My vacation wardrobe

I've just come back from my yearly Asian vacation and it was AMAZING! This time I went with my cousin/bff and we had so much fun now I want to travel with her only :) We spent a few days in Singapore and 2 weeks in beautiful Japan, starting with Tokyo, then Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Osaka, Okayama, Takamatsu and back to Tokyo.
I wanted to share a few pics of the me-made outfits I brought, I wore almost everything I had planned to except for a rayon mini dress that shrinked when I washed it and a cotton dress that looked atrocious no matter how much ironing I gave it :(

This is my NHK sewing book dress with a 60's flair made with Japanese cotton in a green quilting print, it was a breeze to wear in the summer temperatures! The pic was taken on Sentosa island in Singapore.

This khaki jersey top/ dotted navy shorts combo got a lot of wear during the trip, it was comfortable and would dry super quickly without wrinkling when I washed it. The top's pattern comes from Female and the shorts are self-drafted. The pic was taken in megastore La Foret in Harajuku, such a cool and stylish place for inspiration :)

A Japanese pattern navy linen dress with ecru crochet details totally inspired by one of Zoe's amazing creation, it's very flattering and I felt like a doll in it! This pic was taken in Nagasaki near the Promenade, I must say this was my favourite city this time, it was beautiful, original and people were adorable. Also I love willows!

 

Argh I look seriously chubby here but I just had to show you my classic red checked pattern Japanese cotton dress, I used an A-line dress pattern from the Sweet Dress Book and if I remember correctly the pic was taken in a cafe Veloce in Fukuoka.

 

Here I'm wearing my eternal denim shorts that are getting seriously worn out and need a replacement with a coral jersey top from a Female pattern. We had a blast in Osaka where the pic was taken and Icoca is so cute!

Me-made cropped leggings in black jersey, the shirt is from Uniqlo and the pic was taken in a temple near Nijo castle in Kyoto. It used to be the emperor's private garden, what an excellent place to visit!

I'm getting so emotional everytime I go to Inari, this is my most favourite place ever! I'm wearing a self-drafted top in Japanese cottton with sky print and my denim shorts next to one of the temple's gorgeous kitsune.

A Japanese pattern maxi dress in tropical print cotton in Ueno station, I've always loved deep water creatures and there was an expo about them at the Natural Sciences Museum!

Same place different outfit with a self-drafted dress in dotted cotton and refashioned denim jacket.

So about this year's bounty I brought back 2 Female issues and some fabrics including Liberty and Sevenberry cotton lawns that I can't wait to turn into cool garments!

I don't like daisies

It's true! I adore them: I put some on my garments, I buy fabrics printed with them, naturally I grow some in my garden and the faithful teddy bear from my "childhood" -okay I still had it when I moved out at 24- was called Marguerite which is French for Daisy.
And you know what? I'm obsessed with daisy earrings! Since I can't have my ears pierced because there are always complications I got used to making my own clip-ons. That made for some truly awful jewellery when all I had to work with in my extremely remote island was my mama's 80s costume stuff but then, thanks heaven, Etsy and its endless supply of cabochons arrived :)

Above is my latest realisation totally copied from some vintage designs I saw on the net, I made 2 circles out of some plastic packaging and glued the tiny flowers over them so obviously I can't guarantee how long they're going to last^^

These ones were much simpler, I just glued them to the clip-on settings, the white pair was my first, then I couldn't live without the blue ones, I wore the pink ones almost everyday for 2 weeks when I made them and finally the purple ones were bought on a whim but I quite like them anyway.

 The whole family!

This is the little pouch I made to stock them, the cute embroidery detail comes from a Japanese book.
Also did I tell you that chrysanthemums were actually my absolute favourite flower?...

