Tape Measures Cambie-Hack

This is one of the projects I finished during my "blog-goes-dark" months.

As soon as I saw this fabric I just HAD to have it.

Full Price? Not a problem.
Weird Heavy Drill Fabric? Don't Care.
Probably not the best colours on me? Still don't care.
IT.
HAS.
TAPE.
MEASURES.

Seriously!!! TAPE MEASURES!!

I'm slowly learning that I in fact have a love of kitchy, novelty prints. I'm also slowly learning that I am in fact a hipster and really what is more hipster than a self-employed artisan dressmaker in a tape measure dress made from an independent pattern company design...

I should also point out that I f*cking love this dress. Literally so much love it has to come with swearing because this is awesome! Also there is a LOT of goober face in these pics as they were taken on timer after a long night out but sorrynotsorry I'm not taking more so this is the best you get.

The bodice is the Sewaholic Cambie Dress in a size 6. I add about 1.5cm to this size in the side/back seams since the Cambie is really designed for pear shapes and I'm definitely not one of those! I could probably do a Full Bust Adjustment but I'm lazy and on me this simple add makes all the difference I need so why get fancy if I don't need to?

Goober Face but Pockets = :)

I changed out the gathered Cambie skirt for the semi-circular one from Vogue 8615 including pockets! Now all my ready-to-wear dresses feel like they lack pockets cos I just love having them in everything I wear sooooo much.

The fabric is from Spotlight of all places and seems to be some kind of novelty cotton drill. It's quite heavy and has a lot of body so I thought the sleeker circle skirt would be more flattering than all those gathers in the original Cambie. Bonus side effect? The heavier fabric means the interfaced waistband holds its shape beautifully, whereas past versions in cotton lawn have tended to roll in at the waist even with interfacing. The downside is there isn't a heap of stretch in the fabric so no big meals in this dress. Plus I've already had to repair the sleeves after ripping them bowling at my work christmas do. But how could I not wear this dress bowling? Such a cute 50's vibe right?

Doing the "Dior New Look" Pose lol

The bodice is lined in pale pink cotton lawn and the skirt portion is unlined to save on weight since this fabric is quite heavy. Construction wise there isn't much more to add - I just love how fun and ridiculous this dress is! 

Bought even more fabric today - I seriously have a problem, maybe someone runs a fabric rehab somewhere I can go to? Will just have to get sewing again I guess... Good thing the sewing room has aircon in this heat!

Happy Sewing!

Stacey

OXOX

Back to Blogging & 2015 Plans

Why hello there...

Did you miss me?

It turns out I had a somewhat unplanned but probably needed break from blogging over the Christmas and New Year period. A combination of returning illness, taking on a new (full time) job plus the general busy-ness of the Summer time all combined to knock me for 6 and ended up with me seriously downsizing my creative projects for quite a few months.

So what's new? Well where to start! I'm now working full time at Uni SA only 10 minutes from home. Originally I didn't want to go back to working a regular full time job since I knew it would severely cut into my StaceyMade time but when this position came up it seemed too good to pass up and well, here we are. Fortunately I work with a great team and it has been a really positive change.

Festive Red hair at Christmas

Yes, sadly this does mean StaceyMade is on the back burner but I am still sewing up occasional projects for the shop and, after almost 3 months off, have finally taken on a full custom order again. I don't want to burn out so I am being really careful about not taking on too much but I don't want to let the business fizzle out when I think it has so much potential to be the right choice for me. So it's just ticking along in the background for now.

The same goes really for everything not work related in my life right now. Some minor medication tweaks in August ended up sending me into a spiralling decline and meant that while I was really happy to start my new job, after 3 months off, pretty much all I had energy for was work and nothing to spare left over. I'm hoping to have finally turned the corner now but I'm still a long way from 100% and thriving. So my motto for the year's beginning seems to be "slow & steady & one thing at a time".

Loving this hair colour - maybe next??



Other New Things? I had Ruby Red Cherry Bomb hair for about 2.5 months over Christmas - sadly it is very high maintenance so I'm now a more subdued red colour but I did love being a "brighthead" and despite how much I hate it when hair colour washes out I am still dreaming of having bright Red, Pink or Purple hair...watch this space hehe. I also re-upholstered our dining chairs since it's been 13 years since their last change and wow, upholstery is seriously hard work. The chairs look great but I don't know if they will hold up through another re-cover so this could be their last hurrah. I'm pretty darn proud of the results though, worth the blisters and sore hands in the end I think.

I have still been sewing during my little blog hiatus - a couple of cute dresses for the Summer and some nice basic tops. Oh, and a giant adult tutu...because WTF not?! I'll post on them separately since I don't think I will get much chance to sew for myself in the coming month or so as I have a big custom job plus some gifts and smaller repairs to work on for other people. I've been feeling very uninspired creativity wise lately (being exhausted all the time and gaining weight while just feeling yuk will do that to you) so hopefully these outward focused projects will help kick-start my enthusiasm for my own projects.

Magical tutu-ness plus a nice basic T-shirt

In terms of 2015 I have a varied run of projects coming up. There is this custom job which, at least in the muslin/fitting stage may involve a sister project for me; some half finished tops to wind up for work wear; in March is a special little lady's birthday which will hopefully involve an Elsa costume plus a Thurlow trouser-a-thon with some sewing gals; September and October we have 2 weddings (1 family and 1 close friends) so there is definitely going to be at least one demi-couture lace and silk outfit in the works! Phew!

Some upcoming projects - one is finished and one is languishing, can you guess which is which?

I'm also having a go at the Colette Sewing Wardrobe Architect Series (check it out here) in an effort to sew more mindfully for myself. I'm right at the limit for number of clothes I own - Yes I hear your expressions of shock and outrage - and really only want to sew things that are going to get a decent amount of wear this year. I liked the concept of the Wardrobe Architect when it first came out but wasn't really interested in sewing too much "cake" for myself at that point. Now I have the StaceyMade shop as an outlet for all my pretty girly fantasies I'm suddenly more interested in sewing practical, but still pretty, stuff for myself! As a result of all this musing I ended up with a Pinterest account and oh my god isn't that a time waster of pretty things. Follow me at www.pinterest.com/staceymade to see what I'm pinning.

I'm sure there is loads I'm leaving out but can't think of anything else to include here right now...I wasn't sure the blog was going to survive into 2015 but now I'm actually writing a post it has made me realise how much I missed it so I think it will live to see another year!

Here's to more blogging in 2015

OXOX
- Stacey