Prom Dress Designs

This is a bit of a long winded story but bear with me, I'm really close to my Auntie and her two children, mainly down to my mother being her twin. Also because my auntie suffers with some mild learning difficulties and also from depression which, at times amplifies the learning difficulties, my mother and at times myself have always helped her out. my mother technically acting as her carer.
 My Auntie also has two children which my mother helped raise as their Father didn't stick around. (which was probably a good thing - let's just say he hasn't got a good reputation!!) As a result my two cousins are more like my brother and sister rather than cousins. There is four years between me and Natalie and six years between me and Jonathan. As kids me and Natalie would fight like cat and dog and my mother seriously though we would grow up hating each other, but it's very much the opposite. Now your probably wondering what this has got do to with a prom. well you see my cousin Jonathan is autistic along with having moderate learning difficulties, as a result he goes to a special school.

 This year is his prom, and he is allowed not one but two people to accompany him!! So his sister was first off the mark to say she would be going with him and immediately rang me to ask if I would would like to come as the plus 2. which of course I jumped at the chance.
Last week we went to get jonathans and Oh My Gosh does he look Handsome!!

 My original plan was to make the dress, so using inspiration from my prom dress pin board on pinterest I came up with the designs above. I wanted to keep it simple and elegant.

I chose to go with the last design on the set above. The dress would have a gathered neckline, which would have tiny seed beads sewn on to it, it would be slim fitting and flare out at the hem! I did a tech drawing and 1/4 scale pattern before doing the full scale one.

Technical drawing of the prom dress

Having done the first toile and making quite a few adjustments, I'm half way through a second one. 

The snag came when on a whim I ordered a vintage dress off ebay, that I thought was quirky and fun but when it arrived it fit like a glove and I fell in love with the vintage dress so I'm pretty certain that's what I will be wearing instead. 

I am still planing on making the prom dress as I'm keen to see the end result. I'm in two minds whether to make the dress out of the planned satin with chiffon over-lay fabric or to chose a large flower print fabric in my stash and make it out of that as a more wearable version I can always shorten it then if I wish.

satin and chiffon samples.

The material and colour samples I ordered off ebay were gorgeous and the colours really vibrant. I'm pretty certain it's the more turquoise colour I will go for, number 768 on the left side and 442 on the right.

Having done nearly a complete design process, it's made me realise how much I miss gathering re-search, sketching designs and working out a pattern, and my pattern drafting was really rusty with this one. pattern drafting is something I really don't want to loose the knack of so hopefully this will keep that spark ignited!

Sewing Fashion Trends: Oriental

Japanese and the oriental always fascinates me, I love the colours, textiles, architecture and the history, not to mention the fashion, so it's no surprise I'm quite taken with this trend!

 After last years spring summer trend for neutrals and lady like style it's no surprise to see a contrast. The sophistication of the lady like trend continues but this time inspired by the orient. Lot's of  kimono styles appearing in both jacket and dress form, along with oriental colours from red and white to more vivid flashes of purple and orange. This is one trend I'm sewing in to.                                                           

Oriental dress by Aquilano.Rimond 

        Inspiration

                                                                                                       Outfit designs both by  Etro

                                                              Altuzarra                                                      Dries van Noten

Patterns

If like me you want would rather 'sew' into the trend than buy into it then here are a few patterns to inspire you...........

Newlook Workroom

Newlook workroom patterns are leading the trend. Pattern no 6120 is a lovely dress and the belt could always be made in an assortment of colours to change it up whilst pattern number 6126 is more of a nod towards the trend  and would look great as a beach cover-up or thrown on with leggings.

BurdaStyle 

The bottom pattern is burda style #116 from issue 02/2012. This is certainly more traditional but you could go one further if your nifty with a pattern, shorten the length and add a two/three peplum layers and make it up in fabric with more body and hey presto you have an Altuzarra esk jacket.

My Version

I've already jumped on the trend with my easy kaftan top and I'm already planning on making a longer version in an oriental print! 

