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Pearls and Sequins – Hand embroidery

When I put something into my head, I have to put it into practice. No matter how much time it takes. With this dress it was about 7 hours for embroidering alone. But I am soooo happy with the final result, so the effort was absolutely worth it!

I originally wanted to use the olive leather jersey for my lace dress that I made recently. But the fabric wasn’t enough for that, so it became a summer dress. I wanted to sew a Maxidress variant for myself anyway and it was not only long enough for this, but also optically perfect and drapes very nicely around my body.

For the decoration it had to be gold, I am no silver type at all. So I bought a lot of pearls and sequins. I wanted to have a big choice of different beads so I could experiment with them. My last embroideries were great too, but always limited to 2-3 beads or sequin. But this time I wanted to be really creative.

First I drew the rough design on pattern paper and then transferred it to the dress using stitching thread. Because of the details coming very close to the upper edge, I sewed the dress together first and embroidered it afterwards, even if it would have been easier for embroidering the other way around. But especially my overlock doesn’t like to sew over bumps and so the seam wouldn’t have turned out nice. So it had to be a bit more complicated. But no matter how you do it, sewing every single piece by hand just takes its time. And one day I wasn’t enough finish it either. As an absolute thimble refuser, the ring finger with which I push the needle through the fabric hurt me a lot. Now – a few days later – the cornea slowly comes off again 😉

The fabric is rather heavy and due to its length it has even more weight than a mini dress, so I had to add straps to it. I sewed them from the jersey. Do you see here how the embroidery runs all the way to the back? That was very important to me, that it goes beyond the side seams and doesn’t just look ‘clapped on’ to the front 😉

Admittedly, the fabric sounds a bit weird when walking, compared to cotton or viscose jersey it is quite loud. But it also feels soft as butter and therefore I don’t care about the sound. By the way, I got another family heirloom here – a watch. I rarely wear a wristwatch, especially because I don’t usually think about wearing one. But this one is inherited and therefore, like the jewellery, it is of particular value to me personally. In such matters I become a little bit sentimental and even if I didn’t have much of a relationship to my grandparents, a souvenir is something nice <3.

Well, what do you think of my dress? Was it worth the effort? By the way, I actually went for grocery shopping with it, even though I got some weird looks for my outfit. But also here it would be a shame to let it get dusty in the closet – I prefer to wear it in everyday life and enjoy all the bling bling <3 Because I do really like it! You too?

Love, Carina
:-*

Sewing pattern: Summer Dress by Sewera
Fabric: by-Mami
Photos: Wartenweiler Fotografie
Watch: Rado

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Glittering up the forrest – linen knit with glitter dots

Oh let me tell you – today’s photos demanded a lot from me! But hey, I recently discovered a little piece of paradise and my new Co-Z T-Shirt just had to be photographed in the woods… 😉
I sewed the whole thing out of a linen knit fabric with huge glitter dots which I got from Schnittverhext.

The Co-Z hoodie was exactly that until yesterday – a hoodie. But from now on the pattern contains more sleeve lengths to make it suitable all year round. Just like here with my new short-sleeved shirt. Okay I admit, you don’t see so much of the outfit on the picture, but therefore the 3-4m that goes down under the tree trunk into the very rocky stream bed. It was a bit shaky, but I always liked to climb trees as a child and built bridges over the creek behind the house. So that’s still in my blood. In contrast to dolls and other ‘typical girl stuff’, which I hated as a child.

Talking about kids… Mine had much joy behind the camera yesterday and took quite a lot of photos. I think she likes ‘my’ new favourite forest very much. Oh and what else do you see? White shoes. In the forest. In the mud. But hey, they are still white 😉 And it had to be them, because they fit so beautifully to the shirt. I’m not as crazy as to climb up there with high heels. That would be too dangerous even for me. Just like I don’t let my kids up there, at least not as long as there is no safety.

But now back to talking about fashion: The fabric is – as already mentioned above – a linen knit, here it is special that the dots are printed on the left side of the fabric. This lets you turn the fabric around as you like when sewing it together, so that the right side of the fabric is on the outside and the dots only shine through discreetly. I have already seen both variants in different shapes when buying clothes, so it’s a matter of taste here. I think, if the dots already glitter so nice, then one should see them also really well! Because of this, I decided to sew the fabric together with the wrong sides on the outside.

