The Big Dress II
The Big Dress is complete with blurry pictures... I know... I’m not
really doing the dress much justice but I promise better ones shall
cometh soon!
Sewing the bodice to the skirt was really tricky, I had to unpick
it apart 3 times and unpicking silk has to be such a delicate and
careful operation or you’ll accidently rip the fragile paper-like
silk and Ooops! Oh and how the silk frays so easily....
there was a side zip facing that I forgot to cut (because it wasn’t
in the cutting instructions) and it was never sent to be sergered
and it was fraying and fraying.
After several unpicking dramas and other mistakes... and wondering
how women in the 50s dealt with the same problems, I am pleased. I
made my own vintage dress! I doubt though I will be making a
petticoat for the extra Ooomph.
This was actually fairly easy to make, it only has a few pieces to
be assembled. The other dress was a little more complicated - one I
will leave for another occasian to attempt.
Will take better pics of me in my frock (and matching shoes) on the
evening of my cousin’s wedding and post it up in all it’s deserved
glory!
Another Blouse
Made this cute little blouse from this
Japanese pattern book. It was the simplest one to make of
the lot and after some attempts at sewing clothes, it is easier to
understand the illustrations.
Bought this cotton fabric with little flowers from People’s Park at
$7/meter and only used about 1½ meters. Cheaper to make your own
clothes in light of unfavourable turn of events in big world of
money and dramatic losses.
Bootees
Oh! Did I mention also I made my first
pair of tiny tiny booties?! It’s so incredibly cute and adorable.
They’re for my friend’s newborn baby boy. I thought he was due next
month and was goint to sew her a diaper bag but got the dates wrong
so I decided to knit up a pair of booties instead.
Found this pattern on Ravely by Saartje de Bruijn. Yarn used was Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 ply with 3¼mm needles. They’re were pretty easy to whip up, great pattern for beginners!
The Big Dress
Thought I might start documenting my most ambitous sewing project
ever! The Butterick 7617 aka The Big Dress.
It’s been a busy busy week and finally found some time yesterday to
buy some super glamourous fabric. Among the rolls and rolls of
lace, chiffon and silk on Arab Street, I found this beautiful
silvery olive with yellow and blue embroidered silk fabric in this
shop called Princess! Not too fancy but fancy
enough...
According to the pattern it said I
needed 4½ yards, so I bought 5 meters then the salesman at the shop
said better to be safe to get another meter, these big skirts need
a lot of attention! So I bought 6 meters at $25/m. So after laying
the pattern, turns out i only needed a little more than 3 meters
for this. The whole skirt is about 3 meters long. So I am now left
with 2.77m of this gorgeous fabric... A Qi Pao
maybe?
The pieces are cut and ready for sergering at the shop and if all
goes well at work, I’ll be free next weekend to sew it all
together!
My Vintage Patterns are Here!!
Some of these are quite fragile but
well maintained. They’re so beautiful and I can’t wait to hit the
fabric stores and make one! Very exciting times for
wannabe-dressmaker-me! Woo!
The plan is to make a dress for my
cousin’s wedding dinner early next month. This gives me a enough
time to very slowly and carefully pore through these patterns and
constuct something that will make all my aunts proud. They used to
make such frocks for themselves and for Mum.
Fabienne Shirtdress
I made a dress! 0505 FABIENNE Shirtdress by Fitzpatterns. My
first dress, this was easier to make after 2 attempts at sewing
clothing.
I love this dress (really just a very long shirt) and received
quite a lot of compliments for it. This was made with a
linen-polyester blend and took me 2 days to complete. One day to
cut and serger, another day after about 2 weeks to put it
together.
I’m suddenly obsessed with 50s dresses and can only think of Erin
of Dress a Day
and Trista of Sugardale or watching Mad Men to blame for all the
rage. I recently just bought 3 (and got 1 free) patterns from
Antique Doll house of Patterns (Anita, the owner was
extremely helpful through her chat helpline on her site) and I
cannot wait for them to arrive!!
Reversible Wristlet Tutorial
This is My first tutorial. Been sewing a bunch of wristlet bags for
friends with
grab-and-go-moments-when-I-just-need-a-small-pouch-for-my-wallet-and-keys.
Ever had one of those?
This is very easy to sew and you can make 2 or 3 at a time. You
don’t need alot of fabric for this so it’s perfect for those left
over scrap farbics!
Download this tutorial here.
Patience. Use the force. Think.
It’s the younger Auburn-haired with
braid Obiwan Kenobi Amigurumi. A better adjusted, proportioned
version of Mace
Windu.
It’ll be another long long time before another amigurumi, my hand is seriously cramped up and hurting.
Read More...We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers.
Mace Windu Amigurumi with little itty
bitty black boots!
A modified pattern from Owlishly’s Amigurumi pattern, still needs
work. But I love the outfit! Working on a younger Obi-Wan
Kenobi soon... watch this space!
New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Secret’s out! The greatest and biggest chocolate chip cookie mystery has been
solved!
So how could I not attempt to bake the most talked about New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie that has
every baker around the world giving thanksgiving prayers and
becoming intensely popular amongst the people they shared their
cookies with? Naively I thought I had it down. But oh
no... This is a life-changing recipe. This is something you
will take with you until your die.
This is what God bakes in his heavenly perfect kitchen for his
Angels.
This has the right amount of crisp on
the outside and and a soft infused with warm melted chocolate gooey
center that reaches all the way in and touches your soul.
Nothing I’ve ever baked or made in my humble kitchen beats this.
Every bite was a savoured moment where all your stress and troubles
disappear. If only I could capture the aroma of the cookies freshly
baked - just a whiff and you will be sold.
This big cookie is the biggest treat you can give yourself! Why eat
a handful of regular sized cookies when you can have 1 (or more)
perfect chocolate chip cookie?
Go on!