Mission Maxi!!

Hi!

Well two posts in one day. That's pretty crazy!! Anyway a couple days ago I had some free time so I decided to start on my mission maxi pattern I had recieved a few days earlier. I have seen soooo many people rave about this pattern, even though it's quite a simple one I had to try it out. And oh man, I am sooo so glad I did. It is fantastic. I think all up the dress took me 4 hours, maybe 5. Anyway, it would have been less had I not messed up one of the strap bindings. The longest step was getting my fabric on grain and straight and then cutting out. Seriously, that easy. I think this would be such a great beginners project. With a gorgeous comfy wearable end product. I don't want to sound snobby but I really hate the generic pillow case and elastic band skirts beginners are normally told to make. I spose fair enough one of the first things I ever sewed was an elastic skirt, but that was for a costume, and although it was easy it was definitely not what got me hooked on sewing. Sewing the tricky fitted bodice, from a weird idea in my head, to match the skirt is what got me hooked. The skirt was meh, the top was amazing, well at least it was relatively to my sewing skill back then. But reward is definitely a big part in getting me to sew :P and an elastic waist skirt isn't reward enough. Now a super amazing comfortable maxi dress that took me only a couple hours to sew. That is a reward. I fully intend to make more and more of these dresses. And to anyone out there considering this pattern. Definitely get it!!! And sew it up right away!
So anyway, here are some pics.

The fabric I used was stripey stretchy jersey stuff, I forget it's exact make up :) but it feels nice, is pretty thick and has cool pattern :D stripes rock!!

There weren't many alterations. After I had put everything together, I decided that it was a bit too loose so I just resewed the side seams twice. There were these weird bobbles around my hips that I flattened out aswell when I resewed the side seams. All the seams were done with my overlocker. It did it so well. It wasn't too keen on the fabric single layered but double layered was a breeze.
Looking at that picture above, I probably need to do a sway back adjustment, but it honestly doesn't bother me too much so I don't know if I will get around to it. :P

So anyway, verdict on this pattern is that it is awesome!!! I have already worn it maybe two days in a row :P so that definitely proves that this is a winner!
Laters!
:)

Apples and Pears Peplum Top

Hi!!

lol at the pose, but this is a cute fun top that deserves a cute fun pose. :D plus I needed to add something smiley, in all my other photos I look like such a  grump

So it's been a while. I did go through quite a sewing funk but I am definitely back on track. And making stuff that I truely love. This top in particular. I went to spotlight to buy fabric for a dinosaur costume, and they were having this massive sale. Including all this super cute japanese cotton with the cutest prints. So I bought a meter of this pear and apple fabric. There were two colour schemes and I had such a hard time deciding which one to go for. There was this blue and red and then a pink and dark green theme. At first I was drawn to the pink and green because I don't really have much pink and green clothes so I figured go for something you wounld't normally go for. But after much deliberating, the two girls at the counter were helping me out as well, one liked the pink and green but the other liked the blue and red lol, I went for the blue and red. Isn't it awesome!!!

The green fabric is actually the fabric that I bought for the dinosaur costume. I had tons left over so it made a great lining :)

Anyway, I have been in love with the peplum trend (hate to sound like a hipster) since before it really took hold, and while I am not a big fan of gathers at the waist (I feel it bulks up my waist a bit too much) I had to make this top. I've had it stuck in my head for a while now. Not the fabric, that was a happy coinsidense, but the design. The pattern I used as a base was the Pastille dress from the Colette sewing handbook. I love that pattern. This top is the third in carnation. Mind you I haven't used the skirt portion yet. Just the bodice pattern. I just love the sleeves, although again, didn't use it for this pattern.
So any way, mods to the pattern were no sleeves and dropping the neckline a tad and scoping out the back neck line (? not sure what the back neckline is called :P)

 I think I also had to bring in the sides a fair bit, this pattern seems to run a big large in the bodice area. Maybe because I think Colette cater to women with bigger boobs and mine are a little on the small side :P So since this is top, I didn't use the sirt portion of the pattern, instead I used a large rectangle which I then gathered and attached to the bodice. It's actually a couple of rectangle because I was running out of fabric, but I don't think you can really noticed the seams. I used an invisible zipper at the back, which I messed up at the bottom, but that is sort of lost in the gathers, thankfully.

