fanbloomingtastic: developing my own style

developing my own style

Friday, 28 December 2012

Sew Weekly Challenge Week 51 - Winter pinafore in a tough week

Obviously this post was originally written and post in the week of the Newtown shootings. Check out the bottom of this post for something I'm joining in on to help the kids at the school get back to 'normality' in January, and you might want to join in too....

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The Facts

Fabric: 0.25 yd Alexander Henry La Paloma Dove Black & White scrap from stash, pair of black linen curtains from stash $0 (£0)
Pattern: McCall’s 6324.
Year: Contemporary.
Notions: zip $0.99 (£0.61), thread.
Time to complete: 12 hours.
First worn: 16th December 2012.

Wear again? Absolutely.

Total Cost: $0.99 (£0.61)

The challenge: “Favourite (remake pattern that was fave of the year)”.

Another Sew Weekly challenge and another week that I just don’t want to be sitting here writing this, or smiling at a camera. For the third time my heart is elsewhere with the families and friends of the victims of a mass shooting in America. I found it hard to go on with the Reality Check challenge after the Aurora cinema shootings. I found it impossible to smile or even look at a camera for the yellow challenge when innocent Sikhs were murdered during their worship in Wisconsin. And after Friday……what can words say that come close to having any meaning. And there have actually been 16 mass shootings in the USA this year. It’s beyond words and makes sewing a frock and writing about its making seem a silly nothingness. I know my condition often makes it hard to have a ‘normal’ person’s perspective but knowing that doesn’t stop the sadness.

I took my 4th grader to school this morning. In the playground was an armed policeman. There for the safety of the kids. There for the safety of the teachers and the school staff. I’ve just received an email to all parents in the school district informing us about existing and planned security measures, including armed responses. We don’t see guns in the UK. One of the biggest cultural differences I’ve had to come to terms with is that guns are totally ingrained in American life. Seeing people walking around with them or wearing them in coffee shops and restaurants is so foreign to me. It makes me impossibly sad. The shootings at Dunblane had such an incredible effect on us in the UK. But here it just happens again and again and again and no-one thinks it can be changed (and there are those who are seriously advocating MORE guns….beyond belief).

I’m sorry. I tried to carry on as usual, especially as no-one’s clear or not if this is the last week of Sew Weekly 2012 and I wanted to finish my posts here on a high (I’ve got 2 more dresses to make that I’ll post on my blog fanbloomingtastic (and here if we can) so that I complete a whole year of weekly sews). But I can’t go on as normal today. Everything is too raw. I’m trying to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Who knows how much time we have with each other, so we need to make this brief time special and filled with love. I have almost no memory of Christmas’s as a child so I’ve always been a huge creator of happy memories for my children….I need to get back to ‘normal’ to make sure that 2012 still has these. Sorry. Anyway, here’s some pics of this week’s make.

This is a dress I made from a pattern I’d used twice before and the two dresses I made (the Spiderman dress for the Red, White & Blue challenge and the red & green madras check dress for Mad for Plaid challenge) are the garments that have had the most consistent and regular wear during the year.

I decided to make some ‘winter’ versions. This black and white version is the one I finished before the news of the Newtown shootings was released. I’d never done a version with a print yoke and plain bottom half, so I used some Alexander Henry La Paloma (the bird of peace) scraps I haven’t been able to find a use for before and a pair of black linen curtains from my stash. I’m making this green tartan version too, but I can’t right now….so if you want to see it finished you’ll need to check it out on my blog next year.

And at some point next Spring, I’m making a pinky purple version from all those odd bits of fabric I’ve got in my stash that I never knew what to do with:

If this is the last post on Sew Weekly this year I want to thank you all for an incredible adventure. You’ve all been amazing. You’ve inspired and encouraged me, you supported me when I thought I couldn’t go on. You helped me stretch myself to do things that were way beyond anything I could imagine at the start of 2012. Thank you Mena for giving us this outlet and opportunity to learn and create. It’s been amazing.