Catwalk images from style.com
pattern images from jaycotts.co.uk
burda image from burdastyle.com

Pssst..... This trend also looks to be sticking around for autumn/winter too!

Me-Made-May Conclusion

Me-made -may didn't go exactly as planned, a combination of being between houses and my non existent organisation skills, meant garments had been left behind when I thought I'd brought them with me. Shoes didn't match and coordinating separates were a miss.
Work was also tricky. We are lucky enough not to have a dress code although working in a craft shop especially a clearance one means dusty stock and dirty stock boxes (some covered in dead bugs eughhh!!) not to mention exploding inks, greasy glue and leaking pens, so work does call for old-ish clothes (we do have aprons they offer some protection from the yucky dead bugs and the what not). Another problem with work is I swear we have the worst heating system in the world, a kick and bang usually does the trick, but for most part it's pretty cold!! oh and the door won't stay closed either, your probably thinking the shop is against us at this point- I think it is too!!!

Sticking to the pledge....
I was meant to wear five me-made items a week, Umm yeah,  that lasted for the first week..... ok so I'm a failure! but I don't feel bad!! perhaps it's because I did wear a lot of me-made items compared to what I normally would.
I might as well mention I was lame at taking photo's of said outfits to, that's a double failure, surprisingly I don't feel bad about that either - I don't seem to do guilt! I do feel guilty when I eat too much chocolate and fizzy drinks which is most days so that must be where my guilt goes, oh and slobing in front of the t.v when I know there's sewing/drawing waiting to be done! So I guess I do have s tooth-full of guilt in me ;) !!

On to the clothes.......

A rare,warm, sunny day so I unleashed the legs for a few hours. Me and the Boyf took the opportunity to walk round the new area in which we live, which was once the Garden festival of Wales. We also pushed the boat out and stopped in Costa for a mucky blueberry cream cake and fruit cooler!!

Me-made: Laura Ashley shorts - I do wear these quite a lot in nice weather.

Vest and shoes: LaRedoute

Cardigan and bag: Primark

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Typical work attire and a repeat. 

Me-made: customised t-shirt- not blogged,

Cardi: H&M

Jeans: LaRedoute

Trainers: Adidas high tops

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I also wore a few repeats of the burda top styled a bit differently but no photo's, and the newly made raspberry ripple top did get it's first glimpse of day light, in which I found it wrinkles and creases like no ones business.

To see more click the following links,

Week 1

Week 2

What I learnt....

• Fabric choice is key, poly-cotton materials are largely no-no's. 
• I make a lot of things that aren't really my style or day to day clothing choices. 
• I really need a pair of skinny leg trousers and leggings in my wardrobe
• and I really like wearing pencil skirts with loose fitting tops
• A lot of my clothes are made out of freebie fabric that I've been given which is not my first chioce fabric this is something I need to work on.
• white skirts with green panel's don't go with ANYTHING unless it's more white!!!
• I should really make more effort to wear me-made's as I've really enjoyed wearing some pieces

The other upside to Me-Made-May 2013 is that it showed me the 'dead wood' in my wardrobe, There are certainly things that I won't wear again, clothes I don't feel comfortable in because of the wrong material/style choice. Sobetto and Pan Am Tops Spring to mind 'coz' nobody wants a rustling sweat box stood next to them!

There are also some clothes who need a mate which is something I can work towards!

 Largely Me-Made- May has also pointed out that I have way to many clothes in general, and that I mostly only need to sew the gaps in my wardrobe.

 

A Challenge of my own...

From taking part in Me-Made-May I'm also hoping to challenge myself later on in the year to wear a completely different outfit everyday for a month, because I do have that many clothes and shoes! Hopefully I can root out more dead wood that way- You to can also join me if you like I'm hoping to start it round the end of summer? but I'll announce more details in the coming months.

How did you fair-up in Me-Made-May?

Raspberry Ripple Top.

Sorry for the absence of late, I have so much going on, and as much as I would love to think I'm wonder-woman I'm not :(.

