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.



Just few Easter pictures and my new projects

I've been pretty busy last month, mainly working, doing few repair jobs on different garments for people. I haven't had much time to do real sewing. Finished grey dress made from men's shirt and trousers. I will post pictures soon. The friend of mine re-took pictures of all my items in Etsy shop last weekend, so I'll be changing all the pictures soon. Can't wait to give my shop new look. I hope they will attract new customers. I'm not very keen on having pictures taken, but it was great fun.

I've been also working on new skirt, which is made.... you won't believe it from old curtains. They replaced old curtains at work after 20 years, so employees were allowed to take the old ones, otherwise they would have gone to charity shop. It's really great quality fabric, you would never believe it's 20 years old, it's got retro flowery design, which is really in right now. I've decided to make 1950's gathered skirt with pockets. Here's couple of pictures before it was finished. It worked out exactly as I hoped. The skirt has a nice body, as the fabric is thicker, but not too thick.

 

 

And here is few pictures from Easter....

 

 

Leg of lamb ready to be roasted with garlic and rosemary

 

Yummy roasted leg of lamb

Few Easter eggs me and Oscar decorated with acrylic paint with a layer of nail varnish on the top. A bit tricky but real fun to do.

 



 

My second attempt to make a loaf of bread from scratch.

 

 

And my latest project is knitted denim doormat, which I started last night. I cut old jeans into 1 inch thick strips, but it was too thick to knit with, so decided to cut each strip in half, which made knitting possible. Unfortunately it's been such a messy job, that I put it away, deciding to do it in the summer, when I can do it in a garden. This is how much I managed to do in couple of hours last night.