Petalhead

 This dress is one of the ones I bought when I was in England. It's homemade and has lots of lovely little details. It has bra holders on the shoulders. They are pieces of ribbon with snaps that fasten around your bra straps so they don't show. It also has two zips; one in the side and one at the back neck. I often forget to do the back one up because I'm not used to having two zips.

Dress: Saltaire Vintage Fair

Belt: Op shopped

Tights: K-mart

Shoes: Hunters and Collectors

Bag: Ménage a Trois Vintage

Headpiece: Op shopped

Cardigan: Op shopped

I love the bow and the bust gathers

 The vintage headpiece is one I op shopped recently for $2. It makes me feel a bit like a flower pot or something, but I like it.

To going against the grain, going insane, going mad

Uni has been really busy since I started back but I have managed to get a little bit of sewing done. I finished Simplicity 3911 a couple of weeks ago but didn't have a chance to take any photos of it until today.

I used some stripey cotton I got on Trademe over a year ago. The fabric had some stains on it which I tried to cut around where possible. I couldn't avoid them all so there's some on the skirt but you can't really see them because of the gathers.

Sewing this reminded me why I love stripes but hate sewing with them. I managed to cut one of the front bodice pieces backwards. This was after I'd made extra certain that the stripes were matched up. Luckily, I had enough fabric to cut it out again but it did cause me to utter a fair few expletives and throw my pincushion across the room.
I cut the skirt on the cross-grain because I wanted the stripes to be horizontal and it meant I could cut the whole skirt in one piece. I didn't do the tucks in the hem that you can see on the pattern envelope because I pinned them but you couldn't really see them because of the stripes.

It has pockets and not those stupid, tiny pockets you find in modern clothes that you can't put anything in for fear of it falling out. These pockets are huge and about 30cm deep. If I put my hands in to the bottom of the pocket they swallow half my arm.

I could've taken the side seams in a bit more but I really couldn't be bothered.



I made the bow belt too with millinery petersham/grosgrain from LuluDeux. It's really stiff so the bow sits nicely.



It closes under the bow with a big snap.

I wasn't sure I'd get to wear this dress much since it's autumn but the weather's all over the place. Today has been really sunny so it looks like I'll still be able to wear my summer dresses for a little while yet.