 Unfortunately I think posting is very much going to be irregular for at least the next two if not three months, I just don't seem to have the time, this house move is taking it's toll, and with so much sorting, painting furnishing and house sewing to-do and the rest, it's leaving little time for 'fun' sewing, sketching and blogging, I hope you'll bare with me :)

To the Sewing.....

The garb

My latest make is a self drafted top in shades of raspberry, white, pastel yellow and mint  hence the name raspberry ripple (make that with a hint of mint too Hehe!)

 I love wearing legging in the warmer months, all winter spent in jeans is no good I tell ya' But I cant abide short tops worn with leggings, the ones that finish at your hip bone type of tops (no offence if that's your sort of thing but it's no for me) so bum skimming or longer tops float my boat. I decided my pattern cutting skills were getting rusty and I was in need of some oiling, and with only a meter of fabric at my disposal I decided the best use was a tunic style top. 

Details:

Using my trusty Winifred Aldrich pattern cutting book, I used the kimono block. As this was a loose fitting block I choose the xsmall size.

 I set about lowering the neck-line front and back, lengthening the block and adding a small dip hem to the back. I drafted a small patch pocket and mock cuffs for the sleeves and did my first self made bias binding to finishing the neckline, which adds a more professional touch I feel. I decided to cut the pocket across the stripe of the fabric so it stands out. 

Fabric:

Another piece from my stash, 'I'm so into stash busting right now' (check out this board on pinterest for stash busting ideas)

This was another of my remnant bin finds from John Lewis, £3 for the meter. It's a cotton viscous blend with a tiny crinkle effect to the fabric and a slight open weave in some of the stripes. Although it's a tad on the delicate side with the open weaves, it handles pretty well and sewed up no problem. The only negative is that the neckline is a bit wonky thanks to me not stay stitching it,as the fabric does have a bit of give. 

Overall:

I know I say this with most of my makes but I really am happy with this top. I think it's the fabric choice that makes it spot on, I've had so many dodgy fabric choices it's just nice to be able to wear something that doesn't rustle and feels nice against my skin. I'm also pleased with my style details and it's got my pattern cutting bug back - now if only I could find the time ;)

A side note: 

As I said previously I'm meant to be taking part in me-made-May, well not all is going well, I keep forgetting to bring things to the new house, or think I've brought them when I haven't, basically I'm useless! I am try to wear some me-made items, but unfortunately I'm not sticking to my five times a week rule, so instead of a weekly round up I should think one at the end of May will be ideal at my rate.

What's everyone else sewing?

Me-Made-May13: Week Two

Pan Am Skirt

T-shirt - T.K Maxx

Shoes- H! by henry holland

The long awaited Trench Coat

Longsleeve top- primark

Spotted top just seen- Mango purchesed in a charity shop

Jeans- La redoute

Boots- south

Stripy sobetto

Cardi- H&M

Jeans-la Redoute

Boots- south

Watch- Redherring for Debenhams 

Stripy knitted top

Trench coat As before

leggings- Asda

Boots- south

How it went

For three days I didn't wear anything me-made but I pulled it together towards the end of this week, wearing four out of my target of five days, and a double whammy today of wearing two me made items!! I think it's fair to say I do ok.

What I learnt
 Most of my me-made's are summer items and with the turn in the weather mid week made it tricky deciding what to wear and weather I would be warm enough in work!
I also realised that I desperately need a pair of trousers and leggings in my me-made wardrobe as well as more knitted/jesey tops.

I really enjoyed wearing the pan am skirt and paring it with a t-shirt for a relaxed casual style. The downside was the stripy knit top, the inside of it is rough on my skin, it's too loose on my shoulders and the sleeves are out of shape- one for the recycle bin!
The stripy sobetto is another negative fit wise, it's definitely too small under the arms but despite my fears of looking like Andy Pandy in it I've come to like the top, but once I'd been it for five hours all I wanted to do was to get out of it, which is another task in it's self :/

How did your week go?