With this shirt I decided for the collar neckline, a hood would give the whole something more sporty, but I was not looking for that. The neckline is sewn with a wide cuff, which is also cut out of the shirt fabric. Even though the Co-Z pattern is not new, I still like the neckline very much, just because it is a bit different. The first time you make it might be a little tricky, but as soon as you get the hang of how and where you have to sew through, you get a great eye-catcher in no time at all.

Because we are literally sinking into bear’s garlic here, I have a picture for you in the middle of one of the many oceans of leaves. And the pattern is available over the weekend at half price, as #PatternoftheWeek. I’m looking forward to breathing a little more life into the design again, as it’s pretty timeless in my eyes and can be done in so many different ways.

Love, Carina
:-*

Sewing pattern shirt: Co-Z women by Sewera
Sewing pattern pants: Skinnyjeans by Sewera
Fabric shirt: sponsored by Schnittverhext
Photos by: daughter
Linkparties: SewLala, DufürDichamDonnerstag

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A Flash of Pink

A few years ago, as a teenager, I had this one dress. Black, strapless and with a neon pink stripe in the middle. Now my newest dress is grey and by no means strapless. But I didn’t want to copy the old one 😉 But when I discovered the great ‘Speckle’ fabric at Graustufen Stoffe, I knew immediately what to make of it.

The fabric has a lot of very small neon spots in pink and green on it. Because in my stash of sports fabrics, among other things, a pretty bright pink had stored – yes, guess what had to become of it 😉 I simply omitted the sleeves and sewed the armhole narrow-edged with the coverlock.

The Saturday Night Dress was a perfect fit for that, after all it has a wide stripe under the chest. But now the side seam is slightly warped because I noticed after the fitting that the pink fabric stretches a lot more than I thought. As I already noticed while touching it that it stretches extremely, I already cut the front and back part 2cm tighter on fold (so in the circumference altogether 8cm), but that all just buffed and in the length it could be pulled like a soft bubble gum as well after sewing. So I cut it open again, cut away 4cm in length (now it’s the way it should be…) and took something away in the width as well. A lot even, another 24cm in circumference of the pink fabric had to be removed and after half an hour of wearing it felt quite chubby again. So I am a bit disappointed by the fabric quality, the next time I run to a better fabric, the middle part will probably be replaced sometime. Unfortunately I don’t know where the fabric came from anymore :-/

But you know what? I still like the whole dress and will definitely wear it a lot this summer. Despite the fact that it is so gaudy by my standards. Or maybe exactly because of that? Maybe also because I feel like a few years back and therefore young and fresh again *smile*.

For today’s photos I mobilized my daughter again, I am really proud of her how great she does it. I really like the photos. By the way, I really like my make-up too, so this time I put a lot of effort into it. Once again it has a touch of festival feeling – I’m already looking forward to summer, when you can hear it from all sides again. That’s why there’s a big Ear-Piece on it, on the other side a glittering star drawn on the temple… Sometimes it’s just fun to get creative outside of ‘just’ fabrics 😉

Since it’s once again a Thursday, you can get the Saturday Night Dress until Monday for half the price as #PatternoftheWeek for you. I’m really looking forward to wearing more and more light and airy dresses during the next weeks & months. The Saturday Night Dress can also be sewn with a lace insert in the middle, then it’s even airier!

I wish you all a great remaining week and a lot of fun sewing.

Love, Carina
:-*

 

Sewing pattern: Saturday Night Dress by Sewera
Grey fabric: sponsored by Graustufen Stoffe
Shoes: sponsored by DiamondHeels
Photos by: daughter

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Little black dress

I don’t know how many of them are already hanging in my closet, but one more is always possible. And one more… 😉 Seriously, the little black one always fits! It belongs definitely to my absolute favorites, no matter which pattern and which fabric. As long as it’s black, tight and short.

Or as in this case here: with a very deep back! Yes I have done it again, but I also like backless extremely. After the requests for a peplum arose during sample sewing, I also had to sew one, of course. At first I wasn’t so sure if it fits me at all. But now on the finished dress I like it really very much <3

It looks so feminine to me and since I am rather flat, I can use every rounding well (in the right places of course most of all 😛 ). A stretch Bengaline was used as fabric here. It’s elastic lengthwise but the pattern is also printed crosswise, so I just turned the pieces 90 degrees. The very fine grey print is so discreetly unobtrusive from far away, but from very close it really looks good!

How good it is that I still have a few more meters of it, I will still make jeans and a skirt and mummy has already thrown an eye on it as well 😉
For the photos here we were really lucky, in the morning it rained again and again (see puddles), but around noon it was very friendly and even quite warm. So we went straight out and took advantage of the light.

