Archive for January 2012
January 28, 2012 | 
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I was talking to the peeps over at Sew Weekly about the use of the term Maxi when it comes to clothing, Maxi dress— as I said over there sounds like a feminine hygiene product. I don’t like the term at all. I chose this long-dress form as my ‘Make This Look’ for this weeks challenge, you can read my little post here I hope it’s a little more entertaining to read than last weeks post, yikes. So now that you’ve read the rundown on how this dress was built is there really a need for me to repeat myself here on technique and construction? Let me know if you don’t read SW and I’ll give a constructive rundown here too.
It was my birthday last week, I flipped over to the big 41, hip hip hooray. I’m really loving my 40′s. Steve asked what I wanted to do to celebrate, lets grab a coffee and wander around the Royal Botanical Gardens that would make the most perfect day. The gardens are alive and so gorgeous this time of the year. My dress was perfect for the day. Here, we stopped into the Shrine of Remembrance; I love these majestic looking doors, standing in front of them gave the dress a real ethnic vibe.
…and doesn’t this look like I’m on holiday somewhere on the other side of the world? Ah, I love Melbourne.
Here is a close-up of the little golden studs I placed into the dress, they were from the scrap booking section in Spotlight, I’m yet to see if they’ll rust and spoil the fabric, and if they turn silver!? well I’ll be okay with that too. It’s all trial and error really.
This is my favourite photo, the pattern on the fabric looks like bamboo leaves so this is the perfect backdrop for this dress, a lush bamboo forest or in my head a beautiful tropical island well stocked with yummy pina colada’s.
and this is me in full squinting mode so you can see the dress in full sunlight which by the way is named after a Fleetwood Mac song but you probably already guessed that right?. I haven’t worn a long dress like this in years, I’m loving it and the pattern was super easy to follow and of course she has pockets, what’s a dress without pockets? Did you happen to see my African inspired neckpiece I made from a thrifted skirt? I’m really excited to show you what next weeks challenge is, I’m in front for once, these holidays have been super productive and I’m loving every moment spending quality time with my kiddies. Not long now till life gets some-what hectic again. Kudos to Steve (The Hublette) for holding the camera straight. You are my tripod xx
I’ll be seeing the super fly Erykah Badu next month and my favourite douche bag Kanye West next week with Hype Girl aka; my super-fly daughter. I’ve been losing sleep over what we should both wear, I know, I’m a tad ridiculous but you have got to expect that from me, ridiculous is good right? it’s a harmless act. Today I sorted out what I’m wearing to Kanye, it’s so bloody hot here at the moment so comfort will take precedence. I am rather happy with the outcome of this little gem so I wanted to share it with you and if you like maybe you can make one of your own too. Just don’t wear it to Kanye because that would be totally ridiculous. Anyway so, I thrifted this revolting cheesecloth skirt for $3, to me it is ug-ga- ly and that is exactly what you want, you want something that will surface a little bit of vomit in your throat why? because this ugly duckling will become a beautiful African swan. Do they have swans in Africa? it’s highly unlikely.
So what you want to do is:
:: Remove the waistband.
:: Open the skirt up at the seam.
:: Cut 5cm strips on the bias.
:: Sew your strips wrong side to wrong side.
:: Use a loop turner to turn each strip right side around.
:: Lay out your strips shortest to longest in bunches (this takes some fussing about, you will probably get annoyed around about now, just warning you, stick with it).
:: Are you happy with the sorting? Good, now sew a straight stitch along the end to hold them in place.
:: Cut two squares and apply iron-on interfacing, you can be the judge of the width and height, just remember your seam allowance.
:: Sew the strips into the squares. You’ll get what I mean when you see the squares down the bottom there.
:: Use some of the strips off-cut and make a loop for both squares for the tie to travel through.
:: Maybe add some beads at the end of the ties so the back of your neck looks hot from behind. Giddy-Up .
I had a small piece left over so I’ll use that as a matching turban, and why not. Here is the result of my new neckpiece titled the ‘Wombo Lombo’ after Angelique Kidjo’s brilliant song from her Fifa album back in the day. This thing goes off when you do the shoulder shimmy shake I was practicing last night for Kanye it goes down a treat. Any who here is what she looks like all dressed up and ready to shimmy shake for Kanye’s Dark Fantasy.
I spied an ugly brown skirt today, I think I’ll need a brown one too.
Yay! I’m a feature over at The Sew Weekly this week, you can read my more detailed post about this dress here.
Last year I thrifted some wonderful silk sari fabric for $2.99 and wondered how I could get the most use out of the pattern that runs throughout. I wanted to make an all in one outfit with shirring and the whole bit but the fabric just didn’t have the length to play with so this pretty dress is what came of this gorgeous fabric, rather subdue for me (hence the title) as I agree with most of the comments on SW. Not having a certain genre to abide to is rather freeing for me I can dress according to my mood and to the fabric and design I choose. Why pigeon-hole yourself when fashion is so panoptic, spread those fashion wings I say.
The challenge is simple, buttons; make something that has buttons, fancy or simple. You know I love a button or two right? Originally I was making this dress from Vogue Pattern 1245 but that all went out the window when I opened the skirt section and it revealed a circular hem. I couldn’t use it because of the print on the sari fabric so my hap hazard self-drafting skills came in handy.
Steve (hubby) and I have been watching photography tutorials on how to get the most out of our camera, lighting, positioning backgrounds etc. I think for his first time behind the camera he has done a magnificent job. Thank you babe.
I don’t often wear this style of dress, I don’t think they suit my body shape but I’ll wear this one over and over especially whilst bike riding, I think the fabric has a lot to do with how she sits and moves I guess it’s not too heavy around the waist line either which I like and best of all I didn’t need to hem her, I really don’t mind a short cut when it comes to sewing.
I am off to start on my next garment for next week. See you then, happy sewing peeps.
