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!

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 :)

Me Made May 2015

As I said when I wrote my pledge on Zoe's blog, last year I couldn't document my MMM because I was working two jobs - for a few months I was a vet's assistant in addition to giving my usual lessons after office hours and at the weekend. It was a wonderful experience, I LOVE animals so I'd literally fly to work because I knew I'd be with them and the vet and I would do our best to help them!
Unfortunately the doctor is quite old and he has almost retired since the beginning of the year except for emergencies so for now I'm back to teaching only, sigh :(
Anyway, this year I swore I'd wear at least two me-made things everyday, garments and accessories, which shouldn't be too difficult because now my wardrobe is almost completely handmade except for bras and jeans!
So let's start with day 01:

Me-made knit top and cotton skirt from Burda mag patterns, self-drafted handbag and the super cute star earrings were made by my friend Vanessa!

 Day 02:

Self-drafted poplin top, denim shorts from a Japanese pattern, earrings and bracelet made by me :)

Day 03:

Me-made knit tee-shirt copied from an RTW top and cotton shorts from a Japanese pattern.

Swans and zebras

Brace yourselves for an umpteenth version of my favourite babydoll style pattern, this time it's a top with short sleeves made with excellent -and I don't use that word lightly^^- swan printed cotton:

I found it in a local shop, the name on the fabric is Stof and when I looked it up I discovered that it is a 100% French brand! They design prints and make fabrics in their own factory in Loire and yet their prices are very reasonable and the quality is great -you can have more details on their website here .

Naturally I LOVE that print because it features swans that are both adorable and graceful, which cannot be said of all animals:

Dora got crazy when she found that heap of old roots and branches and proceeded to rub herself in it for half an hour^^

I also have another animal printed creation I want to show, it's a low waisted dress I made for my mum using cotton from another local shop but this time it is the Japanese brand Lecien:

It was super simple to make, I took a sleeveless top pattern and added two gathered rectangles for the skirt :)

White and black

I'm happy I have pics of my black jersey crop top because seeing how often I wear it and wash it I'm afraid it's going to disintegrate soon^^

It's the same design from Female magazine but the fabric is much lighter and softer than the grey knit I used for the other one so it's super super comfortable. The only drawback was that my little Singer machine had a tendency to eat the fabric so I had to put strips of tracing paper under the foot and it worked! Also I couldn't finish the hem and neckline with my usual wide zigzag stitch because the fabric stretched too much so I folded it twice and used a narrow zigzag stitch instead.

As for the shorts they're already from last year! I found them in a Tendances Couture magazine which offers Simplicity patterns to French readers, I thought they looked quite retro with their high waist and flared legs and they didn't require much fabric so it was perfect to finish my beautiful broderie de Calais coupon :)

I lined the broderie pieces with white poplin, basted the two layers together and sewed everything as usual. There's an almost invisible zipper on the side and the waist is finished with a remnant of lilac bias.

I think the two garments work quite well together, the shorts are high enough that my belly won't show and the back curve of the top looks really cool IMO:

Crop top and culottes outfit

So, about that grey knit crop top in my last post, OMG I LOVE that pattern!!! It comes from one of the last Female magazines that were published in 2013:

You can make it with woven fabrics but something told me that it would be too tight with my big arms and that it would look super boxy so I went with knits and it's excellent! You can't really tell from the picture above but it's a hi-lo design with a curved back hem which makes it easier to wear because, well, it is cropped and therefore much shorter than what I'm used to wearing -I lengthened it by 1 inch just in case by the way^^

 

Decent back length -pheeew

And since it's shorter I had to make a bottom that would have a regular or higher waist and still be comfortable and cute if possible. Culottes sounded great but I was a bit disheartened after failing twice with Megan Nielsen's Tania which was much too poofy, short and therefore unpractical for me. A quick internet search and a link to Petit Main Sauvage's impeccable tutorial appeared. Thanks Lauriana, you're a sewing goddess!

And if you're wondering what's happening with my hair I'm trying to emulate my new favorite anime character Jibanyan using Directions pink dye and henna but maybe this is not the best solution^^ Sigh, the road is still long to that perfect orange shade:

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!

