Fashinspiration from Pride & Prejudice

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The house was still quite when I woke up this morning. I turned on the TV and Astro was showing Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley’s), based on Jane Austen’s (1813) novel of similar title.  I watched it before but I don’t mind watching it again.  After all, it is not that often that I got to watch something other than SpongeBob, if you know what I mean.

I was most fascinated with the pretty gowns. There was one ballroom scene where the girls were all wearing white gowns.  The fashion differences were very subtle with the use of different tones, textures and materials of whites.  I noticed that pastel colours were also used for little highlights as belts, ribbons, etc.

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The detective in me pushed me to google further. The costumes were designed based on the fashion in 19^th century England, where the story was set.  Apparently, the ‘empire waist’ of the gowns were pushed down lower as the movie director felt that the original fashion was unflattering.  The gowns may appear simple, but they were actually quite complicated involving different layers, wraps, necklines, regency era skirt, etc etc… too much sewing jargons for me to understand.

This is another of my favourite (glad that I found the image on the net). I love the stripes and the long sleeves. I suddenly remembered that I have a similar fabric stashed in my sewing room. Well, looks like I just got another inspiration for the next dress for my daughter! She can wear this for her mengaji class or as a night gown. My worry with working with stripy fabric is lining up the stripes. The cutting has to be spot on.   

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I love this too. Heart heart the colour!

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Maybe I should sew one for myself too. But the problem is that I think this kind of gown is suited for slim,  tummy-less people. I'm sure people will start asking me 'when are you due?' if I wear one. So unfair!

I leave you with this romantic clip from the movie between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. 

"You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on".  (Mr. Darcy)

Dress Me Up

I tried sewing a dress for my doter a fortnight ago. It is quite an upgrade from my past projects, i.e. cushion covers, skirts and baju kurung. It was made for my nephew's wedding but it wasn't worn as I wasn't too happy with the pink sash - felt that it was too strong for the dress. I was thinking to change it to a more toned-down material but haven't got the chance to buy it.

However, I've decided not to bother. Let's just stick with it as a reminder of my first attempt. After all, it was my doter's suggestion to match the materials together. And she had no qualms with it. The dress used 1 metre of fabric. I bought a metre of each colour from, you guess it, Nagoya last year. My original intention was to make pillow cases for Aisya but I felt the patterns are a bit too cute to be wasted as such. Total cost of the dress was just under RM15! I've cut the pink one and will try making a longer / maxi dress.

I asked Aisya what am I going to do when she grows up and if she would keep wearing my homemade dresses. She looked at me with a blank stare, trying hard not to say anything to hurt my feelings. That's a good girl... :)

Lempeng Bodo

Recently on the way to our 'canteen' (a nearby cafe where I usually get our dinners), my son complained that he was bored of eating the same food and asked me why he couldn't have nice food like kakak's (my mother-in-law's maid) cooking. Ouch! My ego as a mother was dented.  I told him that there was nothing to cook in the fridge (which is true) and promised that I'd cook something nice this weekend. The next day our fridge was still empty. So I korek our kitchen to find anything edible to cook. The only things I had were a can of sardine, frozen peas, flour, and almost rotten potatoes. There and then I got the light bulb moment - lempeng! I knew the kids would like it. To entertain them further, I got them involved in the cooking.  

Aisya helped dicing the potatoes. And Imran pan fried all the lempeng. During cooking, he asked me 'where's the pancake box'. I told him 'this is malay pancake, not the mat salleh ones'. Don't worry - no kids were harmed in the process. Their fingers are still perfectly intact!

Aisya, who is always eager when I commissioned her to do anything which involves pens and papers, wrote the recipe. 

Good job guys! Next time I'll train you to wash the dishes... :)