Parva sed apta

I finished the skirt I wanted to make from the tablecloth I bought some weeks ago.

That a round tablecloth could be turned into a skirt is rather obvious, but it only stuck in my mind after having found this tutorial via Va-Voom Vintage-Free Patterns-Page.

I didn’t measure my waist for the skirt itself, because I already had a given line where I had to cut because of the hole in the middle section, which was causing a larger circle to cut out than my waist would have done. That means that the final length was given, too and it shouldn’t have been any shorter.

To fit the skirt to my waist, I gathered the fabric into pleats while attaching the waistband. I cut the circle to insert a seam with a zipper in the centre back. I know that you can insert a zipper without opening the complete length of the skirt, but it never came out as I wanted it and the fabric is so thin and frays very easily, so I decided against it.

Because the fabric was transparent I lined it with a cream coloured lining I had in stock. I had to cut two half circles for the lining, because I was running out of fabric. I didn’t want to have side seams in the skirt, but the zipper in the centre back, so I had to cut one of the lining half circles in half again.

To form the waistband I had nothing but the circle I cut from the middle. I cut three straps each 3,5cm in width, applied fusible interfacing and merged them into one long waistband. Because I didn’t want to waste anything of the fabric on the inside, I used some old bias binding for this. Well, and then I made a stupid mistake: The straps were around 40cm in length each. I didn’t want to use only two, even though it would have been enough, but that would have caused me a seam in the centre front (only now I realize that I could have solved the problem with making side seams and a side zipper, but now it’s too late). So I cut three, as much as I could without having any bits of embroidery on the waistband, and planned to cut the waistband on both ends, so the two seams wouldbe placed somewhere around my kidney, besides the zipper.

So much about planning. What I did was ironing the future and turned over waistband in half, chose the cleaner end of the bias binding inside (the other end had a little frayed on the edges because it was lying in my sewing basket without any wrapping) and cut the desired length. And of cause I realized my mistake in that very moment!  Well, too late, I had no more fabric to made another waistband and now the seam is only slightly off the centre front.
But I planned to wear it with a belt anyway.

Here you can see the embroidery:

(yes, I should have dropped my camera and yes, the case is too large for the camera inside)

Well, the rest is not very interesting. I attached the upper fabric and the lining at the same time, the lining without pleats in the waist (so I had to calculate the circle cutout at last), finished the hem with a rolled seam (the upper fabric has an embroidered scalloped edge, so I had no work on that one) and closed the waistband with two little hooks and eyes.

(the zipper’s end is normally hidden by flap, I don’t know if I didn’t close it properly or if it undid itself)

And that’s it, a simple circle skirt.

(blouse: lifetime; shoes: Dosenbach, fragrance: Nina Ricci – L’air du Temps)

See you soon, love

ette

I am very happy to show you a little sewing project I made a couple of weeks ago.
A fake fur collar:

Like most students I work besides going to University. When studying in Germany I was lucky and could work as a shop assistant in a fabric and haberdashery shop. And of course we sold fake fur as well. This one was one of the most expensive in the shop (I don’t remember its price, but comparable fake furs are sold online around 50€/m)). A woman came and bought 2m, she wanted to line it to make a faux fur blanket. She was the first client to buy the fur from this bolt, so the edge was cut very rough. And because we had a large table and were accustomed to cut fur she asked us to cut away the inconsistent edge, so she would be able to leave with a perfect rectangle. And of course we did. The piece of fabric we cut away was 1m in width and almost 20cm high. My boss wanted to throw it away, so I asked her if I could keep it, because I already imagined it to become a collar. She agreed and the fabric stayed in my stock a long, long time.

Some months ago I bought a champagne-coloured lining and the fur came to my mind again. I thought it was about time to face this project.

The fabric was cut like a very long triangle, so I folded it in half to shape it into a symmetrical curve at the diagonal edge. Then I backed it with the lining. I decided against a satin bow to close it, but went for a grosgrain ribbon instead. The fur itself already is so much over the top, I didn’t want to stress it any further.

The collar seen from the back, the width in the centre back is 13cm, it looks larger because of the pile.
To wear it like this it is a little to long, it measures 1m between the ribbons. It always slips off my shoulders.
When going outside and wearing a Trenchcoat or another coat with a V-shaped neckline, I can pull the pointed ends down and use it to keep my throat warm:

And it is also possible to wear it like a scarf by wrapping it round the neck twice.