If this isn’t the last post and you get to see my two final dresses of the year, a leopard print one for Christmas and a red & black flocked satin evening dress for New Year’s Eve….then ignore I just said that because I’ll be saying it again, hopefully more eloquently when I’m not so sad in which ever one is the final post.

Be excellent to each other. Love one another. No matter what.

We actually did two photo shoots for this dress.....I fancied doing some outside with some Christmas lights seeing as in Arizona I can still walk about without a coat on in the evenings.....what am I talking about, I'm from the North, I used to go to the disco in Newcastle without a coat on. Hard as nails me. But as you can see they didn't quite work....we should have taken the tripod to cope with wobble on the longer exposure. But this gives you a feel for the dress without a top under it:

To see all of my 51 (actually it's 52 now, nearly caught up telling you about them) Sew Weekly Challenge creations (dresses, tops, skirts, shrugs, hats, a coat and a crown) since the start of 2012 click here.

Next challenge I need to tell you about week 52, a leopard print 60s shift dress ready for Christmas celebrations.

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OK, SOMETHING WE CAN DO FOR THE KIDS OF NEWTOWN:

The National PTA is collecting hundreds of thousands of snowflakes and will completely decorate Sandy Hook Elementary, transforming it into a Winter Wonderland before the kids come back to school in January. Make some and send them off to help create a winter wonderland for the sweet children who have been through a lot.

They'd like you to make some, remembering that no two snowflakes are alike and to send them by January 12, 2013 (I suspect the sooner the better though) to

Connecticut PTSA

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connolly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514

I'm thinking about donating my snowflakes hanging beside me in my office, I can always make more, and just remember how magical Gimbels looks when Buddy the Elf has been decorating it overnight in Elf.....isn't this a lovely way to show our support for the people and children of Newtown?

in Christmas, developing my own style, Sew Weekly Challenge, sewing | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, 24 December 2012

Sew Weekly Challenge Week 50 - The Annie Lennox Under Pressure dress

The Facts

Fabric: 2 yds silver/black dance lamé $8.38 (£5.20), 4.5 yds black cotton from stash, 34.13 yds black tulle $26.28 (£16.30).
Pattern: Bodice: based on Simplicity 2444, Skirt: based on McCalls 6466.
Year: Contemporary.
Notions: Zip $0.99 (£0.62), thread.
Time to complete: 24 hours.
First worn: 10th December 2012.

Wear again? Yes, probably for a night at the opera, or at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Annual Weekend, or simply to to swan about the house in feeling fabulous and imagining hugging David Bowie.

Total Cost: $35.65 (£22.12)

The challenge: “Theme Re-Do (you either missed or want to try again)”….and, Music, I choose you!

This post could also be called “The Revenge on the LBD: This time I win”.

Do you remember the Music challenge? OK, let’s make this easier for you….do you remember me attempting to make a little black dress…..despite me hating black…..and that it was a representation ofan album cover of an album I don’t like? Let me jog your memory:

It was possibly my lowest ebb during this year. The dark side of the LBD. It beat me….though actually it didn’t, I still made something and managed to post about it, even if I did show the bipolar demons inside in some of the photos that particularly disturbed Djamila.

So when Mena (who runs Sew Weekly and decides upon the weekly challenges) put up that this week would be a ‘re-do a challenge’ challenge, I knew I wanted to exorcise the LBD from the Music Challenge. Did I say challenge enough times there?

I tried to decide what would make me happy, a musical muse/style icon. Immediate thoughts included Kate Bush, David Bowie (he’s going to have to wait until next year, I don’t I think I can do any of his looks justice in just a week….though I definitely want to try some suits and his beautiful velvet dress onthe cover of The Man Who Sold the World designed by Michael Fish), Adam Ant, Pauline Black, Björk (done her already though), Paloma Faith (done her too) or……Annie Lennox.

