News Years Eve

For New Years Eve I shall be going to a nightclub in the city and in order to get entry into the club you have to wear white. This limits my imaginative options with the colour but opens up new doors because of the style of outfit that I will need to make.

So to break it down:

·         I have less than 2 weeks to make an outfit

·         Has to have white incorporated in it

·         Nightclub style dress

I have scoured the internet for inspiration and have gone to my trusted idol Lauren Conrad for inspiration.

picture sources: thestarlightcraze.com, californiastyleonline.com, laurenconradfan.org

I really like the white dress in the middle with the silver skirt however I wouldn't make it that revealing however I do love the low back. Let me know your thoughts.

My Favourite Season...

Is the party season and it is fast approaching! I made this skirt out if fabric from a failed dress I tried to make a while ago.

I love it because it is so simple to make and so simple to dress up with any top! I am planning to wear this to my friend C's 19th Birthday party this coming weekend so I am all ready! Not last minute sewing and getting frustrated hours before the party. I think that I should be this ahead with my sewing for occasions every time.

Summer is coming...

Everywhere I look I can't help but notice every one's skirts. I think that I could go all this summer in just skirts - if I could. I think that I thought to highly of my skirt making skills, having a 'it can't be that hard' sort of attitude towards making them. But as I have started to try it for myself I realise how wrong I was. It takes skill to making skirts and steady hands (putting bias binding on things looks easy but it is far from).

This skirt is one of the my favourites that I have made. I can not only wear it out but it is also casual enough for every day wear.

My sneaky little helper

Thoroughly enjoying themselves

Posing for the camera

I actually made the skirt a week ago but I had to wait for my tri-pod which my sister A picked up for me after the silly shop still (after 3 weeks) hadn't posted to me.

Happy sewing!

Birthday Skirt

For my brithday last weekend I wanted a skirt that was both stylish and comfortable. I did a little inspiration searching and grabbed a few idea from here and there until I colaborated a amasterpiece in my head.

The ladies at work gave me a gift voucher for Spotlight (making this skirt not recycled unfortunately) and I went on a spree. I bought 4 new fabrics and couldn't wait to get started.

This skirt took me the majority of Friday afternoon to complete. It was a little tricky working out how I was going to go about making it - adding bias binding onto lace was no easy feat - but in the end it didn't take as long as I thought it would.

I swear I shall get better at taking pictures once I get my tri-pod. This is the finished project, it was way better contructed than my last project and I am so proud of it. My friends were putting orders in asking me to make some for them. I do have enough material left to make at least two more but next time I think that I shall dye the lace and cotton to make it different.

It looks a little bit like a cupcake but that was sort-of what I was going for. Very feminine and light.

Work in Progress.

I know that there is some debate in the sewing blog word about posting works in progresses. I think that it is a very insightful way of showing readers the processes that you take to get to the finished garment.

But so because I don't want to continue the debate here is a sneak peak at what I have been working on:

It's lace and it's bias binding, in short it is a pain in the neck to put together. But I am managing. I shall have to post more pictures tomorrow when it isn't so dark and wet.

Have a good Friday night everyone.

Vintage Love

Lately I have been a little MIA and I am sorry. I haven’t had much time these last two weekends to do any sewing which is upsetting in itself. I have been working on some new garments and gathering inspiration from various locations. I love the vintage look that is starting to emerge in the blogging word. I like the subtle looks that work in vintage pieces and colours into the mix.

The best place to find vintage pieces is in thrift stores. Buried deep in those stores is a treasure trove of goodies that can jazz up the simplest outfit. I have recently been searching for a good pair of shoes from the op shop but no such luck because I am size gigantic and can never find shoes in my size in the stores let alone a second hand store. I should probably take my search online to shops like etsy but I fear that doing it that way would make it 10 times more expensive than just finding it in the store.

Keiko Lynn leaves me in jewelry box envy. I love that the majority of the pieces are vintage.

Picture Source: ModCloth

 

I am in love with these skirts. The multi layer is such a simple twist on the normal gathered skirt. I think I am going to try one myself this week. I have some deep purple fabric that grabbed for a bargain at a market for 99^C per meter that I am not sure what it is but we shall see how it turns out.

Attempt Number One

I stayed up to 2 in the morning making this dress, giving myself a nasty burn in the process (my first of many sewing related injuries to come) and learnt a lot about taking it slow. At one point I run over my finger with the sewing machine giving myself a nasty bruise – let’s just say my sewing machine hates me (and say nothing about the operator).  

I used an old bed sheet I bought at the op-shop for 2.50, it had some weird dark stains on it but nothing that a little stain remover couldn’t fix and a good soak. I made a pattern from a basic bodice block I made a while ago and just altered it to suit my needs. The bodice is fully lined with the same material and just a simple gathered skirt.

This was the first project that I didn’t sew something on back to front or inside out! No unpicking YAY!

I was happy with the result but could have taken more care. I promise I will get better with taking photos too (I really should iron things before I take photos but I was too excited).

Nasty burn on my elbow

Party Inspiration

It is so hard to find the perfect party dress, one that is comfortable and practical yet still stylish. The girls have arranged for a night out on Saturday night (close deadline I know I don’t recommend making a dress the same day as wearing it) which called for an occasion to make a new dress: time to get inspired.

 Picture Source: modcloth

I cannot go past a good sweetheart bodice and gathered skirt. I find that most of the dresses I buy are like this (it can’t hurt to make just one more). I want it to stand out because as of late all my clothes are BLACK … not a good look when you have dark hair – makes me look like a goth. I have some BRIGHT pink or BRIGHT yellow material that I might utilize.

I am thinking nothing too extravagant considering I am only a beginner. Just a simple bodice made of two parts, a gathered skirt attached and a side zip. I want to be able to wear a belt with it so I can’t really do anything fancy where the skirt and bodice join.

This is starting to sound like my kind of project – simple, straight forward, easy!

The Start of Something...

Ever since stumbling across BurdaStyle in my very “productive” googling sessions at work I was drawn to all the amazing creations sewers across the world had made themselves. It seemed like in only a few clicks I staggered across the incredible world of sewing blogs. I instantly fell in love. Everyone was so amazingly talented I spend hours browsing through blog after blog page of handmade wonders.

It took little deliberation before I was determined to do the same. Researching the best sewing machines for beginners and arming myself with enough knowledge to be confident in sewing I was set to start my self-made adventure. It seemed ages since I had got behind the wheel of a sewing machine – learning from my mum as a young girl and doing textiles at school was hardly enough to prepare me for the techniques and procedures of sewing properly.

It was easy enough to jump head first into something like this but I quickly learnt that: ‘patience is a virtue’ and lots of it is needed in sewing. I am very much the type of person that just wants to finish a task and finish it quickly – so not the case with sewing. So to say that I got frustrated quickly was an understatement, but after taking a deep breath and slowing down it was fun. I still rush through some parts of sewing but I am still learning and will have amazing fun doing so.