Note from the Mrs

And another few months have gone without posting. It's not even as if my husband (still getting used to that) and I went away on a honeymoon! My Wonderful Man and I had a truly fabulous wedding, and of course it is time to show you the pictures of my dress making.

This is a picture of me with my dad on the steps of Marylebone Town Hall before the ceremony: look at the train on that dress! The pattern I used is Vogue 2883, with minor alterations: I inserted a zip in the left side seam instead of buttons down the back (strangely enough I couldn't find buttons in the right colour...), and I closed the center back neck instead of using a button there: I just didn't think that made any sense. The fabric I used was a beautiful silk dupioni, and it was great to work with: easy to cut and sew, an supereasy to iron once I figured out the correct setting! Even though the dress consists of an enormous amount of fabric (I used about 18 meters), the fact that the silk was lightweight made it feel like I was wearing a little summer dress. Although never before did I wear a summer dress with a petticoat underneath. In this picture you can see my friend Esther helping me into my dress. She is wearing a stunning backless dress we made from KnipMode November 2007 (nr. 14). My family all came over from Holland and the US and our friends from near and far were there to celebrate with us. My husband (see, getting easier already) had arranged for all of the men to wear morning suits with different coloured ties, and when we left Town Hall the men all put on sunglasses and acted like Men in Black for the picture...

Added: In the evening we danced our behinds off, and in order for people not to trip over my train, I had sewn a little piece of ribbon on the inside of the center back seam that I tied to a piece of ribbon slightly higher up. I'll have to take a picture of that to show you.

Take them to the cleaners!

Last (UK Bank Holiday) weekend I finally got some real sewing done: The KNIPmode trousers are done! Pictures to follow; I want to have them drycleaned first. I did not pretreat the fabric (linen, call me silly), because it frays so easily and I couldn't fit all of it in my washing machine in one go, so I will only dryclean this set of clothes. I'm hoping the drycleaning will get rid of the stiffness of the fabric, so that I can wear the trousers and not look pregnant (coz I'm not, but that's what it looked like to me). Anyway, next project: the jacket.

For the last few days I have also been working on creating an updated map of fabric stores in London (thanks to Melissa letting me know how to use Google Maps) , and a printable list of those same stores. The map and list will be updated from time to time with short reviews, and as soon as I find out how to publish them on my blog, please have a look. Should you know of any shops, markets or other information that you think would be useful to others, please let me know and I'll add them.

Keeping my eyelets open

Walthamstow market is open from Tuesday to Saturday, and - like any market - is full of people milling about, trying to find the best deals on anything from apples to zips (20p!). My WM and I walked up and down the mile long market for about an hour, and met up with a friend for lunch afterwards. I went specifically to find fabrics that would go well with the gray linen I bought at the Curtain Factory Outlet a few weeks ago that I'll be using for trousers, a skirt and a jacket, although of course I kept my eyes open for other fabrics as well.

Interestingly, I ended up buying fabric at the shops along the High Street, not at the market. At Fardin Fashion Fabrics (I couldn't find it anywhere online), a shop selling mostly beautifully colourful Indian sari fabrics, I found a light cotton "feather" fabric, and at the Textile Centre I bought a pink/grey/white eyelet.

The eyelet will be the short sleeved NewLook 6704 and the "feather" will be the top I saw in KNIPmode June 2008, with a bit of contrast fabric left over from the linen.

Puzzled

Yesterday I did some more pattern tracing, and I used an older KNIPmode (2001) than the one I used last week (2008). Firstly, it struck me that the colours on the 2001 tracing sheet were different: only light blue and red were used, whereas the 2008 sheet used green, red and black. Also, the way of finding the correct pattern part to trace seemed not as straightforward as I had just experienced with the newer issue.

This made me remember some of the really funny "mis-traced" parts that I sometimes ended up with a long time ago, so I went and had a look through my stack of KNIPmode (when it was still called Knip) and I found a coat pattern I saved from 1987. Yes, I know, ridiculously old, but a great pattern, and as the Dutch saying goes "Wie wat bewaart, die heeft wat" (ehm: don't throw it away, you may need it someday?)! And, to no surprise; in the "old days" the sheets were even more complicated! Have a look at the picture and spot the differences...it's ridiculous how complicated it was, and great to see how much improvement has been made over the years!

Anyway, after all this tracing I still need to get a load of fabrics so I can actually make something, so I'm off to Walthamstow market now!

Sew, where to start?

I first started making dolls, their clothes, and all sorts of bags, when I was about 10 years old. My mum used to make clothes for my 2 sisters and myself, and I just loved to see her at work in her sewing nook in our living room, busy cutting and sewing (usually with a few pins sticking out of her mouth): I wanted to do that too! She taught me how to use her machine (what a brave woman!), and from then on there were times she actually had to ask me in a stern voice to "step away from the machine" to let her do some sewing herself.

Although I was usually consulted on both choice of fabric and style before my mum started sewing, I found that sometimes I just wanted to wear something else than what she had in mind for me. When I got a bit older, with her help I started making my own clothes from patterns in KNIPmode. Never mind my first attempts (thank goodness there are no pictures), but since then I've made many, many garments, usually using KNIPmode, Burda or, occasionally, Vogue. Some of them I wore for years, and some of them were only for one night (prom dress) and many of them I gave away without ever wearing them. What a waste!

In addition to that, I suffered from the well-know disease of buying loads of fabrics without actually EVER using them (and sometimes even stealing from my mum's stash with the same poor result), or even knowing what I wanted to do with the stuff when I bought it. Before I get into that routine again: I will from now on...(drum roll)...Sew With A Plan! And even though I know that following the exact rules of the SWAP may be a bit too much for me to start with, at least I have to promise myself not to buy any fabric without knowing I'm going to make with it. Wish me luck!