Pinspiration Monday - Toile

Ever since I can remember, I've had a fascination with toile de Jouy, usually referred to as just plain toile. I've always loved French things, so that was probably part of it. But I just can't explain how sure it is to catch my eye, wherever I am, whether it's red or blue or black. Since it's the most traditional, I'm going to post all blue toile goodies today!

I've used it to make many things for my Etsy shop and always loved the results.

 

 

 

And here are just some of the beauties I found on Pinterest, there is soooo much more!

 

 

 Such a gorgeous little girl's dress!

 

 

 

Toile underthings! Adorable. 

 

 

Toile shoes!!!!

 

And of course, dresses, gorgeous toile dresses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I'll end with this scrumptious toile cropped jacket, something I've been planning on recreating for quite a while. Hopefully I'll get to it one day soon!

 

 

Instagram Friday

Peekaboo!

A photo posted by Stephanie Lochet (@slochet) on Jul 21, 2014 at 8:19pm PDT

It's a Kittygram today! This is my little Berlioz, who follows me around while I sew. He's the cutest!

Christmas Dress - 2014

Earlier in the year, I made 5 bridesmaid dresses that used 36 yards of tulle each. (I'll have a post coming about that adventure soon!) It was crazy and labor intensive, but I just loved the volume and airiness of the skirt. You'd think I'd be sick of tulle after all that, but instead I was inspired to combine rich, red velvet and a frothy black and white dotted voile I had on hand, along with the tulle underneath for volume to create a fun and festive Christmas dress for myself!

 

As I mentioned in my capelet post, I also loved the idea of having a red velvet capelet to go with it. That part was much more difficult than I'd expected! But first the dress...

I gathered various inspiration pics, mostly of red velvets and white tulles together.

 

 

 

And some capelet inspiration!

 

 

 

 

Originally I was thinking of having a two-tiered skirt, like this one:

 

 

But after starting the process of adding the top tier, it was getting messy and difficult, and I felt there was enough fullness with just the bottom tier so decided against it in the end.

 

As for the bodice, I decided to go with a simple V-neck crossover, and used the bodice from New Look 6557, view B.

 

 

 

Usually crossover necklines want to gape and pull over my full bust, but I was impressed with this pattern, it actually sits really nicely and covers well!

 

For the skirt, I used the same pattern I'd used for the bridesmaid dresses I mentioned above, McCall's 6466. By now I could do it in my sleep! I just used 4 layers instead of 6. Sewing yards of tulle always turns into a mountain of fluff! 

 

 

I finished just in time to wear the dress to the ballet - The Nutcracker, a yearly tradition. 

 

 

I threw on a black cropped sweater I had in my closet, and a black velvet vintage had I'd recently acquired (along with my first hat pin!)

 

 

After that, I had a few days until Christmas itself, plenty of time to whip up a simple capelet! Or so I thought...it started out alright, I used Butterick 5032.

 

 

The pattern is really very straight forward. The problem was the fabric! I was using the red velvet, and a lining fabric, and they did not want to stay together. I managed to get it done, and make it passable to wear, but from close it looks awful and pulls in all kinds of strange ways, which you can see a little on the corner and edge here. 

 

 

 

Fortunately, you can't really tell too much once it's on.

 

 

 

 

 It was still fun to wear, but I think I actually prefer the black cropped sweater with the dress in the end. I look forward to trying out the capelet in an easier to sew fabric soon enough, though!

 

 

Despite the slight disappointment of the capelet, overall I was pleased with the end result. I got quite a few comments from people while I was at the ballet and at dinner afterwards, so I suppose I can call it a success!

 



 

Pinspiration Monday - Capelets!

So lately I've been obsessing over capelets! I keep drooling over vintage dresses with matching capelets made of velvet or chiffon or wool, attached or separate, in all variations. Partly what I love about them is their versatility and wide use in fashion from Victorian times to the 30s to the 50s and more. I even ended up making one to go with my Christmas dress, which was sort of a disaster but more on that in a future post. :-)

Here are some of the lovelies I found on Pinterest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last one is actually a pattern you can get from Decades of Style, and I have to say I'm extremely tempted. I love the buttons, the fitted bodice in combination with the capelet, the color of the drawing, just everything about it! Looking forward to adding more capelets to my wardrobe eventually, and I'm sure I'll keep pinning inspiration as I find it in the meantime. If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest, I'm here. :-)

