Fashion Forward Wednesday

Today's Fashion Forward post comes from a blogger who's style I have admired since I stumbled upon her blog once upon a time.  I encourage everyone to go take a peak at Alisa Burke's blog, she is totally unique, unlike anything I have seen on the web, and I mean that in the best way possible.  She is so creative and I am sure I will be featuring her in future posts! Today I am showcasing a project that involves no sewing or knitting, just the willingness to let your creativity go nuts, with paint!

The Messy Dress

If you head over to the amazing tutorial to create this dress, you will find that with a few tools and some fabric paint you can turn a plain target dress, into your own custom work of art. Like most of the other projects I have featured, you can customize the final product with different dress choice, she shows a gray and green dress, and different paint colors.  Another perk of this project, you start with a fairly cheap dress, and end up with something totally fabulous looking, so much craft bang! Once you have tried her method out you could even expand the technique to tee shirts or skirts. Let your imagine run wild! Check out her awesome tutorial here!  As the artist said both the dresses are "simple, graphic and a little edgy" a perfect addition to you spring wardrobe and sure to become a dress you will love to wear!

See you tomorrow!

 

Fashion Forward Wednesday

Most ladies out there often find themselves in the "Dressing Room of Doom". Where you pull something off the rack and drag yourself into the dressing room, even though you hate trying on clothes, or are not is a shopping mood, etc only to be slapped in the face. You really have to like something to even make it back to the dressing room and then once you get under the florescent lights your own image assaults you. Dang, you think to yourself, if only this were looser here, or shorter there, or the print wasn't hideous. Once I get through all the if, ands or buts, I usually leave the store empty handed, with slightly lower self-esteem and a bad mood. Do you need any more reasons to sew your own clothes? Have I painted a bad enough picture of shopping yet? But then you cut out a pattern, based on the same, often insane, sizing as retailers and what do you get a slightly less bad version of something you could have bought at a store. Well, dang, what is a girl to do?

The obvious answer to to design patterns and clothes ourselves. Perfect! Oh wait, you can barely thread a needle let alone design, and sew your own clothes? Enter the sewing blog I discovered a bit ago, Petit Main Sauvage. Heaven for the sewing obsessed, like me. Even better is the simple directions and inspiration to take on this crazy craft called sewing!

But I digress, a simple, and straight forward tutorial is what awaits you at Petit Main Sauvage. With the easy gored skirt pattern, you can have a pattern tailored to you specific measurements in no time, and a skirt pretty quickly after that! I know this is the second skirt I have featured, and I promise that I will diversify, but I implore you to click here to make your fit fantasies come true! Everyone can use another skirt in an fun print!

Come on ladies...Get Your Spring On!!

Here's that link again

Fashion Forward Wednesday

Today's Fashion Forward Wednesday is so simple that even non-crafters will want to break out the scissors. When I first came across this post I thought to myself, wow this has a lot of craft bang! You see craft bang is a project that is easy, fast, or cheap and produces great results. So things, like mittens on size zero double pointed needles are tedious, and while the result are often worth the effort, it is refreshing to start a project that will take very little time start to finish, and give you something amazing afterward. Hence today's choice...

The Leather Clutch

Head on over to EvaForeva and look at the simple and straight forward directions with pictures. While I am with the author, I like the look of leather alone, you could easily add some pretty extras, like embroidery, or beading. This is another great project that can be tailored to suit your taste and (growing?) wardrobe. Another way to make this clutch your own, add a simple pocket to the lining for your cellphone, or chap-stick. I think you all should make one and grab it when you head out on the town to your local farmers market, who needs a huge purse and a big bag of produce to carry around? While I don't have any leather to cut into here at school, I am on the look out and once I find some, I will definably be making this clutch! Break out that spring top and slip on your jeans and head out the door to enjoy the day, but don't forget your new leather clutch! Don't worry we won't tell how easy it was to make!


*Picture via EvaForeva: Leather Clutch Tutorial

Fashion Forward Wednesday

I couldn't think of a better title for the post. Lame I know but here we go-

Welcome to the second week of Fashion Forward Wednesday!

This week I thought I would mix it up and feature a knitting pattern! If you have been reading this blog, or my twitter feed for very long you know I love the site Pickles! I really really really do! They feature free patterns all the time and have great yarn at decent prices. Knitter heaven!

Head on over to pickles to pick up this pattern, free in a size large, or if you need a different size you click over to the store and buy the PDF file. Make sure you click the British flag for the store to be in English. In case you didn't already figure it out, the lovely ladies who run Pickles are from Norway!

Wild Vest

So why should you knit the Wild Vest pattern? I don't know if you have noticed but the menswear thing is still happening. I still see people in suit-style vests all the time. This vest works from that style in a slightly softer knitwear version, that is extremely wearable and customizable. You can pick what ever color you want, and the single color daisy stitch adds nice detailing; fun to knit and pretty to look at! Another great feature is the bottom ribbing, the ribbing is knit on smaller needles and with 31 less stitches than the body of the piece, this keeps it from ridding up and creates a more open vest look. I don't want to ruin all the surprises but the body is also knit on size 13 US needles, making this a quick project once you get a hang of the daisy stitch. So go grab your needles or head to your local yarn store and cast this puppy on! Its a great piece to grab as the days start to turn warmer, and perfect for a cool summer night! Also check out their store with the yarn they used for this and other projects. Really wonderful stuff, I promise!

Happy Knitting!

(Pictures Via Pickles)

Should Be Wednesday Pattern

I was all set to start my new themed day yesterday. All I needed was a cute pattern to show. Well I got a little stuck. I couldn't find the pattern I had in mind so I ended up postponing till today.
First let me explain the point of this. Every Wednesday, I will be featuring a pattern, knitting or sewing, that I think is fashion forward and should be added to your wardrobe. Now anyone could search around all day for simple sewing and knitting project that are fashionable. But why spend the time when I will be compiling them here for you? The point is to give you a go to spot for handpicked pieces when you have an itch to make something new for yourself or as a gift.

So here we go!

This week's pattern is something you might already have in your closet. It is something that just about eveyone can pull off and is fairly simple to make. The Pencil Skirt! Don't click away just yet, even if you already have one or think you can't pull off this look. Even if you already have the standard wool black pencil you should consider making this one. Not only, can you never have enough simple work skirts, when you make your own everything is totally customizable. The fit, the buttons, the fabric, you can even add a lining so it doesn't ride up with tights. I hate that!!

Enter BurdaStyle my favorite go to for sewing patterns. The patterns are cheap, sometimes free, and you can print them at home, follow the directions and assemble the pattern easily! Another reason to give the pencil a go? Its fairly cheap supplies wise and a great pattern for a sewer looking to increase confidence- its easy, and it is sewing instant gratification. You can make it in a short amount of time and put it into the rotation for work right away! Another great aspect of BurdaStyle is that it is a network of sewers, so if you have questions you can post right on the pattern page for help. You can also browse other people finished projects and their comments on the process and any hiccups they had.

This particular version of the pencil has some great detail in the front as well as a cute side tab style button. According to the pattern description "It fits just below the natural waist and with pleats on one side, it accentuates both slender and curvy figures." You can make it a very serious piece with suiting
material, or you can go funky. The possibilities are endless!
So please go check out the Alexis pattern #7945 and get sewing!


Also if you have a snappy name for my fashion forward Wednesday post please drop me a line in the comments section! I want to tag them all the same so people can easily look at all the featured patterns, but I am currently at a loss for a snappy name. Thanks in advance!

**Pictures are from BurdaStyle users