jeudi 10 décembre 2015

Fuji san summer dress

I love novelty prints and Japan so when I came across this cute, colorful print of mount Fuji complete with its tiny Hokusai wave and pine trees I went nuts!

 
 
I found it in a shop at People's Park Complex in Singapore and as if the fabric wasn't adorable enough, one of the sales assistants was wearing a beautiful 3/4 sleeved top made with it: it looked amazing and I could immediately picture the same top lengthened in a babydoll dress for meeee^^
Unfortunately it's so hot where I live that in the end I had to settle for short sleeves but I'm still very happy with my dress:



As usual I finished the neckline and sleeves with bias tape, the hem is simply folded and machine-stitched and I added pockets, but since they're boring white cotton I didn't take a photo of them!

samedi 7 novembre 2015

Second Grainline Alder

I'm in love with this pattern! Here's my latest version in striped cotton from a local shop:


About the fit, I forgot to mention before that I cut the size 18 length because it would have been super short for me otherwise. I made a simple folded hem and finished the armholes with bias tape. Also I made self-covered buttons with a Daiso kit and, to conclude, even Dora likes it:

lundi 2 novembre 2015

First Grainline Alder

After hesitating a good 6 months -I was afraid about the fit, having never worked with a Grainline pattern- I finally gave in and bought the Alder shirtdress PDF and there's no going back! This dress is everything I love, it's cool, girly, comfortable and flattering.
View A looks great but for the moment my favourite version is view B with its cute gathered skirt, I made my first one out of vintage fabric found in a local shop:



The width was only 35" which is a rare find here in Reunion but I had 4 yards so it was plenty enough for the dress. I'd say the print is cute yet groovy :)



So about the fit, I chose size 6 based on the finished measurements and it's perfect, I only did a minor sway back adjustement by remonving a 1/2" curve from the back piece.
I lengthened the skirt portion by 2" too but it was useless and I chopped it off before hemming with some bias tape.
Also I was lazy and didn't do the attached button band on the right, it's simply folded twice as on the left side and since my fabric was too narrow I couldn't cut the back skirt on the fold and had to cut two pieces but with the busy print you can't really tell.
Of course I'm already making another one, I hope I can finish it quickly because with summer kicking in it's the best kind of dress to wear!

samedi 31 octobre 2015

Happy Halloween!

This year's outfit is not very glamourous but it is the intention that counts, right^^? In honour of my favorite celebration I wore an appliqued t-shirt featuring a cute, silly ghost:

 My left big toe is clearly haunted.


I copied it from a small picture in a Japanese book, the body and tongue are cotton fabric and all the black details are embroidered.
On a positive note I'm wearing these atrocious jeans and shoes because I'm now an almost full time vet assistant! Lucky me gets to clean all sorts of animals' various, hem, productions and it's hard to do that in a skirt. I sound sarcastic but I'm super happy to have this job, as I've already said I'm fond of animals so getting to be with them several hours everyday is wonderful :)


Also as usual I made something for my mum's birthday, even though she chose the fabric a few months ago she had completely forgotten about it so it was a nice surprise for her. I get my love of all things cute from her I guess:

Adorable owls and bow!

Have a great Halloween, I'll spend mine eating chocolate and watching Tales of terror from Tokyo, so fun!


jeudi 17 septembre 2015

Favourite outfit of the moment

I haven't worn a dress or shorts in weeks because I've been living in blouse + skirt combos: I'm obsessed! And that's all because I found a nice little pattern that looks great tucked in skirts and has allowed me to use remnants I had in my stash. I took 04/2011 Burda magazine's 108 shirt dress, shortened it and curved the hem and the armholes so that they would end higher on the shoulders. I didn't sew the front darts for a more relaxed fit and didn't add the sleeves and I got the cutest sleeveless shirt ever :)


I made this one with bits of fabric that were left after I made a dress for my mum, it's navy cotton printed with tiny white raindrops, I finished the armholes with bias tape and the buttons are from my stash.


I HAD to show my beloved heart-shaped bag!
 
Here it is worn with a white linen skirt, it's self-drafted ie I put pleats on two rectangles and sewed them down to shape the waist, added belt loops and a side zipper et voilà:


I have two more shirts like this one, both made using remnants from past projects and I'm planning more!

samedi 22 août 2015

Kitty skirt

So remember this Tomato fabric from the last post? I wanted to make a big flowy skirt with it but in the end I went with a big straight skirt :)


I used pattern 109 from the February 2015 issue of Burda magazine, except that I didn't have enough fabric for the long tie belt so I altered the skirt to make it a regular one instead of a wrapped one. Since I really wanted to keep the huge pockets and the pleats on the front and back sides I put the zipper on the left.
In order to avoid any pulling or other placement mistakes I basted the zipper portion of the side seam close, sewed the pocket, unbasted and added the zipper. Also I put plain black cotton on the top of the pockets to emphasize them.




I'm quite happy with the result, I know A-line shapes don't usually work very well on me because my hips/waist ratio is small -ie I have log body syndrom- but thanks to the big print and pockets and that wide vintage belt it's not that bad!

vendredi 7 août 2015

Auntie skirt

So here in Reunion we have a word for middle-aged to elderly women who wear very demure/old-fashionned clothes: they are "matante" which translates to "auntie" in English. All my friends call me that because I often have knee length skirts, floral dresses and the like...
Well, in honour of my nickname I have made the ultimate matante skirt: it's full, under the knee and it has pastel flowers that belong on a grandmother's housecoat all over it!



