Snow White Costume, self drafted

In France we're used to costume more or less weirdly the bride-to-be and to make her do fun and crazy stuff for her bachelorette party. It's usually around a theme.
Since KiKou (my sister who is sewing with me on [Kikuyu]) has always been a big fan of all Disney's cartoons, I made a Snow White costume for her:

Isn't she a nice princess?

To make it, I used:
- a big old blue shirt (thanks dad!)
- some red fabric leftover
- some white lace trim
- a big polyester satin yellow/gold (I would say 3m (3.1/4 yard) but I'm not sure).
- a model to try on the costume-to-be: Thanks to my mom and youngest sister! (yes, all the family had to contribute for the bride-to-be gift!)

I bought a black wig and added a red ribbon.
I'm happy with the finish and love the top part which was easy to make and fits greatly due to the cotton knit shirt used!

Oh... And one last thing: Do NOT forget the prince charming to wake up your princess!

Dresses for my sister's wedding

Here a pic of her in her stunning dress with her dear darling:

Her dress was made after her taste and instructions as a all-year-long school project for a future seamstress in her last year of sewing high school. It's a dupioni or shantung silk (I have no idea how to recognize it, since in France we just call that "wild silk").
She really loved to be able to get such a nice customized wedding dress, and trying it on a few times during the process. She was so happy with it! And seriously, that's a steal...

For this wedding I made my youngest sister's dress and mine (the one for which I decided a year ago to start sewing).
You can see her (on the right) and me around the groom's bother:

Even though in France we're not used to have bridesmaid (so no all assorted bridesmaid dresses), we though it was nice for the pictures to have matching colors.

I did my young sister dress following her wills, without a proper pattern. I also made a matching cover up like the one already made for me: Vogue 8622. But she haven't had any use for it since it was warm enough.

My dress (on the left) is the McCall's 4460 pattern. I also made a matching Buttercup Bag Made By Rae which is a really nice free pattern.

But I will tell you more about all this sewing in upcoming posts.

Congrats to my sister for her wonderful wedding! I hope you'll live happily ever after ;-)

Vogue 8622 Evening wrap

To match my bluish-black evening dress, I made Vogue 7161 evening wrap. Since I was afraid the color was too much of a "look at me" style, I decided to make a classy one and choose this Vogue 8622 View C.

I used a black polyester chiffon.

I love the french seams finish!
When I bought the pattern, I was afraid how seams will look since I don't have a serger. But french seams are fantastic: you just need a regular sewing machine, with straight stitch. And it looks so nice and neat.

You just have to pay attention to start with wrong sides together.
By the way, I made a mistake when making the lower sleeves seam: I haven't noticed how they wanted to put it...
They should be shorter because they should be fold toward the top of the sleeve.
But I finally like how it looks, and this avoid me some hand sewing.

And look around my neck: it's a home-made beads necklace!


A view of the back, with my evening dress:

Neck and bottom pleats were king of annoying to make because of the slippery chiffon.

I like how neck pleats look, but I'm less convinced by the bottom ones.

Here, another picture of the back, over a white top. This way, you can clearly see some french seam.

I enjoyed sewing it and I love the look, I might wait to find a silk chiffon to do it again.

Vogue 7161 Evening wrap

I made the evening wrap Vogue 7161 from Elizabeth Gillet view A, to match a dress for a wedding.





I used two polyesters silk shantung from JoAnn's.

It was really easy to make and the good point is it stay in place alone!
I would say the bad point is the fusible interfacing. The pattern doesn't tell you on which side ironing it (I put it on the clearest one). And I think it makes the wrap a little weird even if it help keeping the shape.
Next time I would try without fusible interfacing or with a double sided fusible interfacing.

McCall 5913 Coat

I made this McCall's 5913 "coat" before Christmas. I first wanted to make it as a comfy fleece for home. So I made the view C, long with a sash.
It turned out so nice, I finally wore it for going out.

It was really easy to make (no lining). This was my second sewing project and the most difficult part was the buttonholes. For my (old) machine, you have to add a buttonholer which is impressive. After giving a few tries, I manage to understand how it works, and it's pretty easy. And they look so great!

I hightly recommend it and will definitively sew it again next winter in a coat fabric, but a little longer and with lower holes for the sash.

Japan Couture Dress

I've made this purple dress with a japanese sewing book. It seems to be a trend in France among sewer to use these books, even without translation, according to the number of member on the JCA's web site.

I used the book they call "01 - Every day camisoles et petits hauts" and made the pattern number 14.


ISBN: 978-4-579-11043-8

My realization:

I added a lining for cold days and remove the zipper since the dress is large enough to put in. I will have to redo the lower seams since it doesn't look so great, due partly to the lining.
The fabric is the leftover from my Vogue 8527 clutch bag.

What I love with this pattern is that you can use that for a summer dress, a winter dress worn with leggings, or a tunic if you had a belt. And in purple (yes, it's purple, even if you might not see that so well on the pictures), assorted with green it's a great outfit for Mardi Gras!
I plan to make one in a white printed cotton for a classy summer dress.

I haven't found so many english websites about japanese sewing, but you should search! They have plenty of books. Even without being able to read instructions in most of them you have pictures to illustrate the steps.
If you click on the "JCA's" picture, you will end up on this website, on a page with all the other realizations for this dress.
Even if the site is in french you can look at all the pictures just by clicking on any book front page on the left column to see what people made with that book. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask me!

Fabric flowers

I made an organza flower to ornate an evening dress.
It's really fun and easy to do.

Here's a "how to" in pictures:

I cut six organza flower shape in two sizes for this final flower.

You can find explanations and pictures in this wonderful blog:
Organza Flowers by Reese Dixon
and on Jo-Ann website:
Classic Elegance Flower by Jo-Ann