Colette Moneta Dress |

I can’t believe January has disappeared already – it seems 2017 is going to zip past as quickly as 2016 seemed to! And although I had modest plans for what to make in January, I only managed one of the 2/3 things I planned (I say 2/3 because the third thing was the trousers I was going to cut out, but not sew together).

The one things I did managed to make was the Denim Moss skirt for my sister. This was the 4th one I was supposed to make for Christmas, and I don’t think I did too badly getting it to her by the end of the month. I once made socks for 3 of my make friends and they were a whole year late by the time I finished them!

The Moss took a bit longer to make than I thought it would, but I really enjoyed making it. Having made pretty simple skirts the last few times I’ve made skirts, it was nice to make one with a bit more to it. And there should be enough of the denim left for me to make a matching one!

The reason I didn’t get my Toaster Sweater made or my trousers cut out was that I was away the first weekend in January, then The Boyfriend was away the weekend after that and I didn’t feel in the mood to sew, so I only really had 2 weekends where I sewed. And I had a couple of other things to make, one of which is my Secret Valentines Exchange present (which I’ve got a little bit left to do on). The other things was to make a santa’s sack – but not red or Christmas-themed – for work to celebrate the CEO working at the company for 20 years! We had a party last night which was good fun, and each department bought him a silly gift and I made a sack to put them all in.

There is writing and stuff on the other side, so I’ll share more photos in a full post soon.

Hopefully February will be a bit more productive than January was!

The main thing on my list for this month – which has to be finished by the weekend of the 24th – is my Moneta for the #MonetaParty. This is also one of my #2017MakeNine so it’s even better! I have 2 option for fabric – if anyone has a strong opinion one way or the other, please let me know as I’m struggling to decide! I could make 2 but I doubt I’d get them both done in time.

The top one is teal and the bottom one is navy blue with white smudges – for some reason I couldn’t take good photos of either of them! They’re both quite thin and drapey so hopefully whichever I choose will look good. I think I’m leaning towards the navy one, but I do feel teal is a good colour on me……argh, decisions!

My other project for this month is to make my Toaster Sweater, which I shamefully haven’t even printed out yet! I have found some fabric, though, so I’m halfway there! I bought this nice, quite thick, silver ponte from my local sewing shop. It has a small amount of dressmaking fabric (and a lot of quilting fabric!) and I thought I should support them and buy dressmaking fabric so they hopefully keep stocking it. They have some nice needlecord at the moment too.

I feel like I’m pushing it at this point, but here is my navy blue trousers…….yet again………seriously. I don’t know if I’m ever actually going to get around to making these!

I think I need to not have to have a job to be able to make all the things I want to make! If anyone knows the secret to this, please let me know!

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Have you heard of Dear Creatures? I think I discovered them via Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest? Oh, I have….) They’re ‘About Us’ page says:

“Dear Creatures is a labor of love for founders and husband & wife duo Rob and Bianca Sinclair. Since the day the two first met, they’ve been cultivating each other’s creativity and common love for decades past. Harmonizing traditional elements with a modern sensibility, Dear Creatures offers seasonal collections that spin sentimental tales of whimsy. With an understanding of decades past, Dear Creatures interprets each season with an eye for visual optimism. Dear Creatures looks to the future of fashion, with a nod to the past.”

I love them because a lot of their designs are quite sixties, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while (or even not very long!), then you’ll know I’m drawn to 60s style clothes, so I thought I’d share my favourites with you. Some of these are from their most recent collection, but others are older so might be unavailable. But I figure most of them can be copied 🙂

This navy blue dress with white detailing is lovely and from their current collection. I like the higher-waisted, almost baby doll style of dress which was popular in the 60s and the detailing stops it being too boring!

I like the style of this dress and the pleating, but I’m not totally sold on the colour. I used to love this shade of blue, but I don’t think it’s really me any more. And I think I suit stronger, bolder colours. But they get points for having a kitty in the picture!

This is from their current season and I really like it. I’m finding myself drawn to maxi dressed this Summer, having never particularly seen the appeal before!

This is another maxi from this season. Needless to say I love the colours (mustard is one of my all time favourite colours at the moment!). I like the contrast between the bodice and the pleated skirt.

This is the last one from this season which I’m posting.I’m not totally sold on the great, but I like the patterned detailing. This looks like a Colette Moneta dress to me. I went through their previous collections and picked out my favourites – you can spot which ones are from the same season by the colour palette and the models!

I think these tops are sweet and I like the collar/ bow detail. I think any basic tee shirt pattern could be altered to have the little cut out and you could probably fairly easily draft a collar like this.

2 similar blouses from the same fabrics. I like the piping down the sides of the button bands and collar. This could maybe be copied using the Colette Violet pattern?

I love the colours of both dresses and the binding on the cut outs matches the skirts! I’m always intrigued by fabric and pattern mixing, but I fear it would look a mess, but these both totally work.I also love these 2 tees. Again, I would think most tee shirt patterns could be made into these. You just need a little lace for the collar. And I think the sleeves are gathered on the shoulder, but I can’t really see properly. (Dear Creatures also make the very skinny jeans) I love these 2 dresses too – another example of great fabric combinations. And again the collar and binding around the cut out is coordinated with the skirt fabric.

These look like really comfy jersey dresses. You could probably fairly easily add the detailing with another colour of jersey. Maybe a Moneta dress with a v-neck instead of round neck? More dresses! I’m totally drawn to their dresses and yet I wear way more separates than dresses! I think I mostly like this one for the colour. Also the button and neck detail reminds me of my Spring for Cotton Dress. This is super sixties – my pattern from the actual 60s has the exact same design detail! I’m definitely a fan of the shift dress, and I love these 2. Again the detailing around the neck looks like my Spring for Cotton Dress. I can’t tell if this is printed fabric with a border print or appliqued detail. I think the former, so if you found a fabric you like, this would probably be easy to copy, maybe using Colette’s Laurel pattern. This might be one of my favourites – I’m a sucker for navy blue and although I’m not normally necessarily drawn to nautical style clothes, I like the sailor vibe of the detailing around the neck. I definitely think eventually, once I stop being scared of sewing with knits, that I could copy some of these dresses and tops.