Instagram Friday

New vintage hat find, brown velvet with satin rosettes! #vintagehat #austingiftco #vintage #1950s

A photo posted by Stephanie Lochet (@slochet) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:18pm PST

This was a lucky find at the local gift shop where I rent a booth, Austin Gift Company. When I'm there restocking or tidying up my booth, I often can't resist walking around and seeing what the other vendors have for sale. There are all kinds of crafts, jewelry, handmade soaps, candles, and lots of vintage resale booths as well. This adorable hat actually matched the outfit I had on when I found it, and even fit my hairstyle that day perfectly, so it was definitely calling my name. Then I saw the price tag - a mere $15 - and I was sold!  I just love finding little treasures like this, it totally made my day! :-)

New Year, New Look!

Photo courtesy of the Daily Mail

So one again it's been quite a while since my last post, but for good reason! I've been busy sewing up a storm this past year, and getting more and more comfortable using patterns and making clothes, both for myself and other people! I also gave my Etsy store a name change, from Aux Belles Choses (which was often hard for people to understand and a nightmare to spell, lol) to the much simpler S. Lochet Designs, and a makeover to accompany it, which I'm quite pleased with. I decided to keep my blog name the same, as it expresses exactly what I love to blog about - beautiful things!

I could call 2014 the Year of Dresses, as I made a grand total of 20+ dresses! Somewhere around 10 for myself, and at least 10 dresses for other people, including 5 retro inspired extremely poufy tulle bridesmaid dresses, which I'll be posting about soon. This is definitely a personal record! As I've gotten more comfortable making dresses, I've missed sharing the process with the blogging world, but I just hadn't gotten back in the documenting habit quite yet. This year, though, I definitely want to change that and I'm planning on documenting much more of my sewing to blog about regularly!

In addition, I plan to have some recurring weekly blog posts, one just sharing "Pinspiration," pretty things found on Pinterest that inspire me. (If you'd like, you can follow me on Pinterest.) I also plan to share some of my Instagram shots, which often tend to be in the middle of sewing projects. (@slochet on Instagram.) These are easy, quick posts that I know I can stick to because they won't take much time, but which totally relate to my creative process and will hopefully keep my blogging momentum going.

I'm very excited about this year, and I can't wait to start sharing more of my sewing projects! As for what I'll be sewing, I think I might want to start with something I've never sewn before - a coat! I'd love to hear your own sewing plans for the new year, dreaming up new potential projects is probably my favorite part. :-)

May your 2015 be filled with happiness and creativity!

My First Franken-Pattern Dress!

Long time no blog! As usual I got bogged down in current events, but I've had several posts in my head just waiting to be written. One of them has been about the making of this dress!

I actually made this dress (extremely last minute, as usual) for my friend Robyn's wedding, whose wedding dress I made and blogged about here, so you've already seen a pic of me in it. I'm adding a few more pics, though, and wanted to share how I spliced it together.

The skirt is using the pattern of the overskirt in Butterick 4790, the Walkaway Dress. This was one of the very first patterns I used, and the very first Retro Butterick pattern. I really loved the shape of the skirt, especially how most of the fullness was on the sides and back.

Of course on the original it splits in front revealing the underskirt, but I just decided to use it as a regular skirt pattern and attach it all together (with the addition of an in seam pocket! All full skirts should have pockets!)

For the bodice, I used McCall's 6599, altered the neckline to a bit of a sweetheart shape and omitted the sleeves. It's not a particularly retro style, but it was just the simple princess seamed bodice I wanted.

I used a cotton poplin with a simple small blue floral print all over. The princess seams made it extremely easy to adjust and fit well. I fully lined the dress with a cotton muslin.

I have been SO pleased with this dress, it is hands down my favorite. I wear it all the time, and it is extremely comfortable. The cotton breathes well in the Texas heat, but it's easy to throw a sweater over for cooler weather as I did during our trip to France this past summer!

 It looks great with a belt or without, with a cardigan or without, and I've even thrown a sweater on top so it looks like a top and skirt. I just love the abundance of skirt and how it swishes when I move. I think I love this dress most of all because I feel like it fits me the best of any garment I've ever made, which makes me want to keep sewing and working at getting the best fit possible for all my clothes! It really is amazing how great a well-fitting garment makes you feel.