Plan for a Copy Cat Red tweed jacket

I search on Pinterest often for sewing and refashion inspirations. Most of the time I don't copy the inspiration exactly but just took the ideas and make my own garment with stash fabrics and notions. As I have mentioned before, my fabric stash and my pattern stash is embarrassingly enormous that I have no need to shop for fabrics/patterns for many years to come.

I found this picture on Pinterest last year and I have been obsessing about making a similar jacket:

Source: Pinterest

I love the colour (red is my favourite colour). I love the mix of fabrics. I love the easy shape of the jacket. I like that this can be made into a 3 season jacket with the right combination of fabrics. I just want to make one like this! I think I have some similar fabrics in my stash. Now I just need to find the right boxy jacket stash pattern to make this a reality! Time to dig into my fabric and pattern stash!

Self-Made Dresses Outfit Challenge - Day 4-7

I hadn't post for a while because was an ice storm last week and I got really  busy with things. Regardless, here are the outfits for day 4-7 of the Self-Made Dresses Outfit challenge:

Day 4 - I wore a refashioned Black Cotton knit dress with my self-made and refashioned blue boucle cardigan jacket. The belt was thrifted. It was still raining so I wore my thrifted rainboots. It was actually a bit warm with that cardi-jacket.

Day 5 - I wore my self-made copycat wool blend New Look 6779 dress. I don't wear this dress enough because it's a bit dressy for day-to-day. But I really should try to find occasions to wear it. It wasn't raining so I could wear my thrifted red leather boots with the outfit.

Day 6 - It was a bit colder on this day. I wore my dress that was refashioned from a wool sweater dress. I wore a thrifted long sleeves t-shirt, thrifted suede winter boots and an alpaca scarf that was gifted to me for x'mas.

Day 7 - It was rainy again. I was in a rush in the morning so I just grabbed my cold weather uniform - a navy wool sweater dress. I altered the thrifted dress by shrinking it and adding silver buttons on the pockets. I wore my thrifted rainboots again.

It was a fun challenge. The main goal was to force me to wear things that I usually don't remember to wear. I will definitely be doing more of these challenges to force me to wear the other items in my closet.

Random thoughts: Gwen's embellished boots

As I have mentioned before on my blog, I'm really grateful that I sew. I love having this kinda useful hobby (better than a gambling hobby perhaps? ;-), I can replicate a lot of things that I like or my kids like at a fraction of the cost. My creative outlet relaxes me and is very therapeutic for me. My hubby is happy when I sew which means I'm not buggy him or complaining about things (sewing is vital for marital bliss! LOL!).

As for copycat fashions, I saw on an entertainment blog about these boots that Gwen Stefani wore recently. Apparently lots of fashion blog readers were salivating for them:

Source

They are really not my style but I thought it wouldn't be difficult to replicate those embellishments on a pair of plain black ankle boots. I don't know how much these actual boots cost but I think any seasons crafter can do a DIY version of this. You need some chevron ribbons, some knitted band and then some zipper tapes, sew them together and add some lose yarn at the back. Then slide the whole 'cuff' on top of any plain black stiletto ankle boots and you have the look of these probably very expensive designer boots!

MAGAM Sept Plan - A Copycat Tweed Dress for Autumn

Although it is still really hot and humid outside, I am already planning my Autumn/Winter wardrobe. The September Theme for Make A Garment A Month is 'Snoop fashion', which I also call it 'CopyCat fashion'. There are so many special occasion gowns that I would like to copy. But I thought I would stick to garments that I would actually wear this autumn/winter.

I have seen this picture on the web before of a lovely tweed dress but I have no idea who designed it (if you know who the designer is please let me know). The picture with Alexa Chung looks weird, as if it had been altered. Nonetheless the dress looks like something cute and practical for me:

Source

I have accumulated lots of tweed for office wear but I don't have a pink tweed. I figure that I could use this brownish tweed and New look 6779 (both from my stash) for this dress:

Of course my tweed is way more somber looking than the lively pink tweed in the inspiration photo. I haven't decided what the contrast fabric would be. I will need to dig deeper into my fabric stash to see what can liven up this drab tweed. Looking forward to working on it!

Copycat Fashion - Strapless Peplum Gown 2 Done!

I have been busy making my dear friend's Red Ponte Strapless Peplum Gown these past 2 weeks (see my prototype here). And it's done! She will be wearing this as a wedding guest in May. This is how it looks on the hanger:

It was a great learning experience for me to make someone else a fitted gown. It took 2 fittings and around 2 weeks to make. The fact that the gown is strapless makes it super important to fit snugly at the bust. The give more shape to the bust area and help it 'stand up' a bit, I added plastic boning in the side front and side back:

I lined the dress with a thin knit lining to make sure that there is no VPL showing. My friend requested a narrower hem than the hip and a centre back slit. I narrowed the hem circumference about 10cm compared to the hip circumference.

I also added a centre back invisible zipper so it's easy for my friend to get in and out of the dress without ruining her hair. The original pattern doesn't have any zippers at all.

