My Christmas Outfits!

Hello there my lovely readers! So the New Year is nearly upon us, but before it gets here I wanted to show you my final makes of 2012. These are my Christmas outfits! (Cue slightly crazy picture of me sitting on the sofa with myself!)

Now, you've already seen my Christmas jumper before, but I thought I'd show it again in a bit more detail - it deserves it, it's such a great pattern!

My Christmas Jumper, Front and Back

This jumper was knitted from the Colourful Winter Sports Outfit pattern from the fabulous book A Stitch in Time, Volume 2, the third pattern that I have thus far attempted from the book. I really do love this jumper, it's so snuggly and cosy, I could wear it all the time regardless of the season! I've already cast on the matching beret, so maybe someday soon I'll have to complete matching set :) The skirt I'm wearing is part of a 1950s wool suit (a birthday gift from my Sweetheart) in case you were wondering. I adore all woollen clothes!

Next up is my Christmas dress, made from the "Wintertime Jumper" variation of the sheath dress from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing (you can see Gertie's version of this pattern on her blog)

My Christmas Dress, Front and Back

This dress is another example of my obsessive compulsive need to match plaid exactly! I'm really pleased with how the plaid matching turned out, it's pretty perfect don't you think? :) I also love the belt, which I cut on the bias for a bit of contrast. This is my second pattern from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing, after making her high waisted pencil skirt and once again it was a great pattern to use. I had to make some minor adjustments to the fit of the bodice, but other than that it was a perfect fit first time :) The fabric I used  is actually genuine Scottish tartan, which I bought when we were in Glasgow with the tour. I still have quite a bit left over, so maybe you'll see more tartan projects in my future. But in the mean time I am spending the festive season wearing this Christmassy little number!

So, there you have it, my final sewing/knitting projects of 2012! I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for my sewing table :)

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

My Bombshell Dress - finally!

Hello there my lovely readers!

This is a post that has been a long time coming, I'm finally going to show you my finished version of Gertie's Bombshell Dress! I actually completed this dress back in September but have never gotten round to posting about it here. I have worn it on several occasions, including my Birthday, my last night party for Sister Act and even a musical themed fancy dress party (I was supposed to be this classy lady in case you were wondering!). Here are a couple of shots of the dress in action, I have loved it every time I've worn it!

  

And look, it goes with both blonde and red hair!

This is a very involved dress, I'm not going to lie! It has everything going on: boning, padding, interlining, lining, waist stay, lapped zipper. This was a labour of love, so much work has gone into it, hand stitching, machine work, techniques I've never used before, and I really do think it's all worth it! I would recommend Gertie's online course to anyone who loves sewing and learning something new, I learnt so much making this dress it's not even true. The only thing I need to back and correct (after seeing these pictures!) is a touch more under-stitching on the neckline, to stop the red lining peeking out, but other than that I'm thrilled with everything about it! Here are some shots of the finished dress in detail...

Front and Back of my fabulous Bombshell Dress

The detail of the bodice and the lapped zipper

I hope you've enjoyed this little look at my Bombshell dress, I just have a few more finished projects to share with you before the end of the year, I want a nice fresh start for 2013 :) I can't wait to start some new sewing adventures, I have so many things planned already! And of course I need to post a 2012 sewing/knitting round-up, but that's for another day...

Bye for now, my lovely readers, I'll be back!

Katie xxx

My 1950s Novelty Print Book Dress!

Project: 1950s Novelty Print Book Dress

Pattern: Simplicity 5124, bought here

Stash Buster? yes, this fabric has been waiting for some love for a while!

Items From Stash: actual 1950s novelty print dress fabric *swoon*, vintage belt buckle

Date Started: March 2012

Date Finished: June 2012

New Techniques Used: none

Wear Again? yes please and as soon as possible!

 Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my sneak peak of this dress, I think it's safe to say that you like it just as much as I do! But here she is in all her detailed glory for your viewing pleasure :)

This is my first time using a vintage shirt-waist dress pattern and I must admit that I was nervous at first. As I started cutting out the pieces I was worried that the finished dress would end up quite frumpy, after all it doesn't actually show much flesh, but it turns out that I couldn't have been more wrong! This dress is the perfect example of how a well made, figure hugging yet modest dress can feel super sexy - I definitely do when I'm wearing it! I feel like I'm channelling my inner Joan, so of course I couldn't be happier :)

I did very few alterations to this dress, apart from adding a couple of inches to the hips (for my ample posterior!) and taking a few inches from the length I left it just as it was, and it fits me like a glove. I'm particularly in love with the pleat details on the back and the little matching fabric belt I made with a vintage buckle that was a gift from a wonderful friend (thank you Harriet!).

