le mani d'oro

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

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

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

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

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$ ...