Orchids in May

Moving my blog...

2010-03-18T21:19:00.005+11:00

I've decided to move my blog. From now on you can find all posts here:

http://orchidsinmay.typepad.com/orchids-in-may/

My Hen's Night

2010-03-10T15:25:00.001+11:00

For my Hen’s Night, my bridesmaids organised an awesome night of teppanyaki & karaoke. The only thing I had to do was organise an outfit that would fit in with the theme of ‘a touch of Japan’.

I decided to make something from the Japanese pattern books my (now) husband bought me for Uke Christmas. I picked a design that added a big bow into the front of a standard fitted bodice block. I modified it slightly so that the bow would be at the back instead of the front. Anyway, here are the pictures & details;

What I’m wearing: Self-made dress, Karen Millen shoes & bag.
Pattern used: Self-drawn, based on basic fitted bodice block with a gathered A-line skirt.
Fabric used: Silk from Spotlight
Cost: This dress used about 4 metres of silk in total, so it cost me about $120.
What I like: The hidden pink in the bow. I also really like the length of the skirt. It’s just that tiny bit shorter than what I normally wear, which kind of fit the feel of the night.
What I don’t like: I’m not sure if we ended up tying the bow correctly (after all that effort) as all the instructions are in Japanese & it didn’t look quite like the pictures.

For all the knitting Nancys out there.

2010-02-16T19:25:00.001+11:00

Alice Euphemia are stocking some funky knitting patterns from Nikki Gabriel.

http://www.aliceeuphemia.com/news/?p=1131

I have the best bridesmaids IN THE WORLD!!!

2010-02-10T20:59:00.001+11:00

I would like to send a massive thank-you out to my two beautiful bridesmaids, who have gone above & beyond to produce these BEAUTIFUL invitations for my hen's party! Yes they are actually invitations! I have had NO idea as to what my bridesmaids were planning for my hen's party & when these arrived in the mail I was VERY intrigued. Each lovely piece of origami opens out into a beautifully printed invitation. I was SOOOO excited when I received them. I thought the pink, suggestively shaped piece of origami was a rather nice touch, (it also made me laugh because it made me think of that skit at the end of the first Austen Powers movie) - well done girls.

I must admit I was very afraid to open them up for fear that I may not be able to re-create the origami shapes, but I opened them & was actually able to re-fold them (correctly, I think). YAY!

Anyway, in case you haven't noticed from the large number of words in uppercase in this blog, I am really excited about my hen's party. Now I just have to dream up an outfit that fits with the 'A Touch of Japan' theme. Awesome.

The Great Gatsby

2010-02-02T22:11:00.001+11:00

A friend of ours is having a great gatsby birthday party soon & I'm very excited to be planning my outfit! Here is a collection of images I'll be using as inspiration.

I wonder if it's too late to change our wedding cake...

2010-01-27T18:16:00.003+11:00

Cake Wrecks (one of my favourite blogs to check out on a lazy Sunday afternoon) has posted an awesome geeky wedding cakes, you can find it here.

Sitting on the couch with my fiance this is pretty much how my response played out...

"OMG that Mario cake is SO freakin’ awesome! AND it comes with extra cakes. I wonder if it’s too late to change our order…

The pixellated Zelda & Princess cupcakes are also pretty sweet*.

*Nice pun, heh?"

'The Dress' Status Update - COMPLETE!!! (Almost)

2010-01-26T17:20:00.001+11:00

I’m very happy to say that today my mother & I did my final fitting of my wedding dress & we put the pieces of it together.

There are a few small things to be done, there are some buttons that still need to be hand sewn on & we will need to put in a couple of small handstitches here & there to ensure everything sits EXACTLY the way it should, but all the machine sewing is complete. My mum has ever so kindly offered to sew the buttons on this week & we’ll put in the last little stitches in a final fitting shortly before the wedding. So rest assured people, I will not be walking down the aisle naked in March.

I’m feeling really good having finished all the machine sewn bits, I won’t go into too much detail now about it (for fear of spoiling the surprise) but I’ll be put up a few big posts after the wedding with pictures & all.

Ahhh… relaxation at last… Oh wait, bridesmaids… Crap! Better get back to it!*

*Just joking H & V - your dresses are under control :)

‘The Dress’ Status Update - BUTTONS, BUTTONS, BUTTONS!

2010-01-25T22:19:00.007+11:00

What a week! This week I covered 60, (yes 60!) teensy, tiny, buttons for my wedding dress.

I looked for a little while to see if I could find a button covering service that would do it for me, but all the ones I found were closed over the Christmas break. So I bought a whole heap of the ‘self-cover’ buttons from Darn Cheap Fabrics.

It took me a little while to work out the best way to put them together. I first followed the method they recommended on the packet, which involved using a gather stitch around the very edge of the circle of fabric, then gathering that around the shaft of the button, before pushing a small cog down the shaft to hold the fabric in place.

Being the impatient creature that I am I decided there was no way I was going to hand-stitch around 60 little silk circles, so I tried one on the machine, it was a complete failure. To begin with the gather stitch was too long for the size of the circle, then it was too hard to turn it underneath the foot. Finally when I finished sewing & tried to gather it, the thread just pulled out the silk weave leaving me with a frayed mess. FAIL!

