Not sure if this should go into the designer thread but anywhoo! I kind of merged two dresses I'm in love with at the moment - this Sretsis dress and this Alice Mccall dress, because I just can't get enough of cut out details and backless dresses I dunno, I just think they're really cheeky and fun!



It was pretty simple, just your regular bodice (lined) with bust darts, added short sleeves, pleated skirt (which I'm a bit iffy on, I think the pleats on the back should go the other way, cos in that photo it kinda makes my butt look flat/wide *sigh* perfectionist), and it does up with a button & loop at the back of the neck and a zip at the skirt. The only tricky thing was maybe getting the size of the front cut out right - the first bodice I made, I cut out a 'small' triangle which turned out to expose things that it shouldn't have! haha and also added in some darts at the back of the bodice - otherwise it would have been gaping! Here is a lame video of me twirling in it.


Thanks for taking a look!


x Amie

Not sure if this should go under "Designer Clothing Homage" but I suppose I'll see how it goes here first



I fell in love with this dress Alexa Chung wore on her "It's On with Alexa Chung" show, by Opening Ceremony and thought it was easy enough! Bought some floral brocade type material that my Mum was like "You can't use that it's curtain fabric!" haha and just used the same bodice pattern I drafted for my Anita dress and added more darts and a pleated skirt and sleeves and voila!




I think hers was made from a heavy knit fabric but since my fabric wasn't stretch I had to put in a zip. I really wanted a cream coloured zip with gold hardware but my local Lincraft didn't have any in the length I needed and wasn't keen on running around town to find a store that did so I settled for a black one. Still not sure whether I ruined it with the black zip Thoughts?






Also made another "making of" video for my blog  I have wayyy too much fun sewing you guys

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Buo9GwIL9DU

I had a load of this toasty coloured crochet fabric lying around and envisioned them as wings at first. Then it kind of evolved into a dress. I was inspired by Chloe, Lover, the 70s and Anita Pallenberg. It's an a-line tent shaped frock with a scalloped hem, fitted bust darts, flared crochet-lace sleeves and a kind of key-hole back. It took several hours spread across 4 days to complete. Unfortunately I mismeasured the length of the dress so as you can tell, it's a little bit short! I think I'll wear leggings underneath it or maybe flared jeans if I can op-shop a pair.

here's a link to a "making of" video i shot while i was ... well, making the dress haha

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Her810ml8lo

I followed this tutorial by Vain&Vapid on how to sew scallopped hems, it was my first time and I'm so glad they turned out half-decent!

http://vainandvapid.blogspot.com/2008/10/scalloped-edge-tutorial.html

I went to check out a new fabric store that opened up in Melbourne and came back with this gorgeous mocha/taupeish floral embroidered tulle not knowing at all what to do with it, then I found an old peter pan collar shirt that I picked up from Salvo's and it all just clicked and a couple hours later:


I just hacked off the sleeves from the shirt and hemmed the sleeve openings, then shortened the bodice to about half its original length and attached the gathered tulle as the skirt! I decided against sewing an underskirt/petticoat because I might experiment with different coloured slips  

Haven't got a photo of me in it yet as I've yet to find a slip to wear underneath

xx

Amie

Last night me and a couple of friends went to see Stars live! For my friends it was their first time at a gig and for me it was my first time seeing Stars live, so all in all it was an amaaaazing experience! Amy and Torquil have the best on-stage chemistry and connection. And thus for this grand occasion I made this dress to wear that night. I added tights and a black cardi cos it was pretty cold!

It's made from this pink cotton with sunflower/butterfly prints that I got for $4.99 p/metre at Lincraft. I really like the idea of peephole shapes and because I love loveheart detailing on clothes, I made an open heart at the back of the bodice, which has bias binding and interfacing around the edge. I probably should have bought a matching colour zip (its actually baby blue) or a black one, and i think it would have been better if the skirt was a bit higher up on the waist but apart from that I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It kept me cool during the show since we were about a metre from the stage and everyone was super packed up against each other, but in hindsight backless dress + other sweaty concertgoers = an awkward time for all. lol




ETA:

I had a retry and altered the pattern a little, making the skirt fuller with more fabric and adding (princess?) seams to the back and front and using real bias binding that curves unlike my homemade bias tape that wasn't cut properly  this time it's in a more Spring-y floral print that Antipodium used in their latest collection

and obligatory lame action shot!

In the spirit of DIY and also partly because of general crappy student finances, I decided to make my friend Sarah's 18th birthday gift, as I've done with so many friends this past year. Since she's such a foody I made a pencilcase in the shape of a slice of cake, taking inspiration (sort of) from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (which I may in fact use as part of my French detailed study on Marie Antoinette =P). The material was all from Lincraft, my favourite bit is the ric rac trimming. I've been looking for an excuse to buy some for ages so I was really excited! The lining is actually a light blue apple print cotton that I bought whilst in Vietnam which I made stiffer with interfacing. So far this has probably been my most difficult craftygift to date, apart from my other friend Joey's Pacman shaped pencilcase with the zipper mouth, because I actually had to think about 3-dimensions this time lol. 

Hi everyone!
I'm actually looking for this tutorial that used to be on her old wikstenmade.typepad blog but she's since deleted it,
it was a really helpful tute that I forgot to save and print out
I was wondering if anybody still had it?


thanks!
amie

Please click for larger views!

Two of my friends are having a joint 18th birthday party and their theme is KIDS so ....
I made these soft toy bunnies out of Japanese print craft fabric (if you look reeeealll close you can see the bunny print!) and spare buttons I had lying around. Each has a matching colour bow (although the purple one has a blue ribbon, only 'cos I didn't have any lilac coloured ribbon ) and a pink heart button for a nose.

I just kinda winged the pattern, which is why their arms look like bouncer's arms lol 



xx
Amie

http://www.simplicity.com/assets/4070/4070.jpg

I found it really easy to follow and very straight-foward to make. The only difficulty I had was that I underestimated my size and made a too small 8, but luckily I was able to add extra mini panels to make the zip fit! Also i didn't fit the pattern in the bust so I had to pleat the front down to make it more shapely





I'm thinking of making another one for spring (can't wait for summer down here in Australia!) in a cream/black polka dot cotton with maybe some tulle underneath without the bubble! 

xx
Amy

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1376/541856708_c6aac04c15_b.jpg


please click link for full size!

Image is really big! Sorry!
I had some old khaki cargos that were quite drab on their own so I chopped and added epaulets and wooden buttons and now I have some trekking shorts. That are quite useless now as we are in the dead of winter in Australia. 

enjoy!
<3
amy