I think you can safely say that I am a complete shirt dress convert and I definitely foresee lots more of these in my sewing future. They're a little bit more fiddly than your average dress, but my goodness they're gorgeous when they're done! And they're great for prancing around and posing in...

... which I think you can see I did!

Bye for now lovely readers!

Katie xxx

Vintage Revamp #7 - A Stripy Summer Sundress

It's definitely the time for Vintage Revamps, here's my second in a week! Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Jodhpurs Vintage Revamp, I hope you like this one just as much, even though it's slightly more simple!

What do you think of my fancy new sundress?

Vintage Revamped Stripy Summer Sundress 

Don't you just love it? I do! And how lucky was I that it's first item was in the glorious sunshine on my day off? Heaven! Plus Pimms, so double heaven! But the dress didn't look much like it does now when I first bought it...

The original dress before it's Revamp

This dress was purchased almost three years ago now, it's a vintage Laura Ashley, and although it was cute it just wasn't wearable for me in it's previous state. As you can see it was uber long, it finished just shy of my ankles, and the detailing around the hem was just a bit much for me. Also the bodice, despite fitting perfectly on my waist was about 4 inches too small in the bust department, eek! So you can see why it has been unworn for the past three years! Some seriously work needed to be done to breathe new life into this rough diamond...

Revamped!

To start off with I chopped at least 5 inches off of the hem and at once the look of the dress was hugely improved. It swings around prettily now as apposed to swamping me! I then used some of the cutoff fabric to add triangles into the back seams of the bodice so that it finally fitted my bust. You can see this below:

Back detail

Finally I also adjusted the straps into a halter neck style, which I think is much more flattering and Summery :)

I know that these alterations are fairly simple, but as I am touring (and so sadly without my sewing machine) I had to do them all by hand, so I'm really pleased with how the finished dress looks. I hadn't thought I could get my stitching neat enough to be happy, but there you go!

I hope you like this newly revamped Sundress, I've certainly been enjoying wearing it, and let's all enjoy this gorgeous weather while we can!

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

The New Girl Dress

Project: Blue Dress with piping detail, a la New Girl

Pattern: 1950s Pattern bought at Vintage Vogue

Stash Buster? yes indeed

Items From Stash: the pattern and a few notions

Date Started: March 2012

Date Finished: March 2012

New Techniques Used: decorative piping, use of seam binding

Wear Again? Yes, I'm totally in love with it!

I am so happy that this dress is finished, just in time for a bout of hot weather so I could prance around in the sun :) I feel just like Jess from New Girl when I wear it, I'm sure Zooey Deschanel would approve!

This dress really was a dream to sew together, very simple in it's construction but also very clever, plus unlike a lot of other wrap around dresses it doesn't gape at the back. Don't you just love how full the gathered skirt is?

My favourite part of this dress is definitely the piping, which was a little bit complicated, what with actually having to cover the piping myself and then stitch it by hand to the dress, but I have always loved hand sewing so I really quite enjoyed it. The tutorial I used for this technique was great, I highly recommend it if you want to give it a go yourself!

All in all this was a great success, and I received some lovely comments, one from a complete stranger in a book shop! A brilliant pattern, a brilliant dress and a very happy me :)

What do you think of this new little number? I hope you like it as much as I do!

Katie xxx

A Finished Project... well, nearly!

Hello readers, I told you there would be some sewing here again soon! I've had a lovely time over the last couple of days beavering away at my sewing machine, and here are the fruits of my labour, she's a wrap-around dress made from a 1950s pattern from my stash:

The sweetest blue dress ever!

Isn't she a cutie? I've fallen pretty hard for this dress, it reminds me of something Zooey Deschanel would wear, which can only ever be a good thing :)

Time for some close ups of the front and back for your viewing pleasure:

Front View and Back View

As you can see this lovely dress is completely finished construction-wise, but I'm quite keen to add a bit of ornamentation to it. I don't want to give too much away right now, but I will be using this tutorial although not quite in the same way. All I can say is I think that when it's completed this dress will be a definite favourite in my spring/summer wardrobe, it's going to be so cute! 