Instead I found a small cardboard tube, roughly the same diameter as the buttons. I would lay the silk circles over the hole in the tube, push the button into the tube, stuff the excess fabric into the button & then push the little cog down to hold it in place. This method worked a treat.

Now I’m sure there’s some sewing goddess out there who always does things the way they are meant to be done & who is eternally patient. I’m sure this impossible person will go on to tell me that I should have done it the way I was told to. That the sides of the buttons would be more even, no creases anywhere, the buttons would last longer & so on. But, these buttons only need to last one day, nobody is looking at the sides & I like the way they look. Which is, I guess, the most important thing.

2010 Malanka Dress No.1

2010-01-25T22:18:00.002+11:00

So after all the drama… here is rundown on the outfit I wore to Geelong Malanka.

What I’m wearing: Self-made dress, Karen Millen shoes & bag.
Pattern used: Not sure, because I can’t find it :S
Fabric used: Embroidered cotton blend for the skirt, silk for the waistband (I couldn’t believe it either - it almost looks like denim) & silk satin for the halter neck. All from Stitches in Armadale (one of my favourite fabric stores).
Cost: This one was a little more expensive than normal, the embroidered cotton blend was $143 a metre, the ‘denim’ silk was $130 a metre & the silk satin was $44 a metre. I worked with the ladies in the store to work out exactly how much I would need even though I didn’t have the pattern with me, so the total ended up at $184.40.
What I like: The colours of the skirt, it was quite warm that day & I felt really cool in this dress. It’s strange but I think the colours help with that…
What I don’t like: I had a lot of trouble with the halter neck & getting it to sit right. My fit model is broken at the moment & I find it REALLY hard to fit this kind of stuff on myself. I’m still not completely happy with it, it still gaps & creases a little in places.
What’s next: Project Bridesmaids…

WHOOPS!

2010-01-25T16:24:00.004+11:00

So you may be wondering why my posts have been a little absent in the last couple of weeks, and also why I failed to post pics of my Malanka dresses, WELL, I had a little accident at Geelong Malanka (the first one) that rendered my left arm useless for a couple of weeks...

I bought a lovely new pair of shoes from Karen Millen (with matching purse), but I was in a rush & failed to get them re-soled with proper grippy soles. I think you can see where this story is headed, but I'm relive it for embarrassment's sake...

I was having a lovely time chatting away at Malanka... My friends had just set up the food on our table & came & told me. I was hungry so headed on over. I had to cross the dance floor to get there. I took one step out onto the dance floor before slipping (in quite a spectacular fashion), & I landed flat on my back*. I lay there for a good 5 minutes before I could work out what I'd actually done. It ended up that I'd bruised my coccyx (?), & sprained my arm very badly**.

There was some good news though - I managed to fall and land without spilling my untouched drink!

The worst news was that I had to break my shoe rule of 'if you wear them there, you wear them all night AND you wear them home'. I did still wear my shoes home - I just couldn't wear them on the dance floor :(

Despite the dramas and rule-breaking, it was a wonderful night anyway, we danced, drank, sang & jumped on stage with the band.

I'll put up pictures of the dress I wore later in the week.

* My friend later told me that she didn't know it was me that had fallen & only saw the shoes on my feet. She thought 'what lovely shoes'. All of a sudden I felt like the witch that gets crushed by the house in the Wizard of Oz (or the hilarious parody in Anthology of Interest 2 - Futurama), don't ask me why, but it made me laugh...

** I didn't actually find this out until the next morning, when I finally decided I should go the emergency room to get it checked. Whoops...

Invisible Zips. Grrrr! Oh... maybe not so grrr...

2010-01-25T12:21:00.002+11:00

Today I sewed an invisible zip into a dress for the first time...

You might say that I probably could have picked something a little less risky than one of my bridesmaids dresses to try this new technique, but that's just the way I roll, :P

I had a look online for a video showing me how, (here), and I was surprised at how simple it looked. I guess I should explain...

Everytime my mum made me a dress that needed an invisible zip, she fussed & huffed & puffed, and she put the zip in. She never liked it though, and you always heard about how much she didn't like them. So naturally I was petrified of putting in an invisible zip.

Since I tend to belong to the sewing school of "Oh my god it's Wednesday & I need a dress for Friday QUICK! Fabric! Sew & then I'll throw in the zip & hem it, while I'm sitting in my bathrobe with my hair & make-up done, ready to throw it on & rush out the door on Friday night", I've remained petrified of putting in an invisible zip, and never had the time to try it properly. But today I did it & it was really nice & easy & it looked nice & I don't know why it's taken me so long to work this out!

New Website

2010-01-24T21:48:00.004+11:00

I've created a tumblr account but I'm not sure yet whether I like it or not... :S

So for the next couple of months I'll be maintaining this site & the tumblr account, until I decide which I prefer.

Here'e the tumblr address:

http://orchidsinmay.tumblr.com/

A quick & easy summer skirt

2010-01-11T18:23:00.003+11:00

With production of my wedding dress temporarily on hold last week, I made a couple of other quick & easy items.

