Inspiration: Sass & Bide Snowbird Cape

Currently swooning over the gorgeous Snowbird Cape by Sass & Bide at the moment! Love the colour, love the fabric they've used and love, love, love the style!! Heck, I even love the name!! The whole thing screams of elegant, simple chic while still being modern and on trend.


Sass & Bide Snowbird Caplet

 The only thing I'm not loving is the price cause let me tell you if it wasn't worth $700 it would be mine by now. Do you ever have it that you fall for an item of ready-to-wear clothing only to find they don't have it in your size or it costs more than your weekly wage??

That's one of the reasons I love sewing my own clothes. It gives me the freedom to choose the fabric and pattern not to mention it can be tailored to my shape and gives me complete control of all the little details that make or break  most RTW clothes.

After falling in love with the cape and falling out of love again once I saw the price tag (so melodramatic!!) I've decided to give it a shot at making my own version of the Snowbird Cape. I'm going to try using the Bellatrix Blazer body, omitting the front lapel and use the Watson Jacket as a template for the cape. Its going to take a couple of toiles but considering its a relatively simple design it should work out. I discovered some beautiful light grey wool with a light blue herringbone stitch in Spotlight last night that's just begging to be bought and turned into a beautiful winter jacket. :-)

Seriously!! Whats my obsession with jackets lately?? Maybe its the weather we've been having lately or maybe its that jackets are so rewarding to sew...

On My Sewing Table

After my recent fabric buying binge session I figured it would probably be a good idea to document what I wanted to do with the fabric rather than throw it straight into my fabric boxes. This post is probably more for my benefit than anything else, although I think its pretty cool to see what others have in the sewing pipeline.

On my sewing table:

• A two piece dress out of this fabric using either the Named Vanamo pattern or the Elisalex bodice and Charlotte Skirt. I'm leaning toward the By Hand London patterns as I already have them and I know how they fit etc. Also printing out a PDF pattern, taping it together, tracing it out, making a toile and adjusting the fit is not really something I enjoy doing. *instant gratification*.

• Bellatrix Blazer for the dear sis in this beautiful eggshell blue cotton duck with a statement lining

• Another Bellatrix Blazer in this statement navy blue/white cotton duck

• Yet another(!) Bellatrix Blazer out of this eggshell blue Country Road cotton/linen with this gorgeous matching animal print lining. I'm certainly getting my $$ worth out of this pattern!!

• Jamie Jeans out of some slightly stretchy navy cotton sateen... gulp this should be interesting

• If the above pattern works well, a pair of printed denim skinny jeans

• As many Ensis Tee's as I can fit out of this gorgeous blue/white stripped knit

• A Floralex Dress (Flora Dress skirt and Elisalex bodice) out of this stunning olive green/grey lace. Not sure what colour lining to use

• Watson Jacket from this grey wool blend from my stash. Not sure to go for a statement lining or keep things neutral... hmmm on second thoughts maybe a red??

• La Sylphide Dress using this fabric (also from my stash! Yay for stashbusting!!)

• A Colette Macaroon for the dear sis out of this fabric

Me-Made-May'14 Week 2 & 3

Had a pretty good run of me-mades this week. Winter is definitely on its way over here in Perth, WA and I'm struggling to make cooler weather clothes to keep up!! I'm finding most of my summer clothes can still be used by adding a jacket and some tights. My new Bellatrix Blazer has been getting some serious wear time lately. I really don't know what I wore before I made it!!
Monday 5th May


Jumper: Briar by Megan Nielsen
Shirt & Pants: RTW
                                                                        















Tuesday 6th May

Shirt: La Sylphide by Papercut Patterns

Skirt: Charlotte Skirt by By Hand London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 7th May 

Dress: Laurel Dress by Colette Patterns 

Thursday 8th May

Dress: The Macaroon by Colette Patterns 

This has to be hands down my favourite me-made to date. It was originally made to wear at my engagement party last October so it has special memories. I used the most beautiful deep blue Italian wool blend bought back from my Canada trip a couple years ago. Every time I wear it I feel elegant and put-together and I'm reminded of all the happy memories associated to the dress.

Friday 9th May

Dress: another Laurel by Colette Patterns

Probably the most comfortable dress in my whole wardrobe to wear!! Its made of ponte de roma so its thick, stretchy and warm perfect for those cold winter days.

The rest of the week 2 and most of week 3 I wore me-mades I've already worn so far which I wont blog as it would just be repeating outfits. Its a cop-out, I know :-)

I'm finding so far I'm really struggling with casual clothes for the weekend and on days off. I'm one of those crazy people who feel most comfortable in dressy clothes (yup that's me, usually the most overdressed person in the room) so I really struggle to find casual clothes I don't feel like a slob in. Keep a look out for a blog post on this topic coming soon!!

Question for the day: Do you have any pieces of me-made or ready-to-wear clothing that have some special memories associated with them that come flooding back every time you wear it??

Beautiful Bellatrix Blazer

I figured it was high time I actually blogged this me-made seeing as I've been wearing it for almost two weeks now and I'm partway into making a second longer version!

From the moment I saw the three stunning blazers on Bella Megan's blog I knew I wanted needed this blazer in my wardrobe. After looking around on some other blogs I was quite amazed at how seemingly easy everyone said this jacket was to make! I mean, aren't jackets supposed to be notoriously difficult and fiddly? One of those garments in the scary realm of 'jeans' and 'buttonholes'?? Well let me tell you, if you can sew a lined dress you can sew a Bellatrix Blazer!! Katie from Papercut Patterns has not only designed a beautifully cut blazer, the accompanying instructions are so thorough and easily understood!!