I cannot wait to wear this dress :)

I hope you like this little beauty as much as I do, I'll post more pictures as soon as she's completed!

I'll be back soon with more sewing/knitting updates and also some more posts on the UFO/Stash Busting Project, I'll soon be looking for entries for the March Monthly Round Up, so get those projects under way (here's February's Round Up if you're not sure what I'm talking about)

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

The Swing Dress - Finally Completed!

Project: Swing Dress (originally part of Casey's Swing Dress Sew Along)

Pattern: 1940s "Swing" Dress pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns

Stash Buster? yes, and it was a UFO too!

Items From Stash: Floral fabric, swing dress pattern

Date Started: January 2011

Date Finished: February 2012

New Techniques Used: none

Wear Again? Definitely :)

I cannot believe this dress is finally finished!!! Seriously, I am so excited that I can finally wear it out, I've been working on it for over a year in total! This dress has been my longest ever UFO, it's the main reason I started my Stash Busting/UFO Challenge, I needed the incentive to finish this dress! And here it is in all it's glory :)

I struggled so much with this pattern originally, I just couldn't get my head around it, but this time around it all came together beautifully and I really enjoyed the construction process. The final look is something a lot more sophisticated and grown up than what I usually wear, and I like it! I have already received an abundance of compliments on this dress after wearing it out a few times, it seems to be a big hit with everyone. My Sweetheart went as far as saying it was his favourite of all the outfits I have ever made, so I think I'll probably be wearing it quite a bit in the future!

I want to dedicate the completion of this dress (finally, hallelujah!) to two very special ladies in the blogging world. Firstly Casey for hosting the Sew Along for this dress, as her posts were amazing and informative and if you ever want to sew this dress then you really should follow every scrap of her advice. And secondly the lovely Tasha who gave me some sewing advice for this dress way back at the start of the sew along which finally helped everything become clear when I restarted the project, so thank you! 

I hope you like the dress as much as I do! 

Katie xxx

What's on my sewing table...

Hello blogosphere! What a productive couple of days I've had!

I want to share my UFO/Stash Busting sewing with you, but first up I just want to say a huge thank you for all of the comments on my last "I'd just like to say..." post, "...growing up is optional". It was obviously a topic that affects a lot of you and it was so lovely to read all your thoughts on the subject. Thank you, I loved writing the article so I'm really happy that so many of you liked reading it :)

The last couple of days have been packed full of sewing, mostly because I have been away from my sewing machine for two weeks (shock horror!) and was suffering major withdrawal, and also we have been inundated with snow so staying indoors seemed like a good idea! And I'm happy to be able to announce that one of my longest UFOs is almost completely finished!

My Swing Dress!

I started this Swing Dress as a part of the marvellous Casey's Swing Dress Sew Along which began in January 2011, so this dress has been a work in progress for over a year! I started well with the dress but I stumbled when it came to sewing the shoulder yokes, and I just couldn't get past them, they were the banes of my life! I couldn't get my head around the construction of these shoulder yokes, it felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall, so it was easier for this dress to end up on the UFO pile.

The shoulder yokes that nearly beat me. Not so tricky now!

However, when I started this project again the shoulder yokes seemed so much more simple than before, I could't believe I had struggled with them so much! Maybe it's because I now have a year's worth of sewing under my belt, but everything with this dress has come together beautifully this time around, I cannot wait for it to be fully finished :)

This dress was the inspiration for my UFO/Stash Busting Project, I needed the incentive to finally finish it, and now I have it! All that's left to do is sew in the zipper and complete the hem, then I can finally swing about in my Swing Dress.

Don't worry, as soon as it's finished I'll post some pictures :)

Katie xxx

Colette Fall Palette Challenge 2011 - 1960s top and tunic

You may or may not remember that way back when in September I vowed to take part in the Colette Fall Palette Challenge. I got as far as making a mood board and selecting my colours (see the post here), but then there was a slight problem with my sharing my finished projects with you. Because there weren't any! For various reasons, including the theft of my sewing machine, I found myself unable to complete any of my planned items for my Palette Challenge, however this all changed a few weeks ago! I have finally completed two of those projects and I can finally share them with you now...

So take a look at my new 1960s style top and tunic!

