Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt…..It is the first of December and every shopwindow and radio station reminds us that the holiday season is here. Advent is a season full of traditions in Germany. The advents calendar plays an important role during that season. Since nora and I love this season and miss good old home once in a while, we decided to share the tradition with you. Every day from the first until the 24th, we will open every day one of the little goody bags on our beautiful Christmas tree. The first user to send us the answer to our question of the day, will win the goody of the day!

Our first question is How can you test a fabric to see if it is silk?

Send your answer to answers@burdastyle.com. The winner will be announced the following day, together with a new question and a new chance to win. For rules and regulations, see here.

Intros are springing up for the new round of Wardrobe Refashion. Check out the blog to meet the folks who will be creating and refashioning their wardrobes for the next 2, 4 or 6 months. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you can keep up with their sewing adventures!

If you still haven’t started dropping hints on what you want for the Holidays – try sending this link to your gift givers. Or just enjoy the fabulous suggestions and resources the folks at The Purl Bee have put together. They outline gift suggestions for everyone from the beginning sewer to “folks who sew clothing.” Great ideas.

Advent, Advent…and the winner to our first question is: Kathleen Houlihan. Congratulations! She will receive our little goodie bag with love from our BurdaStyle Christmas team. The answer to How can you test a fabric to make sure it is silk?, is to burn the end of it. The smell is similar to burned hair as well as the remains will tell you where it’s at. Thanks so much for plenty emails and answers..

There is still plenty left to win, since we are only at day two of our challenge, and here is question #2

Which designer made harem pants famous?

Please send your answer to answers@burdastyle.com. First one to get it right, will win our second goodie bag!

We are looking forward to plenty more responses, rules and regulations, you findhere.

Claire James at Project reFashion has a very interesting commentary on the dying art of tailoring. She examines the difference between personal/reconstructive fashion sewing and true, high quality tailoring. She makes some great points about the change in quality of how clothes are being made, and how the lost art of tailoring is affecting small business alteration shops.

Mermaids has a Bound Neckline Tutorial up – use scraps of fabric to dress up the neckline of your next shirt.

…ein Lichtlein brennt! (a little light is burning….) Yesterday was the first advent Sunday (three more to go!), when a light is being lit in German houses to await Christmas eve, and our special first candle question “Which designer made ‘harem’ pants famous?‘ was perfectly answered by one of our very active members Zahra…and this is what she said:

“Paul Poiret brought this trendy change to fashion… freeing women from corsets back in early 20s”

We will send our little goodie bag with lovely sewing things to Zahra who lives in Pakistan, we hope she gets the package soon!

So many of you wrote and didn’t win this time. Don’t worry! There are 22 more chances. And here is question number 3:

What segment of your body approximately equals one yard?

Please send your answer to answers@burdastyle.com with subject line: ‘Advent Quiz #3". First one to get it right, will win our third goodie bag!

We are looking forward to plenty more responses! Rules and regulations, you find here.

Make inverted pleats with a separate underlay

If like me you have the need to insert a pleat into a seam whether the pattern calls for it or you have decided to alter the pattern you can find my simple how to here. Happy pleating!!!

1. Where are you from and/or where do you live? I'm originally from Portland, Oregon, located in the beautiful Northwest. I moved out to New York to attend culinary school and hopefully become an accomplished cake decorator. I've lived in Brooklyn for almost 3 years now, and I love it. I reside in historic Bed-Stuy, in a brownstone with my partner, Mike, and our two comical felines.

2. What was the 1st thing you made? How did you start sewing? I took sewing classes when I was very young, an early sign of the project mania to arise in my later years. My teacher took pictures of me with every single finished project, which I still have in a photo album back home. Some of my earliest masterpieces include a denim tote bag, fabric dolls, and a hideous sweatshirt covered in neon numbers. I dropped sewing to pick up crosstitch and didn’t come back to it until just a few months ago. I'm glad I did!

3. What role does sewing play in your life? Sewing plays an important role as a stress relief and creative outlet. As forementioned above, I'm a bit of a project maniac, and I take great pleasure in having new things to create, and I love learning something new. Now that I'm not in school, I like to spend all my spare time learning a new crafts. And there’s no better feeling than when you wear something you've made and get a compliment on it!

