Our Wedding: The Dress

How can it be that you want to write a post soo bad but at the same time you really don't want to write it? Because that's the case with this post. I want to share my wedding dress with you lovely people but at the same time I want to keep it to myself. Maybe subconsciously I know that once I put these words and pictures here and hit "Publish" the wedding is officially over and the post-wedding bubble will pop? Whatever the reason, I have been putting it off for long enough and it's time to deliver what I have promised. This is the first post of my wedding series(there are three in total) and it is about THE dress. Ta-dah!

The elusive Mr.Man. In front of the camera for once.

Most girls dream about their wedding day and their dress their whole lives while growing up. I wasn't one of those girls. So when it came to deciding on what kind of a dress I wanted, I was lost. I had no clue. I wanted everything and nothing at the same time. Something that would pop out and be special but that's simple at the same time. So I browsed the internet a lot and after a while I had the idea down. A full lace gown with a sweetheart neckline and lace covering the upper bodice and with a cute keyhole detail in the back.Then came the hard part. Pattern, fabrics and sewing.

When it came to finding the fabrics, I was in luck. I stumbled on a storewide sale of 60% off all fabrics and got the main creme viscose fabric for only 4€/m. Unfortunately by the time I got there, all the good laces had been already cleared out. But luckily a few weeks later I found another sale in another shop and got the lace for 6€/m. 

Originally I had planned on making a built in corset to the bodice but I accidentally found a lingerie corset with proper boning on sale for 14€ and decided to buy it instead and make my life easier a little bit. But despite skipping the boning and other headache inducing steps that come with corsets, I decided to underline all the bodice(both main and lining) pieces with a medium weight cotton fabric to give the bodice more structure and strength. 

Another step I added to the bodice was making a double fastening. On the outside it seems it's fastened with an invisible zipper but on the inside it's pulled tight around the bodice with hook and eye tape. This is to reduce the pressure on the invisible zipper so it can be closed easily and it won't be causing any wardrobe malfunctions by popping open. Also I really liked the secure feeling I felt while wearing the dress. It was NOT going anywhere. Even if I were to decide I didn't like the lace on top and wanted to ditch it at the last minute. The dress would hold itself up, no shoulder straps needed.

I drafted the pattern myself and made quite few muslins to tweak the fit of the strapless part. The skirt of the dress is actually two different shapes. The main fabric is gathered in the waist and simply flares out due to the amount of gathers. And the lace is a semi circle skirt. For the skirt lining I cut out a simple a-line skirt that is long enough to reach my knees. There really wasn't a need for a skirt lining but I was scared the fabric was a little bit too light and under certain light could show something that's not supposed to be seen. 

To avoid any need for seam finishes, I french seamed all the seams. And let me tell you, installing an invisible zipper into two different layers of french seams is a b***h. But still worth it. The raw edges of the lace in the center back, neckline and armholes were finished with a bias tape and fastened with self covered button in the top. Both the hems of lace and main fabric+lining were roll hemmed.

Looking back, I could have tweaked the fit of the lace in the back a bit more, but overall, I really love this dress and Mr.Man promised to love me forever while I wore this dress so I'm gonna say it was a good day.

Thank you for reading. This has been the first part of Our Wedding story. Here are all Our Wedding Posts.

Our Wedding: The Dress

Our Wedding: The First Day

Our Wedding: The Second Day & DIY

Timehop. Me-made-may 9th-31st

Hello friends! It feels like I have been away for years, but in reality I've been away for only a month. And I'm sorry about that. Sometimes life has things in store for us that take us by storm and leave little to no time for some things. And this is exactly what happened. I have had a busy-busy month at work and as we got a puppy last month, let's just say, I have had my hands full. Not that I'm complaining. A busy studio is a good thing(esp for our wedding budget) and a puppy is too good to resist. I mean look at that face. How can you not spend every free minute petting and cuddling with that cute face. But now the dust has started to settle and I finally have got a few moments for myself and to breathe.


While I have quite a few posts lined up for you all, I do have a little debt. Me-Made-May. I participated, blogged about the first week and then went awol from the blogosphere. And now I'm going to make things right and show you what I wore and it also is a little teaser of some of the selfish sewing(and knitting) blog posts that are lined up.