I LOVE ANNIE LENNOX’S STYLE!! I love her voice too, solo and with the Eurythmics. And I love her work raising awareness and campaigning, especially Sing, working for women and children affected by HIV and Aids. Plus she’s a little bit potty like me.

I did try initially to make a tartan suit inspired by one she wore playing in Central Park in 1995, but I haven’t managed to source a tartan I like close enough…..yet.

Instead I chose to make a totally frivolous evening dress inspired by a dress she designed with one of my new fashion fascinations, Antony Price, in 1992 for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for Aids Awareness (A Concert For Life). I’ve been trying to find my metal red HIV/Aids ribbon from the early 90s all day. I think I’ve lost it in the move to the USA :( I’ll have to buy myself a new one. Especially as I’ve just realised I managed to miss World Aids Day on December 1st. Sorry, I’m waffling. Here’s a pretty picture of Annie in the inspirational dress:

And yes, she performed with David Bowie :) If you haven’t seen the performance, you really must.Here’s the live version on the night, and here’s them practicing before the show (just look at how jealous George Michael is not to be in Annie’s place). I think possibly the practice is vocally better, but the reaction of the crowd on the night is priceless.

Shall I shut up now and just tell you about my dress (of two ingenious parts)?

OK, so you have to bear in mind, Annie’s dress by Antony Price wasn’t made in a week by a seamstress who’s only really been sewing for a year proper….and probably their dress wasn’t made on the cheap either. But I don’t think mine’s too bad. I’m definitely going to swan around the house in mine quite a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pretty princess dress and why shouldn’t 44 year olds have dressing up clothes?

I know mine isn’t as long in the bodice as the original, but that’s ok. It’s possibly riding up a bit because I was terrified about putting too much weight on the lamé and causing it to stretch/bubble. And that’s where the ingenious plan came in. The surprise extra garment.

It’s a skirt underneath an over-dress.

I apologise for this terrible pic, Goth Child was coming down with a really bad cold and I didn’t realise until afterwards, but was shaking. But it does show you the skirt:

So the dress part was based on the bodice of Simplicity 2444 but with a slightly altered neckline, and significantly altered sleeves. And the skirts were based on McCalls 6466. There are 5 tulle skirts, 1 cotton contrast skirt and a lining. I made an underskirt that can be worn separately from the evening dress from 4 of the tulle skirts, the contrast and the lining, sewing them onto an interfaced waist band. I can now wear this skirt on its own with a rock chick t-shirt, or as a petticoat for a circular skirt (if it’s a long one….it might be making a re-apearance in 2 weeks time), or with this dress and the beauty of it with this dress is it doesn’t stretch the bodice fabric to spoiling.

The downside of me only attaching one of the tulle skirts to the bodice is possibly that the bodice doesn’t pull down into place ENOUGH. It rides up a bit. Oh well. I’m still learning.

And actually WOW did I learn a lot this week! At the start of the week I had a bit of a meltdown when my sewing machine just seemed to bounce off the lamé. It just wouldn’t sew two pieces together. After a bit of internet research and lots of practice runs on scraps I worked out I should use a straight-stitch foot, and finer needle and a higher tension on my top thread. That worked a treat.

I’d also never used a double needle before, or the accompanying extra top spool of thread. I used this for the double rows of stitching the seams of the tulle skirts. I do like it when I learn new stuff. It opens up my thoughts about how other things might work or other ways I can do things. I can honestly say that at week 50 of this sewing journey, I’ve only just begun. I feel that I can just about take my training/stabiliser wheels off my sewing ambitions. It’s so fab. There are so many things I would never have learnt or even tried without being part of Sew Weekly. I cannot thank Mena and the rest of you for your support and inspiration enough.

The world is my oyster, that or the disco ball is my pokeball. One of the two.

To see all of my 50 (actually it's 52 now, but I'm trying to catch up telling you about them, I'm nearly up to date) Sew Weekly Challenge creations (dresses, tops, skirts, shrugs, hats, a coat and a crown) since the start of 2012 click here.

