All posts by Peneloping

Mood giveaway winner!

linen shirt dress

Thanks to everyone who entered the Mood fabrics giveaway! It was so much fun to read about everyone’s summer projects and I definitely stole a few ideas to add to my own to-do list.

Without further ado, the winner of the $50 gift card to Mood is..

Screen Shot 2016-06-20 at 3.50.07 PMScreen Shot 2016-06-20 at 3.49.47 PM

Congrats Leigh-Anne!! Please contact me (ping@peneloping.com) to receive your prize.

progress: Snow White // Irresistible Me extensions

Snow White hair

Irresistible Me sent me these extensions free of charge. All opinions, hair-styling, and Disney obsessions are my own. 

No, I haven’t finished Cinderella. And no, this string of Disney-based cosplays was not intentional. What happened was I was innocently browsing cosplay forums while binge-watching Once Upon A Time, when I came across a thread talking about the screen accurate fabric (Robert Allen’s Diamond Tuft in white) for Snow’s outfit from Season 2. Screen-accurate is just about my favorite phrase, so I did a little more digging. It turns out it’s sold out in most upholstery stores, but there was ONE listing on eBay for one last yard. And they mentioned that if no one ordered samples, the last yard would actually be 1 3/8 yards. (Actually I just checked and as of right now there’s one yard available at this eBay shop if anyone’s looking for it!)

Anyway, before I knew what had happened I had bought the fabric. And then a package of gunmetal beads. It all happened so quickly.

IMG_9853

Andd this is what I have so far:

The bodice is pretty much done. I used McCall’s 6819, which was pretty spot on, although I did do a bit of tweaking in the neckline area. I’m tempted to rip out the binding and curve the neckline in a little more but I haven’t decided. The arm bits are also done except for some binding, and then I’ll need to add more grommets for the lower armband thing.

The skirt is cut out and sewn together, but while the fabric itself is perfect, I keep feeling like the color is completely off. It should be darker and more gray. I haven’t attached it yet because I might try dyeing it. Then there are the pants/leggings, which I’m still missing one fabric for. I think I’m going to try to find a thick ribbed knit for the back bits and I magically found the perfect suede-y material for the fronts. It’s satin-y on the back and suede-ish on the front. No idea what it is but it’s perfect (other than being the tiniest bit too dark.)

Also on the agenda is to NOT get distracted by the gorgeous cloak she wears in that one episode with Red. Or Red’s outfits. And hair. Especially the red streak.

And that brings me to my other point. A few weeks ago I had Snow White hair. A few weeks ago I didn’t even need extension or a wig or anything at all because my hair was down to my waist. To be fair, it was not in good shape and desperately in need of a trim.

It did NOT however, need 8″ hacked off. (I’m glaring at my sister through the computer screen right now.) I feel like a shorn sheep.

IMG_9848Here’s the before. I forgot to take one until after I’d finished all the Snow hair-do photos so this one’s a cell phone pic. Wherps.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I was completely thrilled when Irresistible Me contacted me about reviewing a set of their hair extensions because Snow White has long flowing tresses and I currently most definitely do not.

This is what Snow’s hair looks like. 

Since her hair goes down to her waist and is curly, I decided to go with the 24″ Silky Touch hair extensions in Chocolate Brown, which turned out to be the perfect length and exact color of my hair. And holy crap these are nice. I have one set of hair extensions (just one big 4 clip chunk) that I got at a discount bridal supply shop in Taiwan. These extensions make those ones feel like a loofah. To be fair, the Silky Touch ones are real human hair while the Taiwan ones are very fake, but the difference in quality is pretty astounding. The only slightly annoying thing is that I couldn’t figure out a way to browse the Irresistible Me site without making an account, which is just kind of a pain.

IMG_9849My set came with one big 4-clip piece, two 3-clip pieces, five 2-clip pieces, and two 1-clip pieces.

Another awesome thing is that the 200g of hair that comes in this set is divided into different sizes so you can distribute them around your head for a more natural look. That was especially helpful in styling Snow White’s hair since her hair is half up and braided, so I could stick a couple clips up top to fatten up the braid and then place the rest of them below for length and volume. I also LOVE that you can style these with heat. The other set I bought comes pre-curled, but it always looks more natural when you can style extensions with your own hair to get the same texture.

Snow White hair

To do Snow White’s hair, I started with a middle part and put my extensions in. Then curled it for volume and texture and brushed out the curls a bit.

