Vintage Ladies Dress

To say that I am excited to have made this dress would be the understatement of the century.  This dress has been a long time coming.  When I was pregnant we stumbled across this fabric in Spotlight.  I say we because Corey is actually the one who saw it.  When he showed it to me I got just a tiny bit excited and immediately had to buy it.


As I was pregnant at the time I didn't really want to make something that I was only going to be able to wear for a short amount of time.  So I popped the fabric in my stash with a view to making something once Imogen was born.  In actual fact it sat in the stash for another 6 months after Imogen was born.


I actually cut this dress out at the same time as my red lace dress.  This was because I used the exact same pattern combination for this dress as well.  The bodice comes from vintage simplicity 5343 and the skirt from New Look 6723.  I think this is going to become my go to pattern combo for dresses!  The great part about it is while the skirt looks full it doesn't actually use that much fabric.


My favourite part of the dress is the vintage zipper I used.  How cool is the metal zipper pull?! I didn't really worry to much about matching the pattern of the fabric because it is quite busy and random anyway.  I am so happy with how it turned out and I will no doubt get a lot of wear out of it.  I am thinking that I need to get a few more novelty prints into my wardrobe.  They are so much fun!

Matchy Matchy

When I heard about Gillian over at Crafting A Rainbow's sewing dares I thought why not jump on board. It sounded like a fun idea to let someone else come up with an idea of something I should sew.  My dare was to make myself a dress and use the same fabric to make something for Imogen.  I chose to make Imogen a dress as well after seeing this adorable free pattern over at Sew Pony.  It was so quick and easy to sew up that I have been bitten by the kids clothes sewing bug.  I have actually just signed up to do the Kid's Clothes Week challenge as well.


The idea for my dress has been in my head for quite some time.  Ages ago I saw a yellow vintage dress on etsy that had been upcycled with a contrast collar and belt.  It was adorable but not my size so I planned to recreate it one day.  I bought the fabrics over a year ago (before I was even pregnant) and they sat in my stash waiting to be sewn.  When I was given this dare I decided it was time!  I used vintage Simplicity 5343 for the bodice and did a simple gathered skirt.  I drafted my own peter pan collar and added a simple waist band.  I am so in love with how this dress turned out.  It is so nice to have something that has been in your head for so long turn out exactly as planned.



So a big thank you to Gillian for the sewing dare.  It was a lot of fun!  I think when I have knocked over a few of the items on my to sew list I might just have to get another one.

70s Summer Dress

A little while ago I did a swap with the lovely Reana Louise and she sent me a gorgeous 1970s dress pattern and some lovely orange fabric.  Well I finally got around to making the dress and I am in love.  It is going to be perfect for this hot summer we are in for on the Gold Coast.


The pattern that I had was a size smaller than I required so I did some dodgy grading to make it fit.  I have never graded a pattern before and since this dress has such basic pattern pieces I decided to just wing it.  Luckily for me it turned out perfectly.


I also made a minor alternation to the waist of the dress.  Instead of doing a tie waist I did a simple elastic waist.  I did this by sewing thin elastic straight onto the dress and stretching it as I sewed it on.  This way I can wear a belt with it.  I also raised the waist slightly from where it was on the original dress.  I am pretty happy with how this dress turned out.  I wore it this past weekend and it was super comfortable.  There may need to be another one added to the wardrobe to get me through summer.  I am thinking a cool tribal print or maybe a nice kelly green colour to wear with a gold belt and flats.

Sew Weekly - Buttons

We are all moved into the new house and back online. There is still a bit of unpacking to do, most important being the sewing room, but we are settling in nicely.  Now that I am back I can share with you the dress I made for the Sew Weekly challenge last week which was buttons.  I chose a pattern with bound buttonholes and my first attempt was passable.  To read more about my dress head on over to my post on the Sew Weekly here.

Unfortunately, I had to skip this weeks challenge because of moving.  But fingers crossed I will have the sewing room unpacked very soon so I can whip something up for next week.  To read what others created in this week's challenge which was "Made This Look" pop on over to the Sew Weekly.