Next challenge I need to tell you about week 51, my remake of my favourite pattern used during 2012.

in developing my own style, Sew Weekly Challenge, sewing | Permalink | Comments (2)

Friday, 21 December 2012

Sew Weekly Challenge Week 49 - The Christmas Ugly Sweater combo

The Facts

Fabric: Red chenille sweater from Goodwill charity shop $5.99 (£3.72), lots of scraps from stash, 1 yd cotton fake fair isle knit reindeer & fir tree fabric $3.99 (£2.48).
Pattern: applique on sweater freestyling whilst watching Christmas movies, skirt: New Look 0136.
Year: 2012.
Notions: thread.
Time to complete: 9 hours (so far).
First worn: 3rd December 2012.

Wear again? Skirt: deffo, lots over next few weeks. Sweater: hopefully if it cools down a bit.

Total Cost: $9.98 (£6.21)

The challenge: “Winter”.

Winter. I can’t take winter seriously anymore. When we lived in the UK, I used to expect snow, rain and wind in winter. Going for walks, getting mud on my boots, hurrying back for whisky in my hot chocolate. And did I mention snow…..lots of lovely snow:

You might think I’m looking back on all this with rose-tinted glasses, but if you ask Mr D and my kids you’ll find out I’m not. We lived out in the middle of nowhere in a hamlet of 6 houses, accustomed to losing electricity and being snowed in (there was method in our madness having three fridges).

Then I moved to the USA. And to Phoenix, that doesn’t really have a winter. It just about manages an Autumn/Fall. So I have to make do with inflatable snowmen on the front lawn and green forests on my sweater:

I’m currently writing this wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and above skirt…..but the tights, boots and jumper had to get whipped off straight after the photos because I was melting. The things I do for you and Sew Weekly! I will shut up now because I know all of you in the UK are attempting to throw soggy wellies at me.

So just as I’m cunning bringing snow to Phoenix via inflatables (and we also have companies here that sell snowballs! A good friend bought a whole cooler box of snowballs for a party earlier this year and we had a snowball fight in the intense sun, it was wacky)…..I thought I’d be cunning by making a faux winter skirt that I can actually wear in 82 degrees….how fab is this fabric:

And yes, I had some scraps of Peanuts’ A Charlie Brown Christmas so I had to put them in as pockets on the skirt….they make me happy :)

The fair isle pattern of the skirt looks all wintery but its a cotton, so I can definitely wear it whenever I want to here. I probably should have made a pencil skirt to make it even more convincing as a knit, but I had enough in the yard to make an A-line one, so I did.

As for the sweater (I’d call it a jumper as we do in the UK but the Colonials would think I’m talking about something with braces, either dungarees or a pinafore dress, and I’m not even getting into the suspenders vs. braces translations…..), well, I’ve always wanted a Christmas Ugly Sweater and have scoured charity shops for years looking for one. It never occured to me until doing the Sew Weekly that I could upcycle my own. I’m so dim.

I bought a plain red chenille sweater from a Goodwill shop, and appliqued various green fabric Christmas trees onto it….zigzagging the edges with purple thread because this is a Tempest-project after all, the more colours the better. In my efforts to use every single stitch on my sewing machine by the end of the year, I tried some new ones out on the green velvet tree in yellow and orange threads, and I sewed some leftover braid from last week’s dress on some green t-shirt cotton. The gems are some of the many, many I have left over from burlesque costumes, I’ve used gem tac glue on them because it’s not as brittle as hot glue and you have a little time to more them around.

The snowman (because I had to have a snowman) is circles cut from a white t-shirt, zigzag stitched in place (amazingly with tasteful white thread), and I embroidered an orange carrot nose onto him with my machine, glued on googley eyes (because everything is made better with googlely eyes)….but as you can see he’s pretty ‘armless at the moment (ho ho). And that’s also why this outfit is called the “Just Not Ugly Enough” outfit…..it’s a work in progress. My snowman needs arms embroidering on, and perhaps a hat applique, and I’ve got tiny flashing lights to add, and jingle bells for down the sleeves, and that collar, beautiful shape though it is, needs some faux fur or at the very least tinsel sewing on it.