Jewellery time

I noticed that I'm rarely wearing jewellery on the outfit pictures on this blog which is strange since I always have at least a ring or a bracelet, I guess I must be so concentrated on the whole self portrait thing without a tripod and with an unpredictable camera timer that I forget about the rest!
So today I'll tell you about some of my favourite sparklers:

They all come from South Africa and they're quite old, I bought them as a little girl when I went there in 1989. I remember this trip being both wonderful and terrible because on the one hand it was an incredibly beautiful country but on the other hand apartheid was still going on so it was shocking to see the "Whites only" signs almost eveywhere and the sad conditions in which many people were forced to live.
This country made such a deep impression on me that I have tried to keep all the things that I bought there among which these pieces that are silver or gold pleated and semi precious stones. They haven't tarnished or broken at all even though I've worn them at least once a week for more than 20 years! I'm MAD that I managed to lose an amethyst bracelet -same design as the onyx one above- though.
As for the rings, I made them using amethyst, onyx and tiger's eye that I selected in the + 1 kilo of rough stones that we brought back. I simply glued them to adjustable rings. I've recently come across some turquoises and malachites from this trip and I'd love to make something out of them :)

Singapore and Japan 2012

Best.holidays.EVER! (Can't wait for next year^^)

 Marina Bay area -where the F1 race took place just yesterday:

Sentosa island is now accessible via this huge boardwalk complete with travelator and air conditioning^^

Of course I had to put my mug somewhere, those pop sculptures were super cute and fit perfectly with the fun atmosphere of the island.

Kyoto!

Our huge Japanese style room - you put away the table and chairs and prepare your futon there when you want to go to sleep.

Kannon the very important goddess of compassion at the todai-ji in Nara

  The lady's touching this statue's knee because he's supposed to cure your ailments if you touch him where you hurt, unfortunately it was hard to reach his neck -my main aching area :(

 

 

natsu no semi

The new Skytree Tower in Asakusa

Also this is my life:

The Hem-isphere challenge part two

Hiya, how's it going? It's been raining heavily all week long and the other day I didn't have a car but I had to go out, I was shivering and my feet -horror!- were soaking wet by the time I arrived back home so imagine what a nice surprise I had when I found Zoe's latest package in my mailbox!
Inside were the most awesome mother-of-pearl buttons, lace and fabric ever! Seriously, not only are the colour and print wonderful but it's so light and soft it feels like Liberty.


So this time the topic was chosen by Zoe and she came with this great idea: la Parisienne :) This immediately brought back fond memories since it's the name of a bakery where my mama would buy my birthday cakes when I was young. Sigh, nougatine, marzipan, chocolate and whipped cream... But I digress, of course I wasn't to use this for our challenge^^.
The thing is, I've rarely been to Paris and mainly when I was quite young -everyone was dressed like Robert Smith!- so my references regarding this city and its inhabitants come mainly from movies, songs and celebrities. To me Parisiennes are Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot, Bernadette Lafont, Anna Karina...





...and above all, the embodiement of French class, easy glamour and overall cuteness, Sylvie Vartan! Actually she was born in Bulgaria but she became a very successful singer in France and has represented it abroad ever since.




She wore a lot of candy colours, white lace/broderie anglaise and stripes and peaked in the 60's and 70's so I tried to reflect her style in these eras in my package to Zoe: some crepe-like striped fabric, a fun pattern and some faceted buttons.

I forgot to take a pic AGAIN so thanks Zoe!

As for Zoe's inspiration you can read all about it in this post, I'm thrilled with what she gave me and I hope I can make something that will come up to her excellent idea for this challenge! See you later for the results :)

I got awarded!

Indeed I received a Versatile Blogger Award from the amazing Jeyco, OMG if you haven't checked her blog already you must go, she's beyond talented, the dresses and coordinates she makes are incredibly gorgeous! Thank you again for this award Jeyco!
Here are the rules for this award: add the VBA badge to the blog (since I have no idea how to do it I'll pass on this^^), list 7 facts about you and then give the award to 15 bloggers -don't forget to tell them.
So 7 very random things about me:
- my favourite flowers are peonies
- I love eating (no meat!) and drinking so I often need to go on a quick diet if I want to keep wearing the clothes I make :)
- I have never worked a steady job, I'm literally allergic to routine
- since I live in a small and remote place I love going abroad every year and seeing other cultures, landscapes and weather
- my favourite fabrics are cotton and rayon
- I don't watch much TV, only the news and the French version of the game Going for Gold
- I've been a Hello Kitty fan all my life!
Now I found 8 very interesting bloggers whom I haven't given any awards to yet, so there you go:
Sewing Through the Motions
Adventures in Adventuring
Ayenforcraft
Carly makes stuff
House of Pinheiro
Invisible Flower
Is That Sew?
Petticoats and Peplums
See you!

