Burda 6315

La vision de ce patron vous est offerte par ma soeur Johanne.

La vision de ce patron m'a causé un léger haut-de-coeur, car il est tellement laid, je le pensais réservé à la fabrication d'un pyjama.

Ce patron, n'est pas un pyjama, car dans la liste des fournitures, il y a une paire d'épaulettes. 

Quelqu'un, quelque part, à un moment de l'histoire de la mode, à eu envie de porter ça dans la rue! J'espère que le retour des années 80 dans la mode actuelle n'inclura pas cette silhouette, parce que je pense que je vais appeler la police de la mode pour les dénoncer.

Ce patron est maintenant au panthéon des patrons moches de ma collection. 

Merci Jo, j'ai ben ri!

This pattern is brought to you by my sister Johanne.

This pattern puzzled me as I thought, woah! it'll make a mighty ugly pyjama. 

This pattern is not a pyjama, the notions call for shoulder pads which mean that people actually, at one point in the history of fashion, wanted to wear this in the street! Hopefully, the current 80's revival, will not pick this up as a trend, because I think I'll have to call the fashion police!

This pattern is now a finalist in the top five ugliest pattern in my collection. 

Thanks sis for the laugh!

Antoinette

I'm pretty sure I would get along with Suzie from Suzie Pattern.

We've been conversing on the Interweb thingy for a while now and you develop relationships this way. When she designed her first dress and asked for some people to test her pattern, the Antoinette, I jumped at the chance to help her out a little. It's a pretty balsy move and I want to encourage that.

I was pleasantly surprised. 

I cut a toile in an old sheet and quickly made a 12 straight up without alterations. Please don't mind the fact I have sewn the pleat backwards.

Frankly, there is not a hell of a lot to do to make this dress fit properly, and most of the fitting issues have more to do with my body shape than with the pattern itself. There is the right amount of ease just about everywhere but my upper-torso-arms and I trust she has fixed the waist with which there was a problem.

Look at the back, it's almost perfect.

I am not going to make this into a dress, because I don't think it's a good style for me. I'm too old to have a collar that comes up this high, it's makes me look matronly, but if you are young and hip like Esz is, it might be a good dress for you.

The pattern is free for your downloading pleasure on her website and Suzie has just announced a new pattern coming out soon. 

Which I will test if she asks.

Antoinette

Je crois que Suzie de Suzie Pattern et moi on pourrait s'entendre.
On converse sur l'intertrucmuche depuis un moment et ça crée des relations.
Quand Suzie a annoncé qu'elle cherchait des gens pour tester le patron de sa première robe, Antoinette, j'ai dit oui tout de suite, pour lui donner un coup de main, pour l'encourager.

J'ai eu une belle surprise.
J'ai, très rapidement, fait une toile de taille 12 dans un vieux drap sans modifier le patron. SVP, oubliez le fait que j'ai inversé les plis.

Franchement, je n'ai pas grand chose à faire pour que cette robe m'aille bien. L'aisance est parfaite presque partout et la majorité des problèmes ont plus à voir avec mes gros bras et la largeur de mon torse qu'avec le patron. Le problème à la taille a été corrigé je crois.

Regardez-moi ce dos, il est presque parfait.
Je ne ferai pas cette robe, c'est un style qui ne me va pas bien. Je suis trop vieille pour avoir un col fermé si près de mon visage, ça me donne un air de matrone, mais si vous êtes toute jeune et cool comme Esz, ça peut être une jolie robe pour vous.
Le patron est à télécharger gratuitement sur le site de Suzie (les instructions sont en anglais, mais il y a plein de photos) et Suzie vient d'annoncer un nouveau patron pour bientôt.
Je le testerai si elle me le demande.

Prada Inspired

I love Miuccia Prada. 

I love the work she does, the process behind the work she does, the thinking behind the process, the original idea. She amazes me on a regular basis.

I knock off Miuccia Prada, or Margiela, or Jil Sander or whoever, not because I would buy the clothes they make, but because it's a way of getting a hint of what goes on in their minds and understand their creative process which I admire greatly. 

Making this raincoat was unlike anything I've made before.

If you want to make one, you'll need some special tools, a pattern with very tiny seam allowances, in this case I modified Burda 09/2007 #104 to eliminate de darts and lifted the hood from McCall's 2980, and 25m of bias binding. All the seams are encased in bias, sewn wrong side to wrong side then felled. Please feel free to not follow the usual order of construction as building a coat right side out is mind boggling. But beware of mistakes you might make as all the pinholes will show.
I wanted pretty, so this thing is probably not totally waterproof, but if it's your thing, there is some tape for that. 

Cuben Fiber is a special material :
- It's hard to find. Especially the breathable stuff, but if some people around you sail or hike, they might be able to help. You can buy some at Bear Paw Design or Quest Outfitters.
- It's expensive.
- You can't cut it! It will dull your scissors, the best way to cut it is with a rotary. Get a new blade when finished.
- It will dull your sewing needle. Throw it away when finished.
- You can't pin it. Pattern weights are de rigeur, pin with tape.
- You can write on it. I used a pencil and a ball point pen to mark it.
- It has no give. So you won't be able to correct your mistake by pulling and tugging slightly on the fabric, it will not ease so choose you pattern accordingly. Small seam allowances are a big help, mine were 1cm.
- There is no bias, weave or weft so you can do some creative cutting.
- It can't stand the heat. Do not iron, ever.
- The less holes you poke in it the better it will resist in time. Use your longest stitch.
- You will not be able to hide your loose ends. I burned mine with a lighter like they do when sailmaking.
- It's noisy and naturally crinkly.
- It's extremely lightweight. The zipper weighs more than the rest and the whole thing is 167g. I will take it on my travels.

Now I'm just hoping, as this is not the breathable Cuben Fiber, that I haven't made a sauna!
Thank you Elie for your leftovers!