But that will have to be done on evenings in front of the telly, watching all the Christmas movies lined up on my dvr (my faves being Die Hard, Home Alone, Elf, Gremlins, It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, A Muppet Christmas Carol & Scrooged) because I need to get moving on a stupid amount of black tulle. Yes, you heard me right, next week I’m doing black. Yes, me. It’s theme re-do week…..and my Music challenge didn’t muster up last time, so it’s time to put down the jingle bells and pick up the anti-static spray.

Meanwhile, here’s our other inflatable on the lawn. It’s meant to be a reindeer rolling Santa up into a snowball….I’m saying nothing…

To see all of my 49 (actually it's 51 now, but I'm trying to catch up telling you about them, I'm nearly up to date) Sew Weekly Challenge creations (dresses, tops, skirts, shrugs, hats, a coat and a crown) since the start of 2012 click here.

Next challenge I need to tell you about week 50, my Annie Lennox pretty princess tribute dress.

in developing my own style, Sew Weekly Challenge, sewing | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sew Weekly Challenge Week 48 - The Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas Dress

The Facts

Fabric: remake of a skirt made for the UFO challenge, plus some fabric I had left over from that.
Pattern: Simplicity 3833 view C.
Year: 1960′s retro reprint.
Notions: silver mega-fancy ric rak I’ve had for years from a fabric store’s pot luck bin, old vinyl headband, thread.
Time to complete: 7 hours.
First worn: 26th November 2012.

Wear again? Yes.

Total Cost: $0 (£0)

The challenge: “1960′s (early, mid or late)”.

Once upon a time, in February 2012 to be exact, I made a circle skirt out of a psychedelic pink and purple print sheet. It then sat in my closet, virtually unworn and unloved. I’d not put a firm enough waistband on it and it didn’t thrill me to wear it. This is very rare for the things I’ve made this year. So far only this skirt and the dress I made for the Childhood challenge haven’t been regularly worn. I made it the skirt for the first UFO challenge, it looked like this:

I’d had plans to make my version of Mad Men’s Megan’s Zou Bisou Bisou dress this week….but with kids dropping like flies and Thanksgiving getting in the way, I wasn’t able to go out and fabric hunt (especially as my version’s going to be hunting green not black so the pleated chiffon is going to be fun to get hold of).

So it was time for an unloved skirt to be repurposed, whilst channeling my inner Megan.

(Warning, warning: some 60s angular and awkward poses approaching!)

After some careful chopping up of the skirt (it’s pretty amazing how much you can get out of a circle skirt) plus the remaining bits of fabric I had from the first time around (I do love a jigsaw), I managed to get enough for a dress. You’ll notice there are some interesting pieceings on the front, hence the slightly puckering of seams because I’ve used bits on the bias again, but for a dress to muck about around the house in next summer that cost me nowt (translation: zilch, nada, nothing), it’s ok.

(You were warned. I took my inspiration from here and 60s fashion adverts and catalogue photos).

You never know, perhaps I can wear it to a Mad Men or 60s party too sometime….though I might have to wear Honor Blackman Kinky Boots with it, as I got these shoes in a charity shop ages ago and the because they’ve been DIY silver glittered the backs dig into my heels. I can only deal with pain in the name of fashion for so long…

What was it with 60s models, and the weird leg positions? I call that one the “this is why I can never be a ballerina” pose.

That’s obviously the “contemplating hailing a cab” pose.

The “someone thinks that lava lamp is a telephone” pose.

And naturally, the 60s modelling staple – the “oh dear I seem to have karate chopped my other arm off” pose:

Blimey, are there really only 4 more challenges left? (Winter, Challenge Re-do-over, Fave pattern and Happy Holidays for those of you eagerly awaiting our creations or wanting to sew along with the Sew Weekly Community).