The first was this skirt. About a month back when I was looking for fabric for my bridesmaids I found a beautiful Salvatore Ferragamo silk. So I bought 1.5m & put it aside for a little while. With the hot weather this month, I thought the silk would be perfect for a nice light summer skirt.

What: I'm wearing: Self-made silk skirt, Cotton On top, Cosgrove & Beasley bag, Marc Jacob shoes, Tom Ford sunglasses.
Pattern used: An old one I 'borrowed' from my mother's collection (Butterick 5896)
Cost: This one was a little more expensive than normal, the silk was $80 a metre, I lined it with some lining I had left over from another skirt I made a while back & it didn't need any notions, all in all it cost $120.
What I like: How light & breezy this is. It really kept me cool! It's also really versatile. I wore this out to dinner & drinks for a friends going away, & then the next day dressed it down with a singlet & sandals for my weekend errands. I think I'll wear it to work this week too, it was 43C today & will be 36C tomorrow, so I'll need something cool. Wearing this skirt, also makes me feel like I'm on the set of Roman Holiday!
What I don't like: Not much, I really love this skirt!
What next: Malanka Dresses!

Uki Christmas is the Best Christmas...

2010-01-07T20:20:00.008+11:00

Today is Ukrainian Christmas Day, which means I got a visit from Ukrainian Santa this morning. Uki Santa is the best! Look what I got.... Pattern Books!

I saw these books in a fabric store recently & when I asked to buy some the girl told me that they weren't for sale & were only for display. I was devastated... until I found them online. EXCITEMENT.

Here are some of my favourite designs:

You've probably noticed that the books are actually in Japanese so they do take a little bit of extra effort to work out that they are doing, but they are still pretty cool. I'm hoping to give some of the more wearable designs in coming months (realistically I won't get a chance until after the wedding).

If you'd like to buy them you can find them at Tessuti Fabrics in Sydney or Melbourne or also online here. The books are called 'Pattern Magic' & 'Pattern Magic Vol. 2'.

New Year's Eve Outfit Post

2010-01-03T22:41:00.006+11:00

My fiance & I spent new year's eve chilling at a friend's house this/last year.

It was incredibly hot in the afternoon before a massive storm later in the evening. So we played in the pool before changing for dinner & new years drinks. It was a great evening & we had an awesome time. Here's what I wore, post poolside hi-jinks. Homemade pants, Kookai lightweight wool top, Mimco fobwatch bracelet & my shoes of the moment, Marc Jacobs Misplaced Heels.

A quick word about the pants. They are fantastic! I used this fabric to make a jacket from a Yamamoto pattern a few months ago & had a heap left over so decided to make a pair of wide leg evening pants. I was feeling really lazy that day so just put in a elasticated waist.BEST DECISION EVER. They are super comfortable, (this may have something to do with the fact that they're essentially pyjama pants), & still look quite elegant (in my mind anyway). They are great on a hot night because their quite cool & last but certainly not least, they don't crease!

I'd seriously recommend you make a pair yourself if you can. They are so easy - you can whip them up in a couple of hours & I love mine!

* Apologies for the awful photo, I look a bit 'deer in headlights' don't I?!

'The Dress' Status Update - DISASTER!

2010-01-03T20:01:00.009+11:00

Today was not a good day for sewing...

Whilst fitting my dress today with my mum, I pricked my finger on a pin* & bled on the lining of the dress**. Mum & I spent the next 10mins frantically trying to blot the lining with a damp cloth without touching the silk for fear of staining it & then drying it with a hairdryer!

The whole scene was quite ridiculous, but the crisis was averted.

Not three hours later, whilst switching to a different stitch to finish a seam, the stitch style selector knob on my sewing machine broke! I was most upset & could not immediately fix it. Luckily, the crisis was once again averted as I'm staying at my parent's house to sew my dress, so my Mum quickly set up her machine & we continued on.

Unfortunately the third crisis got the better of us. Mum was sewing together some very delicate lace pieces with a very small stitch & accidently sewed the wrong pieces together, leading to a seam on the 'outside'. Because of the delicate nature of the lace & the very small stitches it cannot be unpicked without destroying the lace, so we will have to head back to the fabric store later in the week & buy some more lace. Needless to say my Mum was most upset about the whole ordeal, but I'm positive we can fix it.

Tomorrow I will finish as much as possible & then wait for the fabric store to re-open after their Christmas break before heading back with Mum & getting some more lace.

*Like my favourite Disney princess***.
**Unlike my favourite Disney princess who fell asleep for 100 years
***In case you were wondering my favourite non-Disney princess is from the fairytale 'The Princess & The Pea'. Yes there is a girl inside this engineer :)

'The Shoes'

2010-01-02T21:56:00.010+11:00

I realised today that there are nine weeks left until my fiance & I get married... And I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't even considered what shoes I will wear, (shock horror).

So tonight I frantically searched the Internet for options and now I'm torn... My dress is quite long & so chances are you won't really see the shoes I'll be wearing, so the question I have to ask is do I go for something more traditional, even though I will probably never have any need to wear ivory shoes again or do I get something a little bit crazy that I'll definitely wear again, but may not really be classed as 'wedding shoes'. HELP ME!!!

