samedi 19 novembre 2016

Two Saturday outfits

I've just finished a super colourful top using a pattern from an old NHK crafts magazine and cute cotton from Singapore:


I think it's the first time I've taken pics of this particular pattern but I've made a ton of these, it's such a cool and comfortable design! I love the different lengths at the front and the back and the A-shaped bodice. Normally the sleeves are longer but it is summer now and the shorter the better :) Also there were huge breast pockets on the original version but I didn't put them here because the print is so busy it wouldn't have shown much. And I had to add a front seam because I didn't have enough fabric to cut on the fold:

 Nice topstitching if I may say so myself!


That's my typical summer outfit, a fun, loose top and shorts or a half circle skirt, which brings me to the second part of this post...
... Two Saturdays ago I was invited to a wedding so I made a pistachio green crepe cropped blouse to go with a navy linen Cascade skirt:



So yes, you can tell I'm really into that cropped, hi-lo silhouette aka I get into trends eons after everyone else^^ I'm quite happy with the wedding blouse because the fabric moved a lot and I was surprised I managed to make a neat enough collar as well as a decent button band. But I didn't push my luck and used bias tape for the armholes and hem because I think it's definitely the easiest way of getting an even finish!

lundi 31 octobre 2016

It's Halloween time!

As a quick update from my previous post please replace all occurences of "broderie anglaise" with "eyelet", how silly of me! Lol I remembered the correct word days later and yes I'm ashamed that I could forget it in the first place :) Anyway, today is the best day of the year aka Halloween, I'm eating chocolates, reading some True Singapore Ghost Stories and naturally I have made a little something to celebrate:

Complete with fluffy black cat tail!

So I recycled an old me-made top for this project, the band and pocket used to be blue and there wasn't any cute cat peeking! The original garment was so worn out (yellowed neckline, loosen seam lines...) because I loved it and wore it a lot that I was about to throw it away, so why not give it a nice final makeover before getting rid of it? I simply replaced the blue parts with black ones, drew a cat with fabric pencils (I copied it from the manga Plum, this character is called Princess and is beyond cute) and finished everything with orange fabric because Halloween:



Also, as usual I made a garment for my mum's birthday, this year it's a green crepe cotton dress with a me-made cross stitch detail:



Hope you have a great celebration too!

lundi 3 octobre 2016

I made a dress

I love broderie anglaise and I'd wanted a black broderie dress for a while but I knew I couldn't wear something fully lined here in Reunion, so I settled for a mixed fabric garment instead. I went for broderie ruffles with a plain poplin shell:


I bought the black broderie in Singapore because it was super cute and the quality was very good, and the poplin is from a local shop. I used an old Ottobre pattern that I slightly altered, I think the original dress had tucks instead of gathering and puff sleeves or something like that, and of course I added ruffles that I finished by encasing the raw hem in folded narrow bias tape:



I like my dress because it's really nice to wear, I have my broderie details and even though it's black I don't think I look overdressed in it, or do I^^?

dimanche 17 juillet 2016

Holiday bag

I know it's been a long time since I last posted something on this blog but life got in the way and I didn't have the time or will for documenting my makes. When I say "life" I mean an asshole employer from hell but thank God I was able to quit and now I have peace of mind as well as plenty of time to post about sewing!
I'll go on a trip soon and I wanted to bring something new so I made a tote bag using remnants from an awesome border print, double gauze fabric that my mum had brought back from Japan. It has multicoloured rabbits playing instruments, jewels and psychedelic flowers, ie the basics of any correct print IMO^^:


The border prints were slightly different on each side of the fabric and because I loved both of them the bag has two different sides :) Since the fabric was very thin I interfaced it with some beige polycotton remnant, treating the two layers as one when sewing and used stiff, sturdy denim for the lining, so that the bag would hold itself nicely:



I only had black webbing for the straps so I covered them with purple polycotton to match the fabric, the finished bag has a pocket inside and it closes with a magnetic snap:




I love it, it's super cute and practical, not too big and neutral enough that I can use it with all the outfits I have planned!