Friday, May 4, 2012

Time to Vote! Week #4--Color Challenge

A Little Gray--Persimmon in the Sun
For this challenge, I based my whole look on the color persimmon. It's not red, not orange, not pink, just persimmon! I made a fun little sunsuit in a vintage-inspired print that features ornate lacy flowers on an ivory background. Part of the challenge for me was finding this one perfect fabric to use in the sunsuit and hat while not having it look like "too much." But if you do happen to want more of it, the hat is reversible!
The versatile grandpa-style cardigan is made of the softest bamboo jersey knit. It features sweet gathered sleeves, roomy pockets, large vintage buttons, and a stylish lace inset in the back yoke. I love how the oversized sweater looks so cool and casual over the short bloomers.


Check out more details and pictures of this fun early summer ensemble at A Little Gray.



CP--Just Peachy

Picking a color was so hard for me! Drew and I love colors. Pretty much all of them. I searched and searched for the "right" color in the right material and just couldn't get in my zone for this challenge. It was love at first sight and touch though when I found this perfect peach. The world made sense again. Peach is not pink. Peach is fresh and fun. Peach is perfect for spring and summer. Peach is youthful. Peach is a little bit retro. Peach is a fashionable color right now but not so trendy and overdone. Peach, peach, peach!


I use solid colors a lot in my designs. I love me a good pattern, but with solids you can really see the details and structure of the item. In this dress the details are the tuxedo ruffles in front, ruffles along the skirt hem, the perfect collar, and my favorite, the half flutter sleeves. I also played with the circle skirt pattern again and came up with a "mullet skirt" style. You know, short in the front and longer in the back! Because of this shape I knew the inside of the skirt piece would be very visible and I wanted it to be just as beautiful, so I used french seams (the seam is fully enclosed). It made such a strong and pretty finish that I used french seams for the entire dress.

The perfect accessory for this dress is the braided leather belt. It was so easy to make and I plan on making one for me too. I used leather scraps from an upholstery store near my house and a buckle from an old belt I never wear (last week's recycle challenge has stuck with me!). And just to send this outfit over the top I made a little retro pillbox hat with silver eyelets for inserting the bobby pins. I really played off the vintage feel of the dress in the photo shoot, but take away the pillbox hat and the historic Chevy and this dress is also modern too. Check out my blog for more pictures and details!




Kiki and Company--Here Comes the Sun
 Oh, how I love color!  Yellow has always been such a happy color to me, so it was a perfect choice for the upcoming sunny summer. One of my favorite trends lately are the pairing of stripes and floral. Knowing that I needed to keep the outfit in one color, I picked up two different shades of yellow and made my own striped fabric and then went to town on this sweet little outfit. I love a good bold pattern with a simple design. This simple dress started out as a tight t-shirt design and ended up a cute and tailored A-line dress. I added large pockets (big enough for ALL of my daughters latest craze...squinkies), and added a really sweet little pleating detail down the side. I finished the dress off with yellow pleating around the bottom of the dress, the neckline and even used it to make little flutter sleeves.
 I know I needed some strong statement pieces to offset the big stripes and I LOVE how they turned out! After making the brooch and the hair accessory, I used the same yellow pleating to make a cuff for my daughter to wear and then finished the floral part off on the shoes with some large flowers that I made to clip on, but are also interchangeable!  This outfit will be perfect for the quickly approaching summer, but even as the fall approaches, this dress paired with a little cardigan, skinny jeans and knee high boots will keep her warm and still bright.
Come on by Kiki and Company to see all the little details and grab your free paper doll outfit!