 

I wore this top when my Mum and I went a watched 'A Chorus Line' which is playing in Perth at the moment. We went to dinner beforehand and had cocktails. That was delicious!! And with this top, a food baby is hidden very nicely :D.

 So definitely a success and I see many more peplum tops in my future :D:D. Also because of the head scarf I felt the need to do a Rosie the Riveter pose. Now to get some muscles so that pose is actually a bit more kick ass :P

Probably more effectively when the scarf ties aren't flopping over my head.

Laters!!!

MMM'12 Week 3

So here is my me-made stuff for Week 3.

Day 15:
I just wore my leather and plaid jacket on this day. Since I've already got a picture of that one, I didn't really feel like taking another one :)

Day 16:

Me-made skirt. The picture is a little dark so it just looks like any old black skirt, but it is actually a semi-sheer paisley fabric. I need to wear a skirt undernealth because in the sun it is a little see-through. I usually just wear a black stretchy tube skirt undernealth. It used to have a lining, but it was a little tight, and one day I got sick of constantly having to hitch in down so I ripped it out and now just wear my black tube skirt undernealth.

Day 17:

 I didn't wear anythign me-made during the day, but in the evening I went to go see Mary Poppins with my parents and my friend's mum. It was amazing, such a good show!!
ANy way, I wore my maroon pleated skirt. I love this skirt, so nice and swishy. It took forever to make though. All those pleats I pressed individually. I'm pretty sure I went through BBC's entire Planet Earth documentary series.

Day 18:

 I had another lab today that required long sleeves and pants, so I wore my black pants again. I wasn't planning to take a picture, but then I remembered, Friday's theme was green so I decided to take a picture so I could participate :P

Day 19:

 I went down south to the Groovin' the Moo festival with a couple friends and wore this brand new top. Made from the sorbetto pattern with a few modifications. Originally I wanted to put a fringe trim on the hem so I made it a little cropped. But then I didn't have enough trim so I had to change my plans. I ended up putting pleats at the front to cover my midriff a bit. Although it is still a little short at the front. The back has a longer curved hem so it's fine, its just the front. I just need to wear higher sitting pants with this top. It's made out of a super soft black frabic that is really comfy. The back needs a sway back adjustment (it wrinkles a fair bit) but I couldn't be bother so I just left it. It doesn't really bother me that much, it's supposed to be a loose top after all.

Day 20:

 So today I was recovering :P so it was definately a trackies kinda day. But because I didn't want to bomb out another day I put a me-made headband on.

Day 21:

Me made blue dress. This dress has a low back as well with bos over it that are supposed to cover my bra but don't so I put an in-built bra in it. So all good :) It's starting to get pretty cold. The days of wearing dressing without leggings and tights are almost gone :(

Anyway almost through this challenge. It was surprisingly easy following through with it. Although I don't think I'd be able to do the full on challenge of only me-made stuff. Well maybe in the summer, when all I need to wear are dresses :)

Kaylee Costume - Part 1

So in June the Supernova convention is coming to Perth. And I'm going!!! SO excited. My friend and I are dressing up (as you do for these sorts of things) and I'm going as Kaylee from Firefly (She's going as Leeloo from The Fifth Element). Firefly is one of my favourite shows ever, and I still get depressed about the fact that there where only 14 episodes :( Anyway, I choose Kaylee because her outfit will be pretty easy to make up, basically just khaki coveralls, boots and a flowered long sleeved t-shirt. Also because she is one of my favourite characters ever. She's always so happy and cheerful and she's a kick ass mechanic. I do mechanical engineering at uni, so I reckon it's pretty cool :P.

