Copycat Challenge Completed!

Inspiration

I first blogged about my copycat inspiriation here. But if you missed it, here’s a brief recap.

Click image for link

Basically I wanted the top with the lace applique with a plaid tulip skirt similar to the second photo. Angels Never Die is one of my favourite brands. Whenever I see a sale on Vente-Exclusive, I always buy at least one thing (but it often puts me in the red and then I promptly send it back…:(

I love that they mix fabric prints, textures, and weaves.  They often mix knits with wovens and they always have interesting draping, designs, and appliques.

Making the dress

To make my dress, I used the skirt from this Burda 09/2011 Dress pattern. The top part is a refashioned basic knit top I’ve had since last year, from the Hema. It matched the brown plaid I had in mind from my stash, so I went with it.

I cut out the skirt from the plaid fabric.  I had to do some creative cutting because I had only 1m of it and those front panels eat up a shitload of fabric. So some of the seam allowances were cut on the selvage but that’s ok. I ended up cutting the waistband on the lengthwise grain (if that’s even a term?!). Also, none of the plaid matches, but I’m ok with that because it’s not too noticeable. I did not use the instructions except to check how much to gather the top of the skirt to.

The skirt has pleats AND gathers.  And the pleats are gathered! It’s a lot of fabric sitting right there on my pouch, but I like to think it doesn’t make me look too huge because the back of the skirt is such a nice shape, kind of like the Elizalex dress. The hem is finished with bias tape. The inside seams are finished with bias tape on the waistband and with a zigzag stitch for the side seams.  I would have liked to do french seams, but I figured it would get too bulky.
I purchased some of the lace trim from the most recent fabric fair in Leeuwarden and some from my local fabric shop, Jan Sikkes. I attached the trim to the top using a zigzag stitch to help keep it from getting wavy. I folded the trims over at the top and slipstitched it in place.

Styling

I paired it with leggings because a) it’s getting cold out there, b) it’s not lined, and c) it’s a good thing I did because riding my bike to the photoshoot place made the dress open up pretty much right to my crotch. I might have to add a snap or tack it down.

In some of the pictures I’m also wearing an actual Angels Never Die jacket, which I love love LOVE (there would have been an exclamation point if the jacket had pockets, but it doesn’t so boo hoo). My boots are Dr Martens and are already like 3 or 4 years old.

I accessorized with a fake pearl necklace I inherited from my grandma because I thought it matched the lace on the top quite nicely.

I even did my makeup, which you can’t even see in the pictures 😦  I did cat eyes with brown eyeliner to match my dress!

And now, for picture overload!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Copycat Challenge Inspiration

Hello everyone!

Have you heard about Peneloping’s Copycat Challenge? If not, you should go check it out.

In short, here are the rules:

1. Choose a garment as your inspiration. Make sure you reference it and acknowledge where you found it. Pick several if you want!
2. Make it the way you want with your own touch and style.
3. Blog about it! Tell us what pattern(s) you used, what inspired you about the item you chose, how you styled it, whatever you want!
4. If you don’t have a blog and want to participate, send us an email and we’ll add it to the submissions post for you.

So here is my inspiration board for this challenge:

I want to use the skirt (and maybe waistband) from the burda dress pattern because I love the tulip skirt on the first ANDie dress, and for the top I want to use an newish knit top and embellish it with lace like in the second ANDie dress photo.

So here’s what I need to do:

• Trace burda pattern
• Purchase trim and zip
• Cut out fabric (and try to match those plaids!)
• Sew together
• Take awesome photos
• Blog and submit!

The best part: we have until the end of September to submit! 😀

Good luck to everyone who is taking this challenge!

 

 

 

Photo Sources:

Angels Never Die Dress 1

Angeles Never Die Dress 2: I originally screencapped it last year from vente-exclusive.nl and can’t find it anywhere on the internet anymore. 😦

Burda 09/2011 Dress pattern

Inspiration from Angels Never Die Winter collection

I love Angels Never Die. It’s a clothing company based in Turkey. I have a few of their dresses, but they’re quite expensive. Well, maybe not expensive if you compare it to other designer brands, but still, out of my price range. I’d like to try to recreate some of the looks if I can. I already have something in mind. I made up an inspiration board, which I’ll share with you a bit later.

This one’s a bit vampirish without being too over the top.

I love the topstitching on the bodice. It makes it look corset-like.

I bought this one

I really want to make one like this, but I have no idea how to ruche the sides like that while keeping the front panel smooth. I feel an experiment coming on…

Warm, yet stylish. Yes, please!

So sweet. I love the ruffle detailing. It’s darling, but not too cutesy, like you’re wearing kid’s clothes.

 

So get on over to angelsneverdie.com to check out their full collection.