Let's Get Out of Here

You've probably read it everywhere, but Google Reader's shutting down. According to Google there's still 490 people using reader to follow this blog, and there's only 2 days left to switch to another reader! I've switched to Bloglovin (cause its so puhrretty) but I didn't do any research, just took the first one I liked. So if you are reading this through Reader and you want to keep following me and Paprika Patterns do as follows:

Bloglovin: Click here. Then click 'Import from Google Reader'. You'll have to re-catagorize your feeds, but then you're done.

Feedly: Go here, then click 'One-Click Google Reader Import'. Log in with your Google account, and you're done.

Hope to see you on the other side!

P.S. You can now also find me on Kollabora. A great platform for sharing your handmade items. So much more user friendly than Burdastyle. Come join me!

The Big Reveal!

I'm so excited this moment has finally come! We've chosen our name a few months ago, but I didn't want to reveal it until we had a logo and brand style. So, with no further ado, I present to you, our indie sewing pattern company:



Yay! We don't have an official style motto yet, but I can tell you something about the concept. We want to set ourselves apart from other designers by creating simple but clever patterns with a bit of edgyness. The fit of our garments is comfortable but the design makes you stand out from the crowd. Our logo depicts this style. It looks simple but there's more than meets the eye. First, it looks like there are two P's in it, but they are mirrored so they're not actual P's. Second, something I am most excited about: at the same time these not-P's form an abstract sewing machine! Aah!

We've set up a landing page (CHECK IT OUT!) where you can fill in your emailadress  This will subscribe you to our newsletter, and through this you'll be the first to know when the patterns come out. If you've filled in the first survey about the skirt you're already on the list. If you're not sure, just sign up again and we'll take out double entries.

Anddd... we're off!! :D

Coming up This Week

Just a quick message to say that I won't be able to make something for the Pattern Magic Project this week. There's a couple of projects that I need to finish asap, but I'm hoping I'll have time to get it done for next wednesday. Although we also really busy finalizing the pattern (yay!) and there's regular work and the firetruck needs maintenance... Anyway, we'll see what gets done and what doesn't!

There will be something up on the blog this wednesday though, we're about to reveal the name and logo of our pattern company. Hooray!

Dye & Print

The goal of the stamp workshop I attended a couple of months ago was ofcourse to print my own fabric. It took me a while to get there though. First I ordered fabric from the Dharma Trading, who sell all kinds of natural fabrics especially suited for dyeing. Miriam of Mad Mim had used a silk rayon blend for her printed scout tee, but I thought that was a bit on the sheer side so I went with a bamboo rayon blend. I also ordered their fiber reactive dyes in coral and safari grey. Their dyes have this "contains chemicals that cause cancer" warning. Ehm, what? So why would I want to dye something with this stuff I wear on my bare skin? And wash this down the water system where it gets recycled and winds up in my tap again? I did it anyway because maybe I don't care enough (apparently). That bamboo-rayon blend though... what a wonderful fabric. The drape is so so nice, and I love that it's a natural fabric. I'm thinking of getting a couple more yards, I could live in this stuff.




As you can see I used coral pink. I had intended for it to come out a bit darker, and it hasn't dyed evenly either. I do like this effect so I don't mind. Then I tried out some stamps and colours and settled on the triple V stamp. I also tried birds and raindrops but since the shirt was already so pink I wanted to counterbalance it with a bold stamp. And I think it worked out! I cut out the pieces and then stamped them so I could control the placement. I started at the front, in the middle and was going to print it all over. But after three rows I took a step back and I really liked it this way. A little tip: don't ever try to correct a stamp. It just gets messy.




I drafted this pattern myself, I wanted to start working with wovens and needed a couple of easy shirts for this summer. The sleeves need some revisioning, but other than that I'm pretty satisfied with this shirt. I used my rolled hem foot for the hem (first time) and Grainline's neckline tutorial. Jen's blog is my go-to place for tutorials, they're just so clever.



This is the first time I'm wearing something pink. Ever! I always thought it was too girly, but the truth is, it suits me a whole lot better than red-orange tones. I might start wearing it more often, I've got a lot more of that cancer-causing dye, hehe. I'd like to experiment with using more colours and tie-dyeing. Sallie-oh does wonderful things with dyes. I'd steal her wardrobe if I could! So I'm curious, do you have that same feeling about Dharma? Have you printed clothing (show us!)?

PPM #5 Playing with Facings

This is the first project of the second book. It was hard to choose one, there are so many interesting patterns in this book. But I decided to start with something simple and wearable. There's a series for patterns that show how to alter the neckline by altering the facing. Marianna already showed one of them on a dress. An interesting concept, changing the outside by shaping from within.

Drafting and cutting
Drafting was easy, this is a quick one. The pic above shows all there is to it. I used my own slopers. I took the opportunity to draft a low V back as well, I've been wanting to do this for a while. Cutting was a bit tricky, I discovered my fabric was only 110 cm wide (43"). I had two metres and the book recommends that you cut the bodice on the bias. And I wanted a half circle skirt. With some puzzling it worked out, I even managed to get a facing for the back out of it as well.





Fabric
The book does not always mention what kind of fabric to use. To me it looked like the fabric should have some weight to get a nice fold. I had found this beautiful quilting cotton at the shop the week before, but at 21,95 per metre it was way over my budget. Fortunately there was a one day 50% off sale going on. Lucky me!



Sewing
The sewing process went nice and smooth for most of the day. I took my time even though I had to finish the dress the same day. I staystitched all the bias cut edges of the bodice, necklines and skirt right after cutting. I payed attention to the pattern an finishing the seams. I didn't have to get my seam ripper out until the very end, when I messed up the blind zip. It was funny, because it happenend right when I thought 'hey, I haven't messed up one stitch yet' and also 'I don't understand why people don't use blind zips all the time, they're not hard to put in at all'. HAH. Well now I know not to think these things until after I'm finished. Usually I would have stopped sewing before that point, but I wanted to finish it today.



The Magic
Although I'm happy with the dress, it's obvious that this magic is done by an apprentice. It's just a bit messy, the fold is there but there's some more bulgeing going on on the other side. I don't know where that excess fabric comes from, I thought I'd followed the diagram. So I thought this would be an easy one, and for drafting and sewing it was. It's just that the magic is not accomplished as easily. I should have stopped and taken a step back to really look at what was going on at the neckline, instead of thinking it would sort itself out. Ah well. I learned and tried some new things, like the V back and using a bias cut bodice. And I practiced the Ann approach, which is still working very well. Right now I'm very tired of all this work in one day, so my opinion of this dress is no quite clear and might change. Is there some magic or is it just a messy cowl? I'd love to know what you think!