9th of May
Flowerchild Moneta
Aiken Sweater

10th of May
Paisley Bruyére
Rtw jeans

11th of May
Lacy Moneta top,
Rtw jeans

12th of May
No selfie but I wore this.
Moneta sweater, rtw jeans

13th of May

Laurel dress

14th of May
Margot pajamas(unblogged)
Myrna cardigan

15th of May
Simplicity 1803 dress
Myrna Cardigan

16th of May
Hawthorn blouse
Rtw jeans

17th of May
Enid sweater, rtw jeans
Mickey tank top(unblogged)

18th of May
Burdastyle skirt(unblogged),
Lou Box top, 
rtw cardigan

19th of May
Sorbetto the Blue
Delphine skirt
Mint Miette

20th of May
Belcarra blouse,
Semi Circle skirt,
rtw cardigan

21st of May

Moneta in Red

22nd of May

Fancy Moneta

23rd of May
Moneta blouse,
Enid Sweater
rtw jeans

24th of May
Tate Top
Marble Gigners
rtw cardigan

25th of May

Fun Summer Tee
Marble Gingers

26th of May

Fun Summer Tee
Marble Gingers

27th of May
Bonnell dress
Mint Miette

28th of May
Tank Dress(unblogged)
Myrna Cardigan

29th of May
Floral Tap Shorts
Rtw cardigan and top

30th of May
Knock-off top(unblogged),
rtw jeans

31st of May
Miette cardian
rtw jeans and a refashioned top

As you can see I do have quite  few pieces I need to photograph and blog about, also I wanted to wear even more me-made things during May however the weather was too cold for many pieces(shorts) and I have misplaces some of my things(for example this dress. Yo, where you at?)

Anyways, it's good to be back. I have missed you all. What have you been up to?

The Tour of Hopping Blogs.

Wait? What? That's not what it's called. Boo. This sounds more fun. Anyways. I was nominated by the lovely Nicoletta to answer a few questions in the Blog Hop Tour. It's a little game to get to know each other a little better and find new blogs you might not have heard of before and get some fresh blood in your blog feed. And who doesn't love new fresh content to read? So I thought about the questions and let's get crackin' on the answers! Yeee-haw

What are you currently working on?

This blog post. Har-har. Me so funny. Me make joke. Har-har. Actually I am currently working on a pair of Jedediah pants for Mr.Man. Hopefully they turn out great *fingers crossed*

Pockets

What makes your work different from the others?

What is the meaning of life? What makes you YOU? Well. I don't know. Okay-okay, I know there's a rumor that the meaning of life is 42, but whatever. This is actually something I have never thought about. I just work on whatever dumb idea pops up in my head, try to make it perfect and enjoy the process. I think everyone's work is different in some way and that is the magic of sewing. You can take two people, give them both the same pattern and fabric and still end up with different results and that is astounding. I think as long as you put a little piece of yourself in your work, enjoy it and don't try to be anyone else but you, your work will be special in its own little way. But I have no idea what it is exactly that makes what I do different from what others do. That's because I put a different side of me into my work with each project. And if you'd ask me what pieces of me I have poured into my work, I would look like a fish out of water because defining my thoughts and personality is one of the things I have always struggled with.

Why do you do what you do?

It's either deep passionate love for the art of sewing or the fact I am deeply disturbed and should be put into a white padded room. Or both. Why else would someone spend day after day poking themselves with tiny needles, stay up late at night thinking about what they could make next, spend enough money to buy a trip to the Bahamas on fabrics and notions but never use them, stab themselves with scissors, burn their fingers and I'm not even going to go to the dark corner of print matching. I think everyone who loves to sew are a little bit messed up in the head. But the heart wants what it wants and I want to sew. Even if sometimes I am so frustrated I want to cry. But in the end it is insanely rewarding and I wouldn't change it for the world.

How does your creative process work?

What I think what happens is my brain thinks "Hey, let's make her go a little more insane with the next idea I have", then it feeds me an idea and I latch on to it and don't let go until I make it happen in real life. And that is pretty much what really does happen. I either get an idea lying in bed at night, browsing the internet or looking at some piece of fabric or find a pattern that makes my brain run with all sorts of different ideas. And once I get an idea I love, I'm not going to let it go. I'm not Elsa and I am going to keep that sucker in my brain until I have it on the table and later on my body. Because I am stubborn and don't know how to compromise with myself.

