment by Chloé A-2010) Let's promote healthy images of woman who have an BMI between 19 and 25. This young woman should gain 20 pounds, practice sport, built her lean body mass to be able to age better and not suffer of osteoporosis, go to bed early and laugh more ... Yes this is a judgment I publicly make... that of make as well.

34449

The Burda skirt - How I love it !!!

2010-12-13T12:39:00.008-05:00

I was waiting for DH to take official pictures before posting the beauty. Christmas is coming and our weekends are very busy, no time during the day to take nice shots of me wearing the amazing piece of clothes. I may sound a little imbued of my self, but my enthusiasm comes with the love of this skirt so much !!!

As I mentioned before, the fabric is a gift from my friend Annette. The minute I had the piece of fabric in my hands, I new I would make a skirt with it. I sat with my box of pattern and my Burda magazine and finally set my choice on the Burda Magazine 2010-11-113. I felted the fabric in the washing machine using a short hot water cycle and that was enough to enrich the already amazing texture of the wool. I liked this country chic look that the two dramatic pleats add to the design.

This is a very easy pattern to sew. I shall post a tutorial for the pleats since their instructions are not that clear. (see picture with a close-up) The rest is very easy. This pattern did not include pieces for the lining. I simply folded the pleats to have a flat front piece (picture coming in a future post). Annette also gave me a neat pink charmeuse for the lining. I had a hard time hemming it. :-( It was so sliky. I will buy lace and refinish it since I am not fully satisfied with the internal finished look.

The front hem of the skirt is done with a facing. The back pieces have a regular turned in hem. Follow Elisabeth's (my favourite sewing instructor) instruction, I did not press the waist band to give it a more Couture look, nor did I press the hem. The final result is wonderful ... at least in my opinion.

Now I want to find a dark burgundy or dark olive mohair sweater or tween set. If you have see any online, please tell me so. It is lovely with fushia but a little too loud. It looks great with a dark purple turtle neck I have and a dark purple-brown tailor shaped leather jacket I have.

Real nice pictures are coming up.

********

Yesterday I drew a knock-off this Marie St-Pierre dress. Since I made a wearable muslin using my pattern and I do not want two black dresses with the same tapered trapeze bottom line, the muslin will have a simple a line skirt. I used black slinky for the muslin using my new Baby Lock Enlighten. A charm to work with. Both sleeves and skirt hem will be finished use my new Baby Lock cover stitch, again a charm to use.

For the top part, I used my Jalie 2805 pattern and the pattern is from me looking at one or two empire waist dress patterns I have.

This dress in slinky is more then comfortable. For the "real" one, I am using a beautiful black wool knit bought at Emma one sock. the skirt will be lined with a poly knit to give it more body and to avoid static. I am not certain I will make the pockets. I breaks the line.What do you think ? The bottom of the skirt will have cut angles so that the last 15 cm will become narrower with a strait angle. Does it make sens?

Burda projects - Winter coat and ... a skirt

2010-11-13T19:03:00.010-05:00

Today, I paper fit my Burda winter coat (pattern number 8017 which I think is OOP) and started to cut the muslin. Since this is a long term project and I really need clothes, I also cut this Burda World of Fashion skirt (2010-11-113).

My dear friend Annette sent my a balanced of her magnificent Italian wool. She initially bought it at Emma one sock and made a great top with (as shown on the picture). I felted the fabric in the washing machine by using a very short hot water cycle. It gave the fabric such a nice hand feel (not that it did not already have one...). The wool became denser without loosing it's drape.

It was more then a pleasure to lay out the pattern on the fabric. This skirt pattern is making me so enthusiastic, the colours are dense and joyful, the sun was shinning in the kitchen... well life was good. I am certain that the skirt will be out of this world.

This fabric goes really well with olive green. It makes me want to buy those boots from John Fluevog. Don't you think those two would look great together?

Now I have to figure out how to lined this pattern... ho oh ! Burda has such strangely written instructions.

Back to work now... see you soon.

Anne

The winter coat - Lining and Montreal's winter

2010-11-08T15:25:00.007-05:00

Even before cutting the pieces for a muslin, I am planning the lining of my Burda coat. My first idea was to quilt, in a creative way, Thinsulate to the kasha lining and give to my boiled wool jacket a little warm woompf.

After reviewing The Sewing Laywer's blog on her Burda 7731 project (see picture on this article) and reading this exchange on Pattern Review's blog, I entirely revised my position.

The key words I remember from those readings were: Michelin Men, Bulky, No Drape, Not suitable for wool jackets and Made for thin nylon fabric.

Ok you convinced me !!!!!!!!!! Thank Kay you for sharing your knowledge . Or else, I would have headed for a disaster.

Now I have boiled wool and kasha lining and those 2 together are not warm enough for Montreal's -10 oC or -20 oC or worst -30 oC... well at -30 oC I will wear another jacket for sure. But still, Montreal could be cold.

So what are the options according to you ? Polartec, lambs wool, or ???

I used lamb wool in a previous jacket that I plan to show you soon. It is not sufficient to keep me warm under -5 oC. So far I have been wearing a duvet vest under my wool jackets to keep me warm. Keep in mind that I walk 4 kilometers per day on my way to and from the office. I do not travel by car.

