Another Ulyana Inspired Dress!

I'm so excited to see another Ulyana Sergeenko inspired dress out there! If you don't know her already, meet Fooniks who blogs over at A Needle For Your Thoughts. Fooniks was instantly inspired and whipped up this amazing skirt and top; the whole thing is self-drafted.

Guys, did you notice the top??

Here's a closer look. Notice the amazing detail work, the adorable collar, and oh right, the MICKEY MOUSES! I love it so much!

I can't believe Mickey Mouse looks so elegant here. Go check out Fooniks' blog post with more details and other pictures!!

Finished: Ulyana Sergeenko Inspired Separates

See, I HAVE been sewing!

When I first discovered designer Ulyana Sergeenko, I was smitten. I posed lots of inspiration pictures and posted a challenge, mostly to myself, to make dresses and separates inspired by her designs. I was hoping to make 3 different looks before today, but unfortunately I've only completed one.

Fortunately, that also means that two more are on the way. I have the second outfit about 70% completed and the third one, alas, is still just an idea in my mind. Maybe I'll get it up before the end of summer? ;-)

Anyway, I used this photo as my inspiration. Because I'm supposed to only be sewing from my overflowing stash, I found some incredible gray jersey for the top and some floral rayon to use for the skirt.

I was really nervous about the skirt. I used the circle skirt calculator, and it told me that for my waist measurement and the length I wanted, it couldn't be done. Ha! Cut out the circle skirt from two yards and suddenly it's quite possible.

I've always been afraid of this length because I hate my calves. Or rather, I love that they're strong and muscular, but because they're so muscular, they look rather large. I tend to wear only shorter dresses as a result, but this month I decided, screw it, I was going to go for the longer length. I figured as long as I cut it BELOW the fattest part of my calf, it would look fine, though perhaps a bit dowdy. But dowdy was fine.

And so was the length! It's perfect. Kind of. Most of the time I feel really amazing in this outfit, but every so often I feel like I look like a transplant from Soviet Russia circa the early 20th century. 

This also affects how people see me. No one complimented me on my outfit when I wore it out, which was a bit unusual. The younger guys completely ignored me, which I consider a feat in and of itself. HOWEVER everyone over the age of 50 was insanely nice to me. My sister (aka my lovely photographer of the day) and I went to a restaurant where it was standing room only. A man immediately offered me his table, and another man offered an extra chair so we could both sit. 

No cat calls, just incredible politeness? Yes, please.

Oh, and I put in a pocket. I was going to put in two pockets and a zipper in the back, but the second pocket had some... issues. It was all weird and lopsided and generally very ugly so I ripped it out and put the zipper on the other side.

Oh, the top! So I saw a photo of Simplicity 4538 from the 1950s and I figured it would be easy enough to recreate to match the inspiration photo and it was! I think it took me a total of 10 minutes to figure everything out. I didn't even finish the seams because you can't see them around all the folds.

It's a little hard to get the top to stay on it's own (obviously) so I tucked it into my leggings. Yes, I'm wearing leggings because even though the calendar says it's spring and even though the weather forecast claims it's 65 (aka 18 degrees C), it is freezing. So leggings and a cardigan made this outfit just acceptable.

So once it becomes too warm to wear leggings, I'm not sure what to do. I thought about adding a hook and eye, but I really prefer the crossed-over look, rather than the pulled look if that makes sense. An obvious option would be to use double sided tape, but that could be wasteful.

I was thinking about creating something that just goes around my waist... like Spanx without the crotch? Then I could just tuck it into a waistband. Does something like that already exist? Anyone know?

Anyway, let me know if you created a Ulyana Sergeenko dress. I'd love to see!!

Pattern and Tutorials for the Ulyana Sergeenko Challenge!

I hope everyone is getting pumped about making some awesome clothes based on Ulyana Sergeenko!

If you're participating in the challenge, we have until the middle of April to knock out some clothing. If you're not sure where to start, then perfect! I'm posting some tutorials and patterns I found to help get you started. If you can think of any more, let me know in the comments and I'll add them to list.

If you're looking for simple sailor that doesn't scream costume, I found a few options for you! I'm sure you could draft the top yourself, but if you're not into that, I love Tilly's Coco top as an option. The skirt is from Burda and it's free! If pants or shorts are more your thing, I found another free pattern on Burdastyle for you.

Ulyana designs and wears a lot of circle skirts (right photos). Luckily, they're easy to make! Liz from Cotton and Curls (left) shows you how to easily draft a midi circle skirt. If you want a little more detail on circle skirts, check out this great post by Diary of a Renaissance Seamstress. The ladies over at By Hand London have even created a circle skirt calculator so you have to do less math.

Underneath some of her skirts, I'm sure she has crinoline slip or petticoat. If you don't have one handy, check out this tutorial for making your own.

Let's talk tulle! I wasn't really into these skirts when they started popping up, but now I think I want one for date night. Liz from Cotton and Curls (right) has a great tutorial for tulle skirts on her blog. Go check it out!

I'm madly in love with this cocoon coat. My main problem: do I make it a luxurious robe at home or do I make it to be worn outside the home? Pattern on the right from Ralph Pink.

This would require a bit more drafting, but if you want to go for something like this, I found a free pattern from PatternVault for you! I would add a tie, shorten the sleeves, and rotate the side detailing. If you look at Ulyana's design (left), it looks like she just cut open the back of a skirt and added a train. Very do-able!

She also designs a lot of modern and structured outfits that I'm having problems finding tutorials for. So let me know if you're familiar with a tutorial or pattern for her longer skirts, her shorts, or this amazing dress.

Also, I want to point out that I didn't link any patterns for her shirts or her pants (seen here and here) because I feel, pants especially, that those are more personal and harder to draft and fit. If you want me to change that because you know the perfect pattern, comment below and I'll update.

Sew Grateful: Ulyana Sergeenko Challenge

Yesterday was Sharing Resources Day for Sew Grateful and I didn't post anything because I don't have tutorials of my own or new inspiration to share with you. (I will mention that I pin a lot of tutorials and tips here on this pinterest page so you can check that out if you're curious.)

Today is Sewing Project Day, meant for us to show off our projects using patterns that we won in a contest, using an online tutorial, or a project inspired by someone else.

I think everyone has been inspired by the amazing ladies competing in Project Sewn this year. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I swooned quite a bit when Kathleen from Gosgrain chose Ulyana Sergeenko as her inspiration. Well, first I had to google her, then the swooning happened.

Anyway, I posted a few of my favorite outfits worn and/or designed by Ulyana Sergeenko and it seemed many of you agreed she's amazing.

Okay, I know the point of this post was to showcase a finished project that was inspired by the sewing community, but as I'm just now coming out of my winter funk, I going start a project from this and I hope you'll join me!

So, ahem, I'm officially announcing the Ulyana Sergeenko Challenge!

She has quite a few different looks. I put together a pinterest board to help you find the perfect look. (You know, assuming you're into bold, dramatic, classic styles.)

These looks are outside of my comfort zone and some may not be incredibly practical, but I'm going to push through my doubts and make these because they are incredible.

So what do you think? Are you in??

I think April 20th would be a great end date as that's nearly 7 weeks away and may be enough time to shop, find patterns, and make up several outfits. Leave a comment below if you want to participate. Leave a comment, tweet at me, or send me an email at kmjones3@gmail.com with your finished outfit and I'll do a round up post in April of everyone's amazing creations.