Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge - Pearls

Today's wardrobe challenge was "Pearls" and whilst I don't have any "for real" pearls I do have my fabulous oversized pearls from Diva or Equipt - I forget which!I am actually more excited by the dress I am wearing in this outfit - its one of my "to do" projects from my January sewing goals. It's the tunic dress from my Sew La Tea Do sewing book. Here's a close up of the fabric I made the dress from - it may have been designed with 5 year old boys pj's in mind. But I don't care! I think it's totally rad and I love my shark dress! My non-pearl accessories for the day - lots of red to match the little red fish on the dress.

Red tights and white shoes seem to be just perfect with this frock!

So with all the recent eye drama I've decided to try and become much more of a lipstick girl, rather than an eye make up girl. This is the colour I've been wearing all this week - I kind of like the idea of having a signature shade of lipstick
OUTFIT DEETS:

Dress - Made by Me! Fabric from spotlight

Cardy - Glassons

Pearls - Diva or Equipt

Belt - From another dress

Ring - Reincarnation, Wellington

Plastic Bracelet - I forget :P

Beaded Bracelet - Handmade Gift from my friend Jess

Tights - Farmers

Shoes - The Big Shwop

Also, as you'll all know I'm sure, Chinese New Year is here! One of the ladies at work gave me a Chinese New Years present today.

I got a "Chanel" Purse - oh how fancy!

Finally I want to have a wee round up of how I went on my January sewing goals, I am off on my trip tomorrow so there won't be any more sewing this month (well not the type of sewing that requires me to sit at my machine). I had four sewing goals - a maxi dress, dress for my cousins wedding a capelet and a tunic dress.

This month I get 3/5 - the only thing I didn't make was a capelet - which means I will have to take an emergency scarf on my trip. But all in all I am pretty happy with my progress. I have included a photo of the maxi I made below. It's not an action shot - but I am sure you will see some holiday photos of me wearing this frock.

Like I said, I am off on my trip tomorrow - first stop is Christchurch to have brunch with Helga Von Trollop then its off to Kuala Lumpur! I will try and update when I can whilst I am away - but if things are a little quiet you will know I've either without the internet, exhausted or just having too much fun. See you all soon xoxo

Pink and Hibiscus Dress

I have now finished the dress for my cousin's wedding in Phuket which is coming up mighty soon, only three more sleeps till I fly out to Kuala Lumpur.

I made this dress with a vintage pattern and put a lot of work into it, but I'm not sure now if I actually like it or not! But I put so much work into it I'm going to wear it damn it!

I decided I wanted a pink dress, I'm not sure why, it was just a mood that struck me on the day. The dress has a big pleat at the front, so I decided to insert hibiscus print fabric instead of being all pink.

I inserted an invisible zip into the frock using this tutorial which I found really useful, if you're planning on inserting an invisible zip for the first time I would recommend checking it out.

I did have a small drama with this dress, I made it maybe 6 months ago and at that time the dress fit fine. However, recently I lost quite a lot of weight which means the dress didn't fit correctly any more and I had to take the whole dress in which took a while.

The little bow at the side is actually a removable bow I made, so I could wear it elsewhere on the dress if I fancy and I can also take it off when the dress needs a wash.

I am not crazy about this frock - but maybe I'll like it more with the right accessories and the yellow shoes I bought for the wedding.

I am happy its finished, I have something to wear to the wedding and I can tick something off my list for my January sewing goals. I have also made my maxi dress and I hope to put up a photo before I leave on Thursday.

Christmas Stocking & Sewing Goals for January

I know the Christmas season is now well and truly over but I just wanted to share with you all these mini Christmas stockings I made for the Christmas stocking swap I did with Alicia from So Pauve, with all the seasonal craziness I ended up sending off these stockings late so Alicia has only just received them, which means I can now post pictures.
I've decided that this year will be my year for sewing, I did start to get into it this year, but to be honest I still found sewing hard and a little uninspiring at times.

However, the book "Sew La Tea Do" which I bought as a Christmas present to myself has helped to inspire me A LOT. Plus the instructions are so simple, I have to admit I've bought some patterns and then I've been put off making them as the instructions seemed like a total mystery to me. I guess that when these things are drafted there is an assumption that the person who will ultimately end up sewing them will have a certain degree of pre-existing sewing knowledge - which isn't the case with me.

So here is my list of sewing projects for January 2012 - I'll have to admit I am being pretty ambitious seem as I am going overseas for two and a half weeks on January 19th!

1. Make a Maxi Dress

I thought I'd start with this one as I have already completed the project - I was evening planning on taking some photos so I could do a post about it today but the weather is just horrible! I can tell you that I made the dress with a pattern I bought from this website. It was a pain to have to print out all the pattern pieces on A4, stick them together and cut then out and then cut the pattern out. But on the upside the instructions on how to put the dress together were really simple. I made this dress for my trip as I imagine its going to be REALLY hot so a thin cotton dress will be really useful. I may even make a second one if I have time.

2. Dress for my cousin's wedding

I am planning on making a dress for my cousins wedding and I am starting to cut it out today. I think its going to take up quite a lot of my free time over the next week and weekend but hopefully it will be worth it. I am planning on using the same pattern which I used for my very first dress which I blogged about here. However, seem as the wedding is in Phuket I am planning on making a more "tropical" version and there may even be heart shaped buttons involved if I can pull it off!

3. Capelet

This is something else I have wanted for a while and I think will be especially useful for my trip. Once Rich and I went to Hanoi and whilst there we decided to visit the tomb of Ho Chi Min. We were lined up outside in the EXTREMELY hot Vietnam weather waiting to enter the tomb when one of the guards told me I couldn't go in because my shoulders were showing. He also told me I was lucky because there was a store around the corner which sold tee shirts and scarves and if I went and bought one I could go into the tomb. I am pretty sure I was scammed (at least it wasn't just me - about half of the women in the line were told they weren't wearing enough clothes and had to buy a scarf/tee shirt to cover their legs or shoulders or both) so this trip I thought it would be a good idea to take a capelet to avoid repeating the situation. I've found a wee capelet pattern on burda style for free, so I will try and make that.

4. Tunic Dress

I am also planning on making the final dress from the Sew La Tea Do dress I haven't make yet - its a cute tunic dress and I have shark fabric to make it from. That's right people - fabric covered in sharks!!

I also have a few other things I would like to make this month, I think I could pull all of these projects off if I wasn't going away. But seen as I am only here for half the month I realise I must limit myself! The other projects include a pair of boxer shorts for Rich, two bibs for impending babies (Rich needs to cross-stitch them first though) and a movie blanket.

What's your January crafting plans?