Plus her hair is similar to mine so I won't need to wear a wig.
Anyway, this morning I got my coveralls that I bought off ebay in the post :D I tried looking for coveralls at a couple op-shops around the place, but I guess people don't really donate those things. They are pretty expensive new in the shops and I suppose used ones will be covered in too my oil and grease to donate. Mind you I wouldn't have minded a grease-and-oil covered one, would have been more authentic :D
So I tried it on. Not going to show you a picture because it is waayyy to tight in all the wrong places.

Bleh, while the waist and bust fits fine, this is a mens jumpsuit so does not allow for my rather large hips and butt.  Another problem is, I have quite a long torso, so it's basically pushing up on my crotch and down on my shoulders. I couldn't sit in this thing thats how bad it was.

So first things first, I cut off the sleeves. Probably the easiest alteration for this thing. Then I figured I needed to lengthen the torso some how. TO do it at the bottom would be much to tricky (all the seams are flatfelled - its a pretty good quality jumpsuit, well made I'd say, I feel sort of bad hacking it up :P ) so I decided I would have to lengthen it at the top. 

I cut across the shoulders at the back and added a rectangle of sleeve fabric, thus lengthening the back. The I tried it on. Soooo much better already, although I could use a little more room. So unpick and add another rectangle, now I ahve plenty of room at the back, too much even and still not enough at the front. Because I added all this room at the back the collar is now tugging down on my neck. That had me stumped for a while til I added an extra bit to it, at the center back. You can see it here.

Haha, it needs a bit of an iron and the seams need finishing, but it works!!! I also removed one of the chest pockets, as Kaylee's only has one.

 

Aaaand another bathroom mirror shot to show you how it fits now. Can't really see too much of a difference, but believe me there is!! I can actually sit down in the thing now. Which is nice. 

Next I need to finish the seams and the sleeves, add some patchs and some dirt!! I would also like to replace the snaps with a zip to make it more authentic, but I think I will only do that if I have time :)

Day 4 - Flowers

So I love flowers. I take a lot of photos of flowers. They are soo pretty and have such interesting shapes and such beautiful colours. However, I also love mushrooms, and since I have a ton of flower photos I figured I will feature a mushroom for this day's photo. Mushrooms are sorta like flowers...... :P
So for this photo I flipped my lens around to turn it into a macro lens. Which is such a good idea!! Makes a simple lens so much more versitile.
I was wondering around my garden looking for a pretty flower to photograph and I saw these two little guys sitting on the grass. Don't they have the most fantastic textures. Beautiful. I love mushrooms :)

 

You can see my Flickr page for a bigger picture :) 

Me-Made-May '12 Week 2

Hi!
So the second week of MMM'12 is over with. Past halfway now :) (sorta)
Anyway, onto the outfits!

Day 8:

Me-Made: Stripey dress.
This dress is probably my favourite dress ever!! It's flattering and very comfortable. Which is pretty much the magic combination isn't it. I wore this for a day at uni and then I had to go to a friend's birthday dinner straight after uni. It was pretty comfortable and looked good with my new boots (which I love love love!! They are totally kick arse, and have a hidden wedge heel, and although it's sorta high they are surprisingly comfortable. Yay!)
My lovely mum took this picture. Which is a lot quicker and easier then having to prop my camera up on the table and use self timer :)

Day 9:

Me-Made: Black Pants
I had a lab at uni that day so I needed to wear long sleeves and long pants. (I changed into long sleeves later) I don't actually have any me-made long sleeved tops so it had to be long pants, and these are the only pair of me-made long pants I have. So no brainer really. These pants are actually high waisted. I finished them just before I had to go to a job induction (buisness casual dress code), so the waistband is a little messed up. My first time putting belt loops on something, I completely stuffed it up. They are all over the place. At least I figured out how not to do them now :P I think that is one of the pitfalls of trail and error sewing :P I'm too impatient to read how to do it in books and on the net, I like to jump straight into it and figure it out myself. Any how, if I don't wear these pants high waisted you can't really see the messed up belt loops so no worries.
The fabric is pretty cool, it's some polyester thing but it has the coolest square pattern, which you can sorta see in the picture. My friend told me I can't wear these as buisness casual work pants because the squares are a little out there, but you can't really notice them and I reckon it's a little different which is nice. I should probably save this pondering on the post about these pants but who knows when I'll get around to that :P Moving on....

