Tag Archives: Colette Patterns

My Moneta

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M-m-m-my Moneta

At this moment the Moneta party* is in full swing and it really fantastic to see all the beautiful Moneta dresses everybody is showing.

* The Moneta party is an Instagram party hosted by The Triple Stitchers and you can only go to the party dressed in your self-made Moneta dress. Here you can read more about it.

Moneta Dress-Colette Patterns

Me too, I engaged myself to sew a Moneta. I already had the pattern from Colette Patterns a few years but I never managed to get started on sewing one. So this party was a great spur into action!

Going through my fabric collection I thought that this Orange Red Faux Snakeskin spandex knit from Girl Charlee would be suitable and it was.

Moneta Dress Colette Patterns

I’m over the moon that I picked it. It has a good stretch and is easy to sew. More, it has a funky design that reminded me constantly of Nicolas Cage in ‘Wild at heart’!

I don’t want to elaborate much on the pattern because so many others did that before me. Here are some thoughts about sewing the Moneta dress.

  • I went for version 2 with the 3/4 sleeves.
  • Being a #sewingtall girl I lengthened the bodice with 6cm and the skirt with 4 cm.
  • I also graded the bodice from L at the bust to XL at the waist.  In the future, I would give even more ease at the waist because it is kind of small.
  • It was an easy sew and the instructions from Colette patterns are very clear.
  • For the gathering, I used clear elastic and it went rather easy—I have some experience with this technique due to the fact I sewed some Wren dresses.
    Also Abigail—one of The Triple Stitchers—wrote a very helpful tutorial about it.
Conclusion

I am extremely happy with my Moneta dress. The pattern has a very neat design and if you experiment with the fabric you can really get a stunning result. Check it out on Instagram! Will I sew more Moneta’s? I’m positive I will.

Moneta Dress Colette Patterns

9 inspirations from the sewing community

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Do you lack sewing inspiration?

The sewing community provides you with a lot of sew-alongs, sewing challenges, giveaways and even a sewing party! I give you 9 online sewing festivities that maybe could give you some needed inspiration.

  • Project Sew My Style

    Alex from Bluebird Fabrics launched this year-long project last December 2016 and it is such a challenging project that I immediately signed up.Project #SewMyStyleSewMyStyle is all about raising awareness about the slow fashion movement and about encouraging young women to take up sewing. I’m not young but I felt spoken to. They want to show you that sewing your own wardrobe isn’t an unachievable dream.
    The goal is to create a wardrobe by sewing 12 garments in 12 months, with the entire community.  We’ll post photos of our makes on Instagram on the last Sunday of every month. In the end, we’ll all have a nice little capsule wardrobe of handmade clothes. To make the project achievable, the patterns that are chosen are relaxed in fit and most are accompanied by instructions.
    The first pattern on the list is The Toaster Sweater #2 from Sew House Seven. Currently, I am in the phase of choosing my fabric.

    Patterns for SewMyStyle
    The 11 patterns for SewMyStyle. The 12th pattern is yet to be released.

     

  • 2017 Secret Valentine Exchange

    The 2017 Secret Valentine Exchange is a non-conventional handmade gift swap that occurs worldwide, hosted by Ute and Shanae. I already gave you 4 reasons why you should participate.
    Sign-ups are closed now but you can follow all the makes on Instagram with the #2017SVE hashtag. At this moment I’m racking my brains to find something to sew for my Secret Valentine.

    2017 secret valentine exchange

  • Dressmakers52

    After a very successful MakeItYourself March 16, co-hosted with Wendy from WendyWard, Emma from Dressmakers Social started a year-long project: #Dressmakers52.
    Every Sunday, she picks a new theme from her deck of cards with prompts, to use as inspiration for posting a picture on Instagram. It started the first week of April 2016 and we are now in week 43 with the theme: dresses. I really love this challenge, it gave me a lot of sewing inspiration so far.

 

  • Moneta Party

    Moneta Party
    A real sewing party hosted by The Triple Stitchers: Abigail, Elle and Rachel.
    This is fun! It’s a party held on Instagram! Everybody can participate, no matter where you live—simply post a picture of your handmade ‘Colette Moneta dress’ on your Instagram feed between Friday, February  24th 18.00 GMT and Sunday, February 26th 18.00 GMT 2017 using the hashtag #Monetaparty. And there are prizes to win!
    I am really looking forward to this party because I am planning to sew a Moneta for my daughter for more than a year already.

    The Triple Stitchers
    © The Tripple Stitchers

 

  • Le défi dentelle
    Le défi dentelle
    A lingerie sewing party hosted by Marion, Eugénie and Barbara.

