Anyway, on to the pieces! I’ve drafted both the panties and the bra, and they’re made with purple/gold mesh and gold lycra from Kantje Boord in Amsterdam. I got 0,5m of both fabrics, so these are not the last pieces you’ll see in this. I’ve already cut out one more bra and one more pair of panties, and have about 1/3 left. The undies fit very well, but I did have some trouble sewing with these two fabrics together because of the very different amounts of stretch/flimsiness. The mesh has about 30% stretch, but it’s very firm, while the lycra has about 50% stretch and is very flexible. The end results are fine, but next time I will make it a bit easier on myself by using fabrics that are a bit closer together.

There’s not that much to say about the bra. It has a vertical seam along  the cup and the two halves are divided in purple and gold. The back has a purple triangle sewn into it – which was a pain in the ass to get right, but looks pretty cool!

The Facts
Pattern: Blouse 125B from Burda Magazine 04/2007 (They seem to have a few patterns from this issue online, but not this one)
Fabric: Swiss Dot (cotton), about 1,5 m
Notions: Self-made bias tape, 5 buttons, thread
Cost: No idea… everything has been in my stash for a long time. Probably about €15,- in all if I count the magazine.
Time: About 6 hours including tracing and cutting.

I thought about the buttons for very long. At first I wanted white buttons, but I didn’t have any in my stash, I didn’t have time to go buy some, and I wanted to finish at that very moment. So red it is. You can’t see it on the pictures very well, but two out of the five total buttons have a little print on them.

The blouse came together super quickly. The only thing I’d change is to interface the button bands. The instructions don’t tell you to, but it seems a bit too flimsy without some sort of light interfacing.  The best thing about this pattern is that the front panels are double, because it meant that I didn’t have to underline the fabric. I might make another one kind of like the one in the magazine, with a contrasting fabric for the inside of the bodice. In fact, I have a meter of Liberty cotton lying around that would be just enough if I cut the second tie panels from another fabric…

The skirt is me-made as well. Somewhere last summer, when I wasn’t really blogging.  It’s a super simple half-circle skirt with pockets, and it’s so easy to wear in the summer. The pictures are a bit too small to show it well, but it has tiny hearts printed on it, not dots.

]]> http://rosesontoast.com/2013/05/06/fo-swiss-dot-summer-blouse/feed/ 3 rosesontoast DSC02341 DSC02348 http://rosesontoast.com/2013/05/02/wip-summer-blouse/ http://rosesontoast.com/2013/05/02/wip-summer-blouse/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 14:04:34 +0000 Sanne http://rosesontoast.com/?p=681 Continue reading →]]>

It’s May vacation! Which means I’ve finally got time to sew something for myself! For months I’ve mainly been working on a wedding dress for someone else (pictures will be there after the wedding, I hope!), so I’m really happy to get some me-sewing in as well.

Anyway, I wanted a cute little summer blouse. The pattern is from one of my old Burda Magazines (4/2007) and I think I bought the Swiss dot about a year ago, hoping to make a summer blouse for last summer… I traced a mix between sizes 36 and 38: A 36 in the shoulders, a 38 at the bust, a 36 in the waist and a 38 at the hips again. It seems to fit really well!

This is how far along I am now. I only need to finish the armholes and find some nice buttons. I’m thinking of just using plain white ones, but I’ll have to see what I have. Perhaps I’ll make the cap sleeves a bit shorter, they seem to stick out a bit too much. I’m not sure how exactly to wear it though. The front is double layered, so it’s not see-through there, but as you can see there is a little open bit below the bow which would show a bra…

]]> http://rosesontoast.com/2013/05/02/wip-summer-blouse/feed/ 1 rosesontoast DSC02336 DSC02339 http://rosesontoast.com/2013/04/21/fo-norwegian-sweet-baby-cap/ http://rosesontoast.com/2013/04/21/fo-norwegian-sweet-baby-cap/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:14:45 +0000 Sanne http://rosesontoast.com/?p=678 Continue reading →]]>

Pattern: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Natural & Solis
Needles: 2.5 and 3 mm +

Just a quick FO post on an otherwise dreadfully lazy Sunday afternoon. A few weeks ago, I taught my BF to knit and his first “real” project is going to be this hat for his cousin’s baby boy, who was born last February. I feel kind of bad for knitting the same thing and finishing it before him, but it was is just SO CUTE. I’m obviously not giving this one to the cousin though, it’s going to a knitting friend whose baby should arrive in a few weeks. I’ve made the 1 year size, because hopefully there won’t be a need for hats until the baby is quite a few months older!

