What I did in 2015...part 2 or Vintage Girl pregnancy looks

So, here we are with the second part of my 2015 review. I spend nine months in 2015 being pregnant and in the end the variety of my clothes was very small. But I knew that this was only for a small period of time. Now I really enjoy it, to go back to my normal me (clothing-wise) and I can wear a lot of my wardrobe again, but still some clothes are to tight. Let's see what the future brings here. The reason for all this smiles at me everyday and makes it all worth it a thousand times :)

So, lets take a look, what I wore and what I made for my growing belly:

This gathered skirt has a wide waistband and shirring in the back. This makes it very flexibel. This worked from the 5th month to around the beginning of the 7th. It is made from a nice printed cotton, has rick-rack at the hem and pockets. The nice thing is, that I will be able to wear that also now that I'm not pregnant.

Another wardrobe staple was this jersey pencil skirt from Burdastyle.de. I made it out of very stretchy jersey and so I was able to wear it from beginning to the end(!). This was really easy to make and absolutely worth the time.

I also made two jersey dresses from a cherry-picking pattern. This one above is also made with jersey from their pattern line. Another one (which I never made a photo of...weird) is made from cherry printed jersey. I wore both also since my baby was born, so they're really versatile, too.

Speaking of jersey dresses: I love them and always will! Nothing beats an easy to wear, but cute jersey dress. Exactly what you need when your body is working hard to produce a baby :)

This is obviously a very special "outfit" of 2015 ;) I didn't made it myself because I didn't have the time to, but I loved my dress. It is from the UK based tiffanyrose.com.

I also wore this dungarees (thrifted, not made by me). They have clever buttons at the side, so you can change the width of the pants.

Of course I wanted to make a vintage maternity pattern, too. So I was browsing etsy and fell in love with this Simplicity (vintage 4635) pattern. This also can be worn while pregnant and afterwards (Hooray for flexibel clothing!!). I did not wear it yet again, because it it very cold outside, but I will try as soon as spring is here. It is a very easy, only a wide dress with a sash to control the width in the back. Here I am doing my housewife duties ;)

So, I hope this was a bit of help for all pregnant ladies, who love vintage inspired looks :)

Yours,

Mel

What I did in 2015...

Hello readers, it's 2016 and it's time to dust off of this blog. 2015 was a special year for me, because I became a mum. So when I find out, that I was expecting, I made a few comfy jersey dresses, but when the belly became bigger and bigger, I wasn't that motivated to sew for myself. Tailored jackets and stuff like that where nothing for me last year ;) Instead I made cute baby clothes and more hats :) Here is a little overview of my sewing year :

 

two cute sets made from Farbenmix patterns

matching shirts for my guys 

 

shirts, pattern is also from farbenmix

a few stylish burp clothes ;) , embroidery designs by www.urbanthreads.com

little shoes :)

This was one part of my review. Stay tuned for another pregancy posts: vintage and rockabilly outfits that I wore during my pregancy.

Yours,

Melli

New hats, new hats :)

Perfect new summer accessoires are now available in my store :)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/238216101/fascinator-hat-summer-cherries-pin-up?ref=shop_home_active_1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/238315542/fascinator-hat-gardening-fun-pin-up?ref=listing-shop-header-1

Spring-a-head!

I managed to make a new hat, yay! You can get it here.

Cat lady round up!

Happy new year, readers :) 

Erin of www.misscrayolacreepy.com did the round up for her cat lady sewing challenge :) Take a look, there are awesome creations!

Discover your home town

I live in Berlin, a city which has a lot to offer. That's why I love to play tourist from time to time and discover hidden places. A few weeks ago, we made a walk through Köpenick, which is a disctrict in southern Berlin. This area has a lot of water, like the famous lake called "Müggelsee". So you see a lots of boats here, which make you fell like you're in holiday somewhere in Italy sometimes. It also has a lot of beautiful historic buildings and a palace. Fall gave us an amazing coloful autumn day, which turned the palace grounds into an almost mystical place.

There is one person, who made Köpenick very famous and this is the "Hauptmann von Köpenick" (captain of Köpenick). In 1906 he dressed himself up as an captain, although he was a shoemaker. He managed to get into the city hall, with some soldiers who believed that he was a real captain, and robbed the city treasures. This made him famous here in Germany and there is a statue of him in front of the city hall.

In the pictures you can spot one of my hat designs, which are available through etsy (or dawanda). It is made from the same fabric as my Gertie coat. The suitcase was a flea market find of my boyfriend, who also took all of these great photos.

Sincerely yours,

Melli

A spooky night it was...

Halloween is something that is fairly new here in Germany. It becomes larger and larger over the past few years. And because Halloween is connected to costuming, I sure do love it! This year I had the opportunity to attend a friends party. It was quite spontanous and the only real Halloween costume I had at hand was my old zombie bridal dress, which I made about seven years ago. But it still fits, yay!!

The parties theme was "drawn - be a comic character". I instantly thought of Tim Burtons "corpse bride". I never did a full face paint before, but well I like to try new things from time to time :) I found this tutorial on youtube. It is about 8 minutes long. The make up I did, while stopping the video and trying to keep up, took me about two hours...But I liked it :) We bought this waterpaint for theater purposes and it is really good. Definitely a recommendation!

So here I am in my recent role as "The corpse bride":

Fashion Fantastica on etsy

Dear followers :)

I decided to open an etsy store in addition to my Dawanda shop. I will fill it within the next days. I have some exciting things, which go up in the shop soon.

Check out my etsy shop

cat ladies unite!

Did you see this Sewing Challenge over at www.misscrayolacreepy.com? 

Well, I'm in.

one dress to rule them all...the story of an addiction

I just realized, that I'm in my tenth year of sewing addiction!! On that occassion I bring you some pictures of my first handmade pieces. Have fun :D

*

Ten years ago I decided, that I need a Lord of the rings costume. First I needed it only for carnival, but when this was over I still wanted to have one of those dresses. The first picture below shows my first costume, it was a skirt from my mom and some other clothes I put together. Nothing self-made at this point.

Trying to buy one wasn't successful, because they were quite expensive back then. I just finished my A-levels back then and while I was learning for my biology test, I had the idea to teach myself how to sew. My mom had an 25-year-old Veritas, so I thought I could give it a try, what can be so difficult about it ;)
I ordered some cheap fabric and a sewing pattern and started. I don't have pictures of this very first disastrous thing, but somehow it got me hooked. This "dress" was made from two fabrics, that just didn't work together and of course I did not know anything about grainlines or things like that. In addition to that it had the dimensions of a tent. I used a Mccalls pattern back then and didn't know about the American sizes. Anyways, it was enough to keep me going, so I made the white and golden dress below after that first try.

The fantasy costumes brought me to medieval dresses and so I gained interest for authentic clothing through the centuries. The Victorian era was my favorite and so I started making bustle dresses with corsets and steel-boned underskirts. I sewed miles of ruffles and when I made the corsets, my room looked like tool shop, not like a sewing room (which was my bedroom, btw). But it was fun and I still love the dresses of that era, although I don't make them anymore (no space for that, I just don't live in a castle).

I still make costumes, but as you may have noticed, I found my soft-spot of sewing in the 1940s and 1950s. But anyways, I just love all kind of crafts, especially sewing. So thank you Lord of the Rings, you got me hooked on a needle.

(credits)

If you are new to the wonderful world of sewing, all I can say is:

Each crooked seam brings you closer to perfect straight ones and your seam ripper is your best friend :)