Look! I actually made a thing!!

Hello folks - the last couple of months have been extremely busy work wise and whilst I have been able to keep on posting over on my instagram by blog posts and sewing projects have been few and far between.

However, yesterday I finally finished up a new dress and today Rich and I went for a winter walk and we managed to take some photos of my brand new dress!

This is a dress pattern I've had for a while but I just never got around to making it! The pattern is the Elisalex dress from By Hand London and although its a little big I am happy with how it came out overall - next time I will lengthen the bodice a bit though (which is a pretty normal adjustment I need to make in most patterns).

I didn't make too many changes with this one, but I did go for a gathered skirt rather than the two big box pleats which was what was in the original pattern.

I also went for the long sleeve version of the dress as its the middle of winter here, also I had a LOT of this fabric (I bought it for $3 a metre at The Fabric Warehouse pop up sale) so I figured why not.

I do really like the pack of this dress - although I have to admit it is a little chilly at the moment to be showing off so much back!

We seen to be having a pretty mild winter this year - which I'm not mad about!  All these photos were taken in our parliament grounds - in the photos above I'm outside the parliament library. In New Zealand things are pretty relaxed, when I first started working as a public servant in about 2006 you didn't even need to go through any kind of security to enter the parliament buildings (I have to admit that even back then I thought that was a little weird). I hope you all have a great week!

Crocodile Rock Dress

So the title of this post is pretty lame, but whatever, it seemed like the best thing to name a dress covered in crocodiles (or alligators) what's the difference anyways? Some folks may remember this fabric, I received it way back in December in a blogger swap.

 I feel like lately my sewing skills have greatly improved, it's like I've kind of done enough sewing for certain things to click. I'm not saying I'm perfect, or even particularly skilled compared to a lot of my friends (especially when I have friends like Ria who are just crazy talented). Also I'm totally nailing invisible zippers lately, they are finally invisible!

As well as feeling a lot more confident about my sewing lately I'm also really into making franken patterns or mash ups or whatever you may like to call it! This pattern is actually two different patterns together.

The bodice of the dress is from a pattern from By Hand London called the Anna Dress, I have made this dress once before and you can see that version here. My previous version was the maxi length version with a v neck, and I really want to make another maxi version (maybe next summer or for my next holiday somewhere warm) and I do want to make another Anna with this length of skirt using the original paneled skirt.

The skirt is from the Colette Peony dress, I've made this dress a few times before, but I think my first version is still my favourite!

It's a little hard to see in this photo, but the necklace has a flamingo with blue glitter inside, I think I was going for a kind of Florida look? Although in Florida it is alligators right?

As well as feeling like I've improved a lot in terms of sewing, I've actually been sewing a lot more! I have two more new dresses to sew and I've even been using up the "good"  fabric! WHO AM I!?

Newtown Fair Anna Dress

Today is definitely feeling like autumn, chilly and windy - I wore my coat for the first time in weeks. Weather changes pretty quickly around here, last Saturday it was the Newtown Fair and it was about a million degrees.

Rich and I went along to the fair with our friend Matt who lives in Newtown - I only ate ice based food all day because it was so hot.

That's right I had gelato, shaved ice and an ice block. The "Mr Pops" ice block was pretty amazing and made in Newtown which is pretty great.

There were all kinds of performances, musicians and general carry on at the fair - it was pretty rad.

I decided to make a maxi dress to wear to the fair and chose the Anna Dress by By Hand London, 
about a million people have made this dress already, and I don't think I can add much more about it! It was pretty easy to make, but next time I make it I think I will make it from a more stable fabric (this stuff was so floaty) and also work on the fit in the bodice a little bit.

 So the fit isn't perfect, but I'm still pretty happy with it! I know this is an easy pattern really but for some reason I kept telly myself it would be "too hard" for some reason.

The fabric cost a total of $3 from an op shop, its not the nicest fabric to wear, but I kind of didn't want to use the "good fabric" the first time I used a new pattern.

Hope you all have a fun weekend, I have another fair to go to tomorrow with Ria and then another one the weekend after that - autumn is the season for fairs it seems!