My latest sewing aspiration: The tulle skirt...

For some time now, I've mused over the possibility of making this delicate and somewhat tricky item; a tulle skirt. It's an item a girl just simply must have (this girl particularly)! It adds versatility to any wardrobe simply by making an outfit playful, sophisticated, chic and/or classy depending on how you choose to wear it. Since I can only shop high-street online now (on account of living in the K), I have resolved to making items that I really like. The one problem I foresee is finding tulle netting in Kumba. Will hit all the stores tomorrow morning and if nothing turns up, might have to make a trip to Douala as well. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I've been reading some great tutorial and style posts of tulle skirts online. I managed to collect a sample of the most comprehensive ones, ranging from simple to moderately challenging. I also found some that I think are absolutely gorgeous even though they appear to be out of my league, especially because there are no tutorials. Tulle skirts come in a variety of shapes and styles, but I'm particular to the full skirt and the circle skirt cuts. Looking forward to making one soon. If you also like the big girl tutu like I do, you'll enjoy this collection...

Source: See tutorial here

Source: See tutorial here

Source: blog

Source: blog

Source: See tutorial here

Source: here

The pictures in this post belong to other bloggers. I have provided a link to all the sources. If your picture is featured and you wish it to be removed, please send a message to parasolsandwellingtons@gmail.com and your picture will be removed promptly. Cheers...

Sewing practice: Tried my hand at chiffon.

I'm back. I know I've been gone for too long and I really didn't plan to. I fell quite ill with Malaria and at first I thought I could shake it off in a few days, but it lingered with migraines and sapped the energy out of me for three whole weeks. All better now, hooray!!! I haven't had the chance to sew anything new yet. This blouse was completed just before I fell ill and didn't have the energy to do a photo shoot until today.  

I've had these gold thread jacquard trousers from Zara since last Fall. They went for about £39.99 at the time and there were only three in the store, neither of which were the right fit so I had to order from the online store.  I love them because the fabric is gorgeous and more importantly, they fit perfectly. I recently stumbled upon the perfect blouse to go with these cropped trousers in my sisters closet, during our recent closet reunion! Every time I meet either of my sisters we end up doing a "what's in your closet these days" closet/suitcase raid, which almost always results in a dilemma that can only be resolved by a swap or a reluctant but loving gift! Unfortunately for me, this blouse happened to be too small. It has no sleeves, so I knew immediately that I could make a similar one to go with my jacquard trousers. 

I got half a meter of black chiffon and some glittery fabric (don't know what it's called) from the Kumba main market early last month. Woke up at about 5:30 AM on a weekend morning to get a head-start on it before the girls woke up. Spent my entire morning panicking while working with chiffon for the first time. Took a while for me to get used to the way chiffon behaves during the cutting, pinning and sewing processes. It's also the first time I've made a collar... if I remember correctly. The collar on the original is quite glittery, with bright gold sequins. My copy is toned down and not as glittery, matching the temperature of the trousers perfectly (weird to be thinking this deeply about clothes but, there)! I took the time to carefully put the collar on and didn't cut corners at all. I think the finished product looks great but whats really great is how perfectly this blouse goes with my jacquard trousers. Enjoy...

This is what I was shooting for:

Gold collar chiffon blouse paired with gold jacquard trousers from Zara 

Here is the original I copied:

 I got black chiffon and this metallic thread fabric:

Work in progress

Black chiffon blouse with gold collar and back buttons

Stretched mini twists

Zara gold jacquard trousers

Zara gold jacquard trousers

Items list
Self-made black sheer chiffon blouse 

Gold jacquard trousers(Zara. Sold out. Get it here) Other blogger styling it to perfection Here
Black heels (Zara. Sold out)
Gold pendant necklace worn as bracelet (Express. From years ago)

Cropped fitted trousers in black/white

Happily starting the new month with a sewing/style post. I haven't done much sewing this past month due to lack of motivation. Everything that could possibly happen to deter me from starting a new project happened! I misplaced my seam ripper. This is a big deal! Everyone knows what a hindrance this can be when one needs to undo seams and make all manner of adjustments. It was also the month when school resumed in Cameroon and I've been adjusting to my additional role as soccer mom and homework supervisor! There has been little or no time in the day to give sewing any real attention. I did eventually stumble upon my ripper while looking for something totally different. Over this past super long weekend ( five days off, hooray!.. I really shouldn't be celebrating at all. My children are still pretty illiterate...), I committed to finishing these trousers for my sister and managed to put on the finishing touches yesterday. The fabric is a loosely woven cotton print in black and white. We picked it out for her during a fabric shopping trip more than a month ago. The cut is a copy of a pair of cropped trousers I have that my sister really likes but that I've been unwilling to part with. I think she's pretty happy with how hers turned out. My sister is also trying her hand at sewing now, and thoroughly enjoying the learning process. I styled the trousers with this crisp white collarless shirt from Forever21, metallic gladiator sandals from Guess?, silver accent jewelry, RayBan sunglasses and M.A.C's pop of lip-colour in Rebel. Here she is rocking the ensemble! Enjoy...

