Actually Sewing

I have been extremely slack lately at taking photos of my sewn items or even posting them on BurdaStyle. Then to top it all off things in my little world are about to get turned upside down, but more about that soon. For today’s post I’d just like to prove to you that I do actually sew 😉 and then I can share with you a few construction posts. I’ve included a link to the BurdaStyle project post for more pictures if you are interested.

First up is my Melbourne Cup dress from last year. I promised better photos and here they are. This dress is from Patrones 289 and is #10.

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It is also the first item I blogged the construction of with the intention of beginning a new series on my blog “Sewing a Foreign Language” where I document my thought process as I construct items from my Patrones, La Mia Boutique & Manequim magazines without instructions. You can find this dresses construction post here.

The jersey print on this dress gave me quite a headache. The chevron bands move up and down as part of the pattern but the print is so badly off grain I had to completely re-think how to lay out the pattern pieces. I was close to giving up but I’m glad I stuck with it, I really like this dress. It’s really comfy to wear and having a bodice under the wrap pieces means I don’t have to worry about anything accidentally being on display.

I have a second item to add to the “Sewing a Foreign Language” series, I’ll try to post it in the next day or two, and that is another Patrones item, Blouse #9 from issue 290.

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I use an amazing Italian silk that I got at the Joveeba sale here in Perth. It is the first time I have sewn with silk and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I’ve heard enough horror stories but for all the slipperiness and extra attention you have to pay with marking and pinning it is worth it in the end. I love wearing wearing silk and especially this blouse.

I finished this skirt on the weekend, it’s the Asymmetrical Folds skirt from the Sew Daily Stitch magazine.

I saw this skirt ages ago online somewhere and really liked it but I didn’t know that it was from an available pattern. I had no knowledge of the magazine or that you could buy issues online both paper and electronic and even some of the patterns. As soon as I saw it through their site I dropped it in the shopping cart a nd printed it out that day. I was so excited that I found the pattern that I didn’t even know existed!

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I used an Ikea fabric and light-weight blue cotton for the facings. I LOVE Ikea fabric for skirts, (this is my second Ikea fabric skirt – here is the first) and this one in particular, it looks like buildings! I wanted to use yellow for the facing like the original but when I went to the fabric shop the yellows just didn’t appeal. One was a bit too green the other was too orange…call me fussy but I’m now really happy I chose blue in the end.

This dress (yes, there’s more. I told you guys I’ve been slack!) is another Patrones dress, #12 from issue 269 and I’ve been keen to make this one for a while since I don’t own a maxi dress…except this ended up not being a maxi dress, in fact there’s not a lot left of the original pattern and it almost killed me. The only thing that saved it was my undying love for the fabric which I bought in Wellington.

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It is a very light-weight boarder print cotton in off white with the most amazing yellow, red & blue flowers. I chose to underline it with a light-weight white cotton and in the end I ended up with a dress I really like. I’ll post about the pain and how I transformed it soon enough but for now let’s just enjoy it in all it’s finished glory.

And that’s it for now 🙂