The duvet vest gives me comfort and warmth, but it also makes me look like Quasimodo (the hump back in Notre-Dame de Paris ;-)). It fluffs my jacket a little too much. If I could, I would like to avoid that option.

On the other hand, a thin lining with the duvet vest allows me to wear the jacket during fall and early spring.

Again, what do you think, what are your suggestions?

Kind Regards,

Anne-Marie

Blanket horror part II

2010-11-03T13:47:00.007-04:00

Oh la la, I did not think that any body would dare to wear such horror pieces. Oh My ! Digs who is the author of Strait Jacket Muse gave me the link to this article about Cate Blanchette fashion "faux pas".

Humans will never stop amazing me... positively and negatively. !!

Cate you are usually so nicely dressed. What happened to your stylist? Please call Annie Horth.

Paco Peralta, the super designer from Barcelona sent me this picture of a dress worn by Audrey Hepburn. Well, I love Audrey so much, she must have look good even wearing that. She was such an icon of beauty ... internal and external as well.

Have you seen any other person walk around with a late 1970's blanket ? I hope not.

xx

My new winter coat projet - Un petit projet hivernal

2010-11-02T22:46:00.005-04:00

J'adore la laine orange brûlé. J'ai cette laine bouillie fantastique qui n'attend que d'être cousue. Voilà mon nouveau projet. Le patron de papier est taillé, les modifs et la toile arrivent bientôt.

I love burned orange wool. I have this amazing boiled wool which is just begging to be sewned. The paper pattern is cut, the adjustments and muslin should be completed soon.

What do work on ? Send me a link and I will post it here ...

xx

What's wrong with Paul Smith this fall

2010-11-01T21:26:00.006-04:00

Though I have been unfaithful to my sewing machine and the sewing blogs I love to read; I took a little, little time every month to flip Burda World of Fashion.

Tonight, the November number was in my mail box... It is always a moment of joy to sit at the table and read the magazine... A moment of deligh,t when I systematically match the patterns I like with the fabric in my stash or fabric I dream of buying.

I usually flip the pages quickly to read it more thoroughly and slowly after. Tonight, it happened differently. I stopped at page 7 (French edition) and could go further. I was unable to turn the pages. I could not stop staring. I could not believe my eyes. I had such a funny face, my son asked me if I was in pain. In pain ? Was I in pain ? ... No, I was horrified of seeing this !!!

Nobody will ever, ever, ever make me believe that this is Haute Couture or that it is beautiful. My grand mother Madeleine, who was more of an entrepreneur then a knitter, use to make those for her country house. They were made of wool balance she kept from other projects. She knitted comfortable and warm throws my older sister and I used to warm up our selfs... But..

Never, ever, ever would I have thought of seeing Madeleine's master piece on a cat walk. !!!

Hello Paul Smith, I am usually one of your greatest fan. This fall, all apologies, you lost me. My mind is not sufficiently open to your definition of chic.

Here are other bad outfits, he designed this year. Tell me what you think.

Flesh tone shirt with puffy sleeves and blue mica pants. No thank you.

This dress is not, to my opinion, flattering. I look to big and the voile covering the black fabric seems to be improvised.

Some pieces in the collection are nice. But nothing would make me spend 1000$ ...

Shopping for fabric in Montreal - Part II - Couture Elle

2010-02-13T22:54:00.000-05:00

I'm reviewing Couture Elle in advance of the first PR Weekend in Canada, coming up in June, 2010. This is one of the stores in Montreal's concentrated fabric shopping district on St. Hubert Street, north of Jean Talon Metro stop. It's one of my favorites.

Kay and the beautiful silk charmeuse...

Have you bought anything from this store? If yes were the prices competitive? I have bought many pieces from this store. The prices are not bargain basement but very good, especially when you consider that the fabrics are unique and high quality.

Guipure in all colours

How was your shopping experience. Is there anything you did not like about this store? The owner of the store, Jean Ghrayeb, is extremely helpful and will tell you the fibre content and designer origins of his stock. If he�s not sure, he whips out his lighter and does a burn test, right in the store. He stocks beautiful wools, silks, linen and laces as well as designer knits. This is a fantastic place to browse, with fabric on bolts neatly stacked almost to the ceiling. It's well organized by type of fabric and Mr. Ghrayeb does a great job of making suggestions, if you are looking for something special.

This is not the biggest store on St. Hubert, by square footage, but there is a lot of great fabric to be had - which means it can get a little crowded - visit in small groups!

Connie lost in fabric paradise

Rhonda and Kay discussing fibres and quality

Stay tuned for more reviews

Text by KayY, photos by Mahler (Anne)

Shopping for fabric in Montreal - Part I

2010-02-12T19:05:00.000-05:00

Kay wrote three great review on fabric stores in Montreal.

The first one is on Sam Textiles on St-Hubert Street. This will of course be part of our fun shopping during the Montreal PR Weekend in June.

Here are Kay's impression with lost of pictures.

I'm reviewing this store in anticipation of the PR Weekend coming up in Montreal in June, 2010. We'll definitely be trekking to St. Hubert Street which has a concentration of fabric stores. Sams is a must-see.