My Christmas dress

In March, why not^^ Well I hadn't had the opportunity of taking pics of it until today hence the late post. After seeing and falling in love with Camelias and Crinolines' Christmas dress last year I got totally obsessed with poinsettias fabric and I desperately wanted to sew myself a vintage dress out of it. So imagine how I felt when I came across this on etsy:


It has red AND pink poinsettias, roses, holy, buds, pine cones and even peonies, it's light as lawn and I had 5 yards of it for $5 :) I used my favourite Advance pattern and here's what I got:



It's such a fun dress to wear, even though it's Christmas-themed I don't think it shows too much, especially when accessorised with simple, natural accessories:


See you!

I'm a very lucky blogger!

Indeed, I'm delighted to share the news with you that 2012 is going to be the year of my collaboration with the awesome Zoe in a project called Hem-isphere :)
It all started when I saw her Poetry and Clothing challenge in 2011, I too wanted to have some super cool and gorgeous garments made by her -yes I'm opportunistic like that!- so I asked her if she'd like to work on an exchange project with me. You'd think that just because she works in Traderemade, organises almost single-handedly Brighton Craftaganza, has launched the Me-Made challenges, analyses and writes about the sewing industry, consumption and women-related problems and sews amazing things in what is left of her free time she wouldn't be available... Well, she graciously said yes! But having sewn for her friend she advised me against making stuff for each other because of the unavoidable fitting issues so we settled on exchanging notions packages every two month to make our own garment/accessory. We'll also try and use stuff from our stash as mush as possible.
For our first swap we didn't choose a specific topic so here are the very random things I sent her -photo courtesy of Zoe since I forgot to take one:


The pattern is a 60's blouse, loose fitting with kimono sleeves and a peter pan collar or fitted and sleeveless. As they say on the enveloppe you can add a simple dirndl skirt to have a fabulous ensemble! The belt buckle is real vintage, dating back from the 60's too, the sequined anchor appliqué had been in my stash since 2000 and the only thing I bought for this occasion is the beige trim.
And now this is the excellent package I received from her:

OMG I want to make these two patterns! I love that 60's dress with the ties and the gathered shoulders but I'm fond of the 70's mini smock. And that fabric is so soft and cute! Can you imagine the front yoke detail in the bias with contrasting piping? And look at that adorable little badge:


I have already gotten started on a muslin for the pattern I chose and it's looking great so far, I may have managed to snatch myself a little Zoe modjo^^ We should post about our respective projects in February and then we'll have our next swap in March. I'm so excited about this collaboration, I can't even wait for the next round!

My 40's dress -it's looooove!

A long story short: went to Singapore in July, walked by Paragon mall 4 times a day every day, couldn't avoid latest Miu Miu campaign, NEEDED a 40's dress without spending $4,105 and felt like adding my own touch:


Here we are with a genuine 1945 pattern, McCall's 6249 that I had already tried and loved, some plain black cotton for the top and awesome hawaiian polyester fabric for the skirt. Awww, is there anything I could not love about this pattern? It has lovely details on the bodice:


Keyhole front cut-out, rounded shoulder yokes, external darts and looooong, puffly sleeves with cuffs (plus I added some ties, omg cute!); the bottom is simple enough, a gathered A-line skirt-I prefer it this way. I'm wearing a purchased belt but I'm probably going to sew one from the skirt fabric and I can also wear the dress without one, of course :) Last but not least, thank you bf for the pictures!