Help: I just made a leopard print skirt for myself and I am planning to wear it

Posted on 09/02/2017 by atelieroursonne

It looks like I am having some sort of midlife crisis. I suddenly decided that I am one of these women who can totally wear leopard skin outfits. I guess I got inspired by two very fashionable people.

So, I took my pattydoo Carol dress pattern and used just the skirt part of it. And the left overs of the leopard jumpers. I intended to use only the navy one but I could not match the pattern. The thing with big patterns is that one should really match them at seams. When I started sewing, I just tried to cut out as economically as possible. In a first step I realised it would make sense to match stripes at side seams or to place bigger motives in a sensible, symetric, way even if it means that you are loosing a bit of fabric. This time I took it rather seriously and made sure that the front pieces were perfectly matched. (well, I did my best). On the side seams it wasn’t possible as I didn’t want to loose the A-line. Or 5kg. And unfortunately, I didn’t even try to match the waist band. I was already so pleased with my skirt that I got carried away and cut before thinking. Anyway, my perfectly wearable and age appropriate (mentally “5”) leopard (or whatever wild animal it might be, I am not a zoologist) print skirt:

Note: I had to compromise on the picture quality as otherwise this would be far too compromising 🙂

And obviously I need to now make a top that can be worn with leopard skin skirts. Strangely I haven’t had anything matching in my wardrobe just yet.

I wish I would have had more of the dotty fabric, I would have wanted it for one whole side panel, possibly instead of the fuchsia one.

almost perfect match:

This side turned out even better:

Leopard skin aside, I would really want to use the Carol dress pattern again. After all, the trial dress fitted well, winter is kind of overish, fabric sits in the cupboard since months. I am ready to go. Just need to speak to the baby, sorry toddler, about dress preventing breastfeeding routine. Easy.

And now, I’ll join the other ladies on RUMS to see what they have been up to.

Good things always come in pairs

Posted on 31/01/2017 by atelieroursonne

I have no clue if that sentence in the title is true but I finally got hold of the camera with quite a few pictures of things I made ages ago. And I realised that I seem to have made a few things in pairs for whatever reason. (As you clearly can see from those few lines, I am highly motivated, focused and know exactly what I am doing or talking about).

As it is rather a lot, lets just look at the pictures as a sort of resumee.

So there are the octopus trousers (klimperklein pattern). The first ones where too big, so I had to make smaller ones for the small one. But then the big one liked them and wanted to have his own pair. Rather unusual to want the same as the baby but if it happens to be a really cool baby then why not.

The original ones, with aubergine cuffs (which you clearly can’t see in this picture) are my favourite:

They are ready for next season. Still, the aubergine is pretending to be some kind of black, a colour which I clearly don’t even own:

For some reason I did not actually take a picture of the one that gets worn a lot these days. (I guess another sign of overwhelming lack of motivation), so here comes the picture of the big boy version with pockets next to the baby version one (who is officially totally a toddler, sorry)

I made the big version with pockets as big boys clearly need pockets

and I thought it might be a good alternative for leggings, maybe even to be worn to nursery. At least on dress down Friday. But obvi0usly they never got worn, ever. Why “obviously”? Clearly you are new to this blog. I am talking about Mr. No Thank You. I’d like to point out that I am not embittered. Yes, I could have used this huge piece of cute fabric for some other cute baby items for any other cute baby with grateful parents and yes I could have used that time making something for people who would then have been happy about it but no, I am not embittered. Why not? Well, because I kind of knew anyway.

In any case, I found those baby trousers extremely useful so I made another pair

for my nephew, using the fox fabric of the reversibble jacket.

And since I still had some of this fabric left – a rather thin sweat by the way – I made another little jumper for another baby

And I made hats for these two babies, stupidly I only took a picture of one of them:

These hats not only come in pairs here but rather in bulk. I don’t even know how many I have made over the last few months, I love the pattern (klimperklein, Wendebindemuetze) and I love the fabrics (Boo and Zoo by Hamburger Liebe)

As I realised that these hats are actually not made for Austrian winter, I quickly had to knit (yes, I am still doing that too) a hat for Mr I Am Not A Baby Anymore.