My Favorite Kay

Sams is a large store with home dec fabrics in one side and fashion fabrics in the other. I've never shopped seriously in the home dec section but the stock looks interesting and high quality. I usually head straight for the fashion fabrics.

A small part of Sam's home dec section

There are long aisles organized by type of fabric. There is an entire aisle devoted to lycra and knits, but my favorite aisle is found at the very back of the store. 100% cashmere, anyone?

The silk aisle

Cashmere or Alpaca? Both are so rich and fantastic...

Sams has fabulous suitings and especially coat fabrics woven from pure wool, and blends with alpaca and cashmere. Silks are at the front of the store. Every colour of dupioni, as well as exquisite embroidered silks can be found. From time to time I have seen African printed cotton. Upstairs is the bargain section � in the past full of novelty cotton prints; now it's mostly home dec. However, things change and it's worth checking out.

Ullltttrraaasuede

In addition to fashion fabric, Sams sells some "utility" fabrics (not sure what else to call them) such as interfacing, lambs wool interlining, etc.

I've spent many an hour browsing at Sams - it has very competitive prices for high quality fabric.

Here are Connie and Rhonda browsing for ??

As for shopping experience, the staff are helpful but happy to leave you to browse. The store is relatively large but has LOTS of stock, so there's not a lot of open space. However, it should be able to accommodate small-medium clusters of shoppers.

Not Sam him self... but close

See you soon! Anne-Marie

2009-11-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

DORMS OR HOTEL the big questions

When we started this project I had mad the suggestion of using the Université de Montréal dorms. So were in favour of this option and some others were not.

Our favourite room critics KayY and ConnieBJ came all the way to Montreal to try those for you.

Here is what Kay wrote about it:
Thérèse Casgrain Residence

The UdeM residence hotel provides basic accommodation at a great price. For $40 per night, you get a single room, high-speed Internet connection, and continental breakfast.

The rooms are small but adequate. Therese Casgrain is a relatively new building and there are only about 9-10 rooms on each floor. Each room has a single bed, desk, sink and closet, as well as a small fridge and fan. The building is not air conditioned, but we found that the rooms (11th floor) were very comfortable at night, even though we were in Montreal during a relatively hot and humid week in July.

Most floors have a common room, which is airy and cross-ventilated. It’s a comfortable place to sit and chat, and there’s a great view from the upper floors.

Bathrooms are shared with other residents on the floor. Everything was very clean and well maintained.
_________________________

After exchanging emails and thinking about it, we strongly recommand the dorms. Thought there is not air conditionning, they came in July and the rooms were not hot at all. The window provides plenty of wind since it is such high building. Plus if we go for those, I could reserve the 5th last floors and there would be only PR members using the bathrooms and the meeting rooms.

Check the picture Kay took
click here.

I already reserved the conference room in the UdeM building where I work. If the weather allows, we will be able to have a cocktail on a gorgeous roof terrace.

Kay is coming to Montreal on the weekend of November 28. You are welcome to join for a visit of Madeleine Soie et Laine and more discussion about our weekend.

Click here to reserve your room - Don't forget to select PR Weekend in the Event section.

Regards,

Anne

Joindre l'utile à l'agréable - Sewing for fun

2009-10-31T13:14:00.007-04:00

En cette journée d'Halloween, le temps se prête merveilleusement bien à la couture. Le ciel est de pluie et de vent. J'en profite donc pour entamer la confection d'une robe pour le Gala Forces Avenir. En effet, le 17 novembre prochain, j'accompagne un groupe d'étudiants en liste pour le prix d'excellence-projet en santé. J'ai eu le plaisir de les guider dans la présentation de leur dossier. Cette fois je n'aurai pas à monter sur le podium. Toutefois, s'ils gagnent, lors des remerciements, j'aurai sûrement une caméra de télé braquée sur moi. Mieux vaut être élégante.

Cette fois, nulle hésitation. J'ai été tentée au premier coup d'oeil par cette robe de Burda Tendance Mode. Les courbes simples et l'encolure rappelle vaguement la robe Galaxie de Roland Mouret. Vous ne trouvez pas ? Bien sûr elle n'est pas coupée à la taille comme l'originale. Puisque j'ai peu de temps, la simplicité me sied à ravir.

Voilà un projet ou je joins l'utile (la robe) à l'agréable (coudre la robe) !

By this rainy and windy Halloween day the weather is excellent for sewing my little black dress. On the November 17, I accompany a group of students in nomination for a price of leadership and excellence at the Forces avenir Gala. They presented their candidacy based on a wonderful project in health sciences. You might ask yourself what was my implication in this. Well I had the immense pleasure of coaching them in presenting their file.

Though this time, I will not be stepping on stage, if they are awarded, there will be a tv camera pointing in my direction. In those type of Gala, they most often direct the camera on those who are winning and on those who are thanked... and they told me I would receive a big thank you !!! ;-) So I better be dressed nicely.

This time, no hesitation. I was tempted right away by this nice little black dress presented in the October 2009 number of Burda World of fashion. The neckline reminded my some how of the most famous Galaxy dress by Roland Mouret. This version is not cut at the waist for more simplicity. Since time is running, this will be perfect.

