I’m incredibly late to the party by posting about The Uniform Project, but it deserves to have a lot of attention drawn to it.

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

On May 1st 2009, Sheena Matheiken pledged to wear one dress for 365 days in aid of the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots charity which raises money to fund the education of children who cannot afford it. This ended on April 31st, 2010 and you can see a compilation of Sheena’s outfits in the video above. Sheena raised a whopping $104,263, which amounts to 289 kids in school! Go Sheena!

Ali over at Wardrobe Reimagined wrote a post the other day about how the Internet has aided her sewing (check it out!) and reminded me of this wonderful campaign. Not only does it have an amazing aim, but it’s also an interesting exercise in sustainability. The outfits that Sheena came up with over the course of 365 are creative and unique, and all include that one little black dress.

The dress itself was designed by Eliza Starbuck as a versatile piece that can be worn backwards or forwards, thus lending itself to endless interpretations. On June 29th, the dress itself was made available to buy – but they didn’t stop there. Not only can you buy a ready-made Uniform Project dress, you can also buy the pattern and the fabric to make your very own LBD! Better still, 10% of the sales go directly to Akansha.

With Self-Stitched September just over a month away, I thought that this could be an interesting project to undertake in preparation, particularly as I just got a job where the uniform is anything that is black or white! Not to mention that such a versatile item would be so very useful when September rolls around!

I’m sure I’m not the only one interested in making my own Uniform Project LBD…

So readers, I ask you : who would be game for a Uniform Project Sewalong? I’m thinking sometime towards the end of August, so that those of us participating in the Summer Essentials sewalong (incidentally, I just completed project number 4… I’m really behind on photographing my items!) can wrap that up and have a dress ready for Self-Stitched September! EDIT: After a bit of a rethink, September is probably more likely for this one!

My plan as it stands is to purchase the pattern and then source my own fabric – while $50 is (in my opinion) pretty reasonable for pattern and fabric, I can’t quite afford the shipping for the fabric as well. I just checked, and it seems the pattern and fabric option is currently sold out, so I’ll have to source my own fabric anyway! My plan at any rate is to donate 10% of the amount my fabric comes to directly to Akansha.

So who’s with me?

Anyone got any recommendations of German music I should be listening to?

But hey, we’ve all got to start somewhere, and I’ve just ticked one off the list! I’m assuming the rest of the world knows what Forrest Gump is about, but for those that don’t…

Tom Hanks plays a bloke who’s, well, really stupid, but somehow ends up in the most amazing situations with the most significant people of modern American history. Then of course there’s the love of his life, Jenny, or JENNAAAY, whose path crosses with Forrest’s at various interludes.

This film is ridiculously popular, and I can see why. It’s immensely quotable (I wish my Alabama accent was up to scratch) and I loved the way the directors had Gump rubbing shoulders with many a famous personality through the magic of technology. I’m never not going to find ‘Lieutenant Dan, I brought you some ice cream!’ funny.

It feels a little redundant to give some sort of sweeping analysis of the themes and symbolism in the film – I’m fairly certain this has been done time and time again. I enjoyed the film at any rate, even if it is mostly down to the fact that I now understand all those ‘Run Forrest, Run!’ jokes…

Language is my thing. It could be down to having had my entire education conducted through the medium of Welsh, meaning that I’ve been bilingual since about the age of 3/4, or perhaps I’m just wired in such a way that languages just appeal to me!

Perhaps this is the reason why Zoe’s post on the Colette Patterns’ blog on the Language of Fashion so appealed to me. I would give it a read, it’s a really interesting and thought-provoking commentary on an issue perhaps you haven’t considered before; I certainly hadn’t! Zoe writes about how her personal lexicon changed as she progressed through her Fashion Design Course:

…I discovered material was also called fabric. In fact, the lecturers, tutors and technicians there seemed to have their own foreign tongue. Like infants learning to talk, through emersion, repetition and reinforcement  we students also began to adopt many of these words. Material became fabric. Photos became images. Magazines became sources (this was largely pre-internet)

Later in the article, Zoe speaks about when she felt the line had been crossed from a trade lexicon to ‘the fashion-speak satirised in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, linked to well-worn fashion journalist phrases such as ‘must-have’ and something being ‘important this season.’’

These phrases are ones I’ve been giving much thought to lately, especially with the volume of magazines I’ve been buying in the past month, what with back and forth trips to Swansea. As a rule, I don’t tend to buy many ‘girly’ magazines, and gossip magazines are a big no go for me, so if I fancy something easy to read on the train, I tend to gravitate towards the many fashion weeklies that the U.K has to offer. Emblazoned on the front covers:

‘493 SEXY SUMMER LOOKS, NAILED – The perfect holiday wardrobe’

‘105 HOT NEW BUYS’

‘Love Your Shape Fashion : New Figure-Fixing Trends’

‘New’ seems to be the word to use. (Don’t get me started on the Figure Fixing bit, I think that’s for another post…) I noticed that us Brits, especially in comparison to Germans and possibly most Europeans, are completely OBSESSED with ‘new’ fashion. We want it NOW and we want it CHEAP. This attitude is the very reason that places like Primark exist. There was a girl in my school who couldn’t stand to wear the same dress twice on a night out.

