2013 Round up..

Like all cliché round up posts I would just like to say what a year!... Who am I kidding? 2013 has been a boring year for me, I'm not sure why but it has. Me and Jake broke up briefly and I had a very short lived college experience. For 2014 I'm setting myself some new goals. Continue pushing with dressmaking, I might not be your typical fashion addict but as a creative person it is my art. I also really want to start foraging and creating preserves and things like that. I really love nature so any excuse to get out in the woods and to be out in the fresh air is not only good for the soul but also good to get away from all the hustle and bustle of daily life.

I just generally want to be a lot happier in 2014 as much as I can, home life has been a little intense this year with my parents so that hasn't helped but what can you do....

Anyway I'm going to leave you with a couple of pictures, one is me (we love a good selfie) another is how I styled the cute tea dress I made for a works meal and the other is an amazing dupe of Acne's velocite coat.

Oh and one more goal for 2014, I will hopefully try and become a little more Carrie Bradshaw with this blog rather than posting once a month..

Ciao!!

Sewing for spring

On the sewing table this week I have a couple of beauty's. I'm still waiting on pay day so I can buy some lining and zips.. In fact stock up on the essentials that are zips and lining :) I'm really liking the new direction of how I design and what I want to make. A lot of designs I've been seeing lately are not particularly flattering to the female body so I really want to change that up, especially in my local area. The girls here don't really dress to suit their body to put it nicely.
 Anyway onto the dresses, the main design I will be doing will be the classic tea dress, I love this style purely because every woman looks great in it, nipped in at the waist to show those curves and depending on the cut of the bodice you can have some cleavage on show or you back on show.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, I will one day take exquisite photo's but until then you'll have to deal with my poorly edited Iphone pics. This dress is stunning in person and it isn't even completed yet, it's a white fabric with a lilac floral motif as well as a hidden white damask print, it is a lot more subtle in person but the flash made it stand out more.

This next dress is a gorgeous fitted pencil dress, I think that's the correct term anyway. This dress needs a lining because the fabric is quite thin but how amazing is the print! I thought the floral motif would be too much but I think its just perfect and when I thought I only had a small amount left I found a tonne in my fabric box!! Amazing!

Long time no post...

Sooo it's been forever since I last posted, I have a considerable amount of time on my hands these days so I feel maybe I should give the old blog thing a go again. Nothing new has happened in my life really apart from the fact I have left college.. Very sad I know because I had this vision I would be the weird artsy kind of kid like Mollie Ringwalds character in pretty in pink but alas no. I am however still pursuing the dressmaking dream. I have my vision and an idea of where I want to be in the future and as much as learning fashion illustration may well be a great asset to my skills, I wasn't really interested. I learn by doing so here I am part time Sainsbury's employee, part time dress maker trying to fulfil my dream as a cute boutique owner and maybe a fashion/art pioneer of my generation (Yes I have been listening to Artpop to death, so I'm heavily influenced and inspired right now)

Anyway, please excuse this photo, I will be taking decent pictures in the future but et voilà, my first dress finished ready for a christmas party, it's a blue and green tartan skater dress with a couple of layers of navy tulle underneath, now this is finished i'll be drafting patterns and working towards designs ready for S/S14

Victorian inspired fashion design

This week in fashion history we were asked to create a look inspired by the Victorian fashion era. I chose to create a very costume style look perfect for on stage.

I decided to take the skirt up but still use a crinoline style to keep it wide and full, I then added a military style jacket which would be corseted to bring the waist in.

These two Jackets inspired me with the buttons and structure of the garment. They also inspired me when I designed the boots by putting buttons up the sides. I also took inspiration from ring master style costumes by replacing shoulder pads with feathers.

When it came to hair and make up I decided to keep the face simple and the hair very typical of the Victorian era and then added a feather head piece to make it more elaborate.

This is the picture which inspired for the hair and make up

Ive been a busy college student...

Over the past few weeks I have been working hard at college. Lots of struggles with illustration but we're getting there. In illustration lessons we have been working on various artists to get a feel of stylized illustrations and working with different media. We have also been covering the basic sewing skills too like seam lines and style lines. I took some blocks home so i could work on a few pieces in my own time

 



Life update..