I have made dresses with this pattern before and it's a relatively straight forward pattern. The key is the fit has to be right and that took 2 tries to get it right. Also, all the other changes I made to the pattern (the back zipper, boning, lining the dress, the peplum, the narrowed pencil hem, the centre back slit) took more time to plan and to do.

All in all I'm pleased with the final outcome. My friend won't be wearing this dress until early May so I'll have to wait till then to have a full dressed photo from her! I hope she won't lose or gain weight between now and then! My friend has 3 kids and fabulous body. Even with no shapewear and a regular bra (she will be buying a strapless bra soon), she looks gorgeous in it:

Copycat Strapless peplum gown for MAGAM done!

I have had so much fun making this dress. I love sewing with knits! This mystery cheapy bin knit that I bought years ago has a good 4 way stretch (about 20% each way) and it's slightly textured (more for sportswear I think). It is a great knit for something like leggings. However for a long tube gown, it's a bit heavy and I probably will have to keep pulling it up if the dress if not pinned to my strapless bra (thank goodness for safety pins! ;-).

I used Simplicity 8764 before so I didn't look at the instructions much. I had already tweaked the pattern to my body so everything seemed straight forward enough. I made the long tube dress first (with no peplum), and moved the centre back slit to the left side. I felt that a side seam would make it easier to walk around and it would be nice to show a little bit of the leg. I added a slip from under the bust to just above the side slit, with a nude slip that I thrifted at my local thrift store last year.

After I have sewn the plain tube dress to my satisfaction, I drafted the peplum. Most websites suggested drafting the peplum into a full circle. I thought it would be too frilly for me so I made it into 3 quarters of a circle. In hindsight, a full circle would have looked better I think. I sewed the peplum end to end, then sewed the top of the peplum to a ring of narrow elastic. This allows me to position this detachable peplum to wherever I felt best. And best of all, if peplums are out of fashion next year, I can just wear this tube dress without the peplum (I like flexibility and versatility in all my garment creations).

I have learned much from making this dress. I had been avoiding the peplum thinking that it would make me look more stumpy but I think I was wrong. This peplum covered my mommy tummy well enough and I didn't look too stumpy. I guess I will try to make more garments with detachable peplums from now on!

I am quite satisfied with this attempt of the strapless peplum gown. Now I feel more confident in making my friend's strapless peplum gown!

You can see my Review for this Pattern on PatternReview.com.

A Strapless Peplum Gown - A CopyCat Fashion for MAGAM April

My dear friend is going to a wedding and asked me to make her a gown. I'm so excited that she asked me! She showed me this picture:

(I believe this was a Ralph Lauren dress)

 She wanted the same style dress in a tomato red ponte knit that she had purchased. I decided to make a prototype for myself in a bubblegum pink knit that had been in my stash for at least 6 years. I don't have an exact pattern for this dress but I have this old strapless knit dress pattern that I had used before - Simplicity 8764 from 1999. I will just draft the peplum myself.

I have a month to get my friend's dress done so I'd better get cracking with my proof of concept dress! ;-) So exciting!!!

Frozen Queen Elsa costume (an interpretation of it)

Like many little girls, my daughter is a big fan of the movie Frozen, and particularly Elsa. She would sing the 'Let it go' song a few times a day (with choreography) and she had been bugging me to get her an Elsa costume.

I guess I could have bought her one from the store. I looked at the costumes in a store and was aghast by the price and the quality. I thought I could make her a slightly better quality one and a lot cheaper. I bought some turquoise satin, some chiffon with snow prints, and a roll of silver ribbon for less than half the price of the store dress.

I used a thrifted pattern (Butterick 3267 - used a few times before) as a general guide for the A-line dress. I added a centre back zipper (from my stash) and the silver ribbon around the waist in the front. Then I sewed by hand a trapezoid shaped snow-printed chiffon at the back of the dress and just under the arms.

I also got some yellow yarn and made her a hairband/braid. The costume doesn't really look exactly like the one in the store or in the movie but my daughter seemed pleased enough about it. She wears it at least once a day since I made it. I'm happy that she actually likes to wear something that I made for her (she is not always fond of my creations ;)

Accidental CopyCat - Sex And The City Carrie Dress?

I'm still nowhere near figuring out what to make for my July MAGAM project. However, something funny happened yesterday. Apparently I did an Accidental CopyCat fashion of a Sex And the City dress!

I don't watch TV much. I'm not really familiar with the popular TV shows. And even when I watch TV, I mostly watch odd ball stuff on PBS, CBC and TVO. I was showing a friend my DIY wedding dress photos and she said, 'Oh you made the Carrie Dress!' I said, 'Sorry?' She said, 'Yeah you made that dress Carrie wore with Aidan in front of the water fountain!' I said, 'huh?' She said, 'Carrie from Sex And The City!'

I guess I still looked puzzled so she pulled out her phone and searched for the pictures on the web. And here they are:

(Source)

(Source)

I guess I did a Copycat Wedding Dress without knowing it! Apparently I made the exact same Badgley Mischka wedding dress that Carrie was wearing in the show. Although because of her figure, I think the dress looked a bit different on her. The front swoop on her is lower than on mine (probably because I'm more full busted and barrel chested). But it just shows how good the pattern Vogue 2237 is - because it suits a short and wide torso like mine, and as well as a very trim figure like Sarah Jessica Parker!

