DIY Outfit – Gold Crinkle Party Dress

I love the holiday party season. The dressing up. The cocktails. The mulled wine. The dancing. The cookies. And there is no better reason than a party to make yourself a new dress. Even better if it's something sparkly and fun like today's inspiration – the Eleuthera Tunic from Anthropologie. If you're looking for more inspiration, check out my big party dress roundup.

Moodboard – Party Dresses

Whether you're going to a Christmas party or planning your New Year's Eve, a killer dress is a must-have. Here are some of my favorite picks. Are you shopping for a new party dress this season?

Top row:  Panel Dress  //  Cream Mesh Yoke  //  Blue Lace  //  Black Lace
Bottom row:  Tulle Skirt  //  Sequined Stripe  //  Embellished Sleeves  //  Gold Dress

Related:

Moodboard posts

Fashion posts

Pretty Clothes on Pinterest

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Fall Sewing No. 1 – Lace Top Dress

Here is the first finished piece from my Fall Wardrobe. It's no coincidence that it is number 1 on my list. I actually finished this dress a couple of weeks ago. I love the print on this fabric. It's abstract and not at all fussy. The dark jewel tone colors and black lace make this a great dress for the Fall and Winter season.

How to DIY a Gold Stripe Dress

This body conscious gold striped dress would be so simple and fun to make, not to mention fun to wear. It's the perfect dress to wear out for a summer night on the town, soaking up the late summer sun, maybe enjoying a glass a sangria and a platter of paella.

Summer Sewing #7 – Red Striped Dress

Next up in my Summer Sewing adventure is the last item on the list – the red striped dress. This casual dress is great for summer. Plus, it was so easy to make. I'm sure I'll be wearing this all summer long and probably even making a few more.

How to DIY a Striped Cap Sleeve Dress

Dresses are my go to for Summer. Last year I spent about 3 months just sewing new dresses for myself. That's a lot of dresses. But somehow there's always room for more. I love that I can just throw on a dress and shoes and be out the door without worrying about coordinating. Today's inspiration dress is actually very similar to the one I featured two weeks ago except the kimono style cap sleeves, high v-neck and longer length make this one a little more retro-sophisticated.

Summer Sewing #6 – Painted Stripe Dress

Here's the first finished piece of my Summer Sewing. Yay! One down, six to go. I'm really looking forward to all of my sewing projects. I will not be sewing in order so be prepared for some surprises! This is a great summer dress with its casual painted stripes and cheeky cut out shoulders. The weather here has been cloudy in the morning and sunny and warmish in the afternoon. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to wear this dress soon. Maybe for a happy hour by the beach with oysters and bloody mary's. What could be better?

Drape Drape No. 3 Dress

I've been wanting to make this Drape Drape dress ever since I first bought the book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato. I traced the pattern ages (probably years) ago and on a whim, decided to finally make it. I love the result. The dress is so unique, comfortable and fun to wear. 

How to DIY a Summer Dress

There's nothing better for summer than a flirty dress. My closet is chock-full of dresses. As soon as summer starts to appear, I just can't resist making a few more. I love dresses for so many reasons. One, they're so easy to just throw on and go. Two, you don't need to worry about all the matching of tops and bottoms. And three, simple shapes are really easy to fit when you're making your own. So that's three. :) Why do you like to wear dresses?

How to DIY a Geo-Print Dolman Dress

Continuing this week's theme of geometric prints, today I'm going to show you how to DIY a gorgeous geometric print dolman dress. I love wearing dresses, especially in the summer because they are just so easy to throw on and go. All you need is the dress, shoes and accessories and you're ready to go. Add a belt if you need shape and a jacket or cardi for warmth.

Thursday Vintage – Plaid Dress

This lovely vintage dress and jacket belonged to my great-aunt. I suspect that she had it custom made in Asia, where she spent many years living and working. The plaid is a delicate army green and brown. The design is so completely classic. Did you notice the self fabric belt?

The little cropped jacket is amazing – fabric covered buttons, bound buttonholes and welt pockets.

And do you see that interior pocket below? Amazing! I don't know what you call the toothy, folded fabric feature but it's really cool.

Giveaway Winner Announced!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Shabby Apple Gift Card Giveaway! The giveaway is officially closed. The randomly selected winner is Gina. You will be hearing from us soon!

Don't forget you can still use the code lulalouise10off to receive 10% off your Shabby Apple order until the end of the month.

Shown above: Cider Dress (left) and Animalia Dress (right) both from Shabby Apple

GIVEAWAY - $50 Shabby Apple Gift Card

UPDATE: Entries are officially closed for this giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered! The winner will be announced Friday Oct 12, 2012.