I guess that's it. Time to nominate three other bloggers who I would like to share what goes on in those pretty little heads.. I nominate

Duckndam ,

Kate from Thistle&Bean and

Cerian from Cerian's Creations

No pressure, ladies. Take your time :)

Sewvember 2014: Week one

Amanda from Bimble and Pimple came up with an awesome idea for a month long project of daily Instagram pictures with different themes every day. Real Me isn't a huge fan of social media but Fooniks loves Instagramming her sweing adventures on IG. So I joined in on the fun. And as not everyone uses Instagram(or follows me there), I decided to do a roundup post of each week so you can take a mini peek at my daily sewing world/the insides of my brain/my sewing cave.

Day 1 : Sewing space
I took the weekend off from sewing and put my machines to sleep. I covered them in their blankets and they got a good sleep. On the right is my industrial sewing machine. He dreamt of sewing a winter coat. Then next is my serger. She dreamt of different comfy jersey tops and sweaters. And last(but not least) is my home sewing machine. She dreamt of finally sewing those button holes on the shirt that has been hanging on the hanger for about two months all ready only lacking buttonholes. So this is the space I sew at.

Day 2 : Technique
I shared my favorite technique for attaching lining to front facing. I use a bias tape to finish the raw edge of the facing. I sew the bias tape to the facing, then baste it down, then baste the lining under the facing and bias tape and then use top stitching to sew it all together. I love the look of this and I think it looks way prettier than usual method.

Day 3 :  Stash
So this is my fabric stash. On top: jerseys, silks, rayons, suit, coat, lining and dress fabrics. On bottom left: fabrics for PJs, tea towels, bedsheets and other household sewing. Bottom right: fabrics that need to be prewashed. About a year ago I had about one third of the fabric I have now. I counted about 350 meters of fabric in total in my stash. I admit. I have a problem and I'm going to try not to buy any more fabric(unless I don't have the kind of fabric I need). So I'm going on a fabric diet. But I have no will power so I'm going to predict it's not going to be exactly successful. 

Day 4 : WIP
I have many things in works at the same time. Some of them are muslins, some are real articles of clothing. But the one I was working on the Fourth of Sewvember is this little Hawthorn blouse. It's kind of a wearable muslin and I cut it out from an ugly ass skirt that my gran gave me. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this thing. It's fully lined and will be wearable two sided. Who makes their muslins two sided? This girl! I should get my brain scanned.

Day 5 : Tools 
A proper tool can make or break a project. And these are my most used tools. Well. Along with pressing tools that are not pictured because I had a brain fart and forgot to include those in the picture. Hurr-durr. But here are all my cutting tools(for fabric on the left and paper on the right), my trusted seam rippers and pins. My marking tools and measuring tools. And my fray stopper(or fray stoppa like spelled on the bottle. I kind of like  Fray Stoppa better, it sounds cooler) These are my homies and always in my bag if I have to go and sew in a different location.

Day 6. MEEEEE!!
Hi. I'm weird. Derp. Sometimes I feel like the Derp Song is my life soundtrack. My brain goes a million miles a minute and this pretty much describes what goes on in my brain. On the surface I look like  a normal human being, on the inside lives this silly creature who likes to cross her eyes for the fun of it. Also. I got new glasses!

Day 7 : Insides
This is what the inside of my sewing machine looks like. I see this every time I clean my machine. The big thing filled with yellow thing is the oil reservoir. That's one of the bright sides of industrial machines. There are oil tanks where the machine takes oil to lubricate itself automatically. All I have to do is make sure the tank isn't empty. Once the tank is full it lasts about a year or so. Which is brilliant. Only if it's not refilled and the machine runs with zero oil, it can make the engine to crash and go on a strike. So..Better keep an eye on this pee colored thing.


So this was the first week of my sewing world/my brain. I actually really like this challenge. It makes me think of things I usually don't think about and see things from a different perspective. Also it's a great way to stalk people's sewing spaces. Yay for stalking!

Are you participating in Sewvember? Let me know so I can creepily stalk follow you on Instagram.

Self Drafted Linen Mens Blazer.

 This post is long overdue but better late than never, right? Riiiiiiiiiight???

Remember when I blogged about these Linen Dresspants and I mentioned that I would be making a matching blazer so that Mr.Suit would have an awesome suit? Well here's the blazer! Modeled for you by Mandy as his husband(fiance at the time) wasn't here yet. So please mind all the horrible fit issues as it's not really meant for Mandy. Oh yeah, Mandy got married to Randy, my new male dress form. We have a weird arrangement going on between me, Mr.Man, Mandy, Randy and Mini-Me. But it's all cool.

