Christmas Birthday Dress

This is my Christmas Birthday dress.
Made with lilac and silver brocade which was given to me by my sister for my birthday back in July. I made it in time to wear to the family party on boxing day. When I saw the seamed dress in Burda 08/2012 I knew that it was the pattern to make. I omitted the centre front seam as I didn't want to disrupt the pattern too much. I used the reverse of the fabric for contrast on the shoulders. I also shortened the skirt by about 2 inches. However the tall size works really well as I have a long torso - Mental Note, lengthen all Burda standard sizes!
I have just enough fabric left to make a short bolero style jacket.

Well that was a busy year - what next?

This was my creative list for 2012.

1. Avoid buying new clothes unless necessary - so that means self made, thrifted and refashioned.
2. Make items from Pattern Magic.
3. Make movie inspired outfits (see previous post).
4. Make the bridesmaid dresses for my friends wedding.
5. Make the wedding dress of another friend.
6. Create more art - painting.
7. Create clothing inspired by my art or wearable art.
8. Get better at taking photos!

So did I achieve any of it? - yes but not all!

1. I really did cut down on buying new clothes - in fact since 31st Dec 2011 I have only bought a few items -  Underwear and a vest, well needed and I haven't got into making my own smalls yet; and I visited the sales yesterday. I'd been given vouchers for Christmas and when given a voucher it is quite reasonable to buy clothes with them, especially when they are for clothes shops. So I bought a blouse, cardigan and bracelets from Monsoon and a scarf from Whitestuff. I'll certainly be continuing with the handmade and thrifted clothing though. It's much more interesting that buying what everyone else is buying.

2. I attempted 2 pattern magic designs, they both worked, but weren't really suitable for my shape. I still have my eye on a couple of the bow tops to try.

3. I failed at this - only making 2 movie inspired outfits throughout the year.

4 & 5. I did three lots of wedding sewing. My friends 20's inspired dress, Bridesmaid dresses for another friend and bride and groom's outfits for a rather more unique wedding in September. I am now really interested in sewing bridal wear and would love to learn more about it.

6. I didn't do much art :(  I am in the process of sorting that. I have a lot of ideas and rather than making large scale paintings I'm going to work on smaller scale work and use my ideas for developing textiles based pieces, which brings me on to 7. I didn't do this either, but now I have an Idea and I'm going to try to develop it over this year - watch this space!

8. I am still rubbish at taking photos, but I do try to use a good camera when I can, then at least I can play a little on photoshop.

So what's new for next year?

1. Quality time with my family, sharing hobbies having fun etc.
2. Taking opportunities - whenever they present themselves.
3. learning more about God and his plan for mine and my family's lives.
4. Spend Saturdays relaxing with my family.
5. Spend time with friends
6. Go to China on a short term team with International China Concern.
7. Sew a corset.
8. Tailor a jacket.
9. Sew for others (I have too many clothes - apart from Tops)
10. Create bridal wear.
11. Create clothing based on my art work.
12. Try more pattern magic designs.
13. Sort the house - it's desperate for a declutter and redecorate.
14. Learn to quilt.
15. Use my skills to serve others.

Blimey - that's a long list, we'll see how far we get shall we!

Christmas onesies

I've mentioned that i'd done a bit of sewing based Christmas pressies this year. I made a couple of fleece hats and some onesies for my sister, my sister in law and my friends two girls. they chose the fabric back in November and I took measurements and got to work!

They were all inspired by the one made for my daughter earlier in the year. I bought the fleece from Abakhan fabrics in the UK. The girls and my sister's were made from micro fleece my sister in law's was made from pink fluffy cuddle fleece. I think it's fair to say they went down well!

Pattern: selfdrafted
Fabric: fleece
Today's soundtrack: Ellie Goulding -  Halcyon (one of my Christmas pressies).

Christmas and stuff

We've spent the day with the in-laws today. I've received some great sewing related pressies: A tracing wheel, French curves, metric pattern cutting for women and Gertie's book- which I've read from cover to cover. I can't wait to get started on some of those patterns. I also had amazon vouchers. Not sure what I'll spend those on yet. But I'm looking forward to hitting monsoon with the gift card from my mum :)

Tomorrow it's another family do. I'm going to wear a dress I made from fabric bought for me by my sister, made up using the seamed dress pattern from August's burdastyle magazine. Pictures to follow.

featured!

I got a project featured on Burdastyle. I'm in their best of November member projects :)

Also - has anyone had any success in dyeing shoes? I'd love to hear how to get a good finish as I have a pair of tan shoes that need a new lease of life.

I have't given up yet... and St Andrew's day (a week late)

It's been ages since I posted anything, I feel guilty that I'm not sharing stuff. I do have a dress to share with you, and I'm doing Christmas present sewing at the moment, so don't want to give away the goodies just yet.

I've also recently started a fashion and textiles group at School with some year 10 students. They were keen to draft their own clothes, so we started with a simple skirt. We are now onto cutting out fabric and hopefully I'll be able to share some of their creations with you over the next few weeks.

Last Friday we went to Glasgow. Art Department trip with GCSE and 6th form students. It was a super day and the kids were great. We started out at the William Burrell Collection, which holds a collection of paintings and an interesting range of artifacts from all over the world.

From these maces to stunning white work drawn thread embroidery.

Second stop was the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery. A stunning building filled with artefacts from Scotland and the wider world, including samurai swords, masks, dinosaur bones and many more and Art from the Medieval to the present day. Well known pieces including Dali's Christ of Saint John of the Cross, alongside less well known pieces and contemporary art.

I loved this stunning piece of work by Alison Watt.

These expressive heads by Sophie Cave were amazing.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg!

Later we went to GOMA, Glasgow's modern art gallery. I had no idea what was on, but was pleasantly surprised to find works by Grayson Perry (one of my favourite artists) and a range of sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle, who I also love. Great day of art!

After a delicious tea from Burger King (student choice!), we had about 50 minutes until our bus arrived. We spent this time at George Square. Where there was ice skating, A few fairground rides and live music to celebrate St Andrew's day. We heard a drum and pipe group called Clanadonia. it's safe to say the 6th formers were impressed!