Here are my favourites at the moment on the traditional front:

Christian Louboutin 100s

Manolo Blahnik "Carolyne" Slingbacks

Alan Pinkus "Belle"

Here are my options for something a little less traditional, I love red, but I also don't have my something blue yet so I thought these would be interesting...

Manolo Blahnik "Something Blue" Pumps

Viktor & Rolf Pumps
Thakoon Mirror Mosaic Sandles (outrageously expensive, but still super cool... come on super sale!)

'The Dress' Status Update - Corset Complete

2010-01-02T09:45:00.004+11:00

This week is my wedding dress week. I hope to have the dress (almost) complete by the 4th of January. It will still be missing some buttons (I'm getting custom silk covered buttons ordered in) & won't have been hemmed (because I have been lazy & haven't got my shoes yet...). But both of those jobs are fairly easy & won't take too long.

I finished the corset section this morning. It's more structural than anything and will hold the dress (mainly the skirt) up, so that the load of 10m of silk won't be transferred to some of the more delicate fabrics I'm using. Even so, I'm not going to post any pictures until after the wedding (sorry girls). In the mean time though, here are some shots that my mother took today 'to prove that I actually made it'.

Today I'll be cutting out the skirt & sewing it. Tomorrow will be the top section & finishing. I might get a chance to do the veil too.

Later this week I'll also start work on the Malanka* ball dresses. There will be two this year, a short semi-formal one for Geelong & a long evening gown for the masquerade ball in Melbourne. I'll try & take some photos to upload.

*Malanka is the name of old calender new years eve in Ukraine. My fiance is Ukrainian & every year in Melbourne & Geelong there are big parties to celebrate.

Karen Millen

2009-12-31T14:11:00.005+11:00

One of my favourite stores at the moment is Karen Millen.

It's one of my favourites for a few reasons, firstly, the clothes there are really well made with good fabrics. For instance, everything is lined. You might think I sound really old fashioned for admiring this, but I've found as many companies try to cut costs, the lining of dresses & tops is one of the first things to go.
The second reason I like them is the patterns, everything is cut well, (for my shape anyway :P), there are no odd bumps or lumps. If I could make patterns like that, I would be a very happy camper... (or seamstress...)
The final & perhaps one of the greatest reasons why I like Karen Millen is they sell whole outfits. You can buy a nice dress & jacket there, but then you can also pick up matching shoes, bags & belts. The accessories aren't just in the same colour, they are well matched, often covered in the same fabric, picking up the details of the jewels or patterns used in the dresses.

Needless to say, when I was in a frantic rush to find a dress, because I hadn't had a chance to make one & was flying out to Canberra at lunchtime to go to a wedding, this store was my first & only choice.

In the pictures I'm wearing dress & belt from Karen Millen, shoes from Wittner*, bag from Target ($8 - one of the best bargains I've had all year).

*OMG the most painful shoes I have ever worn! They are not shaped very well at all & all the pressure is concentrated at the back of the balls of your feet (right near the arch). Also the toe points up a bit so you don't really have any contact on the ground with your toes. It's my own fault really, when I bought them I was in a super-hurry & wanted black patent pumps NOW, so I didn't spend the time I should of testing the comfort factor.

Bridesmaids

2009-12-05T21:26:00.004+11:00

Now that I have my wedding dress somewhat organised it's time to move onto the more difficult terrain of dressing two of my closest friends who have kindly agreed to be my bridesmaids.

Bridesmaids dresses are so difficult. I don't like the idea of dressing two girls in the exact same outfit when their sense of style & personalities are so very different. I'm a big fan of different dresses in the same fabric or matching fabrics. At the same time I want them to both look like part of the bridal party & not just another guest. Both of my girlfriends are in their mid-20s so I also wanted to avoid putting them in a dress that made them look like they were off to a high school formal. Add to all of that a fear of imposing upon your friends or worse still putting them in a dress that they consider equivalent to a peach taffeta nightmare, & you can see why this was stressing me out more than my own dress.

Thank-fully I have been very lucky. My girlfriends have so far been remarkably patient & open-minded, the best kind of bridesmaids!). The three of us have very different tastes in fashion so it has made shopping for fabrics & selecting dress styles quite challenging, but I think we have finally reached agreement on the design of the dress.

The girls will have different dresses with a similar style. The setting for our wedding is an old mansion & gardens so the general style is still quite traditional, so we selected a couple of vintage patterns for the dresses.

Without further ado, here are the designs:

Patterns: Butterick B4918 & Vogue V2962

We haven't really decided what the decorations will be. Possibly fabric flowers, beads, crystals, who knows, but we'll find something that we all like.

Tomorrow I'll be making toiles for the girls, I'll post some more pictures when the girls try them on. Once the toiles have been adjusted I'll have to transfer adjustments back to the patterns & move on to the official dresses.

My new favourite shoes!

2009-12-02T18:28:00.008+11:00

It was my engagement party on the weekend & because I like to wear new shoes on special occasions, I ordered a pair of shoes I'd been lusting after for quite some time now... a pair of Marc Jacobs misplaced heels.

I have to say they were worth every single penny! Yes, they felt a little weird at first but after 5 mins they were SUPER easy to walk in. Plus they looked fantastic. I love how abstract they are, I love how plain & simple the shoe is but just by moving the heel, they suddenly look like they are from another dimension.

