So you want to make your handmade clothes flawless. You buy the good fabric, the best thread, you invest time and hope to make clothes that will fit and last forever.

If making clothes that look as good on the wrong side as they do on the good side is your things, then you’ll find this small couture sewing guide really useful.

Want to know the secret of a perfectly sewn banded v-neck on a knit fabric?

1. Interface and staystich your neckline
2. To cut your neckband, measure the garment’s neckline, then ad 10 cm (4 in)
3. Fold and press the neckband, overlock for a tidy finish.
4. Stitch the band in place, stop a few cm before the end of the V neck, then overlap the ends.
5. Trim the neckband and topstitch the neckline
6. And Voila! a beautiful, couture banded v-neck.

Look at the step by step instructions below:

Hello readers,

Last week my blog was hacked and long story short I lost the content I wrote in the last 2 years. If you have a blog and haven’t made a backup in ages do it now. If your hosting promises weekly backups, check if they don’t make backups of an empty site, backup that overwrites all previous backups (this is Hostgator).

I’ll try to slowly recover some of the posts I wrote in the last couple of years. Thank you for your patience. And for reading.

Best,
Ina

Have you watched The Great British Sewing Bee? I have just watched the second episode and I’m inspired to sew more and learn more.

The contestants are amazing. I don’t know how they could find so many beautiful and talented people who sew so well.

I think the challenges in the show are difficult because of the time limit. This can changes a person’s way of sewing completely. I am a rush sewer (not that I watched the show I know I can say that without thinking people thinking I am a hole in the pavement:) so I think I could have done well in some of the chalenges, especially the 1 hour ones. But for people who take their time (something I am trying to learn), having a time limit might make sewing very stressful. And many of us sew because we like to, not because we have to.

I’ll go back to how amazing these people are. I don’t even know if I could ever be as good and as methodical as Ann or as neat as Lauren. Stuart is fantastic; he’s witty and funny and such a quick learner, I think. Tilly is great too. I can’t believe she’s only been sewing for a couple of years, I didn’t know that. I really like her approach to pattern making, to construction, to sewing in general. She fits sewing to her purpose and her technique with her personality. I think she would have done much better if she was given more time!

My favorite sewer is Mark though. He seems like such a nice person, I really like his style and he seems to have a nice family as well. His costumes are exquisite, they must require a lot of work, lots of time and lot of attention to detail, which is something the judges have said he was lacking. I disagree. It’s just the time limit. And the types of garments that he has to sew. Why would Mark need to sew a skirt? I don’t know how to make men trousers, but I’ve made trousers before and they are pretty similar when it comes to pattern, construction and fitting issues.

What do you think? Have you watched any of the sewing challenges?

Have you ever spotted a dress, a coat, a jacket, what have you, loved it, had to have it, made it (or bought it), only to realize there is something terribly wrong with it, that will never allow you to wear it happily?

Maybe it’s too transparent, or maybe it clings too much, maybe it wrinkles like crazy, or maybe it makes your bottom look fat and your legs short. You love it, you hate it.

What do you do? Do you zip and bare? Do you keep it “just in case”? Do you give it away without thinking twice?

Here’s my list of unbearable discoveries made about garments I otherwise love:

• The length of the dress is perfect, but people can see your underwear if you walk too fast – do you wear fancy knickers and walk like a lady?
• The fabric is beautiful and itchy – is there a magic softener?
• The shirt is fantastic, but it wrinkles horribly the moment you put your bag on your shoulder – do you wear a clutch and try not to move too much all day?
• The pants are great, until you wash them the 15th time and they lose their perkiness – can they be saved?
• Everything is perfect, except it makes me look 3 sizes bigger – should this matter?

What about you? Do you have a love-hate relationship with the clothes you make? What annoys you? How do you deal with it?

I’ve started my spring cleaning and instead of rolling my sleeves and getting to work I’m here blogging, and reading about other people who clean

I really like the idea of the Apartment Therapy cure: in one month you get to clean, organize and improve the space you live in by doing something every day.

There are some things that I like but I wouldn’t do, such as buying flowers. Not because I don’t see the point, but because my house has a lovely terrace with plenty of plants and flowers, even in winter (one of the perks of living in Barcelona

Other things seem to be central to “the cure”, such as framing a picture don’t work for me as I already have lots of things on shelves and I fell that my walls would thank me with for the white space.

However, I do like the idea of assessing your space, what you own and how you use it, then making changes and enjoying it, either alone of with friends.

Some ideas I really like from the cure:

1. Using green cleaners for your home

I’ve started to use vinegar and baking soda for a while now to clean surfaces and the inside of the fridge and now I’m testing this spray solution with one part water, one part vinegar and baking soda: it cleans just as good as the stuff you buy (you might need to scrub a bit more in difficult areas, but you could count it as exercise :), and it doesn’t hurt your hands or the environment.

2. Inventing an outbox, a neutral area to store objects you’d want to throw away but are unsure of. You just keep them for a week in there and if you’re still unsure you keep it for one more week and so on. A little prison for things you could trash, give away or sell.

3. The therapeutic idea of cleaning

Cleaning is well… a chore. Maybe you listen to music when you do it, maybe you sing on the top of your lungs, or maybe you just do it and keep your mouth shut about it. Yet “the cure” talks about cleaning as a way to get to know better your house: your remove all the expired food in the pantry and you clean it so you can enjoy it better, you thoroghly and passionately (sic!) clean the floors so you can sit on a bit floor pillow and read a book or have a cup of tea – just something you don’t usually do.

What about you? Is having a clean house important for you? Have you ever used green cleaners?