Fitted cropped trousers in black and white

Bobble necklace and matching earrings 

 

Guess gladiator heels

My take on the Peplum top.

Hello people in cyberland. Hope you had a great day today. I had an absolutely lovely one. It rained heavily through last night and I had the most lovely sleep imaginable. A lot of mothers confirm that they hardly sleep at all once little ones come along. This is especially true for me. I can't even remember a time when I enjoyed sleeping most nights. I think the entire family had a good one because even the littlest person in the house slept in. Despite a great deal of uncertainty at the moment, I am immensely grateful for all that is wonderfully good and unexpectedly pleasant in my life. Today was not much different from the rest. I spent the day with my daughters, my sister, my cousins and my parents. Completed one sewing project and started another... this time, an item for my sister. I have enough fabric and ideas to keep me busy for a good long while. I'm happy to see that with each little sewing challenge, I'm getting better at this craft. Some days you wake up smiling and not knowing exactly why. When this happens just go with it and enjoy your day.

Today I'm going to be showing a top that I have been making for some time now. It has taken me a couple of months to complete because I have gone through the works trying to get it just right. I am just now warming up to peplums. I used to think the cut was too girly for me and not quite my style, but pairing a peplum top with skinny trousers seems to work really well with my boyish frame. I like it so much that I've already planned to make another one as soon as I finish with what I've already started at the moment. This top is cut from 1 meter of Hitaget African cotton print cloth in lime green, yellow and orange. I copied the top half of a dress I have and combined it with an oxbow shaped  pattern which I adjusted to form the pleated peplum, making it fall a bit lower in the back. Once I had put in the facings around the front, arms and racer-back, I put in a band at the waist, added the peplum with four pleats in the front and four in the back, then I worked on the zipper. Putting in the band and the zipper turned out to be my biggest challenge as the zipper kept puckering up in the back. I had to take out the zipper, undo the band and shorten the back pieces, then I reassembled all the pieces again. Once it was done to the best of my ability, I wasn't sure weather or not to hem the peplum edges. I left the top alone and was beginning to think I wouldn't get to wear it at all, until my mom suggested that I get the hemline finished with zigzagging in a matching coloured thread. This I did and here are the results, paired with dark orange skinny trousers from H&M, and tan lace-up heels from InWear.

African print peplum top in lime green, orange and yellow.

African print peplum top matched with H&M skinny trousers and lace-up heels

Simple two-strand twists updo

Simple two-strand twists updo

   

Pencil Skirt in block print

With this cloth I didn't have to look around for inspiration. Making a pencil skirt with it just made sense. I'm just recovering from Typhoid fever (fairly common in Cameroon) with long sleepless nights characterized by high fever and hallucinations, so my energy level has been very low. Good thing this skirt was not much of a challenge since I've made several of them already. I copied the cut from a pencil skirt I bought for £5 early last year. The fabric of the original skirt has a little stretch to it so I had to make sure the cut on this one had enough give. I put in a slim waist band, aback zipper, a top button on the waist band, and an overlapping kick slit in the back. This particular cut I love because it fits perfectly and drops to just below the knees, making it great for work, or a really nice dinner. It can be dressed down with a tank top, a denim shirt and flats; or dressed up with ablouse, a cardigan or blazer, jewelry and heels. The sun came out after almost two weeks of continuous rain in Kumba. Just the kind of day for some colour, I thought, so I paired my newly made skirt with a rather feminine red racer-back blouse with frills, and red medium heels. I've been wearing my hair in medium twists for more than a week now. Did an up-do to tidy it up.

Pencil skirt in African print fabric.

Accessories List 

Red racer-back Blouse (Vero Moda)

Red sued shoes (Peter Kaiser)

Jewelry: Pakistani gold necklace, bracelet and ring (Gift)

Gold flower earrings ( can't remember where I got these)

Chain and charm bracelet (Juicy Couture)