It’s the end of the week again, which means Christmas Eve is 10 days away…I am a teensy weensy bit overwhelmed. Anyway, Happy Friday! Have you been enjoying the color-block trend as much as I have? I recently acquired this very cool fabric, and it’s got Lycra (though mostly cotton) that gives it a sheen and stretch and almost raincoat-like feel to it. I immediately wanted to make a jacket.
This pattern from this book is actually a peter-pan collared coat, but I didn’t want to break up the clean lines of the fabric so I removed the collar. Love the pleat in the back, and the little belt detail.
I also made a gathered linen dress that is a beautiful dusty rose color. It’s remarkably close to the color of K’s room’s walls (where almost all these outfit shots are taken). It has a lot of grey tone in it, subduing the pinkness. You can see my messy zigzag seams where the dress skirt is flipped up a bit – I’ve been too lazy to operate my serger, which is cantankerous and makes me equally so.
The dress pattern is from this book, and for some reason it looked really weird when I first finished sewing it. I pluck, pluck, plucked many seams out and adjusted the fit multiple times. Even so, K says the elastic areas are itchy…hmmmmm. Need to tinker with this one a little more. It’s really cute, though.
The lighting is tough during these winter months. I haven’t been able to get many decent shots lately, and out of 300+ that I shot, these few were the only halfway presentable ones. I dream of upgrading my camera and getting some semi-professional lighting one day (I’ve heard these are good). There is a long and ridiculous story associated with how I fell into a swimming pool while holding my better and now defunct camera (RIP). I’ll tell you about it one day.
Here you can see the coat a little better:
Have a fun weekend, all! I hope you have lots of festivities planned with loved ones.
K is accumulating such a fabulous wardrobe! I’d love to see some mash-up pics to see how she wears the different pieces you’ve created. That coat is so fun and colorful for little ones, and the dress is so sweet. That pink is one of my favorite colors. Bummer about your camera. What kind are you using? A friend suggested I try to shoot with north facing light, and I found that I could get much better pics on my north facing covered porch than I ever could inside, even at 3:30 after school. Have a great weekend, Sanae. 🙂
Thanks, Robin! A mash-up would be fun to do (I’ve been watching Glee while I sew so I can’t help but think of music when I hear mash-up). I have a Canon Rebel t3i, which I’m still learning how to use. I blame the lack of light, but have a sneaking suspicion it may be mostly user error…i’ll have to try give the north facing light a go. Have a wonderful weekend too!
I confess to fabric envy with that coat! How awesome does it look sewn up as a coat! And thanks for your thoughts on the gathered pink dress (which looks so beautiful on your daughter!). I have that pattern book too, and have often wondered how the pattern would translate to “real life” wear with all that gathering.
As for the camera, do you shoot in manual mode? If so, perhaps you could open up your aperture a bit to let in more light. If K holds fairly still, you should be able to get some crisp shots even with a larger aperture (which strangely means a smaller number). As for the grey days, I honestly think we have you beat here in Michigan. We moved from Vancouver to MIchigan and found that it felt just the same – just colder!
Hey Lucinda – yes, the fabric is fantastic and like so many of my projects, I wish I had bought more! I have yet to master the manual mode, though I’m practicing daily. Usually I shoot in AV mode for the outfit photos because K moves around so much I can’t focus on her fast enough. Ah Michigan – I went to Lake Leelanau this past summer and loved it. I had no ideas cherries grew in such abundance near Traverse City! Thanks for the photography tips – I’m going to keep practicing 🙂