All posts filed under: What I wear

Halloween costume, Fawkes the Phoenix Costume, Harry Potter Hogwarts Costume thedreamstress.com

Fawkes the Phoenix: a Hogwarts Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday, with lots of the best parts of Halloween: creativity, community, an awesome Halloween Costume, a little bit of candy, and tons of fun. I’ve never grown out of my love of Halloween, but it’s only recently become a ‘thing’ in New Zealand,  Usually there aren’t many cool events to go to – especially as an adult. This year  Zara of Off-grid Chic alerted me to a Haunted Hogwarts party.  Exciting! We decided to be the weird fully-grown women who went along without any kids, in full Halloween costume. Super last minute Halloween costumes!  We’re both incredibly busy! I went closet-diving, and found: the dress I made as my end-of-semester project my first year in Uni; a silk blouse with scalloped edges by NZ designer Blak;  my red sequinned Dorothy shoes;  and a mask, originally made as a tui by the Comtesse de Chambourd, and re-made by me as a Labyrinth Firey when the paint started flaking off, and bunch of wrist, ankle & neck pieces …

Sewing Magic Stella Skirt thedreamstress.com

A Sewing Magic Skirt

My sewing goal for Summer 2017/18 is to get my PHD (project half done) pile reduced by half.  Which means finishing at least a dozen projects, because it’s a little out of control! I’m getting a little help in the push to finish things thanks to the re-launch of the Sew Weekly (ooooh!), though it’s Instagram only this time ( 🙁 ).  But I can still show you the things I make here, and be able to talk about them in depth. First off: something for the way-too-easy-to-be-on-theme-for ‘UFO’ challenge: This skirt has been on my PHD pile for over a year, ever since I started it along with a class I was teaching.  Things begun along with classes are the problem with half my pile. As a textile fanatic (aka, snob), printed ikat-look fabrics usually make my head hurt. The weave is so intrinsic to an ikat. This one, however, managed to win me over.  It’s a heavy stretch herringbone twill, and the weave of the fabric and the colours of the print just …

Gather Ye Rosebuds CoCo 2017 Gala Gown thedreamstress.com

Gather ye Rosebuds… a 1916 crinoline evening dress

And here it is!  My 1916 crinoline revival evening dress: Officially, it’s been dubbed the ‘Gather ye Rosebuds’ dress – I felt I needed to make it before I was too old to get away with this look, it’s trimmed with roses, and there was lots of gathering (my gosh was there so much gathering.  I gathered, and gathered, and gathered some more….). Unofficially….it’s the Jellyfish. I assembled all the pieces, put them together, put the dress on, looked at myself, and said “Oh dear, I’ve made a jellyfish!” I have mixed feelings about the Jellyfish. I really enjoyed wearing it.  It was very bouncy, and I bounced a lot (lots of people took videos of me bouncing and spinning in it, but so far I’ve only seen one and I can’t figure out how to download it!). And I knew it was far from perfect so I didn’t feel the need to be precious about it. But…I know it’s far (so far…) from perfect.  It started out really thought-out and precise and beautifully finished, …