I Sewed A Cake (or at least a cake inspired outfit)

Once again I'm squeezing my monthly challenge into the last coupled of days of the month but only because I didn't have enough blogging (as opposed to sewing) time.

The lovely ladies over at The Monthly Stitch certainly gave a food for thought challenge this month with the Let Them Sew Cake challenge to honour their website's first birthday.

Here's what I came up with

This little three piece ensemble was inspired by a purple wedding cake from Arabia Weddings was my inspiration as I just loved those little flowers cascading down the centre.

The top was Patrones No 266 number 42 (quite an old issue) chosen for it's vintage feel and made up from a cute heart patterned poly cotton purchased in Barcelona.  The bow give a bit of a nod to the forties and I even managed a cake topper in the form of a hat.  The trhrifted bag came in useful to carry my purchases which included some fabulous Marilyn Monroe fabric which I'll need to consider carefully what to make from.

Looking a bit creased here due to the fact that I used linen for this very first self drafted high waisted skirt , and this pic was taken after sitting a few hours in the car for the journey to the Retrofestival - a fantastic day out if you love all things vintage and retro.

After cutting the skirt out a panel was added to the centre front and I then sewed on the daisies randomly, liking the white picking up the heart pattern of the top.

The top was faced at the back and has a 3 vintage button opening whereas the front yoke is sewed into the back shoulders which took me a little longer to do while I worked out the details of how to attach.

I was so pleased my first self drafted pattern fitted so beautifully once made up.  A few pearls and a and some matching slingbacks, both thrifted, complete the forties look.

The perfect posing opportunity.  On Retrofestival day I substituted the satin heels for some winklepickers and also popped a brooch onto the hat.

A further view of the cake top hat which was a simple pillbox hat made from a scrap of skirt fabric and some millinary net.  I even managed a victory roll for this shot. If you wish to make your own pillbox hat there's many tutorials on the net.

I'm now looking at lots more vintage style makes and am happy to find there's loads of resources on the net for this.  All I can say is .......

...........watch this space!

Have you made anything vintage lately?  Leave me a link in a message - I'd love to see your makes.

Happy sewing.

Linda x

An Asymmetric Skirt

Well, back to earth after the heady excitement of  Me Made May 14 and I thought I'd post about my Day 24 skirt as it really didn't come out well in the post and I do think it's worthy of a better photo than that of the me made day.

I do love mixing fabrics and after seeing a picture in a magazine recently of an asymmetrical skirt, I thought I would have a go at making it and also combine two of the fabrics in my stash.                   

The pattern is one from my collection of Burda and is a fairly simple wrapover pattern.  It wasn't originally asymmetric, so I amended the pattern pieces so that the front of the skirt has differing lengths.  I used a lovely grey linen that I got from Leicester Market as a one-off end of roll.  I then cut an extra piece for the right skirt front from black daisy fabric, purchased earlier this year as a remnant from Ditto Fabrics in Brighton.  Being a bit sheer I use the daisy fabric on top of the regular linen right front piece.

I graduated the rear pattern piece of the skirt to meet with both the skirt front, not too heavily as it would have looked odd, more from the front than the back!  I think the deep waistband really suits the style and adds a block of colour to the right front for balance.

This view shows shows the underside of the front.  I turned the daisy fabric to the inside and just stitched it to the linen.  If making one like this you could always secure the front overlap with a discreet tie, but I prefer just to wear with leggings.  I think I'll be getting a fair few wears from this over the summer.

Now for a brain teaser........

I'm just amazed at the form partially sewn fabric takes.  Can anyone guess at what my current project might be?  Answers (not on a postcard) please in the comments.  

Happy sewing.

Linda xx