Shabby Apple All That Jazz Dress Guest Giveaway

Shabby Apple All That Jazz Dress Guest Giveaway

Very very pretty dresses. I love this blog

Seven days of self stitching

I've been meaning to do a couple of posts a week throughout September.... but it's probably easier to do it in bulk. And i've actually been so ridiculously disorganised. It's disgraceful. I've already missed a day of photography...

The challenge of wearing only self-stitched items for a month is baring it's fangs at me... the weather hasn't been as nice as i'd hoped it would be... so my wardrobe is further limited. Hopefully next week the sun decides to show it's face?

Day 5

Today's is an action shot! I'm wearing my brown amazing-pockets skirt, a cat t-shirt which I love with a burning passion, and a self-knitted cowl! The other charming redhead in the shot is my little pedji dog... he's really a price in disguise....

Day 6

This is a skirt made from a Gertie tutorial (this one http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2009/08/sew-full-gathered-skirt-part-one-make.html) and my grey Port Elizabeth shirt. I love the print on this skirt... I'm not normally a pink person but this is an exception.

Day 7 (the one week mark!)

As you may be able to see, i'm having a lighting issue. My bedroom is somewhat like a cave. This photo was taken very hastily, and as soon as I had captured the days outfit, I grabbed a banana and ran for the bus. You can see i'm donning my school bag in this picture. This dress is one of my favorite garments, from navy blue cotton. It's a vogue pattern, and i've made it three times already! I also made the wristlet.

Day 8

That day my camera was flat.... so I had to use my old nokia. I am really not a technology person, and my phone reflects that. I felt a little grungy that day, hence the number of baggy jumpers and cardigans i'm wearing. The dress is another from that vogue pattern - oh how I love it!

Day 9

Handmade red skirt, and grey top underneath a hand-me-down jumper. I've got a wristlet on too. I'm afraid my lack of variety will become very boring this month!

Day 10

Taking this photo, I was in such a rush. I'm wearing my navy circle skirt, and thats about it!

I actually forgot to take a photo for day 11. My parents have gone away for the weekend with my youngest sister, so me and my other sister are... HOME ALONE.... and yesterday was spent cleaning, doing laundry and homework, going grocery shopping and lugging all the food back in my bike basket, and then babysitting. By the time I got home, I was so pooped I just fell into bed, not even considering to take a photo!

So, with rain still to come, and a very limited wardrobe, I think I may go and get some fabric and make some transitional garments???

Progress so far...

September has come! And, i've already cheated!! I haven't been wearing my self-stitched pyjamas... it's been to cold and I am the most precious sleeper - I can't be too warm or to cold, everything has to be pitch black, etc etc. Anyway, here are some progress photos:

Day 1: My camera is terrible! I can't actually remember why I was covering my face here but i'm sure it was a good reason.... This skirt is made from a vintage pattern I picked up for 50c at one of the local Op-shops, and the fabric is corduroy, donated to me by one of my mothers friends (very lovely of her). The top is from this here pattern:http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/port-elizabeth-cap-sleeve-summer-top which I have made multiple times - it's fantastic!!


Day 2: Once again, terrible camera. I'm wearing one of my only stretch creations - my favorite t-shirt from a Kwik-Sew pattern. It's impossible to tell here, but my skirt is actually chocolate brown, made from yet another vintage op-shop pattern. I love this skirt - it has the most amazing deep pockets, like, I can actually carry a small book around in them!!


Days 3&4: Okay, I know wearing the same thing two days in a row isn't so classy but - I stayed away from home last night and the dress I was planning to wear today got horribly crinkled on the bike ride over. The top is an altered version of the Port Elizabeth pattern and the skirt is a circle skirt I didn't use a pattern for. So much fun to twirl around in.

Progress report over! And now I will return to drinking tea, reading "Possession" and listening to Nirvana, lucky me :)
Good day!

It's almost September....

Last week, I went into a frenzy of sewing. I actually managed to complete three skirts, two tops and a dress. I surprised even myself! And the craziest thing was, prior to last week, all my sewing mojo had gone on holidays.... something to do with the ridiculous amount of work I have fallen behind on for school??? Perhaps. But, with one day to go, here is my Self-Stitched wardrobe

(excuse my dismal photography skills)
I actually have more than this - there is a large number of things in the wash in preparation (a skirt, some pants, a dress or two), and two of my dresses are in my boyfriends wardrobe. And I have about a million things waiting to be hemmed (cough...)

On top of this stuff, i've allowed myself to wear stretch items I already own - my lack of an overlocker made that one a no-brainer. I'm pretty happy with my efforts, overall. Although i'm going to have to be pretty creative with my outfits for school, I can still sew during September, so it shouldn't be an issue.

