Another best summer dress

Well I said I would sew more and since this dress is so quick and easy to make, here's the second version:

I used 1 metre of cotton fabric from the same local shop as my Liberty knock-off one, I think the print is adorable with its stripes and flower bouquets! The pockets are light yellow poplin and I finished the neckline and sleeves with bias tape.
I also made the necklace using beads from an old one from my teenage years -I'm not a hoarder obviously^^- and adding a little chain from my stash:

 I stole this awesome scorpio pendant from my mum.

I hope you're not bored of this design already because I really have several more planned!

The best summer dress!

I'm SO happy with this garment, I think it's my new favorite dress! I used my hacked Japanese top pattern and 1 metre of some Liberty knock off to make it. I didn't know what to do with this fabric and since it was cheap and there's plenty in our local shops I figured it wouldn't be a big loss if my dress test didn't work. Well the result looks super cute IMO and the fabric is so nice to wear, it's light and very soft, the perfect material for our hot summer!
Regarding the pattern this is really a cropped top with a gathered skirt, it retains a little shape thanks to the bust darts but apart from this you pull it over like a tee-shirt and that's it :) I added side pockets for once and I should do so all the time because I feel so cool walking around with my hands tucked in them -even though I got sweaty palms because they're like little saunas when it's 31° Celsius^^
I finished the neckline and sleeves with bias tape and made a simple folded hem for the skirt:

Now I want to make one in madras, another one with polka dots, another one with big pandas on an off-white background, another one with stripes... I need help!

A change will do you good

Today's make fits in the "ugly duckling" category of this blog since never in a million years would I have thought I'd be attracted to a fabric which is black and white -boring!- AND graphic to the point that the print looks like a myriad of tiny soccer balls -ewwwww sports themed clothes:

And yet I LOVE my top, I know I'll wear it all the time, that it will look cool with a big flashy necklace and jeans or tucked in one of my 70's style skirts but I think that this is thanks to the pattern I chose for it. It's the G top from the Sweet Dress Book and it's basically a tee-shirt for woven fabrics so it will give a modern, effortless vibe to the cheesiest prints^^ I like the high neckline, narrow shoulders and perfect little sleeves, the only changes I made from the original pattern were to cut the back on the fold and shorten the length.

So it can be fun to try something a little different, I have so many kitty and flower printed tops that this one is a like a breath of fresh air in my wardrobe!

A summer outfit for my doll

I drafted Marie's sundress, well the bodice part because the skirt is a simple gathered rectangle of fabric. Speaking of fabric, this is a remnant of the flashy cotton I used for an Anna dress and that was eventually refashioned into a peplum top because it was really too much for me :)

I used ricrac for the straps, the bodice is lined and the dress closes at the back with two snaps, as usual. I also made her a simple linen bag, a bow for her hair and she's got the same brown bias tape sandals from the previous post:

I love this pattern and have made several variations from it already so Marie will have something to wear^^ about the shoes however I definitely need to make her a few more pairs!

OWOP day five

That's my last Y for OWOP, I made it a few weeks ago using fabric I found in Spotlight but since I only had 1.2 yards -at first I wanted to make a top with it- I had to squeeze the pattern in there and cut the front on the fold whereas the back bodice has two pieces^^. The dress looks okay but I really thought I wouldn't be able to finish it!

That print is adorable!

I enjoyed this first OWOP but if I do it again I'll choose a pattern with which I have also made tops because in the end I didn't feel like wearing only dresses, even though they don't look alike :) so next time I'll try to make this challenge more versatile!

OWOP day three

Today's Y pattern hack is a maxi dress with side ties, it's made with bright tropical cotton purchased in a local shop:

I love this fabric so much I have it in black, red, yellow and white :)

So I realise that the print might be just a tad loud^^ but it's one of my favourite makes because of its 70's vibe! I added the side ties because I wanted the dress to look more fitted but since it's high-waisted it still has plenty of room which is something I really appreciate :)

OWOP day one

For this challenge I had to choose between the three patterns that I have made the most: first my self-drafted loose top or dress, then the NHK book 60's style dress and finally the Stylish Dress Book Y dress. I went for the Y design simply because I dug out my white linen version a few weeks ago and it made me think of all the cool garments I sewed from this excellent pattern :)
As a quick reminder the Y dress originally looks like this, it's a high-waisted dress with gathered skirt, wide sleeves and contrast outer facings. I believe this type of design looks better on tiny frames so I altered it to fit my body, I added bust darts, lengthened the upper bodice and shortened the sleeves and I reduced the skirt's width to get rid of the gathers, also I didn't include the contrast panels in most of my versions.
So for day one, which was a busy one for me since I have four different lessons to teach in four different corners of the island, I wore a short, Liberty fabric version that is super comfortable and still looks cute IMO:

I made the necklace too :)

I'm sorry that the last photo looks so lame but there is so much wind at the moment that it's impossible for garments to stay still, hence the pregnant look :( Today I'm not working and I went hiking so I couldn't wear anything Y-related but tomorrow I'll be back with another variation!

