Eye candy - the dresses Queen Maxima wore yesterday

Yesterday the world was watching The Netherlands where the new king was crowned. Of course, everyone was curious to see what dresses the new queen Maxima would wear. One thing was sure, there would be something there from a dutch designer. And she didn't disappoint us, she looked really, really beautiful in every outfit!

1. The first outfit for the office-part of the inauguration (where the paperwork was signed) was from the Belgian fashion designer house Natan, from designer Edouard Vermeulen. A pale, greyish-purple-pink-powdery colored, layered gauze blouse with a statement bow neckline (made me think of the Japanese book Pattern magic!) with a pencil skirt made of embroidered silk with sequin embellishments. Here is a close-up of the neckline:





2. For the ceremony in the church she choose a dress designed for this occasion by a dutch designer, Jan Taminiau. Everyone expected something white because traditionally this is the color the queen should wear for an inauguration ceremony but the dress had a royal-blue color. Since the king was wearing a traditional cape the designer made a cape for the dress too with a slightly lifted shoulder line to match the king's cape. This made her look very statuesque queen-like. The earrings and tiara were of Queen Emma's (queen from 1875 - till 1900) and the embroidery of the dress was commissioned to a French atelier.





3. After the crowning the new king and queen stepped onto a ship to make a tour along the river Ij with her family. Maxima was dressed in another Taminiau-dress. This one was a nude silk crepe dress with a bordeaux lace layer embroidered onto it with flowers, sequins and Swarowsky crystals. Very pretty!







4. On the official portrait pictures which were made earlier and released yesterday she was dressed in another Natan dress she also wore a couple of times before. This dress is simple but elegant and has a flattering color:



5. The day before the crowning for the abdication gala diner of Queen Beatrix she choose one of her trusty Valentino dresses (Valentino couture fall 2006) which I personally didn't liked that much:

The Great British Sewing Bee - episode 4 season 1 finale!

watch episode 1 here
watch episode 2 here
watch episode 3 here

Edit:For those who want to practice, here is a list of the Sewing Bee challenges:

A standard pattern in a standard size (without any adjustments)
- A-line skirt: 3,5 hours
- a pair of men's trousers: 4 hours
- child's dress (with shirring): 2,5 hours
- men's shirt: 4 hours
A self chosen pattern made for a model and adjusted to size:
- Made-for-measure dress: 7 hours
- Made-for-measure blouse: 6 hours
- Made-for-measure jacket:7,5 hours
- Made-for-measure evening dress: 8 hours

Lessons learned from the Sewing Bee

I watched the final episode of the Great British Sewing Bee yesterday.
I must say, I really liked the Sewing Bee series! Of course, the search for 'Britain's best home sewer' sounds unrealistic (especially when some contestants never inserted a zipper before or don't know in which direction the fly of a pair of men's pants should close) but it was so much fun to watch!

I loved that the jury talked for like 90% of the time very objective about the execution of the garments and there was no such thing as liking the chosen fabric, pattern or not. Though they mentioned if the choice of fabric wasn't right because of the fabric weight or patterns. But that was just what they observed. What you see is what you judge. There were no eccentric, theatrical contestants fighting all the time and picking on each other like in most reality series, no judges who try to 'strike a pose' and make the contestants cry. Everyone seemed to be very supportive. It was not about the 'show' but all about craftsmanship. I believe that watching the Sewing Bee make people thinking about why sewing your own clothes can be such a fulfilling hobby.

The winner is (not really surprisingly) Ann. Well, she deserves the best home seamstress award for sure! Amazing that she already was sewing in the 'make and mend' period! What she did so well during the episodes is working very precise and executing the tasks perfectly. She did take almost no risks but she new exactly what she could finish well within the given time frame. While everyone was aiming high, having trouble with finishing the garments in the right way or finishing at all, she did a great job on almost every item she made.

Watching the series made me think of my own sewing skills. Could I assemble an A-line skirt in one hour 3,5 hours or finish a pair of trousers in 8 hours 4 hours? Do I pay enough attention on seam finishing and top stitching? Could I make a jacket with the perfect details just like that? Here are the lessons I learned:

1. Work very, very neat! 
Start by measuring and cutting correctly and you are halfway there!
I personally hate tracing the patterns and cutting the fabric, but spending more time on that really pays off. (However I don't mind spending hours on seam finishing and everything else.)

2. Practice the perfect topstitching!
Don't we all started once by trying to sew straight lines on our grandma's sewing machine? Just try to make even, parallel rows. Seems so easy but it isn't. At the end of the day, a neat finish still gives a boost to your garment.

3. Practice difficult things like making a fly zipper.
Never using a fly zipper on your garments can't be an excuse! You never know when it comes handy...
watch episode 1 here
watch episode 2 here
watch episode 3 here
watch episode 4 here
Click here for a list of the Sewing Bee challenges.

