High waisted nautical trousers, Spring palette item number four and an outfit inspired by Gwen

Here it is, Spring Palette piece of clothing number four. A pair of nautical inspired high waisted navy trousers. I am in love with them. I prefer them to the Burda style I have made before here and here because they have pockets. I used Mc Calls M5592 that I have had for a while but always thought they might be a little complicated.

Nope they are not. They are straight forward to make and I am sure I will make them again. They are a tad big on me but that's OK. Means I can wear them out to dinner and have desert too ;-)

 I used the anchor buttons again, I used on the red shorts

 I lined the pockets with red start print fabric I had scraps of. I love using up scrap fabric!!!

When I was looking online for inspiration for future projects and outfits I stumbles across this picture of Gwen Stefani, who is one of my style icons for obvious reasons. After seeing that picture I thought, this is the look I want to go for today. So I did. Do you think I pulled it off?

Here are some shots of my hair and make up too. I went for a faux fringe and high pony tail (faux short ;-) pony tail ...my hair is a little longer than Gwen's) Have a great weekend everyone.

Lace dress number 2

 This is the second lace dress I made from the black lace I picked up at the same time I got the navy lace for this dress. I used the same pattern I drafted for the navy dress but split the top into a strapless dress and lace yoke to change the look of the bodice a bit. I am very happy with the result because I didn't make a muslin for it. I drafted the pieces and went straight for the main fabric. Lucky for me it worked out great and fits perfectly. I am not a very patient person when it comes to sewing for myself so I rarely do a muslin, which has led to many wadders on my sewing past but every once in a while I succeed.

 I also cut the back lower than the navy dress and used bias binding along the neckline. I use bias binding a lot lately. I love the finish you get.

 And action shots freezing in the back yard again. Has to be done, just for you.

It does look pretty goth but I made it to go to a gig last weekend where that was a much appreciated look. I used to be into that sort of look. Not anymore but with a vintage-y twist I can do it for a night out.

And this is me wearing it on the night of the gig. There aren't any other pictures from that night because as you can see in my hand, I did have a few ciders and pictures after that are just not that glamorous ;-)

Rainbow coloured roses. How do they do it?

I thought these are so worth sharing with you readers. When I got back from my weekend with my in laws last Monday I had a big box sitting outside my door, waiting for me. I didn't order anything so ???

It was a bunch of the cutest roses send to me from my husband, who is currently on tour in Afghanistan. How thoughtful of him to send them on Valentines day. I am such a lucky girl. Aren't they amazing? Some of them have multi coloured petals. How do they do that? I now you can colour the water and if you put white roses and tulips into it, they soak it up and change colour but multi coloured petals???? Very clever and I am certainly impressed. They are keeping well and I am still enjoying them a week later.

Spring palette outfit number 2 finished

This is actually the first outfit I finished for the Spring palette but didn't get it photographed for a while. I might not be able to wear it until later in the year but I am very happy with it.

I frankensteined the top from a 1960s pattern. It was just a simple boxy shaped top with a zip half way up the back and a stand up collar. So basically I just cut the front and back pieces from the pattern, added the front darts (it initially only had bust darts) , changed the collar completely by cutting it wider and using the scalloped selvages from the broderie anglaise fabric to make the ruffles.

 I also modified the back, cut the pieces slightly wider than asked for in the pattern and used the lovely scalloped selvages again as a cute detail. I also used buttons all the way down instead of a zip. I found those cute buttons in one of my local fabric shops and thought they are perfect to pick up on the bias binding collar detail. 

 The shorts are cut from the same patter that I drafted for the playsuit I made a while ago. I had some red gabardine left, just enough to make them. They are high waist which I love. To keep it nautical (as this is part of my brief for the Spring palette)  I used an anchor button.

And this is me freezing in my back yard just to to show off how cute this outfit is. I'll be going on a USA road trip with my husband in May and this will so be part of my holiday wardrobe. Most likely not combined with those heels though.

I hope you like! Let me know what you think.

