Maria, Janet, Rupert and Me

Today I’ve been able to get down to a spot of creativity after a busy August. But the origins of this blog started way back in 2007 – and it didn’t start with me.

I love fabric –  bold designs, colourful designs – there is such potential in what that fabric can become and what the result of that transformation can mean. I love the feel of a new bolt of cloth – and a fabric shop to me is as a sweet shop is to a child. I am not alone in this. My boyfriend’s late wife, Maria was a fellow fabric devotee. Her passion was for vintage fabrics, particularly those of a 1970s design and she had built up quite a collection over the years.

As life inevitably moves on down an unexpected path gradually a house-clearance is underway. It is an odd feeling lifting out the bolts of cloth, I imagine Maria’s delight in sourcing, and owning each piece. A talented artist her mind must have been fired up by each acquisition.

In her collection were two sections of a Rupert Bear design. They came with a note, dated 2007 from Janet. I’m guessing they were bought on eBay or something similar. Janet says ‘I hope you make something lovely from the fabric’.

The fabric was held for many years, waiting for its new lease of life, but one that sadly Maria couldn’t give it. I asked my boyfriend if I could have the fabric and he agreed.

The Rupert design is effectively a series of printed squares, which does make for some limitations on how the design can be worked with. Cushion covers or a basic bag would be ideal but I didn’t want either. It was all too easy to opt for my familiar duvet dress pattern. I could keep the repeating panels in the skirt, and a little jiggery pokery would provide the bodice (I even had a recycled invisible zip handy). The fabric at one stage must have been held in a swatch book because there are a series of punch holes along the top of the two sections – there was no way of avoiding these when making the bodice so as not to lose the length, so Fray Check has been employed (it’s a small price to pay). I finally added a white bias binding edge to the hem (after I took the photos) which completes the dress. Worn with one of my 1950s- style petticoats it looks great!

And so now I can say to Janet that yes, something lovely has been made from the fabric. I can say thank you to Maria for finding it all those years ago and keeping it safe. And I like to think that there is always a new way to cut and re-stitch the cloth of life from the most treasured of remnants.

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Picking a pocket or two

Pockets. Useful. Easy. Do it!

For an even easier way to add pockets simply fold up a section of the fabric (to the depth of the pocket) before cutting out the two side front sections. But I wanted to use a contrast fabric, which although wouldn’t be seen, I knew it was there!  Job done.

Dipping my feet into time

Before I embarked on my current sewing frenzy I spent a fair amount of time taking photographs. I seem to have got out of the habit of late – and when I do – it is via my iPhone rather than what I refer to as my ‘big camera’. But the two hobbies coincided today.

Killing time waiting for my dinner to cook I played around with an image I’d taken of my latest bargain duvet. The duvet had a multiple clock design on one side, and digital time signals on the reverse. As usual I snapped an image of it on my iPhone, but this time included my feet. The duvet will inevitably become a dress – I’m yet to decide what style. But using my Pixlr app I converted the image into various different colour ways, including monochrome and collage. It’s an app I use often to to create a variety of artwork pieces, and quick images for social media (where the collage feature is particularly useful).

I like the way it looks as though my feet are dipping into a pool of time! I think this photograph may end up as a canvas print at some point, particularly as a single circular image (which I’ve simply multiplied in the example above).

Taking photographs comes in handy when it comes to my publicity work for Heber Opera (heberopera.co.uk). I’m currently working on a poster design for their next production – Rigoletto – in May 2018. It’ll be the fourth poster that I’ve designed for their major productions; having done Rusalka, The Pearl Fishers, and Faust (as well as concert & fund raising posters too). It’s also good to get away from my sewing machine that still appeals to my creative streak!

The 3 Pillowcase Dress

I’ve been playing around with the Burda 3477 pattern. The design of this pattern is for three panels to the front, and four at the back (with a zip in the centre back). On the pattern is a mark line where the length/fit can be adjusted.  I used this marker point to cut the pattern into two, providing separate bodice and skirt sections. This dress is very simple to make, and by not always using the same fabric for all the sections offers easy variations for your wardrobe.

I had three bright pink pillowcases (I think originally Ikea), and I have picked up similar pillowcases from Emmaus for just 50p each. Pillowcases cut easily into long strips of fabric. For a pattern like this where the pattern pieces are narrow, they fit easily onto the pillowcase lengths.

With the pink pillowcase dress I added a band of plain pink fabric to provide detailing at the waist. I also left this dress unlined, so it’s super cool for the summer, though it does have facings to the armhole and neck sections.

I then went on to experiment with the pattern as you can see in the other photographs. The dresses using brown fabrics all have lined bodices, so there was no need to make facings, making for a much neater finish.

The Buzz Lightyear dress was great fun to make. Originally a duvet with the single Buzz motif on the centre, I carefully aligned the pattern pieces to make the most of retaining that image. The pieces have also been kept whole, not divided into bodice and skirt. This time I added tiny cap sleeves (the pattern piece taken from another pattern, though it would have been easy enough to draft one up). I love the bold colours of the finished dress! I still have the reverse of the duvet, with a star and rocket design to work with on another project.

