Saturday, February 26, 2011

The best of the week + a thank you

Here are four links that I really really liked this week:


1. A great video tutorial from Fleur de Guerre on how to style your hair in Victory Rolls. I wish I was as good as her!
2. A very useful roundup at Colette's blog on seam finishes.
3. A beautiful romantic skirt by Johanna.
4. I really really loved this upcycled cardigan by Patty!

Plus, the other day in my mail:


The brooch I won at Nette's giveaway! Thanks Annette for the cutest brooch ever and for the chocolates (such a sweet thought ^_^). Unfortunately, the brooch didn't survive the trip in one piece, but I glued it together and it's good as new!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Inspiration: Nanette Lepore Fall 2010 Collection

This week my unversity lessons started, which means no time for sewing until the weekend. That's really frustrating. So, in the meantime, I thought to share some eye candy... Hope you enjoy it!

Questa settimana per me sono ricominciate le lezioni universitarie, il che significa che non posso cucire nulla fino al weekend. E' veramente pesante, per me. Nel frattempo, ho pensato di condividere un po' di delizia per gli occhi... Spero vi piaccia!


 Images via Style.com
Complete collection here.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Burda 03/2011

I always get excited when the next Burda preview is up on the Russian site, but this time I'm sorry to say that my interested wasn't really picked. This issue focuses on bride dresses, which seems a little silly to me... I don't know how many people actually find it useful. Personally, I'm a little annoyed by that, because between that and the plus size patterns, there is very little I could use.
Anyway, there are a couple patterns I like:
Sono sempre piacevolmente incuriosita quando la preview di un numero di Burda compare sul sito russo del giornale, ma questa volta, purtroppo, le immagini non hanno destato il mio interesse. Il numero è incentrato sulla sposa e a me sembra un po' un'idea sciocca: quante persone trovano utili questi modelli? Tra questi e i modelli taglie forti, rimane pochissimo di utile per me, e questo mi dà un po' fastidio.
Ad ogni modo, c'è qualche modello che mi è piaciuto:



I really like the peplum and would like to see how it looks on me.
Mi piace molto il peplo e sarei curiosa di vedere come mi sta.



This jacket is really sweet, I like the slightly puffy sleeves and the collar. I think the fabric is nice, too.
E' una giacca molto carina, mi piacciano le maniche un po' a sbuffo e il colletto. Anche la stoffa usata mi piace.


I like the bodice and the V back, but I'd never make a balloon skirt for me! I think this kind of bodice allows you to play with it and change it as you wish.
Mi piacciono il busto molto semplice e lo scollo a V sulla schiena, ma non farei mai una gonna a pallocino per me! La semplicità del busto permette di modificarlo come si vuole.



This is a very basic pattern, but it caught my attention because it somehow reminded me of this. Obviously the end result is not even comparable...
E' un modello estremamente semplice, ma per qualche motivo mi ricorda questo. Ovviamente i due prodotti finiti non sono paragonabili...

I'll receive my issue in the mail in a couple of weeks, but I guess I won't be too excited...
Let me know if you found anything that you liked in this issue!
Tra un paio di settimane riceverò per posta questo numero, ma mi sa che non sarò così felice...
E voi avete trovato qualcosa che vi piace?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The best of the week

This week I didn't spend too much time in front of the computer. Well, I did, but not reading blogs.
I dedicated a lot of time to my shop and I created a Facebook page for it (more infos coming soon ^_^). Anyway, that took a lot of time, so I basically read my favorite blogs and just took a quick look to the others (and probably forgot to bookmark a lot of stuff).
Here are my favorite posts:


1. A stunning Valentine dress from Grosgrain. I'm always amazed by her skills and style.
2. A supercute outfit from L'atelier d'une fée.
3. A useful tutorial from The Crimson Owl involving chocolate... of course it's in my favorites!
4. A preview of Chie's beautiful spring mini collection at Vivat Veritas.
5. Another Valentine related tutorial, again at Grograin.
6. Iro Iro's new dresses; I adore this striped one, the strip at the hem is such a cute detail!

Have a great weekend!