Marlee's Christmas Dress

Wow that is a very unimaginative title! I hate coming up with post titles. They always sound so lame.  Anyway, as you probably guessed I have finished another Christmas present.  This time a dress for my niece Marlee.

I used a Get Creative pattern from Spotlight and made her a size 2.  She is 18 months so I am hoping it will fit her for a little while.  It's hard sewing gifts for kids cause I can't go measure them to make sure I am making the right size so I just have to wing it.

Marlee is the only girl in a family of 4 kids and everything she owns is super duper girly. I thought this fabric was super cute and the pink trim made it that touch more girly.

I took such great care with this dress to make sure that the inside was just as pretty as the outside.  I think when you are making something for someone else it makes you work that little bit harder to make sure it is right.  When I make something for myself and I make a mistake I figure I am the only one who will know so it won't matter.

With this dressed I made sure all the seams were neat and bias bound the sleeves.  I even went so far as to attempt a lapped zipper.  For my first attempt I think it worked out pretty well!

So that is one more Christmas present out of the way.  I only have one more thing that I want to make for Christmas presents and I have 1.5 weeks left to do it so I think I will be fine.  I have only made 3 full presents this year and a couple of little things to pop in with other gifts.  Next year I am hoping to be able to make a few more things not just for presents but also for around the house.  But I have plenty of time to think about that!

Birthday Celebrations + A New Dress

Yesterday was my birthday celebration day and it was loads of fun!  We went ice skating in the afternoon and then went out for dinner with some friends and family.  Ice skating was so much fun and hilarious to watch some people try and ice skate.  Corey's nephews were hilarious. Unfortunately, we didn't get many photos but here are a few from the day.....

And this is my new dress! It is made with Vogue 1094 which I bought to make a dress for my aunty's wedding.  This was meant to be my practice dress but now I am not sure if I will make it again as I found an awesome vintage dress that my parents got me for my birthday which I may wear instead.  The material is some sort of cotton blend from Spotlight.  I used the bodice pattern from the dress which I shortened then added an a-line skirt.  If I do make it again I think I will do a circle skirt next time.  Tonight we are at mum and dad's for dinner so there will be more birthday related photos tomorrow.

The Maria Dress

The second thing I managed to do over the weekend was finish a dress I have been working on since the start of the year.  I cut this out before we went overseas but never got around to sewing it up.  Last Saturday I finally sat down and started and this Saturday I finished it.

I used Simplicity 3780 which I used to make my hawaiian dress last year (posted on my old blog).  I have one more idea for a dress that I could like to make with this pattern and then I will stop.  I think 3 of the same dress will be enough don't you.

I am calling this the Maria Dress because my friend Maria loves the colour purple and every time I see it I think of her.  I am trying to add a few different colours into my sewing because I noticed the other day I tend to use pink, white, red and black quite a lot.  I am thinking more yellows and greens are in order.  Although I do have a couple more red things up my sleeve.

I am really happy with the inside of this dress.  The bodice is lined so I decided to make the skirt and everything as neat as possible too.  I get a quiet sense of satisfaction wearing a dress that I know looks just a good on the inside as it does on the outside.

I haven't been sewing nearly as much as I would like to be so I am really hoping to change that for the rest of the year.  I have a list of things I want to make for Christmas presents and for myself for Summer so hopefully I can get cracking and have some more sewing projects to show you soon.

Daily Style - Polka Dots

Dress: Kitty's Vintage Kitsch

Belt: Poundland

Cardi: Valleygirl

Shoes: Rubi Shoes

Flower (in hair): Diva

Thanks to the public holiday I got to spend an extra two days with Corey this weekend. Corey and I usually only have one day off a week together because he works on Saturdays but this weekend he took Saturday off and thanks to the public holiday had Monday off too. We spent the day buying a few wedding things, going out for lunch and going to watch the new X-men movie. It was a lovely relaxing day to end a lovely long weekend.

