Strangely beret in a summer....

It's time to talk about my June's projects. I can't believe it's August already. And I only managed to finish one garment in July. But about that a bit later.

It might sound very strange, but I made a beret in the middle of the summer. Don't worry I'm not going crazy. The reason for making a beret was a fancy dress birthday party and the theme was anything beginning with a letter A. So I've decided to be an artist and a part of my costume was a beret. After doing a bit of research online and finding that it was going to be even easier than I thought, I've decided to use a cashmere jumper to make it. I inherited two cashmere jumpers from my boyfriend. I swear I hand washed them each time in freezing cold water, but they still shrunk, a bit more each time I washed them. I am really innocent. Who would want two grey cashmere jumpers anyway? I can only wear one, right? So using the other one to make a hat was a good idea. I washed and tumble dried it couple of time on hot setting to felt it.

Beret pattern is very simple, only need 3 pieces, two circles and a hat band. The measurement you need is head circumference.

To explain the pattern, You need to cut out two circles, one upper crown a one lower crown with the circumference of 31 cm (12 inches), so your finished circumference will be 29 cm. You need to cut out a circle from the lower crown circle. The size depends on your head circumference.

 

My head circumference is 56 cm, but as fabric was a bit stretchy, I've decided to make circle 2 cm smaller, so the hat doesn't fall of my head. To work out the circumference of the circle you need to use math formula (C means circumference, Pi () which equals  and d means diameter). As the measurement I needed to work out was not C, but d, I needed to change the formula to 

d = c

      p

 

d = 54

      3.14

 

d = 17 cm 

 

As 17 cm is the finished diameter of my inner circle, I added 2 cm for the seams and only cut out circle with the circumference of 15 cm (hope it makes a sense)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must say, that I hardly ever make sewing projects that take such short time from start to finish, I think it must have taken me about an hour. Not only short project but very simple as well. So if you're a beginner this is perfect project for you. And if you're an experienced sewer, and make more complicated projects all the time like me, you're probably going to find it to be a bit of a fresh air, I did anyway. And I'm sure when winter comes, I will definitely wear my new beret. Thinking maybe of making couple for my etsy shop. Will see...

 

Thanks for reading and have a lovely weekend!

 

                                                                        Petra, X

 

 

 

My June's projects

You must think I got really lazy, as it's been a month since my last post. But I have been creating, just not blogging about it. Must say, that I only managed to finish six projects in a month, which is really not too bad considering nice weather outside. Those ones of you that live in UK know that you need to seize the moment and spend as much time outside as possible as we don't get many lovely summer days and evenings over here.

Here is a quick look on my June's projects. I promise I will blog about every one of them soon.

It would be interesting to know whether you yourself spend less time sewing in the summer than you do in the winter. Let me know...

Shorts for Oscar

 It was Oscar's birthday last month, and as we have a tradition of me making him a piece of clothing for his birthdays and Christmases each year, this year I've decided to make him a pair of shorts,  as a pair I made him couple of years ago was too small. I usually shop for fabrics online, but could not find anything suitable, and then I found lovely Ralph Lauren men's shirt in a charity shop for about £8, which was going to be perfect for the job. Oscar agreed, so I could start my work. The trouble is that I am not very tidy when it comes to my patterns. I knew I used a pattern from a Burda magazine and that I did not have to alter it at all. So I was going to just make it bigger. Quite a difficult job, if you cannot find the right issue of the magazine. After some serious searching I found an old pattern. I think I'm going to buy myself a folder and do some serious filing to avoid stressful moments like these.

Sewing the shorts went smoothly though. I made them a little bit bigger and longer, so there is a space for growth. The waist can be adjusted. I have used three buttons on each side of the waistband and there is also elastic at the back part of the waistband. They are still comfortable and will last him at least two summers.

They have six pockets, two front ones, two on the back and two side ones, I have used 17 buttons and hand sewn all the buttonholes, all 13 of them. Time consuming but just looks so much better. I tried sewing buttonholes on the machine before, but just don't like it. It's always worth going an extra mile. 

Oscar seems to be happy with them, he only had one requirement, which was having my name label on them. How sweet! He really does appreciate handmade stuff, as he sees how much effort, attention and love goes into making each item.