I was also amazed at how many people, who normally never notice or comment on fashion*, were commenting on them. I think more photos were taken of my shoes than of my fiance & I, which felt kind of weird given it was our engagement party. The boys from my work are still talking about them - I might wear them again to the Christmas party just to freak them out some more!

I love these shoes, I'm so happy I spent the money to buy them, I don't care that they were expensive because they are works of art. Everyone I spoke to loved them because they'd never seen anything like it before. I think that's what makes these shoes so wonderful, in a world filled with knock-offs & 'inspired-by's, these shoes are completely fresh & original.

For me this is one of the things that links engineering & fashion for me. I love moments in both fields when somebody does something different. They turn the world on it's head, do something completely original and yet once revealed it seems so simple & ingenious, we wonder how it was that we never even thought of it.

* Most of my friends are engineers, for many of them fashion is weird thing that only has relevance in a distant world, many light years away.

The Dress

2009-11-02T17:18:00.007+11:00

Over the last couple of weekends I've spent hours & hours (roughly 5 hours counts as hours & hours right?) in bridal stores around Melbourne looking for 'The Dress'. I love shopping, I love putting on beautiful things & parading around. I thought this would be fun, this would be a great laugh. I'd try on a few silly yuk dresses to make my girlfriends roll around on the floor laughing, before emerging in 'The Dress'. I was wrong.

After my hours & hours (5 or maybe 6) spread over two weekends I was exhausted. I was sick of being belittled & treated like a child by overbearing sales assistants. I didn't want to see another puffy drop-waisted dress that used copious amounts of beading & lace to cover up bad seam lines. I was tired of being lectured about how close my wedding is & how hard it will be for them to make a dress in 4 months. If that was the case why did you even give me an appointment?! I was completely deflated.

BUT... I refused to have a complete nervous breakdown*. After the last shop, my mother, the queen of tact & timing, suggested we take a break & go look at fabrics for the bridesmaids, (I'm making their dresses). I agreed & we went to one of my favourite fabric stores in the city. Eventually we started looking through the patterns and there it was. Superb! A pattern that was very nearly the exact dress I wanted... From there things just kept rolling, it was one stroke of luck following another, before I knew it I had found another couple of patterns which I could use for modify the first pattern to get it to the exact dress I wanted! Brilliant! I knew it was meant to be when I went to pay & it was only $20 because they were all on sale! Then my darling Mother reminded me that my Dad is going to China in a week & could pick up the silk for me over there on the cheap. Suddenly I was on top of the world. I was enjoying myself again.

To celebrate I took my wonderful Mother to Bistro Vue, (my favourite french bistro in Melbourne), where we sipped Veuve, enjoyed our lunches & and got excited about my wedding all over again.

* That evening I was explaining the days trials & tribulations to a friend who in turn told me about a girl she'd been maid of honor for. My poor friend had been dragged around to dress shops every single weekend for two months, before the girl decided that the first dress she'd tried on was in fact the one for her. I'm so glad I didn't break down, my friend is an absolute angel, I don't know how she did it.

EXCITEMENT!!!

2009-10-17T08:15:00.005+11:00

So I've been quite busy lately & have neglected the blog somewhat, but I have a good excuse. I got engaged a month ago!

The last few weeks have been drifted by in a haze of champagne & parties & we haven't even had the engagement party! Somehow though we've made an enormous number of decisions in just a couple of weeks. We've even picked a venue & booked it. The best bit is there's less than 6 months until the wedding!

Now I'm super excited because with all the big decisions out of the way, this weekend will be filled with oooos & ahhhhs as I hit the shops with my mum & bridesmaids to find a dress. I've spent the better part of the last week trawling the internet & flicking through magazines looking for dresses I would wear. Here are some dresses I've fallen in love with;

Oscar de la Renta

Elie Saab

I promised myself...

2009-09-01T19:01:00.003+10:00

...that I wouldn't buy anymore fabric until I'd used what I have.

I have wardrobe with quite a large amount of fabric hanging up. I have a nasty habit of buying more fabric than I will need if I go to the fabric store, or worse still picking up a couple of metres of that cute fabric that I'm sure I'll find something to make with when I get home. So I made myself a promise that I would find fun ways to use the fabric I had before buying a whole heap more.

On the weekend though I was quite innocently browsing through the Chapel St bazaar with G. & stumbled across a vintage fabric store. I resisted all the beautiful vintage 60s & 70s haberdashery fabrics that I've been dying to make a cute little pair of shorts out of and (thanks to the extraordinary price tags) my willpower held true when I saw the gorgeous 30s prints that were just dying to be turned into knee-length gathered wrap skirts a la Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. However I found when I found 2m of this vintage 50s wool for $35 I couldn't hold out any longer.

I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet. That's for later...

