summer, where are you?

Hello everybody! Yes, I know, it's been a while. I'm on holiday right now and have been since my last post. The first weekend was spent with my best friend, celebrating her birthday. Remember the surprise I was sewing? It was a gift for her, a tote bag in green with polka dots, and I stitched/applied a pair of cherries onto it and lined it with the green gingham.

The application turned out to be a lot easier than I thought, but I still needed two tries for the bag... The original plan was to use red satin bias tape for the edges, but it was a pain to work around the curves and I couldn't get it to lie wrinkle free, so now only the top edge is red. Also, I stupidly didn't buy enough fabric for a handle... *facepalm* Ah well.

After that, my boyfriend and I went to visit our parents (respectively, but they live in the same town anyway...), and we'll only leave for home sometime this week, after his mom's b-day on Wednesday. During all the family hubbub there wasn't all that much time for blogging or sewing, although I did manage to get in a couple of things for Self-Stitched September. I also got a bunch of lovely new fabric at the Holland fabric market in Freiburg! I'll put up pictures as soon as I am back home.

I haven't managed to finish either of my Summer Essential leftovers - the sun-dress and the linen sailor trousers. Both projects seemed more involved than I wanted to get into while spending time with my family, and additionally, the weather hasn't been all that summery since the beginning of August. While we did have some sunny days and also a lot of days that were around 20°C, at least half the time was pretty cold and wet. And here I remember my childhood, spending practically the whole of August at the pool...

Ah well, I had a nice time anyway. I visited the fabric market in Freiburg with my parents and we spent the night and had a lovely dinner over the border in France, we spent four days in Austria in a lovely hotel which had a nice spa, last weekend was spent with my family plus boyfriend in Switzerland (yes, I do live near a lot of borders ;-) ), I also had to watch a lot of soccer and golf on the TV, help cook countless wonderful and yummy family dinners, drink lots of good wine... I had a lovely time. Still, it's going to be nice to be back home next week. :-)

new fabric!

I went fabric shopping today! I needed something for a little project of mine, and of course I couldn't stop there... I found some seriously cute fabrics, so my little seamstress's heart is leaping while my wallet is frowning at me - but my stash isn't all that big, yet, anyway, and I bought almost all of it with a project in mind... (well, something along the lines of "Hey, what a cute fabric! I could totally turn it into a very pretty dress! ;-) )

But seriously, aren't they beautiful? The grey one with the bubbles is shimmery and slinky, I think it would make a pretty dress. Maybe a sheath dress with elegant lines, to set of the frivolity of the bubbles... Grey usually doesn't go all that nicely with my reddish complexion, but I think this one might work...

I fell in love with the strawberry fabric when I saw it. It's just so crisp and cute! A little piece will be used for my (as of yet still secret, because it's a surprise) project and I can see it as a dress with a black bodice or maybe as another peasant blouse... Not sure yet what I'm going to do with the plums. If nothing presents itself to me, they'll be turned into an apron. I could see them as a skirt, though, too...

The blue one is definitely going to be another peasant blouse, and the white one might, too... Both the green ones are for my secret project. Which I need to start on, since I'm going on holiday tomorrow noon!

Joining Self-Stitched September

So, I really couldn't wait anymore. I'm going to do this, because if I don't, I know I will have missed a really interesting and fun opportunity. So...

I, Alessa, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade or refashioned item of clothing or accessory/jewellery every day for the duration of September 2010.

If you want to find out what this is all about, head over to Zoe, who initiated this project, to the project page or to the Self-Stitched September flickr group!

same thing in red

Today I made another peasant blouse. I guess I'm on a fast-and-easy trip - I could make this pattern again and again. Sitting down to make something and being able to wear it a couple hours later is a pretty awesome feeling. :-) 

I'm thinking of making up a tutorial for the blouse. What do you say? It's very easy to do, no pattern needed (just measurements) and there's really nothing complicated about it, no button holes, no zipper... I want another one, anyway (maybe in blue with tiny white polka dots, next time?) so I'm going to take pictures then!

The fabric is from the Maybachufer Market here in Berlin, it's cotton and I bought it with the Summer Essentials Sewalong in mind. I originally envisioned it as a babydoll top, but I realized that I hadn't bought enough fabric for an A-line shape. No matter, I really like how this turned out. And look! I didn't take self-timed pictures in my kitchen! I talked my boyfriend into taking pics of me on the way to the flea marked (where I didn't find any nice clothes or jewelery or fabric, but bought a nice red leather wallet).