Sew Weekly - Down Under

This week's theme on Sew Weekly was to sew something appropriate for the opposite season to what you are facing at the moment.  Obviously, for me that meant sewing a winter garment.  I decided to make a pair of sailor pants that I have been wanting to make for ages.

To read my full post about these pants pop on over here. And make sure you check out what everyone else has made. There are some very brave ladies in the US making bathing suits who have even dared to model them outside....in the snow!!!

Harry Potter Birthday

Last week my work friend Sally had a birthday and it was our turn to spoil her as she does for everyone else on their birthdays.  We were pretty pumped about it and me and two other girls spent a few weeks planning.  Sally is a massive Harry Potter fan so we chose that as our theme for the day.  Here are some pics....

 

The entry into our office was Platform 9 3/4.  We got the inspiration from here.  It was super simple to do and looked fantastic.  The party was last Tuesday and we still have this hanging on our door now!

 

The birthday banner in Gryffindor colours of course!

 

Her desk was then surrounded by streamers, balloons and golden snitches that we cut out of coloured paper.

 

 

We made a heap of these posters here and printed them out to hang all around the office.  These have also stayed up since the party.  I of course had to do some baking so I made owl cupcakes, golden snitch oreo balls and the old favourite rice bubble slice.

 

Now this is my absolute favourite part of the day.  Let me just preface this by saying, in the interest of full disclosure, I DID NOT MAK E THIS CAKE!  This cake was made by one of the very very very talented girls that I work with.  We are trying to convince her to start and business and I am trying to convince her to give me cake decorating classes.  She is an absolute genius!!!!

In case you don't read Harry Potter the Monster Book of Monsters is a textbook that they are prescribed for one of their classes and it is alive and tries to eat everyone.  Michelle did an absolutely fantastic job recreating this book for Sally's cake.  It was freaking amazing!!!!  I can't wait to see what we can come up with for Sally's birthday next year.

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.

Our Wedding - The Dress

I had a request for some more information on my wedding dress and I figured since my sewing room is all packed for the move now is as good a time as any to share.

I bought my dress when I was visiting my sister in London in March 2011.  It was the very first dress that I tried on! We look at a few other shops afterwards but I couldn't find anything I liked anywhere near as much.  And the even better thing is between the dress and my two petticoats I only spent around $400.

My dress was from Vivien of Holloway.  It is just their basic shape of dress but in a nicer fabric.  I bought two petticoats also from Vivien of Holloway to wear under it.  They are the softest most comfortable petticoats I have ever worn.  I think I might dye one of them now so I don't just have two white petticoats lying around.

Another thing I loved about the dress was that it was completely boned and fit me so perfectly that I didn't have to wear a bra. Win!!!  The only alteration I made to the dress was to made the halter neck strap a bit thinner.  Vivien dresses all have quite thick dramatic neck straps so all I did was fold it in half and add a few stitches to keep it in place.  So that is the story of my wedding dress.  I was so happy with it and I think it suited my style perfectly.

Day 9-16

I've been a bit slack on the photo a day challenge.  We are moving at the end of this week and I have also been preparing for a birthday at work tomorrow so things have been a little crazy.  It has resulted in me doing a bit of catch up photography over the weekends but anyway here are the photos I have taken...

Day 9 - Daily Routine

Day 10 - Childhood

Day 11 - Where You Sleep

Day 12 - Close Up

Day 13 - In Your Bag

Day 14 - Something Your Reading

Day 15 - Happiness

Day 16 - Morning

I might be a little slack on blogging and commenting this week as I have a lot of packing to finish up.  Hopefully I will be all unpacked and back into it next week.

Sew Weekly - Accessorize

I don't think I have mentioned it on here yet but this year I decided to take part in the Sew Weekly challenge.  Basically, the lovely Mena from The Sew Weekly invited everyone to sign up if they would like to take part in trying to sew 1 item a week for 2012.  Challenges/Themes are posted at the start of each week and you have until Sunday evening to have something sewn up and posted to the Sew Weekly blog.

The first challenge was called accessorize and you had to choose an accessory as the inspiration for your garment.  I chose these heels which Corey bought me for Christmas 2 years ago.  The problem is I never wear them because they are so amazing and I just could never find the outfit that was special enough for them.  Corey has been nagging me about wearing them for ages so I knew as soon as this challenge came up they would be my inspiration.

I knew I want to make a nice lace pencil skirt to go with them but at first I envisioned it in a nice grey.  Fate intervened while I was perusing my local Spotlight when this lovely navy lace jumped out at me.  I realised then that navy would compliment the light purple of my shoes perfectly.

Here are the nitty gritty details in case you haven't been reading the Sew Weekly blog lately.

Fabric – 1m of Blue Cotton Poplin from Spotlight = $5.99
- 1.5m of Blue Romance Rose Lace from Spotlight = $19.95
Pattern: Simplicity 2605
Year: 2009
Notions: 7″ zipper, thread & 1 hook & eye = $0.99
Time to complete: 3.75 hours
First worn: Sunday, 8th January 2012.
Wear again? Definitely! I am saving this for our next date night to wear out to dinner. (I actually ended up wearing this to work the other day)
Total price: $26.93

Our Wedding - First Dance

I had a comment on my last wedding post asking what song we eventually chose for our first dance.  I thought it would be nice to share it with everyone.  I love this song!!! I found it via youtube having never heard it before and as soon as I heard it I knew it was a winner.  I played it to Corey and he agreed and the rest as they say is history.