100 plus follower give away

As promised I will be having a giveaway celebrating 100 followers. I have gained a few more followers since reaching that number and I am very grateful for every one of you. Thank you so much for reading and commenting on my blog. I very much appreciate it. I hope many will follow and I will keep gaining interested readers that inspire me to make and create beautiful pieces of clothing and accessories in the future.

Since I had so many lovely comments on the navy lace dress and belt in my recent posts, I decided to make another belt and give it away to one lucky follower. To enter the competition, leave a comment below and let me know what you would wear the belt with. You will get one entry for commenting, to get another entry blog, tweet or facebook etc about this giveaway and leave me another comment with the link to your blog/tweet...

You need to be a follower of this blog. I will post anywhere in the world. The competition is open until the end of this 28th of February 12 pm GMT. Good luck to all of you and thank you for your support.

XX

Me made March

 Zoe from So, Zo has announced another Me Made/ Self stitched challenge for March and since a few of you readers were interested in more outfit posts, I decided to join. So here we go:

I, Bea sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March '11. I endeavour to wear a piece of clothing made by me paired with only vintage or thrifted pieces and accessories each day for the duration of March 2011'

I am looking forward to it. I certainly have enough dresses and separates now to not get too bored with them or bore you with showing them off and repeating myself too much. This means I better get my Spring palette collection finished!!

I have also finally found a great price for my belated 100 follower giveaway. But that will have to wait for another post.

Who else is going to take part in MMM?

Action shot of the navy lace dress

As promised, here are some action shots of the navy lace dress posted yesterday. I was wearing it today to go to Londonedge for the day. I didn't take any photos while I was at the fair, sorry but I had a great time checking out some awesome alternative clothing labels. I need to investigate some of the brands a bit more and maybe I will share some of them in a later post. All exhibitors are listed on the Londonedge website though if you want to find out more.

 and some detail shots of my hair and make up

 Love the little anchor earrings.

I was wearing a black cardigan over the dress since it's not quite cap sleeve weather yet. My grandmother in law sorted out some of her old jewelery recently and thought that I might want it. Hello??? Of course I do and thank you so much for thinking of me. Amongst some other lovely pieces was this cute little sweater guard. Perfect to go with my outfit. 

Maybe I should do outfit posts more often. Would you be interested? I am working a lot from home now and therefore don't always dress up including hair and make up. Let me know if you would like to see more outfit posts in the future.

Navy lace dress as part of the Spring challenge finished

I actually wanted to wait with posting my Spring challenge collection until all pieces are finished but then I though, what else can I blog about if it's not about sewing? Plus this way it's not a complete overload of finished projects all at once.

I have a few pieces finished already, so I will show them individually. As mentioned in my Spring Challenge post, I am in love with lace dresses and needed to have one. My inspiration dresses were all cream/ ivory, a colour I don't really wear (it doesn't suit me being a pale red head) plus my Spring palette is all nautical colours. So I went for navy and found some nice lace in one of my local fabric shops last week.

Close up of the navy lace. I stitched all lace pieces to the lining (navy cotton) pieces first.

Bodice (work in progress) 

 Finished product. I also made a sash to go with it. I still had this ribbon at home and some really nice ribbon corsage trim I bought a while ago. I cut up the trim into individual pieces and arranged them on the ribbon. I added a few other notions and stitched it all together. Tadaaa, looking nice and vintage-y to me, just how I like it.

close up of the sash 

 side view

 I didn't line the sleeves to show the lace off a bit better and to add detail.

 Fullness of the circle skirt. I am thinking about making a petticoat for this one once I have made all my Spring challenge pieces. I have never made a petticoat. I think it's quite easy but I am not keen on faffing about gathering all the net/tulle. Not a favourite material of mine.

I drafted the pattern myself. Fitted bodice and circle skirt. I didn't line it because I didn't want the bodice to be too bulky. I only overlocked all seam allowances.

I'll be wearing that dress tomorrow. I am off to Londonedge at Olympia, London tomorrow to check out some alternative fashions etc. I am not sure if I get to take pictures at the fair but I'll get you an action shot of the dress.

Hope you all had a nice weekend and got some sewing done.