Purple Haze

2009-08-31T21:51:00.005+10:00

I've made a couple of very simple dresses recently. This one was actually made with some cheap fabric that I had lying around as a practice for a pattern I downloaded. I had originally planned to make this from a nice soft lightweight wool, but wanted to check the pattern first. Funnily enough I ended up liking this one, but sometimes the full block colour is a bit much for me. I'm still getting used to wearing dresses that aren't all black or patterned. Apologies for the grainy quality of some of the pictures, I changed some settings on my camera & am trying to work out how to get back to what it was. :S

What: I'm wearing: Self-made purple dress, Zoe Wittner lace-up boots.
Pattern used: Downloaded from Burda Style - Anda #7969
Cost: Probably about $10-15. I think the fabric was about $4/m because I bought 4m to make various things. I think I used about 1.5m. The pattern cost me $3.50. I also used some black thread & a bit of interfacing.
What I like: The little bits of detailing I decided to add around all the seams. Granted this was largely because I was too lazy to drive to Spotlight & buy thread in a matching colour, but I actually think it worked quite well, particularly with the matching tie belt.
What I don't like: The stiffness of the fabric. I think is pattern is a little better suited to softer fabrics. A lightweight wool, or stretch jersey.
What next: I'm going to make the same dress in a black lightweight wool. I also saw a similar dress in Decjuba recently but the waist of the dress was defined by a braid that brought the skirt & top section together. It was a really interesting design feature & I've been thinking about how I could incorporate something like this into a top or dress myself.

Quick Update

2009-08-28T21:27:00.002+10:00

It's been a while since I've posted, work has been hectic, & I've been trying to squeeze in some more ski trips before the season ends & after this week it looks like it might last a little longer!

I've been going to pattern making classes each week & I'm halfway through the course. It's been great, so far I've made a basic skirt block & turned it into patterns for 3 different styles of skirt. This week we made a trouser block & next week we are making it into a pattern. I'm super keen to sew that up, because I've never found a trouser pattern that really suits my body shape so I'm hoping that this one will be better.

I've finished a few of my projects & so will take some photos this weekend & post them.

Blossoms

2009-08-15T15:28:00.005+10:00

One of my favourite days of the year often occurs August. On this day, the sky is bright blue, the air is crisp & cool, the sun is out & I first notice that all the cherry blossom trees that line the streets around my house have burst into full bloom overnight. This day always leaves me floating on a cloud. Everything is new & fresh again, things start looking cleaner, the days start getting longer & I start thinking of summer.

Yohji Yamamoto Jacket

2009-08-09T14:08:00.005+10:00

This is jacket is fast cementing itself in my wardrobe as one of my favourites. The pattern was a free download from Show Studio. It took quite a while to stick all the pieces of paper I had to print out together, but once done it didn't take too long to sew - there was only two pattern pieces. Here's some pictures of me in the jacket in my messy garden. BTW No I haven't cut my hair, I just pulled the lower layers back to create a faux bob.

What I'm wearing: I made the jacket & pants myself. White FCUK stretch top. Zoe Wittner Gold Sandles. Mimco Hair Clasp.
Fabric used: Lightweight stretch satin.
Pattern used: Yohji Yamamoto for Show Studio
What I like: The draping of the satin, I like the circles & loops created as I move & how they change depending on how I stand. The natural gathering of the fabric. The comfort factor, the jacket looks so elegant & sophisticated and when I wear it I feel like I'm snuggled up on the couch on a Sunday afternoon - the perfect combination!
Cost: This is seriously one of the cheapest things I've ever made, the pattern was free & the fabric was hanging in my closet. I got about 4m of the fabric late last year, heavily discounted, I think it was $2-4 per metre. This pattern only used about 1.5-2m of that fabric.

Pattern Making

2009-08-06T21:26:00.003+10:00

I've decided to take a bit of a plunge and enrol in a pattern making course, (eek)! It's made up of six sessions over six weeks, starting next week. I'm extremely excited, but equally nervous. I'm hoping I'll learn a lot & will be able to start altering/creating some patterns.

We'll see how it goes...

A Night at the Movies

2009-08-06T19:58:00.003+10:00

Sorry I haven't posted much recently, I've been indulging my 2nd love (skiing) in New Zealand, so posting hasn't really been at the front of my mind... In case you're wondering, the skiing was fantastic, epic even. Here's a couple of photos I took from my new favourite NZ mountain, Treble Cone.

Whilst in NZ though we went to a really cool movie theatre. Inside, instead of normal chairs they had all these cool old couches & even an old Morris Minor filled with cushions. They also have intermissions, halfway through the movie. You can order a meal before the movie starts & when you come out of the theatre at intermission, all the meals are set up on tables for you. It's really fun. The whole place had all these really funky touches too, including these dresses made out of admission tickets. I really enjoyed our night there & it made me wish for a place just like it in Melbourne.

A new skirt.

2009-07-21T19:26:00.004+10:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything... things have been a little crazy, but I've had a number of projects underway, they should be finished by the end of the week so I'll try & upload some pics.

The first of these is a skirt I've (nearly) finished.

Fabric used: Heavy grey stretch jersey with a light yellow silk for the decorative draping.
Pattern used: I based it off a basic Butterick pencil skirt pattern (4392), with quite a few simplifications, (got rid of the zip & rear split). I also shortened it a bit.
What I like: The draping of the silk, I've been a little obsessed with draping fabrics recently, most of the clothes I've been making somehow incorporate this theme. I also like the contrast between the dark grey & mustard fabrics.
What I still need to do/fix up: I need to pick a location where the silk wraps around to, you can see it's pinned at the moment :S I'm having a little trouble balancing how much the silk sticks out at the side (accentuating my hips a little too much) with how low it hangs (because it can get trapped behind the grey fabric at the rear if it hangs too low). I'm also going to smooth out the side seams a little, there's one spot that's a bit lumpy which is annoying me.