I wore one of the dresses that I bought from Kitty's Vintage Kitsch before I put myself on a shopping ban. I love this dress! It is so summery and fun. It came with a matching belt with a butterfly buckle but I like to wear it with this red on instead. Blue and red together are one of my favourite combinations. I also finished a cardigan I have been knitting for the past few weeks so stay tuned for a post on that.

1 Pattern, Seven Bloggers - The Big Reveal

I can't believe the reveal date is already here! When we set the date of June 1st it seemed so far away but it has come around so quickly. So quickly in fact that I was still sewing my dress this morning. Poor time management on my part lead to me spending my day off today finishing my dress but it was a very nice relaxing way to spend the day. So the moment you have all been waiting for......my dress!!!

I am really happy with how this dress turned out. I was lucky enough to not encounter any of the fit issues that the other girls encountered. My muslin was a little tight but I let the seams out a little and my final dress material has a bit of stretch to it so that issues was dealt with easily. I didn't encounter any issues at the waist as the other girls did either which was lucky. I am also super glad that I took so much care to make the inside of the dress look neat. It is the best garment internally I have ever made!!!

Another great thing about this dress is it cost me nothing to make. The black material, bias binding and zipper all came from within my stash. The main material was gifted to me by my mum from her stash which saved me a lot of searching and money. Even the pattern cost me nothing! My dad works at company that delivers magazines and flyers to newsagents and other places and he is allowed to bring home magazines every now and then. About 1 week before this challenge was proposed he came home with a copy of Burdastyle for me and it just so happened to be the one this pattern was in. Lucky hey! So this dress cost me a total of $0. Whats not to love about that!!!

I had so much fun with this challenge and I am so glad I was asked to take part. I think there should be more challenges like this in the blog world because they take us out of our comfort zone and push us to be a little bit more creative and take a bit more pride in what we make. I know sometimes I can just want to get something made as quick as possible so I cut corners and end up with an inferior garment. This challenge made me slow down and take the time to enjoy the process and appreciate the garment I was making. It has also reignited my sewing mojo which I was struggling to find after our trip to Europe. So thank you to all the other girls for making this challenge possible and for letting me be a part of it. It was great fun!!!

Don't forget to check out the other girls dresses on their blogs too!

Sam: http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://mymessings.blogspot.com/
Marie: http://asewingodyssey.blogspot.com/
Reana Louise: http://curvespatternsandpins.blogspot.com/
Jen: http://the-paperdoll.blogspot.com/
Amy: http://sewingthroughthemotions.blogspot.com/

1 Pattern, Seven Bloggers

About a week ago I was contacted by the lovely Sam from All Things Quilty And Sewy asking me if I would like to take part in a sewing project that she had come up with.  The idea as Sam puts it "is simple, one pattern, seven bloggers, infinite possibilities".  So over the next month we are all going to be making the same dress pattern and posting about varies aspects of the project.  Today is our introductory post and sharing some of our inspiration.  The pattern we have chosen is this one from Burdastyle.

Now I love the summery look and feel of this picture but here in Australia we are heading into Winter (or trying to at least) and I am starting to crave stockings and boots and cardigans so I am going to be making a more wintery version of this dress.  Here is some of my inspiration so far....

Source: google.com.au via Kat on Pinterest

Source: google.com.au via Kat on Pinterest

Source: google.com.au via Kat on Pinterest

Source: dahliafashion.co.uk via Kat on Pinterest

I have a pretty good idea in my head of how I want the finished dress to look but now I just have to see if it will actually work.  Stay tuned for the next update on the project next week.

And don't forget to go and say hello to the other girls taking part:

Sam: http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://mymessings.blogspot.com/
Marie: http://asewingodyssey.blogspot.com/
Reana Louise: http://curvespatternsandpins.blogspot.com/
Jen: http://the-paperdoll.blogspot.com/
Amy: http://sewingthroughthemotions.blogspot.com/