Asagao top

I found this gorgeous Morning glories fabric in Japan and paired it with the G design from the Sweet Dress Book and I got this awesome top:

The neckline and sleeves are finished with self-made bias tape and I added a tiny pocket with a pink glass button on the front, not that it really shows but it seemed like a good idea then^^:

The back has a straight center seam that ends in a slit and closes with a button and a loop, it's a cute detail but if you want to simplify things you can just cut this piece on the fold, you'll still be able to get in and out of the top!

And yes, I believe that when getting dressed you should be able to ask yourself "Does my outfit match my window?":

The feel good top

Since I'm still lacking time for ambitious sewing projects these days, I'm sticking to TNT patterns and the quickest, most satisfying one for me is still my loose, kimono-sleeved top so yes, I've made another one! BUT this time it's a tunic length so that's totally new -I admit I had one like this but I gave it away so not only am I generous but that also resulted in an intolerable gap in my wardrobe.
Plus the (Ikea) fabric I chose has a multitude of adorable animals/flowers/fruits scattered on it and I wanted to keep as many as I could, hence the longer length :)

That clothes hanger pic is horrible but I wanted to make it very clear that there's a dark green frog on the front, at the bottom and a light green one on the back, at the top^^ I had bias remnants in my stash that matched the colours of the garment so I finished the necline in black, the sleeves in white and the hem in green. It's so comfortable and cheerful, I spent a great day wearing it -and it almost didn't wrinkle!

Sweet Easter top

I'm totally on time with this one^^ I really wanted to post about it sooner but I have been super busy with work lately so the only little free time I get is for sewing and hiking, I never think about taking pics -btw that's also why I'm not documenting my Me-Made-May this year!
So let's talk about this top, first the fabric:

Yes, it's that awesome! It has eggs with chicks, bunnies, daffodils, daisies and other spring flowers on them, ribbons and all possible shades of pink, in other words it's perfect. It's quilting cotton but it doesn't make a difference to me, as long as it has a cute print I'll turn it into something to wear :)
Now for the design, I'm obsessed with simple tops and babydoll shapes so I joined these two styles into one, using a Japanese pattern that I altered -ie I cut it short under the bust and added a gathered skirt- to get this:

Awww I LOVE my top, it is exactly the sweet and casual mix I was going for! I can just pull it over like a regular tee and enjoy the comfort and look of the twirly skirt while the upper part retains definition thanks to the bust darts. Once I had altered the pattern it took me less than 2 hours to trace, sew and finish it -I used lilac bias tape for the neckline and sleeves and made a simple folded hem. Of course I'm planning others and maybe a dress version with longer sleeves :)

Candy

In my town there's this small fabric shop where I didn't use to go because the items in the window were both impressive and incongruous, like very tricky looking silk or tweed when it's 32° but my addiction to fabric is so great that I finally entered, I thought maybe I would find something that I didn't already have -HA! So I went in and among the expensive European fancy stuff mentioned above there was the most incredibly fun collection of wax fabrics, not the classic yellow, burgundy and green based prints we usually have in Reunion but things like this:

Yes, these are awesome wrapped candies and a sweet sensation fills my heart just looking at them :) And these beautiful blue tones with a touch of mustard, I'm in love! They also had prints with hot pink, orange, even gold but I managed to restrain myself and only bought the 50 cm needed for my Burda mini skirt. I wore it with another new garment, a pussy bow blouse from an altered Japanese pattern -I simply drafted the ties and made a slit at the neckline:

And here's the outfit in action with the sun right in my eyes hence the strange faces:

This week's projects

Yes I sewed ANOTHER Burda knit top, this time in navy stripes on off-white background and I love it! The fabric is super soft, I'm happy I managed to match the stripes on the seams and I used a narrow zigzag to finish the garment even though my machine skipped a few stitches along the way :(

I also made a shift dress for my mum out of awesome fluo green piqué, it's her usual basic Japanese pattern and this time I added pockets so that I could put some huge daisy buttons that totally complimented the fabric IMO: