The “Braveheart” Dress

This week on The Sew Weekly was all about celebrating movie history, and making something inspired by a movie that at some point in the 85 year old history of the Academy Awards had been nominated (or won) an Oscar.

So many gorgeous, lovely movies! So much inspiring fashion!!

I considered making things inspired by The Help (1950′s dresses, after all!), Juno (only what on earth to make?!? A Hamburger Phone-inspired dress??), Driving Ms Daisy, Chicago, and a whole host of others.

Then I spotted it in the list – Braveheart! Yes, that’s right – that good ol’ Mel Gibson-wearing-a-muddy-kilt movie. Even though it stars Mel Gibson, I like that movie a lot. Partially because it brings back memories – it came out back when I was living in Hungary on an AFS exchange year. It was one of the few non-over-dubbed movies that showed in the town I was living in, and it had Scottish accents, and it was historical, and the movie theater was crazy cheap (compared to the overpriced ones in NZ). So I went to see it a few times. And I loved it, every time.

So, sure, I could have picked a movie with inspiring fashion. Instead I picked one that meant something to me.

Which brings up the next part of the equation – what on earth do you make that’s inspired by Braveheart, of all things?!?

It turns out that making a kilt requires a lot of experience, a lot of time, and a heck of a lot of good quality woolen tartan. So that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Hunting through my stash, I found this synthetic something-or-other brown plaid fabric. It’s plaid, it’s brown (just like the mud in the movie) – clearly, it was right for a Braveheart-inspired garment. It’s the sort of fabric and weight that’s only ever really going to be a dress, so a Braveheart dress it was going to be!

Hunting through my pattern stash, I encountered Simplicity 7049, a 1975 pattern that used to belong to my mother. Not my usual style, but with the collar and the gathers in front, I figured it resembled a kilt and shirt a bit more than a 1950′s style dress ever would, so it got to get made up.

(On a side note: I love that I’ve made a pattern from my mother’s stash. It’s a nice sort of connection. Next time I see her, I think I’ll have to wear this dress and take the pattern with me, and find out what she made out of it.)

The pattern was pretty easy to make up. Sure, it took 5 hours, but there was a fair amount of hand stitching involved, blind-stitching the facing down on the inside, and I’m not so fast with hand stitching. And it has a collar, a yoke/inset thing, pockets, and gathers. And gathered set-in sleeves. So I think 5 hours is fairly reasonable.

My only minor issue with this pattern is the illustration on the envelope. That girl in the blue dress makes it look lovely, skimming but not tent-like, and flattering without a sash. Yeah, turns out that’s not the case in real life. Sure, it doesn’t look that bad from the front, but if you don’t wear that tie belt with it, from the back you very much resemble a sack-wearer. Which is Not So Good. Lucky for that tie belt, eh?

Since I’ve decided I really like the look of hem binding after making my Blue Skies skirt, I used some more of the blue lace-like hem binding on the hem of this dress. I like how it gives it a pop of bright blue on the inside. (Shame I forgot to take a photo of it. Sorry.)

Despite not being my usual style (or era), and as a result having some doubts about it, I think I actually quite like this dress. I like the fabric and the print, and the collar, and as long as I get the belt tied in the right way, I think it looks ok. And it’ll be handy for those days when you go out for a big branch, with all those gathers above the waist.

The Facts

Fabric: 2 metres of some synthetic lightweight woven plaid from my stash, ~$8
Pattern: Simplicity 7049
Year: 1975
Notions: 20cm invisible zip, ~$4, two vintage hooks and eyes, blue hem binding lace, ~$0.50
Time to complete: 5 hours
First worn: to work, Feb 21
Wear again? yep
Total price: ~$12.50

Rather floral

Skirt: hand made, acquired from a clothes swap party

Blouse: by NZ designer Julia Fong, thrifted

Necklace: by a Nelson jeweller

Tights: NZ made by Columbine

Shoes: NZ brand Minx

Petticoat: via TradeMe, made by a girl who lives two streets away

This week’s Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge was to wear as much that was made as close to where we live as possible.

