Putting a halt to my dressmaking

What really –  stopping making clothes? No, of course not – I’m far too addicted. Well, I say addicted, but really it is a constant desire to refine, adapt and challenge myself. I get an idea and I want to see if it works. And so, with a summer holiday to plan for, it was inevitably that I turned once again to my favourite dress pattern.

I decided to combine the pattern with the halter-neck waistcoat pattern that I’ve also used  before. As for my choice of fabric I had a bed sheet (still crispy so never used) bought for just £2 from Emmaus. This would serve as a test in many respects to see if I could make the idea work, rather than using expensive fabric and getting it wrong. All I needed to do was buy a zip.

The waistcoat pattern needed adapting in that I wanted the front section in a single piece, not two halves. The lower edges of the waistcoat had to be shortened to attach it at the waist of the skirt section of my dress pattern (effectively replacing the bodice). I also needed to extend the neck piece by adding ties rather than it be in a closed loop.

This was all fairly straightforward enough, though I also decided that I wanted to line the dress. This would give the bodice more structure, as well as dispensing with the need to edge it with bias binding. And by lining the skirt too it made the outer fabric less transparent. Luckily I already had some pale lemon coloured fabric which co-ordinated perfectly.

I pinned and adjusted the halter-neck bodice as I went along until I was happy with the fit. I did the lining side seams first and checked the fit there, before sewing the outer fabric. Sewing the skirt section was now as easy as pie  (and it has the two pockets that I usually put in). The lining and outer dress are attached around the top of the bodice, and again at the zipper. I have caught the two together at the waist side seam for a few stitches on the inside. Both are hemmed separately. I’m very happy with the results. I will certainly be making this style of dress again, another holiday version and quite possibly an ‘evening out’ version too.

You may remember a while ago that I posted about the bargain  tablecloth I’d found at IKEA. This has now been made into a skirt and a top. The top is so simple, adapted from the bodice section of my usual dress pattern. Instead of adding a peplum (as with the Underground top) I  lengthened the pieces at the waist, slightly flaring them to give a better shape. I used a zip rather than buttons as a closure. The zipper is fitted so that it undoes from the hem to the neckline of the top. Both top and skirt have been finished off with white bias binding (cutting up an old cotton sheet to provide the strips).

Dressing up pirate

I love this child’s duvet cover from the retailer Next with its pattern of pirates, each side with a variation of the design. Multi-images like these are always good for turning into skirts or dresses.

Once again I used my favourite pattern. This time though because of the way the pirate figures were aligned I dispensed with the skirt pattern pieces. Instead I cut and gathered two panel widths. I also decided not to make the bodices out of the same fabric but to chose a plain fabric instead (something that I will repeat in the future I’m sure). With the red bodice dress this meant appropriating the gingham band into the finished dress. For the hem the gingham has been cut from the top of the skirt sections and sewn at the bottom. I used a contrasting ‘dotty’ fabric to make bias binding for the armholes and neckline. As you can see I didn’t make a tie belt but instead utilised an elasticated one I’d made earlier (must make one in red).

For the blue pirate fabric (the quilt’s reverse side) I bought a piece of white cotton drill for the bodice section. This fabric has a lovely weight to it and is great to sew. The armholes and neckline have been edged with bias binding made from an old shirt, left over from one of my previous projects. Each dress has a zip at the back and no pockets.

The duvet dresses that I make work really well with 1950s style net petticoats (inexpensive on Amazon). Wearing this dress today I passed by a woman who remarked upon it, saying that it reminded her of her teenage years back in the 50s.  Last week I was up at the London Transport Museum shop in my London Underground dress (THE perfect place to show it off). My dress was much admired by the staff. One aspect of wearing dresses like this is that they do have a nod to vintage style – and vintage style is proper dressing, not the unisex jeans and tee shirt combination. Vintage style also flatters all ages. The summer is perfect for dresses and I’d urge every woman to feel floaty and feminine in a frock like this (pirates optional!).

Re shaping the man shirt

A little sew & sew

I’ve been busy with various sewing projects in the last  week which has been very satisfying.

Having had remnants of a fabric with a bicycle design on for a while I thought that it was high time that I used it up.  Some of the fabric went to make a new top – one based on the bodice section on my favourite dress pattern (as done so with the London Underground fabric). But there was sufficient left over to trim two existing items of clothing. I cut a pair of trousers shorter and edged them in the bicycle’s contrast design (stripes). Then I added panels of the fabric to a lightweight blouse. The blouse was very transparent originally so this reduced that effect. I now have a set of three summer garments which co-ordinate. If you’re new to sewing this is one way of adapting existing garments that will give you confidence to try more!

Last week I bought a very long pinstriped pencil skirt in a charity shop but it was only when I got it home that I realised that it had a small L-shaped tear, each side of which being about 1cm. The cost of the skirt was negligible but the tear would notice if I’d sewn over it as a repair. I thought about using the skirt for it’s fabric and re-inventing it as a new garment. But the solution that I chose was easier – and could be one for anyone who has a tear or a small stain on a garment that they love, that proves obvious to the eye! I repaired the tear using a backing of iron-on interfacing, then did a zig-zag stitch over the top. Then I carefully sewed on a length of braid (gross-grain ribbon) down the whole length the skirt, going over the top of the repair. In the braid I had created a loop in which to make a flat bow as a decorative feature.

