New Japanese blouse

OMG this top has totally messed with my feelings^^! First I had ups and downs with the fabric, a small piece of quilting cotton that I managed to grab during the shop's sales and that should be just my type since it has navy and dark red tiny dots on an ecru background -I've recently noticed that my wardrobe is filled with navy garments or navy with red or white details. I say should because once worn it made me look washed out, I got all sad thinking that I had wasted it and finally I trimmed a bit the top's design and added deep blue buttons and it seemingly solved the unflattering colour issue -I also put loads of BB cream to try and look less like a ghost but this is another story.
Then the PATTERN! I found it in this book:

Sorry I meant this one:

On the paper it looked beyond cute and cool:

But as I tried it on while I was making it, it felt a bit granny-ish. So I went for the smaller size and still had to reduce the pieces' width, changed the back from gathers to a pleat and strangely the detail that made the most noticeable difference was how I positionned the first button: I put it lower than required and suddenly the blouse looked much more contemporary :)

And these poor shorts need a rest.

Of course now I'm in love with my top and I want plenty others, I want one in light chambray, one in tiny black gingham, one in my still untouched crazy kitty fabric, one in DOTS etc.

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?...

I made a shirt...

... and I love it! The pattern is from an old Female magazine, I traced the LL size because the M size I made back in 2009 when I was even slimmer than now was already a bit tight. Why not try the intermediate L size you may ask? I wanted a relaxed fit and a design that would be a bit masculine because I thought it would go well with the chosen fabric, some cotton and linen blend with faded blue stripes.
Of course this being a Japanese pattern everything went together like a breeze and the shirt was finished in one day:

Can you spot Dora? :)

Since there aren't many and I wanted them to look good I handsewed the buttonholes and I made Franch seams for the sleeves' seams since they would be exposed when rolled. The tan plastic buttons are my favourite for shirts, I buy them in bulk in a haberdashery located on the West coast of the island and I have them in 3 sizes, from tiny for collar attaches to 5/8". 

This pattern has darts at the back and on the front but I only kept the back ones, they're sufficient to add a nice shape to the shirt. Also I wonder about a breast pocket? Anyway I like this design a lot and I'm already planning another one out of crazy kitty fabric!

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.