1950s inspired garden party dress

It's a little ironic that I am sharing these dresses with you today while it's snowing outside my window. Oh well, at least they will take your thoughts to an already warmer place. I really hope Spring is not too far around the corner so I can wear them out to play.

I used the same pattern as I used for this dress I made last year.

Fitted bodice with boatneck front and low cut back and full gathered skirt.

I made it in cream, green and red and of course they are available to purchase in my shop in all three colours and various sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like them.

Anyone going to Octoberfest? This might be the outfit to wear....

I recently made this little outfit for a customer up on her request. It is a 1960s inspired top made from eyelet cotton with little drawstring neckline detail and puffy sleeves. The skirt is inspired by a late sixties style. Its a gathered dirndl style skirt with scalloped hem and optional suspenders.

Once I finished it, I thought it reminds me a lot of the outfits worn to Oktoberfest in Munich. Perfect timing.....

 

 

Vintage inspired wedding dress and multi-coloured petticoat

Today I would like to share with you another wedding dress I made this summer. Mareen came to me with a picture of a wedding dress and petticoat she had seen on the Internet but couldn't find anywhere in the shops. I assume the other dress was a custom design as well. It was a very simple strappy bodice with full gathered skirt combine with a huge rainbow petticoat that was cut in different lengths to show off all the layers in it.

 

I love the idea and took on the challenge to make Mareen's version of it. We changed the top to a sweetheart neckline with proper straps and kept the shape of the skirt. The dress was made from white silk. The petticoat was made from different shades of blue and white netting, some of it with little spots. I really loved working on this dress, especially meeting Mareen, who flew out from Germany to come for a dress fitting.

 

But now, without further ado, the bride and groom:

 

 

I also made a little spotty tulle bolero to go with it. (not pictured)

Recent creations, 1960s Tartan Pinafore and Double Collar Blouse, Stripey Betty Draper Dress, Red and Black Bombshell Dress and a simple quickie for myself....

Just a little update on my recent creations. I even got to sew for myself again for once.

1960s inspired tartan pinafore and blouse with double Peter Pan collar. This one was a customer request/idea I realised for her.

 

The other Betty Draper dress in stripey cotton. I love how different and seaside-y it turned out..

it is available here

 

Just another version of this one

 

This one always reminds me slightly of my husbands female colleague's mess dress.

 

And finally one for myself again. I had this fabric forever and just really wanted to use it.

I used a commercial pattern for it. It is Simplicity 2215, from the Cynthia Rowley collection. It's super easy and super quick. It's meant to be a pinafore dress I think but I made it a little more fitted as a dress.

 

 

 

Here comes the bride.........such a special one, too

I really wanted to share this dress for a long time with you but obviously had wait until the big day was over and this lovely lady here had shared all the excitement of her big day with you.

I am talking about Suzy of Suzysewing and SuzyPatterns, who (I am sure) many of you who are part of the online sewing community know already. And if not, you really need to go and check out her blog.

Suzy got married this summer and asked me to make her a dress for her very special day. I was super exited as I read and love her blog and it finally gave me a chance to meet her in person, too.

She is such a darling and I hope we will get to meet again sometime soon. I really enjoyed working on the dress as I love the colour combination inspired by a pair of Miss L Fire shoes.

beautiful bride Suzy

the sooooooo very handsome couple

 

details

 

For more pictures and details, check out Suzy's post. 

 

a few things I have made in the meantime....

Just a few pieces I have made for other people recently.......

 

 

This one is actually a cheat as I have made this dress ages ago. It's the Betty dress from the Mad Men challenge. Yep, that sash still hasn't happened. I think it won't happen either. The sash makes it very dressy. This way I will wear it a lot more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I've been up to lately...

It's time for a little catch up of what I have been doing since my last post. I have not been hiding. Just busy with a  variety of things.

I have been working on a bunch of special customer orders including a satin and lace halter dress to be worn to a wedding this month. I hope my customer Amy is going to have a great day twirling around in this little number (and hopefully she will let me have a picture)

I also enjoyed working on another wedding guest outfit in beautiful taupe silk dupion. 

The wedding this dress is going to be worn at is also this month. I am again hoping for an action shot very soon. There is nothing better than seeing dresses on the person they are meant for.

I also volunteered to try out Suzy's first sewing pattern, which I looooooooooooooove and really enjoyed sewing. Suzy, the feedback will be coming your way soon. Since this is Suzy's pattern and dress to reveal, I will only post a little sneak preview of the dress in progress. 

I had help from my kitty assistant seamstress friend as usual when sewing for myself. I really value her opinion, you know? ;-D

I am hooked on using lace again. Just love, love love lace. If you see my pinterest, you might think I am a little obsessed with it.

I have also been training a lot lately, preparing to run a half marathon in April and hopefully a full marathon later this year (my husband and I are currently on the waiting list on place 14 and 15 so hopefully by October we will be able to still get a place....can't believe how quickly those races fill up)

I have seen I am in good company in Bloggerland with Fleur training hard for the London marathon and Meg running an epic half marathon in cute fancy dress.

My husband Dave and I ran a 10k race just over a week ago. I ran a new personal best of 54:20 on a very hilly course. 

Any other running and sewing bloggers out there?

Wedding dress in action

Last weekend was finally THE DAY!!!! for Katja, who ordered a wedding dress from me last year. She got married at Lake Konstanz to her fiance Julian and looked absolutely gorgeous.

Doesn't she remind you Audrey Hepburn too?

Charis and Alice revisited

Remember the dresses I was working on over the last two weeks for Alice and Charis? The event was last weekend and they were so kind and shared some pictures with me to share with you.

Here they are both together looking gorgeous. Charis accessorised her dress with a red ribbon. A nice touch as it easily changes the look of her dress and ads a splash of colour.

Alice dress was a bright purple-ish blue satin with a very dark navy organza overlay. The colour effect it created was great. It really suits her.

I wish I had a picture of the back of Charis' dress as it was sheer lace and looked amazing.

Looks like they all had a great time. It was Alice's school leaver's ball. Congratulations Alice!!!

Black lace and satin...work in progress

This is another dress I was working on last week. It was a request from my friend Charis. The brief was a simple fitted bodice, high boat neck, lace over satin (back lace only) and a plain satin skirt, slinky.

We went fabric shopping together, found some lovely black lace and a black crepe back satin. The dress is also fully lined

So I started with the pattern, very simple bodice with a bust dart and two front darts left and right, the back has 2 darts from the waist up on each side as well. (I am so not good describing these things but I hope it makes sense looking at the pictures.

I attached the lace to the satin for the front bodice the same way I did for the navy lace dress. I went for a side zip because I didn't want a zip ruining the lovely sheer lace back.

The skirt was a simple A-line that I kept very narrow towards the hem. I asked if she wanted me to leave a little slip for easy walking but she didn't. Definitely no running on the night lady!!

The finished dress has left me on Friday and I have been promised pictures. The due is this weekend so I hopefully there will be action shots soon.