I don’t want it to end and want it to end in equal amounts. I have a life to claim back, a house to decorate but there’s still so much I want to sew now I’m beginning to understand how. I’ve become obsessed with tailoring, men’s suits, Michael Fish and Antony Price over the last few months, and look forward to having more than just one week to finish projects. This would never have happened if I hadn’t done nearly 50 Sew Weekly challenges, I’ve learnt so much and expanded my horizons so far, it’s amazing.

And I’ve asked Father Christmas ever so nicely for my first serger to cut my sewing time down and save me doing endless amounts of french seams and binding of seams. Do you think I’ve been a good enough girl?

Btw…..it won’t be a big surprise to most of you I’ve chosen the Music challenge as my re-do-over in 2 weeks time. Let’s exorcise the ‘evil’ of the LBD once and for all shall we…..though (shock horror) there may be a large quantity of black involved, possibly (teasey tease tease) and I can definitely say I won’t be doing David Bowie but….. ;)

Onwards!

in developing my own style, Sew Weekly Challenge, sewing | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sew Weekly Challenge Week 47 - The Lobster Dress

The Facts

Fabric: 3.5 yds cotton lobster print fabric $13.97 (£8.79), cotton sheet and satin sheet, both from stash.
Pattern: Simplicity 4070 bodice view A, skirt view F.
Year: Contemporary.
Notions: Zip $0.99 (£0.62), thread.
Time to complete: 16 hours.
First worn: 18th November 2012.

Wear again? Yes, probably for Thanksgiving.

Total Cost: $14.96 (£9.41)

The challenge: “Black and white”.

What’s black and white and red all over?

A sun-burnt penguin? Nah, not this time.

A newspaper? Nope, that’s ‘read all over’.

A very confused lobster? Getting closer.

Tempest when she’s ‘cheating’ for the black and white challenge? You got it (dude).

Look, there’s nothing about the challenge that definitely said the fabric had to be black and white……and you knooooow how much I adore the colour black, so I made something I wanted to, photographed it and then used the focal b&w tool (those are the ones with the circle draining out the colour) and b&w and it’s repaint tool (the less harsh changes) in Pic Monkey. That satisfies the criteria doesn’t it? No? Still not happy? OK, what about the fabric is white (half the required element) and red….oh, and with a green satin sash….but the lobsters are outlined in black. That counts doesn’t it?

Well tough. I honestly couldn’t do black even with white.

This is the first time I’ve used Simplicity’s 4070. To be honest I’m not sure I like the bodice – the front curve of the arm syce is too deep, shows a bit too much skin. I prefer mine a little more vertical.

The princess seams were a bit strange too. I think I honestly prefer the bodice shape on the Simplicity 2444, with the double waist darts rather than the princess seams….I shall reserve the latter for shirts in the future. The skirt though is lovely (view F of the 4070), not a complete circle but still hinting at a retro shape whilst still being modernly practical.

I’m wearing this for the photos without a net petticoat, which is probably how I’ll wear this dress day-to-day but I’ll add the netting for special occasions, like Thanksgiving this week. Hey, did you know the Pilgrims ate lobster and considered it a low-class boring food? The things you learn volunteering in 4th grade classes eh.

My sash seemed to have a mind of it’s own. I’d fixed it perfectly before I got in the car to drive….and you can tell I was without my stylist for this shoot…the poor little thing was at home throwing up, and is this morning devastated that she can’t go to school and has broken her full attendance record.

I shall now go and sit on the naughty step. Which is a long way away from my sewing machine, so next week’s 1960′s themed thing (I’m out of inspiration at the moment, despite the 60s having so much fashion variety) will be hard to sew. Plus I’m stuck at home with madam being ill, so I might just have to make a mini-dress out of curtain in my stash. We’ll see.