I should have been working on a wedding dress(!) I’m making for someone, but it was giving me grief this morning, so I cast it aside for a few hours, finally properly started watching Castle from Season 1, Episode 1 and finished up this cutie instead. I’m hardly original in knitting this one, but almost 5000 Ravelers can’t be wrong, now can they? In fact, I’m quite tempted to start another one for another baby!

]]> http://rosesontoast.com/2013/04/21/fo-norwegian-sweet-baby-cap/feed/ 0 rosesontoast baby hat http://rosesontoast.com/2013/04/16/experiments-in-dyein/ http://rosesontoast.com/2013/04/16/experiments-in-dyein/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0000 Sanne http://rosesontoast.com/?p=647 Continue reading →]]> When I was at de Breidagen  a few weeks ago, somehow none of the yarn really wanted to come home with me. My bank account was about as happy as I was disappointed. The only things I bought were supplies – from Stof tot Verven -  to start dyeing my own yarn, and these three skeins are the result.

The dark blue one in the back was my first attempt. I didn’t do anything special, just some blue dye in a pot. It ended up looking kind of denim-like because some spots took a lot less dye than others. It’s not extra-ordinary, but I like it.

For the purple one in the middle I decided to try something different. I mixed up some purple dye and let the yarn sit on the heat for about half the necessary time before I sprinkled in some dry red dye. That I left to do it’s thing for a few minutes before stirring it in. The end result is a beautifully semi-solid reddish purple with some quite red spots.

The third skein is my favourite, even though I’m not normally a fan of orange. I was originally going for a soft coral, but as you can see I got BRIGHT orange instead. This one was dyed similarly to the purple one. I started with yellow, but instead of sprinkling dry red dye over it, I poured a dye solution over it. This is probably my favourite method, because the colours flow into each other beautifully. The skein goes from deep, reddish orange to some sort of golden yellow.

The only downside of this whole thing is that I decided to practice on a batch of undyed yarn that I got a few years ago and absolutely hated to knit with. So now I have yarn that I hate to knit with, only in gorgeous colours that I DO want to knit with… Perhaps I’ll try weaving with them. At least there the splittiness won’t be as much of a problem.

From the Brigitte Bardot section: by far my favourite dress from this issue! I’m definitely making this for the summer.

Yesterday I found my first issue of Knipmode in the mailbox. It was an impulsive decision to get a subscription, because I haven’t been interested enough to buy it in the shop for the past few years. But lately I’ve found myself wanting to sew but not go through the whole ordeal of drafting things myself and the back issues I have are just not that shiny anymore. So there it is, a year’s subscription to Knipmode. I’ve sort of set myself the challenge to make at least one thing from each issue, hopefully before the next one arrives, but with all the (sewing) homework and secret projects I’m not sure how reasonable that is. Anyway, this first issue makes me happy I got the subscription, because there’s quite a few things I’d like to make!

The issue has “Style Icons” as a theme, and features clothing inspired by Kate Moss, Brigitte Bardot, Jackie Kennedy, Coco Chanel, Caro Emerald and almost-queen Máxima.  It also has an extra  mini-magazine with easy “holiday fashions”, but I didn’t photograph a single one of them because they’re basically all variations on bags with or without belts. There’s one pair of trousers that could make nice pajama pants, I guess.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with this issue and I hope that the coming 11 will be just as nice. Here’s my selection from this issue, as you had probably guessed my picks come mainly from the Bardot/Kennedy/Chanel sections!