Cami dress number two

This pattern is so cute and easy, I can't get enough, even though it's from vintage inspiration it definitely has a junior vibe that I love! Remember I bought the pdf here :)
I made my second version of it with some awesome Japanese cotton I found in Nippori a few years ago, I'm glad I waited to use it because that sweet Cami dress was the perfect project for it:

I wanted to make the 3/4 length sleeves version so much but I went with the short sleeves again because our (very warm) winter is already over and morning temperatures are back to 28° so the less fabric the better!
Aww I'm in love with that print:

And I had clear orange buttons from Daiso in my stash that go super well with it:

I put the dreaded side zipper and it's not too horrible:

Since there are so many colours in the print I used two remnants of bias tape to finish the sleeves, turquoise on the right and baby pink on the left and I had just the right length of vintage lace for the skirt's hem:

Now I wonder how long it will take before I make another one^^

Little White Dress

Have you seen Sarai's white linen Laurel? What a great piece!
I LOVE white dresses, I find them easier to wear and style than black dresses, but maybe that's because I live in a sunny place. Also I'm quite pale so black looks very dramatic on me whereas white tends to boost what little tan I have :)
So after seeing Sarai's white shift I realised that I had never posted about something a bit similar that I made last year when I was obsessed with the Y pattern from the first Stylish Dress Book! I actually mixed it with elements from the T pattern and altered the fit to get some seriously cute dresses, my favourite of the bunch being this one:

I love everything about this dress, first the fabric is a super soft linen and cotton mix that my bff bought for me during a shopping trip, and well I love getting presents^^ Then I made this dress as part of my holiday wardrobe last year and wore it for the first time in Japan so it always brings fond memories of this awesome trip, all the more since I couldn't go this year. Finally I'm fond of the wide lace trim detail at the hem, I think it goes really well with the fabric's white tone, I got it in a local haberdashery and it was litterally the last 1.4 yard they had:

And since I have so many variations of this pattern I've just signed up at Handmade Jane and I'll be doing the OWOP challenge using it!

A complete outfit for Marie

I haven't posted about my doll for a while but it doesn't mean she was sitting around wearing a barrel all this time^^ Actually the outfit she's wearing today inspired me to make a little something similar for me and I wanted to finish it so that I could show you both Marie's stuff and mine.
So here she is:

She's wearing a milliardaire muumuu -it's Cacharel fabric!- with trim at the neckline, the two straps close at the back with snaps:

I also crocheted a cardigan with some light green cotton yarn leftover:

And she has super simple sandals made with two straps of brown bias tape and a crocheted cotton bag with the same bias for the handles:

And it's that bag that got me inspired, I used the same yarn in a slightly different colour to make one for me, except that mine has a lining and the straps are twill tape:

 

Almost Anna dress!

I had been dreaming of an Anna for months so when the amazing BHL girls released the pdf pattern I was ecstatic! I LOVE the maxi length versions of course but I must admit that I haven't printed the long skirt part yet, indeed my favourite part of this pattern is the bodice which ticks all my boxes: demure bateau neckline, kimono sleeves, fitted waist and full bust :) I was seriously obsessed with it and all the excellent variations I had seen on the blogs so I decided to add my own skirt to it and I got this:

I'm SO happy with this dress and I have so many things to tell you about it^^ Let's talk about the fit first, I cut a size 8US/12UK, moved the shoulder seams 1cm to the front, added 0.5cm to the front sides and removed 1.5cm from the back sides and took off a 2cm horizontal chunk at the back even though I should have removed a bit more because the bodice still wrinkles a little and is sliiightly lower at the waist than the front:

The skirt is a 70's New Look pattern which I have made a dozen times, it's so simple yet pretty and it doesn't need as much fabric as a gored skirt.

As for the fabric it's a complete mystery, I know I bought it here in Reunion but where exactly I can't remember! I had forgotten about it until I spotted it at the bottom of one of my fabric cupboard shelves, I think it may be upholstery because it's a little heavy and the wrong side is whitish but the print and colours are gorgeous IMO:

I finished everything, hem included, with black bias tape and I handsewed a regular zipper at the back.
This is actually my second Anna, I made one with a gathered skirt that I have yet to take pics of, but it's not as wearable as this one because it looks like an out of control cupcake so I'll probably refashion the skirt part and show it to you afterwards!

My first Cami dress...

... and certainly not the last, OMG what an excellent pattern! I bought the pdf version on Pauline Alice's site for the super cheap price of 8€ and there were only 14 pages to print and tape together since the skirt is a basic dirndl that you draw yourself.
Being used to trace Japanese and Burda patterns I forgot that 1.5 cm seam allowances were included so I made a first muslin for size 36 that was much too tight. I made a second one for size 38, this time it worked really well except I removed a horizontal chunk of 1.5 cm at the back because of my swayback problem, but it's an alteration I have to do systematically anyway -I'm working on an Anna dress right now and I had to remove 2 cm this time!
I chose the short sleeves version because I didn't have enough fabric but I so want to do the 3/4 length sleeves, especially after seeing these ladies' amazing creations :) I used adorable nautical themed cotton I found in Singapore, you can't really tell from a distance but there are actually colorful little boats all over it:

Since I was very short on fabric I used navy cotton for the front facings, inner collar stand and undercollar:

I found five orange buttons in my stash and didn't mess the buttonholes too much:

Finally I didn't want to add the side zipper because mine always look wonky so I cut two panels for the front skirt and sewed them so that I'd have a placket and closed it with two snaps:

I think this dress is going to be a staple in my wardrobe, it's so easy to make and flattering, I can't wait to make other ones for me of course^^ but I also already have requests from my mum and bff who want theirs!

Manekineko dress

I made this dress a few months ago and had totally forgotten about taking pics of it, which is a shame since I've worn it a lot! I used my NHK book pattern and excellent Japanese cotton from Nippori with the nicest shade of beige, lucky charm cats and other Japanese symbols and seals ever :)

I love this pattern so much, it's simply magic: it takes 1.5 yard of fabric and 1.5 hour max to make and it's so comfortable, cute and 60's looking! Also for this one I had bias tape, seam binding and ricrac remnants that matched the fabric perfectly so notion stash busting checked: