Monster Mash Dress

I don't often buy new fabric (especially when that new fabric is from Spotlight) but when I found fabric with old school movie monsters, I had to have it, because I love monsters so freaking much.

Obviously this dress has a LOT going on, so I  wanted a simple pattern (who am I kidding, I really only like to wear simple frocks as I'm all about comfort). This dress is the "back to school shift dress" from Chic and Simple Sewing by Christine Haynes. I added a bit of length to the dress, but otherwise made no alternations to the pattern. Here's a close up of the pattern - its includes wolfman, a vampire and a zombie (oh my!).

I also love that the background of this fabric is  a really pretty blue colour - not just boring black.

I've worn this dress twice - once to a burlesque show and once to have lunch with a friend and both times I got comments from random strangers. It's nice for your friends to notice your handmade things, but when total randoms say they like something you made its a bit of a buzz.

Hope you folks all had a good weekend xox

GOLD! (Lurex)

I haven't felt much like sewing lately - as those of you who follow my blog will know, I managed to get a whole bunch of great fabric from fabric-a-brac earlier this month. All my great fabric finds - sharks, peacocks, stars, lurex! should have been incredibly inspiring - but as it turns out they just weren't.

I think I've felt a bit bleh for most of this year and things seem to just "keep going wrong" and I don't feel like I'm able to do anything very productive. My latest problem is that my laptop is all but ready to say farewell to the world. I AM using it right now, but in safe mode and its pretty tedious. Fortunately Ria has come to the rescue and I'm able to buy one of her computers that's she's not using any longer. I could buy a new computer - but to be honest its all a bit overwhelming and its just one more thing I DON'T need right now. It's not even about the cost of a new computer, I'm just so over stuff going wrong!

I feel like a have a very LONG list of sewing projects I SHOULD have done by now, like my Miss Bossy sewing challenge which I haven't even started! I also have stuff I want to make for Rich, I promised my friend Dani I would make some stuff for her and I want to make some clothes for our holiday in late June. I basically keep getting myself all upset about all that I HAVEN'T done, and do nothing at all because I'm stressed out about it.

So over Easter I decided I would just make something, anything, and it was the gold lurex from fabric-a-brac which was the first thing in my stash that caught my eye. I decided to use a tried and true pattern, rather than putting additional pressure on myself and making a brand new pattern. I chose to make the classic wrap dress from Simple & Chic Sewing.

I have made this dress before, but in a woven, the lurex has a whole lot of stretch so I thought it would be better for a wrap dress. However, I didn't think to cut the dress a size smaller due to the stretch (I have NO idea why it didn't occur to me - its seems so logical now) so it's a little on the big size. It is a wrap dress though, so I can kind of "make it work" even though its a little big.

I went out to Ria's house on Saturday for a crafting type afternoon and she was nice enough to take a couple of me wearing the dress I made.She lives at Breaker Bay so her view is MUCH nicer than mine. Living in the inner city all we can see from our living room window is a car park.

Now truth time, I do have one problem with this dress, I'm not sure I even LIKE it! I know, first make in AGES and its meant to be a "quick win" and it kind of leaves me feeling *meh* in general. Although Ria loved it - but then others always see you more positively than you see yourself right?

Why don't I like it - I honestly don't have any reasons, maybe I just feel *meh* about it because I'm generally feeling *meh*. Maybe I'll wear it in six months time and think its the greatest dress in the world and it will make me want to scream "Lurex FOREVER!"

Well its nearly time for dinner - so I best say farewell, I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and I will try and pull myself out of this slump soon.

Easter Weekend Fun Times

Its Monday afternoon and the long Easter weekend is NEARLY over - but not quite, its been a pretty quiet "Stay-cation" for us. Time was spent walking, hanging out with friends, watching movies and sewing. Also there was obviously time spent eating Easter treats!

I actually didn't take many photos this weekend - perhaps a sign of a weekend spent truly relaxing?

However, here are a few things we got up to - firstly we opened up the amazing Easter treats we received from Alicia and Bear. This is only a small sample of the goodies they gave us! Bunnies and Hello Kitty for the win!

My friend Alice had a crafty afternoon gathering at her house - we made flower crowns and chocolates and general had a fun time catching up. Here's my first ever flower crown! I think Desiree would be proud.

Rich and I took a walk in Central Park, which is located about 10 minutes from our apartment. It was looking pretty autumnal, this weekend has definitely felt like autumn (unlike last weekend where it felt like winter!).

 I also did some sewing, I made a gold lurex wrap dress from some of the fabric I bought at fabric-a-brac. I think I made the dress a little bit big, but that's ok as its a wrap dress I can still "make it work" I will post some outfit posts soon.

My version may be slightly less polished than the example shown in Chic & Simple Sewing (I used the classic wrap dress pattern from this book). But mine has sparkles and looks kind of disco!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend, whatever you got up too! May be difficult to return to the "real world" of work tomorrow.

The Meg Dress!

As I've mentioned before, when I was in the USA staying with Alicia and Bear in Pennsylvania, Alicia took me to Jo-Anns and I bought a whole lot of fabric. This is the second dress I've made from the fabric I bought and its a really fun sugar skull print.

I would have loved to have said I wore this dress on Dia de Los Muertos - but I actually made it the day after and wore it to work today. Better late than never right? Also I'm totally including this as dress number three of my four Halloween dresses.

I've decided this dress shall be known as the "Meg Dress" - sure it could be my "Sugar Skull Dress" but the reason I got off my butt and actually made something with it was because of this dress my friend Meg in Philly made. We are fabric twins!

Also I could imagine Meg making a dress from this pattern - its the "Back-to-school shift dress" from Simple and Chic sewing by Christine Haynes. I have made this dress so many times before - see here, here, here, here and also used it as a pattern for this costume. I wanted to make a simple dress from this fabric and I also wanted to use a tried and true pattern as I didn't want to mess up my precious sugar skull fabric!

These inside photos aren't the best - especially taken in the hallway of our apartment building. You can see the weird painting outside our apartment, its kind of grey and dull. I wish the body corp would put something more fun and bright up!

I hope you all have a great week - I've decided to take annual leave this Friday, so I only have three days of the week left. Hurrah!

Horsing about dress

Last week I was supposed to do a "Sew-a-long" with Meg, but that didn't turn out, due to all my lady problems. Over the weekend I felt like making something - but I wasn't quite up to sewing my "Chloe Dress" (I have now started it - yah!).

So instead I made the super simple "date dress" from Simple and Chic Sewing - the date dress is actually the dress on the cover of the book. It's basically two rectangles sewn together - with a bit of casing along the top. I found the casing to be a little lose, so I added some elastic to keep it firm.

If you've been following my blog for a while - you'll know how much I LOVE a good novelty print. I decided to use this horse fabric I bought at the last fabric-a-brac in Wellington.

When this dress was finished - it had pretty much no shape, but I kind of knew that would happen. Given that it's made up of two rectangles. The dress pattern includes a sash for shape, but I decided not to make it as I already have a whole bunch of belts in my wardrobe (I wear a belt pretty much every day).

I decided to wear the dress with a cardi over top - it's may be spring, but its still pretty cool. Also the cardi helps to tone done the extreme horsey print. I added the white belt for a bit more definition.

Oh dear - I have red eyes in the photo like a crazy lady! Here's what the final dress looked like. I'm still not convinced that I like it - but I was having a bit of a bleh day on Monday - so perhaps its just a case of bad day, bad photo. What do you all think?

Next stop - the Chloe dress! I hope you've all had a great start to the week, I've just gotten back from the gym. It's time for a quick shower then I'm off to a quiz night. Wish me luck!

Looking for a new home

Here's my most recent creation - its from my favourite sewing book "Chic and Simple Sewing" - it's  simple baby doll style dress I made from vintage fabric I picked up in a op shop last time I was in Taranaki.

