BHL Love. The Elisalex!

And another By Hand London garment has been cranked out of the sewing room. 

Which brings the total up to 3 in as many weeks, yee ha! 

Today we have the Elisalex...

This frock was made to be put on display in the fabric store that I work in. We had a bunch of jacquards in big and bold prints. As soon as I saw this one I heard my inner sewing voice scream "Elisalex, ELISALEX!!!". So I did what I was told and ran home to the By Hand London Pattern that had been lurking in the stash, awaiting a fabric match.

The mannequin that was to be dressed in this dress is almost the same size as me except a little bit smaller in the bust (...bitch), so I made this one up straight outta the envelope to fit her snugly. And this was such a dream to sew. Nothing too difficult. Some darts here and there and some gigantic pleats, an invisible zipper. 

On went the iron and the tunes and I got into the zone. You know the sewing zone I'm talking about right? The one in which you get super focused and work like a well oiled machine and the hours pass in what seems like seconds...Thank goodness this happens in my sewing life, because this sure as hell does not happen in my real life. Focus is not my strong point, must be an attention deficit in there somewhere... Look a blue car!

This fabric had its ups and downs. 

Con: Did not like the iron. No matter how much I pressed and steamed, it just didn't want to sit flat. So the side seams are just a little bit cave-y in-y. 

Pro: The body and stiffness of the fabric made the pleats look fabbo. Perfect for big-ass pleats. Tick!

Con: It's 100% polyester...something I usually shy away from. I overheat and die in this stuff I tells ya. I hate it more than carrot top. So bad!

Pro: The colour and print was too good to not wear due to the devil fibre content...

So that's the way the Elisalex cookie crumbles.

Pattern: By Hand London Elisalex

Fabric: Poly Jacquard, Cotton Voile lining.

Notions: Invisible zipper

Time: Sunday afternoon (approx. 289 songs on iTunes)

I love love love the shape of this dress. So flattering. It is so feminine and classy, perfect for dinners and weddings and... well just life in general. 

I'm a fan, what can I say!

Look how big this skirt really is!

Ps. Just a side note... My lovely man has a new lensbaby lens on his camera. He was having a play with it for this photo shoot. Look at all that creative blurriness!

Over and out!

xx

Saturday Night Fever Dress

Well well, 2 posts in one week. Things are looking up around here...

A while ago, I entered the Tessuti Gridlock Sewing Competition with a last minute ditch effort.

The sewing gods must have been smiling upon me because I actually won a prize for this dress!

The lovely ladies from Tessuti offered up a $100 gift voucher for the store.... ummm yes please!

The only problem was that my Tessuti wishlist was somewhat gigantuous (understatement).

So I  shuffled up to the shop to have a feel around and fell in love with some black silk...

But this wasn't just any black silk, no. This black silk was like a scene from studio 54 with a dance floor full of dancers. I kid you not. Win! 

Lets all stop for a moment and bask i this fabrics gloriousness shall we!

I think it's silk chiffon...or something. hmm. But look at it! Loooook! 

Doesn't it make you want to start John Travolta-ing all over the place? 

Anyway, enough of that jibber jabber. People want details...

Fabric: (I forget but think it is) Silk chiffon with dancefloor border print from Tessuti

Pattern: Victory Patterns Satsuki (Oh my god Satsuki! true love)

Time: Two afternoons

Swear words screamed whilst roll hemming: Approx. 762

The chiffon was quite sheer so i thought this disco creation would have to be lined. I wanted it to keep the liquid consistency of the beautiful silk so I opted for some silk habotai from my work to give it a bit of opacity. Turns out... sewing rolled hems on all this wafer thin silk isn't as fun as first thought. 

Just a quick note about this pattern (And Victory Patterns in General...) its fecking amazing!

I have sewn up three of the Victory patterns so far and have had no issues at all. The drafting is so flattering and the fit is wonderous. I can see this dress becoming a summer night out staple. 

Look Ma, no arms!

 The sash was made out of the black habotai also, you can see that the black isn't quite the same black... how does that work? Anywho, no major biggie, nobody will notice at the discotheque.

The belt is threaded through two carefully placed buttonholes and helps define the waist on an otherwise sack-like frock. Sack-like simply does not work on my top heavy frame unfortunately. I dream of pulling off those light and breezy, loose creations like this hot woman.

Hooray, I made a dress!

Anyways. that is all for now. I will leave you with a stupid picture to peruse. 

My sensai master (Husband photographer) mentioned that this dress looks like a kimono and said I should show off my best karate moves. I have no moves evidently. 

kiii yaaa

Heeeee yaaa

The dancefloor is a different matter however.... You wish you could see these moves. 

ciao now 

xx