Italiano:
Questa settimana ho passato poco tempo davanti al computer, o meglio, ne ho passato poco a leggere blog. Ho curato il mio negozietto e ho creato una pagina Facebook (presto qualche informazione in più), entrambe operazioni che mi hanno portato via moltissimo tempo. Perciò ho letto solo i miei blog preferiti e ho dato solo un'occhiata agli altri, dimenticandomi di segnarmi un sacco di cose da includere in questo post. Ad ogni modo, qui sopra trovate le foto e i link ai miei post preferiti.
Buon weekend!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Homemade lip balm


Today's post is not sewing related, but I'm so enthousiastic about this project that I want to share it.
In the last few weeks my lips have been in bad shape and my chapstick seemed to never be enough. So when a few day ago, carlitadolce (an Italian Youtube channel about natural cosmetics that I love) posted a video on how to make a completely natural lip balm I decided to do it immediately. This is the tranlsation of the recipe for all the non-Italian speakers who are interested.

Ingredients for 100 g:
Phase A
20 g beeswax
45 g rice oil (or other natural oil)
5 g tocopherol (pure E vitamin)
5 g jojoba oil
Phase B
5 g glycerin
20 g honey

Put the ingredients of each phase in two separated glass containers (kitchen glasses work fine, just make sure they are clean and disinfected with alcohol). Heat the containers in a bain-marie until the beeswak melts.
Remove from bain-mairie and start pouring a few drops of phase B in phase A, then stir well with a glass or metal instrument (I used a whisk, don't use plastic or it will melt!).
Continue pouring phase B little by little, stirring thoroughly every time. Keep stirring until the emulsion gets cold and changes its thickness.
Put in your containers of choice and... voila, you're done!


I made half the quantity and filled three little jars, which will last me forever.
I LOVE this lipbalm. It lasts forever on my lips and I noticed that if i put lipstick on top of it, the lipstick lasts longer. It's not too glossy, so it's not too showy or annoying. My lips have never been so soft and moisturized!
Let me know if you try it!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Swing dress sew along: the fit nightmare


You can see in the photos my third muslin for this dress. It starts to look good, (if you ignore the wrinkles and the stiffness of the fabric) but I'm not satisfied yet. It looks unflattering in the waist area, but it's just because I didn't use interfacing, so the belt section is a bit wonky.
This is the first time I have so many problems with a pattern, I even convinced myself that I must have made some mistakes printing or assembling the pattern because everything (well, almost) in the fit was off.

The modifications I made were:
- shortening the front and back bodice pieces by 5 cm (and I'm not shortwaisted);
- lowering the neck by 2,5 cm (I also redrafted the back facing) because it was sitting way too high on my neck;
- shortening the skirt pieces by 15 cm (which is A LOT!) and adjusting the lenght of the side front piece because it didn't match with the other two panels.
It might not sound like a lot of work, but it took me the whole afternoon and evening of yesterday and, again, I never had to sweat so much for a dress...

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The best of the week

Well, it was a very  long and exhausting week for me. I had three exams at university (and I passed them all, YAY!) so no time for sewing. I still got my daily dose of Internet readings and these are the most interesing things I stumpled upon:

1. A tutorial at the Colette blog on how to create these beautiful knickers.
2. Tasia of Sewaholic explains hot to match plaid when cutting a pattern.
3. Sunni of The Cupcake Goddess gives great advice about zipper insertion.
4. Modern Twist links an interesting article of the New Yor Times on vintage fashion reproductions.

Finally, I fell in love with Elie Saab 2011 Spring Couture collection. These are my favourites, but you can see the whole collection here.


Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll definetely catch up on sewing!
 
Ecco i link dei post più interessanti in cui mi sono imbattuta questa settimana. Ci sono alcuni tutorial (in inglese), un articolo del New York Times e infine la collezione primaverile di couture di Elie Saab.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Inspiration: ban.do


I just discovered through Nancy's blog ban.do, a beautiful shop that sell the cutest hair and shoe accessories. I just adore the styling and the makeup... and the accessories too, of course!



Ho scoperto tramite il blog di Nancy ban.do, un bellissimo negozio che vende accessori per capelli e scarpe carinissimi. Adoro lo styling e il makeup... beh, e anche gli accessori!