Summer Sewing Inspiration.

Well I am taking part in the Summer Essentials Sew-Along and decided to make a few mood boards to help with my ideas, with help from my Pinterest account and Polyvore this is my first board.  I am thinking vintage inspired, sailor love with a bit of Riviera chic.

What do you think?  More navy and white, I know...

Sewing Update.

You may all be wondering what happened to the pant suit that you all chose for me to make.  So here is the update as I have had some issues...

The pants were a wizz (all that worry for nothing) and the tunic top was going along great guns until the last hem. 

As you can see from the pattern it should have a curved hem and I could not get that right, so decided after looking at it and re pinning it two hundred times that a straight edge would be fine. On pressing the straight hem my crazy hot iron melted the fabric (time for a new iron I think)!  The tunic hem is now a little short, so I thought that maybe a double thick band would look good to lengthen and finish the tunic, luckily I have plenty of fabric left.  I also have the same fabric in navy blue and thought that would look good also.  So now I am stuck and can't make up my mind.

I am off home to see my family next week (yippee), so I have decided to take it with me and rope my mum into helping me finish it.  Sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes and help to make changes when you are actually wearing the garment.

This is how it looked on day two, all finished except that last pesky hem and the matching sash belt.  I am really happy with the look and feel very Coco Chanel in the South of France.  What do you think?

This is the close up of the pretty trim zip that I decided to use, and it is so much easier to attach them on the outside of a garment.  I decided to give you all the update as it has been sitting there for weeks now and driving me mad.  Hopefully we should have the finished look with me in it, in a few weeks time.  Thanks for your patience and I am onto the next project now so two finished looks to come.  What sewing projects have you got on the go at the moment and do you ever get stuck?  Do you move on to the next or stay and finish the project?

Have a wonderful weekend my friends.  ax

It's The Weekend

Hello all, I have been busily sewing and it is all going well, a few issues and set in sleeves are hard, but only one left to do and a hem and then we are all done.  Woohoo, so pictures next week after it has had a quick wash (cream!!) and I have managed to take a decent photo of myself, rather tricky.

For those lucky people with a long bank holiday weekend, I wish you sunshine and peace for whatever you do with your free day.

Have a fun weekend my lovelies.  ax

Photo: Style Me Pretty

Vote Winner

Thanks to all who voted for the next pattern to make, and the winner is....

The Pant Suit....Woohoo, my first pair of pants!  (I am not worried, much)  My sister pointed out that my crepe would be heavy and I would boil (it's 28 degrees today), so I thought that linen would be nice.  Haha linen is 34€ a meter here, so no to that.  After re finding my fabric store (it had moved premises) I managed to get some much lighter weight crepe and this gorgeous cotton fabric, plus my order of pretty zips came today so it is all systems go.  The fabric is drying after a quick wash to check for shrinkage and then tomorrow I will start cutting and sewing.  I am hoping to make this by the end of the week and will share the finished look with you all.

Thanks again for all your votes, it was quite close in the end and all the other patterns will get made in due course.

Wishing you all a lovely start to the week.   ax 

I am making a few blog updates at the moment, so bare with me if things look a little strange for a few days.  Thanks my lovelies.

What Should I Make Next?

Hello girls I need your help, my wonderful new patterns have arrived and I have 4m of cream crepe fabric ready to go...But I can't decide what to make first.  So please help by choosing for me, I have added a little poll gadget at the end of this post for easy voting.

Dress or very stylish tunic and trousers?

Which dress to choose, v front, back or both?

View A but short length.

Please make your choice and press "Listo"*.  The poll will be open until Sunday the 22nd and then I will make up your choice next week.  Thanks for your help I can't wait to see the winner.

* So now the push button is in Greek, I have no idea what's happening but it all still works.  Hehe I am being very international.   ax

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

From Skirt To Dress.

Hello my darlings how is it all going with you?  I hope you are all well and happy.  I have seen this dress around and loved it, until I found out it used to be a skirt.  Now I adore it!  I do love a clever D.I.Y and this one is so simple and very effective.

This beautiful dress from...

...This old pleated skirt.  How clever is that and it is a really simple 1,2,3.

And this is the clever girl who came up with the idea, this is Sarah from Welcome to the gOOd life.  This DIY won the S.A Design contest and Sarah has many other clever and simple tutorials on her blog, I for won am signing up now so I don't miss any more of these brilliant ideas.  Oh she also made the necklace.

You can find the full tutorial for the skirt here, now I am off to find a pleated skirt in my wardrobe...

Have a wonderful Monday and Happy May Day to you all, can you believe that it is here already.  ax

All images from Welcome to the gOOd life.

Pajama Style

This was my first post and 98 posts later it is still holding true.  I take part in "WIWW" in order to get dressed but I love my pj's, the problem is the flannel, miss matched mess I end up looking.  It does not need to be this way though, woman have worn pj's for many years and not just in bed.  We have "Beach Pajamas" and "Hostess Pajamas" where woman added some great bangles and lipstick and were good to go.  So I have decided that as I will never give up my pajama habit, I might as well glam those babies up...

Two examples of some very stylish ladies wearing their pj's in public and very chic they look too.

A 1930's pattern for Kichenette Pajamas and some linen lovelies from Toast.

Emerson of Emersonmade looking amazing (and inspirational) in India recently.

This amazing dress from Rick Owens.

And this beautiful dream from Etro... I can see me lounging around in these very easily.

