New Website

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

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...

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

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!

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'

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

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.