Another BB inspired one. The skirt is quite cute. Apparently the shirt has a low cut back, but none of the 5 versions in the magazine show the damn back. WHY!?

Chanel obviously. Although it’s super simple, I’m probably going to make a similar boatneck tee. In stripes of course…

Also Chanel. I’m not yet 100% sure on this dress. It looks gorgeous and flowy, but also perhaps a bit too loose just above the waist. You’d need a very lightweight fabric.

One of the 4 plus-sized patterns inspired by singer Caro Emerald. Cute, simple jersey wrap dress. The one on the picture looks a bit different from the tech drawing though. Also, if the detail of the dress is around the waist, why does the model cover it with her hands?

Jackie Kennedy. Very elegant, especially with the bow. I’d probably lower the neckline a little bit though.

Last and most definitely least, this one is a definite nope. Probably the worst piece in the magazine. Máxima usually looks quite nice, but what is up with those random squares?

Just the facts!
Pattern: Tiong Bahru by Åsa Tricosa
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sophia Lace in Midsummer Night’s Dream (about 800 m)
Needles: 4 mm
Rav link: Project page

It’s been a while since there’s been any knitting on this blog, but here’s something! I finished this shawl somewhere around November last year, but somehow never got around to showing it or posting about it at all. Probably because I have been living in it (I’m wearing it right now too!) ever since I blocked it and therefore didn’t take any pictures yet. I haven’t been able to find a time for someone to help me take modelled pictures, so for now the dummy will have to do.

The yarn is from the Posh Yarn Cashmere Club, which they ran in 2010 if I remember correctly. Is it a sign of too much yarn when you have no idea in which year you acquired some of it? Anyway, it’s  soft, gorgeous, and did I mention SUPERsoft!

Here you can see it in all it’s not-quite-freshly-blocked glory. And for those of you who are playing along at home, yes that is my corselette underneath. Perfect combination of sexy and cosy, no?

I absolutely loved this pattern, although the stockinette body and the bind-off were a bit challenging for my impatient self. I’m glad I persevered though, because this is definitely my favourite shawl ever.

Click the picture to follow me on Bloglovin’

A while ago Google announced that they are shutting down Google Reader this summer. This made me very sad, because it’s what I’ve been using to read all my blogs for quite a few years. Unfortunately there was nothing else to do except go on a quest for a new, user-friendly blog reader.

After a bit of searching it seems that most people are transferring to Bloglovin’, so I decided to check it out. It took me a bit of getting used to, but now I love it. It’s much easier to read the blogs on their own pages, so you can leave comments much more quickly. With Google Reader I just read the whole post and forgot to click through to leave a comment. Anyway, there’s not much point to this post, other than to say that if you, like me, need something to replace Google Reader Bloglovin’ is a pretty good choice (and maybe a little to encourage you all to click the pretty picture and follow my blog too…)

And now for something completely different… A while ago I spent a day modelling for my friend Alexandra’s photography series “People of Amsterdam“. This week, she’s releasing a different set of portraits every day, and today it was my turn. This is only one of the pictures she took though, so be sure to click on the picture to see all of them and read about the Anonymous Writer.

Close up of the garter clips. I like the touch of red.

It took me another 4 hours on Saturday to finish this one, and it’s far from perfect, but I’m so glad it’s done! I made this “torselet” (I can’t find a good English word for it… any suggestions?) as part of my lingerie sewing course. It’s made exactly to my measurements and fits quite nicely, but I’m not sure if I’ll really wear it a lot.

The sewing gave me quite a bit of grief at points. For example, there’s only boning in some of the boning channels, because even though I thought I stitched perfectly accurately along the sides, the boning would JUST NOT FIT.

Anyway, I’m happy that I have finally sewn something again. And now I have an ironing board in my new house, working on all those other things will be a lot easier!

The underwires sit beautifully. I will probably finish the thing off with a nice red bow to echo the garter clips.

The back isn’t super interesting, but oh well. The solid black part is the only part of the whole bodice that stretches. It’s kind of a pain to get it closed up, but it looks quite good.