Love and hate trousers!

So I admit they're shabby with their cheap stretchy fabric, grossly hand-tacked front pleats and ghetto loops (bias tape quickly handsewed randomly around the waist) but I've already worn them a dozen times because they're just so comfy and well they're my first handmade TROUSERS!

 Piggytails!

 On a positive note I lined the pockets and hemmed the legs with nice striped fabric.

 

I used a pattern from this Japanese book but I atrociously tampered with it, "redrafting" -I'm using the term really loosely here- the pieces as I tried the damn thing on. I had to take them in a lot, straighten and shorten the legs and I didn't put the side zipper and opted for an elasticated waist seeing how I could never get something more fitted with my fabric. And then I had to add the loops because the trousers would slide down without a belt :(
But the battle for trousers isn't finished, I've unearthed a super old Pochée magazine with some cool cropped trousers that I shall try next and then there will be some Burda mag skinny trousers that I NEED to make with some cool Hello Kitty fabric:

Both fabrics found at beautifulwork

Mini dress

I'm absolutely killing it with my post titles these days^^
So about today's garment, I started making it around Christmas time because I wanted a dress to go to a New Year's Eve party but then I realised that I'd be eating, drinking and probably behaving like an idiot and went with a teeshirt and jeans instead -and believe me that was one wise decision! All this to say that I put my dress on stand-by and it took me 2 weeks to (almost) complete it, which is a shame given how easy it was to make: I used my basic, sleeveless bodice and attached a half-circle skirt to it, I finished the edges with bias tape and put an invisible zipper at the back.

The reason I made the skirt super short is because I wanted to add rows of big ricrac to lengthen it to the knee but I got distracted by a ton of stuff and have only put one row so far :(

I want to add some bigger white or yellow ricrac to this one and finish with another row of the red one, I'm sure it would be cool! Or a friend also suggested sewing some to figure a mock collar around the neckline, that may work well too.

My lolita Macaron

As much as I LOVE lolita fashion I'm definitely not a costume-y person so I'd rather incorporate details from this trend into my everyday garments than step outside in a crinoline dress and pink teddy bear fur coat -even though that sounds plain awesome :)
I already did the anime Victorian black and white stripes thing with this dress and now I've tried my hand at typical lolita fabric with some sweeeeeet cotton from Sevenberry and Colette patterns' Macaron:

My photoshoot settings are getting more and more glamourous I swear!

Tiny dots and flowers on a white background that must be my favouritest print ever and then you have this starry peach night, romantic windows, STRIPES! and more flowers, seriously what's not to love?
Regarding the black hairy wide-eyed creature trying to eat my finger that I'm holding in the first pic, her name's Dora and I got her 3 weeks ago because my beloved, adored, wonderful, best-cat-in-the-world Luna passed away on 23 December and I'd been inconsolable ever since -actually I'm still losing my hair from the shock!

These two couldn't be more different however and Dora is such a bundle of energy that I may switch to losing my hair from the exhaustion^^

First dress of 2013

That self drafted loose top just won't go away and now I have a new feature for it with...

... THE ENCASED ELASTIC!!!

Lol I'm so happy with this little detail, I used to wear belts with this kind of dresses but the skirt  would go up while I walked and the belted part would be super hot and rather uncomfortable in summer whereas my elastic keeps everything in place and it's like I'm not even feeling it's there :)

The fabric is quilting cotton given to me by my mama for Christmas, it's a much darker shade of purple in reality and I adore its irregular lines print. I put a slit and orange button at the back because I wanted to and that's that.

 

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!

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^^?

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!