Here's few pictures of Oscar posing in his new shorts after he wore them all day, hence grass stains on his knees :-).

I asked him to show a waistband on the picture above :-)

 

And here's few pictures without the supermodel:

 

My label on one of the side pockets flaps above and Ralph Lauren's on another below.



Ladies tunic

So pictures of my latest tunic are finally taken and I've listed it in my Etsy shop last night. I used checked blue fabric (which also comes from recycled men's shirt) for the bias for neckline, sleeves and under the bust. So here they are:

 

So which one do you like more? The new one or this one? I can't really say which one I like more.

 



Come on! Be my fans!

I've decided to take another step in the world of net and joined Facebook. Unfortunately, if you want to get somewhere, you need to get yourself out there, I mean, opening my Etsy shop, was just first step in selling my own clothes. So I started this blog. People like to know what you get up to, how to create, what you're like. I myself like to read blogs of people whose work I admire. I'm not very good blogger, I really should blog a bit more. But life is usually busy and I do not create as many clothes as I would love to. I promise I'll try to be better.

Facebook, I must say, I've never been a big fan of it (don't know whether I should admit to it). I feel like people spend to much time on it and forget to live their lives. But it won't be my case, so I guess I'm OK. And I don't really want it for my personal use, but mainly for my business. Must admit thought that it's been really nice to see people I haven't seen for up to 8 years. For those who don't know I've moved to UK 8 years ago, so I haven't seen my friends from university for most of that time, plus my friends from home town. No offence, but we did get a bit older, :-(.

So I think it's good idea to ask your friends to like you on Facebook, as they're friends can see your shop as well. So now I just hope more people will see my shop and some might like it. So wish me good luck and be my fans! https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Petra-Fedor/288329354634623 Thank you and have a great day!

New projects

You might think I've been pretty lazy, but I really haven't. It's bit a little bit longer than two weeks from my last post and I've managed to finished three projects. Might not seem like a lot for some of you, but it's pretty good for me. One project equals one week, that's how it usually is. I wish I had more time for sewing. Don't you?

About my three projects, I made a ladies dress from two men's shirts, ladies tunic from one men's shirt, and a patchwork handbag.

I didn't really like the dress at first, but must say that the final result is really nice. Wish I was a bit smaller and could wear it myself. But it's going to my Etsy shop. Just couple of pictures taken by my phone, better ones coming soon. What do you think, do you like it?

 

The tunic I've made is very similar to this one, just smaller and with different details.



I've decided to be a bit mean and let you wait for pictures.

 

Here's how I started, men's shirt after I cut collar, sleeves and cuffs off. 

My last project is a patchwork bag, I've never done patchwork before and I must say, that I absolutely loved it, once I started I couldn't put it down. I have drawn the pattern and cut individual pieces from card. As I do not have a rotary cutter, I had to cut all the pieces by scissors, there is 18 patchwork pieces on the bag, each made from 8 pieces, plus extra pieces in between each square, all together 164 pieces.

 

This is my pattern and pattern pieces with 1cm seam allowance.

 I have sewn the pieces in number order and iron seams after sewing each piece, so I sewn pieces number one and two together, pressed the seam, sewn piece number three, pressed seams again, etc. Long process, but worth doing.

  

This is what my living room/sewing room looked like, very messy.

 

And here is half of my squares. There are same squares on the front and back of the bag.







 



And a finished bag. It's got wooden handles, that are from a bag I found in a charity shop, only cost me 50p, and the bag is lined with two pockets, one of them with zip.

Vintage inspired skirt finished and new look for my Etsy shop

My new creation, vintage inspired skirt in 1950s style is finished now and listed in my Etsy shop.

The pictures have been taken by my friend Andrea, who does it professionally, I am really happy with them. She was so nice and re-took pictures of all item in my Etsy shop last weekend, just downloaded them all, here's just few of my favourite ones. Feel free to check my shop for more https://www.etsy.com/shop/PetraFedor?ref=si_shop.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to bore you, couldn't pick less, as they're all great. But what do you think about them?

 

 

And here is a link to Andrea's website, if you're local and would like to have pictures taken http://www.andreadeansphotography.co.uk/Home.aspx.