Usually I'm draw to the looks of the 40s and 50s but I found the pattern for this ensemble tucked away at the back of a vintage shop near my home and brought is home for next to nothing with a whole bunch of others. It did feel very strange to wear such a short skirt after so long in never wearing anything above the knee, but as soon as I got used to it I must admit I enjoyed it! 

This outfit uses three of the colours from my Fall Palette Mood Board, grey, cream and red (although I had the red items already!) and I love how they all work together. I'm totally in love with this dress fabric, which is covered in black and white pictures which have their names underneath them in french, I bought it at Ray Stitch and I cannot get enough of it! I also made a bow belt, once again using Tilly's tutorial, and I think it really sets off the whole look.

The top is my first ever attempt at using a stretch knit fabric! It's made with a beautifully soft t-shirt fabric that I picked up in Manchester months ago and it's so snuggly and comfortable. It was surprisingly easy to work with and the finished top is something that I know I will wear again and again and again, in fact several of my friends have expressed an interest in having one for themselves, so who knows, you may be seeing more of this top in the future! The original pattern had a high necked pussy bow look which I altered to add the peter pan collar - a favourite look of mine! - and I also added some fabric covered buttons to the cuffs and collar for a nice extra detail.

And yes, the observant readers amongst you may notice that the boots I'm wearing are the very boots that I featured on my mood board for colour inspiration! I love my Miss L Fire boots, they are heavenly to prance about in :) Although this isn't my usual look I really enjoy it and I'm sure I will be taking this outfit out on the town again soon!

Top - Handmade by me

Dress - Handmade by me

Belt - Handmade by me using this tutorial

Hat - Knitted by me using this pattern

Gloves - a gift from my Sweetheart

Bag - won in a competition by the wonderful Emma of Lady Jardin

Boots - Miss L Fire

All photos taken by my Sweetheart

Merry Christmas!

Happy Boxing day to you all! I hope you've all had a wonderful festive season, opened lots of presents, ate lots of Christmassy food and spent lots of time with the ones you loved. I had a great time yesterday and also today, and saw both my family and my Sweetheart's family, it really was pretty much perfect :) 

Anyways I just wanted to drop in and show you the outfit that I was wearing, you may remember from this post that I was planning to make the perfect Christmas dress based on one of my favourite of Chuck's dresses from "Pushing Daisies", and I did! I finished it at the eleventh hour on Christmas Eve, and the perfectionist in me can see quite a few things that I'd like to tweak to make it just right, but all in all I love it and I couldn't help but feel festive in it! Also it has a horsehair braid hem, how cool is that!

I also fixed myself a fancy hairdo trying out my new Christmas snood, a gift from my fabulous mother, she's knows how to pick a brilliant present! 

Unfortunately I was unable to complete my New Year's dress (my own version of Gertie's Bombshell Dress) because I've been so busy with Christmas preparations. I guess I'll have to save it for a Valentine's outfit or something! But hey, I don't really care what I'll be wearing because my lovely Sweetheart will be welcoming in the New Year with me in Dublin so I'll be grinning from ear to ear regardless of what dress I end up wearing!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all enjoy the run up to the New Year, I can't wait! 

Bye for now!

The Perfect Birthday Dress - finally revealed!

Hello there lovely readers! I finally have the time to show you my gorgeous Birthday dress, hurray! I really am so happy with how it turned out, I can honestly say I have never been complimented as much as when I was wearing this dress :) But without further ado, here it is in all it's glory!

The completed Birthday dress!

Now I must admit that before I wore this dress out I was a little worried that it would look a bit dowdy, but as soon as I put it on I knew that all was well :) I really love everything about it, the colour, the shape, the style, I couldn't have asked for a better result! It's everything you could want in a Birthday outfit and more in my opinion :)

Please excuse the slightly dopey expression in the above picture, I think I may have been slightly overwhelmed by the cuteness of my outfit! Hee hee!

This beautiful brooch was a Birthday gift from my Sweetheart :)

Now my Birthday actually ends up being a bit of a double celebration as my Sweetheart's Birthday falls just two days after mine, so I thought it would be a bit unfair if I didn't share a shot of him in all his Birthday finery (and the bow tie that was my gift to him!). Plus I think he looks ridiculously handsome... :)

The Birthday Boy

Thank you so much for all your lovely Birthday wishes, I hope you enjoyed all of the Birthday themed posts (if you missed some of them you can find them here) I had such fun writing them all!

I love this picture :)

Have a wonderful weekend my wonderful readers!

Bye for now!