I found this beautiful old long Laura Ashley shift dress in a charity shop in Camden the other day and thought it had loads of potential. So, I shortened it, took it in a little, added cream bias binding to give it that Chanel-esque edge, and then painstakingly sew on hundreds of swarovski pearls onto the neckline.

Et le resultat? C'est ca:


Modelled by my friend


Modelled by a hanger


Close-up of the neckline


And the original, pre-recon (I forgot to take a picture before I cut off the bottom, so this is it with the bottom bit placed on)

Comments/critiques welcome!

I've been coveting this american apparel skirt for aaaages (literally trying it on everytime I've been in the shop). However, I've never been tempted enough to part £20 for something I'll probably only wear once, and that I could probably make myself.

The inspiration:

http://store.americanapparel.co.uk/rsac309.html

So, a quick trip to the fabric shop later and I end up with...









It's not a perfect fit, and I doubt whether I'll actually ever wear it, but I'm generally quite pleased.

Any comments/critiques welcome 

Thank you everyone again for all your kind comments! I have taken on some of your suggestions and updated the dress a little.

I added some pink buttons to the front panel...


...and put on a detachable sash which ties into a small bow at the back. i probably would want a thicker sash though but this will do for now.


I like it a bit better now and the good thing is everything I've added is removable so if I ever got bored I could change it again!

Thanks again everyone!

Sometimes things really do not turn out how you expect. I originally wanted to make a tuxedo-style jersey dress, but then bought grey jersey instead of black at the fabric store (it was cheaper and so much softer).

So I changed my mind and decided to make a comfy romper thingy with big pockets. And then when the frills turned out super huge I decided it would actually be an Edwardian-esque dress.

But in the end it looked like something a school matron would wear. Oh well.

front


side


detail



(school matrons can be sexy too)


Never mind. It was a fun adventure anyway. I will probably add some buttons on the front panel as some serious damage control.

What do you think? Any suggestions?
 

I went to a part last night where the theme was...that's right, you got it, "NASTY NEON". I'd left the dress-making a bit late so literally made this in a mad frenzied last minute rush.

Front detail.


Whole dress. Sorry about the blurriness.


Back (I promise you the weird line in the middle of my bum is only there because I had not ironed it).


Closeup of lace panel at the back (my favourite bit).


And...the whole outfit!!! Minus the neon glowsticks.


So bright it blinds me. Gosh my room is a mess.

Okay, so the "Beam me up, Scotty!" bears no relevance at all to this post - I just couldn't think of a title, heh heh.

Anyway, I was just browsing through the french connection website when I saw these crazy bright tunic tops:

http://www.fcukbuymail.com/images/products/large/72C3U.jpg

And I thought, heh, I have even crazier brighter fabric in my cupboard. So, I put this together:


(yes my room is a tip)







The sides of the banding don't quite match up and the neckline has been messed up a bit (due to a mixture of my own stupidity and my sewing machine deciding to have a nervous breakdown) and the colour really doesn't work with my skin tone but who cares! It's bright and summer's coming!

Wow, it's been a while since I've made any jewellery and things.

Here are a pair of earrings and a necklace, nothing special, but I thought I would share anyway.

Earrings:


Necklace:


Comments/critiques appreciated.

xxx

[Before:]

So, I bought this beautiful pink dress off ebay:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/opals/650.jpg

It looked so lovely on the girl in the picture, despite the interesting sleeves.
Then it arrived and I tried it on. Due to lack of boobage, and just generally not being the girl in the picture, it looked terrible on me. As you can see below.

Before:


So I made it a bit smaller, took off those sleeves and added some banding around the neckline, and now it is wearable! Hurrah!

After

Whole thing:


Neckline detail:

[BANANA]

Hello! Right, this is not the most complicated project in the world, but I am very proud of it because it is the first tee I have made from scratch (that was not reconstructed etc). So, I started off with some crazy BANANA fabric and a horrible turtleneck I found in my cupboard...



...and ended up with this!



Comments/critiques welcome! 

[EDIT]

Yaaay! I made a gingham pinafore dress to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz in! It's my first dress ever, and I made it without a pattern. Although there are a few mistakes, I'm happy with it because I've been thinking about it for weeks now, and it came out exactly as I wanted it too.







Ew, sorry about the colours in the photo, the blue of the gingham is actually lighter than that. As is my skin.

Anyway, comments/critiques welcome!

EDIT

And here are the shoes! I found them a couple of weeks ago, they were on sale  . The picture doesn't show them very well, but basically they are just pointed glittery red flats with a bow on top. Hah, you can see the tan lines on my feet in the picture.



And here is the link to the mini-tute. Sorry if it's a bit unclear or vague, but feel free to ask me if something doesn't make sense!



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/opals/pinaforedresstute-1.jpg