Disclaimer: I'm not getting any commission from Vogue Patterns. But if you are looking for a wedding dress  sewing pattern, have a look at Vogue 2237! I just check the Vogue pattern web site and they are still selling it in their current collection.

Okay! Back to searching for inspiration for my July MAGAM project......

Copycat Fashion: A Tribute to McQueen and Sherlock Dress

When I used to travel frequently by air for business, it was always difficult to pack business clothes when I had to visit clients' sites in the American South in the summer. The lined linen jackets always stuck to my skin and made me really uncomfortable. I would sweat profusely even on a walk from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned office. I didn't know this then but what I really needed was some professional looking short sleeve dresses that would eliminate the need for a separate jacket. And of course they have to pack well in my tiny carry-on suitcase.

.....which leads me to the creation of this garment. As with many, I'm a big fan of the BBC Sherlock series (a modern adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories). In season 2 episode 1, I was 'in love' when I saw Irene Adler in this dress:

 (source)

This is actually an Alexander McQueen dress with faux jacket flaps in the front. The back is completely smooth. I thought it looked vintage, professional and feminine all at the same time. I had been looking through my pattern stash to see if there were any patterns I could adapt this look to. I tried drafting the extra pieces based on a few woven sheath dress patterns but with no luck. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the lining pieces into it. Eventually I decided it would be easier to try to copy this dress in knit. I searched my fabric stash and found a small piece (less than 1 metre) of grey polyester moderate stretch knit that I had for at least 6 years. There was just enough to do this dress. And the polyester knit is travel friendly too!

I used my go-to moderate stretch knit pattern Butterick 6771 (again) as a base and then drafted the faux jacket front flap, the facings, modified the dress front neckline and shortened the sleeves. It was actually pretty quick to sew. It only took me a couple of nights to get it done. And here is my Tribute to McQueen and Irene Adler dress:

 

(I guess I should have ironed the dress front more.....oh well....)

 

I am happy with how this has turned out. When I was thinking and planning for it in my head, I was totally prepared for this to be an unwearable 'proof of concept'. The fact that I was able to use stash pattern, stash fabric and stash buttons for this was great for me. I think I can wear this not only for the office, but perhaps for a school function, or even a wedding, depending on how I'm going to accessorize this. Another travel friendly versatile dress and I'm busting my fabric/notions stash again! Yay!

Refashion: A Scarf into a Downton-inspired Dress

I thrifted this silk/rayon devore velvet (cut velvet) scarf last month for $3.99. I just love this type of velvet. It's wide enough so I thought it might make a nice tunic or dress for me. After watching a few episodes of the new season of Downton Abbey, I just wanted to make a 1920's dress!

With such a nice fluid fabric, I figured that I could just sew up the side seams, cut out a hole for the head and that would make a flowy tunic/dress. The fringes of the scarf would have been nice if they weren't all tangled together. I had to cut all the fringes off. I was going to do a narrow hem for the neckline but I'm just too lazy. In the end I just used the rolled hem function on my serger to finish the neckline.

 To style this dress, I already have a nice raspberry long slip in my closet (bought on clearance at Debenhams' 15 years ago for 7 quid!) which would go nicely with this tunic. And I also have self-made jet black semi-precious stone jewellery to adorn this dress. I made a black satin belt with remnant satin blanket edging and then added a thrifted brooch to the belt. So here is the Downton-inspired outfit:

 I showed the outfit to hubby and he said it didn't look too costume-like. So what do you think? Can I go out to dinner with this outfit or does it look like I'm going to a fancy dress party? Do you have any Television/Movie inspired outfits too?

80's knit dress to Chanel-esque dress Refashion

I thrifted this big huge 80's coral cotton knit dress and jacket set last year. I thought it was a good deal of material for a few dollars. I had no idea what to do with them until I saw this:

I liked the look of the dress but I thought it looked a bit too fussy. My baby girl would surely like to yank on the front tie or the buttons. So I decided to refashion the coral dress into a simplified version of this Chanel dress.

I know it doesn't look exactly like the inspiration but I actually prefer the simpler version. The steps I used to refashion this:
1. The dress was HUGE. I first washed and tumble-dried it and it shrunk a bit in width and a lot in length. I cut off 4cm from the centre front, 4cm from the centre back, 3 cm from each side seam.
2. I sewed on a black grosgrain ribbon all the way down the centre front.
3. I redrafted the neckline and then sewed a piece of black ribbed knit to form the new neckline.
4. I ripped out the pockets from the jacket and added them to the dress. Unfortunately I damaged the pockets slightly when ripping them out. You can see that they are a bit wonky. I added black grosgrain ribbon to the top of the pockets.  I used the buttons from the jacket to add to the  pockets.

I usually wear this dress with leggings. It's super comfortable. The pockets are nice features as well as essential for a mom with 2 young kids.

As for the jacket, I have grand plans to make a tunic and pants for my baby girl for the Fall. There is still plenty of material for that.