Let us not forget the classic djellaba which was made for such things and this one is from Toast.

Now in my dreams it would be the silk Etro dress and silk or fine cotton pajama sets, but in the real world I am dragging the sewing machine out again, hunting out some classic patterns and hopefully finding some cheap but soft cotton to make them all up in.  Then I will add a slash of bright lipstick, some bangles that gangle and have you all round for cocktails on the terrace.  What do you think ladies, can I get away with this if done with a smile?  Plus any sewing or pattern tips for me to fulfil my 1930's pajama dreams?

What era do you dream in, or is it a movie that haunts your clothes dreams?  Come on share, you never know they may come true.

Happy lounging in style today ladies.  ax

Images: via Pinterest, sorry no source, dustjacket attic Decades of Style, Toast, Emerson made, fashion gone rogue, net-a-porter and Toast

DIY Easy Sew

Hello all, well it seems that early summer has arrived here and it is wonderful.  With my thoughts turning to summer clothes I was extremely happy to come across the great DIY dress from Style Scrapbook.

How simple and perfect is this for early summer?  I will not be going down the neon route but I do have a nice piece of Kelly green fabric that I think would work.  The full details of the DIY are here at Style Scrapbook

and although the lovely Andy did not add pockets I think I will.  

This idea is so simple and it has my head spinning with all sorts of variations, with t-shirts and vests as the top and maybe a few pleats or gathers and how great would this look on the little girls in our lives?  I am off to find though shirts in the back of my wardrobe and give this a try, I will post some photos of how mine turned out later in the week.  Will you be making one?  I think a nice big mans (husbands/boyfriends/dads) shirt would be a nice looser, comfortable option, just don't use his favourite one!

Happy Tuesday lovelies.  ax

Images: Style Scrapbook and streetfsn

I am over winter, bring on the spring.

I am really not a winter person, I get excited over snuggling up, hot showers and wearing clothes with comfort.  Then after a week or two tops, I am over it.  To this end I am skipping winter and heading straight for spring.  I have been looking at the spring collections and even looking at the pre fall 11 collections (I know autumn clothing for next year already!) and picking the shapes and coloures that speak to me.  Then I head on over to Etsy to find vintage patterns that would work.  Here is what I have found so far.

I am loving the Louis Vitton (ss11) green silk skirt and the Oscar de la Renta (pre fall 11) sea green skirt, both have bow ties either for show or as a fastening.  I am so not going to be able to buy these beauties but I may be able to make them.  I have found a few different vintage patterns that I think would work with the odd tweek.

The first pattern is a wrap and I am currently have a small love affair with wraps and they will definitely make it into my spring wardrobe.  The green skirt is a great vintage wrap and can be found in many colours, but I do hate that 70's nylon.  The third pattern is for a gently gathered skirt or dress which I think would look wonderful with a large bow sash.  The last pattern is for a whole wardrobe and I know a few of these style would solve and cover many dressing problems.

Mui Mui (ss11) and Diane Von Furstonburge (pre fall 11)  both have a very strong 70's feel still with clean long lines and inverted pleat skirts.  I love this look being a child of the 70's and have fond memorys of my mum wearing these and looking young and cool.  (of course she does still look young and cool).

There are so many patterns that would work and I am loving the sweet boat neck dress with bow detail, so cute and sexy.

I am very happy to see that high waist trousers of various widths are still around.  This is one of my all time favourite looks that can make even my legs look long with the right shoe.   The above looks are from Pucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Oliva P. is wearing Mango, so budgets for all of us.  I have found some great patterns but am a little scared of making trousers so I may leave those for a while longer.

Oh I am such a fan of vintage patterns, the front illustrations alone make me smile, my mum had hair just like the women on the Simplicity pattern.  Plus I do love a navy and white combo.

All these patterns are available at Etsy the number of patterns has grown by the thousands since I first started looking.  Remember the sizing is very different from today I am the smallest in the shops at the moment but need size 16 on vintage patterns.  I also have found a great book that talks you through use, sizing changes and making your own patterns, its written clearly with lots of photos and you can find it here from Amazon.

I have recently found a great blog that anyone who sews can post their latest projects on to, I find it  interesting to see what people are making and they have some great tips.  If you fancy taking a look you can find them here at Sew Retro.

Do any of you sew or thinking about learning?  I am a beginner and find the sewing fine the cutting out on the other hand can get me very grumpy with lots of cigarette breaks, but its is all worth it when you have the finished garment.  I will take some pictures of some of my old projects to share and maybe inspire you to have a go.

I hope your all having a good week and not feeling the Christmas stress to much, relax it will all be amazing.

xxx

Vintage Patterns

I am a huge fan of Etsy and am currently wading through all the great vintage patterns you can find on there.  So far I have brought five and have made one very basic beach dress.  The projects waiting to happen are just waiting for the perfect fabric to appear.  I thought I would share my finds with you and maybe inspire some home sewing in you.

I must admit that I have just brought a cape from Zara, as finding good wool, cashmere fabric can be expensive and I really did want one.

The dress in the centre is very similar to a Fendi dress from this winter's collection.

I will say before you buy any patterns that the sizing is very different from what is in the stores today.  I am an 8 or 34 usually, but I have had to buy patterns in a size 16!  Yes, your mum and gran were really that small.  So bite the bullet and measure yourself first.

I am working on a fun sewing project at the moment, which I will document and share with you when it is finished, so watch this space.  Happy sewing.


Images, Zara and Fendi.