Sure, it would have been extremely easy for me to wear a completely me-made outfit. But where’s the challenge in that? So I wore things made as close to Wellington as possible, that weren’t me-made.  As a result, this blouse got it’s second-ever wearing in public.

Not that you can see some of the details very clearly – it’s pouring with rain, and night, hence the inside photos.  But the shoes are purple wedges with ankle straps, the tights are black floral designed mesh, and there’s a green petticoat under that skirt.

Like all the floral?  Floral skirt, floral blouse, floral tights.  I’m a walking watercolour garden today.

Moon Munkie Mystery Make experiment

Have you seen the Mystery Make Experiment over at Moon Munkie’s blog? Quite frankly, I love it – it’s the sort of random creative challenge that makes me rather excited.

Moon Munkie got all inspired by Debi’s Sew Grateful week and as a result created a giveaway-mixed-with-a-creative-challenge of her own. Here’s how it works:

She’s put together a four parcels of mystery things, and will send them to four people, who are willing to go along with the following guidelines:

1) They need to go to people with sewing or crafting type blogs which are updated regularly.

2) From the date you receive the parcel, you have 4 weeks to create something inspired by the items in the parcel.

3) You may use all or some of the items in the parcel and you may add from your own stash or buy additional items.

5) At the end of the 4 weeks (or before if you’re quick!) you agree to blog about the item you made (with a link to Moon Munkie) and the processes you went through – with pictures of course! You can also blog as you go along if you like. A tutorial for making your item is not essential, but would be appreciated!

6) I will also blog about the challenge. I’ll link to your blog from mine and from my facebook page. So hopefully your blog will get lots of extra visits, too.

7) Optional You could then do the same sort of thing. Offer 4 packages from your stash to other crafters. I wonder how far it would spread? I hope you will do this, but I don’t want to make it mandatory in case it puts people off joining in.

Isn’t that the neatest idea ever?!? Naturally, I’ve tossed my hat into the ring, so to speak, so keep your fingers crossed that I’m lucky enough to be drawn to take part in the making challenge.

Either way, it’s got me inspired to take part in the challenge, whether or not I get selected, by giving away a couple of mystery parcels of my own. I have no idea what will be in these yet (and even if I knew I wouldn’t tell you – they’re supposed to be a mystery, after all), but I’ll put two parcels together this week and draw a couple of people to give them away to next Sunday (26 February).

Want to be in the draw for a mystery parcel? The same rules as Moon Munkie’s giveaway (listed above) apply. With a small variation – I’d love it if you’d link to my blog with your finished creation, and let me know, so I can do a post about it as well. Also, you don’t have to give away mystery parcels yourself – that part is purely optional (although kinda fun too, in my opinion).

So, if you want to take part, please leave a comment below and let me know. Feel free to let me know what size you are as well, in case I have a pattern or two that’s the right size to put in with the rest of the mystery goodies. (There may or may not be patterns involved. What’s in the parcels is still a mystery to me, too!)

The ‘Piratical’ Cardigan

Arrr! I’m a pirate!!!

Or at least, this cardigan thinks it’s a pirate.

Either way, it inspired me to dress kinda piratical for work the first day I wore it (Valentines Day!).

But I digress. Without further ado, here are…

The Facts

Fabric: Striped merino wool knit from my stash, no idea where it came from so I’m considering it free
Pattern: Self drafted
Year: 2012
Notions: 5 red buttons, ~$1, scraps of lightweight interfacing for inside the button placket, free
Time to complete: 1.5 hours
First worn: Valentine’s day, 2012
Wear again? Yep

Total Cost: ~$1

This cardi was made for the latest Sew Weekly theme – red, in honour of Valentines Day.

It turns out I don’t have a lot of plain red in my stash these days (except for some bright red sweatshirting, but I didn’t think a snuggly hoodie was quite Valentines-y), which is how the black stripes crept in there. This fine, lightweight merino wool knit was lurking in the corner of my fabric stash – I have no idea how it got there, in fact I don’t recall ever seeing it before, but there it was. And there was just enough for a cardigan!