Day 10:

Me-Made (not quite, me-altered more like): Purple/grey dress
This dress started life as a long sleeved tunic/dress thing shaped like a sack. It was comfy but not very flattering, so I cut the sleeves off and cut it at the waist. Then pleated the skirt bit and sewed it back together. Actually this might have been the first thing I ever did with my overlocker. Not sure though :P Anyway, it's super comfy and technically not me-made and although I didn't specify in my challenge declaration that I would could wear altered stuff (this is pretty much the only altered piece of clothing I have anyway) I'm still counting it. Becaase it is my challenge afterall :P
So yeah, this day was a lazy day (I'm sure you can tell from the uggs, bun and tights) and this is the perfect lazy day dress. This dress also works dressed up, but I still need to get around the finishing off the sleeves :S

Day 11:

Me-Made: Yellow African Print Top
So the previous day I was bored and wanted a quick and easy sewing project. Which produced this. I need a lot more me-made separates, so I've been trying to think of cool top and skirt designs. Anyway, this is just a simple A-line sleeve-less top. I used the Danielle pattern bodice from Burdastyle (one of my favourites!!) and just added an A-line bitfrom waist to hips. The back has a curved hem (see pic below) which I have decided I really like the look of. It has an invisible zipper on the side.

Side view: I did a bit of a sway back adjustment but it was last minute so not completely effective, you can't really tell in this photo but there is still a bit of a crinkle on my lower due to my booty :P

The fabric my dad bought for me in Africa and he bought about 6 or 8 yards of it (it came pre-packaged) I forget how much exactly. So that's about, 5.5 to 7 m. So tonnes!!! It's such a cool colour, funky pattern, wax printed material, possibly cotton(?). I love anything with yellow in it so definitely a winner. He also bought back this funky parrot patterned wax fabric which has green and red all through it. Even louder then this one. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to make with it. So far I've used it to line a black skirt.


Day 12:
Hmmm, well, umm, I fell off the wagon on this day. It was Saturday and I work half the day (at a swimmign pool) so when I get home, I generally don't want to wear anything fancy. And most of the stuff I have made isn't really the lounge-around-in-my-uggs-all-day type of stuff. The Saturday before this one I was lucky because I had a 21st so my me-made was the party dress I wore to that. Didn't have anything on this Saturday :P

Day 13:

 

Me-made: Stripey Kimono top.

My first repeat. Pretty good effort so far I reckon. Sorry for the bad messy bedroom photo, but since I've already worn this and I was only wearing my trackies and uggs with it, I figured and nice photo outside wasn't necessary.

Day 14:

Me-Made: Lacy Top
Phew!! Day 14 already, almost half way through. SO this top is one of my proudest achievements. I sewed it about 2 years ago maybe, (I started sewing about 3 years ago - ish) so 2 years ago I wasn't the best. But this turned out sooo much better then expected. The lace is from an old curtain I picked up at an op-shop and the white is just t-shirt jersey material from Spotlight. Anyway after I made it I got soo many compliments, and questions along the lines of "Omg! Where did you get that top?!" and when I said I made it people couldn't believe it. Yeah, maybe that's a bit proud or whatever, but it was the best thing I made at that time for a while (I have a lot of sewing fails) so I was pretty happy.
Any how I still love it, and up until this day, had never really worn it casually, but I really like the looks so I reckon this will be worn a lot more. So yay for Me-Made-May!!

Wow, that was a loooong post. It's so hard to get myself to sit down and write (I'm definitely not a writer, give me a long maths problem over an essay question any day) but once I start writing, the words just gush out. I guess I just love to talk about sewing and the stuff I've made.
Maybe if I have this much to say about my handmade clothes I should do MMM wrap up posts twice a week instead of one. Then it isn't so much text to read at once.

See you later :)

Just Quickly

So I started a little photo blog to document my photo taking stuff, but I didn't want to run two separate blogs, so I have combined the two. This blog will not be just for sewing exclusively, but rather for anything that takes my fancy :)