I drafted the pattern myself and it's a pretty classic style and shape. The only thing that did make me pull my hair out was the fact that Mr.Suit didn't want to have the classical horizontal pockets that mens blazers usually have and that's a bit of a problem. You see, for men the drafting process is a bit different and the pocket height is predetermined and drafted before fittings. It doubles as half of the breast dart and helps to shape the blazer. So it's cut right in the beginning. But now I didn't have the pocket. See my problem? After spending hours watching the pattern, and spending many hours at night thinking about what the heck I was going to do, I just decided to wing it, change the shape of the seam line a bit and hope for the best. And it worked! YAY!

Guess who forgot to take pictures of the whole back? THIS GIRL. Amateur.

The blazer has vertical pockets hidden in the side front seam, a single vent in the back, tiny vents in the bottom of the sleeves and one pocket on the inside of lining on both sides. To attach facing to the lining I used a method where the raw edge of the facing is finished with a bias tape and the whole thing is topstitched to the lining.

Look at that tiny sleeve vent! JUSTLOOKATIT! That pesky little thing is so annoying to make, but it sure does look nice.

Pocket on the inside of the lining sewn through the front facing and lining. This might just be my favorite kind of pockets. No joke.

I can already feel the confusion. Where are the inside shots? Where are the explanations on what really goes on in menswear blazers? I know, I know. I promised that I would try but here's the thing. Menswear blazers and coats have a lot of pesky little details and steps and weird things going on. Which take time. And photographing  them takes also a lot of time. And time isn't something I have a lot lying around when I'm on a deadline. Which is always when I'm working on customer projects. So I had an idea that started to brew when I was making this blazer and that keeps popping into my head when I'm working on a coat I'm making(if you are following me on instagram you have already seen a few sneak peaks).

I was thinking about making a series of posts on things and steps I do in mens blazers/coats. I mean everything from shaping, pressing and support to pockets. So if you guys would be interested in something like that, I could make that happen and without the pressure of getting a whole blazer done withing 50 hours, it seems an achievable goal. So let me know if you are interested in the series.

One Week One Pattern 2014

It's roundup time! From 6th to 12th of September I took part of the One Week One Pattern challenge hosted by Handmade Jane. It was created by Tilly and the Buttons in 2012 to encourage the sewing community to truly celebrate our favorite patterns. The goal is to go through/survive a whole week wearing clothes made from only one pattern. It doesn't matter if it's one pair of trousers styled into seven different outfits or if it's seven different garments for each day, made with one pattern. When I found out that OWOP was coming this year, I was so excited and knew instantly what pattern I would be using. I guess you all know, it's a no-braine as it seems that lately it's ALL I blog about. Ofc it's the Moneta, how could it not be? So let's take a peek at my week!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 1: Insanity Moneta paired with white wedge sandals
Day 2: Sweet Lace Moneta with black me-made belt and white wedge sandals
Day 3: Lacy Pleated Peplum Moneta Top with dark blue skinny jeans and work slippers
Day 4: Pleated Peplum Moneta Sweater with dark blue skinny jeans and work slippers
Day 5: Rosy Moneta Top, Delphine Skirt, red tights and flat black leather sandals.
Day 6: Black Moneta with red scalloped collar(yet to be blogged) paired with red me-made belt and flat black leather sandals
Day 7: Red full circle Moneta with long sleeves and black Peter Pan collar(yet to be blogged) paired with me-made black belt and black wedge shoes.

I really liked my week of Monetas. I felt like wearing my PJs all day but in fact I looked like I was putting a ton of effort into my outfits. Haha! Joke's on you, passerby on the street, I threw this on and was done with my outfit in five minutes!
I sure do hope OWOP is going to take place next year as well, I'l already thinking of which pattern I'd like to use for next one. I wouldn't want to use Moneta again, as I would feel like cheating  a bit. And Moneta and I are going to spend a little time apart now. We need to meet new patterns.

While I really enjoyed OWOP and can't wait for the next one, I sure am happy I can be free from the daily selfies. I got some serious flashbacks from Me-Made-May and had to keep repeating to myself that "It's only one week, you can do it!"

***
Did you participate in One Week One Pattern? How did it go? What pattern did you use? I'd love to hear about your week.