So we're finally in full swing at college, the only thing I'm not enjoying is illustration, I'm not an artist, I never have been and i probably never will be but I have however created to illustrations :D

The image on the left was created using a grid method to enlarge the original picture then we used collage to colour in. The image on the right was supposed to be created using the 8 head measuring method but I found the measuring really difficult because the picture is so abstract. I ended up guessing it all and just drawing by eye and to be honest I think I did pretty well :)

  


The first picture is of a little dress I draped which will eventually become a dress for a friend or at least I hope it will. The next picture is of a pair of trousers I am madly in love with. They are made of a floral print fabric in greys and dusty pinks, so 80's!! Third picture is of a kimono which I made and I didn't really like so I styled it up in a really conceptual/contemporary way by adding the fur collar and layering two skirts. I think this look would be perfect photographed in a more professional way so i'll be saving it ;) and finally just a little outfit post, I had on my Adidas high tops with leggings and a grey jumper with my new River Island coat which is amazing!!

My New York Fashion week round up..

So last week was the kick off to fashion month! Starting in New York, The first designer I loved was Prabal Gurung. The collection is very 1950's blonde bombshell inspired.. Very Marilyn Monroe. He used a lot of pastel colours and metallics and great graphic prints too. The show started with all the models lined up in what looked like a perspex box, almost as if they were Barbie Dolls with slicked back hair and bright lips, the whole show/collection was very futuristic and amazing.

 

 

These are just a couple of my favourite looks of the collection.

The next collection to really get my fashion juices flowing was Alexander Wang. The collection was a shout to the 90's androgynous look. It was super feminine, tailored and edgy with clean lines. With a minimal colour scheme of blacks, whites, lilacs and greys I think the collection will be really easy to interpret into my own style next spring. Here are my favourite looks:

My other favourite collections were Diane Von Furstenberg, Zac Posen and BCBG Max Azria. All in all it was a great week for fashion but we all know London and Paris will in no doubt steal the show!

Autumn wishist!!

Autumn wishist!! by katie-simba-hill featuring a black hat

River Island summer top, $63 / River Island fake fur jacket, $160 / Robe, $73 / NIKE ankle tie wedge shoes / Black hat, $47

Autumn winds are setting in...

Today I'm doing a little outfit post. Sorry for the poor quality pictures in advance but hey ho- we all can't afford a canon D3293628137.. Whatever they are. So anyway I am wearing my River Island Coltrane dupes (again) I live in these shoes!! They are so comfy and so versatile and for £45 a bargain! I'm also wearing some thrifted green shorts which I was originally going to sell but they fit like a dream, a white top and this amazing velvet jacket which I also thrifted! I adore this jacket and I am so glad the weather is coming cold because I need to wear this!

I'm thinking or doing like a weekly thrift post, I'm an avid bargain hunter and I do travel to scour the charity shops so I think a post is needed!

Fashion and why I love it..

So i'm doing my first post at college! Our tutor had set everyone off with the task of creating a blog.. Luckily for me I have some secret psychic abilities and decided to make this blog purely for college like two weeks ago. So anyway the first 'college' post. We were asked to write about why we love fashion:
I have loved fashion since I was super young, I'm not your typical fashion lover, if I am honest I don't really know what drew me in. I just remember being really young and we had cable, which had the fashion channel on there and I would just sit and watch for hours and hours, it was something about statuesque models and garments just flowing down the runway what drew me in.

I was very tom boyish so fashion was my secret sanctuary, nobody knew about it, I mean I never really spoke about it, I was too busy being a kid but when America's next top model started way back in 2003 I really started to take note. I'm 5'11 so all my friends and relatives said i'd make a great model so I dreamt and dreamt of it the more I watched ANTM but i eventually realised I can't take a picture and my hips don't lie, neither does my back side so neither will ever sashay down the runway....
 I then soon became acquainted with lady gaga and Alexander McQueen, I was 17 and knew fashion was where I needed to be. I was studying performing arts at this point because I like to think i'm very theatrical so these two really spoke to me, they fed my soul!

 

McQueen really inspired my blog title he took the horrible, disgusting side of things and made it beautiful. Visually his creations just screamed 'LOVE ME' so I did, i've never questioned any of his work and when I heard him say 'I want to empower women, I want people to be afraid of the women I dress' I just knew he was someone for me to look up to because I am all for the empowered woman!

 

 

 

Gaga is the same, when she came on the scene it was like being punched in the face! She spoke to me because she was weird, which I feel I can be.. But she made me feel like I shouldn't care and she made art relevant again. I lost interest in art a long time ago because I thought it became boring but she brought it back in a way that made me want to create, which in turn eventually led to me turning to little DIY projects as a hobby. My boyfriend then pushed me to pursue a career in fashion and here I am! studying a BTEC in something I actually love and enjoy, I wish at 16 I knew what i wanted but if i'm honest when I was 16 I was only interested in parties and boys.. and high heels :D

 

Hey! I made a dress!! & Had a movie filled weekend!