This dress made me a little crazy whilst I was sewing it - the pattern wasn't too difficult and the instructions were clear, but I kept on making silly little mistakes which drove me crazy. The quick unpick (that's what I call a seam ripper - is that a NZ thing or what?) became my close friend - especially when it came to added the sleeves.

It has a yoke and puffy sleeves and I thought that the whole design was suited to this mad vintage fabric - I really love the fabric design and colours.

So here's the thing - I liked the fabric, I liked the pattern and it took me quite a few hours to make this dress with my mistakes and all, but I just don't like this dress. I've tried to wear it - I really have. I've added boots, belts, badges, tights, beads - but I don't like it - I just plain don't like it and there's nothing that can be done about it.

BUT I've spent way much too time working on it to let it languish in my wardrobe unloved and unwanted - so I've decided to give it away, here on the blog.

This isn't a competition as such - I just want to give my frock a good home! I made this dress in a size "L" from my Chic and Simple sewing book which is a US size 10-12, although its loose fitting so I think a range of sizes could fit this dress.

I am a NZ/AUST12-14 and it fits me - but I think it could fit between  NZ/AUST12-18, that's just my best guess though - I can't make any guarantees.

So if you want this dress - just be the first person to leave a comment stating you would like it and its ALL yours! I'll post it out to you for free even.

Have a great weekend xoxox

OOTD: Strawberry Shortcake Dress

I'm calling this my "Strawberry Shortcake Dress" due to the pattern - so of you who follow my blog may remember seeing it on a coat hanger, but I've never actually given you an action shot of this dress.

I made it for our trip to Vanuatu and it's another pattern from my all time favourite pattern/sewing book Chic and Simple Sewing  - I think this is one of the best buys I have ever made in terms of a craft/sewing book, I use it SO much!

Anyway it is a fairly simple dress with a full skirt, I really do need a fancy petticoat to wear underneath to give it some volume.

After yesterday - I was determined to bring some "sunshine" into my life today and the only way I could think of doing that was wearing a summer dress. Also I did feel a little sad that a dress I'd put so much effort into making was wasting away in the cupboard - I decided I needed to "make it work" for winter!

Shortly we are off to have some delicious Korean food and then we're going to meet our friend Nankz to do some planning for the New Zealand International Film Festival - have a great Friday night xoxo

Weekend Fun Times

So another weekend has already gone! This last weekend was actually pretty fun - here's a wee snapshot of a few things I did.

On Saturday morning I did a bit of shopping in town and went to Recycle Boutique as its been a while since I've had a chance to look around and I picked up a couple of new things.

First up is a vintage swim dress which I am pretty excited about - especially since I'm off to Vanuatu next week. This is so perfect for our holiday.

I also picked up this cute vintage shirt dress for the office - 100% polyester baby!

I also went along to the Portrait Gallery of New Zealand with some friends and followed that up with a trip to the Wellington Underground Market. This market sometimes has special theme markets and last weekend the them was crafting, so I managed to pick up this rather cute novelty fabric with pegs all over it - I got three metres of this fabric! Now I just have to work out what to do with it.

Later on in the afternoon I went to a Wellington Pink Ladies event, a High Tea at Martha's Pantry which is a very cute little tea room. They have so many lovely vintage things and the high tea was so dainty - I also had the most incredible tea. It was so fun, I hope I can go back there soon.

On Sunday I had a quiet day, Rich was finishing off an assignment (he's now all done and no study for a whole month - yah!).

But I did manage to complete this and I thought I'd share it with all of you now - although you're not getting an action shot as its too cold to prance about in a sundress!

Here's a close up of the fabric - its strawberries and super cute! 

This is another dress from my Simple and Chic sewing book and its called the "Indian Summer Dress" - speaking of that book, I recently added some of my projects to the "Simple and Chic Sewing" Flickr group and I got some positive feedback from Christine Haynes which caused all kinds of geeky excitement! You can see the Flickr group here.

I hope you're all having a fabulous week!

My second attempt at sleepwear

I do really rather like the idea of making my own sleepwear. I only wear nighties to bed, which makes sense given I never wear trousers, jeans or shorts when I am awake!

