Do you remember me posting about a top secret project I was working on last weekend? Well today is my sister-in-law S’s birthday and I was making her a gift. It’s a little bag she can use to hold make-up, or some such… I met her for lunch yesterday and gave it to her then; since she looks at my blog from time to time I couldn’t post about it earlier!
Happy birthday S!
I’m going to take time to mention the cause that we are supporting tonight as it is such an important one; the Amanda Young Foundation. This non-profit foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of meningococcal disease, to raising funds to research for a vaccine, and to educating people to recognise the symptoms and to be aware of the need for the immediate medical attention that it requires. If you don’t know much about meningococcal disease then please take a few minutes to view the Amanda Young Foundation site. Informing yourself as to the nature of this terribly swift and deadly disease could save the life of someone you know.
Now for the debut of my “Rosetta” dress, name thought up by my son…
(Sorry for multiple photos, but I’m trying to show all angles)
Details:
Dress; mostly my own design with some elements of Butterick 4657 and Simplicity 9775, red velvet, red shot silk taffeta and ivory/black printed polyester
Earrings; Sophie Kyron
Shoes; Nina, from David Jones
Have I made any progress on this ballgown? Yes heaps, although to the casual observer it wouldn’t seem like much.
First, the draping of the fashion fabric across the corset bodice. This took me a loooooooong time to get a look that satisfied me. It took me all of the Monday public holiday. I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I tell you that that my experimental drapes ran into the double figures. Seriously.
Finally I settled for this fairly simple version. It’s possible in a project when one is aiming for “glamourous” to get too complex and extreme and sometimes the simplest of designs will be the most effective after all… (it’s already been sewn on and the lining too, because I was so relieved to have finally found a draping I was happy with I just sewed the thing without taking any “during” photos.)
After this, I needed a few days away from my precious project to work up enthusiasm again, and got back to it today….!
Here the lining has been undersewn:
Now for the corset bits. I’m using a leftover scrap of very strong cotton, because eyelets and lacing can be tough on delicate fabrics. I sewed a couple of, er there’s probably a proper name for these little bits… and it’s unknown to me… facings? … flaps?
Inserted some eyelets:
Sewed the corset bodice and its boned interfacing to the skirt top (looks messy here but … trust me)
And sewed the corset flaps with multiple rows of stitching (for strength) to the measured fitting line on my corset bodice, then finished the machine sewing to fit in the corset bits.
Now tonight I’m going to finish hand-sewing the corset lining to the waistline, and the skirt lining to the zipper tape…
More in a coupla days…
I attended a very pleasant birthday morning tea for a friend this morning, so dashed very quickly into the park to take this morning’s photo: this top is my own design, refashioned from my old pair of pants, first posted about here. I’m pretty thrilled with this because I always get compliments when I wear it, and to think grey is supposedly “not my colour”.
On my last visit to the op shop I picked up this skirt, in the $2 rack!! I didn’t even try it on, just thought, hey great colour and grabbed it, thinking I could make something else out of it if it didn’t fit. Well, the op shop fairy was smiling on me that afternoon, because not only did it fit perfectly, but that was also the day I picked up my lilac suede skirt, and a beige suede skirt, both of which also fit me. I think this skirt and top look like they were made to go together!
Now having worn this skirt for half a day I can see why it was so unloved by its previous owner; the lining is made out of that particularly horrible lining fabric that clings to your legs in a very annoying cloying hair-raising way. I’m going to have to take it out and replace it, although this will be a refashion that will be invisible to the casual observer. Well, hopefully an invisible refashion anyhow. The skirt is perfect in every other way.
