I hear you all asking...
well,
It is spring carnival season here at the moment and there is horse racing fever in the air!
We went to our local race day and it was so sunny and perfect!
It is spring carnival season here at the moment and there is horse racing fever in the air!
We went to our local race day and it was so sunny and perfect!
I have been super busy sewing up 2 dresses for the day, one for me, and one for another lovely lady I know. It was a time crunch to say the least and came down to the wire...
I was literally sewing buttons on the dresses on the morning of the event... phew!
But it was worth it!!!
But it was worth it!!!
 |
| terrible posture.... haha |
On the left is the lovely lady who asked me to sew her up something in white with a giant collar.
She looks so pretty in white!
On the right is another lady friend of mine and in the middle, myself.
As you can see our two dresses have the same self drafted skirt. But for the white number I used great 60's pattern that has been in my stash since the dawn of time. I have never used the pattern before but it was lucky enough to be in her size, the only change made was that the pattern is a halterneck, but she wanted the back to be enclosed so I drafted up a back piece and had to work out how to make the collar attach to it.... slight nightmare with facings and what not... but we got there in the end!
And she liked it and thats all that matters :-)
Its hard to make out, but there are matching pink silk buttons and undercollar.
And she even found matching shoes!
For my own dress, I drafted a simple bodice with wide straps, partly inspired by Louis Vuitton's recent 50's collection. I got the stretchy cottonish (yes, technical) fabric from Tessuti Fabrics in Melbourne (AKA Heaven)
It was so simple and quite quick, I made a tulle petticoat to give the skirt some body and put on some black silk self covered buttons to match the skirt band.
It was so fun to wear!
My hair even stayed curly ALL DAY after being in pin curls all night, amazing.
It was a fun day full of horse racing, champagne and sore feet.... very sore feet...
Can't wait til next year....
Thank you Mumsy for playing paparazzi for us :-)
Hope your all having a great week and sewing up something pretty.
I have some new fabric and hope to be starting something new as soon as possible, also, we are attending a vintage bike rally next week. Can't wait!!!
til then..
ta ta
Both dresses are gorgeous! Glad you had a great time.
ReplyDeleteI love both dresses! Your very talented.
ReplyDeleteKat
Wow! I adore both of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to the races tomorrow but it'll involve considerably more layers and less style!
Just found you through Sew retro. Beautiful dresses- I love yours the most. Did you make your hair piece too? It is very pretty!
ReplyDeleteThe dresses are beautiful you ladies look lovely...Love how you worked out the back piece I often do this sort of tweaking with patterns it can be a nightmare but you do learn from it. You look so pretty it really makes me want to sew a dress for myself it has been awhile since I have done this. Is that a tattoo on your ankle that I spy? I am wondering what it is I have a few on my arms. I get a kick out of them. Everyone is always surprised when they see mine, I guess most people don't peg me as the sort to have them lol!! and I seem to keep adding to them hehehe!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Pictures hope you enjoyed your event!! ~Heather
What beautiful frocks!!Love the details,esp the bow belt.I was considering going to our cup day-early November-but just can't be arsed!!Mostly cos I'll spend ages getting frocked up spesh & then will probably puke on myself or something classy....
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! I had been eyeing that fabric off in Tessuti for ages - you've used it perfectly! Love how the skirt looks with the petticoat underneath.
ReplyDeleteThe dress style you made Retro Tulips into is perfect and you look like a 50s siren....thanks for the compliment!
ReplyDeleteYou look adorable! All of you - such pretty dresses!
ReplyDeleteHard to believe it's spring somewhere in the world, it's cold and dark and rainy here!
The dresses are gorgeous! Perfect for the races!
ReplyDeleteGreat dresses and perfect for the races! I work at the Turf Club on the Gold Coast so I am at the races pretty much every second week working. It is a lot of fun! We get to take sponsors down to the see the horses jump from the barriers. Its all very exciting!
ReplyDeleteBoth dresses are incredible! Such awesome fit xxx
ReplyDeletegorgeous, you did a great job. I have been eyeing this fabric off at tessuti's myself, it's nice to see it made up :-)
ReplyDeleteNicole
www.rubyslippersvintage.blogspot.com
Thanks to all of you for the kind comments! A few people came up to me on the day and said they liked the dress but most of the girls were in tiny shiny minis and I felt very out of place.... but maybe that was a good thing...
ReplyDeletefancypants: I did make the hairpiece, on the morning of the races haha. I found some great peacock feathers and black feathers and kind of stuck them all to a comb. it looked prettier than the photos...
Heather: I never would have guessed you had a tattoo! thats great. I have 5. but they are mostly hidden so good spotting!
The fabric was so nice to work with, and really flattering to wear because of the stretch. Cant wait to go back to tessuti, Planning a trip there this weekend with stops also at The fabric store on brunswick street and a vintage fabric store that my lovely man discovered for me.... so look out for that post...