Strawberry dress

 Six hours, no lunch and several re-plays of Marina and the Diamonds later....

...I have a new dress!

 

This is the sister-dress to the Daisy dress. It's the same pattern with a neckline variation.

 

 

 This is the pattern... the version I made is the white/floral version on the left

Alterations:  I left the waist ties off because they just annoy me.

I extended the front yoke to make it deeper because, in the design photo, it just looks like a strip of fabric, and slightly strangulatory. I wanted it to look like it was actually part of the dress.

Dropping it seemed to affect the neckline, so I had to add a couple of little tucks to the neckline, under the yoke. You can sort of see them here.

I also dropped the waist waaaay down in front, giving it a curve. This is more flattering than the Daisy Dress but still not awesome. I think gathered skirts and me Just Don't Go Together.

A Very Grande Week

Monday

Freezing cold and feelin' fresh for the start of the week

dress - opshop

cardi & cherry necklace - retail

boots- Modcloth

coat - made by me

bag - ASOS

Tuesday 

Stupid rain ruining my photo shoot. And yes, it was still cold.

top - opshop
skirt - made by me
tights, amethyst pendant & umbrella - retail
boots - ASOS

Wednesday

Midweek and I'm over it already. I will not smile.

dress - made by me (before I began blogging and the dress which started my love of
fitted bodice / full skirted dresses - the first I ever made in this style)
jacket and tights - retail
men's shoes - outlet sale
pendant - 70's from my mum

Interesting that the dress with which I began to fully realise my femininity I now decided to wear with men's shoes. Before I made this dress, my idea of dressing up was to wear my 'good'  black jeans.

Thursday

 Feeling so damn special being a woman.

cardi, tights, boots - retail

dress - opshop

brooch - Christmas gift

tired expression - Mother Nature

Friday

Lounging around....

....before hitting Helgastock 2013! (where I forgot to take any photos. Very clever). I met Sister Sarah, Helga! and Carli and a couple of other lovely lasses whose names and websites have completely slipped my mind! I'm sorry! Please remind me. I had so much fun and dinner was lovely. I wore this dress and this coat. No doubt someone will have photos up on their blog or Facebook sooner or later.

dressing gown - opshop

purple booties - Target

Saturday

An overdue photo shoot of opshop finds

Boob-squash dress

Also experimenting with hair extensions...

(further evidence of boob squash below)

....and camera focus... (grrr)

Hair extensions are good for hiding one's bra straps...

...until one forgets to fling one's hair over them.

 

The lace dress is what I'm showing off here. It didn't come with a slip but clearly requires one.

Sunday

I am attempting to photograph milk as it billows up through a cup of tea.

It is one of my favourite sights and I think I will continue to try and capture it accurately. Prepare for many tea and milk photos.

(How many effing photos have I used in this post??)

There will be more filler posts of work wear and opshop finds while I continue work on my winter sewing project. Sewing posts will be scarce for the next month or so.

Strawberry print blouse

Pattern: New Look 6407

Alterations: I rounded off the corners of the collar, and tucked the sleeves in. This fabric requires no additional decoration, so I kept the buttons simple and invisible as possible.

Matching accessories, natch. 

Eeeek must remember to take photos PRIOR to wearing an item and wrinkling it all over the place.

Gawd it is hot in Melbourne... soooo over it.

Heat = no brain work for typing interesting blog post.

Rah.

Eat, Drink, Sew

 Things I Will Achieve This Year:

Baking. Specifically, baking of cakes. I received this cake calendar for Christmas and I've decided to have a go at making the cake for each month. Then I'll fling a few pictures of the results up here and either brag about my success or blast the recipe for being stupid.

No drinking of alcoholic beverages. This statement usually produces reactions of either disbelief, incredulity or admiration. I've been thinking about taking a year off booze for the past few weeks, and while I could have started anytime, it feels neater to cover it over a calendar year. (Plus, it was Christmas!) I have a new little cocktail glass icon on the left menu which will slowly empty as the months pass. Although this is something I really want to achieve, I have a feeling there will be times when a cup of tea won't seem adequate (see potential cake disasters above).

Sewing. I feel the need to broaden my sewing range. I was very focused on dresses last year, especially over the last couple of months, so I will be making an effort to produce more blouses, skirts, coats, etc. Click each image to go to its source.

New Year's doesn't mean much to me. I'm not in the habit of going out for the night just because tomorrow happens to be January. I do like New Year's resolutions though, and I usually make at least one each year. Of course, I could make a promise to myself to do something at any time, but I like making the most of the excuse. And, sometimes I need a reason to do something. All these resolutions will be documented on this blog so by next December I will have a chance to see how I went. 

Then I'll go out and have a really big Long Island Iced Tea. 

Sigh.

xx

Vintage Christmas Kittens... KITTENS!

This year's Christmas dress. 

Vintage kittens!!! 

You can see the fabric in more detail here

The pattern is Vogue 8470, but I borrowed some regular sleeves from another pattern.

I didn't have enough fabric for the waist sash, so I just added a red ribbon, which works nicely with the pattern on the dress.

Oh! And I changed my hair! Tired of my little short fringe, I've cut myself a longer one and I'm wearing it off to one side. But in my haste to get it right yesterday, I plastered it down with too much hairspray.

You get the idea though.

  

 

 Shoes: Modcloth

Ring: Diva

Earrings: bought when I was ten years old. 

They're probably considered to be vintage now too! I wear them every year.

As well as my own Christmas dress, I made Jay a Christmas skirt. She would only have black, so I Christmas-fied it with red lining (I think she likes it).

 

It was originally going to be a dress, but the lace is very heavy and full of stretch. The dress ended up hanging down past her ankles, so I just used the skirt.

She has now conceded that she should have her own blog. Yay!

We had our family Christmas lunch yesterday at our house. It was steaming hot outside so we spent the day in the comfort of air conditioning as we stuffed ourselves.

Jay and I with my parents...

...and Jay's mother

 

 Happy Christmas to everyone, from Jay and the vintage kittens and I!

 ~*~  xx  ~*~