Pleated Skirt | Fashion

I really needed a few new work skirts, so I was excited when I came across this Super easy box pleated skirt tutorial. Miranda from One Little Minute Blog makes this skirt so easy to make with her easy to follow tutorial - colour pictures and all!

I love how easy it is to make a number of different outfits with this skirt. It is so versitile and I get so many comments on it when I wear it. 

If you have been reading the blog for a while you might have come across my love for invisible zippers. They not only make this skirt super easy to get on (considering it is high waisted) but looks great!

I used a cotton duck drill for this skirt which helps the pleats to sit properly. I will definitely be making more of these in the future. The only thing I do not like about this material is it attracts a lot of fibres.

Have you made a box pleated skirt before? I would love to hear your tips!

 

Office / Craft Room Inspiration | Home

I am writing this post sitting at my new desk and I could not be happier. We finally installed it today which means I can start organising our office / craft room. I have pulled together some inspiration pictures and a wish list of items I would like to include. I will do a full blog post once I have finished it all!

INSPIRATION

I love everything about Leanne Barlow's new office / craft space. You can read the full blog post with more pictures here. 

Swooning over the gorgeous neutral simplicity of this bookshelf - image from Pinterest.

Love the idea of the whiteboard for important reminders and the extra shelf storage - image from Pinterest.

We really loved the idea of an inbuilt desk. Such a big space! - image from Pinterest.

One day! Love this sewing space from Tilly Walnes - especially the cutting table. You can read the full blog post here.

WISHLIST

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

You can find more office / craft room inspiration on my Pinterest boards. Make sure you are following me on Instagram @littlemisslorraine for behind the scene previews x

xx

 

Sheer Curtains | Home

When we moved in to our new home, I was certain I was not going to have sheer curtains underneath my outer curtains. We had them in the unit we rented and whilst they were not the worst sheer curtains I had ever seen, I thought the windows looked much more modern without them.

After a few days of being in our house however, I knew we needed to add sheer curtains to the bedroom windows. We live on a main road and as our bedroom is at the front of the house, it faces the road. Therefore my main reason for getting sheer curtains was the privacy! We were having to close the outer curtains every time we got changed or didn't want passerby's to see us.

As soon as we put the sheer curtains up last weekend I knew we had made the right decision! Not only did the sheer curtains provide us with some much needed privacy, but they also made the room look softer. It made the bedrooms feel more homely and warm.

These sheer curtains were definitely worth the money. They were not the most expensive at $15ish a meter, however they are certainly much nicer than the cheaper lace ones (in my opinion!)

A few tips on adding sheer curtains to a room

1. You may need to spend that little bit more than you want to get a nicer finish. Sometimes sheer curtains may not seem like the most important curtain, but in reality we spend more time looking at them than we do our outer curtains (which we tend to spend more money on!)

2. If you are making the sheer curtains like we did, measure the width of your window and times this by 3. This allows you to get the beautiful gathered / draping effect. We chose to have one large curtain, however you may like to split the curtain in to two so you get the split down the middle. These curtains came with the top placard (the place where you put the rod / hooks) so all we (or should I say Mum!) had to do was hem the sides and the bottom.

3. Before you hem the bottom of your curtains, I would suggest you put them up in place first so you can ensure they are the right length. We did measure the drop of ours, however when we did a trial hang, we found we needed to let them down slightly. Sheer curtains look much better when they are just off the ground. Mum hemmed a double hem (folding the bottom up twice) which finishes them off nicely.

Yes - I know I can sew! But with the craziness of moving and having to set up my sewing machine, my Mum was happy to help out and sew them for me! 

You can buy pre-made curtains if you do not wish to sew them. 

What are your thoughts on sheer curtains? Would you have them in your home?

xx

 

Life Update and New Project Sneak Peek

image from pinterest

Thank god it's nearly the weekend! I have had a crazy few weeks back at work. You think your getting somewhere and then you turn around to find more piles of paper to deal with!

I thought I would check in and let you known what I have been up to recently and give you a sneak peek of an exciting new project I have coming up.

Etsy Resolution

I am currently involved in a project called Etsy Resolution run by Etsy Australia. It is a 4 week "course" to help you really establish your Etsy shop in the market. As you probably know, I have my own little shop on Etsy, Little Miss Lorraine, which I would really love to grow this year. The 4 week program runs through everything including setting up your Etsy shop, taking great photos, pricing items and how to utilise social media. If you have your own Etsy shop I highly recommend you sign up to this course!

