Christmas Dress 2015

This year's Christmas dress! I've made one every year for the past few years. This year's dress is made with vintage children's fabric (cotton), self lined in the bodice and lined in satin in the skirt for extra puffiness. Pockets for stuffing extra food away for later.

The print is actually tiny blue flowers with little green leaves.

Worn with the usual Christmas mouse earrings, although they're a little blurry here.

Valentine's Day dress

 Now, I certainly don't need an excuse to make a dress.

Oh, it's Wednesday! Better make a dress!

A blue car! Time to make a dress!

Etc.

However, having my first Valentine's Day date with my boyfriend is most definitely an excuse to make a new dress.

 

For this one, I used New Look 6587, view E. I've made this before, and I found it way easier and less fiddly to just insert a zip up the front, rather than time-consuming and more-difficult-to-undo (ahem) buttons.

I love the bodice style. It's almost corsety, and it's a good one for getting a really fitted, er, fit. The material has a slight stretch so it was quite comfy. 

It's not really easy to see but there are two large patch pockets on the skirt.

I think the camera or the light washed this out a bit. I had 10 different shades of red and pink on my nails. 

We went out for dinner, which was delicious, but I was just waiting for dessert... because I knew I was having salted caramel creme brulee *makes Homer Simpson drooling noise now*

I might have been spoiled a bit, too.

<3

Movie 'college' dresses

I wasn't supposed to buy any new fabric, having accumulated a lifetime's supply in my sewing room, but I couldn't let this beautiful stuff pass by. 

It was called Movie College print but I'm pretty sure they meant collage.

I thought I'd make one dress but ended up having enough for two! How terrible! Not!

First dress.

 

I used this New Look pattern for both bodices. For the first dress, I used the bodice from view D. I just used a long rectangle for the skirt and gathered it onto the bodice. It's a really easy, cheaty way to make a skirt.

 

I love how the print sits across the bust. I actually didn't plan that.

Then I used this gorgeous pattern I found in an op-shop to make a jacket to wear with it. 

 

 

The pattern of the jacket is boxy and hip-length, so I cropped it at the waist, and added a couple of wide darts at the back to make it more fitted. I also lowered the neckline by a couple of inches.

Dress number two.

For this I used the bodice from view B. I can't remember where I got the pencil skirt pattern from but it's pretty basic anyway.

I made the skirt in brown, as black was too harsh. The black in the 'college' print is actually faded to brown, so the brown skirt works better.

Oh, this? I'm just practicing my over-the-shoulder-and-over-the-glasses gaze. You know.

xx

Twins

Seersucker is one of my least favourite fabrics. The texture is just weird, like it's constantly in need of an ironing. The print of these fabrics won me over the weird bobbliness. 

This is the same pattern as my Christmas dress. I didn't want to make the two dresses completely identical though. The red reminds me of a vintage table cloth, so I decided not to use it for the skirt. Nothing says sexy like a dress resembling a table cloth.

The skirt is cotton drill, which is one of my favourite fabrics to sew with. No stretch, nice and firm and it holds a structured shape very well.

The blue version is my favourite of the two. I don't wear bright red a lot as I don't think it's terribly flattering on me. The cooler blue is lovely. This one is actually lined, because the skirt is very sheer.

The neckline of this pattern is cut straight across, but I altered it for this one into a slight sweetheart neckline.

I do like my new posing couch.

If you're wondering where my new tattoo went, I made these dresses a little while ago.... this is a catch-up post from my blogging break last year.

 

Christmas dress 2014

So I'm a teensy bit late getting back into blogging this year, but better late than never... or whatever.

Every year I make a Christmas dress. It doesn't have to be made of Christmas fabric specifically but I like it to have Christmas colours at least. Last year's effort was white with red and green, which is Christmassy enough for me.

This is a standard bodice/circle skirt pattern I use a lot. It fits well and it's very easy to make. I lined this one in a fairly stiff satin to make the skirt puff out. The outer fabric is a poly/cotton.

The first time I wore it I got a tiny little bit of chilli oil on the front, but it's so small it's not terribly noticeable. 

Oh! And I have a new tattoo. I had my lower left arm completed in December. Three roses and a spidey on a web. 

And of course, what would a Christmas dress be without my Christmas earrings? They are little dancing mice.

The end of my year was fairly low-key. I work in retail now and it was absolutely mental in the lead-up to Christmas Day! I can now gift wrap absolutely anything like a pro. I also never want to hear the words 'gift wrap' ever again until next Christmas. Afterwards, I sat down a lot.

New Year's consisted of a burger and a beer with my boyfriend, which was perfect.

New Year's resolutions?

~* more yoga (at least 4-5 times a week) *~

~* learn more recipes and cook more *~

~* try something new each month to be healthy *~

That last one can translate to anything - Sugar-Free Month, Walk More Month, 

Don't Injure Yourself This Month, etc.

Peonies dress

 I wouldn't have known these little flowers were peonies if it wasn't helpfully printed on the fabric for me.

I made this dress using Simplicity 1873, View A.

Absolutely no alterations required. I have never made a dress with this type of pleated skirt before. It was not terribly difficult and I think I may have found a gathered yet flattering skirt style I can finally wear without getting the old pregnant-stomach look.

I ran out of fabric for the lining but I figured leopard print would be acceptable!

I made this specifically to wear to the Love Vintage Fair in Melbourne this weekend! Very exciting... just need to remember to keep my wallet tucked firmly in my bag at all times....