The fabric I chose is a beautiful silk and wool fabric that present this "stripped" texture. Another beauty bought at Madeleine Soie et Lain e on St-Hubert

Clic on the picture to see the fabric from closer

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Où est votre petit coin de paradis ?

2009-10-12T21:18:00.006-04:00

Vous êtes quelques dizaines et parfois quelques centaines à passer sur mon blog à chaque semaine. Parfois, vous ne lisez que le titre du message, parfois vous cherchiez autres choses. Quelques fois vous aimez et passer plus temps.

Où êtes vous quand vous naviguez sur la toile? Au bureau, dans un aéroport, à la maison, dehors sur la terrasse d'un restaurant? Et puis, quel coin du monde habitez-vous? Marchez-vous chaque matin dans les rues d'une grande ville, pressé(e) par le rythme des gens à la course? Traversez-vous champs et vallons avant de cueillir à mains nues les fruits d'une terre ancestrale? Peux-être plongez-vous votre regard dans l' infini des flots bleus? Qui sait?

Chaque matin, j'use mes semelles sur le bitumes. Le vent d'ouest me porte vers le métro et le soir il me caresse le visage. Parfois d'une main douce et d'autres fois, surtout en hiver, il me fouette avec vivacité. Ma ville me plait. Quelques fois par année, je sens le besoin de prendre le large pour plusieurs jours.

Comme à chaque automne, nous étirons de deux jours supplémentaires le congé de l'action de grâce. Combinaisons, palmes et bouteilles de plongée se rangent dans la bagnole pour prendre la route vers les Escoumins. Là se rejoignent de amis de longue date. Chaque jour devient une célébration. Notre rituel festif se compose toujours de rires, d'émerveillement sous les eaux glaciales de l'Estuaire du St-Laurent, de longs repas entre amis et de sublimes moments méditatifs sur les rochers.

Je ne peux vous expliquer à quel point j'aime ces longues marches sur les rochers bordant l'Estuaire. Le vent se fait vif et fort. Parfois, il se fait même tempête. Au sud se dessinent les collines de Trois-Pistoles, séparées de notre rive par 30 kilomètres d'eau. Les jours mouvementés, il y a le bruit des vagues sur les rochers. Par temps calme, seul le bruit des oiseaux et le souffle des baleines viennent briser l'immensité du silence.

Ahh calme, bonheur et repos. Il faut bien se poser du reste de la vie.

Fitting clothes for others Part II

2009-09-20T12:23:00.008-04:00

pants front

I am so proud !!!! The muslin for the jacket is perfect. I simply need to take a bit in the upper back. The rest is top notch. Elise was between two sizes, so I cut in the middle for the back and upper front. I gave more space for the abdomen zone.

pants back

Though the pants are fitting relatively well, they need more waist space. I had cut again in between two sizes except for the abdomen zone that was cut two sizes larger. It still needs 4 cm more at the waist going to nothing a in the hip area. Her upper hips were stronger then the pattern counts. See the back and front pants muslin.

Since her body will evolve a bit in the next few months. I decided on making the front yoke in knit. Since they will be black, it is easy to find. I have in mind a medium weight high quality rayon knit from Madeleine Soie et laine.

If the pants get too big in the next few months, it will be very easy to transform. Elise loved the cut and fit of both piece (jacket and pants).

Well, I am better in fitting others then I though. I felt good when I looked at her wearing those muslin ;-). Still it is a challenge. All adjustments are just about the inverse as what I usually do. I would love to have a dress form for her.

Do you sew for other often ?

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Fitting clothes for others

2009-09-19T13:40:00.012-04:00

Today is a simple pleasure day. I started by a wonderful course of tennis and now it is sewing time. My younger sister gave birth 4 1/2 months ago of her second child. She will be back to work in 3 months or so and she desperately needs new clothes.

She asked for a simple Asian jacket and a pair of sleek pants. New Look pattern 6656 seamed to fit the description perfectly.

Aujourd'hui, tout semble converger vers le plaisir. Dès 8h00 j'étais sur le terrain de tennis (avec un gros 6 oC) et par la suite ma soeur est passée pour la prise de mesure. Elle est présentement en congé de maternité et avant son retour au bureau, Élise a grandement besoin de vêtements. Elle désirait avoir une veste aux lignes simples et pures typique des vêtements asiatiques avec un pantalon tout simple également.

Le patron New Look 6656 semblait correspondre parfaitement à la description.

Une photo d'Élise et ses deux garçons. Élise with her two sons. Adorables !!!!!

I do not sew for others very often. Therefore, I correct my patterns very instinctively. I am used to my curves. Now it is a new game. Elise has more of a rectangular shape then I. She style has a little bit of abdomen roundness that will be reduced with time. She still breastfeeds, so I also have to anticipate a reduction of breast size and the lowering of her breast apex. So, it is like sewing with my eyes closed. ;-)

Though I know very well how to reduce waist line and accentuate the curve from waist to hip line. Now I have to do the inverse. Needless to say that I am plunging in my fitting books.

I have to run sewing the muslins, the fitting session is tomorrow.

I will tell you how it goes.

L'essayage de la toile se déroule demain. Je vous tiens au courant.