Again I was able to persuade Romy, a mom from our homeschool room, to take some pictures – she is doing really well behind the camera and I am totally happy with the pictures. A different background does some good for once 😉 The funny thing is: We’re right next to a school here – you should have seen the looks of the occasional students who walked by (all so nice pubescent..) *snicker*

After the complete failure of the social media yesterday, my nerves were also pretty exhausted. How am I supposed to get in touch with my sample sewers without being able to contact them and upload all the pictures to the e-book? Now with a lot of good persuasion it worked out very slowly and the Y-Dress is online. You can now also sew yourself a copy, or even a few? I have 5 pieces so far and there will definitely be more! The fabrics are already screaming to be sewn 😛

But attention: The Y-Dress is not for absolute beginners, it requires some adjustments if you don’t correspond exactly to the measurement table. Just like with all pattern for close fitting woven fabrics – but that’s why we sew to not wear the uniform mush in oversize, but to see what it really fits well 😉

And now happy shopping – until and including Monday the Y-Dress is available on sale for only half price <3

Love, Carina
:-*

Sewing pattern: Y-Dress by Sewera
Fabric: found in my stash
Photos: Romy
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

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Flare Top mini Dress

It’s short – very short even. Actually, at first I thought it would be a simple shirt. But then, when I held the fabric in my hands and put the pattern on it… Yes, I just had to lengthen it a bit. In the summer I will probably run around with a Hotpants underneath, for the photos the skirt from last week was allowed to stay right on the bottom – only pushed up a little 😉

You almost can’t see, can you? 😉  The Flare Top is one of my absolute favourite patterns for spring & summer. It is so beautifully airy and especially with the sewn-in bra I never have to worry whether my breasts will hang down *snicker*. Clearly with shorter straps I can push them even higher, but I for my part do not find that necessary at all. Quite honestly, I am even glad that I have only so little busts – as a teenager with twice as much was not always so easy, especially when it comes to clothes. Today I can walk around without a bra (which I actually do most of the time). Nevertheless it is comfortable if there is an insert sewn into it, so you can run around and twirl it a bit more freely…

The super nice Ajour knit here was sponsored by Schnittverhext and is soooo soft, just like you expect from a cashmere or similar. The super fine Ajour pattern makes it even more summery, but you don’t have to worry about looking through it.

As a bra insert I used a matching Heavy Romanite, which is so stable and thick, I really like the fabric! Slowly the bushes in the background start to blossom, the first buds and many small soon to be leaves are already visible! So nature tells me definitely that it’s time for summer clothes. I am ready for the coming seasons 😀

And because it’s Thursday again, the Flare Top is available as #PatternoftheWeek at half price until Monday. So that you can dance through spring/summer with the great summer shirts very soon. Mama and I love the pattern, I hope you will too <3

Love, Carina
:-*

Sewing pattern Shirt: Flare Top by Sewera (added 12cm / 5inch)
Fabric: Ajour Strick sponsored by Schnittverhext
Sewing patter skirt underneath shirt: Pencil Skirt by Sewera
Photos by: Mama
Linked to: DufürDichamDonnerstag, SewLala

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Hello spring – flower dress

The sun is back and is already warming up quite a bit for a few hours a day. This is so much more my season than the cold winter and so I had to use the great weather for fresh photos! The pictures were taken today shortly before noon and it was really very nice and warm. So no more freezing for good pictures 😉

After the test sewing is before the test sewing and even if I have already made a call for the Y dress last fall, there is now another one. Since it was already too late in autumn, we decided to wait until spring with the dress. In the meantime I sewed the different versions, took all instruction photos, optimized the pattern a little bit and look forward to a new round <3

The dress is made of slightly elastic woven fabrics such as this super soft stretch satin, which I got from Amy&Luke. It is also possible to sew the Y-Dress out of inelastic woven fabric but in a diagonal grainline. I only advise against knit fabric, because otherwise the dress can quickly fall out of shape. The name for the pattern is given by the position of the bust darts, these are directed towards the front centre and form a Y there.

With the narrow pencil skirt it looks like a very elegant shift dress, but the pattern also contains a wide cut skirt. For all those who don’t want it to be so tight 😉

Look how busy I was, the dress simply needed to be hemmed by hand, so that you can’t see a single stitch of it from the outside. It always looks so much better and it’s no big deal to make!

Luckily the ground was still frozen here, so I could stand quite well despite 12cm high heels… 😉 The dress pattern also has a second back, which is closed high. For all those who don’t dare to go out on the street without a bra under the dress or who are too insecure about adhesive cups. I will show you a dress with a wide skirt and a closed back soon.

