Tag Archives: deer and doe

Distract with a bow

August 21, 2014 Peneloping

dress: self-made // shoes: Swedish Hasbeens // bow: F21

The second I saw this fabric I knew it was going to be a Belladone. Even if there wasn’t enough I planned on making a peplum top version. Luckily with some strategic fabric cutting, there was! I snagged this from Tall Sarah’s pre-move stash clearing so I have no idea what it is but it feels cottony and has some texture to it.

There’s a secret to the bow. What happened was that Tall Sarah gave me this fabric on Wednesday, and I decided that I just HAD to make the dress in time to wear to her going away dinner on Saturday. Except that I made this decision at about 9am Saturday, which was quite inconvenient and left me about four hours to do it. Somehow I made it happen but it meant that I didn’t have time to run out and find the right kind of zipper (also laziness) so I had to make do with a regular zip, which looked terrible. My solution was to add a bow, which distracts you from the horribleness of the zipper. I’m also redoing the hem. It needs to be trimmed down and I think I’m going to try out my blindhem foot on this one!

In other news, I just watched the entirety of the Great British Sewing Bee and I CANNOT stop noticing how the pattern is crooked down the front. Although considering it didn’t even occur to me to make it straight I’m surprised I even ended up with an oval in the middle! Yikes.

Deadly nightshade

September 14, 2013 Peneloping

dress: self-made // shoes: Seychelles // headband: J.Crew

Today I went outfit-photographing with the lovely ladies of Katy & Laney and it was a hysterically good time. I climbed in a giant metal wheel in heels, but I’ll save that for the next post. I usually end up ninja-ing my way up to the roof and hoping no one will notice my over-dressed, over-made-up self making faces at a tripod and frantically pulling my dress down when it gets gusty, so it was nice having someone (or a bunch of also super dressed up someones!) behind the camera. Thanks guys!

(It was also pretty hilarious having people to interact with during the photo-taking, especially when it resulted in gems like this.)

I don’t remember what was happening, except that Katy said something funny and I almost fell.

This dress was actually my first Belladone, which I made months and months ago. It was snowing and I remember walking home from the fabric shop clutching it excitedly but also kind of questioning my choice of a cut-out dress in the middle of winter.

Hint: Belladone is always a good choice. Always.

So yeah, I love this pattern to bits. It required literally zero adjustment, other than the little changes I make with nearly all patterns I use* (lower the neckline, shorten the hem, usually I add an inch or so to the torso but I can’t remember if I did that here.)

I can never decide if I love this dress, hate it, or am just amazed that it fits like a glove without any major adjustments to the pattern. For some ridiculous reason I decided to buy this awful gabardine (probably because it was like $2/yd) and then decided it would be a good idea to use it for this dress. I love the color, but the fabric itself is just utter crap. It’s too stiff, doesn’t press properly, and unravels like there’s no tomorrow. I made a second one out of a floral cotton that I like better, but it’s really a summery dress and I need to make another darker solid one to wear in the cooler months. The pockets are cute though! I lined them with some pink and white floral cotton I had lying around.

But yay! I <3 Deer and Doe.

*Let’s be honest, it’s a slight slutification. Which we found quite hilarious when we realized what we were taking photos in front of. Hee hee

16 Comments sewing belladone - deer and doe - dress - outfit - sewing

The backless Belladone

August 23, 2013 Peneloping

dress: self-made, pattern here // shoes: Minnetonka // glasses: Bonlook

I had this dress in mind when I first bought the Belladone pattern but I never had the right fabric for it. When I was home recently, I went to my favorite discount fabric shop and found this gorgeously simple floral rayon challis (I think?) and I knew it had to come home with me and become this dress.

I’m *mostly* happy with how it turned out, but there are definitely some things I would tweak next time I make one.

I made the bodice according to the pattern, except the two bottom back pieces, which I basically slashed off a bunch of. I wanted the lovely diagonal lines meeting toward the middle, but I wanted this to be an easy dress to slip on so I opted for an elastic waistband just in the very back. This meant the bottom back pieces had to meet the waistband a little farther out than I had originally planned. For the skirt, I just drafted a circle skirt with a little extra circumference than the actual waist in order to accommodate the gathering.

I think that next time I’m going to include the original waistband in the back only, and then have the skirt come out of there. It’ll be easy to attach some sort of short back zipper closure (or buttons!) and I can have the bottom back pieces meet in the middle and not gape so much at the sides.

Anyway, this dress is super comfy and super easy to throw on. Plus, backless dresses are just tons of fun to wear!

In other news, I just realized my post title sounds like a weird and possibly skanky murder mystery.

25 Comments sewing backless - belladone - deer and doe - dress - floral - outfit - sewing

Datura #1

August 14, 2013 Peneloping

Datura #1

Datura #1
top: self-made, pattern by Deer and Doe // pants: Gap // shoes: Minnetonka

We’re going to ignore my real first attempt at a Datura because I was having a bad day and accidentally ruined one of my favorite fabrics that I’d been saving. Denial ftw.

Anyway, this was my first successful Datura! I used rayon challis in navy and white and I absolutely love how flowy and comfy it is. It’s SO soft. I had some issues with the shoulders but it was mostly because I’d never done a lining this way and I just sort of skimmed the directions. I went with what I thought was the correct method and ended up with an inside out circle that was physically impossible to turn right side out. I gave up pretty quickly and ended up with a top that has one beautiful entirely enclosed shoulder and one slightly wonky one with an awkward french seam. Oh well.

I found these cute little silver heart buttons and sewed them on as non-functional buttons (lazy Ping is lazy). While they’re super cute, it’s kind of annoying sitting in this top because they constantly dig into my back. Not exactly comfy. Oh well, Peter Pan collar + tiny heart buttons > comfort, I guess.

Photo cred goes to Seester, who has not updated her blog in years.

(I finally have one set of photos of me not taken awkwardly with a remote! And with detail shots! Whee!)

PS My blog layout is going to look pretty heinous for at least a few more days while Google teaches me the inner workings of basic coding (or until I give up and buy a theme). Please don’t judge me.

(And please feel free to link any helpful tutorials!)

13 Comments outfit datura - deer and doe - outfit - rayon challis - sewing - top

Datura #5

July 15, 2013 Peneloping

top: self-made // shorts: Roxy (thrifted) // shoes: Minnetonka

I’ve made five Daturas in the last two weeks. FIVE. Definitely did not intend for that to happen. Definitely still have two or three in my head that I want to make. Whoops.

I think this one is my favorite though.

When I first saw the pattern, I knew I’d end up buying it because of the peter pan collar. The cut-outs seemed cool but not really me, and I actually didn’t even bother cutting out that pattern piece. Except then I saw other people’s cut-out Daturas and suddenly I needed one. And then three more. Somehow of the five I’ve made, only one of them actually has the peter pan collar.

Anyways, this pattern is awesome. And slightly complicated but SO quick once you get the hang of the shouldery inside-out thing. Which is totally genius and makes the entire garment so neat and tidy. I wanted to experiment with a bit of a racerback on this one and I really like how it turned out. Easy peasy, too.

Andd now I’m off to molest the Laurel pattern I bought today.. tehe. In my defense, I’m testing it out to see if it’ll work for my Clara dress copycat!

And yes, I will be posting the other Daturas when I have time to take photos on a day when it isn’t 1092382 degrees. hee.

PS I’m SO excited that so many of you are interested in participating in the Copycat Challenge. I have some fun posts planned, and I’ll be posting my progress on my copycat projects soon, so look out for that!

27 Comments finished sewing project datura - deer and doe - outfit - pattern - sewing - top