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Tennis or Sewing, the big question

2009-09-14T12:58:00.006-04:00

My keyboard has been so lonely this past weeks. My sewing machine is used a bit more...but not that much.

The highly used item in my house has been this:

So much that, I had to buy a new one. It is precise, light and powerful enough for my caliber. Before the courts all close in October, I play 3-4 time a week. When I come back, the shower, the quick lunch and my bed are the only inspiration I have.

Nevertheless, I took some break time at work to read YOUR fantastic blogs.

I will be back soon with messages on fashion, completed sewing projects and projects already started or on the verge to be.

Meanwhile, this is what I look like ;-)

If I want to get older elegantly and in good shape; physical activity is a must in my life.
Seee yooouuu !

Please not that all pictures are from Tennis.com

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Des photos du Haut Burda - The BWOF top, more pictures

2009-08-23T15:25:00.005-04:00

Just a few more pictures !

It is soft and light, perfect for hot summer days at homes or at a gardent party.

For more fit at the waist level, you need to tigh it more. By doing so, you loose a bit of arm amplitude.

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Modifications légères sur BWOF - 2009-07-114

2009-08-17T21:07:00.003-04:00

Avant mon départ pour les vacances je travaillais à terminer ce haut de Burda Tendance Mode. Rien de plus facile, il s'agit d'un rectangle de soie au centre du quel on pratique deux entailles rectilignes afin de créer une ouverture. Les ourlets des bords se font en premier pour terminer par un ourlet étroit à l'encolure. C'est tout!

Before I left for vacations, I was working on this Burda World of Fashion easy top. Nothing could be simpler, this is a basic rectangle at the center of which you make two linear cut to obtain the neck opening. First you hem the sides and bottoms and you finish by hemming the neckline.

Une fois l'encolure taillée et l'ourlet fauxfilé, je n'aimais pas du tout le look. J'ai donc décidé de tailler les "revers" de l'encolure qui d'ailleurs laissaient voir l'envers du tissus qui est lamé (brrr pas joli du tout). Voici la modification que j'ai effectuée:

J'ai tout simplement couper l'excédant afin d'obtenir une encolure en V. L'enfance de l'art me direz-vous. J'ai fini l'encolure avec un billet de cotton que j'ai cousu de manière à obtenir une encolure sans angle et qui remonte à la base.

When the neckline narrow hem was all basted, I tried on the top and did not like at all the look of the triangle "wings" hanging in the front. They were showing the wrong side of fabric that is covered with tiny silver sparkles... wwooooo not my style and so much spoiling the beauty of the fabric. I simply decided to cut those two rectangles in order to obtain a V-neck. Nothing more simple then that. The neckline is finished with a cotton bias tape, stitch in a way to have soft angles.

Croyez-moi, j'étais nerveuse chaque fois que je mettais les ciseaux dans cette superbe charmeuse de soie. Vous pouvez voir l'envers du tissu sur cette photo. En fait, je crois qu'il s'agit de l'endroit ?!

Believe me, I was nervous everytime I put the scissors in that beautiful silk charmeuse. On that picture you can see the wrong side of the fabric... well it migh actually be the right side ?!

Voilà le résultat sur Daisy, car mon bel amour était occupé en plongée sous-marine cette fin de semaine. Des tonnes de poissons se sont fait photographier et pas moi ;-) Donc, je préfère de beaucoup cet effet. Le mannequin dans le magazine portait le haut tombant sur l'épaule, se qui donnait l'illusion d'un haut à encolure en V. Et bien, mieux vaut le vrai que l'illusion.

Here is the final result on Daisy. Since DH was underwater taking pictures of all possible fish in the St-Lawrence river, no picture of me were taken while wearing this airy, silky and relaxed top. I prefer it this way. If you remember, the model in BWOF had the top slipping on her shoulder to give the effect of a V-neck. Better to have a real one then just an illusion.

J'ai réalisé l'ourlet à la main avec du fil Gutterman en soie et une longue aiguille à soie. Ce fil semble excellent pour coudre à la machine, mais totalement nul pour la couture à la main. Durant ces 5,4 mètres d'ourlet, jai peiné à défaire les noeuds sans cesse former. N'utiliser pas ce fil pour un ourlet à la main dans une charmeuse de soie.

I used the 100% silk thread to hem the 5,4 meters of sides and bottoms. This thread was not nice to work with. I was breaking, making little nods, even if I used a nice long silk needle. If need to hem a light-medium weight silk charmeuse, use another brand of thread. If possible thiner. Which, I do not know where to get in Montreal.

D'autres vues, other views :
J'aime l'effet des motifs sur l'épaule et l'encolure.

Finalement, voici une photo avec les noeuds tel que Burda suggère de le porter:

Here is a view with the side nods like Burda suggests to wear it:

Ce haut n'offre pas beaucoup d'amplitude pour les mouvements et n'est pas prescrit pour faire la cuisine. Je vous suggère donc de le porter lors de fêtes champêtres, en marchant sur la plage avec votre amoureux ou bien en visite chez des amis qui cuisinent pour vous... parfois cela fait du bien de relaxer. Je vous promets des photos de moi portant ce haut très bientôt.

