Sunday, June 10, 2012

Watermelon Blouse

I love watermelon. I love the whole bright, sweet, juicy, messy lot... Here is a blouse, made in lovely watermelon chiffon. It's a simple blouse that I made as a practice garment for chiffon, before I started the pindot blouse, with sweet little aqua buttons on the placket.



And here is is styled with my White Market skirt and a pretty pale aqua Land's End cardigan.



 I'm wearing it tomorrow night to dinner with my sister and her NEW fiancee!!

Pattern: Simplicity 2211
Cost: $6
Time: 6 hours
Note to Self: You need to make more CASUAL clothes, that's what you usually wear!


Saturday, June 2, 2012

Black Pindot Chiffon Blouse Day 1

So... four words: What Was I Thinking????

This chiffon is fiddly, hard to cut out, difficult to sew, and the pindots make it kind of op art ish... it's hard to focus my eyes when looking at it! Here are the two front pieces, and a difficult curved seam to fit over the ladies... this pattern is a difficult one, as well, I should have chosen a loose, flowy top to use with this fabric. BUT, I love the idea of this blouse in the chiffon with my plaid jumper, or my white market skirt, or my bright teal coco chanel inspired skirt, or my black and cream lace skirt, or my burnt orange skirt, or even a pair of jeans!! 


Here it is with all but the hardest part pinned. How do I pin these two pieces together? Well... it's mostly just matching edges and tons of pins along the seam line. Then I baste the seam before I sew, just in case I have trouble with the curve.


Here is the result, the seam is a bit puckered, even after pressing, not sure what to do about that... I think it happened when I was zigzagging the seam to finish the edge.




 I've already clocked 3 hours on this blouse and I've only got the two fronts sewn!


However, there is a bonus to this difficult fabric, I can only work on it in daylight, which means lots of picture opportunities... so get ready for a play by play on the pindot blouse!!

Experiment Dress

A cheetah print, teal and grey and cream, satin mumu? A slinky cocktail dress? It's for a vacation with my man in September, and I hope it looks good on me with heels!



It can also be worn up on the hips, maybe belted, as a mini dress... which is kinda risque, which means, only on Hub's arm, yes?



Pattern: Burda Style magazine June 2012, pattern
Cost: $6, this fabric was $3 a yard and I've got over half a yard left... what to do with it?
Time: 6 hours, 2 of which were patternmaking
Note to Self: Bargain fabric is fun to make unusual styles in, such a small outlay of money to experiment! I may never wear this dress, but it was fun to make!