(Almost) Maxi Dress

Hi!

I’ve wanted to make a maxi dress for a really long time, but haven’t been able to think up/find a pattern that would suit my needs. Simple, but not plain, neat, but not too festive, relaxed, but not too hippy-ie. Sometimes I’m hard to please. But finally, sitting on the couch at home, watching whatever, I came up with this simple dress with a pleated bodice, and knew that that was the one. Luckily I also found a half linen, half cotton bedsheet from the flee market for around 2 € to make it from, so all was good. Unfortunately I was so busy before leaving for the US that I didn’t even have time to take photos of said dress. But here it is now, complete with sunny California! Yay!

The skirt is a simple flared thing, nothing special. It was supposed to be full-maxi but I ran out of fabric. Oops.

The straps are tied at the back via two small loops, so they are easy to adjust in case they start stretching.

The pleated bodice is lined with a plain version of the same pattern, but some of the pleats still stretch annoyingly, so I’ll have to do some sneaky stitches in there somewhere when I’m bothered enough.

 

It’s strange to look at these sunny and summery pics when Autumn is already well on the way here in Helsinki. Even though I’m not really a summer person (possibly weird?) I almost miss the sweltering heat of the sun in San Diego when I see it in photos.

 

– Sadie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The V Blouse

Hey!

Here’s what I made on Sunday:

I used up the leftovers from Tiia’s green dress on this, so it was a pretty handy project. Really comfy too! It just makes me think of summer a bit too much which in turn makes me feel bitter about the fact that it’s still snowy and freezing over here…

The patterns I made were very much inspired by a bodice design from one of the 30’s mags I bought a while back, the one on the right in this pic:

I really like this design — It’s so simple but still inventive, just the way I like it. Might use it again some time for a dress or something, maybe with two colours.

Sometimes quick projects like this are the best, the craftsy-person’s equivalent of a few hours at the shops – only without the possible remorse and emptied wallet.

– Sadie

Another Dress For Tiia

Hi all!

I made another dress for my friend Tiia, the same one I made this dress for. Here’s the finished product:

featuring headphones and banjo. I swear they just happened to be there :D

This is basically just a ripoff of some high-street design, but I can’t remember which store it was from anymore. The fabric is a light-weight and flowy viscose. The pattern I made myself.

The back is open, and there are pockets in the side seams. Lets hope she likes it!

Taking pictures is getting harder and harder over here, since there’s only about six hours or so of natural light per day right now, and it sucks. Makes me really tired too.

I’m currently working on an evening gown for my mum, almost from scratch since I made the pattern myself. Can’t wait to show it to you once it’s done!