Spring atmosphere and first blooming

Hiatus for this blog tonight, due to a long day spent at my mom's and dad's house, and the garden between two spring showers...

Example of sewing inspiration process: the End-of-roll collection

Where does the inspiration for a sewing project come from?

• From fabric.
• From pattern.
• From fashion magazines or from haute-couture collections.
• From "air du temps".

Tonight I want to share with my reader the story of the "End-of-roll collection" as an example of a sewing inspiration process.

A few months ago, I bought a nice piece of fabric at a bargain price. It was a beautiful boucle fabric (bouclette in French), a dead stock from a past Chanel Haute Couture collection (don't forget: I live in Paris ;-). The bargain price was because it is the end of the roll (see above). It has been cut and it has a big label glued on it (no chance to remove it without damage).

It's a perfect example of nice Chanel boucle: the fabric and the price were so nice that I couldn't resist ;-)

Questions:

1. Well, what can I do with this?
2. Which other fabrics do I need to do something with this one?

Answers:

1. Probably a little jacket (the fabric call for a little Chanel jacket), if there is enough fabric.
2. No decision at this point of the process.

To be continued...

Update about the pink Marfy spring coat for me

I made a muslin with the Marfy pattern pieces. And I petite it a little. Here is the result, with a skirt or a pant, see below.

Any comment or advice are welcome.

The doublefaced fabric I chose (I show you the fabric before) shrinked during the prewash process and is now heavier than I imagined.

So, I plan to use a double layer of fabric on shoulder area (in front and back) and reinforce these areas with pieces of cotton muslin. Shoulderpads can be added on the inside between the two layers. The coat looks better with shoulderpads and the pattern calls for them.

The rest of the coat will be a single layer of doublefaced fabric. The seams probably need to be reinforced to prevent distortion.

All the sewing process will be very time consuming... Perhaps the coat will be in time for next Spring...

Fresh splash of color for little girl spring outfit

My daughter spring outfit (cotton dress and Valentino fashion light wool pinaflor) is finished! I showed you the fabrics before.

I chose a vintage pattern, early 70's I guess. For a modern look, I added length, forgot the ruffle, and added side pockets (to store and hide all those little treasures a little girl can pick up during the course of the day ;-)

Of course, I didn't forget the Hello Kitty button! I picked up a couple of vintage flower buttons, not visible on the photograph, for the back of the dress.

Please do have a thought for this poor outfit, whose premiere will take place tomorrow at school. I dearly hope it won't be torn to death or irreparably spotted after one single long day at school...

Première CRAFT NIGHT Etsy à Paris

Yesterday evening, I went to visit the First Etsy CRAFT NIGHT in Paris, (see image above Première CRAFT NIGHT Etsy à Paris) . This event promotes the french version of the Etsy web site.

I went there with my 2 children, who are always OK for a ride to Paris on the "métro", and my husband, who was not exactly crazy about learning how to make pompons.

I went there to meet France-based Etsy sellers, speak about art and craft and learn tricks about selling something through Etsy.

I met Stéphanie was organizing the event and two sympathetic Etsy sellers: Karianne (karius de parius) and Anabel (anasousa). I enjoyed a warm welcome from all three of them. They took time to speak to me, to explain me their skill and art, to share tricks about Etsy and, all in all, to give me some advices.

My twenty-month old son spoke with a lot of people, with a stuffed monkey, a stuffed hen, and ate far too many candies.

My daughter and my husband learned about making crochet flowers.

We did not stay much long, because of the incoming bedtime for the children (and the adults needed a small break before bedtime too). It was a nice evening.

My husband had his share of success today at work, when he went on explaining that he didn't have a chance to improve his pompon-making skills, but now (sort of) masters crafting crochet corsage flowers!

Bubble coat recipe

Ingredients:

• Funny pink bubble fleece,
• White cotton lining with dark blue heart pattern,
• Sympathetic green monster and a doll,
• Smiling monkey, that makes a lot of noise if you hit it,
• Early Spring season in the air,
• 4,5 year old daughter,
• Poor mother with a sewing machine, threads, buttons...

Recipe:

• Let the daughter speak, speak, speak about everything and nothing,
• Add some sleep-deprived nights, because of a breastfed baby, and some afternoon naps of this baby,
• Shake all of the above and sew in a hurry as usual...

