le mani d'oro

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 .

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

Vogue 2091 view b - under construction

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

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 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.



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:
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 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 !

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 !

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?