Midsummers dress!

This one was a pain in... well, all over. I didn't have a pattern for this, just some inspiration that came from a 1750's dress I saw in a museum once. But I did have a plan! And I had found a fabric that would be so perfect for a cute and girly dress for midsummers!

After a whole day of sewing, thinking, trying on, ripping seams, sewing again and so on and so on, it was almost done... and fit me like a potato sack. Hm, not quite the plan... I tried it on with my corset underneath, then it looked better. (This is where I was hit by major PMS and felt about as graceful as a hippo). So, I put it in the stash and went to bed angry. Later I decided to finish it and maybe give it away if it still looked like crap on me... But, when it was done... it magically looked great!? Yay happy day! The only thing I did was the stitching around the neck and armholes, can't really see how that made such a difference, but hey - I'm happy!

Sneak peak (or rather, a pic with sneaky) here, more pics below:

Isn't it crazy that I look about the size of a normal 8 year old (I'm 173cm tall...) when I'm holding the cat? He is HUGE!

Before you will get to see more of the dress, in case you don't know: What's up with midsummer?

So, here's traditional midsummer: Everyone leaves town for the countryside, dressing up (a lot of people dress up in traditional folk costumes), dancing and singing around the maypole, eating and drinking (herring, potatoes, beer and schnapps is usually the big thing), and overall celebrating summer...

Pretty idyllic huh? Too bad this is more like what midsummer is for lots and lots of swedes today:

Haha, well anyway, the midsummer party we are throwing this year is now up to around 50 guests... Hopefully we'll have at least something in between midsummer A and midsummer B.

Now: last but not least: The dress!

The only things that are holding it together are the ribbons in the back! Not so easy to construct, but so nice to wear and no zippers, no buttons, nothing that can break! :D

Simple top and extra retarded pics of me...

About two weeks ago, I made a simple top out of yet another cute fabric from my awesome stash...

I didn't take any pics of it, or me in it at the time, cause my inspiration level was zero. However I wore it last week at my brothers BBQ, so I figured, why not share those pics with you. Definitely not the typical look-what-I-sewed-pictures, if you know what I mean... heh.

First, here's the pattern I used, burda couture 4499. As always, the year is not stated on the pattern envelope or elsewhere, but I'm guessing early nineties.

....Aaaand.... here are the very gorgeous pics of me in the top, from the BBQ. Feel free to enjoy my very pretty and becoming range of beer-induced retardation ;)

Yeah, sorry about that... But it was fun, right? :)

The 'absolutely amazing fabric' dress!

Early this spring I was, as usual, looking for cheap vintage fabrics on Tradera. When I found this fabric, I new I just had to have it. Very heavy, blue patterned cotton... (I think it actually was a curtain at some point...)

When I got it, I knew directly that this fabric was meant to be a long dress, there is no way I would cut it. So I made this dress, without cutting anything. I actually didn't even have to hem it, that was already done - at perfect length! I put in a zipper in the back, and then sewed the whole thing into a tube. After that, all I did was deep, 'curved' pleats, (or darts, don't exactly know what to call them) along the sides down to the waist, where I let all the fullness of the fabric come out over the hips.

Here's how it came out! And please excuse the fact that I am totally sweaty and tired in these pics, it's nine in the evening and still about 25 ºC (= 77 ºF) here. For Sweden this time of year, that is HOT! :)

Making it work...

So, this is not a new project, but an old one that was finished but never worn, due to not thinking enough when cutting it.

I made this dress several months ago, I wanted a super baggy dress, very low cut and open on top. However I didn't exactly think about how to make it stay on, heh. So, finished the dress, tried it on, yay cute... but it could basically slip all the way off, literally down to my feet, if I wouldn't hold on to it. So, it hit a dark corner of my wardrobe, and there it stayed for a while.

Until today. I am leaving for an exam in Business Communication in about an hour. People who know me know that this means I will pick up pretty much any project at this point, as long as I don't have to think about studying. So I decided to fix the dress about an hour ago. Luckily, this was very easy, it just needed a ribbon across the upper back to hold it in place.

So now I have something to wear today. (It is very important to dress up during exams, if you look great, you feel great, and by that - hopefully - you will do great as well!) Considering I didn't even buy the books for this course, I guess I need anything that can help, haha!

First, a picture of the dress without the belt. This is how simple the construction of it is!

Here is what it looks like with the belt, and from the back, with the ribbon. As you can see, it was needed... :)

Of course, no outfit is perfect without the shoes, here's which ones I'll be wearing today: vintage kitten heels in bright turquoise!

By the way, I love that the pointy shoes are coming back in style, I have saved loads of them from last time they were in. Never ever throw away shoes that are still in good shape just because they go out of style... every time I did I found myself buying new ones just like them in a couple of years (and had to wear those in as well, ouch). I wonder how many people throw away shoes just as they are starting to become comfortable?

My new and upgraded fabric stash (now without cat)!

Just in time for my last day of desperate writing before handing in my thesis before examinations... I got a delivery!

About a week ago I won an auction (this is starting to be more and more like a hobby - I really need to get the actual sewing going soon...) on Tradera, there was this man that seemingly had found an old stash of unused fabric remnants. There was a pic, but that did not say all that much. The info said that it was fabric from the 50's, 60's and 70's, and in various sizes. I took a shot, got the whole thing for about 100 SEK, including postal fees! And am I glad I did!

Look at this stash!

There were so many gorgeous fabrics! The red-ish paisley one on far right is real silk (It says so on the label from the fabric store, it still has it on, a lot of them do!) And most of them are big enough to make whatever I feel like making of them. Only a few of the fabrics are so small that they might just become a tiny top or such. (And the silky ones can always become cute vintage underwear, if nothing else) :D Just what I needed after spree shopping new patterns!

Tonight I will finish up my thesis, and tomorrow me and my darling are going to Edinburgh for the weekend, but after that... There will be some sewing, I tell you! :D

My fabric stash...

...Is being occupied by a small, furry little friend... Oh well, at least the fabrics are making someone happy while I'm finishing my thesis. No sewing for me until I'm done (cause if I start, there is no stopping, so I better just stick to writing instead).

...I am so not looking forward to removing all that cat hair from them though...

Vintage Vogue patterns, again!

Am I lucky or what? I just won these four amazing vintage vogue patterns on Tradera! (Swedish ebay)

I just can't wait to get my hands on them! Or, well, I will have to, since I have a couple of weeks left of hard work on my thesis... But I can look, and make plans! :D And the best thing - I will pay 62 SEK (plus postal fees) for them all, that is less than 10 USD! Wohoooooo!