Sewing old

I found this darling at ebay and had to have it. It´s a "Seidel & Naumann" sewing machine from 1931. It´s in a very good shape and does function. I am so excited to have it finally. Can´t wait to try it out next weekend.

Small things

At the moment I have not so much time for sewing. I am really sad about this, because I have so many great plans, but after work there is so little time and at the weekends I am at my boyfriend´s home. I have a sewing machine there, but no hot iron and I can´t sew without this. I try to finish a skirt for three weeks now.
But at least I managed to make some small things.

First a birthday card for my boyfriend´s grandmother (the sewing one). She´s the one, who gives me all the great sewing stuff. I like her a lot. She is such a nice person and we have many things in common. I made the cake out of some scraps from my Lonsdale dress (which I wore at the birthday party, but I realized it only after the evening was over and we were on our way home). The candle is made of felt. The card and the paper are also things I had on hand. Recycling can be so sweet.

And then I made a little fascinator after Mena´s great tutorial. I made it out of felt. The words are hand stitched (I know I am not very good at this). It can be worn as a fascinator (with a clip) or a brooch.
I wore it to our second anniversary. My boyfriend bought some really expensive champagne. It was a very nice evening.

Recent purchases

When I saw this skirt at Casey´s blog, I had to have the pattern. I know it´s a really simple one, but I really like the details. And who doesn´t need some new skirts? Shop

I was swimming last weekend and then I thought, how cool such an old style swim cap would be. I was lucky to find one at etsy. Shop

Then I bought some jewelry. I wanted sort of these pieces for ages. Shop 1, Shop 2

And how cool is this notebook? There are even figure drawings you can use for your creations.
Shop

I can´t wait for all these things to arrive.

Review: Sewaholic Lonsdale Dress

I recently made the Lonsdale dress by Sewaholic Patterns. It was such a great sew. As soon as I got the pattern I bought fabric. I decided on a nice floral cotton, which even has a bit of stretch.

I cutted the fabric Friday and made the sewing Saturday morning. When my Mom came 12 o´clock I was finished.

The pattern looks a bit complicated at first, but with the great instructions it comes together really fine. I really had no big problems. Even the pockets were easy.

I really love the fit of the dress. It looks so summery and is so comfortable. At the moment I could wear it everyday. So I want to make one again.

Review: Patrones Extra

A while ago I bought the new Patrones. It´s a special edition with only summer things. All in all it is nice. I love the photos. They are very artistic. Sometimes you can´t see the fit and style of the clothes well, but I really like eye-candy.
Some of the patterns are really interesting, at others it is more the fabric choice that makes the things special. I had hoped for some more patterns I really want to make, but all in all there are not so many that are my style.
But enough words, here are my favorites:

I love this dress. The fabric is gorgeous. I am not sure if I could find an affordable fabric for this. I don´t want to spend too much on this kind of dresses, because I hardly wear long skirts.

I like the shorts, because they are so simple. And don´t you think these huge sleeves on the blouse are gorgeous?

I already have a plan for the blue top. I have an old jersey dress I no longer wear and I hope I can make this shirt out of it.

I think this would be a good summer jacket. But I would lengthen the sleeves.

Inspiration - To Catch a Thief

Recently I saw "To Catch a Thief". The movie was really interesting and entertaining. I loved the characters. Especially Grace Kelly was awesome. I really don´t know why I did not watch it earlier. The story was very entertaining and there was not one point I thought it was boring. The dialogs between the actors were great. All the characters were extreme, but this added to the fun. I really liked the mother. She was very amusing.

And Grace Kelly wore so many wonderful outfits. I think, there was not one I didn´t like. Because of the sunny setting everything looked much more colorful and pretty. But especially the evening gowns stole my heart. Now I really want to make a light-weight dress like this. Don´t you think it would be fun to wear some flouncy dress like this?

Maybe I can use the Colette Chantilly dress pattern. I really want to make it anyway.

Holiday 2011 - Day Seven

The last day of our holiday trip. We visited the Neues Museum. There are exhibited things of Heinrich Schliemann, Greek and Roman art, Egyptian things of all kinds and of course the famous statue of Nefertiti (which was so beautiful). The huge complex (the museum island) is gorgeous. You can even visit it as a little park. The buildings are all very impressive.

I wore my 40s Vogue dress with new shoes. I am not very fond of flat shoes, but I thought they were better for a museum trip.

Our trip home was relaxed. I was a bit sad that all was over, but also happy to be at home again. In the evening I left for my own home. It felt strange to be alone. All in all it was a nice holiday, far from perfect, but it was good to be away for some days. Oh, and here is a photo of my souvenirs:

In the background you can see the silk scarf, then there are the scarf for my Mom and the teas. The Egyptian pendant is for my Grandma. The book is from the fashion museum and on it lay the earrings. And of course there are the shoes.