Tailoring Course
I have also signed up for an online tailoring course run by the Burdastyle Academy. I really wanted to take my sewing to the next level this year, especially when it comes to making / refashioning clothes. This course teaches you how to make your own patterns, how to adjust patterns and a few basic repair techniques such as replacing a broken zipper. I am really looking forward to doing a few more sewing courses this year so watch this space to see my progress.

28 Day Yoga Project 

Candace from Yoga by Candace has just released a blog post detailing her new yoga project for February after the success of her strength project throughout January. I have to admit I haven't done very much yoga in the last 2 weeks of January which I am very disappointed about! I am hoping to be more proactive during February so I am looking forward to this next project. I will be posting pose updates here so keep an eye out!

Exciting New Project...

I have a very exciting project coming up very soon which I cannot wait to show you. It is something I have wanted to do for a while now and I've finally got my act together to make it happen. The picture above might give you a clue as to what the project is about...blog post up this weekend about it!!

I hope you have all had a wonderful start to 2015 x

xx

 

The Kimono | On Trend

Kimonos are all the rage this spring / summer. They are a great way to add something to an otherwise plain outfit, and can be worn dressed up or more casually. 

Kimonos are also really easy to make - which is exactly what I did! 

There are quite a few kimono tutorials out there, but this is the one I used with a few modifications.

I was originally inspired by this pin to make a gorgeous floral pastel kimono. However as is usually the case I couldn't find any fabric similar to this. I did eventually manage to find two different materials for two kimonos. 

I wasn't 100% sure about this fabric at first because it initially looked like there was way too much black. After a friend rolled it out more, we discovered it had a beautiful purple floral pattern on it.

This fabric is gorgeous to look at and and feels amazing, however it is definitely not easy to sew with. It frays quite a lot which can make things difficult. As such I had to add bias binding to the open portion of the kimono to stop the fray. I also overlocked the hems.

I found this gorgeous black looped trim to add to the arm holes and around the bottom of the kimono.

For the second kimono, I was instantly drawn to the beautiful colours and the soft feel of the fabric. This fabric was much easier to work with - although it does still fray a little this is easily fixed by overlocking the hems.

I found these cute white baubles to add onto the arm holes and bottom of the kimono. 

Overall I am really happy with how they have turned out and would definitely make more! 

What are your thoughts on the kimono?

I would also like to take this opportunity to say "Happy New Year" and thank you for all your support in 2014. There are lots of exciting things happening in 2015 and I can't wait to take you along for the ride.

xx

 

First Alice Top | DIY

I recently finished my first Alice top from Tessuti Fabrics and I am really happy with how it turned out. I found this gorgeous fabric at Spotlight and knew it would fit the Alice Top perfectly. My only gripe with this fabric was that it frayed quite badly.

One of my favourite things about this top are the sleeves. They not only attach to the yoke but the bodice as well. I really love the way they make this top look.

This top has gathers at the front and the back which make the material drape beautifully.

I was very excited to finally get the under-stitiching right with this top - I have struggled with this in that past but think I got it right this time! 

I finished the hem off with a zig zag stitch as I felt it was more stable and added something different to the top. 

I will definitely be making another one of these tops - I think it would look very cute as a summer crop top!

Have you tried out this pattern? What did you think?

xx

 

Adjustoform Dress Form | First Impressions

I was so excited to receive this dress form for my recent birthday. I must admit, I did know about it before hand (so that I could pick it out) which made it even harder knowing I could not use it!!

I had been looking at dress forms for quite a while, and I finally settled on the Adjustoform Dress Form in Petite. There are quite a few reasons why I chose this one that I will go through below!

Not that you really get a choice when it comes to colour (this usually relates to the size!) but i love the maroony-purple colour of this mannequin!

One of the things that drew me to this dress form was the number of places you can adjust the size. There are 8 different adjustment points with easy to use wheels to help you get your dress form as close to your body shape as possible. I found it very simple to get the measurements correct.

I love that the neck of the dress form is actually useful! The perfect spot to keep those pins in.

The dress form also has shoulders and a hem marker which helps you to create a straight hem on your garment! The other thing that I love about this dress form is it has full 360 spinning ability, meaning you can stay in the one spot while you spin it to adjust your garment!

Overall I am very happy with this dress form. It was very simple to put together as well which is a big plus! I haven't been able to sew as much as I would have liked lately, but I am on holidays soon so will have a lot of projects going on!

Do you own a dress form? Which one did you choose and why?

- J x

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