Category Archives: finished sewing project

Old men snoring

March 31, 2014 Peneloping

dress: self-made // shoes: Shelly’s London // headband: JCrew // belt: thrifted // tights: F21

One of my recent goals has been to try out some vintage patterns. I found this one on Etsy and pretty much dove in head first. The instructions were a bit confusing and the pieces were super brittle so there was a fair bit of tracing, marking, and trial and error before I finally worked it all out. I chose a plaid cotton to match my inspiration dress which in retrospect wasn’t the best idea because plaid matching is hardddd. Especially when you sort of have no idea what your’e doing. Yay!

Anyway, here’s the dress I was loosely basing this one off of:

The really cool part about using this pattern was that someone had done somewhat of an FBA on this pattern and had used old newspaper scraps from 1961 to reinforce it!

I’m pretty happy with how this one came out but I’m definitely going to make some adjustments for next time. First of all, I definitely need to learn how to do a FBA. Secondly, whoa short torso. I’m definitely adding at least two inches. I also completely goofed on the skirt and just assumed they wanted me to cut two of the skirt panels. Whoops. There were supposed to be three. I ran out of fabric and just went with it but I’m kind of sad that the skirt isn’t as floofy as it could’ve been. Oh well, the next one will have extra floof to make up for it. I’m thinking of doing a more modern take for my next one. Maybe in black minus the diagonal trim thingies and with a slightly more exaggerated beaded collar and white contrast cuffs.

In other news, my capstone project is nearly done! Which is a good thing because my brain is very tired.

PS How cute are these shoes?? They were a birthday present to myself and I’m quite aggravated that it’s raining because I want to wear them ALLTHETIME.

Mustardseed

March 26, 2014 Peneloping

top: self-made, pattern here // dress: thrifted // boots: Hunters // knee socks: Target

Renfrew is awesome. That is all.

Actually I lied. That’s not all. I can’t for the life of me get the neckband to stay flat in the center front. It’s fine all the way around but keeps wanting to stick out in the front. Am I not pulling it tight enough in that area?

Halp!

(Five days to freedom! Thanks for all the good wishes!)

12 Comments finished sewing project knits - mustard - outfit - renfrew - sewing - top

Lacy skater

March 24, 2014 Peneloping

dress: self-made, pattern here // belt: thrifted // boots: Boutique9

My Master’s thesis-y capstone paper thing is due in exactly eight days. Not scary at all.

Actually, I’m nearly done. All the tough writing stuff is done, I just have to go through and fix some formatting, do some last-minute proofreading, and add in a couple references. Oh, and write an introduction. I’m crossing my fingers but I should be done in a few days.

On to the dress! I’d been wanting a lacy springy dress for about two years and finally decided I needed to just make one. I had originally cut the smallest size, which was a little tight in the bust, so I decided to re-cut a size 4 in the bust graded down to a size 2 in the waist. This turned out to be overkill. Whenever I get motivated enough to cut it a third time, I need to cut a size 2 bust graded to a size 1 waist. Get on that, self!

Since I was using a lace overlay with a lining, I omitted the neckline band. I also lowered the back neckline by a few inches to give it kind of a leotard-esque feel. I wanted the skirt to be a bit fuller but I cut it kind of stupidly so most of the extra material swings around the hips. Oh well.

Ok, back to editing.

PS If you didn’t already see, I announced the winner to the Sew Fun giveaway one post back!

14 Comments finished sewing project dress - lace - lady skater - outfit - sewing - white

Peplos

March 15, 2014 Peneloping

My sister and I often joke about how living together would save us a ton of money because we own so much of the same stuff. Despite having entirely different styles at least a third of our wardrobes are identical and, off the top of my head, we also have the same slow cooker, curling wand, gym bag, yogurt maker, etc. We think it’s ok because we live literally across the country from each other. She’s in San Francisco while I’m out here in Boston.

So when it came time to talk Christmas presents and she made a few sewn garment requests (she got an Archer and one of these peplum tops), I couldn’t resist making one for me too.

The pattern is Vogue 8815 (recommended by the Crafty Foxes), which I absolutely love. It’s meant for wovens but I just took it in a little at the seams and it worked out perfectly. I used a heavy knit with only a tiny bit of stretch so no zipper needed. Can’t argue with a top that takes twenty minutes to put together.

I have all sorts of plans for other versions of this pattern: one with a collar, one with some kind of a lace overlay, one with beading on the peplum and cap-sleeves, one with an exposed zipper, maybe one with a deep V slashed in the front, one with long sleeves.

My only issue with peplum tops is that I always find myself defaulting to pairing them with jeans. I’ve tried the skirt thing and it just felt like I was trying too hard and not quite pulling it off. Plus apparently you’re only supposed to wear them with more fitted skirts, which I feel weird wearing.

Anyone else have this issue?

15 Comments finished sewing project peplum - red - sewing - top - vogue 8815

Datura #2

August 19, 2013 Peneloping

top: self-made, pattern here // jeans: AE // shoes: Seychelles // glasses: Bon Look

I’m finding it slightly entertaining that it takes me way longer to get around photographing/blogging about my Daturas than it did to make them. In fact, I may have made yet another one today. (This is not it.) Does anyone know if Eléonore is planning on hosting a Daturas Anonymous?

Anyway, meet my second Datura. I hadn’t planned on making one with triangle cutouts but I decided that I had to try at least one. Basically, I love it. I’d drooled over this fabric for over a year but didn’t buy it because I couldn’t decide what to make with it. When this pattern came out, it seemed perfect! Sadly, I still haven’t found the right buttons for it so there are currently some boring light blue flat buttons sewn to the back just so it’s wearable. It’s also a little shorter than the others because I for some reason decided that just rolling the hem over twice would be a good idea. Note: I don’t recommend this. I only did it because learning how to make bias tape properly seemed too much for lazy Ping.*

*It’s not. It’s actually ridiculously easy and 100% worth it.**

**Don’t use store-bought bias tape. It’s awful. After four failed attempts with crunchy store-bought bias tape I wanted to throw the whole thing in the corner and toss my sewing machine off a cliff (ok, that’s a bit dramatic) and it still only looked mediocre. When I went to work on my next one using bias tape I’d made, it came together easy peasy in like ten minutes.

Out of curiosity, does anyone who’s made a Datura ever wear theirs tucked into a skirt? I’ve made six now, of varying fabric thicknesses and I have yet to make one look good with a skirt. I keep trying but something about the back buttons or the silhouette itself makes it look like I’m forcing it. Maybe with a cardigan over it when it gets cooler? Thoughts?

In other news, new glasses! I <3 BonLook so hard.

Totally unrelated, but for any Whovians out there looking for a new show, Seester told me about a show called Broadchurch. It’s got the Tenth Doctor (albeit a dark and brooding Scottish version), Rory Williams, the lady whose body Prisoner Zero takes over, and Argus Filch, and it’s about the murder of an eleven-year-old boy in a small gorgeous beach town in England. There are only eight episodes in the first season and I may have watched them all in one sitting..! (Also apparently they’re going to remake a US version? Why do they always do that?? Yargh..)

PS No, I have no idea why I only decided to cuff one pant leg.

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21 Comments finished sewing project bonlook - butterflies - datura - outfit - sewing - top