jeudi 6 décembre 2012

Burda peplum top at last!

Always the trendsetter I'm finally making THAT peplum top you've seen everywhere for the last 4 months or so! Except that I couldn't be bothered to trace all the pieces -don't ask me why- and therefore used sleeves from another project and drafted a half circle skirt for the peplum.


I must say this design is really lovely, for once I have absolutely nothing to reproach it with. I chose simple black cotton, there's a handpicked zipper at the back and I put some daisy embellishment around the neckline, sleeves' hem and peplum hem:


Since the daisies were plain white I had to stitch a yellow bead in the centre of each flower to make them pop and give them that sweet 60's vibe :) I'd love to make another top with this design, maybe something striped but I'm worried about the peplum part, would the stripes look okay on a half circle? Also I wanted to make the dress version out of some flowery crepe chirimen but the yardage was too narrow, I would have needed a wider fabric to accomodate a 55cm long half circle skirt :( yes, my life is hard like that!
I also wanted to show you a dress I made for my bff last week, I only had 2 working days to draft it, adjust it, trace it and sew it AND it's lined AND it has facings (I hate theeeeeem) so pheeew, I was happy to see the result^^:


Sorry to some lovely readers who commented on my previous project, the romantic Japanese dress, I mistakenly erased your comments but they were much appreciated, thanks!

lundi 19 novembre 2012

Romantic Japanese dress

It's a mix of T and Y from the first Stylish dress book, I made a size 9 with size 11 armholes and sleeves and I added ties on the sides -basically it's a longer version of my Halloween top. The fabric is this adorable cotton bought at Nomura Tailor again and I used plain black cotton for the front yokes and the ties. Be warned that I've topped myself with the lame pics, but I've just had a bout of terrible allergy and I have Rudolph the Reindeer nose so there was no way I'd show my face from such a close distance:

 I'm not hiding in shame of the infinite number of silly stuff that litter my living room, no!

Yup those nosy workers are still opposite my house so backyard it is.


 Awww that fabric is adorable, don't you wish you were under that umbrella^^?

vendredi 9 novembre 2012

Summer shorts

A quick, gratifying project to fight the heat, some simple Pochée shorts made with textured cotton fabric bought at Nomura Tailor. The print is awesome of course, with black, navy, pink and red flowers on an off white background, the waist is elasticized and I used red bias tape for the hem.

Pic edited -ie my feet have disappeared- because my cat was eating some poor lizard right in the middle of my photoshoot, the nerve!


lundi 5 novembre 2012

Favorite shirtdress ever!

Hum, did I really need ANOTHER dress? And more importantly did I really need another dress out of black background and bright print fabric? Well, yes I did^^ You see I only had one sleeveless shirtdress and I made it last December so it was high time I had a new one! I used this Burda shirt for the bodice part and added a simple dirndl skirt. I worked on the cross grain of the fabric because the print looked better this way and the dress closes in the front with 3 metal buttons from a previous project and some discreet snaps on the skirt part.



Lol sorry for these utterly beautiful backgrounds but there's a construction site right opposite my house at the moment and it's full of nasty "workers" who won't mind their own business and work but spend their time spying on people so I have to take pics in the backyard where I got bitten by an army of enraged mosquitoes BTW :(

samedi 3 novembre 2012

Multiple (fashion) personalities disorder

I obviously suffer from this condition since the garments I sew can vary so much from one day to the other! For the past 4 months I've been making and wearing:
- loose tops/dresses with a childish quality
- classic retro dresses with tiny bodices and full skirts
- rather modernish jackets with too cool tees, jeans and big golden jewellery
- and now I'm into gypsy maxi skirts/dresses!
I made this yesterday, it took me 1 hour because it's a simple A-line design with elasticized waist:


The fabric is super soft cotton baptiste with a dark exotic print, I have enough left to try a simple tank top to turn the skirt into a dress. Also I realize that I should really get rid of that -once- black top, I bought it when I was 17 and it's been through all possible weight variations and washing machines and as a revenge I guess it's decided to show the world my boobies and fat rolls^^ whyyyyyyyyyy

vendredi 2 novembre 2012

Polka dot dress with scallops

So basically I made something scalloped 10,000 years after everyone, who knows I may try a peter pan collar in 2015^^ I used my usual loose kimono sleeved design, I lengthened it and made a scalloped hem to give the dress extra cuteness.




