Mystery fabric contest 2018
I’m so excited to FINALLY post this, considering I finished it back in April! Last year’s mystery fabric contest was cocktail themed, and I ended up with some light blue cotton sateen and THE most horrendous crunchy aqua/teal lace that didn’t match at all. It was seriously awful.
At first I fell in love with this design and tried to emulate it.
Here are some variations I draped.
It kept looking too Renaissance Fair-esque and less ballet-y, so I abandoned that idea. Then I saw these dresses and ran off in an entirely different direction.
I tried dying the blues to go together a little better, which kind of helped. And then I kind of embraced the contrast. And THEN I started watching Gotham while I worked on the dress, which is why it kind of looks like something you’d wear to a cocktail party at Arkham. Oops? I feel like it needs a top hat to complete the look.
Brief breakdown of the construction process:
The bodice is comprised of a couple layers, including boning. All of the beading and 3D flowers were attached by hand, and I did most of it before I attached the skirt. The skirt is a top layer of my favorite dress up micronet (same stuff I used on my Cinderella dress), and then 3 skirt layers in the same colors of organza as my Cinderella dress. What can I say? I really like that iridescent look it gives off. I basically gathered the circle skirts and attached them to the bodice, and then kept the flowers/beading running down past the waist seam to mostly hide it.
The hilarious thing? ALL of those dressed I posted above are by Paolo Sebastian. A closer look at my main “pretty fancy dresses” board on Pinterest revealed that like 80% of it is Paolo Sebastian’s. And so is the design I fell in love with that I’m heavily basing my wedding dress on. Oops.
And no, I haven’t a clue when I’ll have a chance to wear this. But it was SO much fun to make (after the initial WHAT THE EFF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS??@!!@!!1 panic).
Bonus: I won first place!
Christmas dress
A couple months ago I got my hands on an old retired wool kilt, and made plans to rip it apart to make something out of it. I figured I’d have enough for jacket or skirt, and then realized that I would never wear a plaid jacket and dropped that plan. Then I actually ripped it apart and realized I had a pile of about six yards of fabric (albeit some very narrow yards).
Awesome — Christmas dress it is!
My inspiration on this one was this Alexander McQueen dress, except I wanted more of a cut-away armhole look. I drafted the bodice and then just pleated the skirt until I liked how the pleats sat.
The inside is fully lined with black poly satin, and I briefly considered making a black petticoat sort of thing like Emma Watson wears, but haven’t gotten around to it. Still might.
Sidenote: also made a matching tie!
Oh hello!
sweater: Eliot by Helen’s Closet // jeans: self-drafted
Holy crap it’s been a long time since I blogged. I had JUST gotten settled into a routine at our new apartment and had just found a couple great spots for blog photos… and then we got a puppy. I had literally pulled everything out of my closet that morning with plans to add in shelving and finally reorganize my clothes and sewing supplies. In the midst of this, we were perusing the pets section of Craiglist (as one does..) and came across two fluffy little cuties that happened to be a couple streets away.
Let’s just see what happens.. we said. Shocking that we ended up with one. Joking aside, she’s the absolute sweetest. I’ve tried to keep my Instagram feed to sewing-related things, but there’s a string of story highlights (what are those even called?) featuring Miss Chloe Goose.
Anyway, puppy management plus winter sunset hours plus full time job made it super hard to find time for sewing, much less actually photographing anything. BUT recently I finally bought a FLASH. It’s been life-changing. It’s this one, if anyone is interested. It’s super easy to use and works amazingly well. There aren’t many areas in our apartment that are decent for photos, hence the boring background. At least it’s well lit!
Other life updates, THIS HAPPENED.
Excuse me while my brain explodes trying to settle on a SINGLE wedding dress design. Just kidding, I’ve already decided I’m making multiple dresses.
Anyway, in my super limited sewing time this past year, I’ve managed to squeeze a couple projects in, including this Eliot sweater and these jeans.
I adore the high-low top looks, and the Eliot sweater is seriously the perfect amount of high-low. I made the one with the larger cowl too, which is super cozy. The fabric is from Stone Mountain and is so lovely. It was upstairs in a discount bin so I’m not entirely sure what’s in it but it’s kind of a slubby French terry that I sewed slubs out, and feels like there’s some nylon in it? I should burn some and find out. I bought enough for a second top, which I think I want to use to make a second cowl-less Eliot.
The jeans are not that exciting, except that I haven’t had pants that fit in over a year and have been living primarily in leggings. Whoops. These are the same skinny jean draft I drafted in Lynda Maynard’s pants class. I did screw up the back waistband a bit, and it’s definitely not the prettiest fly front I’ve ever sewn, but the fabric is scrumptious and they fit so well. The denim is also from Stone Mountain (this one I think??), and is super stretchy and soft. Fortunately I bought enough for a second pair so hopefully those will be prettier.
Anyway, I have some posts lined up that I’ve been wanting to share. So excited to be blogging again!
Modified Linden + FN planner pages
top: Linden by Grainline // jeans: Jamie by Named
I can’t remember where I got the idea for this top specifically, but I think it was around the time I discovered hi-low tops and immediately decided I needed an altered Linden. I’ve made a whole bunch of these at this point (both as drafted and with the hi-low bottom), and adding length is pretty straightforward so it was quick, fun project.
I just eliminated the waistband and added 6″ of length to the front and 10″ to the back. I basically wanted it to be a decently dramatic difference in length without looking like a backwards loincloth.
In order to hem the square bit on the bottom, I clipped the seam at the point where the front and back seam ends and serged from the armpit up until that clip. Then I spread and ironed the individual front and back hems.
I also love the look of lace on the shoulders so I dug through my bag of Weston Wear lace samples and found this cream colored one. The fabric itself is a organic cotton and hemp blend from Stone Mountain and Daughter. They have it in several colors and I’ve been eyeing the charcoal for months. I think it’d make an adorable Julia cardigan. Or anything snuggly, really.
ALSO just wanted to sneak in a quick plug for the Fig + Needle Sewing Planner sheets that we just released yesterday! We’ve made planner sheets with two different figure sizes and they include a space for sketching, a box for listing supplies, and a blank box for fabric swatches or extra notes. Here’s one I drew up for this top!
Hop on over to Fig + Needle for more details and to snag a copy!
Fig + Needle // GUYS I’M FINALLY DOING PATTERNS
YOU GUYS I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
After years and years of wanting to start a pattern company, friend Sandra and I are finally doing it! We just launched our blog this morning, and will be releasing two patterns in the fall.
Check out our blog, and make sure to follow us on Instagram!
(And no, peneloping.com isn’t going anywhere, I’ll still be posting personal makes over here!)