 

Going Underground

Thunderbirds are GO!

If you are a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I can’t resist a bold duvet design. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw this Thunderbirds duvet in a charity shop. I loved the characters and the bright colours. Of course it was going to become a new addition to my wardrobe.

The design was done in such a way that by cutting the duvet into three I had two strips with the puppets, and one with the craft. Using the strips with the characters made creating this simple skirt the obvious choice rather than a dress. The pattern on the reverse of the fabric made the yoke – and there is more left over to transform into a top or a waistcoat. Job done – perfect for the summer!

A hem!

We’ve all seen those beautiful long column-like dresses, often with geometric or floral designs, in a slightly stretchy fabric – but often way too long! Does the retail market think that all women are over 6 foot tall? OK, maybe I’m just a short-arse, but this gave me an idea when I saw a brightly coloured dress at a bargain price.

Like everyone else I’m glad that the days are lengthening, and with the prospect of summer holidays with my lovely boyfriend, I thought the dress would make a welcome addition to my wardrobe. The original length was about floor length plus two inches trailing! I could have simply turned up a hem to make it floor length (and avoiding the trip hazard). I could have made it ankle length to still give that flowing evening appeal. But, I decided, if I took it up a ‘knicker’ height I could still rock the frock, but gain some matching undies in the process!

I love making knickers – it is so simple and there are plenty of instructions on the internet (I used this site http://verypurpleperson.com/2013/01/tutorial-sewing-panties/). If you are already adept at making your own clothes, simply de-construct a pair of knickers that you know fits, and re-make! Or you could make some as presents for others using inexpensive pairs (Primark?) as your template to work with.

I recently made a couple of pairs with a matching camisole top from a beautiful black stretch lace, another super fabric to get creative with. But I’ve made loads from various garments with a little stretch in them as long as the pattern has appealed. I’ve used ordinary elastic although you can buy ‘fancy’ edge elastic specifically for underwear it’s not vital if you have a stash of ordinary elastic available. Cutting off the length of fabric from this summer dress gave me enough fabric to make two new pairs of knickers.

I noticed on Facebook this morning a link to a pattern for a retro-style bikini, now there’s some more food for thought! Those summer days are going to be fun!

Fleeced!

The shocking truth behind Renoir & Co.,

When I bought a screen in a charity shop I got more than I bargained for!

As is frequently the case with charity shops, when you see something you want – regardless of whether you need it – you sometimes have to make that quick decision to buy it. If you walk away, intending to go back later, it will more likely than not have been snapped up by someone else. This was the case when I spotted a three panel screen in one of my favourite haunts.

The screen had 15 apertures, like a giant picture frame, to hold images. The screen had been renovated with each of the apertures featuring replicas of famous Impressionist paintings by the likes of Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. All very lovely as it stood, but, I thought it would be a great way of displaying some of my own artwork.

A keen photographer I have been adapting my photographs for a while now, creating new images, several of which I have entered into my local camera club competitions. I have little enough wall space in my house as most of it is given over to my father’s paintings (click on the link above to find out more about those). So this screen I envisaged as a portable photography exhibition of my own work. I just needed to take out those French Impressionists (ideal for chocolate boxes but I’m not a fan). That was when I made the shocking discovery!

The original artwork was of a far more adult nature, and for reasons I can’t quite fathom, was still in place between Renoir and Co., and the cardboard backing. The original imagery (and beautifully printed on glossy photo paper) was of Indian carvings and illustrations of a sexual nature – the Karma Sutra I guess. I am not sure why these photos weren’t removed when the arty pictures were put in – they were hard to miss . So,  I took out the French Impressionists (which turned out to be from a wall calendar) and popped the saucy pics back in their place.

While I think the screen looks interesting with the original imagery I don’t actually plan on keeping them on show long term. Maybe I should hide them again behind my own photos in due course! But as unexpected bargains go – this one takes the biscuit…although there was that time I bought a small cupboard for £3, which turned out to have £1,000 secreted inside it – but that’s another story!!

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It was just too good a shirt to be wasted! When my lovely boyfriend handed over a shirt that was rather too snug a fit I just loved its fabric design. It had a montage of tiny photos of punk singers in mono (or rather a blue/grey colour). But how exactly to use the fabric in a new guise?

Various options ran through my head, including some kind of clothing for myself, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I had to re-sculpt it and hand it back, in a wearable form. That meant one thing – yes, boxers!

Laying out my pattern pieces revealed that there wasn’t going to be enough of the punk fabric to cover, especially as I wanted to keep the photos ‘the right way up’. An easy solution came with using a contrasting fabric to form the waistband area. You’ll see that I used a red/white dot fabric – I did try the same in blue/white, and black/white, but the red was just fab. Simple, effective, job done!

And I do have a few remnants that enabled me to make this simple cross body bag (step by step instructions coming soon) so I’m happy to get my own punk piece too.