I'm really excited to announce that I'm hosting a giveaway for a $50 Shabby Apple Gift Card. Shabby Apple is an online store of retro dresses and other fabulous clothing items. Their dresses are so gorgeous you might not notice that they're also rather modest. You're never going to have to worry about showing too much thigh or not being able to wear a bra. I also love their exotic location photography. Whatever your next vacation (or vacation dream) calls for, be it a shirt dress, a lace dress or maybe something casual like a maxi dress, they are sure to have it. So, go ahead and enter this giveaway. Instructions are below and there are three ways you can enter!

And because everyone deserves a little something special, use this coupon code: lulalouise10off for a 10% discount at Shabby Apple.

Above: 1) High Tea Skirt 2) Racquet Club Striped Dress 3) Gray Fox Dress  4) New Caledonia Dress


$50 Shabby Apple Gift Card Giveaway

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Visit Shabby Apple and pick your favorite dress (or other item)

2. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook

3. Come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me which Shabby Apple dress or other item is your favorite.

TWO ADDITIONAL WAYS TO ENTER: 

1. Tweet about this giveaway and leave an additional comment telling me you did so.

2. Blog about this giveaway and leave an additional comment telling me you did so.

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You must have a USA shipping address to be eligible for entry. Remember, don't leave comments anonymously. I'll need to be able to reach you!

CONTEST CLOSES Midnight Pacific Time, Wednesday, October 10, 2012.

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It's not required, but it would be super nice if you also follow me via GFC, RSS, Bloglovin, Twitter or Facebook.

I'll announce the winner on Friday, October 12. Good luck!

Dress Month(s) Recap

My dress "month" ended up spanning three whole months and it was so much fun! Believe it or not I still have more dresses in my mind's eye that could be sewn. But alas, I think it's time to move on and try some new things (more on that tomorrow)...

DIY Dip Hem Knit Maxi Dress

I whipped up this maxi dress the other night using the same basic pattern I used for my Colorblock T-shirt Dress. The fabric is a magenta knit that I bought while trying to salvage this drape drape dress. I ended up finding a different fabric that was a perfect match for the drape drape. So, this magenta organic cotton fabric has been sitting around for a while without a destination. 

I was so pleased with my colorblock t-shirt dress that I wanted to do it again and I still wanted to perfect a maxi dress pattern after this one came out a little loose. My original sketch of the dress had a fuller waist and skirt than what I ended up cutting. Sooo, it's still not exactly as I imagined. But I'm starting to figure out this pattern. 

I really like the fit of the neckline and armholes. I mean, it's perfect. Really perfect. I've had neckline fitting problems in the past, particularly while using the t-shirt pattern from the BBW Sew U Home Stretch book (see my review). I also used that pattern for this tank top. It's nice, just too wide across the shoulders. Anyway, I seem to have found ideal measurements for my shoulders and neck and couldn't be happier. The other thing that makes me really happy is that it's SOOO fast to make.

I cut strips from an old ribbed tank top to make the binding. This idea was a tip from this book. It worked well except that I had to make 2 seams on the neck edge binding. And it's a little wonky.



I used my new sewing machine's walking foot to stitch the hem and to topstitch the neck and armholes. It worked well and I didn't have to use an tissue paper underneath to keep the fabric moving. The fabric did start to bunch up under the walking foot (on the backside) a couple of times. I just stopped stitching and lifted the presser foot to release the fabric.

 

This dress has a slight dip hem (aka mullet hem or high low hem). It's really easy to make. Just cut it shorter in the front than the back. I wasn't sure are first if I wanted the dip hem so I cut a long length all the way around and then at the very end, trimmed it down.

I'm really happy with how this dress turned out. It's a great basic pattern that I plan on making again. I was kind of worried that it will go out of fashion soon and my dress will too. I suppose I could always just cut it to the shorter length. What do you think of the dip hem? Is it going to stick around for a while?

Friday Faves – July 27

Today's font is Travel Diary from My Fonts. It's a thick handwritten font reminiscent of chalkboard art and perfect for summer travel inspiration. Follow #FontFriday on twitter for more typographic inspiration. 

Continuing this week's them of colorblocked dresses, here are some sewing patterns so you can make one of your own.

1. Vogue V8805

2. Kat Strapless Dress from Grainline Studio

3. Front Pleat Dress from BurdaStyle

4. Color Block Dress from BurdaStyle

And if you're looking for some sewing related twitter action, Tilly from Tilly and the Buttons is hosting a Sewing Social on Sunday. Check out her blog for the details. Happy weekend everybody!!