Starting with finishing touches

There is some progress, at last! We've spent 4 days with finishing ceilings, painting doors laying floors. The weather finally turned sunny and summery and it was a joy to spend all those days in the new house and the huge (and quiet!) garden. There are still enough things that have to be done but I think we will be able to move in by the end of may!
(I'm still wearing BF's rather ugly workwear bib-trousers, but thankfully not for long anymore!)

The great British sewing bee - episode 3

Claudia Winkleman presents the semi-final. The four amateur sewers return to compete in three more challenges. Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing teacher May Martin set them a pattern for a child's dress which tests their ability to follow couture techniques on a miniature scale. In the alteration challenge they are asked to tailor a dress with precision and they create a made-to-measure jacket which must fit their model perfectly, after which one of them is asked to leave the Sewing Bee.



link to episode 1 here
link to episode 2 here

How to shorten a pair of jeans the right way - tutorial

This might be not an exciting post for someone who is used to do this on a regular basis but I'm sure beginners will appreciate it. And by the 'right way' I mean: as opposed to how my BF's mom does it. Scroll down for a picture...

I've read about this method somewhere in the early 90's  in a magazine. The idea was to cut the original hem off and reattach it again. I must say, didn't used for myself that much but I've found it really handy to shorten my BF's jeans this way. Sometimes it's hard to find the right width/length combination or you buy a pair of pretty jeans on sale with the wrong length.

But, some pants are made extra long for a purpose. Why?
Especially designer jeans, but also cheaper, workwear jeans (like the one below) usually come with just one, standard length. The reason is that they produce only one length for one waist size, because they expect that you want to have perfectly fitted clothes an have the pants altered to your special measurements. If you pay a lot of money to buy those expensive designer jeans they always offer a service to alter it to your measurements. However, usually they won't do that with workwear...
Nowadays, we aren't used to that anymore, so ready-to-wear jeans fabricants offer one waist size in several lengths. The idea is: you just pick up the right length an go. If it fits approximately it should be good enough.
The good news: it's easy to fix!

So why don't we just chop off the hem of a pair of jeans?
- To sew a pair of jeans they use a thick thread, often in very special shades which you can't find on the market. There are probably similar colors but the thread would be too thin. And why would you bother to buy thread just to hem one pair of jeans anyway?
- Another reason is, especially with faded or distressed jeans the hem is often part of the design. They assemble the jeans first before adding design elements of fading or distressing the fabric. If you look at the jeans below on the left, you see that this finish can't be reproduced at home.



Below is what you definitely don't want to end up with!!!
There is one thing left, you need to 'recycle' the original hem somehow.


The method below is what works for me, it's quick and easy. Important is that the width of the original hem is about the same width as the new hem, so it works only for straight legged jeans. (And for children's trousers as well.)
I used white thread for the demonstration, but for a really neat finish I'd choose dark blue or other color similar to the color of the jeans.

1. Measure and mark the desired length you want to remove.
Fold the hems up like below. What you see of the wrong side of the fabric is 1/2 of the the total length you are going to remove (black line)

Important!
The original hem is going to be folded down at the end so it adds some extra length, but most of the time this is not that much.
If you have a wide hem or just want to work perfect, you could subtract the width of it from the total to-be-removed length first and then divide that amount by 2. (That would be then your black line below)

For example:
- want to shorten jeans total by 3 inches
- have an original hem that is 1/2 inches wide
That would be:
3 - 1/2 = 2 1/2   and then: 2 1/2 : 2 = 1 1/4
My folded wrong side (black line) would measure 1 1/4 inches



Press well. You could pin it as well, but for me pressing with steam works fine:


2. With a small stitch length (I use about 2.5) stitch as close as possible next to  the original hemline on the wrong side. Match the side seams carefully like below:
 

This is what it looks like from the right side:


3. Trim the excess fabric. I usually leave as much seam allowance as the original side seams use:
 

4. Finish the seam allowance. I use a wide zigzag stitch (length 1.0-1.5 and a width of 5, this is the max on my sewingmachine)
Repeat the same for the other hem.
 

5. Turn the hem back.  Press & steam well, with the seam allowance facing upwards on the inside:


6. I secure the inside along the side seams with a few stitches. I found this way it stays better in place and won't roll back when washed:
  

This is how the finished hemline will look like after you have recycled the original hem:
 

The Great British Sewing Bee - episode 2 (watch it here)

Yesss! Apparently there is someone, who manages to put the episodes on YouTube.
I shared the link to episode 1 here.

Episode 2 of 4
Claudia Winkleman hosts a series in which some of the country's best home sewers are tested on their sewing and dressmaking skills in order to be crowned best amateur sewer by judges May Martin of the Women's Institute and Savile Row's Patrick Grant.
In this edition, the six remaining contestants face three more challenges, including following a pattern for a pair of men's trousers. Tackling a fly fastening leaves most of the sewers baffled, but the second challenge - to add patch pockets to a high street skirt - produces some imaginative results.
Finally the sewers create a made-to-measure silk blouse for their model. The slippery fabric is too much for two competitors, and they are eliminated from the programme.