Gah, July!

Gah. where do I begin? I promised myself to blog at least TWICE a month and where did that get me? I have no other excuse other than I have been, as Americans would call it, "crazy busy." 


Let's see, I made more of those striped Maxi dresses for friends: 

Then I attempted to make a skirt with a bunch of cotton scarves that I got on sale:

I kinda wasn't feeling it, so I shelved the project for another day. Do you know why? Because my wonderful  mother distracted me with this:

She got me 4.5 meters of this staggeringly beautiful blue grey embroidered Indian silk. I want to do a tunic with it, nothing complicated with so many darts and tucks that I have to distort the beautiful embroidery on this fabric. I am, however, doing some more beading on it and it's so much fun. I'm using gold metal beads (not metallic beads, real metal beads. I'm so happy I found some.)


While I was beading, I also decided to make a wearable muslin of the tunic I want to make out of the Indian silk. I made it and my mother loved it so much, she claimed it. >D I will take in the sides a little bit and maybe add darts (maybe) at the back for the next version. My mom was happy with the first one, I'm not complaining. 

Self-drafted, 100% cotton.

Most of all, my time has been taken up by this little boy: 

I wake up to this everyday and I love it. 

Downton Progress!

Last weekend and my Monday and Tuesday have been busy busy busy! I cut the bodice fabrics for the 1910s Tea Gown, basted, crazily decided to do the whole thing by hand (just needle and thread, no machines)and all this happened while I rewatched Downton Abbey and American Horror story.

Baste baste baste!

I'm especially proud of the sleeves. I overcasted the side of the bodice by hand.

A closer look at the lace. The solid black fabric is the Italian Satin I bought on the whim with no clear idea what to do with it. So glad I finally found a use for it.

Then tomorrow, I'm going to be marking and cutting all those skirts and overskirts.


The next part of my progress is this:

My husband and I on our wedding day, April 15, 2005

I bought the dress from David's Bridal. It was on a sale rack with the other bridesmaid gowns, the last piece of that style and wonderfully marked down. It was the only champagne colored, historically inspired and slim dress in the whole jumble of stark white strapless voluminous A-lines. It had an overskirt, yo. Then I tried it on and it fit PERFECTLY. 


While the silhouette of the dress was gorgeous, it lacked in embellishment. So off I went to Joanns and Hobby Lobby to find beads that matched the sparse beading that was already on the dress. I only had two weeks to embellish my wedding dress. (Yeah, two weeks. That's another long story) So off my inept self went. I was able to bead only what was needed, but nothing beyond that. It took me forever, I have never sewn or beaded anything before. Then I got married and put the dress away. I only had a small amount of regret for not being able to finish the embroidery and beading.


Seven years and loads of sewing and beading experience later, I decided to pick it up again. 

This is the dress before I beaded anything on it. Photo taken in late March, 2005

My Work In Progress. I really would like to fill the whole bodice with pretty pretty silver beads.
Photo taken today, January 31, 2012.

 I am quite happy with how it turned out. I had no set pattern to follow and it was so much fun to do. I cannot wait to finish both these dresses.


I am thinking of beading the black 1910s Tea Gown with black beads and crystals. What do you think?

Cotton/Silk Embroidered Blouse for Mom: DONE!

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The Details


MATERIALS: 4 yards (yes, you read that right) 60 width Cotton/Silk (70/30), 1 pack of cream colored bias tape, five spools of white thread (four for the serger, one for the machine) and half a yard of cream colored cotton twill tape.


DURATION: May 5 to June 7, 2011. Embroidery from May 5 to June 2. Sewing took a total of two days, June 6 to 7. 


PATTERN: Self-drafted according to Mom's measurements.


CONSTRUCTION: I really enjoyed making this blouse. The planning, embroidery, modifying the design and sewing was so much fun. 


The front bodice is doubled, so the embroidery is protected from skin and friction. 


I did change a lot of things from the original design. It was supposed to be a tunic with set in sleeves, but it ended up being a raglan peasant top instead. 


On to the horror stories: a bit of fabric got caught in the knife of my edger (eek) and there was a big hole next to the right arm-scythe and while I was doing the embroidery, Connor ate a melon popsicle and left an orange stain on the neckline. (DOOOOOOOOOM) So I cut away the offending parts and made the blouse raglan sleeved. Mom liked this silhouette better than the original so I'm relieved. 


I also originally cut the sleeves to be quarter sleeves, but mom changed her mind and wanted long sleeves instead. I cut more leftover fabric and connected it to the existing hem. I covered the unsightly seams with bias tape and hereby declare it a design feature. 


On to the next project! YAHOO!

EMBROIDERY IS DONE!

Mwahahaha!

And here's a couple of mostly unflattering behind the scenes photos. No makeup, hair unbrushed, no dignity:

Stitching while watching North by Northwest. Yahoo.

Taking a Connor break!

He is the one I love the most.

Sewing the tunic is gonna happen tomorrow, bright and early. Hurray! Can't wait.

Almost DONE!

The embroidery for Mom's summer tunic is almost DONE! I can't wait to see this thing on an actual body (before summer ends too) I do miss the sound of my industrial machine. While I am enjoying doing all this hand embroidery, I also want to get some actual sewing done. I have so many projects in line and I want to finish them all before the 20th of June (my birthday). I just want CLOTHES, demmet! 

Cotton Silk Blend (70/30) from Fabric Warehouse in Natural, DMC Rayon Floss in different colors, my largest embroidery hoop and size 26 DMC Tapestry needles.

This is why I'm taking a while. Try doing some hand-embroidery with this cheeky monkey on your back. Hee.


In other news, I really need to do something about my hair. Hmm.

Mom's Embroidered Summer Tunic

The embroidery bug bit me recently and I have also been thinking of what to give my mom for mother's day. So I decided on making a nice summery tunic for her. She had hinted several times that she wanted several tunics to wear now that the temperature has risen in this country. And because I currently want to embroider until my fingers fall off, this tunic is the perfect excuse to kill two birds with one stone.

It's FAAAAR from perfect, but I'm quite happy with it.

I am using a cotton/silk (70/30) blend fabric and DMC Rayon Embroidery Floss. I WISH I could use 100% silk on this project. Sadly. it's not available in this country and this project was planned on such short notice that I wasn't able to order pure silk embroidery floss ahead of time. Perhaps for another embroidery project, we'll see.  

LOVE.

VOSS, spring/summer 2001
Jacket of pink and gray wool bird’s-eye embroidered with silk thread; trouser of pink and gray wool bird’s-eye; hat of pink and gray wool bird’s-eye embroidered with silk thread and decorated with Amaranthus.

Alexander McQueen - SAVAGE BEAUTY

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art