Tag Archives: Dress

Which witch

31/10/2009 9:08 am \ 1 Comment \
Today being Halloween and all, even though we don’t celebrate it here in Australia, I decided to embrace the Halloween spirit in my daily ensemble.  Hence the witch-y colour scheme, and the appearance of my familiar in the photo at right.  However I was the only one in the family that got the reference.  Neither did I see anybody else out and about today who looked remotely Halloweenish.  Oh, apart from a photo of my 4yr old nephew who went to a party last night dressed as a skeleton.  So cute!
I love this dress.  This has to be the easiest pattern in the Vogue repertoire; it has, ooh, three pieces and one of these is a mere stay.  I ask you.  Foolproof.
In this incarnation it is my “little black dress”.  I chose high quality silk jersey mix as I wanted it to look really good and to last.  The look of the dress is unique I think.  The unusual folds and interesting draping effects take it a step above your average run-of-the-mill LBD.  The pattern is an Issey Miyake design, who is a genius at realising simple, very sculptural shapes that manage to celebrate the female form while appearing quite unlike most of the dresses you’re used to seeing around.
Today was very windy so I wore a cardigan for most of the day; shopping and spending time with my mother, my daughter and my sister-in-law; a girl’s morning out.  To show off the details of the fabric manipulation I also included a photo of the dress sans cardi.

So.  It’s a very comfortable dress to wear, obviously as its all stretch fabric.  Its also SO easy to make; oh, did I mention that there is absolutely NO hemming or finishing of the raw edges?  How great is that?!  The perfect beginners project, and a designer look into the bargain!!
Other details:
Cardigan; Scope, bought at some shop in Melbourne
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, bought in Hobbs
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International Wear a Dress Day

29/10/2009 9:20 am \ 5 Comments \

Today I went to the cinema with a friend so decided to wear my NEW dress for the occasion.  Also, Dress-a-Day has decreed today “International Wear a Dress Day”, so how could I not?  Any excuse…

I’m quite proud of this dress.  I made it specifically to go with this very expensive cardigan I bought several years ago.  I’ve worn this cardigan with other things that have now gone the way of the Good Samaritan’s bin, and I needed to have something else for it to go with.  I thought this polyester chiffon fabric was a pretty good match for the (silk) chiffon pockets on the cardigan (see detail picture below), and envisaged a floaty, dreamy, pretty summer dress.
The pattern, Vogue 7748, is one I bought years ago but not yet used, so I decided to give it a whirl.  It seemed a good base for a wrap dress, with no frills.  However I thought it was a bit too basic and I wanted just a few frills!  I also wanted the final effect of the dress to be a kind of jumble of flowery colours, without a discernible pattern repeat.  The addition of a few ruffles could help achieve this.
I cut each of the skirt pieces to half their supposed length.  The right front, which ends up crossed over the left front in the finished garment, was further shaped in a curve up to the waistline.  For each skirt piece, I joined together three large part doughnut shapes, and added these to the bottom of each of the skirt pieces.
I also added a double ruffle around the neckline, although only slightly ruffled as I’m not a very frilly person!  
I didn’t make the belt in the pattern; but added long sashes to the waist edge of each dress front, and left a small gap in the right side seam for the left sash to pass through, so I can tie it at the back of the dress.  I also added a sleeve detail (see below picture) to look more feminine and interesting than the plain hem indicated in the pattern.
The skirt hem and the neck ruffles were finished with a black rolled hem edge, done on the overlocker.
Because the fabric is see-through, I made a separate petticoat out of lightweight jersey (see below, modelled by Bessie).  This is simply a tanktop bodice, copied from a tanktop I already had, and a quarter-circle each for the skirt front and back.  This was just run up on the overlocker, and the edges left raw.  Its just a petticoat after all, and the jersey won’t unravel or fray.

I felt good and comfortable in this dress today, so it’ll probably get a lot of use this summer.

Other details:
Cardigan; Alannah Hill
Shoes; Micam by Joanne Mercer, bought in Hobbs

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Big day out

22/10/2009 7:11 am \ 1 Comment \

Thursday, 22nd October 2009

Thankyou for your lovely comments!
Today is a big day, my daughter’s final day at school. Her school makes a big deal out of it for us parents too; it started with a flower ceremony, followed by final assembly, morning tea, chapel service and then lunch; in order. Quite a day. So I needed a DRESS! I made this previously for a lunch held at the beginning of spring, but couldn’t wear it without risk of freezing half to death. So, held it over for this occasion.
Its New Look 6699 view G,J,L again, a little ripper of a pattern. As the lace I bought for it was completely see-through, I lined it completely with a cotton batiste petticoat. I added wide coffee-coloured border lace around the bottom of the petticoat and a simple tube sleeve of the same lace around the armholes. I moved the invisible zip closure to the left side seam as usual and eliminated the back centre seams. The midriff is of gathered silk, and I also added a long sash of the stuff to tie at the back. You can’t see it in the picture, but I added a close-enough-to invisible pocket on the right side, just big enough for a mobile phone and a credit card. I think I’ll do this to all my party dresses in future… so useful…
Got several compliments for this dress today, which was very gratifying! Ah yes, we seamstresses always deflect praise, “oh, thankyou but it was easy, nothing to it, really” but its nice to get recognition, no? Here’s a challenge, approach someone you don’t really know very well and pay them a compliment. It will make their day and, by association, will give you a boost too!
Other details:
Shoes; Marco Santini, from Marie Claire
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Patchwork