But now it’s up to you, because my team is looking forward to some more testers:

  • Please apply with whole sentences, a few nice words, your size and a link to your page. Simply leave a comment right here under this blog post, on my Instagram photo with this dress or in my Facebook group Sewera Sewing Bees.
  • The pattern contains the sizes 32 – 50 and two separate front parts for A-C Cup or D+ Cup.
  • The test sewers will be selected by the end of the week (22 February) and announced on Facebook/Instagram. Please only apply if you have a Facebook profile, otherwise the organisation will always be a bit difficult.
  • Planned publication is 14 March, photo submission on 12 March. By then you should have sewn and photographed at least one dress (logical, right? 😉 ).

I hope that I can address a few of you with it and look forward to your applications!

Love, Carina
<3

Sewing pattern: Y-Dress (coming soon)
Fabric: Sponsored von Amy&Luke
Photos: by Mama
Shoes: Sponsored by DiamondHeels

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My Love Dress for valentine’s day

Every year it comes again, the day of roses, of lovers and lots of kitsch. Actually not something I like at all, but if I have a reason to sew a new dress… Yes then I like even such a day 😉 And how great that just today the new pattern ‘Love Dress’ goes online. The perfect pattern for the perfect Valentine’s Day dress.

Well, actually everything was supposed to be different. The dress had been planned since the middle of December. I had also ordered enough fabric to sew great partner outfits. But it all turned out different.. My supposed to be Mr. Right had other plans and dumped me at the beginning of January. So there was all the more fabric left for me. Or more so for my mom (she got a great X – dress) and my daughter (for her there was a Co-Z Dress Kids).

Well, the Valentin’s date thing didn’t work out then – but I’m taking my daughter to the cinema tonight. I find this a more than worthy replacement <3 Such a mummy – daughter evening is also simply worth gold.

Talking about Gold: The Squiggle here is also from the Winter-Gold Edition, I already showed you the same fabric in white a few weeks ago. I was sooo blown away by the fabric that I also had to order it in black. Again I decorated the stripes with countless hotfix stones to make it glitter even more. This time the stones are black, matching the basic color of the fabric.

The snow was a great contrast to the dress for the pictures, unfortunately it is long gone again. Not that I like snow itself, but on photos it just looks very pretty 😉 By the way, under the dotted tights I still wear some skin-coloured ones, so I was surprisingly warm! But the dress also fits the body very well, mainly because of the curved bust darts, which make the whole pattern so special.

To make sure that you can soon go out on the street in such a great dress too (or to the office or to a delicious dinner or to the next party…), you can buy the pattern now. This time it was really tested to the limit, 90 design examples were made during the testing! I would say that speaks for itself, wouldn’t it? 😉

Love, Carina
<3

Sewing pattern dress: Love Dress by Sewera (now on sale!)
Fabric: Squiggle by Nipnaps
Photos: by muckelie
Tights: DotTights
To be seen at: SewLala, DufürDichamDonnerstag, TheCreativeLovers

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The little black Winter Dress

A woman can never have enough of the little black dresses. Whereby, actually at present I only have 2 pieces. Today’s winter dress is by no means new, strictly speaking it was created exactly one year ago. But today I was on the way with my mum to take pictures of something still very secret (shhhhht, will be revealed soon!) and I needed a complete outfit, so I took this dress again.

Since the Winter Dress is now available as #PatternoftheWeek at half price, it was just a great opportunity to take some new photos of it. It’s one of my absolute favorite dresses anyway, so I might as well show it a little bit more often 😉

As you can see here, I didn’t just discover the Hotfix stones and sequins for myself, but started a while ago. The heart here on the dress is combined, first I pre-stitched the heart shape, then I defined it with straight lines. Only then I added all the little stones and sequins.

The thing about posing… I often hear from friends that I always look so great on photos. Now MY opinion is rather different. Usually I have no idea how I should put the legs (see first photo – oh so very elegant *cough*), what I should do with my arms and where and how to look, I do not even begin. In the end I often like such pictures, which are more likely to be regarded as *Outtakes*. But they are more natural – just me 😉

Now I have to get back to work on what I just threw over Mama’s arm for the pictures. So that you can see it also quite soon <3

Love, Carina
:-*

 

Sewing pattern dress: Winter Dress by Sewera
Tights: Rose Tights
Photos: by Mama <3

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Feel Free Raglan Shirt

It is just before Christmas and in house Sewera, we’re working under high pressure. So much was planned for the Advent season that only now I get to show you the new shirt. The Feel Free Raglan is – as the name suggests – another Raglan shirt. It has gathered sleeves, is loosely cut from the chest down and has among other things a rounded hem.

