Showing posts with label purple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purple. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Got my big girl pants on

I absolutely love, love, love lingerie. I love looking at it, trying it on, buying it, jumping around the house in it, although not necessarily in that order.

One thing that often irks me is the lack of variety in briefs styles when matching them to a bra. More often than not, bras in my size come with teeny tiny matching undies which are so low cut in the waist, I feel like my stomach is going to just hang out over them.

Porcelain bra by Panache
 Because we all have bodies like this. Not.

I much prefer full briefs. Luckily these days you don't have to buy granny pants to be comfortable. There are lots of styles and pretty colours. The catch is that I can usually only buy them separately, because ironically, they only match teeny tiny bra sizes.

Image 1 of Monki Stay Soft Set 
I have these undies. I would need both halves of the bra for one boob. And even that wouldn't fit.

Come ON, lingerie designers. Girls with substantial bosoms like substantial bum coverage too, you know.

Anyway, rant over, I decided to try making some to see how easy it was.

First attempt was a disaster and I am not even going to show them to you. The gusset didn't match the front and back seams, the side seams were all over the place.

I went back to my pattern, which I had traced from a favourite pair of undies, and refined it, this time making sure the seams were all the same lengths (kind of helps).

 

Ta-da.

Of course, I had to make them in purple velvet. Duh.


Don't they go splendidly with my zombie pony tshirt?


The waistband is a little baggy still but that is easily fixed by using a shorter piece of elastic for the waist.

For the legs, I just turned up a hem. The material is stretchy and comfy enough.


It's really not easy trying to take photographs of yourself in your underwear without getting a serious case of camel-toe. I can only assume lingerie models wear massive incontinence pads when they're jumping around in front of the camera.



Anyway, pants ahoy. Maybe I'll just make my own to match my bras from now on and save myself some money.

Saturday, 5 April 2014

China blue

Damn and blast all washed out photos! 
 
 

This fabric - a bed sheet I picked up in an op-shop - was originally white, which looked far too stark for a dress and since when do I wear white anyway? So I took to it with a packet of China Blue dye.


The pattern is New Look 6587, view D.


Alterations: I took the bodice waaaaaay in. It looks loose on the model on the pattern envelope but fitted in the design drawings. Considering it has princess seams I don't really understand why it would be so loose-fitting. So I took mine in.

The other alteration is I used a zip instead of buttons. I really just don't enjoy the fiddlyness of buttons and matching them up with button holes, blah blah blah... and I just happened to have a zip which matched perfectly.



Brief life update: 
I have quite my job of 10 years, and my final week is next week. This is rather scary but I am looking forward to a change. 
 
Jay and I have split up. We had a wonderful time together and I am glad I can still call her a friend.

And, and! I have a new tattoo! You can see half of it here and in the third photo above. It is two swallows, one on each shoulder. I only had it done on Wednesday so it's still quite bruised and tender.


AND in a few short hours I'll be attending the debauchery that is Helgastock2014! There may or may not be photos, depending on how incriminating they are...

So yes. New dress, new tattoo, new life. Loving it.

(final gratuitous photo just because I like it)

Monday, 10 March 2014

Headscarves!

This was supposed to be a post about a pair of wide-leg jeans I'm making, but the zip just broke and now I Hate Them. So here are some headscarves instead.


I really like this look but I didn't just want a rectangle or triangle of fabric wrapped around my head. After trying out some pleats and gathers I've settled on this design. It's a rectangle, with a centre pleat or fold, and attached tie ends. 



The pleat means there isn't a heap of fabric bunched up around the knot, which is specifically what I wanted to avoid. 


 


These photos were taken in a hot sewing room so my hair is getting more and more frizzy as these photos go on.





So far I've made a few, and I have a heap of leftover fabric to make more. I also want to make some with long tie ends, to wear more as a headband with the ties hanging down, and some in silkier fabric.

I'm thinking of selling these but I'm not sure what the interest in them would be. If anyone has any suggestions for design or fabric I would love to hear them.

Saturday, 22 February 2014

1940's robe in satin and lace

Over the past 3 years I have regularly pulled this fabric out of a plastic bag, looked at it, despaired, and put it away again. It's an insanely slippery satin which feels like silk and I knew it would be a complete pain to cut out and sew.

Last weekend, inspiration finally hit.


 The pattern is Butterick 5152
 B5152

The fabric is not exactly 1948-appropriate, but I think it works pretty well!1970's does 40's??

I didn't have quite enough fabric for the length, so I used some black lace for the yoke detail and for a band around the lower edge of the skirt. Apart from that I made no alterations.




These close up photos show the colour most accurately - it's quite a magenta/purple tone and not as pink as it looks in some of these photos.



I LOVE these sleeves. They're incredibly full and billow around like mad. They remind me of a wizard's cape/cloak.

 


The lace is stretchy and adds a lot of weight - perfect for twirling about and sweeping dramatically up and down the hallway (or anywhere really)






Oh! And my hair is purple! I spent two days bleaching the black out of it, dyeing it a permanent purple colour, banging my head against the wall because it didn't work, and then covering up the lot with Paintbox Purple Haze. Success! 
My hair is now quite fluffy because of the bleach but I like being fluffy.


The End.
 

Sunday, 29 December 2013

So lately....

I have....

Glitterized my new shoes


The shoes are Nude shoes - style name is Mercury



The heel detail on these shoes was gold (yuk) before I took to them...

...with my new favourite nail polish...


...which I am using on everything I can find lately...


Woken up with an awesome instant mullet this morning


 

Scored some beautiful Christmas baubles from Jay





And swanned around in my new Christmas dress on Christmas day















Dress - Hell Bunny from Mod Cloth. Arrived with one waist tie 6 inches shorter than the other and one of the buttons at the back (the straps are adjustable) popped off the first time I wore it.  
Very annoying.

Now I am on holidays and for once I am not sick, do not have to move house - I have no cares. I hope everyone has had a relaxing and happy holidays.

x