19/10/2009 9:16 am \ 1 Comment \

Found this one and only picture of the other version of the dress I posted about earlier today here, from McCalls 4454, elongated to dress length; the one made out of patchwork fabric bought in Calico and Ivy. It was bought as a collection of “fat quarters”, from which I cut large, medium and small squares. The squares were pieced and the pattern cut out so that the smallest squares were at the bodice of the dress, and getting larger in size down to the hem of the dress, at which all the largest squares were. All were on the diagonal.

I loved the seaside-y colours; it may not look like much from the back but it really was a lovely dress and got a lot of compliments. Sigh. I think it got a rip in it eventually.
I think it looked better than its follow-up, partly because of the pretty fabric, and partly because the skirt was a lot more billowy, a better look for me.
(On a pictorial note, I’m at the top of Mount Lycabettus looking out over Athens …. we walked up to the top and back and really earned our drinks! It was fab!)
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Bouchee dress

19/10/2009 5:49 am \ 3 Comments \
Monday, 19th October 2009
Meeting my Monday morning gals today, so I’m wearing the hot pink Metalicus cardi they gave me for my birthday to show it off. I’m not sure about my dress this morning. Not sure because I always feel I look like an elephant in it. Its from McCalls 4454 view D, which is actually a little top pattern. I used it because I really like the bodice arrangement, and just drastically elongated the whole thing to dress length. I also added some triangular inserts to splay out the skirt and hemline, and added (artistic touch!) two HUGE pockets diagonally and randomly to the front. The pockets were also to cover some discoloured areas; as the fabric was originally from the remnant bin at Fabulous Fabrics because it had partially faded in patches.
Its not been a bad dress as its very cool to wear in summer, but … all ladies like to avoid looking like an elephant. So this may be its last outing. If you are a pear shape, like me, then its probably best to avoid long A-line dresses with no waist definition. I think I need waist definition. The funny thing is I made this same dress (see here) before using patchwork fabric bought from Calico and Ivy, and it looked great (shrug).
The necklace was also made by me, during my beading phase. My ladies this morning admired it!!! Still, they’re always nice to me!
Other details:
Cardigan; Metalicus
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs
Bag; Gucci
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Dress, worn once

14/10/2009 2:04 am \ 3 Comments \

Wednesday, 14th October 2009

I made this dress about three years ago and came across it again in my recent clean-out of the wardrobe. I’ve worn it precisely once, when we went out to dinner in Santorini. I keep putting it aside thinking its too old for me and I’ll start wearing it when I’m … dunno, sixty, maybe. But my new resolution is to wear Everything I’ve Got. So, here we go.
Its Vogue 2538, and the fabric was picked up from the remnants bin at Fabulous Fabrics, my favourite store. Its silk, with self stripes in velour, embroidery, beading, small cylindrical wooden beads; sounds a mishmash but its lovely. I mistakenly lined it with white lining rather than cream, and I used an ordinary dress zip when an invisible zip would have been SO much better. I also took it in considerably at the side seams of the torso as it was too sacklike for my taste in its original form. So. Welcome back to my life, beautiful beaded dress.
Looking back over the photos I’ve taken and my wardrobe, I’m appreciating how colourless all my clothes are. Does this make me a colourless person? Our persona we present to the world is very much represented in our clothing, I really believe that. Maybe I need to spice up my wardrobe… and my life…
Other details:
Belt; Country Road

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First post ever!

10/10/2009 3:30 pm \ 4 Comments \

Saturday, 10th October 2009

Hey, this is my first post ever. Scary! I’m new at this whole blogger thing, so we’ll just see how it all goes. My motive in producing this blog is to keep a record of all my sewing and knitting efforts. I’ve made myself so many garments over the years, most of which have gone the way of the “hamper in the sky” (ie. Good Sammys bin) and I have no record of those hours and hours of planning, pinning, cutting, basting sewing… Ok, Ok, unpicking too. I’m not young or trendy, well a little trendy I hope, but I’m still working on my own personal style. Speaking of Good Sammys, I also love to shop there too!

My first picture I’m posting is of a cocktail dress I made about two years ago, using New Look pattern 6699. The only adjustments I made were to reshape the back bodice to be a “proper” one piece bodice as opposed to the rather sundressy two piece back bodice in the pattern with adjustable straps. The dress is made of coffee/black lace over cream silk, from Fabulous fabrics. I’ve loved it and worn it quite a lot. The necklace is my own design and also selfmade, from a beading fad I went through.
Thanks to my son Sam for taking the photo, next on my list is to work out how to use the timer on our camera, big challenge for a technophobe like me.
Other details:
Shoes, Micam by Joanne Mercer, bought at Hobbs
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