Made By Lex

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!!

We did our Christmas photos with our amazing friend and photographer, Emmy. She came up with this amazing idea to do little stars on chalkboard cloth that I got at Harts. I made these outfits for the girls just for the shoot and for Christmas.

Isabel’s was red silk tiered with a red silk bow.

Ava’s was different shades of pink silk, chiffon and cotton sateen.

Cuddling Ava.

Loving sisters.

Giselle’s was ruffle upon ruffle of pink and coral jersey.



This was the outfit I made for myself. It is a peach colored, high necked shirt with pleats and a linen paper bag waist skirt with deep pockets. ( this was one of my new designs and I have it coming in a real photo shoot soon!!)

And here is my sweet husband and I.

And here is our sweet friend we owe it all to. I know you’ve seen her amazing blog, Grieving Gracefully. Take a look for some beautiful words and stunning visuals that imparts wisdom far beyond her years.

Now, just trying to choose which one for our card. Any favorites????

There was a lot o interest on the bubble skirt so I’d love to share my way of doing one with you. You can use any fabric you have, but I used a men’s shirt for this one. You can also use a pillowcase!

Cut off the ends of the shirt so you have it in a nice sized square. At this point, if you don’t want the pocket there, you can remove it with a seam ripper.

Next, I took the front piece of the shirt and stitch the flap down on one side so it wouldn’t open.

Now take the front and back of your shirt and sew, right sides together.

After you sew that, take the end that you will be tucking under the skirt and gather the edges. You can do this by doing a basting stitch and hand pulling it, bu doing a running stitch by hand or my favorite way: set your tension to the tightest(the highest) number and the length to the longest.

Here’s how it will look now.

Now you’re going to get the lining piece. I’ve been using flannel for the winter, but I had this soft brown jersey so I’m using this. You want to cut it so it’s about 50% shorter than your main fabric and about 25% more narrow. It will look something like this.

Pin the gathered edge to the lining piece inside out, and sew together. Here’s how it will look now.

Now bring the two side ends together.

Pin them together.

Sew them together. It will now look like this.

Now pull the lining piece under the skirt. And pin it to the main fabric. The main fabric is bigger than the lining piece.

So make small little folds to meet the lining piece and pin in place.

Do a basting stitch to keep it in place before attaching the waistband.

Now for the waistband. I had some leftovers on the shirt so I used that, but you could use any other fabric if you don’t have any extra. Get one long piece, your desired length, and about 3- inches wide, depending on your elastic.

Sew the end together so you have one circle. Then fold the band over in half.

Attach it to your skirt and pin in place.

Sew it together leaving an opening for the elastic.

String your elastic through. The do a zig-zag stitch to attach the elastic, and close the open spot of the wasitband.

Voila!

I L-O-V-E how you can see the button strip at the bottom! I think it’s so neat!

I also did this one out of a garnet crinkled pillowcase.

It’s so textured and voluminous!

Perfect for the holidays!

Hope you enjoy the tutorial! And enjoy this beautiful day!

Isabel needed some new fall clothes outside of her school uniform. She refuses to wear pants so I decided to make her some warm skirts. The first one I made was a light, soft mauve courduroy.
I did it bubble style and lined the inside with a pink flannel.

I like the subtle volume of it.
I found this amazing multi-colored tweed at Harts.

I made a box pleated skirt from it.

I absolutely love the look of this fabric and the pleats.

And so does Bel

Then I made this eggplant colored tunic top with this beautiful butterfly fabric as the trim..
It has a pleated front at the center of the neck.

And a pleat at the back with a button back closure.

Here’s the full back view.

Here she is, staring off at the TV.(my bribe to let me take her picture)

Then, lastly, some warm flannel pj’s. I got this beautiful print at Harts.

The some sweet blue-bird jammies.

Now, if only it would stop being 80 here we could get some use out of this stuff!!

I made this skirt last week. Here is my sister, Ana, wearing it for me.

This idea flashed in my head and HAD to go to my room to immediately make it.

It’s a navy blue, light canvas and it hits a few inches above the knee.

Then when I thought I was done with the skirt I realized that it wasn’t quite finished. So I thought to add these tabs on the side with gold gentleman’s buttons. (Should have changed my serger thread to darker colored. rats!)

I’ve been wearing it with tall boots and a white shirt. I just love it.

It’s simple, classy and timeless. I think I’ll get a lot of use out of it.