An unhealthy obsession

2009-07-07T20:12:00.005+10:00

Since stumbling across a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood shoes in a magazine a couple of months back, it's fair to say I'm now obsessed. I love how theatrical, yet still completely wearable his shoes are. I love the profiles of the heels, the changes in texture & colour and the strategically placed cut-aways. In particular I really like the cut-aways at the base of the blue pair, it appears as though the upper of the shoe simply floats on your feet.

It's such a shame that they're all well over $1000....

You can see the full details here

Birthday Present (Finished)

2009-07-04T09:34:00.004+10:00

As promised some pictures of the finished product. It looks a little ill-fitting on the bodice because my friend is a couple of sizes smaller than me & I was too lazy to alter the bodice sizing just for a photo... :S

I didn't find any buttons that I liked, so I used gold buttonholes on both sides & a scarf to do the jacket up. I liked this idea, because you can change the scarf depending on what you're wearing, or you could use ribbons or something else to tie it up, you can weave it through different ways, using all or some of the buttonholes.

A(nother) New Project

2009-07-01T17:57:00.003+10:00

I was cruising my favourite blogs tonight & found this posting from highfashiongirl loves you.

It was about a pattern for an Alexander McQueen jacket.

Aside from immediately falling in love with the jacket, I soon found out that you could download the patterns, FOR FREE! You can guess what I did next.

Now I just need some letter sized paper to print it out & I'm on my way to a super cool new coat.

Wish me luck!

Rip 'em to shreds.

2009-06-28T16:02:00.008+10:00

I've been loving a lot of shredded clothes in the latest runway shows, and for a while all I wanted to do was to start cutting up all my clothes to turn them from daggy back of the closet eyesores to 'masterpieces' of cutting edge fashion instantly.

Needless to say, I'm glad I restrained.

What I did do though, was cut up some old scraps of fabric that I had laying around. Not much of a compromise I know, but the more I've been thinking of shredding my clothes the more I've been thinking of turning them into some derivative of a weave. I wanted to get a feel for what it would look like.

I'm not entirely sure about the one on the blue floral print, but I do like texture of the cream stretch fabric with mustard silk & stretch navy suiting.

What I'm thinking of doing next: Buying some cheap loose (maybe a size or two too big) stretch tees & singlets & slashing different areas at different angles. At the moment my favourite idea is diagonal slashes starting just underneath the bust on one side & coming down to the base at the other side & weaving through some torn fabric. I like the idea of the weave slowly creeping up the top. The execution could be tricky though. I also like the idea of having the shoulders slashed with weaves draping down over the rest of the top.

I'll post some pictures of whatever I end up doing, (no matter how terrible).

Birthday Present for T.

2009-06-28T13:50:00.004+10:00

It was my friend T.'s 25th birthday recently & I was really struggling to find her a gift. After a lot of to-ing & fro-ing, I thought the best thing to do was to make her something. I found some red velvet I had stored away & used it to make her a cute little red swing coat.

What pattern I used: Vogue V8146, with some minor modifications. The original pattern didn't allow for a lining & I'm of the opinion that coats should have linings, so I added one.

What I was inspired by: Colours & Textures of Alexander McQueen A/W 08/09.

What I still have left to do: Add the buttonholes. I've decided that rather than adding buttons (I couldn't find any I liked), I'd do button holes on both sides of the lapel & weave a scarf through & tie it in a bow. Because the colour of the velvet appears slightly different in different lights or even when worn with different colours, I really struggled to find a cotton with the 'right' shade of red. As a result, all the seams are invisible & I'll be sewing the buttonholes in a gold metallic thread. I think this will be a nice contrast.

I'll post some more pics once it's finished later this week.

Another Polyvore Play

2009-06-24T20:58:00.003+10:00

Had another play on Polyvore this evening to create an outfit around these cool Giuseppe Zanotti shoes.

You can find the full details of the outfit here.

My Backpack's Got Jets

2009-06-21T16:26:00.011+10:00

Today I released my inner geek & went to the Star Wars Exhibition at Scienceworks. It was awesome to 11.

R2D2 & I

They had heaps of models there that featured in the older films & ones used in the development of the newer films. Because Scienceworks is a science museum, there were a lot of science based activities you could participate in. The engineer in me had a lot of fun building hover cars & robots & making them travel through little courses. They had the costumes from all of my favourite characters and there were quite a few people dressed up too. I had my photo taken with a life-sized remote control R2D2, which I was super psyched about. You can tell how much fun I was having from the photos, even though I look like a COMPLETE dork.

The robot I built...

Today I was wearing Saba jeans, my fav Zoe Wittner open toe boots & a top I made last weekend. It's a simple black stretch top, except for the big sash I sewed in. I really like how it hangs down, but if I make another I might make the top slightly longer as I keep feeling like I need to pull it down. I was also thing of ways to make the sash in more of a contrast colour. I'm going to try to find some fabric with a gradual colour change, so when in the areas where I sew it to the top it's the same colour as the top, but then it changes into another brighter colour... We'll see if I can find anything suitable.