I sewed it to go to what was supposed to be some friends' wedding announcement, my bff and I were super excited because we would finally be able to wear super glamour cocktail dresses, drink our a**** off and eat WEDDING CAKE but said friends invited their families and closest pals just to celebrate renovating their house decoration. Lol can you imagine the disappointment on our faces when we understood^^

mardi 30 octobre 2012

Halloween!

We had a Halloween party at work yesterday and we were all supposed to dress in orange and black or green and black so I made this:


OMG I NEVER wear this colour and I know why, it's so flashy my camera didn''t work and all the pics were blurred -which was very fitted since it made me look like a ghost! Even though I don't like the colour I must say that the design is pretty cool, it's a shortened version of the T dress from the first Stylish Dress Book but with the Y neckline and yes, this all makes sense^^. I also lengthened the upper bodice, mixed sizes 9 and 11 and added side ties for a nicer fit. I also made a bracelet for the occasion using a felt sticker and a plastic loop cabochon:


The party was great, we ate pumpkin cakes, donuts, pies etc and drank excellent Halloween punch but we also worked since all the students had to pick a short scary story in English and say it to the others. Here's the scariest story according to everyone's vote, I found it in the third volume of Alvin Schwartz's tales and adapted it to make it easier for my French students (the words in bold were given in French on a side vocabulary sheet):

"A little girl was coming home at night and she was late so she took a shortcut through the cemetery. She felt very nervous and when she saw another little girl walking through the graves she felt better and ran to her. She told the girl: “Can I walk with you? Walking through the cemetery at night scares me.” “Of course”, the other girl replied, “I used to be scared too when I was alive.”

Happy Halloween!

mercredi 17 octobre 2012

Jewellery time

I noticed that I'm rarely wearing jewellery on the outfit pictures on this blog which is strange since I always have at least a ring or a bracelet, I guess I must be so concentrated on the whole self portrait thing without a tripod and with an unpredictable camera timer that I forget about the rest!
So today I'll tell you about some of my favourite sparklers:




They all come from South Africa and they're quite old, I bought them as a little girl when I went there in 1989. I remember this trip being both wonderful and terrible because on the one hand it was an incredibly beautiful country but on the other hand apartheid was still going on so it was shocking to see the "Whites only" signs almost eveywhere and the sad conditions in which many people were forced to live.
This country made such a deep impression on me that I have tried to keep all the things that I bought there among which these pieces that are silver or gold pleated and semi precious stones. They haven't tarnished or broken at all even though I've worn them at least once a week for more than 20 years! I'm MAD that I managed to lose an amethyst bracelet -same design as the onyx one above- though.
As for the rings, I made them using amethyst, onyx and tiger's eye that I selected in the + 1 kilo of rough stones that we brought back. I simply glued them to adjustable rings. I've recently come across some turquoises and malachites from this trip and I'd love to make something out of them :)

samedi 13 octobre 2012

Tiny jackets

Whenever I find a design that works for me I make several versions of it so today I'm going to tell you about the many Burda easy sewing jackets I've been obsessed with lately.
I needed a simple, short, cardigan-like piece that would look good over my loose tops and even my retro style dresses but since I also wanted some definition to look slimmer I couldn't just opt for a cropped knit cardigan and needed something with denser fabrics and seams to give me structure.
I altered the original pattern so that the hem would hit my waist and the shoulders would be narrower and I shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length because the weather's always hot where I live and I find this length more stylish anyway :) Oh and I kept the officer collar even though I'm planning on making my next one without a collar at all to give it a slight Chanel flavour.


First I used some stretch navy cotton:

 

Then I made one out of this excellent wax fabric:



I have another sober one out of grey denim:


And finally I'm making one with this incredible Bollywood fabric:


Have a nice weekend everyone, see you!

mercredi 10 octobre 2012

Bags galore

 Hey there! I wanted to share with you some pics of the bags that I created for friends and clients, they're all made with cotton and twill fabrics meaning they're fully washable, they seem to be pretty solid -two are a year old- and dare I say that they look sort of cute^^?