I have done a bit more work on my ballgown but will leave that for another day, for now here is an entry I submitted to the Polyvore eco-chic competition (all items recycled or fair-trade, and eco friendly), you can see the hold mustard and grey is having on me lately…
For me now it’s back to the office…
Details:
Top; own design, grey linen mix, refashioned from old 3/4 pants
Skirt; Millers, from Salvos op shop
Sandals; Vicenza, from Soletta shoes
Bag; Gucci
Husband sadly working all this long weekend so I’m planning to get a lot done on my ball-gown. Following is today’s effort…
Cut out the skirt pieces, sewed side seams, inserted the zip into the centre back. This sounds simple, but this is the point at which I thought I would break down and cry. Here’s what happened. In good seamstress fashion I put a brand spanking new needle into my sewing machine before sewing this fabric. The side seams and zip went in beautifully. Then, without even thinking, I put the seams through the overlocker to finish the edges. Hadn’t changed the overlocker needles! Doh! Now there are tiny thread-pull marks along the seams, that weren’t there before, thanks to the obviously blunt needles in the overlocker. It was a real oh-no! moment. There may or may not have been some bad language. Note to self; overlocker needles are needles too, you know. They’re not going to change themselves. I’m reassuring myself that probably no one at the ball but me will notice as the pulls are thankfully really tiny, but still… they didn’t even have to be there. Disappointed!
With right sides together sewed the skirt and its lining together around the bottom edge. This was done after much experimenting with different hemming techniques on scraps. I trialled rolled hemming (machine) and rolled hemming (overlocker) on the separate skirt and lining, then overlocker rolled hem on the two fabrics together. Neither was satisfactory. So I went with this method, which I think looks smooth and clean.
Trimmed the top to waist level and basted skirts closed.
Adjusted the corset top to the size I want it. Now, of course I originally used a version of Simplicity 9775 to help me cut this, although this is really a junior pattern and I still had to resize and reshape it to me, an adult woman size. And now its been altered and butchered even further. My point is this; can I really say this corset has been made using this pattern any more? The pattern pieces actually now bear no relation to any of the pattern pieces in the envelope. I often face this dilemma when citing pattern numbers in this blog, as my final garment is rarely exactly made up to the pattern, which I consider a starting point only. Anyone wishing to create something similar to my garments is going to have to bear this in mind when buying these patterns I’ve referenced. This is why I add the disclaimer, “own design” in the details of an outfit. Just saying.
Getting back to events; corset boning. Everyone knows to snip the edges of their boning into nicely rounded curves, right? To avoid nasty scratching from one’s own ball gown during your evening, this is a must do… Incidentally, this plastic boning is the only type I’ve ever seen, although I’ve now heard of steel boning I’ve never seen it anywhere. I think that’s because of living in sleepy lil’ ol’ Perth…
The next step will be to drape some fashion fabric attractively and chic-ly across the bodice, and I’m hoping to achieve some sort of wow factor here. This may or may not be my final outcome. Stay tuned to find out…
OK. This may not look like a lot of progress has been made, but it’s taken time nonetheless.
Firstly, the shot silk taffeta petticoat has been hemmed, by hand…
And the lining of the petticoat has been hemmed, by machine…
Then, since blogging about sewing machines and stuff recently I made time today to service my sewing machine …. (no picture, boring technical stuff)
Have cut out the lining of the overskirt, fitted it to myself, basted together…
And made two lining versions of the corset top, using Simplicity 9775, also fitted to me.
Doesn’t look very exciting I admit, but once I start adding the fashion fabric to the lining it will start to look like it’s on the home stretch.
Oh, the fashion parade last night? With my usual lack of loquaciousness…. wow.
No, just kidding, I was overwhelmed by the excitingness and interestingness of it all but I’ll try to remember enough to give a bit of an overview… Of course now I feel like my wardrobe is oh-so boring and I now want to concentrate on making more interesting stuff to complement it…
I wish I could have taken pictures, but I’ve located some of the garments we saw last night on www.style.com
My favourite portion was the Comme des Garcons garments; all khaki and air force blue, and interesting shapes like… Hmm imagine a sort of de-structured, military nun, and you’re getting some idea. Jackets like frankensteined trench coats, with mismatched fabric sleeves and random asymmetrical capelets, BIG midcalf pleated skirts; I laughed with my friend R that my old school uniform skirt was a big pleated navy blue skirt just like the ones we saw and we teenage girls refused to wear it, but instead opted for the tight pencil skirt a la Grease. Well, (shamefaced) it was the 80’s… If only I’d known I would have hung on to my old school skirt, it would be tres chic for this season!!