When I drew the first sketch for it last spring, I thought it would be more of a pattern for my mom and I will probably wear it less. And guess who has to sew one or two of the shirts for herself in the few next days? 😉
The design was created within the framework of the Sewunity Advent calendar. There we were already asked many months ago whether we would like to participate. Just as early we had to have a design ready and indicate what it would be. Accordingly, the e-book has been finished for quite a while now. Only I was late with the photos again, i had some for the design examples but these here were taken only this week. *coughing*

After I noticed at my party last weekend that two dear friends meet for photos in my favourite location, I immediately joined them. As you can see, I wear ‘only’ a leggings to my shirt for once, when I usually wear it only for sports or under a dress. I also wanted to tell you why. It is rather still a taboo topic. But since there are so many places where they are broken lately, I wanted to give my thoughts to one of them 😉

I’m talking hairs. Not the one on the head. For a little more than a year now I have been going to a very dear lady for sugaring. Because even if the nobody except my boyfriend sees this spot – FOR ME it is important that the pubic area is free of it. Because then I feel better. I know, you’re only supposed to talk about it with good friends, but why actually? It concerns all of us. Sure, it’s not equally important to everyone, but it’s important to me. For years I have cursed, always managed to get small wounds from it.. Sugaring is painful – that’s right. But it lasts for some time. And it lasts longer and hurts less after a few months. Or you simply get used to the pain by going there every few weeks. Since I had such an appointment again in the morning before the photos, you see me there now also in the leggings. Because jeans – as comfortable as they are – don’t get close to leggings. Something pinches too fast. And even if I always hold on to the saying ‘if you want to be pretty, you have to suffer’, comfort more important to me, the older I get. Therefore today to the Feel Free Raglan for my conditions quite atypically a Sporty Leggings in addition. Because between you and me: At home I almost only walk around with it anyway 😉

Do you also have such favourite pieces for beauty days or any quirks that are not normally reported on in public? Let’s get rid of such taboo topics together and tell your stories!

Love, Carina
:-*

 

Sewing pattern shirt: Feel Free Raglan 
Sewing pattern pants: Sporty Leggings
Photos by: Wartenweiler Fotografie
Linked to: SewLala, Du für Dich am Donnerstag

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X-Dress, the slim waist

X-Form

The X in this dress is destined to put a special focus on our waist. Whether you already got a very slim waist or not, this pattern is supposed to make it look really slim. At least that was what i had in mind when designing the new pattern. First i wanted to call it X-Mas Dress, but i don’t want anyone to think you can only wear it for christmas, so now it’s just the X-Dress.
The parting lines are not only pretty, they also hide breast darts, allowing the dress for a great fitting. It’s made with two separate front pieces for either bigger or smaller breasts.

Slim waist

The black side pieces make up an extremely gorgeous detail for a very sexy look. The dress has a straight hemline as well as the V-hemline shown here. You can also choose between a V-neckline or regular round neckline. All sewn with a facing for a neat finish.

Did the X-Dress already get your attention? It’s perfect for winter, this one sewn with a punta di roma fabric, a very thick knit fabric. But it’s also possible with about any stretch knit fabric like sweatfabric or cotton & viscose knit for summerdresses if you rather like to get a short sleeved dress.

I took my daughter into the forrest for these pictures and was constantly giving instructions on how i want the photos to be. Accordingly to this, my expression is also rather unrelaxed. But she did a really great job! We even ended up using our short trip as a science lesson. Since i’m homeschooling her, we learn new stuff pretty much everywhere we go. Right now we’re focusing on nuts, so we picked up some acorns to study them at home. Learning is so easy and can be done everywhere!

But now let’s get to one of the probably more interesting part of this post:

It’s time for a new tester call! You already heard about some details of the dress. If you would like to support me for my pattern testing withing the next about 3 weeks, please leave a comment with your size (the dress is made for sizes 0 – 20 / german size 32 – 50). Remember, christmas is already coming soon and you might be very glad to already have your dress finished a few days ahead 😉
Please also add a link to your blog, FB page or Instagram account so i can have a look at your pictures.

I’m looking forward to having you in my team!

Love, Carina
<3

Pictures: taken by my daugther
Pattern: X-Dress (coming soon)
Fabric: Romanit/Punta di Roma (private stash)

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