Tag Archives: copycat

Fickle pickle

Lace bow dress progress

Lace bow dress progress

Lace bow dress progress

I’m kind of fickle, I admit it. My sister can attest to how many times a week I have to call her to help me make up my mind about something, and then I’ll change my mind again an hour later. It’s rather annoying, really. But I guess it shouldn’t come as such as surprise to me that I’ve changed my mind about which New Girl dress I wanted to sew for my own Copycat Challenge.

At last count, I had watched New Girl all the way through three times. Somehow I had completely missed this dress until the third time through. It shows up in the episode with the almost-threesome with the landlord, and it’s all I could stare at during the entire episode. Thanks to the existence of What Would Zooey Deschanel Wear, I was able to pore over the detail shots of this beauty by Corey Lynn Calter on Modcloth.

I scoured eBay for crochet flower appliques and somehow managed to find one that was similar enough and also the same size. I found the button and a similar trim for the waist (not pictured) at a local discount fabric store. I bought some lace for the armhole trim but on closer examination it’s totally the wrong kind of trim so I’ll have to go on a hunt again. I also forgot about the black ribbon or trim for the neckline.

I’m using Simplicity 1873 (yes, again!) with some adjustments. I lowered the neckline and flattened it a bit (is that the right technical term?), and lengthened the bodice by about 3/4″. I sewed the neckline and armhole sides with the wrong sides together, and then I flipped it right side out and am going to treat it as one piece for the rest of the process. I was a little worried about the lace showing through but I trimmed it down at the seams and it seems to be doing ok. The bodice is lined with black cotton and I’ll be doing a regular rectangle pleated skirt, probably lined in something light and cream colored.

And now I’m going to go bury myself in fabrics and relish the day off. Happy Labor Day everyone (who celebrates it)!

PS I’m a little behind on posting Copycat Projects. I think I have about 2-3 that need to be posted. Sorry about that, I’ll try to get those up today!

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That’s all there is; there isn’t anymore.

Madeline top

Madeline top

Madeline top

Madeline top

Madeline top

Did anyone else read the Madeline books growing up? I used to love the idea of going to a boarding school and wearing a cute little uniform with a cute little yellow hat and having sleepovers every night with all my friends. (Clearly I had a very clear and not at all superficial concept of what boarding school was like.) In fact, thinking back now, I think reading Madeline may have paved the way for my obsession with A Little Princess.

I saw this top on Modcloth and immediately knew that 1) I had to make it, and 2) I would feel like Madeline every time I wore it.

My first idea was to use the Laurel top pattern with a thicker knit and to add a zipper on the back. That was a terrible idea. Like, awful.

I ended up using a regular knit fabric and just tracing one of my t-shirts that fits well and that worked out much better. The collar was drafted based on Gertie’s tutorial, and I just made a tiny little bow using this tutorial.

I don’t think I’ve shared this skirt yet! I made it the same way as this skirt, which I have completely forgotten to post a tutorial for. Whoops.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I’m pretty sure this top includes every single garment detail I’m in love with: navy, mustard, a bow, and a huge contrasting Peter Pan collar.

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Another favoritest dress

Mia dress copy

Mia dress copy

Mia dress copy

Mia dress copy

Mia dress copy

Mia dress copy
dress: self-made, based on this dress // shoes: Chelsea Crew // glasses: Bon Look

As I mentioned earlier, I finally got around to re-making my favorite dress last week and now I basically a) want to wear it all the time, and b) want to make six more of them as backups.

I made it basically the exact same way as the first time around, except that I lengthened it by a few inches. I guess sometime in the last year I stopped hating the idea of longer skirts. I’m not sure what that means and I’m not sure I like it.

Two cool things:

1) That awesome vintage 50mm lens I bought last year that was made before autofocus? I used it to take some of these shots. And they (ok, some of them) came out in focus! I’m way more excited about this than I should be. In my defense, I’d been using my kit lens exclusively because it’s just easier but the pictures turn out pretty flat and boring. I’ve been meaning to play around with the 50mm for a while so I’m glad the pictures turned out when I actually did. I’m just going to pretend that the triple digits of failed out-of-focus photos didn’t happen.

2) This is going to sound stupid but normally I hate photographing the left side of my face. Today I actually like how it looked so I went with it.

Two more things:

3) I hacked off 5 inches of my hair the other day. It’s freaking me out a bit seeing that typed out (the sheer idea of having short hair freaks me out, not a clue why) but realistically my hair was getting to Arwen status so 5 inches didn’t actually make that much of a difference.

4) It’s getting to that time where my roots are becoming ridiculous. Please ignore.

I hope everyone’s week is going well! I’m off to try to cram nine days worth of clothes and sewing projects into two carry-ons. Check-in baggage fees be damned!

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Copycat Challenge!!

Copy Cat Challenge 2

So as you all possibly may have gleaned from the endless copycat posts, I absolutely love designing garments from things I have seen. Usually on a tv show or in a movie and immediately want to recreate it. Maybe I never grew out of playing dress-up. Who knows?