And as fancy dress to turn into a russian tzarina^^

(for this style I had to turn it upside down, because I needed the round edge. Here you can see that I folded the lining over the edge to close it, because I couldn’t turn it over completely)

I attached the lining first on the upper edge, the right sides facing each other, then turned it and pulled the lining down, forcing the fur to fold at the seam as well and the pile to stand up. If I wouldn’t have done that, the fur would have lied flat and the lining would have been visible on the top edge. The downside is, that the upmost region of the fur seems to be grey, showing off the unpatterned pile. But when it is worn and moved it doesn’t look that bad as in the photos.

To keep it in place I had to topstitch the seam again. And yes, I sewed the whole collar without using my sewing machine, I prefer to control the things I sew and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do so when working with this fur (that is the reason because I insert most of the zippers and buttonholes by hand as well, I know I can’t do it properly with my sewing machine).

As I already said, to close the lower edge I just folded the lining over and sewed through all the layers at once.

To hide the edges at the two ends, I hid them under the ribbon:

Here a photo of the whole collar lying flat:

And, save the best for last. maybe you would like to try making your own one?
All you need is very little fake fur, 15cm x 100cm, a little bit more lining, maybe 20cm x 100cm and 130cm ribbon of your choice.I only cut the ends with pinking shears, but of course you can hem them as well.

I made you a little drawing for the three steps, I don’t think you need instructions how to add a ribbon, do you?

Pay attention to:

- the pile. Mine is facing downwards, but I can imagine it looking great the other way round as well. In this case you might need to find another solution to attach the lining.

- not to cut the pile. When cutting fur, always cut it from the reverse side and do not open your scissors to wide, you only want to cut the fabric not the pile. Especially when working with long haired fur this is crucial, you can easily destroy several centimetres of the fabric by cutting the pile, it will be lacking on the edges.

- pay attention to every stitch you make. When working with a sewing machine you have to release the fibres trapped in the seam with a pin after sewing. When handsewing you have to take care of this as well and that no fibres are pulled through the pinhole when pulling the thread through it. Otherwise your seam would look very strange on the lining side of the collar.

And why toupee? Well, my boyfriend hates it as much as I love it. And just for fun we always call it “Fiffi”. And because “Fiffi” in German is a nickname for a small dog with too much hair and as well for a toupee, I chose this title.

See you soon, love

ette

or maybe better: The lace is eyes.

As I told you, before I went to Lyon I searched for something to craft without lots of supplies and decided to try to learn Tatting (Occhi in Italian, which means eyes in English). Now, I didn’t do much because there was so much else to see, but at least I started. I had bought two modern plastic shuttles some years ago at a crafting fair and last year I found one antique horn shuttle at an antique market.
Normally Tatting is made using two shuttles, but there are some easy patterns to start that can be worked with one shuttle only. After having tried a lace with two shuttles and failed badly, I started with another design from the book, using only one shuttle.

If you ever think about learning tatting: buy good shuttles! It is possible to work with the plasctic ones, but they are rather light, the are just…not that cooperative. The horn shuttle is very smooth, it makes its way through a loop nearly on his own, the weight is perfect, it was just so much better to work with.
Before I will start a new tatting project I want to find another horn- or any alternative shuttle, but I can’t imagine working a whole lace with those plastic things.

Now, the lace. Because it was only a test to get to know the technique, I used a leftover from my crocheted doily.
The lace consists only of loops with three pikots, the two on the sides always interlace with the neighbouring loops. You can see that they are connected through loose threads, normally you could work this bows as lace as well, if you were working with a second shuttle, so it is not common for occhi-lace that those threads are visible.

I don’t know what I will use it for, yet. I first planned to decorate a neckline with it, but it is slightly too long for this (83cm) and I don’t want to have any leftovers. For a hem it is a little too short, but I am sure I will find a project to use it.

A summary? It was good to learn this technique and once you have understood the basic principles, it is not that difficult (as far as I can understand at the moment). It is time consuming, yes, but I think that lace making in general is everything but a fast craft.

See you soon, love,

ette