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The waiting game
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Burda Style-talent competition
Burda Germany is currently hosting a competition, the subject of which is to sew an outfit that you would wear to Berlin Fashion Week. I am participating with a top-trouser combo, which I managed to get done just in time for the deadline (so the photos had to be done on a cloudy day around sunset; the denim trousers are not exactly showing their best side).
It’s just the kind of thing I would wear out here in Berlin: trousers that look smart but are really just a pair of jeans (well it’s denim, anyway), and a top with clean lines and a bit of a sporty edge to it. If you feel so inclined, you can cast your vote here. (And if you should choose to spend your vote on me, thank you very much!)
A few details. The top is of grey merle cotton jersey; it’s pretty thick so I guess it’s ponti jersey. The white bands are also knit, but polyester. There are French darts and a sway-back, which means that it doesn’t end up too boxy, nor does it flare out tent-style, which is how many cropped tops would look on me. The bands are channel-stitched, which gives the fabric a bit of stand – this in particular helps to emphasise the kimono-sleeves. And no, those rows of stitches do not stand up to close scrutiny. Thank god I didn’t go with my first plan, which was to do them in grey thread for a bit of impact.
The trousers sits on the natural waist, with the hem on the ankle. The front and back crease line is emphasised with top stitching done with a twin needle. Fun fact: thick top stitching thread and twin needles do not mix. The thread burst all the time – it sort of twisted round the way it does when you sew by hand, and got stuck in the needle eye. At least that’s what I think happened. I’m pleased I persevered, though: it means there’s a nice crease even on days when you can’t be bothered with pressing. I bought the fabric in Copenhagen a while back, some vintage denim (whatever that means) on sale and with an extra discount on top because I got a bit excited and bought more than I strictly speaking needed (although ‘need’ is a somewhat irrelevant term when it comes to buying fabric, don’t you find?). These trousers were cheap is what I’m saying; they also happen to be the best fitting trousers I have ever owned.
So, who knows whether I win or not – it would be nice, admittedly – but either way I have a pretty cool made-by-me outfit. (But seriously, don’t look at the channel stitching.)
It’s a shopper, baby.
Would look great with a baguette and some curly lettuce sticking out.
One of my first sewing projects: the denim shopper bag, made from a pair of old jeans, deemed by my husband to be past their fashion sell-by date. The fabric was in good condition, though, and as the trousers were from a time when cargo-pants were still in recent memory, there was also a lot of it. I used it down to the last scrap, more or less.
It took ages to make, a combination of my inexperience, and inexplicable pleasure in unpicking seams (rather than just cut the seams away and be done with it). The bag is a success, though: shopping, picnics (once, anyway), those days when you need to carry water, an umbrella, sunglasses and a jacket; it takes bottles to the bottle bank, and it will even fit one of those frozen pizzas that I’m not sure if I disguise because frozen pizzas are an abomination, or because I buy the organic ones.
Inside pocket
Zipper in outside pocket, the waistband closure, and the key holder. Ready for black tie event.
It has eminently practical details. One of the outside pockets (the original back pocket) has an internal zipper, and there’s an inside pocket with a zipper, too, meaning that I don’t have to worry about phone or wallet falling out. The ends of the waist band have become a way to close it, and there’s a ring to hook my keys onto – though that detail is actually not so great, as it means the keys make this annoying dangly-chiming noise.
It’s one of those bags you like so much that you become convince it’s way more versatile than it really is.
Carefully Sewn 