I also thought I'd post this picture of one of Padme's costumes from Episode I. I really like the bindings around the lower arms & legs (and down over the shoes), over the loose flowing top & pants. I also like how they've allowed a little of the sleeve to poke out from under the bindings & hang over the hands.

Summer Dreaming

2009-06-16T17:36:00.003+10:00

I've been at home sick today, thinking about summer to try and will myself better. I don't think it worked particularly well, but I did make up my first 'set' on Polyvore. It was quite fun, so here it is;

Malene Birger necklace, Donna Karan shirt, Proenza Schouler bag, Tashkent by Cheyenne shoes & Preen shorts. You can find the full details of this outfit here.

You are beautiful.

2009-06-14T14:55:00.006+10:00

I was browsing through some magazines at a store recently when I came across this one, Karen magazine.

The cover just struck me, what a gorgeous image. I'm particularly attracted to the colour & shape of her hair & the contrast of the blue lips (which match the letter "N" of KAREN ever so neatly. I love how clean the whole cover is with just one simple line at the base.

Inside they had some beautiful photo shoots. The layout of the magazine was also really clean & succinct. There was none of the clutter or inane headlines/comments. It was really refreshing.

I''ll stop gushing now...

Winter Warmth

2009-06-14T11:20:00.001+10:00

It's been winter for a couple of weeks now but this week was the first with a real wintery chill about it. On Wednesday I came home from work freezing & so quickly made up this vest to keep me warm. It was super easy to make, I cut out three pieces, the front, back and a long rectangle to add extra volume to the collar and stitched them together. It took about 45-60mins. I love these super quick little projects. Here's some pictures of me being silly in the garden in my new top...

What I'm wearing; homemade pink & grey sleeveless cardigan, white Cotton On top, FCUK waisted belt, old jeans, grey Mimco Tuxedo Femme Lace-Up shoes.

Here's what I like about this top; it's warm & cosy, great for lazying around on a Sunday afternoon, or snuggling up in a movie, it doesn't have any sleeves so I can still do things & not get sleeves caught/dirty.

Here's what I think I'd do differently next time; I might choose a slightly thinner fabric so that I could add more fabric without adding too much bulk to the front.

And a close up of the shoes... My new favourites.

A New Watch

2009-06-12T17:05:00.001+10:00

I've had the same Fossil watch for a number of years & it's now really quite worn out, I've been holding on to it for long past it's use by date because partly for sentiment (it's one of the first gifts my boyfriend gave me) and partly because I love that I can change the leather band on it to match it to my outfit. So in the last couple of months I've been desperately trying to find an appropriate replacement.

Last week I finally found something that I immediately fell in love with... A Mimco bracelet with fob watch. For years I've been lusting after the Mimco fob watch necklaces & then when I saw this bracelet I decided that I finally had to commit! Unfortunately it had sold out in stores, but eBay came through with the goods & my watch arrived in the mail a few days back.

I'm in love! It's so different to all of the other watches I saw. Granted it is not as versatile as my last leather band watch, it's much harder to wear casually & it might be a little harder to wear in summer, but whenever I wear it, all I want to do is check the time. I love opening the fob to check find out what the time will be, it's such a pleasure, though I can't possibly explain why. I love the floral engraving on the fob. I love the heavy, dull, jingly noise it makes when I get a little too animated when talking. I love the weight on my wrist. I love the compliments I get for it, but most of all I love how unique it is.

Painted Nails & Open Toe Boots

2009-06-11T22:20:00.000+10:00

I got bored the other day & painted my toenails...

I haven't done this since I was in high school & after doing so, I thought I looked ludicrous. It made me feel a bit like a grandma living in Queensland wearing coral lipstick & matching nail polish. It's fair to say I did an awful job of painting them & spent more time cleaning my toes with a cotton bud & nail polish remover than I did painting them, but I don't think this was the reason for feeling so silly. This is strange because when it comes to my fingernails, I love nail polish, I love fussing over my nails, I love going to the manicurist to get my nails done. But I've never had a pedicure & I've never felt normal wearing polish on my toes. I think I've always been afraid that I'll get there and take my shoes off and the poor girl will recoil in horror when she sees what years of wearing ski boots & stilettos will do to your feet.

I put on a pair of socks to cover them up...

The next day I wanted to wear my beautiful lace-up open toe boots, but in a rush to get ready I forgot to take the polish off. I hated it at first, but as the day wore on I found that I actually liked the way the nail polish looked on my toes with those shoes. I certainly won't be wearing it with stilettos to the races anytime soon, but with my lace up boots it looked kind of cool. It added a touch of femininity & a softness to a pair of shoes that are very strong & assertive. I felt great. Maybe I'll give the whole toenail thing a second chance.

On another note I LOVE THESE SHOES!!!! They are perfect for nearly any occasion, thought I'm still trying to find a way to justify wearing them to work :S

They are also super comfy. I got them from Zoe Wittner and I've found most of their heels to have a really nice angle to them, making them super comfortable, as well as looking stunning. In general I've been loving their shoes lately (I think in the last year 8 months I've bought 3 pairs of shoes from there), they are really reasonably priced and they have some fantastic designs.