Vienna!

Guten tag from Vienna!

Sorry about the crappy iPhone photos and no outfit shots, but I am having technological issues and I´m all by myself so it´s logistically difficult to take a photo that is more than my arm´s length away.

Vienna is an absolutely beautiful city. I wish I had some company but I´m still having a good time. I haven´t even got lost yet, which is a miracle in itself. There is a maze at the castle I am going to tomorrow that I´d love to see... but I´m afraid that if I enter it I´ll never return... I much prefer travelling with someone who can take charge of all navigational matters!

I was pretty excited about doing lots of shopping here but I´m a bit disappointed. I bought a beautiful vintage top from the most fabulous vintage shop ever but everything else is either H&M or Versace and nothing in between. Oh well, I´ll save all my money (and suitcase space) for England.

I´m going to be settled in England on Monday, so hopefully I´ll be able to do a proper post then.

Hyperallergenic necklace

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post. It's so lovely that anyone is still reading my blog when I have been so lax with my updates.

Here is another one the dresses I made for my upcoming trip. It's a blatant rip off of the not-terribly-original Wiksten Anna dress (except mine is lined, is more fitted and has more interesting sleeves). I wanted to go for the casual chic look... however I'm a little worried that it looks like some sort of standard issue garb given to me when I got too old to live at the orphanage!

I thought accessorising would be the key. Although I'm useless at that and own almost no jewellery. I think it looks quite good with my $2 charity shop necklace... but I can only wear it for 2 hours at a time as I am completely allergic to any metal that isn't frightfully expensive. (This is perhaps the reason why I don't own jewellery.)

I have been organising my travel wardrobe and it's not as dire as I first expected! Stay tuned in the next few days for outfit pics, tips for dressing for winter travel and ... *drumroll*... my travel itinerary.

I am never sewing velvet again

Greetings!
My absence has been long, but, as usual, I have returned to post some lack-luster new outfits.

I'm going to Europe for 8 weeks next week (Aahh! Typing that makes it seem so real!). Since I have no winter clothes (as evidenced by my untimely mid-Self-Stitched-September departure), my mission is make at least 3 warm outfits to get me through a week or so before I can buy up big at Topshop.

I've made a few things but I'm not 100% thrilled with any of them. I'll post them all over the next couple of weeks, plus some Europe photos, hopefully, although I'm not quite sure where I'm going to get a camera from...

I've been completely obsessed with silk velvet lately, but I haven't been able to find any affordable stuff online other than the undyed variety from the excellent Silk Wholesalers. After spending 3 years dyeing everything for uni I swore I'd never ever dye anything again, but I caved, and dyed it a gorgeous dusky pink (it was supposed to be red... but the colour is more gorgeous than I had planned).

Unfortunately, as I should have realised, velvet is a bastard to work with, especially since you can't iron it. Apparently you can get some kind of miniature bed of nails, so you can iron without crushing the pile... but I was in a hurry and couldn't be dealing with that malarky.

I don't think the style of the dress takes full advantage of the gorgeous drape of the fabric and I think a simpler, less fitted design would have looked better. But the dress is wearable, I hope.

Does anyone have any good velvet-sewing tips?

The offending dress

I tried my new dress on this morning and I've decided it's fab. I think I was being a drama queen the other day and my issues with it were mostly unfounded. Here it is!

It's got the same frill/sleeve situation as my new white lacy top. The colour's not quite right in the pictures; it's quite a lot duller and not at all shiny... but you get the idea. I made it from a silk/linen that I've had lingering in my spare room for years. It is lovely fabric, but it does crease like a bastard... but I think if I wear it in a casual setting on a hot day with the Swedish Hasbeens I'm about to buy online, it'll be fine.

I'm solvent again so I went shopping today and bought some new green suede shoes, because a girl can never have too many pairs of green shoes! I am also going to the hairdresser on Monday to try and sort out my hair colour debacle. I hope she doesn't make it worse.

I've got some more SSS pictures, but I have dodgy hair in them so I'll add them another day.

SSS - day 14 + sewing based rant

Frankensteined and refashioned cardigan(s) as blogged here

I had such a lovely day off yesterday that I decided to take another one off today to finish my new dress. I clearly jinxed myself as I had a bad day, I ate about 6000 calories and I'm angry about my dress.

The intention was to make something with a relaxed fit with a similar sort of vibe as this gorgeous 1920s dress as worn by Rhiannon of Liebemarlene Vintage.

I'm worried mine just looks like a tent. Admittedly, Rhiannon is a stick insect, so perhaps non-fitted dresses just suit her better than me. Can any of my lovely bloggy friends help? How do you make a loose fitting dress without it looking like you made something 3 sizes too big?

The other issue I am having is one that has been plaguing me for years. What do you do with fabric that creases like a bastard? I know that theoretically the solution is to make something that lends itself to the creased look... which is why I chose this particular vibe of dress. But again, there is a fine line between looking relaxed vintage cool and looking like you couldn't be arsed ironing your dress this morning.

Grrrr! The offending dress has been relegated to my wardrobe and I don't want to see it for a while. Perhaps it's not as bad as I think. I'll let it settle for a while and I'll take it out for some photos when I'm feeling less belligerent.

SSS - days 9, 10, 11 and 12

Hopefully soon I'll blog about something other than what I've been wearing this month! I've got the day off today and am making a new dress! Hopefully it will feature soon.

Day 12

I've decided that I actually really love this refashioned mustard blouse.

Day 11

I bought this gorgeous vintage yellow linen from eBay ages ago. Lemon is one of those colours that I absolutely adore, but I don't think it adores me. Initially I wanted to make a dress from it, but I thought it would be safer as a skirt, so it wouldn't be too obvious that it doesn't suit me.

The top was once a lovely 1950s blouse but it was massive and very unflattering so I saved the front and the button-up back and used pattern for my black lace top to turn it into a crop top.

Day 10

Sorry about the terrible photo and my friend's foot. Better view of the dress here. I'm also not supposed to be wearing that bloody cardigan ever again... but I just can't seem to part with it! Argh!!

Day 9

This is my attempt at making one of those enormous-shouldered Balmain blazers that were all the rage a couple of years ago. Each shoulder has 2 of the biggest shoulder pads I could find stacked on top of each other.

SSS - day 8

Better outfit today! It even coped well on the bike! Thank you for all your lovely tips. I'm a bit behind with replying to comments/reading all your delightful blogs, but I'll be back with you in a few days.