Since I wear a lot of 1950′s style dresses, I made the cardigan length just below my waist, and went with a round neckline, just for a bit of 1950′s pirate style. It fastens with 5 little red buttons (and yes, it does do up. I just happened to be wearing it like this today and forgot to do it up for the photos to prove that all the buttons are, indeed, there). It’s the first time I’ve ever made a button-up cardi, and I was a bit worried about how stable the button placket would be, so I got all creative with nearby objects and folded a stripe of lightweight interfacing scraps into each button placket. It seems to have worked quite well – hardly any added bulk, and a far more stable placket. End result – I’m not scared of making button-up cardigans any more. I see several others, with cute little buttons, in my near future…..

I whipped up the entire cardigan using my overlocker (serger), cover stitch and all. (I do love my overlocker, it makes life so much easier.) The only non-overlocker bits where the buttons holes, and the hand-sewing of the buttons, which is where most of the time to make came from.

For Valentines Day, Steve and I went for a wander around the zoo after work. They were having a special ‘adults only’ late night, open to adults (18 and over) from 5.30 – 8.30pm (they usually close at 5pm). With zoo keeper talks about animal mating habits, live music, and encouragements to take along a picnic dinner. How cool an idea is that?! (Not that we were organised enough to take along a picnic, but we saw lots of other people with baskets in hand, which was rather neat.) These photos were standing near the pelican area, with the spider monkeys across the little stream in that big tree. The pelican is one of my favourite animals at the zoo – he’s hilarious, super friendly, with crazy eyes. And sadly off sleeping somewhere at 8pm at night.

Something about this cardigan inspired me to dress a bit pirate-inspired for work today. Red-and-black polkadot top, black waist belt, black skirt, black-and-red tartan heart necklace, and…. tights with skulls and crossbones up the back! (Imagine this outfit with black-and-red kitten heels, please. I switched them out to sneakers for walking around the zoo, for practicalities sake.)

A little meet-up

Last year I stumbled across the wonderful world of Girls Who Sew And Blog. (I think it’s wonderful enough that it deserves capitalisation, don’t you?) I found (and followed) a whole lot of blogs, joined in the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle community, learnt a heck of a lot, got re-inspired with my own sewing, and made a bunch of new friends. It was a bit of a life-changing discovery for me, when I think about it…..

One of the girls I got to be friends with through the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle is the lovely Trish, who blogs over at Quiet Vintage Sewing. Trish is a former Kiwi, now living in Aussie, and loves vintage styles. If you haven’t found her blog yet, you should go and have a look – she makes some gorgeous creations, and every so often treats us to some photos of her house and/or vintage treasures.

I was pretty excited late last year when I got an email from Trish – she was coming over to New Zealand over Christmas, and wondered if I’d like to meet up. Of course I would!! My first ever blogger meet-up, how exciting is that?!?

We caught up one early evening in mid January (yes, I’m a bit late with posting this) over tea, then went for a wander along the Wellington waterfront. It was one of the few real days of summer we’ve had in Wellington this year, with gorgeous blue skies and lovely sunshine, so we made the most of it and indulged in some gelato. Yum!

Completely unintentionally, we both wore pink, and red shoes. (Self-made pink outfits, naturally.) Isn’t Trish’s dress gorgeous? I love the asymmetric neckline and the different directions of the stripes.

Thanks for a lovely evening Trish, it was so lovely to meet you!

The “Blue Skies” Skirt

The Facts

Fabric: about 1.5 metres of medium weight blue cotton drill from my stash (guessing about $10 a few years back?) and about 1.5 metres of light blue lining, thrifted, ~$0.80
Pattern: Simplicity 5793
Year: 1964
Notions: invisible zip, ~$3 on sale, two hooks and eyes
Time to complete: about 1 hour several months ago, and another 2 hours today
Wear again? yep, just as soon as I fit it properly again!

Total cost: ~$14

This week on The Sew Weekly, the theme was UFOs. Going back and picking up a project that was never completed, and actually finishing it!

Sad to say, I have quite a few UFO’s lurking around. *hangs head in shame* Which to choose, which to choose….?