The pattern comes from a French sewing magazine called Style fashion (the irony!), the waist is fitted by three pleats in the front and two in the back which closes with an invisible zipper:



There should be pockets in the side seams but I didn't put them because I've already made the skirt (with black linen BTW) and they are too high for my taste and show at the opening anyway. In fact I'll probably remove them soon even though they're Liberty :(
Also I shortened the hem on this one because my other skirt is a bit too long and makes me look short -I guess I'll have to change that too!
I really like this pattern and I'm thinking of sewing it out of amazing cat-printed green linen from Japan:

dimanche 2 août 2015

Easy dress

I lengthened the bodice of my TNT babydoll pattern -the sleeveless version- a little for this pull over dress, the fabric is a navy linen and cotton mix and I made a coordinated sash to go from a relaxed style to a more fitted one:


 

Of course it has pockets and it's finished with bias from the same fabric, some green printed poplin from Spotlight.
And now for the best part IMO^^, I made a bag with super gorgeous camelia printed cotton from Japan to add some colour to the dress:


I should have taken a pic of the lining which is tiny black gingham, it goes really well with that big colourful print!

jeudi 23 juillet 2015

Tragic looking kitties sweatshirt

The title says it all:

 

I mean look at those faces:


Lol I can't tell if they're super cute or creepy but I love that print! It's fleece from Spotlight, verrry soft and quite light actually, it was a little pricey but I only needed 1 metre for this project and I really couldn't resist those kitties :)
I used an old Female magazine pattern for this sweatshirt, after having made it with knit fabric I knew I had to do a 1.5 cm forward shoulder seam arrangement and rise the neckline by 1.5 cm too. The sleeves were a bit long but I like them this way so left them.

 

Since I couldn't find ribbed knit for the hip and wrist bands I kept the same fabric to make them. As usual I sewed the garment with a narrow zigzag stitch and finished the seams with a wider one. I discovered I had a twin needle in my machine's supply box^^ so used it for the neckline, it looks so nice:


How could I ever live without a twin needle??!

vendredi 5 juin 2015

MMM15 days 12-31

Of course I'm late but here are the other outfits from this year's MMM! Also since we had many bank holidays this year some outfits I could wear twice because I didn't work much  and sometimes I just stayed at home so nothing to show on these occasions :)

On the 12th I wore a rayon self drafted top with Petit Main Sauvage culottes:


On the 13th for my birthday I wore a top from an altered Japanese pattern and a skirt from a vintage pattern, both in cotton:


On the 14th and 15th it's a knit crop top from a Female pattern and self drafted box pleat skirt cut from a Burda dress:


On the 16th and 17th I wore my TNT babydoll dress in striped cotton:
 

On the 18th I wore a Liberty top from a Burda pattern with PMS culottes:


On the 19th I wore a knit top copied from an RTW tee with a cotton skirt from a vintage pattern:


On the 20th I went with a plaid Anna dress with pleated skirt and my refashioned denim jacket:


On the 21st and 22nd such a comfortable outfit with a cotton jacket from an altered Pochee pattern, a Burda knit top and cropped trousers from a Japanese pattern:


On the 23rd I wore a self drafted top in gauze with PANDAS on it and a Burda skirt:


On the 26th I wore a plaid shirt from a Female pattern and a Burda skirt:


On the 27th I wore a self drafted dress and my refashioned jacket:


On the 29th here's another version of the Female shirt, this time in blue piqué with a skirt from a vintage pattern:


Finally on the 30th I wore a crepe top from a Japanese pattern with a skirt from the same vintage pattern as before, phew:


To sum-up I was able to wear at least two me-made items everyday, even though I didn't provide pics each time my bags were all me-made too and this year I'm clearly into top and skirt combos! I love sewing and wearing things I've made, and I'm especially happy that I don't have to buy standard garments that are made with cheap, synthetic fabric and that are often too short.
Again a thousand thanks to the great Zoe for creating Me Made May and allowing us to show our creativity and hard work :)

mercredi 13 mai 2015

Birthday outfit

This year I made a matching crop top and skirt in some beautiful, colourful cotton fabric from Stof!


The pattern for the top is altered from the bodice of my tnt babydoll dress and it closes at the back with wooden buttons:


The gored skirt is a vintage Style pattern that I have already made many times:


I love this fabric so much, I got super inspired when I saw it! At first I wanted to make a sleeveless maxi dress with it but then I knew I wouldn't wear it often, whereas a top and a skirt are more versatile, I can match them with other garments. I'm so happy with the result I can see other ensembles like this one in my future :)

mardi 12 mai 2015

MMM15 days 04-11

A quick recap of my me-made outfits, so far I have succeeded in wearing two and actually more handmade things!
Last Monday I wore a self-drafted dress with elasticized waist in Japanese cotton, a me-made red plastic necklace and I changed my crocodile bag to a beige linen one:


On Tuesday I had a Pilates lesson so I wore me-made cropped leggings from a Pochée pattern and a refashioned Uniqlo tee-shirt:


On Wednesday I wore a favourite outfit of mine, I'm sorry it doesn't look so good in the photo though! It's a knit crop top from a Female pattern with a midi skirt with box pleats from a Burda magazine pattern in vintage linen:


On Thursday I didn't have much inspiration so turned to a comfortable, easy outfit with green twill shorts from a Fait Main pattern and striped knit top from a Burda mag pattern:


On Friday I chose a combination I LOVE, a top refashioned from a Uniqlo tee-shirt with a denim skirt from a vintage Style pattern and buttercup bag in red twill from Ikea:


On Saturday I wore another version of the dress from the 04th, this time in big cotton plaid with a me-made necklace:


Finally I wore the same outfit on Sunday and Monday with an orange linen dress and a refashioned denim jacket: