Summer Minishort

Summer is getting to its end, although here is still hot, and this may be one of the last projects of my season.
It was really difficult to find a pattern in my magazine collection, and finally I had to adapt (basically, giving a lot of ease everywhere) a model from Patrones which was really tight.
A problem I encountered was the fabric transparency. This has to be taken into account when shopping for fabrics. For some designs transparency might be cool, but it was a nuisance for this one. I have to be carefull on the underwear I choose!
I used fusible interlining for the upper part of the bodice and for the piece around low waist.
Here I am wearing it with my new Miss Sixty sandals, on sale in eBay.

 

And Yet Antoher Retro Dress

My husband says this summer I am sewing the same dress again and again. And he may be right, I cannot stop wearing full skirts and tight bodices. They are so femenine, comfortable and chic!
Well, this was my project as I followed Carftsy's online course The Couture Dress, by Susan Khalje. The course is really interesting, specially the way it is offered by Craftsy, with all kinds of participation and interaction tools. I learned a lot, although I was not doing this dress in the "couture" way, because I thought it was not appropiate for this project. But on the one hand, I learned and applied lots of small details, as for example lining the whole bodice with (in this particular case) the same fabric, and on the other hand, I plan to sew myself a jacket this winter following all the couture procedures.
 Anyways, this is the result. I do not think the pictures make justice to the dress, since they do not capture the movement, which is the best part of these classic pattern. Do you like it?

Quick and Sexy Miniskirt

This is one of the pieces that depend on fabric more than in craftwomanship ;-)


I bought this at the beginning of the summer and I have been thinking about the superior piece since. First I imagined it attached to the upper part of some old black jeans. I could not accept the idea of the little flounces around my already flounced belly! Finally I saw this somewhere and I welcomed it as the perfect solution: some 12 cm of black lycra, with a thick elastic band in the upper part, to be situated in my lower waist, and... voilà! It was done in 1 hour!

Here I am wearing it with an old top made with black crepe du Chine and my Nine West 12cm high sandals, so nice and confortable I could dance that night with them until 7 am!!

Pink Sundress

This is a very good example of what to do with a very cheap bit of cotton (1 euro!). I was inspired by a design in Burda magazine that miraculously fitted the small piece of fabric I had.
The bodice is interlined with thermofusible cotton and lined with the same fabric of the dress.
Here I am wearing it with my MIA boots I bought some years ago in Melrose Ave, Los Angeles. One of my favourites. But it goes well with flip-flops, of course!

Little Black Dress with Leather Belt

I am proud to present my new creation. I got this stretch fabric, an embroidered lace, expecting to do something like this:

Bill Cunningham's

To achieve that design, I put together the top of this 1950s dress and this skirt pattern from Burda magazine, just like I did in my Retro Butterfly Dress.

I sewed a waist stay to the skirt, made of the same fabric, and sewed the top of the dress to the bottom of that stay. Since the fabric is thransparent, full of little holes, I sewed a nude colour stretch lining skirt to the waist stay as well. It keeps the transparency effect, but if does not allow to see through. I did not line the top, so you can see the pale pink bra showing though. 

For the leather belt, I decided to copy a white leather Mango I had in my closed. I cut the pieces out of some old leather pants a friend gave to me. Each piece has to halves, up and down, which fold over and meet in the middle back. I cut some two-sided iron lining (the one that melts with the temperature of the iron), and applied between the two sides of each piece, pressing with the iron, using a cotton cloth to prevent the leather form damage. Then I zig-zagged the pieces together.

 The result is perfect, both for the dress and the belt. In these pictures I am wearing it with my new PonsQuintana purple sandals, my last acquisition.

Green Cotton Sundress

This beautiful pattern came in the last Burda magazine, which is full of lovely sundresses. A very good number, July 2012. In it they recover this pattern from the 1950s, only a little bit longer. I am seeing these femenine, full skirt dresses everywhere, and it makes me happy that I can wear them and be "in fashion," because I really love them.

The pattern proved out perfect. I decided to interface the midriff piece and the strips. The only weak point is that since it is cotton, it wrinkles (one can't have it all). See the picture after being sit for one hour in a restaurant. But still, it is really nice and special. Here I am wearing it with a pearl necklace form the 1960s and with the fabulous and confortable UGG Kalia, my best buy of the summer

Retro Butterflies Sundress

I am happy and proud to present this dress. Why? Because finally I managed to make a cut-at-the-waist design which is both confortable and becoming to my body, after some failures. How?

Again, couture techniques learned from reading Shaffer's book have aid me. Following her advice for two piece dresses cut at the waist, I finished both the blouse and the skirt independently. I sew a waistband to the skirt, which made it adjusted and confortable to wear both standing and sitting. Then, I attached the blouse to this waistband, and tada!

The patterns I used come from different places. The blouse is from this 1950s Simplicity dress and the skirt come form my favourite Burda magazine:

The fabric is this light red cotton with white butterflies. I really love this dress, it has a retro flavour that calls for some tatoos!