Refashion – Wrap Dress to Cut Out Back

I bought this wrap front dress at a thrift store quite a while ago and have never worn it. It fit well but the skirt was too long and there was something about that plus the white fabric, sleeves and wrap front that reminded me of a nurse's uniform. So, it languished in the back of the closet. Then the other day, I was browsing in H&M and spied a white dress with a tiny dot print and a cut out back. I immediately thought of this dress and quickly set about to refashion it.

Here's the BEFORE:

And (drumroll) the AFTER:

The back features a yoke and cut out opening. This is my second cut out back dress this summer. The style is definitely trending these days. I'm quite pleased that I managed to make both dresses bra friendly yet in different ways. When cutting this dress I made sure not to cut the back too deeply while the yoke is quite high on the back making for a perfectly placed cut out.

 

As a nice subtle contrast, I added a white and black striped piping to the edges. I've used this piping on a dress a year ago (see it here). I bought the piping for only $2 in downtown LA and still have about a yard left. Speaking of dots and stripes, have you seen the Tessuti Awards contest? Their theme this year is exactly that! Shortly after finishing my dress I read about the contest and couldn't believe the coincidence.

Cut Out Back Refashion Instructions 

These instructions are very, very basic. A lot will depend on the style and size of the original dress. 

1. Remove seams at sleeves, shoulders and waist. (If your original dress is not a wrap front, you can probably leave the waist seam alone.) Trim skirt to desired length.

2. Using a basic sleeveless dress pattern as a guide, make a pattern for back yoke and cut out back. (I used Simplicity 1873)

3. Cut 2 back yokes using scrap fabric from dress skirt or contrast fabric. One yoke is for the lining.

4. Cut back using pattern. Cut off top of back and half circle opening.

5. Apply piping to half circle cut out. Finish with bias strips cut from sleeve.

6. Baste piping to back yoke (not to the facing).

7. Stitch back yoke to back.


8. Cut bodice front to match basic pattern and seam at center front.

9. Stitch shoulder seams. (I added an extra rectangle of fabric to my shoulders to get the length right. My original dress had a little section there.)

10. Stitch piping to neck edge and armholes. Finish with bias strips.

11. Attach bodice to skirt. I also stitched 1/4 inch elastic to the waist seam.

12. Hem skirt.

I also removed the pocket and then reattached it a little farther inside than the original location.

I'm really pleased with how this refashion turned out. It's so hard to tell when sewing whether something will work out or just go sadly, terribly wrong. The dress also works well worn with a belt. With a jacket or cardigan it would also be a little more modest, if the occasion calls for it that is.

DIY Colorblock T-shirt Dress

I'm so in love with this dress! I whipped it up the other night in about 3 hours. I based the pattern on my 2-hour Dress/Tunic tutorial. I shortened the sleeves and added on a contrast band using a double knit fabric (you might recognize that fabric from this skirt). 

I adapted the measurements a little bit from last time (see below). I really like the fit of the dress and am already planning another one.

To make the sleeves I cut 4 pieces 8 in x 4 in. I was worried about the sleeve sticking out too much at the tops and curved the seam a little from the shoulder down across the sleeve. I used a .5 inch seam allowance throughout.

Here are some really basic instructions. I used my serger for almost all of the seams which except for threading was really fast.

Instructions:

1. Stitch 4 sleeve pieces to front and back.

2. Stitch shoulder seams.

3. Stitch side seams.

4. Fold raw edge of sleeve to inside and stitch to seam allowance.

5. Make neck facing and stitch to neck edge. Turn and press.

6. Topstitch neck edge. (I like to put tissue paper underneath knit fabric when top stitching.)

7. Hem skirt

You're all done! This dress is so easy and so satisfying. It's the perfect project to tackle after something tedious or frustrating.

Using a serger is so great for knits. I even did a blind hem stitch with the serger (below).

Delightful Details – July 24

Oasis Drape Back Color Block Dress

This dress is so chic. From the front it's a simple sheath and then has a surprise draping in the back. And it's all held together with a slim, little yellow belt. Divine!

Friday Faves – July 20

Today's font is Maven, a new font from Lost Type Co-op. Maven is a collection of three light weight fonts. Perfect for the summer heat, no? The above sample is Maven Pro 2, the middle weight of the three. Want some more font goodness? Follow #FontFriday on twitter.

This week I'm featuring a selection of amazing shirt dresses. Check 'em out.

1. Bateau Trench Dress from J.Crew
2. Lilium Shirtdress from Anthropologie
3. KENZO Medallion Print Jacquard Shirtdress from Nordstrom
4. Long Sleeve Band Collar Shirtdress from DKNY

I don't know how the weather is where you are. But I've been hangin' out in some hot places lately. What's your favorite garment for beating the summer heat?