This whole adventure has made me realise that I can easily get by making and thrifting my clothes - and that I enjoy it much more. I really hate shopping for new clothes. I feel so guilty. How many miles in a truck have new clothes travelled? Who made it and how much were they paid?? I know all the same questions apply for fabric but with new clothes it just feels different... So, i've decided to give up buying brand new clothes. It's just not necessary for me anymore.

Anyway, I am going to get back to being sick and reading The Prisoner of Azkaban (yay!)
Happy stitching!

New bike!

A few weeks ago my parents went to go pick up a mattress from my Aunt's house and came back with (amongst many other things) an old ladies cruiser bike in need of some TLC. My father has been busy rebuilding it for me, and today, he finished!!!

This is my baby:

I'm getting a feeling that his name is Morrissey.... maybe due to my excessive Smiths-listening that has been going on lately....




He even has white wall tyres!

I only need to get a basket, and then he will be absolutely perfect. I am so excited for the weather to warm up so I can ride everywhere! I have been riding on my mothers bike a lot recently, but the crazy wind and my lack of gloves have been causing problems. It's okay though, the cherry blossoms are out and that is a sure sign that spring is not so far away :)

Fabric Hunts and brownies

On the 17th of July I, and a few of my lovely friends will be taking part in a craft market! We're going to be making lots of funky stuff and this week three of us went fabric shopping!

It was pretty good - we ended up getting five different bits of fabric, all relatively large, and only spent around $12. I really adore op-shopping. The stores around me don't really have much to offer, but Melbourne opshops are generally amazing. Of course, different suburbs offer different clothing (Thomastown for bohemian, St. Kilda for punk) but thats half the fun of opshopping.

So, here were the fruits of our search:

All photos taken on the beautiful train station bench... lovely...
Here is a close up of the light blue fabric, which is really quite lovely


I've done pretty much nothing else the rest of the week... I've just been listening to Iggy Pop and trying very hard to finish off schoolwork, without many results.....

Oh, and after we went shopping we made BROWNIES! They were so good I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of them.... but due to following my french teachers instructions on baking (cook for ten minutes on really high, then set in the fridge) they ended up VERY GOOEY.


So now it's the holidays, i'll hopefully have much more to blog about! Until something like that happens, Adieu!!

Ciao, Bella!

I have decided to get off my butt and start blogging garments, in preparation for Self Stitched September, which I am almost ridiculously excited for. I absolutely adore sewing, but I do not really have the same love of being photographer, and therefore i've only posted about 3 or 4 of my creations (onto burdastyle), but i'll just have to muster up the courage to get up infront of the lens for the good of documenting my self-stitched wardrobe.

So, I present, Bella! These pants were not a breeze to make at all. I made them as a project for my sewing class, and as soon as the teacher read the burdastyle instructions, we decided we might have to make our own method up in a few places. I adore the styles and cuts that burda offers, but their instructions leave ALOT to be desired. So they were quite challenging for someone of my level to put together, and I don't think I would have been able to finish them on my own. I am, however, very happy with the result!



They are so pretty, and very vintage-ey which only makes me love them more, but I don't really know where i'll be able to wear them! I mean, I have very liberal friends and an equally liberal school but I can't really imagine myself getting on the train in these lovely things. It will take a certain amount of courage for me to wear these about town.... but I will wear them. I think in a couple of months (picnic time, how I long for it) these pants will become a bit of a staple.... with some pretty flats and a floaty blouse they would be amazing!

I had a couple of fit issues with these pants. Because of my abnormally high waist, the crotch was pretty damn uncomfortable at first. I had to let the crotch seam and the back-waistband seam out so they would feel comfortable, and they are still a little cosy around the bottom region.... speaking of which:



As you can see, I made the mistake of overlocking the pockets with white thread (someone else was using the black and I was getting a bit impatient) but I don't think it will really matter that much, as I don't think many people will be fixated on my backside.



Unfortunately, my bad photography skills have caused the very cool pocket detail to be cut out in this shot. It's okay though, because you can still see the buttons! I love these buttons. They make me feel like a sailor. The buttonholes are a bit crazy but it's okay, because they're covered up.

Overall, I am pretty proud of these pants. They are the very first pair I've made, with the exception of pyjama pants back when I first begun sewing. I'm sure that when the weather warms up these pants will be worn to death... although it's hard to tell when that would be, as this is Melbourne (for example, yesterday begun nicely, and we had blue skies for a while, but they were punctuated with hailstorms.)

I don't think i'll make these pants again, but they might make some funky shorts.