I then French braided either side toward the back of my head, stopping when I had about the top third of my hair braided. I then tied both braids together and flipped the resulting ponytail back up through the loop made by the braids. Then I just fluffed everything to adjust it and pinned it in place.

Snow White hair

Here’s a side by side comparison:

IMG_9848Snow White hair

The moral of the story is that I absolutely love these extensions. Plus, I can even wear them in public since they match my hair (unlike my gorgeous blonde Ella/Elsa wigs that would probably weird out my friends if I wore out). I forgot to take a photo but the first time I put these in I braided my hair just to see what it’d look like and I had a legit fat Elsa braid. It was awesome.

Anyway, up next is the belt, which I found a gorgeous sparkly home dec fabric for, and then the pants. And a million more grommets.

But yay! I can have mermaid hair again!

adventures in patterndrafting // Mood fabrics giveaway

linen shirt dress

linen shirt dress

linen shirt dress

linen shirt dress

linen shirt dress

linen shirt dressdress: self-drafted // shoes: Swedish Hasbeens

Hi everyone! My latest patterndrafting adventure is over on the Mood blog today!

This dress is based on this Anthropologie dress. I actually saw it in the store, completely fell head over heels, and then went home and pinned it and started plotting to draft a pattern for it so I could make an army of them in different colors to wear this summer. So it was pretty serendipitous when Mood contacted me about doing a blog post AND had just gotten a bunch of gorgeous linens in.

You can check out the rest of the details over on the Mood Sewciety blog.

As a fun bonus, I’m also giving away  a $50 gift card to Mood, usable online or in-store. Just comment below telling me what you’re most excited to sew this summer!

This giveaway is open to US readers only (sorry, international friends!) and will be open until midnight Saturday, June 11. The winner will be announced shortly after.

Giveaway is now closed!

Also, unrelated but I totally didn’t realize my dress was the same color as my mom’s house until I went out to take photos.

copycat // lykke wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts

Lykke Wullf overall shorts
overall shorts: K&L Tap Shorts pattern + self-drafted top and straps // top: cropped Nettie 

It’s such a satisfying feeling when you have an image or goal in mind and everything works out EXACTLY how you wanted it to. That was the case with these overall shorts. I was inspired by these overall shorts by Lykke Wullf:

I loved basically everything about them: the high waistedness, how short they are, the straps, the color, how easy they are to style, etc.

I knew immediately that I wanted to use my favorite high-waisted shorts pattern, and I barely even had to tweak these. I sewed the crotch and did a side-zip, drafted some pockets for the bum, and then just drew out some shapes for the upper front and back bits and tweaked them until they looked right.  I made the straps waay too long and then trimmed them down to the right length, but left a bit extra to make them adjustable. The strap hardware is just from Joann’s.

I actually made these last summer before I had any pattern drafting  training so there was a lot of trial and error in the process. If I were to do it again I would definitely curve the bottom edges of the top bits a little more, because they currently sag a bit weirdly.

I definitely need to make another pair of overall shorts. It’s kind of ridiculous how much I wore these around last summer.

#cheex

lila fowler

lila pullover

lila pullover

lila pullover

lila pullover
sweater: handknitted, pattern here 

I love this sweater so much. I wanted to make it ever since Carrie made hers. I love that I can basically wear gym clothes and throw it on and look like I tried. Or that I can wear it over a dress and it doesn’t bunch weirdly at the waist because it’s cropped. And that collared shirts look cute under it.

The yarn is this scrumptious alpaca I picked up (specifically for this project) at Stitches West from Ranch of the Oaks in Lompoc, CA. After I bought it I basically spent the rest of the day petting it and cast it on pretty much as soon as I got home. It was a really quick knit and perfect for zoning out while binge-watching tv shows.

Tiny note: I decided that I wanted mine extra cropped, which in retrospect may not have been the best decision since boobs + extra long torso. I still love where this one hits but I think it’s toeing the line of too short so probably I’ll just follow the pattern exactly on the next one (there will definitely be a next one).

Sidenote: there are also the Lila Top Down and Lila Light, neither of which I’ve knitted but both of which are intriguing. I should really probably start knitting with lighter weight yarns now that I’m no longer living in the arctic north (Boston). Case in point: the day this sweater was blocked and ready to be worn, I very excitedly picked out an outfit and pulled it on.. and then walked outside where it was 90 degrees. No exaggeration.

(Was anyone else as obsessed with the Sweet Valley series as I was?)