(Ok, technically it does not fit into this post as it is not part of a pair and as it is really made of the tiniest left overs you could possibly imagine, it obviously belongs in the Sunday Scrap posts but once again, motivational issues make it unlikely that I will sit down again and write a whole post about a silly knitted hat so lets just enjoy it here.)

But enough of these old pictures, I have more recently produced proper pairs:

Two pull over scarf thingies (“neck socks”) with a soft and thick cotton fleece as a lining, much better than long knitted scarfs that might dangerously get caught somewhere.

A set of hats for twins (klimperklein, Minutenmuetze)

Please check out the pattern of the lining. I really love it. Tiny balls are the new stripes.

Technically the hats are reversible. But that makes the animals stand on their head. Clearly someone hasn’t been thinking this through.

Phew, that was quite a lot, wasn’t it. But that happens when you do not write your blog posts on a regular basis. To be honest, we are not quite done yet but I am jsut as tired as you are so I’ll leave the cutest pair for another post, especially as the colour combination deserves your full attention. I think after years of pink-orange-teal I have finally found my new trio….

A bit like a japanese linen top. Except not really.

Posted on 07/07/2016 by atelieroursonne

I am really busy these days, organising and attending leaving parties, baking tonnes of cake for said parties with greedy guests (you know who you are), cancelling memberships and contracts, trying to find out relevant information about national insurance, taxes,… and obviously decluttering. Decluttering is always important when you are moving. Basically this is why we are moving. There was no way we would declutter just because we do not have enough space for the amount of clutter we own.

One extremely useful way of decluttering is to use up fabric. I know technically this will only shift the fabric from the fabric pile to the wardrobe but there is more space there than on the fabric pile. So it is decluttering. Really.

I told you I meant to make a Frau Aiko. I had already cut the pattern when I realised that I didn’t have enough fabric and made a skirt instead.

So I used a piece of purple cotton. Frau Aiko is a very simple blouse with straight lines. I find it a bit Japanese style, something I really like. I know Japanese style looks best on slim and petite Japanese women which is why I never wear Japanese style stuff but I still bought the pattern, knowing it might not bring the best out of me. I thought it might actually look cool in a plain colour and with a slightly stiff woven cotton. A bit like linen. Even though that wasn’t what I had initially in mind.

Anyway. It turns out it doesn’t look cool Japanese with me in it. And not linen like.

My 6 year old said: Oh, did you make a waterproof apron ? (I assume on of those for crafts with sleeves). I personally thought rather of scrubs. I could definitely hide a stethoskope in those pockets.

I am not entirely sure what went wrong, well apart from fabric type choice, patternlessness (if you knew anything about fabric you’d know this means fabric without a pattern, I guess some boring people would call it plain) and possibly style choice for my personal needs.

I think on that first picture you can also see a few details (I know, once again I thought I could get away with a non ironed piece but you know, it is all done on purpose) which I actually don’t really like. I find the proportions of the sleeve really odd. The combination of over-cut shoulders with a 3/4 length sleeve is not for me. But then that is something that wouldn’t be so obvious if I had used a patterned fabric.

I also don’t like the proportions of the pockets. Although I do like the pockets as such.

Last but not least I think the facing is a bit too narrow.

After all that I would like to point out that I am blaming Frau Aiko for this non-success (calling it failure would be a bit over the top).

The whole concept of a boxy short blouse is just not making me look any better. I might give it another go in a different fabric, something with more drape. And more colour. Obviously. Although I do love the colour as such.

But enough talking, lets have a look at the result.

In case you were thinking that clearly this blouse needs to be teamed up with trousers rather than a skirt, well I did try and it did not look good at all. Maybe I was wearing the wrong trousers.