This top those not allow a great amplitude of movements. Since then it is totally not suggested for cooking. Wear it to a garden party with sleek capris while drinking a Cosmo, or for walking on the beach with your beloved one or when invited for dinners at friends that cook for you. One can relaxe sometimes. I promiss pictures of me wearing it soon.

Veuille noter que ce merveilleux tissu a été acheté chez Madeleine soie et laine rue St-Hubert à Montréal.

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Sur les traces de Marguerite Yourcenar - On Marguerite Yourecenar's path

2009-08-15T18:54:00.005-04:00

Pour ceux qui comme moi aime la littérature, il y a dans notre vie un ou deux auteurs qui nous touchent. Parfois le lien se fait par l'oeuvre et d'autres fois, il se crée par la vie de l'auteur(e). Deux Marguerite ont marqué mon parcours de lecture. Il y a eu alternativement Marguerite Duras et Marguerite Yourcenar. Beaucoup connaissancent Marguerite Duras par son roman L'Amant porté à l'écran voilà déja une quinzaine d'année. De Marguerite Yourcenar, je retiens surtout L'Oeuvre au noir dont le fameux Zénon a habité mes pensées durant de long mois après la lecture de son récit. Bien sûr, comme pour beaucoup, Les mémoires d'Hadrien demeure pour moi un roman phare d'une beauté pur. J'y avais trouvé des visages, des paysages et des personnages rendu vivant et palpable par la magie de ses mots. La lire demeure pour moi un voyage dans la langue française, dans la pensée humaine et dans la sensibilité d'un être extraordinairement vif. Pas étonant que Marguerite Yourcenar ait été la première femme admise à l'Académie française.

If you enjoy litterature as much as I do, then you must have one or two favourite authors that marked you by their style or life path. For me it was alternatively Marguerite Duras, well know for The Lover a novel adapted for the big screen. Then came Marguerite Yourcenar from whom you might know "Memoirs of Hadrien" and "The Abyss aka Zenon of Bruges".

Depuis de nombreuses années, je me promettais de visiter Mount Desert Island (Maine USA) afin de passer devant sa maison et de me recueillir sur sa tombe. Et bien c'est fait ! Petite Plaisance est une charmante demeure de cèdre peint en blanc avec des volets vert forêt. Je l'imaginais faisant face à la mer avec de larges fenêtre lui permettant de plonger son regard dans l'immensité du paysage. En réalité, cette maison se situe sur une rue charmante de Northeast Habor dans une ambiance de sous bois plutôt que de bord de mer. La rue bordée d'arbres semble bien typique des villages côtiers du nord-est des États-Unis. Devant, on aperçoit l'entrée d'une vaste propriété, qui elle a pleine vue sur l'eau.

Northeast Habor possède une jolie rue marchande à peine longue de 200 ou 300 mètre. Contrairement à Bar Harbor, la destination le plus connue sur l'Ile Mount Desert, Northeast Harbor a conservé le cachet plus authentique d'une destination de villégiature familiale (plutôt destinée aux familles fortunées). Ainsi, il est encore possible de croiser les propriétaires des magnifiques villas faisant leurs courses dans les boutiques du centre. Ce dont Bar Harbor manque selon moi... Également, la marina de Northeast Harbor regorge de magnifiques embarcations à voiles ou à moteur que l'on imagine bien être la propriété des vacanciers locaux. En fait, ce village semble un peu sorti d'une autre époque, comme un peu préservé de la fièvre touristique de la côte est. Je me demande combien de touristes à vélo savent qu'une auteur aussi fabuleuse sillonnait les jolies rues de ce hameau il y a à peine 22 ans?

For the past 20 years, I have been thinking about visiting Northeast Harbor where Marguerite Yourcenar lived the last 37 years of her life. I had imagine her house near by the sea, with big windows fully opened to hear the waves and the sea birds. It was a big surprise to discover that her house is located on a quiet street, bordered with immense trees and luxiourus ferns. A street where only huge mentions have access to the sea. Then, what was her inspiration ? Probably the beautiful garden that surrounds her house. Petite Plaisance, it's garden, Northeast Harbor are certainly enchanting... but they are so different then what I had imagined. I wonder how many tourists going by on their bycicle know that those streets have welcomed such a great author... ?

Bien qu'il soit possible de visiter la maison, je me sentais gênée d'entrer dans son monde, d'être si prêt des objects qui durant toutes ces années faisaient partie de son quotidien. J'avais l'impression que sa force et sa grande doivent rester calmement entre les murs de Petite Plaisance. J'aurais eu l'impression de la déranger... Je me suis tout de même permis quelques minutes de recueillement sur sa tombe. J'ai été touchée par la simplicité de la plaque... à peine plus grande qu'une poignée de cocottes de pin. Merci Marguerite.

Though it is possible to visit her house. I deceided not to invade her privacy. Instead, I made a prayer on her humble grave.

"Le paysage semble se composer comme les régions de montagne, de matériaux divers entassés pêle-mêle. J'y rencontre ma nature, déjà composite, formée en parties égales d'instincts et de culture. Çà et là affleurent les granits de l'inévitable; partout, les éboulements du hasard. Je m'efforce de reparcourir ma vie pour y trouver un plan, y suivre une veine de plomb ou d'or, ou l'écoulement d'une rivière souterraine, mais ce plan tout factice n'est qu'un trompe-l'oeil du souvenir.» Indéfinissables travaux des jours heureux, un paysage les réfléchit."