I chose Version 2, the cropped version so it can be worn with dresses and high-waisted skirts. I love wearing these types of clothes as they accentuate my small waist but found in winter (and those days in summer when the air con feels like minus 10deg!) that when I wear cardigans they 'cut me off' right at my largest point (my hips, auughh!!) Those of you who have analysed silhouettes you will understand this, those of you who want to know more check out this post from the Colette Wardrobe Architect.

As most of my existing clothes are statement pieces in bright or patterned fabrics I wanted to make the blazer in a nice dark grey fabric. Off I went one cold Thursday night off to Cannington Spotlight to gather supplies. Well, do you think I could find suiting fabric of a medium weight in dark grey?? Nope!! Not in this store!! I ended up settling for some cotton drill (NOT proper jacket fabric and NOT EVEN a medium weight fabric either!!) consoling myself it was basically a wearable muslin anyway and most of the fabric pieces were interfaced. I used some blue/grey floral rayon I had in my stash for the lining.

The whole thing was actually a dream to sew!! Usually I get to a point in my sewing projects that involve a little more brain power/thought/attention (invisible zippers, I'm looking at you!) and have to either leave it for a day or force myself to stop procrastinating and finish it. With this project there was not a hint of that, everything went together smoothly, the instructions were amazing and all the notches lined up. Before I knew it I had set in the welt pockets and it was time to set in the sleeves... they were the easiest sleeves I have EVER set! A sign of a well drafted pattern.

The Finished Product:

Ok, now we get to the best part... checking out the finished garment photos. Please ignore the creased jacket photos and take it as a sign the jacket is well loved worn to death:

Welt Pocket - A work of art (in my opinion!)

Sneak peak of the pocket lining fabric

First ever finished jacket!!

And the first of many more, I'm sure :)

Fabric Tragic

Yup, that pretty much describes me at the moment!! Two consecutive trips to two fabric stores and one egger-on = a whole lotta fabric!!

*Disclaimer:* All fabric was bought with an actual purpose in mind (which, of course, makes it completely justified :) )

Quite often when buying fabric I tend to buy with a very (very!) vague idea in mind of what I plan to make but, more often than not, I buy because:

• Its cheap/on sale (Can't go past a good sale now, can we!! I blame the Dutch ancestry for that one :) )
• Its one of 'my colours' ("Ohhh look its 'my colour' red!!" Must buy!!)
• Its pretty and I like it (Gahh!! One of the worst types of fabric tragic as its often not practical or doesn't fit in with my existing style/wardrobe)
• If I buy it, no one else can have it (Ahh yes this one takes the fabric tragic crown for all the wrong reasons. Remind you of a small child with sharing issues, anyone?? What happens if it falls into the hands of an inexperienced sewer who won't do it justice or *gasp* destroy it!! It needs to belong to someone who will be able turn it into the beautiful garment it deserves so I must buy it to 'save it' *instead it will languish in the bottom of my stash for years, waiting for that day*

Recently I've been making a real effort not to buy any fabric until I actually need it, instead sewing fabric from my stash. Well, sounds all good in theory until... you have your heart set on striped navy/white stretch knit for this project. Oh yeah, I thought, how hard can it be to find this? How hard?!? HOW HARD!?!?!?! Let me tell you, its near on IMPOSSIBLE to find decent stretch knit fabric in this corner of the world, let alone what I'm looking for. I looked in the major fabric stores here in Perth (Cannington Spotlight you officially suck when it comes to stretch knit!) then tried all the online fabric stores in Australia, then in a last ditch effort, I found *the perfect match* in Harts Fabric all the way over in America. Well that would have been fine if it wasn't for paying more for the postage than for the actual fabric!! *gulp* So long story short sometimes it doesn't pay off to wait until you have something in mind before you buy that fabric. Sometimes that's half the fun racking up a huge reasonable stash and go 'shopping' in your own fabric stash. The best part? Its *free*. :)

How do you fabric shop? Are you disiplined and need to have a project in mind before you buy a piece of fabric? Or do you 'shop n stash' like I do until the perfect project comes along?

Me-Made-May'14 Week 1

Week One Roundup - MMM'14

This is probably going to be the easiest week as far as clothing choices goes. I wore all my favourite outfits/combinations so it should be interesting to see how I go for the rest of the month without my favourite clothes. I'll just have to be a little more inventive!!
I wore my newly completed Bellatrix Blazer pretty much every day this week!! Its the perfect finish to so many of my existing clothes and makes a lot of the more summery ones suitable for the colder weather we have been having. All up its one of those pieces of clothing you wish you had discovered years ago :)

Looking forward to checking out what everyone else has been wearing for MMM'14!!

Thursday 1st May


Jacket: Bellatrix Blazer by Papercut Patterns
Fabric: Cotton Drill from Spotlight
Lining: Rayon from Textile Traders

Dress: Elisalex Dress by By Hand London
Fabric: Cotton, almost like cotton sateen but without the sateen finish from Spotlight.












Friday 2nd May


Shirt: RTW
Skirt: Charlotte Skirt by By Hand London
Fabric: Unsure, is quite thick and has a lot of stretch which makes it one of my favourite skirts. The downside is, as you can see, it wrinkles quite a bit by the end of the day!! :)














Saturday 3rd May - Alma Blouse


Shirt: Alma Blouse by Sewaholic
Fabric: Light Cotton from Spotlight
Pants: RTW
















Sunday 4th May - Cambie Dress


Dress: Cambie Dress by Sewaholic
Fabric: Cotton Sateen from Spotlight