4. What is your favorite and what is your least favorite thing about sewing? My favorite thing is that I can pick out a pattern, visualize it in a different way and be able to make it (potentially)! My least favorite thing about sewing is when I get lost and frustrated. But I know it comes with the territory, and I'm pretty used to it, being a self taught knitter.

5. If you could make something for anyone who would it be and what would you make? I would have to choose a matching apron, potholder, dress set for Julia Child, who is my complete hero. She started her life later than most people and made so much out of it. It teaches me to never give up, and always remember that you're never too old to learn new tricks.

6. What are you looking for on our site? What do you think should be improved and what do you really like? I always log in to the site to check out everyone elses creations, it keeps me motivated and provides me with ideas and inspiration, I love it! I think the site works really well. Maybe provide more links to other sites, places to get fabrics or notions, blogs, etc. Another thing that would make it flow better was if you could click on someone’s picture and go to their profile, so you don’t have to search for them. Otherwise, I like everything about it, and tune in everyday for updates and new patterns.

7. What is your motto? “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” -Jacques Pepin

Learn more about Brooke and see some of the amazing cakes she’s made by seeing her member profile and her photo blog here.

Congratulations to yesterday’s winner, Betsy Moore, for answering yesterday’s question correctly- What segment of your body approximately equals one yard? Her answer- From the tip of your fingers to the tip of your nose with your head turned away from the hand you are measuring from.“

I'm sure that was a great start to her week, and we hope to make even more of you happy, so there are still lots more questions to answer.

The 4th Advent question is:

Who was the first person to establish a Haute Couture house?

Please send your answer to answers@burdastyle.com with subject line: ‘Advent Quiz #4" and PLEASE be sure to include your mailing address in your response so that we can quickly mail you your Christmas treats!

We look forward to seeing all your responses! Rules and regulations, you find here.

Good Luck!

Pants with my name on them!

This week I’ve made up a muslin for the ‘Nichola pants from an old sheet. I made a simple alteration to the front piece of the pattern by scooping the waistline to fit under my bump. Since I’m in need of comfortable clothing at the moment I thought that instead of adding the waistband with buttons and zip that I’d give the pants an elasticated waist. What do you think? I know that this would alter the look of the pants but this doesn’t concern me since I’m not really in need of tailored pants. My bump still has more growing time I so need pants that will fit me until the end of the pregnancy and in my eyes elastic is the way to go. I’m thinking of adding extra length to the waist which I can fold over to create a channel for the elastic and also need to add some length to the rise at the back, when I sit down you get a nice (or not so nice) view of my bottom! So an inch or so will be added to my back pattern piece. I’m also going to leave out the pocket, I’m not sure it would sit right since there will be some slight gathering at the waist but I am considering adding some side pockets like those in Lydia sew along. I procrastinated all of last week too and didn’t get around to making mine; instead I spent time making Christmas decorations for our tree and postcards for a swap I organized. Now that I’m making the Nichola pants I think I will make the Lydia top with short sleeves to wear with them instead of making the dress version. I’m loving Julietta’s take on the pattern and Mellu’s cute version with the puff sleeves which she made with the help of Zahra’s how-to. Check out the thread in the forum for more details and see more finished Lydia’s in the creations section. Since it’s the holiday season and everyone is busy busy busy I thought we would keep the next sew along nice and simple and make the Layla apron and matching mittens. Maybe you’d like to make it for yourself to wear on Christmas Day whilst cooking lunch or dinner or maybe you know someone it would make the perfect gift for, handmade gifts are the best I think. Just remember to use a non-flammable batting/wadding when making the mittens. If you want to take part please head on over to the new thread in the forum and let us know who you are making Layla for, what fabrics you plan to use and any alterations you may make.

There’s nothing like inspiration that’s tailored specifically to your preferences. When your stack of fashion mags gets a little overwhelming, pare them down and make them into a custom inspirational magazine. Cut Out and Keep has a tutorial to show you how.

So you're a pro at sewing your own clothes, but what happens when you need to accessorize your ever-growing DIY wardrobe? Niesz Vintage Home … and Fabric has a great idea for a quick-change bag that you can customize to match all your outfits. And it will put your scrap stash to good use, too!