Friday, September 10, 2010

And the Mildred Wrap Winners Are…

Our Mildred wrap prize draw proved to be extremely popular. We wish to express our warmest thanks for your comments and new ideas! Thank you all also for participating in the draw.

We worked out the winners by first printing out all the comments and then numbering them as draw tickets. Those who had linked the draw to their own blog received two numbered tickets. And the lucky winners are:


- Dana (August 27, 2010 9:24 PM): Congratulations! You have won a tunic made to your own measurements plus a matching wrap.

- ett tu tre (August 30, 2010 1:00 PM) and Christie (August 31, 2010 5:02 AM): Congratulations to you both! You have each won a wrap made to your own measurements.

All winners, please let us know your favorite color as well as your size and address by emailing to ottobre [at] ottobre.fi and we will send your prizes to you. You can choose from the following colors: black, blueberry blue, lilac, beige, dark brown and deep red.


And your favorite wrap is…


The wrap style displayed in picture 7, with two wraps of different colors worn together, proved to be the most popular. The first wrap is draped diagonally over one shoulder. The second is twisted into a figure of eight. One arm is pushed through one of the loops and the other loop is pulled onto the shoulder.

The wrap in picture 4, sewn from the same knit as the tunic that is worn under it, came in a strong second. The wrap adds a luxurious touch to a straightforward outfit. If the wrap tends to slip off your shoulder, you can pin and stitch a few soft pleats along its longer side seam, or secure it in place with a striking brooch. The choice of the knit also plays a central role: a wrap sewn from heavy viscose/wool jersey drapes well and also stays in place well.

The third popular wrap style was the one displayed in picture 8. Two wraps of the same color are worn together, one round the neck and the other round the shoulders. This is a wonderful idea for the autumn when you start feeling the chill in the air!

Best regards from Lapland with its glorious riot of autumn colors!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Shaping Pants by Pressing


The purpose of shaping the pants panels by pressing is to create a fit that follows the contours of the body. You can download and print out detailed instructions for shaping pants from the link below.

Download Shaping Pants by Pressing in PDF format (500kb)

Autumn/Winter Tunic


The pattern for the black knit tunic was modified from the popular Women’s Best Tops pattern (Creative Workshop 303). We sewed the tunic from lovely viscose/wool jersey (available for example in the autumn collections of Hilco and Toptex). To make the tunic warm and versatile, we added length both to the sleeves and bottom hem. The front and back panels were made 25 cm longer and cut in a slightly A-line style. The 5 cm of extra length on the sleeves makes the sleeve edges fall into soft gathers at the wrists.



The black tunic's neck edge is turned a good 1 cm under and the hem is stitched with a serger coverstitch or with a decorative overedge stitch (e.g. honeycomb) on a regular sewing machine. Sewn from printed viscose jersey, the tunic goes well with jeans or corduroy pants. We made the neckline deeper and finished it with a narrow strip of self fabric.

We used the pattern for design no. 13 in issue 5/2010 to sew this stripy tunic. Switching the material from wool knit to cozy viscose jersey gave the tunic a totally different look. This stripy double-face knit is from Toptex's collection and available in our fabric shop in four different mélange colors: fuchsia/grey, moss-green/grey, off-white/grey and light-grey/dark-grey.