What to make.. Burda swing dress, Simplicity 1803, Vogue 9668 or A-line skirt with scalloped hem

I'm having a bit of a mental block lately, a block against sewing, against my wardrobe (I changed three times today before I felt adequately 'myself', hate when that happens!), against cooking, against pretty much anything vaguely creative in fact. I've not even particularly excited about going on holidays this week, and I have been dying to go to Budapest for ages! It's weired because I'm a serial doo-er by nature, just like my mum, I usually can't relax because I have so much to do on my mental agenda so this lack of motivation really doesn't sit too easy with me. Usually if I'm feeling lazy I just drink a liter of coffee and that usually kick me onto a roll of endless mindless activity (and productivity, even if it is just a perfectly organized underwear drawer) but even my usual strength-tar brew is failing me lately. I think I need to make a dress, something, anything! I hate feeling so unproductive!

So, anyway, I just spotted this beautiful swing dress pattern in the latest Burda style newsletter. I know the bust and waist dart combo would probably work wonders on my hour-glass figure and I do LOVE a well gathered skirt, but having been so traumatised with Burda patterns in the past (I've used patterns of theirs that failed to mention the seam allowance wasn't included, grrr!) I'm not sure I'm ready to give myself the headache all over again. Their patterns have virtually no information on them (no notches, WTF!?) and the instructions are pretty terrible to boot. This is so very pretty though and if ever a dress would tempt me back there it's this one...

Second on my maybe-to-do list is Simplicity 1803, I am particularly tempted by the pink version below with the adorable cut out neckline, although I'd probably ditch the skirt part of the pattern and just use a regular half circle skirt instead, the skirt included doesn't look too flattering to me and have a feeling that huge hemline really wouldn't work too well for me here in the windy south west. I especially love this little button detail on the yellow gingham version in the illustrations below.

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If you look at the back view in the pattern illustration, you'll notice it also has a very elegant low-scooped neckline which I never noticed when I bought the pattern! Definite bonus!

Lauren over at lladybird also whipped herself this little number and worryingly named it 'the disaster dress' although I think her version turned out lovely, I think I'll  be giving the pockets a miss after reading her review.

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I also happened upon this beauty, a not so run of the mill A-line skirt with scalloped hem, curved waistband and top-stitched detail.  The lovely lady over at pattern-scissors-cloth very helpfully put together an excellent accompanying tutorial on how to get perfect scalloped edges in your dress-making endeavours ...

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Also fairly high up on the temptation list is Vogue 9668, really doesn't look like much on the packet does it!? Kinda 80's and yucky in those drawings, but check out how purdy Tasia's of Sewaholic.net turned out:

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Seriously, you would never think that pattern could lead to such a chic little thing as this would you! This pattern would also give me the perfect opportunity to finally get to grips with piping, just imagine contrasting white piping peeping out around the neckline, cuffs and waistline of this little number and a trail of little white buttons below the sweetheart neckline!

So many tempting options, now I just have to decide which to make, as usual the problem with dress-making (and being a girl) is that there is literally and endless list of dresses to covet and not nearly enough time to make and wear them! Any ideas, which do you prefer?

DIY: fabric bow ring

I've made myself a few of these over the last week, nearly one for every outfit so far! I think they're absolutely adorable. Although it took a bit of experimenting to get the shape of the bows just right, I've managed to come up with a quick an easy way to make them without any sophisticated craft tools.

* Pretty fabric scraps - a fat quarter would be loads

* Scissors  - preferably fabric scissors, but any good sharp pair will do!

* Needle and thread in colour of fabric

* Dress-makers pencil - a regular pencil will do too

* Ring bases with flat pads - available from bead and craft shops

* Glue gun or some strong multi-purpose glue - I used a glue-gun but a stronger glue would be better!

* Iron and somewhere to press your fabric

* Ruler

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Recent Ramblings

We’ve been living in a glorious kitten filled haze for the last week and a half, nothing makes a cat fanatic as happy as having a naughty, frolicking kitten galloping around the place. After getting over the inevitable excitement that comes from rescuing an adorable helpless little ball of ginger fluff from the middle of a busy main road we’ve accepted that as much as we would love to have him, we have neither the time nor the lap space for another cat in our home and so he moved to his new home in the country and his new mum (my mum) today. Mum has a serious soft spot for stripy ginger cats and my parent’s home is a pretty idyllic safe haven for cats so it’s a happy ending for everyone concerned, even us though we’re more than a bit heartbroken by it all. Here are some of his cutest moments:

Falling asleep mid-assault in the cushions

After his bath, he managed to get inside our disused range and got covered in soot!

Trying to kill yet another house plant.

 In other news the weather still sucks here. I hear recently, that it's been the worst June in fifty years and I find that very easy to believe, everyday it’s grey out and what’s worse is it’s just warm enough to know that if the clouds just buggered off for a minute there would be a gloriously sunny day waiting behind! Everyday we hope for sunshine, but everyday is grey, I've given up on summer this year and am looking forward to a nice Autumn instead!

Inevitably I suppose, I’m getting pretty bored with my clothes, I’m mainly still wearing my Autumn and winter clothes (I can’t belive I’m still in tights everyday!), and have only gotten to wear my summer dresses a handful of times. The exception to the boredom  being the few things I get the time to make. Here's some stuff I've been wearing lately...

 I found this little bicycle ring when I was returning stuff from the fashion show to New Look not a shop I would usually bother with (along with pretty much the whole rest of the high street) but I do love this little cutie!

I made this dress using Burda 7494, after being inspired by this lovely ladies version with a half circle skirt, I decided to have a go myself and adapted the pattern to use the Linda Skirt from Burdastyle. Instead of using facings (as per the pattern) I decided to fully line the dress as my cotton was so light.

 Although I LOVE the circle skirt (I always do!), after wearing it once I’ve realized I’m not crazy about the fit of the bodice at all, the neckline at the centre back seam gapes quite a lot and there is a lot of excess fabric across the collar bone, although this may be an inevitable effect of the raglan-esque sleeves.

The princess panels on the bodice also need to be deepened a lot more for my shape, as it is it’s a bit formless around the waist and bust.  I’m going to have a go at re-fitting it, but it is a bit late in the process so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to manage. I don’t know why I didn’t see it when I was trying it on for fitting ages ago!

This wrap dress (butterick 5030) which I finished yesterday turned out a lot better! The pattern was really straightforward to follow, with lots of info on the pattern pieces themselves (which Burda suck at!) and you could probably make this in a day if you got up early enough!

I used some beautiful soft, drapey vintage cotton I got on Etsy added a belt, wide-brimmed felt hat and the result is a super-chic 70’s style little number. My only qualm about the pattern is the neckline gapes quite a lot on the wrap panel, so you need to wear a little camisole underneath for modesties sake!

In my opinion an overlocker (I use an Elna ) is kinda necessary to finish the seams on this pattern if you any bit the perfectionist. All the seams of the dress are exposed, and although they recommend using a zig zag stitch to finish them off, that would (I know from experience) look really crappy and not wear very well over time. 

All in all though this is a very flattering and comfortable dress, I love the wrap around circle skirt, the giant lapels and the ¾ length sleeves are just the right length, very Farrah Fawcett indeed! I think I feel a seventies style dress-making extravaganza coming on… I’m not sure what I’m going to start next, I have some pretty wild patchwork print vintage cotton I’m dying to use but I have no idea what sort of dress it would look good as!

 Other stuff I’ve been making this week… a kinda kitsch photo garland for the sitting room, that’s my mate Dave looking super cool  (as always) in the first pic.

Face muffins, make ‘em of your nearest and dearest, the aim being to offend as much as possible, so much fun!

Decoupage brooch pins.. featuring cats.. of course

Sewing enthusiast’s felt brooches..

I’ve been trying to practise my photography lately too, I just bought myself a Mini Diana toy camera (for taking cool retro style shots) and I’m trying to get a grip of all the different  settings on our digital SLR before I start shooting my first roll of film (*exciting!*) I've ordered all sorts of very cool and very expensive film from Lomography.com so should be ready to start clicking some extremely retro shots in the next few weeks. 

After being inspired by Selina Lakes book; Homespun Style, I’ve also been out foraging in the charity shops for mix-matched kitschy floral china (after years of just collecting blue and white, which suddenly seems so boring to me!) and am stacking them haphazardly in random corners of the dining room/sitting room.

Work is a bit manic at the moment, what with preparing for the summer sale and the like, so I won't get a chance to do much for a few days, I did  however, get some pretty sweet cupcake making kit today though, so I’m dying to get a recipe post up soon, first chance I get promise xx.