The lovely blue of this skirt called out to me, and demanded to be finished this week. I originally started it back in November, to go with my Eek A Mouse top for the Pin Up Sew Weekly challenge. I ran out of time that week, and only made it as far through as cutting the skirt and lining, overlocking the pieces, and sewing up 3 of the 8 darts. I’m guessing it would have taken me about an hour to do that, more or less. And ever since then, it’s been sitting in my UFOs-I-really-want-to-finish-very-soon pile.

Way back when I started the skirt, I choose Simplicity 5793, from 1964. It’s a nice, basic skirt – 6 gores, A-line, dart fitted in front and back (interestingly, they didn’t incorporate the darts in the gore seamlines, which I find a little surprising), with a narrow waistband and a side zipper closing. This pattern came together like a breeze – so easy, the only reason to look at the instructions is to figure out which side the zip is meant to go on. I like how it looks made up as well – it sits at the natural waist, and I can see this being made up in a wide variety of fabrics, dressed up or down, for all seasons. Perhaps another go-to pattern?

I’ve learnt my lesson in the past when making cotton skirts – they cling like crazy to tights in winter. And I don’t know if it’s just me, but a separate slip doesn’t seem to stop that happening at all. Since I’m not a huge fan of battling with my outfit while walking down the street, I decided to fully line the skirt, so it’ll fall nicely over patterned tights in winter and I can focus on the wind-vs-hair battle without the distracting of the clothes-vs-accessories battle. Lining it was very easy – I simply cut out all the pattern pieces (excluding the waistband), stitched ‘em up, left a gap for the zipper, and basted to the top of the shell before attaching the waistband. Done.

(‘Scuse the exposed knees there.)

I tried something else new with this skirt as well, and used hem binding. I’ve seen a few of the other girls in the sewing blog-o-sphere use it, and it got me inspired to give it a go. I’m really happy with how it looks – I think it’ll be a staple technique in my sewing from now on! I reckon it just adds a little touch of elegance to the inside of the garment, don’t ya think?

And guess what? It goes well with my new blue shoes.

I’m calling this the ‘Blue Skies’ skirt, as the colour is so bright and cheerful it reminds me of the gorgeous vivid blue skies in spring/summer.

Sadly though, I’ve put on a bit of weight this year, so the skirt is a bit too tight. Argh! Oh well, it’ll fit again once I get back to normal. (*mutter mutter*)

And here’s a parting shot of my friend Nik and I wandering back home. In case you’re wondering what I’m doing, I was in the process of blowing a kiss to Steve who was trailing along behind us.

Cupcake baby dress

Steve recently became an uncle for the second time. (Which I guess kinda makes me a de-facto aunty?) Welcome to the world, little Zoey!

Before we went to visit the newest arrival for the first time, I spent a bit of time on the weekend making a little present for the little girl. The ‘Chicita Charm’ dress from Rob Merrett’s ‘Making baby’s clothes’ book, sized for a three month old. Turns out clothes for a three month old girl are rather small. (And therefore an excellent way to use up large scraps. Brilliant!)

I made it out of two flavours of cotton drill – navy blue, and light purple with white polka dots and cupcakes. Light pink double-fold bias binding was used around the armhole edges, and it fastens with a black dress zipper (as shamefully I had no navy one the right length).

Bright sunlight doesn’t show off the purple yoke that well, so here’s a closer shot so you can see it.

The colours in the photo above are more true to life.

Like the clover? One of our little front lawn sections got completely taken over with it this summer. We’ve decided we quite like it, so it gets to stay.

People keep having babies. Next on my things-to-make-for-others list is an outfit for a new little baby boy. This weekend is the plan for that creation…..