Anyway, the lovely Erin from I Heart Fabric and I will be hosting a Copycat Challenge starting next week and lasting throughout the summer, or winter depending on where you are in the world. If you haven’t already checked out the submissions from Erin’s latest Copycat Challenge, you should! People made some gorgeous stuff over there.

The rules are pretty simple.

  1. Choose a garment as your inspiration. Make sure you reference it and acknowledge where you found it. Pick several if you want!
  2. Make it the way you want with your own touch and style.
  3. Blog about it! Tell us what pattern(s) you used, what inspired you about the item you chose, how you styled it, whatever you want!
  4. If you don’t have a blog and want to participate, send us an email and we’ll add it to the submissions post for you.

Of course, to make it extra exciting, there will be a prizes drawn at the end. We will explain how we will choose the winners in an upcoming post and hopefully have a few categories. Each finished garment will count for an extra entry and be judged seperately so don’t limit yourself!

Start thinking of what you’d like to make, look around for fabric, and think of patterns you would like to use. Erin and I will be posting on our individual processes, as well as tips we find helpful as we go along.

We will run this challenge from today until the 30th September 2013 so that’s almost three months to create some unique, fun and creative stuff!

Please contact us if you’d like to participate! Or post a comment below.

Pings Inspiration Outfits

These are the projects I’ve chosen. I can’t decide if I’m being overly ambitious or if I’ll finish these in a week and then twiddle my thumbs for the rest of the summer.

  1. I absolutely adore everything Jess wears on New Girl, but this dress is basically the most adorable thing ever.
  2. If I’m hosting a copycat challenge, a Dear Creatures dress for my inspiration is basically obligatory.
  3. Still on the fence about Clara. Still obsessed with her wardrobe. This outfit is from the 50th anniversary episode, which hasn’t actually aired yet (November 23 wheeee!), but luckily it’s available here to be closely examined.

For more inspiration please see my Pinterest board.

Erins Inspiration Outfits

  1. Victora Beckham Slim fitting white and black dress from my Pinterest board.
  2. Long sleeve DVF shirt with bow again from my Pinterest board. This top looks very similar to a Vogue top I have been wanting to make!
  3. I found this Alannah Hill ‘The Secret Of Secrets Coat’ on pinterest which I really want to use as inspiration. Also, the BurdaStyle handbook has a really cute jacket which I have been dying to make!

For more inspiration on Erin’s outfits please see her Pinterest Board.

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Pocketses and ribbony trim

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat
dress: self-made // shoes: Chelsea Crew // hair bow: F21

It’s a fairly torturous feeling when all you want to do in the world is curl up in front of your sewing machine and sew for hours but you can’t because of adulthood and responsibilities and silly things like that. Even worse when you have all the fabric and patterns and notions you need sitting at home twiddling their thumbs and gathering dust. It got so bad that I ended up scheduling a sewing date for myself in my calendar.

And oh my, it was glorious. I was actually surprised how quickly this one came together considering I didn’t actually have a pattern to work off of. To be fair, the construction is pretty basic, but it’s always scary cutting into nice fabric when you don’t quite know what you’re doing.

Yes yes, I know. Muslins and all that. I did cut out a muslin for the front piece but then I decided I hadn’t waited three weeks to sit in front of the machine to sew together a muslin. I live dangerously?

Anyway, luckily everything worked out! I’m in love with this dress. Everything I’ve made lately has been fitted and waist-flattering but sometimes a girl needs to be able to wear a dress out to dinner and then gorge herself, and flowy garments come in handy in those situations. I did use an elongated version of the sleeves from Burda 7739 to draft the 3/4 length sleeves but the rest of it was hand-drafted. I tried using Colette’s Sorbetto pattern for the top, but I ended up having to make so many alterations to the muslin that I wouldn’t recommend it unless you literally have zero concept of what a front piece of a tank top ought to look like.

If you haven’t seen the lovely inspiration for this dress, it’s the Porter dress by Dear Creatures. To be honest, I wasn’t totally in love with it when I first saw it. The collar was cute, and I loved the ribbon trim and the giant pockets, but the flowy-ness and waistless-ness of the dress seemed like it would hang awkwardly on me. But then I saw a bunch of photos online of other people wearing it and they all looked absolutely adorable so it went on my to-do list. When I went about making my own version, I ended up taking it in a bit more than I had intended to, but it ended up working out. I love how it’s still flowy without losing its shape. I also suspect that that’s at least partly due to my using a slightly thicker fabric than the original dress appears to be made of.

I used 1/4″ ivory satin ribbon for the trim, handsewn, and 1/2″ diameter buttons. They’re currently nonfunctional since I can easily get in and out of the dress without unbuttoning it and because of lazy. The pockets are sewn on at a slight angle and I keep thinking they’re uneven in the photos but on the dress they’re matched up so I think it’s just the way I’m standing.

I’m slightly bummed that it’s suddenly 90+ degrees every day because it’s waaay too hot for this dress. Boo.

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