We are well into autumn over here, and it’s a bit colder than normally around this time of year. This means the days are mostly gray, rainy, slippery and chilly. This also means we can bust out the knitwear again so I definitely can’t complain. The only downside is that I have to get used to take photo’s inside for some of my finished makes. I don’t know about you but I find taking photo’s inside a lot more difficult than outside. Taking photo’s outside definitely has my preference, but for some pieces it’s just not possible, because not all clothes are made to be worn outside in the rain at a temperature below ten degrees Celsius. I have to admit that taking photo’s in October of a cotton dress you finished sewing in August isn’t my best idea ever either, but still. My hat goes of to those bloggers who manage to take pretty in doors pictures all the time. If you have some advice how to take pretty pictures during the cold month, let me know.
Fabric: lightweight cotton
Bought at: Local market
Soundtrack: Queen – Bicycle Race & The Who – Going Mobile
I love this dress! It really suits my style and I’m so happy I caved in and bought the pattern back in the summer. Dresses like these are essential to my wardrobe. I’ve already been dreaming up different versions of this dress, a pretty ‘sixties’-variety with lace and buttons is high on my to-do-list. I want to experiment with a tricot version as well. I’ll let you know how it goes!
I know Deer and Doe has recently been featured on some more blogs and they are definitely becoming one of the more popular indie sewing brands out there. Most of the time I try not to be to to influenced by the buzz around some new brand, but at one point when I found myself lost in the blogosphere I stumbled upon their website and decided to try out one of their patterns.
The quality of their patterns in right up there with the best. I love their patterns, and style. Their pattern sizes work really well for me. The patterns are delivered in a sturdy envelope, which comes in handy when storing the patterns. The patterns are printed on sturdy paper as well, which I really appreciate, it makes the pattern more tear-resistent and I also find that it helps when tracing the pattern.
While all these reasons are already quite satisfactory I also like the fact that it’s a European company. Now of course we have some great brands in Europe, like Burda and By Hand London, but most big brands are situated elsewhere. Even thought I happily but patterns from them as well it’s nice to have one in Europe as well. Apart from the whole, support the indie business and the fact that I hope we’ll get more of them in Europe, the fact that things as yardage and meaurements are already there in the metric system, so no having to recalculate, is a plus as well. Also the fact that when you order something from them it’s just there in a couple of days, instead of weeks is a nice change as well. I’m not sure if this is actually a European thing, but they also use techniques I’m more familiar with as opposed to for example Colette. Now this can be a personal preference thing of the company of course, and you do learn stuff from unfamiliar techniques, and I’m way to inexperienced as a garment seamstress to really say a lot about this but I do wonder about it.
Ah who would have though it, suddenly I’m being enthusiastic about my own geographical situation 😉 Anyway all this has resulted in the fact that I already have sewed up three of their patterns…and I’m not even done yet…I want to make them aaaaaalllll…and like multiple versions. *insert manic laughter.*
Now I made my dress with a cotton fabric I found at my market place for a ridiculously cheap price. The bicycle & scooter print alone is irresistible. I bought it initially for my first version of Sureau. The plan was to just make one without making a muslin first, if I screwed up…well not much lost, right? The idea was that it’d become something of a ‘wearable muslin’. Well guess what, it turned out great! The fit is absolutely perfect. Also it’s a thing I have that I like sideways zippers a tiny bit more than a zipper on the back of a dress. I know…weird.
About the soundtrack for the project, I got slightly tempted to list all the vehicle related songs I know. Which are, not to brag, quite a lot. However, the post would be even longer then. Ultimately I only listed these two songs because these were in my head while sewing the dress. Lately I’ve been going through a major Queen phase. Usually I’m not into such bombastic music, I’m more of a folk girl.My brother used to be a huge Queen fan, and when we were kids we used to make these “radio programs”, which basically featured us talking about a hodgepodge of quite unrelated things as kids do, in-between Queen songs and recording all of these wonderful ramblings on compact cassettes. I think my parents still have these childhood treasures. Anyway this resulted in me knowing all their songs by heart before I was well in my teens. So once in a while I get hit by the bug an listen almost solely to Queen songs for a couple if days. Anyway, the show must go on!
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| This dress is especially great for knitting…and bike rides of course! |
I really didn’t know I had so much to say about this dress. In other news, I finished
my Westknits shawl! Binding off a zillion stitches was fun…ahum. You can expect it later on the blog. Now if you excuse me I’m going to stash dive and find a new project to work on.
Have a great weekend!
Nisse
Yay! Great dress!
The fabric was really a lucky find. I'll keep my eyes open for more 'wearable muslin' fabric.
Haha You should do that! You definitely don't have to hesitate. 😉
superleuk Nelson 🙂 groetjes Kim
Haa Nelson,
Ik heb wel een ideetje voor binnenfoto's. Ik vertel het morgen wel.
Haa Nelson,
Mooie jurk en leuk stof. Grappig dat je ons radioprogramma nog herinnert
Mooi kleed met leuke motiven.
Om goede fotos te maken moet je snel naar buiten,fotos maken en weer snel naar binnen.
En dan een kom hete chocolade met een stuk cake om op te warmen.
Groeten aan iedereen.
Daaag.
Paul
Love your dress! About indoor photography. I see you have a window there. It's nice to invest in one of these folding photography reflectors… but you can also make your own out of cardboard and foil.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=folding+reflector+photography&espv=210&es_sm=119&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=QXVcUvjtKuj54APYpYCIBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1162&bih=577
Clip it up on an easel / hat rack / tripod so that you can reflect light to the dark places away from the window (like the back of the dress in that last photo). The gold color side makes a really nice warm light.
In other news, I loved reading about that Indie pattern company. I'm very behind in the sewing world, I will definitely check them out.
Thanks Dayana,
I'm sure to try it. My brother gave me the same tip. I guess I'll start with a homemade reflector, to see if it works, seems straightforward enough 🙂