Les mémoires d'Hadrien... écrit à Petite Plaisance en 1951

L'entrée du cimetière où repose la grande Marguerite Yourcenar. J'ai inclus la rivière bordant le site afin de vous donner un aperçu du site. Quel bel endroit pour reposer en paix. Pour la voir et l'entendre parler de cd cours d'eau suivez ce lien.

Les informations pour visiter sa maison se trouve ici, the information to visit her house are here (in french)

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Two big days of exploration!

2009-07-27T20:17:00.000-04:00

Connie, Kay, Alexandra, and I have planned two days of walking Montréal's sewing district inside out. There are over 15 stores on our list. 9h30 we start our quest. Rhonda will also join the happy club.

I promise pictures and detailed reviews.

Stay tuned.

Anne

z

Besoin de vacances - Urgent need of vacation

2009-07-22T20:57:00.014-04:00

Voilà des semaines que je traine mon projet de veste et de pantalon. Rien n'avance. Ce n'est pas que je manque de motivation, j'ai envie de coudre, je n'ai juste pas d'énergie. Après avoir terminé ma maitrise en gestion et changé de boulot, tout ça dans le même mois, je crois être sérieusement mure pour des vacances. Demain 17 heures, j'éteins mon ordinateur pour les trois prochaines semaines.

Ce soir, en guise de bonbon, je travaille sur ce paton Burda tendances mode 2009-07-114. J'avais besoin d'un projet avec résultat rapide.

Voici le tissu magnifique dans lequel, je le confectionne. Il s'agit d'une magnifique soie italienne à grands motifs floraux. En principe ce patron se réalise en deux heures à peine. Toutefois, l'ourlet étroit fait à la main me demande un peu plus de temps. Le chemisier/puncho sera terminé pour notre souper en amis de vendredi.

For the past few weeks, my sewing projects aaaarrrreeeeeee ssstttttrrrrreeeeecccchhheeeeeddd. I started the BWOF jacket and the Mischka pants in mid may. Nothing is really going fast. This is so not related to a lack of motivation. I am simply just tired. In the same month I started a new position at the university and I ended out my last paper in order to obtain my master in management. This is what I call a busy month. I am so much in need of vacations. Tomorrow, 5pm, I will shut down my computer. The poor this will have to be alone for three weeks, while I will be sitting on a beach looking at the immensity of the St-Lawrence Golfe. Cold yes, but oh so intense in beauty, smell and peacefullness. I will bring you back pictures. Meanwhile, this is the view we have from the house.

Before I live for this windy paradise, I needed a simple project that could provide with an instente reward. I am currently hand hem 5,4m of pure italian silk. The fabric you see above in black with the large floral print is a charm to work with. It is intensly soft and the drape is enought to make a princess fall in love. Life as a semsstress is so wonderful, you get to feel and work with, the most beautiful knit or woven creations. ahhh lusss Beleive me this fabric is out of this world.

Often, I receive email of readers asking for the name of the store where I buy my fabric. This silk was bought at Madeleine Soie et Laine on St-Hubert Street. Unfortunately, they do not sell on line. Here is a picture of Carole at work cutting another piece of beauty. In the background, the object of my dreams. It stayed in mind for weeks. Now it is mine !

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Muchas Gracias Paco !

2009-07-16T20:00:00.005-04:00

This week I received from Paco Peralta two Patrones magazine ! Thank you so much !

If you do not know Paco which I doubt so much, he his an artist of the Barcelonian fashion scene. He has real "Mani d'Oro" (golden hands). Every month or so, he makes us dream with his breath taking creations that are always made with skills, you would not dream to have... this last sentence is of course not for Claire Kennedy, who sometimes visits my humble Cyber space. Paco is one of the most generous "sastro" on Internet. He never hesitates to share his knowledge or answer a personal email though his agenda is amazingly busy.

That said...

My father recently spent a month in Spain and I had commission him to go shop with Paco for fabric at Gratacos. Paco was willing to accompany him and my dearest dad was willing to spend 60 minutes in what would be for me a Spanish sewist paradise and a temple where I would ruin my self ;-)

It was for my greatest deception that father had to change is itinerary. Since Paco had kept those two magazines for me, he sent them by mail. What a pleasure to receive real mail !

Muchas Gracias Paco, eres uno tesoro!!!!!!!!! Mi sorpresa paquete llegará pronto a su casa.

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Birgitte, this is for you

2009-07-15T18:44:00.012-04:00

Birgitte, who is the soul behind Bubblegum 4 Breakefast, is working on a replicate of this amazing, M Jackson inspired Balmain jacket.

Birgitte is, well how would I know who she is since I have never met her... Well, in my point of view, Birgitte seams to be a dynamic, highly creative person who loves to dig and try, try and dig until she finally creates the garment she wants, thrives and desires. The most amazing thing in my opinion is that she always succeeds. You should look on her blog for the Yves St-Laurent blouse, the Dior raincoat, the Chanel jacket made for her younger daughter, her bohemian skirt, her pearled collar blue jacket, the silver jeans jacket, the blue silk dress made for her older daughter, etc.

