Made By Lex

Here is the first shoot I did with my sister, Clare, wearing my Daydreamer top.

These pictures were all taken at my parent’s home.

It’s a grey and white striped cotton that I did a simple tunic style with.
I did some different strips of fabric going from the chest to the sides to add some interest and a slimming detail.
I love the 70′s look to this one.

It has three little buttons on the sleeves.

I love this slim red leather belt with it.

Isn’t she G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S??!!

This is probably my favorite picture. It’s amazing when you get just the right light.

In a different color tone.

It felt AWESOME to do a shoot with the clothes I’ve been designing and making. I know the pictures aren’t “cohesive” with effects but I’m really playing to see which ones I like best.

I’m really trying to break into designing more clothes. Your feedback would be so helpful to me!!It would be much appreciative if you could let me know what you think of them, let me know what pictures you like best or any improvements.

I have a lot more things to show you that I’m really excited about. Again, any help, encouragement, feedback would be so wonderful!

If you’re like me, you have quite a few of those shirts laying around that aren’t really nice enough to wear out of the house anymore. I had quite a few and was wondering what to do with them.. Then I remembered that my favorite lounging shirt was this one that I had that is sort of slouchy and hangs off the shoulder. It makes me feel feminine, dare I say, a tad sexy?? So I thought to myself, ‘why not turn these yucky old tees in to something that will make me feel the way that shirt does?’

So journey along with me into an easy tutorial to durn drab into fabulous! Here’s the shirt I’m starting with. One of your old hubby’s t’s would work great, too.
Cut the neckline out. I do it a little higher in the back, a little lower in thr front. You can measure your shoulders to see the width you want it. You could be done here. But I’m making this one extra special!

I cut my sleeves so they would be 3/4 length.

Then I took some leftover sleeve parts and made little strips about 6 inches long. I just folded them in the center and stitched them closed. We’re going to make sleeve pick ups!

Put th epick up in the sleeve and figure out how high you want it to pick up.

Fold the other end up and pin in place. Then stitch it.

Now for a dainty extra detail. I saw somehting like this on Grossgrain recently so this flower is based off of one of hers. I used a similar colored stretch silk that I used in the Stillwater top. Cut out circles, about 10 for each flower.

Using a thread and needle, fold in half and string them through.

Here’s how it will look after you put them all on.

I didn’t want to worry about usinf fray check on all these every time I have to wash the shirt, so I wanted to set mine on a seperate pin so I could remove them before washing them. I cut out a small circle of felt. The just stitch the flower on.

I added a small pearl in the middle of mine.

Then glue on pins to the backside.

Aren’t they just lovely??
Pin them on the top of the pick up.

And here’s your cozy, feminine new shirt.
I love the extra detail at the sleeves.

It felt good to turn something so pajama-ish into something still equally cozy, but much more attractive.

Because being a mom has a way of taking that out of the daily, ordinary life. And its nice to find tiny ways to put a touch of femininity back in somewhere.

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas as a family. We got to spend a lot of time with my family and my husband’s family and we enjoyed every moment of it.

Last night we went to Pebble Beach Lodge to one of their restaurants, Stillwater.

(from left to right: my husband, Zach, myself,sister Ana, my Mom Valjean, my dad Rob, sister Antonia, sister Clare, brother Joe. missing one sister, Francesca)

I wanted to make an outfit for it since I don’t dress up much anymore. I’ve been doing a lot of designing lately, which I’ve really enjoyed.
And I need to do a preface. These pictures are so hard to post because I am the most awkward ‘model’. I hate taking these. I just had to say that. It’s hard for me to be this serious. I’d have loved to take these in good lighting, but it’s what I’ve got.

That being said, here it is. My Stillwater ensemble.

The top is made from a Vera Wang grey stretch silk. I did all those little biased gathers, I guess you’d call them. I draped it slightly off one shoulder.

The back I pulled off to the side with more of the ‘gathers’ then made another strap pulling the off the shoulder one tightly so it wouldn’t fall off my shoulder.

Here’s a full back detail.

I made the skirt from a sapphie colored silk cotton blend. It has kangaroo pockets and a side zip.

I wanted a pop of color so I made this rose colored hair pin.

You can wear it as a hood.

Or just buttoned. From the front…

… and the back.

I leave with the photo that is much more ‘me’ after all that serious silliness.

It’s gonna be a slow posting week for me. My daughter has school off so my focus is lots of family time. Have a wonderful day!!

This was an order for a refashion I did yesterday. I love the way it came out and think it would make a great holiday dress with cute jewelry and heals, but it would be perfect in the summer with casual sandals, too.

I started with this plain black jersey dress. My client, Morgan, from Pepper Design Blog wanted it shorter. So I took 7 inches off the bottom.
If you don’t have extra to work with, get a 1/4 yard from the fabric store or use an old T-shirt. Cut the long piece in half and ruffle it.

Pin it beginning from halfway on the back of the strap around the front…

…all the way around the neckline and down the middle. Notice I’m pinning it inside out so once it’s sewn you can flip it over without seeing the seam.

Here’s how it will look after you stitch it in place.

Do the same to the other side.

Then take another piece of jersey, double the length of the bodice top.

Ruffle it down the middle.

Pin it down the center of the shirt in between the other two pieces. Stitch it in place.

Here’s how it looks!

And here’s the back. I love how it creates little flutter sleeves.

I want one for myself!

Here’s a simple way to updo a shirt that I did for an order this week. I got black jersey that I ruffled into strips. Then I pinned it into little rosette shapes.

Attach more until they are in random swirls on the shirt.

Here’s how many I did on the side of the sweater. After pinning it well, stitch in place.

Now you have a unique and much more exciting garment!

I also added a small one to the pocket on the opposite side.

Right now I am knee deep in Christmas orders and Christmas presents. So this month I will be doing lots of creating, just not too many tutorials because of my very limited time. But I will be posting all my creations still. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season!