Frocks & Frou Frou: sew

Monday, December 1, 2008

Remix-Me Monday: French Maid

Skirt: Basque Woman @ Myer www.myer.com.au

Forever New (www.forevernew.com.au) recently opened a great big store in the middle of Melbourne City, and over the weekend I headed in to have a bit of a looksee.

It's a brand that goes up to a size 16, and I can just about squeeze into most of it. At the moment the range is ultra-pretty with eye-watering quantities of lace and frills. I love it, though I can't pull it off (sob!)

I tried on half-a-dozen tops, and dismissed each and every one as being too frou-frou, and finally decided that I would take matters into my own hands:

Bolstered by my success with the Ikea skirt, I popped into Lincraft (www.lincraft.com.au) for 2-bucks worth of lace, then hauled out my trusty sewing machine, and sewed it around the collar of a target t-shirt, and voila!

It's a little french-maid, but it's a cheap and cheerful alternative to the confections in Forever New.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

And the winner is....

"A Heart for My Princess Medal Brooch" - DeepIndigo @ http://www.etsy.com/

And the winner of the which-way skirt is....

D. Big Circles Up, Blue

(but only by a hair - in fact I had to call in Himself to break the tie between b & d)

Top: Target http://www.target.com.au/

Skirt: DIY from Ikea fabric http://www.ikea.com.au/ and Butterick Pattern http://www.butterick.com/

Shoes: Diana Ferrari http://www.dianaferrari.com.au/

I'm pretty happy with the results - it's the first thing I've even sewn from scratch that I'd actually deign to wear in public - it was crazily easy to make, and only took an hour or so (even with a bit of uh-oh unpicking).

I used an el cheapo Butterick Pattern (See & Sew Pattern Number B4710, for those of you interested) and I fudged the pattern a little because as you can see it had a separate waistband, some extraneous ribbons, and the back had two panels, which looked odd with such a robust print.

In fact it took so little time to make, that I even had the chance to wear it out to the Supermarket, and no-one pointed and stared, so overall I'd have to say my experiment was a success!

Oh, and Kellytubbie - the mocha lace ones ;-)