Last weekend I made one for me and of course my impeccable sense of style drew me towards some extremely discreet and age-appropriate fabric soberly called "Jungle friends":



Lol I LOVE my silly bag even though it doesn't have any monkeys on it -what sort of jungle is that?!

jeudi 4 octobre 2012

Another ugly duckling

My latest dress was made using my basic bodice pattern and some excellent paisley fabric stolen from my mama's stash. I'm normally allergic to this print -go figure- but I fell in love with this one and since it will probably be the only paisley thing I'll ever own it fits quite well in the "ugly duckling" category :)
The design is super classic with a sleeveless, very fitted bodice and a gathered skirt but I added a few details such as a velvet mock tab on the front with tiny pearl buttons and a slit at the back that closes with a pearl button too.




I've noticed it's the second Thursday I've been able to post about a new dress, how cool would it be if I could make a new one every week?! Sigh, one can dream^^

lundi 1 octobre 2012

Today's top...

... is a tee length version of The Favourite One made with black striped cotton, it also has slightly shorter sleeves because with summer coming back the less fabric the better! I don't know why after finishing it I got totally obsessed with making an origami brooch to wear with it, so I settled for a basic paper hen design and it's mock origami of course -I'm lazy like that^^- I simply topstitched the fabric where the pleats should be to give it a little relief. The fabric is Japanese tiny flowers on a red background -bought in 2008, stash busting's not dead- that was fused with heavy interfacing and I finished the back with fusable green felt before attaching the brooch.


jeudi 27 septembre 2012

A fun dress

Hum, when you see this pic you may think: "Dots are SO funny, yeah right. And it's not even a dress, it's a skirt".


But look again:


Hey it is a fun dress! I know it's very similar to the panel dress from the August issue of Burda but I actually used my own basic bodice -the sleeveless version- and altered it after seeing a girl wear a mesh and black velvet top with this panel detail when I was on holiday. So I used navy bedsheet for the centre/upper part at the front and the upper back part and the dots fabric is super soft and thin stretch satined cotton from a local shop. The navy jacket is stretch cotton bought on sale, I sligthly altered a Burda Easy sewing design and the facings are navy and cream yukata cotton. Even though I wear a lot of my basic kimono style tops and tunics I love indulging in a little retro/glamour outfit sometimes and I really enjoyed spending the day in this one!

mardi 25 septembre 2012

Babydoll tunic

This is another design I "drafted" -considering that it's more or less a rectangle with straps- and that I made with beautiful, expensive and I hope resistant French lace. I used the fabric's scalloped edge so no hemming and the straps are simple bias tape folded in two.


And here I am Demi Lovato-ing the hell out of it -hey don't judge, it seems that both she and I are fighting the extra pounds with flashy blond hair and tiny jackets on full dresses^^


The denim jacket is a 90's Cimarron one that I stole from my mum and refashioned by shortening its length and sleeves.

lundi 24 septembre 2012

My most favourite garment of all times

Well, what else do you call a design that you wear almost every single day? I have finally drafted a loose, kimono sleeved top that I find flattering enough so I've made it in all fabrics and lengths possible, tee, tunic and dress. I have a few pics of them but there are many more waiting to be photographed -if Tilly has another "One week one pattern" you know I'll be the first to sign up^^.

 Awwww from Takashimaya Shinjuku: tiny hippos on blue double gauze and pink glass button on a tiny pocket

 Dress length made with striped cotton, contrasting pockets

 It's LOVE: cloudy sky fabric from Nippori -can't remember if the shop is Zak Zak or Pop Girl


 Wild animals Liberty lawn from Takashimaya again with a mock button placket at the back


Peach crepe from a local shop, mock button placket at the back and incredibly coordinated vintage buttons -lucky me^^!

I have also made a few for friends and clients, I'll try and get pics of theirs because some are really cool if I dare say so^^. BTW glad to be back on this little blog, thank you for reading it!

Singapore and Japan 2012

Best.holidays.EVER! (Can't wait for next year^^)

 Marina Bay area -where the F1 race took place just yesterday:




Sentosa island is now accessible via this huge boardwalk complete with travelator and air conditioning^^

Of course I had to put my mug somewhere, those pop sculptures were super cute and fit perfectly with the fun atmosphere of the island.

Kyoto!


Our huge Japanese style room - you put away the table and chairs and prepare your futon there when you want to go to sleep.


Kannon the very important goddess of compassion at the todai-ji in Nara

  The lady's touching this statue's knee because he's supposed to cure your ailments if you touch him where you hurt, unfortunately it was hard to reach his neck -my main aching area :(




 
natsu no semi

The new Skytree Tower in Asakusa

Also this is my life: