Thursday 29 November 2007

WOO! Outfit Number 1

OK PALS!

I'm pretty excited! I started this dress this morning, got caught up in the moment and was a bit late to work! But after work got some energy from a fabbo dinner care of Women's Weekly online recipes and FINISHED it off! What do you think???




It's a vintage Simplicity Pattern, purchased from an op shop and is number 8832 'jiffy dress'. I added sleeves from a misplaced pattern (aren't op shops just great, buy a pattern and find other ladies handwritten instructions and heaps of lost pattern pieces!) and viola! A jiffy dress with cutie pockets and lovely bell sleeves. The material is cotton and I got it for $10 from the Vintage Fair in Canterbury I mentioned the other day. There's enough material left over for a top.

The only thing I forgot to do was sew the darts on the shoulder back piece, but it still sits ok. AND... I just had a look closer at the material patterning and the trees are a little bit more detailed on the inside - but before I cut it, I folded it properly from those little holes on the edging (someone please explain this better) which indicates the wrong and right side of the material... but the print is so bold on both sides so it doesn't really matter!

Wow, and phew. So I've completed outfit number 1 in my 100 outfit goals!

Wednesday 28 November 2007

100 Dresses cont.

I just sorted out my pattern pieces and got some ideas to start my 100 outfits. After a think today I prob could do 100 outfits as I can make some tops and some jacket/vests as well as dresses, so there's a pretty good range of mix and match!

The first style was easy as I got this Built By Wendy/You pattern quite cheap last week in Melbs:



I'm yet to sew it, but it looks so easy to do! I saw a few girls at style mob wearing Built by Wendy clothes, so I googled, found the online shop and saw that she makes patterns, but it wasn't until I was looking through Simplicity Patterns the other day when I saw them to buy here in Australia!

So, step one in my "Veronica Darling 100 Outfits" marathon is done! I have roughly 15 patterns that are very straightforward to make (ie hardly any zippers, inexpensive to put together AND simple for a big run AND alterable to make my own style). Most patterns I fix up or twiddle with, so the finished product will all be Veronica Darling flaired in a way. AND, as most of my material stash is vintage, all pieces will be a 'one of a kind'.

Awesome!

Tuesday 27 November 2007

The Way We Wear

Hey pals,

My pals Dan and Bec drove me out to the Vintage Fair in Canterbury Racecourse recently and we picked up a few things, but a stall holder told us about The Way We Wear Fairs that are on and that they are perfect for a bargain! Whilst the vintage fair was good, it was very antique-like and my thrifty-ness gets a hold of me and I just cannot buy things that are too pricey. But apparently the WWW Fairs are just great! I emailed them and will find out when they're on in Sydders for 2008 - but there's other cities involved too - so check them out if you're interstate!

Then my pal Dan saw these darling clothes online - Mooka Kinney - a gorgeous collection from the States:



What great fabrics and designs! She said they reminded her of some of the clothes I've been making recently, and thought 'Wow! That's so cool!' as they are just great and very good tailoringlike!

I've been thinking about setting myself a goal of 100 dresses this summer, and I need a massive kick to get into sewing full on and as I've got some holidays coming up (only 1 and 1/2 weeks of work left!), I thought I need some sort of great gigantic number to start sewing. I have heaps of material ready to go, I have heaps of patterns and styles and I have this blog to motivate me - so why the hell not!??? And then what I don't sell around town I can post to etsy, and perhaps peeps will like them there!

In the past few months I've made 2 dresses for Splendour, 1 red dress, 1 shirt for husbie, 2 flippy dresses (shiny black one and my winter sailer suit), a daggy black shirt and and and... (thinking hard) 1 dress I haven't finished (vintage pattern turned into a size 12 when I thought it was an 8) ANDDDDD tailored a few trousers and what not for friends. I've refashioned a bikini top too for a pal!

So a big goal of 100 dresses for summer should be ok! Plus I'd like to make a whole bunch as the girls from work seem interested in what I do and then I could have a market before Christmas for them to check out!

Yeah Yeah Yeah, all talk! We'll see!

Thursday 22 November 2007

Cutie little character material

Just been clicking around for a while, and how fracking cute is this piece of material and the rest of the shop!??????



So cute!!! The shop's called Nuno Plus and just so cute I can't believe it!

Not being a quilter AT ALL, I'm confused with lingo. Fat Quarters yardage blah blah blah, luckily this Nuno Plus site lists the cms as well for us Aussies. Lingo reminds me that I am not a skilled seamstress AT ALLLLLL and should get some training some time. My bestie did promise me some birthday money to go to either a new machine or a session of classes, but I've never taken him up on it! Perhaps next year!

Tuesday 20 November 2007

House Hunting!

As most our weekends are taken up with looking for houses at the moment, check out my arty-ness while hanging out for the digs to open up!




But mostly I wanted to show this great jacket I saw through Wardrobe Refashion:



It's Gloriana at A Mingled Yarn and love her jacket! She's been watching Project Runway! The 4th Season has just started in the US, so hopefully it'll be on cable soon!

So fingers crossed I get an email for the Wardrobe Refashion, I rarely buy new things, but I REALLY wanna be part of a gang and get blogging like everyone else! Sign ups are on at the moment, but I've missed out a few times, not sure why, but I'm sure Nikki Shell is very busy managing the site as it's grown so much even in six months!

xoxo

Sunday 18 November 2007

Red Frock!

I got around to finishing this red dress:



It's just ordinary red cotton material, but it's from a pattern that is an old vogue 50s style, but 'revisited' as new - just bought from Spotty. It's just so lovely and light for summer, but my bust is just too crazy for it! It's got lovely darts here and there, but I couldn't work out how to alter it for my bust, so I took it to work and a lovely girl bought it from me for $20! She looked great in it and got heaps of compliments, so I'm happy it's being worn! She wore it with a gorgeous belt and boots! Nice one! I'll have to get my thinking cap on to make another one that's more my size!

Dongmen Lu Fabric Market

Happy Wednesday! Time to get some fabric inspiration from the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market here in Shanghai! Can't believe how quickly 201...