A Little Black D(olo)res(s)

Hi all!
After 3 rough months at work, which led to yet another sewing burn out (no UFOS, but my last projects were completed veeeeeeeeerrrrryyyyyyy slooooooowwwwwlllyyyyy), I was  really in need of something easy to make.
I had bought Zoe's Dolores Batwing pattern a few months ago, and thought now was the time to give it a go, so I grabbed some black milano jersey I bought specially for it...and let me tell you, this pattern did not disappoint!

Here's a first view...

And here I am, showing off the batwing sleeve detail!

In hardly more than 2 hours of sewing (and without a serger!), I found myself with a new dress...and one, IMO, that's perfectly worthy of being my New Year's Eve dress!
No modifications, except that I chopped 10 cm off the sleeves to make them 3/4 instead of full length.
Now, this dress is a little bit classier than what I'm used to wearing, but at the same time, it's so easy to wear it would be a pity to keep it only for special occasions...I think it's going to be worn quite a lot, and I'd love to make some more in neutral colors like navy, dark brown or burgundy, and in wool jersey (but that seems a little bit harder to find unfortunately)!
It reminds me a bit (well, minus the batwing shape I mean) of Heart of Haute's "Super Spy dress", over which I've been drooling for quite a long time : 

Well, you can imagine how great it feels to have a pattern enabling me to make as many knock-offs (sort of knock-off, anyway) of this dress as I want, and in no time at all!

Happy New Year's Eve to you all!

#SSK 2015 : I'm in!

Hi all, wanna take part in a knit along this winter? How about Andi's Selfish Sweater Knitalong?

I still have a bit of work to finish my Nix shawl, but I'll make sure to jump on the bandwagon as soon as I'm done with it!

I'm going to make a Cropped Sweater - I already have some yarn left from my Hortensia which I plan to use for the main color, and I'm going to order some off-white yarn for the contrast.

© Andi Satterlund

If you want to join, you can get the button for your blog on Andi's, and/or join the discussion on Ravelry.

Finished for FESA : Châtaigne skirt

Well, this one took a long time coming too...but at last, it's here!

Sorry I can't be a fast blogger AND post awesome pics...at least you get to see the wonderful Christmas tree which the building's caretakers installed in the lobby!

So, this is Deer&Doe's Châtaigne shorts, turned into a skirt thanks to Estelle's tutorial.
I used a brown tweed-like wool mix as my main fabric, scraps of brown cotton for the inside of the pockets and the waistband facing and olive green Bemberg for the lining. And I added some pleather piping accents around the pockets and waistband yoke..
As you can see I went for the high waisted version and made it longer by 25 cm. I decided to put the zipper in the back, instead of the side seam, slightly tapered it at the side seams to get a that pencil skirt look, and added a back vent. And I also lined it.
I don't know if anybody else tried to make the high waisted skirt version, but once I had modified the leg parts of the short to turn them into skirt parts, the back parts were shorter than the waistband by 1.5 cm, so I had to add that much to my back skirt pattern pieces if I wanted my booty to fit in!
Apart from that, I had no problems making it - except for a bit of thinking about how to attach the lining.

Here's a look at the back vent...

Wait...would that be my first ACTUAL invisible zipper???

And here's my lining. At first I thought the lace was just beige but it's actually golden! Not what I chose first but I finally like it that way.

This skirt is not perfect - for instance, you don't want to look too close at my lining and facings, and I should have done something to reduce the bulk in some seams...but the actual fit is great, it's really comfortable and i love wearing it!
Even though it's not really historically accurate, the look of it is still reminiscent of the 40s/50s, while being at the same time modern and casual...that is to say, everything I'm looking for in a garment!
I'm very happy with this skirt and I'll probably make another - maybe a simpler, black one, in a stretchy fabric. Just wait and see!

Some cuisine : Potato and camembert gratin

Hi all, got a little recipe for you today!

Here's a dish I like to make in winter. You know, when you want to eat things that are light and fresh (just kidding). I've been tinkering with this recipe for a moment...and I think I just got it right yesterday evening, so here it is :

For 2 persons (or 4 if you want to serve it as a side dish) :

• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 potatoes
• 1 apple
• 1 camembert
• 20 g butter
• 1 shot glass apple juice
• 1 leaf of laurel
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg
• caraway or cumin

Peel and dice the potatoes. Peel the garlic clove. Put in a saucepan, cover up with water, add the laurel and some salt, then boil till soft. Drain the water from the potatoes.

Peel and dice the onion and the apple. Spread them evenly in a dish that goes in the oven. Put the potatoes in that same dish, mix (as much as possible, without squashing them) with the onion and apple. Cut the butter in small bits and distribute it evenly in the dish. Pour the apple juice evenly the dish. Cut the camembert in small bits and scatter them over the dish. Add pepper, caraway/cumin and nutmeg, to taste (no salt, as the camembert is already quite savoury). Put in the oven for 30 min at 180°C.
Serve hot, with some salad on the side if you want. I used some lamb's lettuce yesterday evening.

Previously, I would do this recipe using a whole glass (ie 25cl) of cider, instead of 1 apple + a shot glass of apple juice. But the alcohol contained in the cider gave a bitter taste, and the whole thing was rather watery. However, the apple+apple juice combo gives just the right amount of sweetness and it's not watery at all anymore!