However it’s easy for me to seem judgemental; I’m just as much a part of this culture as the rest of the U.K. If  I didn’t love pretty clothes, then I probably wouldn’t be sewing in the first place. On the other hand, I’m not fond of how what’s ‘must-have’ and ‘important’ one season, is considered ugly and useless in another. I may love pretty clothes, but I wouldn’t call myself a trend hopper. In my opinion, the people who stand out the most are the ones who aren’t slaves to the ever changing whims of the fashion industry.

What’s so wrong with wearing something old, something loved, something that’s ‘out of season’? Not to mention the conundrum of what exactly happens to clothes that aren’t sold; where do they go when the time comes to make new for something ‘new’?

Perhaps the reason this is all bothering me so much, especially with regards to the fashion weeklies, is that in the course of giving my future plans a good old think, I’ve decided that I’d like to pursue a career in journalism, so the possibility that perhaps one day I could be writing about the HOT NEW TRENDS bothers me somewhat. What do you guys think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on any other points in Zoe’s article as well!

It turns out I’m horrendously ignorant when it comes to cinema.

This revelation started out innocently enough with my admission of never having seen Forrest Gump the whole way through. This led to much ridicule from those present, which reminded me a great deal of the time my Jiu-Jitsu friends found out I’d never seen The Karate Kid (I WAS GIVEN PRESSUPS). Cue the inevitable ‘5 classic films you have to have seen’ conversation… Ok, let’s face it, there are a LOT of classics I haven’t seen!

As a consequence, I’ve had a bit of a brainwave… Using the IMDB Top 250 list as a reference point, I’m going to make my way through the classics in a sort of ‘let’s make sure Len never gets ridiculed/pressups for not having seen a film’ crash course in all things cinematic. My coursework? Every Monday I’ll write about the film I’ve seen as proof that I’m actually following through with this crazy plan. I’ll call it Movie Monday, because who doesn’t love a bit of alliteration?

It looks like I’ll be watching a lot of films in the next few months… I’ll make sure to post regular reports about my crash course in the classics, starting with, appropriately, Forrest Gump, coming in at number 38. on the Top 250!

So over to you; what are your Top 5 films? My personal 5 favourites are:

Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run)

Fight Club

Ong Bak 2

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

El laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)

Surprise surprise, two of my five are auf Deutsch…

Yesterday two great friends of mine tied the knot after six years together. There aren’t many people who are more meant for each other than Sophie and Luke, not to mention that they’re both truly wonderful people whom I love to pieces! So to those of you reading this, raise a glass of whatever you’re drinking to Mr and Mrs Moreno and wish them all the happiness in the world, because they deserve it!

I’m currently translating the instructions of this top from Burda Mag’s 02/10 issue, listening to trashy German music as I go, dealing with both my German and sewing needs in one fell swoop!

Multi-tasking at its best, or a sad way to spend a Monday evening? Who cares? What’s your best multi-tasking moment?

Is that my dress on the front page of BurdaStyle? IT IS??

AWESOME.

Needless to say, I’m super excited – this is the first time I’ve ever been featured on BurdaStyle’s front page!

Despite the lack of posting of late, I’m still alive! My computer died (AGAIN) so it’s been a little difficult to get things written when you’re using the family computer.

I have completed my second Essentials item and embarking on my third, so keep your eyes peeled for photos of those babies. In the meantime, why not check out these beauties from the Summer Essentials Flickr group?

I love Angie from Sew I Thought’s take on these Summer shorts created from a vintage trouser pattern – the scalloped hem is what makes this piece really unique!

Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons has whipped up what may be my favourite rendition of Collette Patterns’ Beignet skirt to date. She’s clearly got quite the eye for colour, I would never have thought to pair up the bright blue of the denim with the amber-yellow buttons and belt.

I love this skirt from Ali over at Wardrobe Reimagined. Block colour skirts are so handy to have (I should take note, I get swept away by pretty patterns far too often) and this one is a knockout!

Last but certainly not least is Sølvi at Delfinelise with this stunning rendition of another Colette Patterns favourite, Ceylon. The combination of the peachy coloured fabric and the black piping make for one dress that just oozes chic, charm and style!

Be sure to head on over to the Summer Essentials’ Sewalong Flickr Group and check out what the participants have to offer!

Let me tell you : toddling around Ogmore Castle in those heels is no laughing matter… well, it is if you’re watching me do it but that’s beside the point…

This was the last ever project to come from good old Viktoria the German sewing machine! This year at the Summer Ball I wanted to make sure I made my dress myself. I knew that I wanted it to be based from a vintage pattern, but I was pretty fussy on  what I wanted. Every day I kept changing my mind! In the end, I settled on the Butterick reissue 4792:

But alas! Monetary difficulties struck! My last month in Germany was pretty tight on the cash front, so I turned to my stash for help… and most certainly didn’t have enough for the full skirt on the original. So I opted to add a different skirt from this vintage pattern (which I bought from the wonderful ZipZapKap)

There were a few hairy moments along the way where I thought that there was no way I was going to get this to work. Like, argh the bodice looks awful! And eek should I have gone for View no. 2? But in the end it came together.

The neckline on this dress is so awesome, I may have to co-opt it into some sort of blouse version for everyday wear. I also made a belt with a fun belt buckle found on Etsy!

The leopard print heels I wore were so epic that I just had to get a matching umbrella, which naturally was used due to the menacing Swansea rain clouds!

The first two photos are by the wonderful Martha!