Summer Ball - a pretty dress and a night to remember........

Just about a week and a half after moving house my husband and I went to our first event, the summer ball, here. Although the theme was some US-Midwest/Kentucky Derby/Cowboy type theme, the dress code was formal-below the knee for spouses/mess dress for the soldiers. 

I didn't have much notice and time to come up with an outfit so I made a dress similar to this one for the event and paired it with a knitted/crochet (??) bolero, me-made hairflowers and some pretty heels. It felt formal enough, was very much me and somewhat even suited the theme, I guess.

the official photo

There was a shooting booth, a bucking bronco and a Kentucky Derby booth as entertainment as well as a live country band and DJ plus some gorgeous food. 

I didn't even do too bad

Hubby riding the bull

And after the bull ride the night took a rather unfortunate turn. My husband hurt his arm so bad we ended it up in A&E to get it checked out. 

Luckily nothing was broken and he had only pulled a muscle. 

Gerties blouse and capris aka Butterick 5895

butterick 5895

After seeing Rochelle's version of this pattern I knew I had to get it and have a go myself. I was in need of some capris for the summer as I only own a pair of boring black ones. I found a dusky pink stretch denim at my local fabric shop and decided to make up my first pair of capris in that fabric and the blouse in a red gingham. 

There isn't too much to say about the pattern. The capris are super easy and quick to whip up. If you are scared of making trousers/pants, try these first. They are only front and back piece plus waistband, so even if you have fitting issues for some reason there are only very few pieces to wrestle with. As Rochelle mentioned in her blog post about this pattern, sizing comes up huge due to too much ease so be aware of that. I cut a smaller size against the sizing chart and went with the finished measurements on the pattern pieces instead to avoid having to fit MC Hammer pants to capri size. Worked a treat, no adjustments were necessary. 

The top is relatively straight forward, too. Some might find the collar a little fiddly but once you have figured that out you'll be knocking load of them up as it's such a nice little cropped top. I don't usually go for cropped anything but with high waisted trousers, skirts or of course on the beach this isn't too belly bearing. 

matchy matchy details

silly pose, had to be done....

I will be making more tops from this pattern, probably in more gingham. I need more gingham in my life. I think it will be super cute with shorts to make a little playsuit, don't you think?

another good hair day, adorned with handmade hair flowers and handmade headband

Tutorial: make your own hair flowers

I love hair flowers, especially in the summer. They instantly make me happy as they add another splash of colour to an outfit and glamourise any hairstyle in an instant. So I decided to make myself a whole bunch of them in different colours to go with some of my dresses. Its a fun, quick and easy projects and also makes great gifts. Since the UK summer is a total hit and miss, I would recommend this as a rainy day project. If you live in the UK you should have about 9465723920 by the end of this summer.

What you need:  

As a selection of fake flowers of your choice. I got most of mine from Wilkinsons. They were between £1.50 and £2.50 a bunch.

pin curl clips (preferably the ones with little holes in them), plain hair combs I got both at Wilkinsons as well but I'm sure any drugstore or beauty supply place will stock them.

and some matching thread.

How to: Dahlia haircomb

Take three flowers and the leaves of the bunch and take out the plastic pollen center that holds the flower together, also take out the plastic from the leaves so you are left with the softer pedals and leaves.

Arrange them to your liking and carefully stitch them together using matching threads

Attach to the comb and you are done.

I was wearing this flower piece on Saturday's charity shopping adventure.

How to: Chrysanthemum clip

I used three flowers for this and some of the leaves and removed all plastic centers.

Layer all pedals on top of another for a nice full blossom and stitch in place

and add the green underneath. I placed the leaves a little towards one side so the would peak out a little.
sew onto the clip

And you have a pretty, full blossom hair clip

I was wearing that with a low bun on Sunday to go with my Betty Draper tulip dress.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. If you give it a try, please let me know and show me a picture of your new hair accessory. Happy flowermaking!!

Sailor style jeans

I made a pair of Burda 8488 in denim the other day. I have a pair in light denim already (never photographed and blogged)  which I have worn a lot. It's my lazy-can't-be-bothered-to-make-an-effort pair of jeans. When I saw this dark lightweight denim at my local fabric shop and I thought I should make another pair that is a little dressier. So here they are. 

 

little nautical detail

and stripey wedges of course

As if I sensed the news to come when I made them last week....I'm in need of more nautical fashions. I am moving to the UK's south-west coast soon. My husband just found out on Monday where we will be posted to next. We were hoping to move back to Germany for a few years but instead we are being transferred to Devon. I was a bit disappointed for a second as I would have loved living closer to my family and friends again, at least for a while. But on second thought, living close to the seaside in one of the most beautiful areas in the UK really isn't too bad. In fact I am now very much looking forward to the move. Please message me if you are living anywhere in the the area. I'd like to meet some local sewing buddies, vintage enthusiast or sport fanatics.

The cherry print wiggle dress

I have been making a lot of dresses featuring full gathered skirts or circle skirts lately and thought it was time for a different design. In one of my latest dress posts I was toying with the idea of using my sweet heart bodice in combination with a pencil skirt and so I did. I used a black cherry print cotton and the result is a cute little wiggle dress. 

had a good hair day, too

I think if I use this design again, I will make the skirt slightly longer. It's not too short but shorter than I usually wear. I also have this fabric in white waiting to be made up into something. Not sure what it's going to be yet. Any ideas?

The rockabilly car show dress....

I ventured off from my usual floral dress creations with this dress. This car print fabric called for a relatively simple design and the pale pink colour for a very summery style.

So I went for a simple fitted bodice and added a halter strap because I'm not a huge fan of completely strapless. The skirt is a simple gathered dirndl style. Fortunately I finished this dress before that one sunny day of the past couple weeks we've had and got to wear it. I wonder if there will be one more change for a dress like that this year. I'm kind off loosing hope for a descent Summer with a lame spring like we had here in the UK :-(

I added a little bow to the neckline for some extra detail. I hope you've had some more chances to wear your summer dresses yet. 

Sweethearts, circle skirts and florals aka another summer dress

And for those who are not bored of floral dresses yet, here is another one. I'm messing around with the pattern of my "Liverpool dress" at the moment and see what variations I can come up with. If I draft or frankenstein a successful pattern that I like very much, I try and make the most of it. I really like sweetheart necklines so I had to make another dress with that feature. I also like straps or sleeves as they keep the dress up nicely. As much as I like this style, I feel like I want to pull it up all the time. I mainly get this with strapless dresses, whether they fit or not.

bodice detail

And this is how I was wearing the dress today. I paired it with a little cropped cardi.

I also like it with this black cropped cardi.

Now I need to think of another way to use this bodice. Maybe cap sleeves? Or a pencil skirt?

What do you think, any other suggestions?