The “Boxy Lady” Jacket

The Facts

Fabric: about 1.5 metres of pink/black acrylic blend herringbone from my stash, ~$8
Pattern: McCall’s 5791
Year: 1961
Notions: 4 mis-matched buttons from my stash, ~$0.01
Time to complete: 5.5 hours (so far)
First worn: for these photos
Wear again? yes

Total cost: ~$8

So much for the theme at the Sew Weekly this week. We were meant to be making something for the opposite season to what we’re currently in – which in theory means I should be making something for winter. Not that making something for wearing in 4 months is at all a bad thing. The problem is, it’s actually the right weather to wear it now. Summer seems to have passed us by this year, which is a shame for all my summer tops that haven’t made it out of the wardrobe yet, but is likely a good thing for this jacket, which will be getting out and about a bit sooner than anticipated!

I thought I’d go a bit outside of my usual style this week, and have a go at making a cropped jacket pattern from 1961. Normally, cropped jackets aren’t my style. Nor are boxy jackets, shawl collars, or double-breasted styles. But for some reason, this fabric and this pattern just wanted to be joined together, in happy-jacket-making-ness.

Surprisingly, I actually quite like the result! I need to figure out what to wear it with, but I’m sure I can come up with something.

The pattern came together nice and easily, with only a couple of small head-scratching moments. The back neck facing just didn’t want to be where it was being told to stay by the pattern, but where it’s settled seems to work just fine. And now that I think about it, the instructions for where to tack down the back neck facing were the only part that didn’t translate easily into the construction. A nice and easy pattern to put together, indeed!

Since it’s a boxy jacket style, I didn’t bother with a small bust adjustment, and I think it works fine as it is. Next time, I might make it a couple of centimetres longer, and maybe make the sleeves full length (just for variety), but I’m pretty happy with the fit of this jacket.

I must admit to something though – while I’ve faced it, I haven’t yet lined it. (*gasp!* shock, horror! *hangs head in shame*) I was going to, but it involves a heck of a lot of hand sewing, and these days I’m in the habit of saving as much hand sewing as possible for when I go on a trip. Steve and I are heading up to a friend’s bach/crib/holiday house/whatever you want to call it for the weekend, so I’m thinking about taking it with me for some hand-sewing up there. (A true sewing geek, I was seriously considering taking my sewing machine with me. Steve put his foot down about that one, though.)

Would I make this pattern again? Maybe. There are two other variations of it, and I’m particularly interested in variation C, with it’s neckline detail. In fact, now I think about it, it may be rather cute done up in denim, don’t you think?

Blue shoes

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately – January was a month with lots of travel for work, so I’m a bit behind with the sewing. (However, I should have at least one new garment finished to show you this weekend, yay!)

So just for the fun of it, I thought I’d show you some new shoes I got when I was down in Christchurch for work the other week. They’re bright blue suede leather flats from New Zealand shoe label Minx, lace ups with cut outs in the sides. I figure they’ll work for both summer and for winter with various coloured tights under them.

Pink and Yellow tea party

One of my goals this year is to spend more time with friends. I’ve also had a few recipe books that I’ve been collecting (such as The Vintage Tea Party Book, Ladies A Plate and High Tea at the Victoria Room) that I’ve been looking for an excuse to try a few recipes from.

Ergo, I’m going to throw a few tea parties for some of my lovely friends this year! Tea parties – tasty food, pretty china cups, lovely girls to hang out with, and an excuse to dress up a bit. Perfect, no?

Just for the fun of it, I’m aiming to have one every 4-6 weeks, and each one will have a different colour theme.

I threw the first of what will (hopefully) be a series of tea parties this afternoon, with a pink and yellow theme.

Theme: Pink & Yellow

Menu:

• Hot baked grapefruit from The Vintage Tea Party Book
• Cheese puffs from Ladies A Plate
• Pikelets from Ladies A Plate, with rubarb and red berry jam or with homemade grapefruit marmalade
• Rose petal and honey sandwiches from The Vintage Tea Party Book
• Deluxe lemon slice from High Tea At The Victoria Room
• Sugared cherries and grapes from The Vintage Tea Party Book
• Cranberry juice with lemonade
• Pineapple juice with lemonade
• Orange tea

Guests:

• Sharla
• Natalie
• Nicola
• Heather

My Outfit:

• the January Dress
• Pink cardigan from a clothes swap party
• Yellow Adidas sneakers (the only pink or yellow shoes I own!)