Reversible Summer Dress

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Reversable Summer Dress I bought a selection of fabric squares a while ago and set myself the challenge of making a dress out of it. I also ended up making it reversable which makes it the perfect dress for travelling as you have two dresses without taking up too much space in your suitcase.

The bodice uses a sweetheart neckline. The back is shirred so that I didn’t need to add a zip. I also added a few buttons to make it a little easier to put on. The ribbons are sewn into the bodice top and thread through a few loops on the side seams to stop the bodice gapping.

Fabric: Calico and Ivy (patterned fabric) & Spotlight (white fabric)
Notions: Dongdaeum fabric markets
Pattern: Self made

My Cat Millie

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This is my new cat Millie. I’ve had her for about three months now and I’m in love with her. She sits by the door waiting for us to get home from work and she follows me everywhere. She’s actually sitting on my lap while I type this post. She’s also obsessed with coloured bobbins. She will sort through my boxes and find bright coloured bobbins, pick them out with her mouth and then chase them around the house for hours.

The photo above is how I found her - outside squeaking when it was -39 degrees. Mongolians aren’t overly fond of cats and are slightly superstitious when it comes to completely black cats, I therefore think she was dumped. The poor little thing was so cold (she had frost bite on her front paw pads) and she was staving. Her paws are all better now and she seems very happy. I’ve had cats all my life and Millie is the best by far.

Shortbread Bikinis

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One of the things I miss the most about Perth is the beaches. Whenever I go back to Perth I do not let myself go for a swim because I know it will make me miss Perth even more. Winter has seemed to drag this year and since there is no chance ill be going to a beach anytime soon I decided to make shortbread bikini cookies and watch Coolangatta Gold. It’s probably the corniest Australian movie ever but I LOVE it!

The recipe is based on my Orange Dresses Recipe but this time I added lemon zest instead of orange. The end of a pen was used to create the “polka dots”.

Spots Below are some photos of cute yellow polkadot bikinis. I’ve now added these to my list of things to make

Vintage drop waist sparkle dress

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I made this dress for a Christmas Party last year. It has a high neckline with a very low ‘V’ at the back which is covered in sparkles. The sparkles took me about 6 hours to sew on! The material is a turquoise / power blue silk with a blue lining.

I wanted this dress to have a vintage feel. I also wanted the focus of the dress to be the back and so I deliberately kept the front quite simple. However the front was looking more Grandma-ie than vintage so I added this sparkle piece to the waistline.

The pattern is based on Burda Style Short Bubble Dress, which I also used to make a dress here. I lengthened the bodice to create a ‘drop waist’ and I redrafted the back piece of the pattern to extend the ‘V’. I also added two darts at the back to stop it gapping. The ‘V’ ended up being low enough so that no zip was needed.

I used a square piece of fabric which I gatherered slightly to create the skirt and I used some scrap material to make my boyfriend a bowtie.

Pattern: Based on Burdastyle Short Bubble Dress
Fabric: Silk from Dongdaeum Fabric Markets
Sequins: local fabric shop in Mongolia

Masquerade ball dress

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I made this dress for a Masquerade Charity Ball we attended last year. It’s made from bright orange Silk De Chine which I purchased online. At the time it was the only silk material I owned and as I had no other backup dresses I was too scared to start it! I made a practice/muslin see here and eventually built up the courage three nights before the ball. We actually had a public holiday that week (for Genghis Khan’s Birthday ) but I massively procrastinated and I ended up working the whole day – I was that worried.

The day of the ball I acutally thought I was making good time so I did a 10km run on my treadmill (it’s too cold to go outside). Big mistake! As I was huridly sewing the hem my leg was shaking like crazy on the peddle. I also had to hand sitch the lining while at the hair dresser.

I used a standard sweetheart shape for the bodice and ironed on a few layers of fusible interfacing. A ‘U’ shape piece of material was sewn into the front and back seams to make the ruffle. I overlapped a layer of fabric for the bottom and sewed a few stitches part way down to reduce the length of the split. Although, looking at these photos I should have done it a little lower!

This is the first full length dress I’ve made and the first time I had sewn with silk but apart from a few crinkles in the bodice, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s floaty and very fun to wear.

The only problem (and I have no idea how this happened) is that I have a foot print hear the hem of the dress. I’ve tried soaking it but all it did was lose some colour. Any tips on how to wash silk at home?

Fabric: Silk Crepe De Chine
Pattern: Self made