Melly Sews--Wildflower White
When I got the list of themes for this season and saw Color for Week 4, I knew instantly what color I wanted to work with and where I wanted to shoot photos. In our part of Texas, it is a spring tradition to go shoot portraits in the wildflowers, specifically the bluebonnets, and after a terrible drought last year, we got enough rain at the right time to have gorgeous fields of bluebonnets this year. Wildflower White is the perfect look to wear for timeless photos.
The dress is layers of cotton gauze, one of my favorite summer fabrics because it's light and easy to wash and wear. I started with a simple strappy sundress, fully lined with more gauze, then added the draped layers at the sides and topped it off with every trim in the store (at least according to my Hubby). It has crochet lace straps and trim, a stretch-shirred off the shoulder lace flounce, and a coordinated headband with scraps of lace and cotton gauze rosettes. For my son's outfit, I used white linen, and drafted a shirt in a guayabera style, with embroidery down the fronts and on the back, traditional pintucked pleats matched at the shoulder seams and patch pockets. The shorts feature cargo pockets, cuffs, a mock fly and button tabs. They are fully lined so we don't see undies peeking through the white linen.
Check out more pictures on my blog, Melly Sews!



Sew Together--Pinky Promise


When our two littlest girls discovered that the challenge this week was colour and that they were going to be our models, their campaign for pink began. Although we were initially reluctant (we have SO much pink in our lives!) the girls were persuasive and we were inspired to make an outfit that we would all love. In order to remedy the sickly sweet reputation that pink has, we decided use a ‘rainbow’ of pink shades to create the fabric for our outfits. It took three fabric stores to find a range of pinks that satisfied our girls! There are 14 different pink solids used in this dress – some plain and others shot cotton. These fabrics were cut into two inch strips and squares. We feel like we spent a lot of the week sewing the most wonderful pink quilt and then cutting it up to make these dresses - anything to make our daughters happy!


 While the girls’ outfits look like pinafores and shirts, they are actually dresses. The lined bodices and skirts are pieced while the puffed sleeves and peter pan collars are made in white cotton. The box pleat in the centre front of the dress adds an extra pop of colour, but also makes the dresses super comfortable for running and playing. The covered button closure at the back makes them easy to get on and off…important when you’re four and it’s hot! The striped fabric creates lots of interesting lines - running vertically in some places and horizontally elsewhere. They create fun patterns where the side seams join, where the box pleats meet and along the hemline.



 Little girls like little details. The elastic headbands and covered button bracelets added extra colour to the outfit and may or may not have been a bribe to ‘inspire’ the girls during the photo shoot. We had lots of fun creating this outfit and the girls had lots of fun wearing it. Pop over to Sew Together to see some more photos and finds out all about pink! We’d love to see you…

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17 comments :

  1. now this is the hardest one yet! i love them all, really i do! gosh all that color...LOVE!

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  2. I just can't get over how talented all the contestants are. I love all the looks this week. I want melly sews to make that White dress for me, the pictures on the blog are even more beautiful. Cp with the each is wonderful. The yellow sun colours are stunning. The pink dresses I would wear myself and I need to get my hands on a bamboo cotton cardi - I doubt I'd be able to sew my own as apparently it's one of the most difficult fabrics Little Grayson has worked with!

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  3. Corrections!:

    *peach
    * little GRAY

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  4. how to vote??? they are all so cute! great job ladies!

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  5. Sew Together and Just Peachy-- both are amazing! The construction on both is WOW, and the fact that Sew Together actually CREATED that pink fabric is awesome. Soooo talented. Good luck choosing a winner!

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  6. Very nice ladies! I am partial to creative boy clothing ... WTG Melly.

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  7. These are all beautiful! I can barely decide! All of you ladies are my sewing role models!

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  8. I honestly cannot decide what to vote for. For the first time ever - I love each and every look. I would love to make each one and usually I like one or two. This week's layout is AMAZING!!! I cannot get over how great each look is!!

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  9. I don't know how to choose, they are all so good!

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  10. yes. this is the hardest one. persimmon is my favorite color ever...but i am a sucker for yellow. yeesh!

    jenna
    callherhappy.com

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  11. Wow. wow. Wow. Truly amazing, each of you. Great job!!!

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  12. Wow, usually I know exactly who I am going to vote for as soon as I see the outfits; but this week it's completely impossible! Seriously, great job, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!

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  13. amazing work, that last one

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  14. Wow! These are incredible this week! I'm so glad I am not having to choose who wins, because they ALL have!!! Awesome ladies!

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  15. I vote for Drew . The peach is refreshing and stunning !

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  16. I vote for just peachy but all the dresses are inspirational!:)

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