Last week I picked up a lightweight skirt with an oriental pattern for just £3.50 at Emmaus because I liked the design (it’s not as pink as it looks in the photograph below, honest!). The skirt itself was too small for me to wear comfortably. Combined with some plain red sheeting I took out my Burda 3477 pattern once more to see how it might work.

I cut the waistband away from the original skirt, which also had narrow band a few inches above the hem, then laid the fabric out as one piece . There wasn’t enough patterned fabric for the whole dress, but there was, with some joining of pieces for the main front, and back panels. But it did mean retaining the ‘hem’ band, which now is a feature on the right hand back panel. To emphasise this further I sewed on three pearly buttons with red thread. I also retained the original lining of the skirt and have used it behind the patterned pieces to give a little more weight to the garment, and in doing so it also meant that the zip was neatly closed in!

There was little fabric left after cutting the main sections but just enough to cut a narrow binding strip for the cap sleeves, and a narrow trim for the hem of the new dress. The dress could have been sewn much tighter on the sides, but as this is for summer I didn’t want to feel too restricted so opted for a slightly fuller cut. I’ve also added a slit on the centre back seam for ease of movement. I’ve been wanting to make a red dress for ages, and this one fits the bill nicely!

Fully dressed

As you will have gathered I love this dress pattern (New Look 6020). I’ve made it and adapted it so many times, moving the zip from the side to the back, lining the bodice, adding pockets, a tie belt, and halter neck. I love wearing the dresses with one of my colourful 1950s style flouncy petticoats. I’ve made a plain black version for work, this being only the second dress where I purposely bought the fabric off the bolt (the other is the Union Jack dress which I made for Goodwood Revival). Every other dress has been made from a pre-loved duvet, curtain, tablecloth, sheet – or the fabric has been given to me. I can’t resist a bargain.

It is inevitably the fabric design that I am drawn to but also the unusual nature of some patterns.  It has resulted in some striking dresses – the bold blue Dr Who and vibrant Incredibles and Sonic being notable examples. I really enjoyed wearing the London Underground dress (made as a two piece)  in the shop of the London Transport Museum – travelling on the underground that day too. I loved wearing the vintage Christmas dress (green, top row) last December. The beautiful spring flower dress (second row, third from left) made from my mother’s old curtains – and always feel like Maria in the Sound of Music when I do so (you’ll remember the scene – she makes the ‘play clothes’ for the Von Trapp children from her bedroom curtains). There is likely to be at least one more as I have a Buzz Lightyear duvet just waiting to be refashioned.

I have no space left in my wardrobe now, so I’m trying to curb my dress making obsession for now. But I do have some plush black, brilliant red, and vibrant pink fabrics in my stash. I know that I could find a new pattern, and maybe I will. And I certainly can’t promise not to buy a duvet if the design is right!

And for the novice sewers amongst you – this pattern really IS easy. And with any pattern, when you get used to how it works and if you can fit the pattern to your own shape, you’re onto a winner. And actually, a tip is to make it for the first time out of an old sheet – not to wear out necessarily but to get to grips with exactly how the pattern makes up, before you make one from the right fabric. It will increase your confidence and that is a huge bonus, as well as creating a unique outfit for the person that you are.

Bottoms up!

There’s been a pair of linen trousers in my wardrobe that I’ve had for years. I love the colour, but I haven’t worn them for ages. I have a sneaking suspicion that they make my bum look big. So they kept getting left hanging, and several times have been consigned to a charity bag only to be taken out because I really do love the fabric.

It was the same with a skirt I’d bought for £1. I loved the bold flowers on their black background. But this time the skirt was  on the tight side so remained unworn, but I couldn’t just pass it on because I liked the fabric pattern. In my current sewing spree (which threatens to get out of control!) both garments have been reappraised.

The blue trousers are now a top, perfect for the summer – and being plain (much needed in my wardrobe to help coordinate outfits). As before I adapted the bodice section of my favourite dress pattern  but making it less tight. The bias binding strip has been cut from an old pillowcase. Bias binding is so easy to make and a good way to finish armholes, hems and necklines. There are little devices that you can buy to help form the strip too.

The skirt has also become a top. I cut off the waistband and removed the zip. I had to carefully open up the pleats in the top of the skirt using a quick-unpick, to give me a full length of fabric to work with.

I’m particularly pleased with this particular pattern (included in New Look 6080). It couldn’t be simpler or quicker to make. Although I put a short zip into the back  the instructions don’t call for it. It will make it easier to take on and off.

I kept the original care label and sewed it into a side seam (though I do know how to wash cotton!) something that I try to do with most outfits. I’m particularly happy with the cap sleeves here. I shall be returning to my fabric stash to make this top again. Once more I’ve created new from old and I’m delighted with my new wardrobe additions, and just in the nick of time with a summer holiday to plan for.

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.