There were also some interesting light grey wool dresses with overlays of apricot pink chiffon, like the lining was on the outside of the dress. Formfitting, straight skirts below the knee; quite dreamy and pretty and so interesting (at right, Comme des Garcons, Fall 2009, from www.style.com).
There were also some “boyfriend” jackets in charcoal grey flannel that looked cosy and very wearable, slimline pants in khaki, air force blue and “greige”. I secretly congratulated myself I already have some greige gabardine sitting in my stash that I’m planning some winter pants for…
For spring Isabel Marant offered some lovely formfitting short lacy dresses, with navy and white striped nipped-in blazers; a look I’m planning to file away for spring…
The Marc Jacobs look I liked the best was the trench coat (woah!! I’m halfway there) belted over tartan/check chiffon dresses; the dresses were a little froufrou for my taste but I liked the tartan idea…
The Alexander McQueen dresses were very lovely. The parade I’d viewed on style.com had big stiffly structured dresses from vaguely skeletal aquatic reptilian printed fabrics that I thought were interesting but not particularly wearable; the versions that we saw last night used the same prints on soft jersey fabric, made up into very simply constructed short T-shirt dresses. Really lovely; unfussy beach-chic and perfect for the Australian lifestyle.
I noticed a simply stunning necklace that I may have a go at a DIY at some stage; a multi-stranded pearl and diamante necklace with a BIG diamante pendant…
Some of the colour combinations I liked; obviously the khaki and air force blue was my favourite and one I’ll be using for sure, but this winter I also will be experimenting with hot pink paired with charcoal grey; and mustard yellow with charcoal and light grey; forest green and teal blue; and light grey paired with big gold jewellery…
Photos below, left from Marc Jacobs spring/summer 09, centre from Alexander McQueen spring/summer 10. Imagine this McQueen print in a simple little T-shirt dress with cap sleeves, and that is what we saw…, and at right from Comme des Garcons fall 09, interesting details and mix of fabrics in this coat
Remember how I said I’m often inspired by high end fashion shoots in making my daily outfit choices? Well today I thought I’d share my inspiration shot with you today. This outfit was in this month’s Vogue Australia. Of course the original is Dolce and Gabbana head to foot and my version is low rent and handmade, but meh.
I don’t wear the black-and-white look very often but love this D&G outfit and was inspired to give it a go. Being from a European fashion shoot it’s a springtime outfit, and I do think of the black-and-white look as being a very spring-y colour choice. Now I’ve got it on though I’m very pleased with how this ensemble looks. I also thrilled at how this skirt, first posted here, is shaping up in my wardrobe. (And no, it’s not actually made from a lace tablecloth, but certainly inspired by them…!) When I made it I thought it would be too summery to wear outside of the summer months, but am feeling very comfortable in it today with socks and boots. It’s actually a tad warm for boots but I’m going on to a fashion parade tonight and the nights now are cool enough that my toes cry out for sock coverage… so a little overheating during the day is necessary here.
Speaking of fashion parades, I’m pretty excited about going tonight. There will be some very swish-o labels on parade, so I’ll be doing lots of mental note-taking. A sample of the labels promised are Isabel Marant, Alexander McQueen, Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons and Junya Watanabe. Yes, (air fist punch) Perth is finally getting some of the avant garde designs in stores! Of course we love our boring basics, like Country Road etc but we love us some international wow-stuff too…
Details:
Skirt; own design, stretch lace
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; Picnic
Boots; Sunday, Andrea and Joen, from Uggy’s in Dunsborough
Market basket; can’t remember where I got it from
