Project Sewn Results + Mood Fabrics Voucher GIVE AWAY!!

Oh my gawd you guys! I came second in Project Sewn! Release the doves!!

Check out the dresses: Top Left - Top Right - Bottom Left - Bottom Right

Thank you SO (sew) much to all of you who followed along and voted!

As a special thank you I am giving away two $50 vouchers to Mood Fabrics. If you don't know already, Mood is the fabric store for Project Runway in the U.S. and they now ship internationally too.

To WIN 1 of 2 e-vouchers for Mood Fabrics

Simply comment on this blog post

Two lucky peeps will be randomly selected and each will win one $50 e-voucher.

Entries are open to everyone from anywhere in the world. 

Entries close on Sunday, December 1st, 2013

The winners will be announced in a blog post on Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Something random for you:

Remember my 'A rose is a rose, is a rose, is a rose' dress? Well there's a movie out at the moment called 'About Time' and the dress in the promo reminds me a lot of my dress! You can learn how to make these rose sleeves with my tutorial here.

Click on the photo to follow me on Instagram

What I've been up to this week:

Saw the amazing how-can-one-person-be-this-talented Jill Scott at the Palais Theatre and almost hyperventilated it was THAT GOOD.

Oh and guess what I did this weekend? Oh ... you know, just had brunch with the talented Leisl from Jorth and the inspiring Kristiann from Victory Patterns and her wonderful partner Simon. Nothing much! Needless to say I had an amazing time and my face is still sore from all the epic smiling and talking!

Thanks again to everyone for your support through Project Sewn. Your words of support made me feel all sorts of warm and fuzzies and I feel very lucky to be part of such an encouraging and positive community.

Cherry Blossom Dress + Give Away Winners!

It's officially Autumn in Australia and the warmer fabrics in my fabric stash are starting to come out of their hibernation. It was just the other day when I heard a sleepy, muffled voice coming from the fabric cupboard saying "Gee, what does a wool faille have to do around here to get made into something".

What I am looking forward to for the upcoming cooler season is sewing with more winter fabrics like wool faille and heavier cottons.
What I'm not looking forward to for the upcoming cooler season? Being cold.

Hello indoor heating.

So I'm taking inspiration from Washington D.C. for my latest, admittedly quirky creation. There in D.C. the weather was warm and cheery. On my recent visit to Washington D.C. I was not only in awe of the marvellous fabric that I purchased, but of the beautiful cherry blossom which was in full bloom.

But before I assault you with my many, many finished project photos, let's talk ...

Give-Away Winners!

There are two winners today from two different giveaways, the lipstick red wool crepe fabric and the $25 gift voucher for Patterns From the Past an online store for vintage sewing patterns.

Both of these winners were chosen at random using www.random.org

And the winners are:

2 yards of red wool Crepe

Brianna from the blog Brianna auf Deutsch

$25 Gift voucher to spend at Patterns From the Past

Sassy T from the blog Sassy T Sews

Congratulations ladies! I will be in contact with you shortly with details!

Now back to the dress!

I made the sleeves resemble blossom in honour of the beautiful cherry blossom we saw in D.C.

 

I made the sleeves the same as my A rose is a rose, is a rose, is a rose dress which you can see here. Once you know how to make them it's so easy, and no hand stitching! True story!

If you're interested in making sleeves like these yourself, you can watch my Rose Sleeve Tutorial

 I used silk dupion for the skirt, and for the bodice and sleeves I used pink cotton/lame blend which was left over from my Cotton Candy dress.

I once again employed the use of an elastic band for the waist which accentuates the smallness of the middle against the hips and encourages that vintage silhouette.

I clashed the pink with the red which gives quite a quirky look which I'm sure is not for some, but heck, I like it!

 

It also reminds me of the cartoon character Strawberry Shortcake, which makes me happy in an inexplicable way. Every one should have a strawberry hat. Seriously.

I love how the ruffles on the sleeves resemble flowers. This dress will be a good pick-me-up when it really starts getting cold here in Melbourne.

 

 

For the bodice of this dress I used Vogue pattern 8280, the galaxy dress! See my previous dress I made using the galaxy dress pattern here. I used view B with the sweet heart shaped neckline.
I substituted my own drafted sleeves for the base of the rose sleeves.

  

The skirt I used a simple 3/4 circle skirt and cut it on the bias for extra flare. This helped the skirt kick out at the hem.

 

  

This dress is pretty unique, in fact so 'unique' that I'll probably never have the guts to wear it out in public. But I do love how pretty and girly it looks and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

On a side note, I was very happy to be featured in the Pattern Review blog as the member in Focus! If you're curious you can check out my interview here. Thanks Pattern Review!

Happy Easter everyone!

All the best to you and yours xxx