For the pictures I decided to wear my skirt (I have already altered it to take it in – it fits now almost perfectly) because Frau Aiko is in the same colour as the skirt hem:

Ok, I had been wearing the skirt all day and couldn’t be bothered to get changed.

Looking at the pictures now, I find it actually less odd than it felt. Still don’t think I will ever wear it. Might just go to the charity shop. In which case I would have successfully decluttered 🙂

And now, I’ll send this over to RUMS to see what others have been creating this week.

Revolutionary method for younger looking skin in seconds

Posted on 23/06/2016 by atelieroursonne

Method for younger looking skin? Is this the right blog? Yes it is, slightly off topic maybe but still the right place. And as you will see, there is still a connection with crafts.

Have you ever asked yourself what makes you feel or look particularly old? Is it when you are celebrating your grand mother’s 102 birthday and she is still dancing when you are already longing for a nice cup of tea?

Or is it rather when you are surrounded by people in their twenties showing off an unreasonable amount of flawless and smooth skin? Are you then suddenly aware of all those wrinkles you have accumulated over the years?

For me it is clearly the latter. I see them sometimes in their natural habitat and wonder if they are actually aware of the fact that they are at the top of their natural beauty and that it will only go downhill from there. Or are they blissfully unaware and actually enjoying their lives?

Whatever they are thinking in these moments of smoothness (probably how to keep their trousers from falling down completely but that is a completely different matter and needs to be discussed by some gravity specialist), my focus is usually drawn to every single wrinkle in my own face and on my own neck. And it makes me think what I could do to improve my appearance. So lets analyse the problem. Clearly the smoothness surrounding me makes my own wrinkles come out more. Which leads to two options, either I am getting rid of my wrinkles (lots of companies are making lots of money with unrealistic promises) or I do something against the surrounding smoothness…. And now, tell me, what did you think when you saw the picture at the beginning of this post?

Did you think “Oh my gosh that is one wrinkly neck! Her postings are always sparkling of fun, energy and youth but looking at that neck she must be at least 39 years of age!”

Or did you think: “Goodness, I always thought this blog is written by some mature and clever woman full of sewing wisdom but clearly she doesn’t even own an iron! She must be in her twenties. ”

See! You can either spend a fortune on creams or surgery to smoothen some of the wrinkles in your face or you actually add some wrinkles near or around your face by carefully creasingyour clothes. You won’t safe time but money!

Lets try again! Look at this close up! What’s your first thought?

An unironed shirt worn by a young looking woman. And a beautiful contrasting seam in an otherwise unusually (for this blog) monochrom Usedom– shirt.

Point proven! So how is it done?

Don’t use your iron to create creases! The sharp iron pleats will give it an unnatural look. Just crunch your top into a ball when it is still wet and then hang it up to dry. Fold it loosely and keep it in your wardrobe, ideally under a pile of other clothes.

You can also refresh a flattened fabric by gently dampen it (why not use the steam of your iron?) before crunching it up again. Simply leave it crunched up to fully dry before wearing it.

Just be warned: Don’t overdo it! I was actually worried no one would notice the rather mild crunches in those pictures. What a relief when I looked at them on the screen and saw that they had come out beautifully.

But before you are running off to crunch up all your clothes, lets have another look at my new Usedom and its nice white seam at the sleeve. This time I went for a normal sleeve instead of the very wide cuffs as seen in the parrot version.

I think I like the other sleeve type better. It emphasises the batwing shape. But I like this top, too. The colour and the fact that I was acutally able to sew a monochrome piece. Well apart from those few seams. But I am digressing from the actual topic of revolutionary skin care.

So let’s just hop over to RUMS and see if anybody else went for the crunch look or if they have actually ironed their clothes before presenting them to the world.

Atelier Oursonne

handmade for you

Category Archives: patterns written by others

Help: I just made a leopard print skirt for myself and I am planning to wear it

Good things always come in pairs

A bit like a japanese linen top. Except not really.

Revolutionary method for younger looking skin in seconds