She is, to my taste, inventive and above all not afraid of wearing clothes that are daring. Well, if you read my blog from time to time, I know there are so many to read on planet Ihaveaninterestinglifetosharewithyou all, so if you read my blog, you will know that I worship creative people who dare to wear divinely extravagant clothes... I am so not able to do that yet!

Birgitte is a gifted individual who puts efforts in getting her dreams realized. We should all follow that path. De la pensée à la main, il y a un monde à franchir. J'aime sa détermination. From thought to work, this is a world to cross. I admire her determination.

Now she is heading for the moon with this jacket. Could I be an astronaut as well?

So Birgitte, if you had not seen it before, I found on The Cut this very interesting video on beading. See their wonderful technique !!!!!!!

A couple of friends and I are following her progresses with the Balmain Jacket. Join our club and read her blog. She is amazing.

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Roberto Cavalli, de tissu à robe, from fabric to dress

2009-07-13T22:49:00.001-04:00

Durant de nombreuses années, j'ai eu l'impression que ma personnalité, disons vive et colorée constituait un frein au port de vêtements vifs et colorés. Persuadée dès mon 16e anniversaire que le noir représentait le seul costume qui me siérait (quel verbe difficile à conjuguer, seoir). Et bien, telle une veuve sicilienne, j'ai traversé le temps, l'espace et les périodes de ma vie.

Depuis 2 ans, à l'occasion, je m'assoie sur mon lit, j'ouvre les portes de ma penderie, je prends une grand respiration et j'observe. Ensuite, je me questionne et réfléchis. Quelle tristesse cette sombre garder-robe! Pourquoi tant de noir quand le monde offre tant de couleurs et de motifs? N'ayant de prime abord trouvé que des explications longuissimes et aucune réponse concrète, j'ai déserté le divan du Dr Freud pour surfer sur le site d'Emma One Sock ou bien trainer mes pieds chez Madelaine Soie et Laine. De fil en aiguille, de couture en vêtements terminés, peu à peu je suis tombée sous le charme. D'abord, le rouge, puis, le vert olive et ensuite les motifs. Ma tête navigue dans une mer d'étoffes colorés, de textures animées des plus fous reliefs, mon coeur est une voile gonflée par un vent de poésie textiles. Je vis.

Mon premier essai un t-shirt d'une simplicité désarmante confectionné avec un tricot Cavalli rouge et olive. Amour visuel dès les premiers instants. Inconfort au premier essayage suivit d'une persistance affirmée, de compliments au bureau et d'une finale en confort, maintenant une aisance du look "je m'aime avec des couleurs". Ahhh Haaa victoire ma douce, victoire te voilà! Mais, mai .... je peux vivre en portant autre chose que du noir! S'exclame-t-elle! Et qu'est-ce que cette doctrine du: "je tente d'être invisible en public à tout prix"? Je lui dis vas te perdre sur les montagnes immalayennes pardis!

Tranquillement, je soupire devant des étoffes de toutes les couleurs. Je me laisse charmer par les textures variées, les motifs osées et je suis une nouvelle fan des dévorés de soie et velours colorés. Je suis guérie. Je prêche l'autoguérison, je suis une adepte de l'auto dérision et vive l'autodétermination. Auto et "tion" rime si bien. Comme résister cette suite à trois ?
Voilà une robe dans laquelle je me sens femme, dans laquelle je m'assume à plein. Merci Roberto Cavalli pour le tissus, Butterick pour le patron (à ne pas choisir voir ma critique sur Pattern Review plus bas à droite) et Emma One Sock .

Des photos et c'est tout. Mon amoureux aime bien le look.

If demure was once my modo, it no longer is
There was a time in my life, which lasted 21 years, when I would wear only black clothes. On my lively days, I would go for navy blue or pale grey. Wooo how daring of me! My father, who enjoys pulling my leg, use to call me the Sicilian widow. Prints would be out of the question even if they were black and white. Why was that, I don't know? Everything seemed flashy to me. I guess I was under the impression that my personality was colorful enough! I don't know?

I wonder what Dr Freud would say about that. Reference to this other review I wrote on PR

Recently, a much joyful or colorful phase started. I added solid colors and prints. Wooo this is a revolution in my life. Green, red, orange and even aqua now have a place in my closet. The rest of the clothes, all blackies of course, look at the freshies with curiosity wondering weather they are there to stay. Come on girls, there is space for diversity in that closet.

So, this dress is part of the flashy freshies. I am not certain yet weather or not I like it. In my point of view, this is a very daring jersey dress. What do you think?

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Foksy arrived home

2009-07-09T11:04:00.002-04:00

I told you I was in love with those scarfs. I bought one.

It arrived yesterday, it is so beautiful, warm, innovative and well knit. I might order another one.

I love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You want one. It is simple to buy on Etsy. Click on the word Etsy and you will arrive on her Etsy page.

On top of being talented, she is wonderful to deal with.

As soon as DH has time to take pictures of me wearing it. I will pose with my new friend.

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