At the moment, I don't really have any sleepwear patterns so I decided just to use a simple dress pattern I had in my Simple and Chic Sewing book.

The pattern is for a simple summer dress so it's not really fitted at all which is perfect for sleepwear. I got this fabric at a op-shop and this is the second project I've used it for so it was well worth the $3 I paid for it.

But I will say this - I am not very confident at sewing with this type of fabric, its really quite slippy so I had a few problems with it. First of all I was REALLY annoyed about this as I have a tendency to be a little too hard on myself as I want everything I do to be perfect and there are seems on this nightie that are far from perfect.

However, this nightie has to be one of the most comfortable nighties I have even owned - so I am less worried about the imperfections, I can live with them! I think I might make a couple more using this pattern, as its just perfect for a nightie.

Here's a close up of the fabric - yes it's kind of like camo skulls - I know that's not likely to be to everyone's taste but I like it.

I hope you're all having a lovely week - tomorrow is Friday - yah! Looking forward to the weekend as I really need to work on my holiday wardrobe.

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge - Brown

Yesterday's wardrobe challenge was brown and I decided it was time for another new frock so I made this one from fabric I bought ages ago at Opportunity for Animals - it was an epic day of op shopping, I picked up so much cheap and awesome fabric that day.

This dress is yet another pattern from Chic and Simple sewing, I think that book is basically one of the best investments I have ever made - best "on holiday" purchase ever - thanks bookstore in Singapore. Ignore all the bags of fabric in the picture - I am in serious need of more storage!

I am especially excited about this dress as someone stopped me in the street at lunch time to tell me how much they liked it. I still feel very much like a novice sewer and sometimes I worry that the things I make don't look right - so to have a comment from a complete stranger like that was pretty rad.

I haven't worn my "crocodile" shoes for a while - so I thought it was time they see the light of day. Unfortunately the weather seems to be getting cooler and cooler, pretty soon I'm sure the only footwear I'll want to wear is my boots.

I decided I needed to wear my red cardi with this outfit as there is only so much brown a girl can wear in one outfit.

OUTFIT DEETS:

Dress - Made by me - fabric op shopped and pattern from Simple and Chic sewing
Cardi - Glassons
Belt - Valley Girl
Tights - I think Glassons, but I'm not entirely sure!
Shoes - Number 1 Shoes
Necklace - Equipt
Brooch - Made by a friend

Autumnal Frock

Hello World! Just a super quick post as I don't have much interweb time tonight, but I just wanted to share with you my latest frock - it's actually fairly simple but I have been lacking the motivation to finish it off. I don't know why - its seems like craft projects are like that sometimes. I am sure every crafty girl (and guy) has a pile of UFO (unfinished objects) floating around their house.
Here's a bit of a close up of the fabric the dress is made from - very autumnal I thought. The fabric was on sale for half price at the fabric store and I just had to grab some as I thought it was adorable.
This dress is another one form my book "Chic and Simple Sewing" that I bought when I was on my last overseas holiday. The book was a bit expensive - but it's totally worth it as there must be 10-15 patterns in the book and given what a single pattern is worth at the fabric shop I think it's actually not too bad. Plus I am still learning to sew and sometimes store bought patterns confuse me! In other news, I'm making a list 35 goals I want to achieve before I turn 35 - it seems most things relate to craft, baking or travelling (which isn't too surprising). One of my goals is to sew one hundred wearable items. Not all the wearable items have to be for me of course! They could be for Rich or a friend or family member (like the nieces and nephews) or an item for a craft swap.

I've decided the only way I will get to be a better seamstress is by sewing more and more! I know on hundred things is quite a lot but I have two and a half years to complete it - I think I can do it!

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what I can include in my list? I'm only up to 26 things so far which included making a gingerbread house, visiting Tasmania, making a layered rainbow cake, visiting the USA and volunteering overseas for a short time. Reading through my list to date I have decided I am not a terribly complex woman.

I hope you're all having a good week so far and I shall try and catch up on my blog reading tomorrow xoxox