So I don't really have much to talk about today... Pretty quiet weekend! I did however finally watch The Great Gatsby (Oh My Life!!) It was in fact perfect! I am a fan of Baz Lurhmann's work, so I knew it would be good but I never imagined it to be THAT good. The perfect mix of old and new and the costumes and the acting just flowed beautifully. I'm definitely going to watch it again on my own, you know how it is girls, I had the boyfriend wittering on all the way through it!!

I also made this little beauty at the weekend. I've recently become a 'collector' of vintage fabrics because the quality I feel is so much better and a lot more special when it comes to making these 'one off' items.... In fact i'm just going to rant for a second! Where I live there is a lot of designers that make 'one off' dresses... Not one is unique and one off, they are all the same except there is variations in fabric but all the fabric is bought from the same shops/stalls....

Any who, so I made this :D It's a super soft cotton with a floral print in muted pinks/greens and greys (sorry for the crap pic) I was going for a dramatic look so I made the collar huge and it can be worn in many different ways :) I personally think it reminds me of a Vivienne Westwood style dress. What do you think?

First week down!

So the first week of college is done!! It wasn't very fashiony, it was all ice breaking and paper work but I did however make some cool new friends who are all eccentric and fabulous! The cliques have already formed which was obvious and in mine there is me, Jack, Millie, Beth and Rainy.. The Art Freaks ( If it was Mean Girls)

This was my outfit choice for the week.. I'll just let you all in on something now, I don't wear something new every day. I am not your typical fashion blogger and if i am honest I really cannot be bothered picking something new out everyday and styling it, it isn't me and it never will be. I just make the clothes...

And can we just talk about these cutie booties! Obviously every man and his dog own the Jeffrey Campbell Coltranes but I just cant pay £100+ on shoes when River Island are selling them for £45!! Am I right bargain buddies? So anyway I not only bought these because the fashion Gods demand we all must own a pair but because with me going back to college they remind me of the old 90's Kickers shoes I used to wear.. You know what next? I'll start going to college in my old school tie and jumper??... Who knows 

Cuteness and Sparkles

I have made yet another two piece!! I do promise this is the last one that I am making, well i'm making another with left over aqua fabric but I wont be discussing that one. Summer is pretty much over here in England so i'm really digging deep to find something new and fresh to make for the autumn and winter months so keep your eyes peeled.

 

So this is what i made, I had bought a vintage bed sheet and the top was the floral pattern I used for the crop top and the underside was the floral pattern on the shorts. Even though this isn't really a matching twin set I think the combination is super cute anyway and can easily be pulled off.

I always wanted to share this!! I am a very keen thrifter, I try to go as often as possible because I love clothes but I hate spending lots... With summer drawing to a close all the charity shops in town are having huge sales and whilst i've been really busy during the week I thought i'd missed out on all the good finds, (I did find other things but this needs to be blogged about!) This jumped out at me straight away, Its heavily beaded and sequinned with huge shoulder pads! It screams 1980's which is the era I wish I came from and the price was around £5!... The original price tag was £321 so yeah I had to buy it! It's by a brand called Murek Fashion which I still believe is very much alive too

Twin sets for all...

So lately I have been going two piece mad! Granted I have only made two but how cute!! I think the twin set is a great wardrobe staple when in doubt because it is so versatile and classy. So far I have made a very summery blue one and a velvet one ready for the transition into autumn, I'm hoping to make a few more with some stretch fabric to show how it can be worked from day wear into night wear as well as other fabric changes to make that transition from summer to autumn noticeable. So lets show you what we have!!



 

I have three pictures of the blue as it was my first piece and personally it is my favourite because I made it perfectly to fit me, all the others I make from now will be sold online which is exciting so fingers crossed they sell well. As you can see they look really cool and casual but with a pair of heels it totally vamps the outfit up ready for a night on the town!

P.s I enrolled today at college so I am now officially a fashion student!! I start Monday!!

Frugal life..

So this is my final post on past creations, after this it will be all recent makes, life in general and all that jazz. I'm a thrifter and I love it! I'd encourage more people to thrift but then what would be left for me? So like most of us DIYers out there we take the old and we renew, it's easy, it's cheap and you will own something completely unique so lets see what i've reworked and given life back to..

So I have your typical acid wash Levi's, big summer trend which I took complete advantage of (which we all did if i'm honest) I did a tonne more but i only have these pairs saved to my laptop. I also have a pain white tee, Tshirts are staples in my books but i kind of got bored with just white so I took an old scarf and stitched it to the back.. Cool right? I'm definitely going to make more of those! and finally some old upholstery fabric turned dress with gold chain belt, simply fabulous :) Also sorry for the poor quality pics, I don't have a fancy camera and i'm too lazy to actually dig out my normal camera :(