    Do you fancy sewing your own lingerie?  When you do, post a picture of it on Instagram and you receive a lingerie pattern from Barbara—Je fais mes dessous. You can post until Valentine (of course!). Wow! Don’t these beautiful pictures give you inspiration?

 

  • Jungle January

    Anne from Pretty Grievances started it 5 years ago: sew anything you want using an animal print fabric. Check it out on Instagram and Twitter with the #junglejanuary hashtag.

    Jungle January
    Teaser for last years Jungle January © Pretty Grievances

    I never used an animal print before and at this moment I don’t have an animal print in my stash but I do love all the Jungle January sewing! And you still have 10 days to sew something with an animal print! If you have an animal print in your stash—sew it!

  • Sew Japanese (patterns) in January

    Launched by Blogless Anna on Instagram. So far I didn’t sew any Japanese patterns, although I like a lot of them, especially the coats. Unfortunately, I will not have some spare time to sew Japanese this January (due to 2017SVE, SewMyStyle and the upcoming MonetaParty). But you can!

    Japanese sewing inspiration
    RepostBy @bloglessanna: “My #sewjapaneseinjanuary plans are underway. I’m hoping to sew two items from two of my newest books (inc. this top). Are you joining in?” )

 

  • Blusen Sew-Along

    No, it is not impossible to sew your own shirt! You just have to start. That’s why Elke —a German sewist is organising a Blusen Sew-along.Blusen Sew Along

    This is the schedule of the sew-along:
    * January 22: Choosing of the pattern and fabric, what inspires you?
    * January 29: Do you have to make changes? Are there hurdles?
    * February 5: Work in progress. Did you learn tips and tricks or do you need help with your project?
    * February 9 (Thursday): Presentation of the finished blouse. FINALE!
    You can follow all the makes on Instagram and social media with the #blusenSA2017

  • 2017 sewing book challenge

    Do have a lot of sewing books with patterns in it and you never sewed one these patterns? With the 2017sewingbookchallenge you can solve this.2017 Sewing Book Challenge

    Carla Peicheff looked at her sewing book library and realised she nearly didn’t use one of the patterns in it. That’s why she launched the 2017sewingbookchallenge: make at least one project a month from your stash of sewing books.
    I only have one sewing book and sewing something from it is already on my #2017MakeNine list.

2 new things and 1 not really new

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New blog
You are never too old to start something new and it is never too late to start a new sewing blog. For a while now I’ve been feeling like I want to tell a bit more about my sewing-encounters so I’m giving it a try. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

The Wren dress
Last summer I already sewed two Wren dresses for E., my daughter-in-law. The first one was a wearable muslin in an old rose lightweight jersey which was a perfect fit. Then I sewed the ‘real’ dress in a woven mint crepe—what was I thinking?

Wren dress Colette Patterns

Therefore I had to broaden the bodice to her measurements to make it fit. Also, because she is very lithe, and the front has quite an opening she was able to put it on over her head without a zipper.
I loved sewing the Wren dress and adored the end-result in both fabrics. So, when I found this beautiful midweight jersey at Stofferia in Cologne I knew it was perfect for another Wren dress, this time for me.


This fabric has a nice stretch, feels very soft and is very drapey. Excellent for this model. And I loved how it turned out, like secret pyjamas.

Pattern matching is my thing but this print is so full that I could lay my pattern pieces randomly. The neckbands are even upside-down.

Wren dress Colette Patterns

The Wren dress comes together easily and I find the instructions from Colette patterns very clear.

Wren dress Colette Patterns
I find the lower neckline a nice touch in the design.

Alterations
* Being a #sewingtall girl I lengthened the bodice with 6 cm. Especially because I found it rather on the short side when I made the first two Wrens. Now it hangs perfectly on me.
* To cover more cleavage I crossed the body pieces 2 cm further than the original marks.
* With the previous dresses, I struggled with the clear elastic, so now I used a small and soft regular elastic. Stabilizing the elastic with a few stitches on the two side seams and CF and CB also helped, but it remains a chore.
* The instructions also tell to use a twin needle for hemming but that is not really my cup of tea. I always have problems with the tension. Instead, I use the fagot stitch that is programmed on my sewing machine.

New sewing machine
We were lucky to receive a serious tax refund this year so I could gift myself a new serger. I have a 25-year old 3-thread Toyota whose tensions I couldn’t get right anymore.
Wow, this new 4-thread Juki is really a queen. No threading and tension problems. I serged all the seams (except the insert of the sleeves). This even speeded up the whole sewing process.

Will I sew more Wren dresses? I think I will and I am even considering about a Wren top like Jess made.

Wren dress Colette Patterns
So thrilled with my Wren dress!