Result:

• At the end you will have this funny bubble coat, with the matching "béret" (don't forget the bow on the beret, please ;-)

Enjoy ;-)

A parisian sunrise

First hiatus for my blog due to early spring illness and to much to do, as usual :-(

I just share this parisian sunrise. The photo was taken early this morning by my husband, from his office, close to the Champs-Elysées.

A big splash of color for me, for me, for me...

For me, for me, for me!

• A fine doublefaced fabric made in Italy from austalian wool (two oposite side of the world ;-)
• An incredible color to say bye-bye to the winter season
• A stuning italian design
• Some rayon thread or twisted cotton floss to make little embroidery

No doubt: spring is on the way!

Two articulated dolls

Tow articulated dolls with more than one century betwen their birthdate.
They are used for the same purpose: to test and show sewing project!

The old one is made of wood, porcelain and iron, and came from France, but not sure.
The new one is made of vinyl and came from Japan.

The old one was from my great-grand-mother. She used it to show her new garment model in front of her store in Paris (she was dressmaker).

The new one is mine. I plane to use it to test color combinaison and sewing idea and perhaps in front of my etsy store on the weeb.

More later: there is a lot to say about each of these doll...

Never marry a rugby player or don't try to sew for him!

We had a cold and long winter, it's still pretty cold in the morning. So I decided to make a coat for my husband.

I chose the Burda 153 from the October 2008 issue (the pictures above are from the burdafashion website). I made a muslin to be sure, and it was fortunate! Burda size 54, the largest size for this model, is for a chest of about 108 cm (42.5 inches). My husband is a bit above that, but I assumed it would suit him fine: the model is not exactly close fitting, is it?

NO, absolutely not! The muslin doesn't fit.

Now, I have to try to up-size this pattern. Of course, this can be made, the bigger size can be extrapoled from the multiple lines: the pattern is multisized for burda size 48 to 54... And after that, I have to petite a little that "sacré" pattern... What a mess!

More later...

I should have known better since, last Summer, I tried to made the trousers presented with the caban coat (with some adjustment for a retired rugby player belly ;-) and sadly, I never managed to fit it correctly and finish it.

Why is sewing for men, and especially for a lovely husband, always such a pain?!

Spring is in the air...

After a long winter for most of us, I am sure now: spring is on the way!

And with these first signs of spring, my daughter and I were eager for a tiny splash of color.

More later!

Once upon a time... champagne et chocolat !

I was born in Paris, about 39 years ago, in this building.

According to my mother, it was very early in the morning (I never woke up so early ever since then, according to her ;-) on January, the First.

As usual in a large parisian hospital, there where many students (midwives and nurses) working-studying. For most of them there where no reason not to greet the New Year just because they were working at the maternity on this very day...

So, the first scent I smelt after birth was champagne and chocolate!

I always thought theses "fairies" made me see life through pink glasses for the rest of my life!

The funniest part is that my two children were also born in this very same building, but not on January the First!

Try to imagine how my mother felt when she went there to see her newborn grandchildren... Incidentally, she did not notice the building changed a lot on the inside after all those years.

To blog or not to blog, that is... ;-)

As the title says...

I have been reading several blogs, some of them everyday, and I wondered: why not start my own blog? But, if the answer is YES, many more questions pop-up...

• Adding pictures, and nice ones, is more than needed for me.
• And about what exactly? Define a subject, have a story to share or just follow my instincts?
• And in which language? English? Et pourquoi pas en français ?
• And what about periodicity? I like to read some blog everyday, but following this pace would be time consuming, and I have 2 littles ones to deal with (other parents will understand ;-)
• How to deal with comments, good and bad ones? Moderate or not ?

I have decided the answer is YES, and I'm trying to start: define subjects, plan posts, choose the name and the look of the blog...

And for me, the problems appear: I am not pleased with the basic blog-look, I want to define image and text appearance, I make a lot of tries. Then, I get nervous, and I want to modify this stupid HTML code itself, and, in the end, hubby had time to create his own blog before I manage to post my first message...

My lovely hubby said that, as usual, I am overwhelmed by details! He is right, but I only want to stretch the pictures, in order to have them fill the whole page width, and I want to have that nice border around them, and a few other bells and whistles here and there, nothing so hard, or complex, isn't it? Unfortunately, it is...

More later, everybody (It's late at night, and the baby want to be breastfed)!