le mani d'oro

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?

After a long day at work, just before the sun goes down, I was able to get DH for a very quick photo shoot. We took my little camera and the light was not perfect. There is a bit of digital noise on them :-( Not the effect I wanted but, that is ok for tonight.

Après une longue journée au bureau, mon conjoint a accepté de prendre quelques clichés de ma robe, un peu à la sauvette. Nous avions tous les deux bien hâte de manger. Les photos ne sont pas excellentes, veuillez m'en excuser. Il a un peu de bruit numérique lié à la basse lumière et parce que nous avons utilisé mon petit appareil de poche.

Do I like the dress? No not really. What don't I like... I am not certain though. The fabric probably. The pattern is neat and simple. The fabric makes me look too serious or old. As my friend Annette would say, this dress is perfect to walk the dogs... but I don't have a dog. Nevertheless some aspects of the dress are positive:

Est-ce que j'aime cette robe? Non, pas vraiment. À vrai dire, je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je ne l'aime pas c'est tout. C'est le tissu fort probablement, le patron est charmant. Comme dirait mon amie Annette, elle est parfaite pour aller prendre une marche avec les chiens... mais je n'ai pas de chien. Malgré tout, il y a plusieurs aspects positif à ce projet tels:

1. My sway back correction is excellent. Well done ! La correction pour la cambrure du dos est parfaite.
   
   
2. The back neckline dart gives excellent fit in a zone that is very often problematic for me - L'ajout de la pince à l'encolure dos arrive à donner un très bon ajustement.
3. I learned a lot about the lining quilting method - Et puis finalement, j'ai beaucoup appris en réalisant cette robe.

If you do not remember, I used the Vogue 8146 pattern for that project. - Si vous n'avez pas souvenir, j'ai utilisé le patron Vogue 8146 pour ce projet.

I think I know what I don't like !!! It is 1 to 2 inches too short.

That's it, I finished it! I thought that I would never be able to finish it. I seriously believed at one point that this dress would become a UFO.

It is perfect? .... NO ! Am I worried because it is imperfect? NO! Why should I be? I took an inexpensive fabric with regular lining to learn the quilting method developed by Chanel. Now I am ready for the real thing.

Before I post pictures of the dress on me, here are picture of the outside and the inside. I really like the black top. If done all in the same fabric. I think it would be very dull.


Ciel, je ne pensais jamais terminer ce projet de couture. J'ai sincèrement cru que cette robe resterait dans ma penderie, penaude, "interminée" parce qu'interminable. Je pense avoir fait un kilomètre de points à la main pour finir l'intérieur de ce vêtement.


Elle-t-elle parfaite cette robe? Non ... Suis-je triste qu'elle ne le soit pas? Non... La réalisation de cette robe a été une belle expérience de couture. Un cours autodidacte. Tout d'abord j'ai ajouter un empiècement alors qu'elle n'en avait pas et pour la doublure matelassée, j'ai avancé pas en pas en lisant et en réfléchissant sur la bonne façon de le faire.

Maintenant, je suis prête pour la grande aventure. Je suis prête pour le bouclé de chez Linton et la doublure de soie.

Avant d'afficher des photos de moi portant la robe, je vous mets vite, vite des photos de l'intérieur et de l'extérieur.

Front view of the quilted lining

back view of the quilted lining

Of course, during all the sewing process I had to press my dress. But... I do not like that fabric all pressed and flat. So my dress is drying flat. I am wearing it tomorrow for work. Ahh yes, for the moement I do not think that I will but a biais tape on it.

Bien sûr, durant la confection, j'ai dû presser le tissu. Comme je préfère sa texture et son apparence lorsqu'il n'est pas pressé, j'ai lavé ma robe ce soir. Elle sèche bien sagement à plat. Si elle est prête, je la porte au bureau demain. youpi ! ah oui, j'oubliais, pour l'instant j'ai décidé de ne pas mettre de biais pour la "décorer". J'aime beaucoup la combinaison des deux tissus. Sans cela, ma robe serait définitivement terne.

You can also read about Roy and his Jeans on Fashion Incubator.

Enjoy the video !

Roy's Jeans - Video by Self Edge from Self Edge on Vimeo.