The Refashioners Challenge and The Stylish Dress book

Hi there.  After my last post about my flagging sewjo, I've made an effort to prioritise sewing.  Even if I could only sew every other day for 15 minutes at a time, I felt that was better than not at all.

As I have been making lots of silly mistakes over the Summer, I wanted a project that was easy skill-wise and very little financial risk. Enter Portia Lawrie's Refashioners challenge to create a new garment from jeans. I watched her series with interest, and thought the garments created were outstanding; but, I did feel  a lot of them were rather wasteful in the number of jeans used to create one garment - in some cases nine pairs were used!  Lots of fabric must have ended up in the bin, which I felt rather went against the spirit of refashioning.

I wanted to limit myself to using only one pair of jeans, and I was lucky enough to find a huge pair (size 42 waist) for just three pounds. I felt if I mucked it up, I'd only be wasting three quid and only one pair would end up in fabric recycle. So, worth a go.

As I didn't have the energy to spend hours on a new-to-me pattern or work out free-hand pattern making, I spent some time looking through patterns I have used before, and that were ready to go without alterations. I plumped for Dress D from The Stylish Dress Book. I have made it three times before; it's straightforward to make and I know the shape flatters me.

I unpicked rather than cut the seams, so I was lucky to be able to fit the pattern pieces on the legs. Unpicking also created these funky looking features at the side seams where fabric that was originally within the flat felled seams is now on show! I rather like the effect.

The other features I really like are the dark patches which were originally hidden beneath a pocket. I think having the different tones of blue looks fun.

In an attempt to use as much of the original jeans as possible I re-topstitched one of the pockets and also wanted to use the waistband as the hem - much to my delight it fitted perfectly, I added the little leather tab too, but I'm not sure if that isn't too much?

I am really pleased with this dress; it was a slow process, as I found it hard to motivate myself. I am so glad I did, though, as it feels wonderful to have made something I enjoy wearing. Did you take part in the challenge?  I'd love to see your makes.

Child's Simplicity pattern 1146 x 2

Hello stitchers,  This post is just a quickie.  A few weeks ago I was on a "reduce, reuse and recycle" mission. I had an old maternity dress that I had bought second hand, which had seen me through three pregnancies, and had definitely seen better days.

However, there was some usable fabric in the skirt section.  Enter: child's Simplicity pattern 1146. An easy (only two pattern pieces) knit dress, this one cut out in an age 4 with age 5 length.  As I made this a while ago it has been in and out the wash, and has been worn lots; no ironing as it's a knit. Happily, Little Miss loves wearing dresses, they are her favourite.

This version closes with ribbon ties; a second version I made at the same time has sweet little buttons.

This second dress uses up two tiny remnants from t-shirt making.  I haphazardly sewed them together before cutting out the pattern pieces. I did this to avoid spending too long faffing around over an everyday nursery kind of dress. One tiny bit of lace trim from my goody box (this had almost certainly been cut off another garment as it had treads over it) really lifts this little dress.

So, two almost free dresses. I did pay £2.04 for the pattern in a half price sale. The rest of the maternity dress, though beyond use in clothing, has been cut up for my rag rug course! Call me Mrs. Thrifty! See you soon stitchers.

A fun top quickie!

This post is just a quickie: a super fast upcycle to make my darling husband a Christmas top.

I used an old shirt that would otherwise have been shredded at fabric recycle, and got to work. I drew a template for the tree, cut it from some lovely wool felt, and appliquéd it on using a zig-zag stitch.  I then hand sewed baubles and the tinsel (lovely braid) on during my nightly vigil to ensure children remain in their correct beds at night time. A quickie, but much appreciated by Mister Seamsoddlouise, so a real win.

Merry Christmas!

Scrap busting with simplicity 1412

Hi there sewing friends. I hope you're all well, and sewing up a storm! I didn't get my birthday dress finished in time. Boo! But it's almost done, just the hem to go now. Despite this, I had a lovely day. I was brought breakfast in bed by my eldest, and given lots of lovely prezzies. Nearly all of them were sewing related - how fabulous!!!

In the meantime, I still have something to share with you all and this is from the "its so easy" range at Simplicity. I made it before here. And the darling daughter loves a good pretty dress; who doesn't?

The dress uses up the smallest scraps from this top;bearing in mind I only bought a metre of it in the first place, I would say the fabric has done me very well indeed.

The rest of the dress is a pillowcase cut up and refashioned. It is lovely fabric, and only got consigned to the cut-up pile as it had a small stain that just would not wash out. 

I love the ric-rac embellishment, I think it really makes it special. I hand-sewed it on at my first visit to the monthly Brighton Sewing Bee. It was so exciting getting to meet so many other people, all crazy for sewing and nice cake.

Do you go to any sewing groups or craft clubs? I feel really pleased to have found the Brighton Sewing Bee group. Sewing can be an isolated hobby, so I am very grateful to social media, blogs and meet-ups for keeping us all in touch.

 

Bye for now; will see you soon with my finished dress...

More refashioning, with embroidery

Hello there. I feel a bit of a fraud blogging, as truth-be-told I have done no sewing for almost two weeks. It's really depressing me. I have three half-finished projects sat next to my machine and I just don't have the "Oomph" to sew them. I don't know if it's the lack of sewing that gets me down, or that when I'm down I can't sew. But either way it's not good.  

However, I do have something to share: a Delphine skirt from "Love at First Stitch". This is my second incarnation of this pattern; my polka dot skirt is in heavy rotation as it seems to go with everything! I do love the shape and fit of the Delphine, so I very much doubt this will be my last one either.

This, like my previous refashion, was an attempt to use up fabric from worn-out jeans that were past giving to the charity shop, but still contained usable fabric. Apart from folding out some length, I made no other alterations and sewed a straight size 3. The fit is pretty perfect for me.

The waist band and back are from a pair a maternity jeans, and the front is a plain vintage linen with applique flowers on. This piece of fabric was very small and only just matched the front pattern piece.

I can't really take credit for the design. I found this piece of fabric neatly folded in my late Nan's fabric stash.

She had carefully cut out the flowers from a sample book of curtain fabric, and arranged and stuck them on with bondaweb. Nanny had then presumably not known what to do with it and put it away. I myself had previously got it out many times wondering how I could use it.

I added machine embroidery to give the applique more texture, and to ensure they didn't flap off in the wash

After this, there was much deliberation over what to do with it. Perhaps I should have framed it. But selfishly perhaps I saw it as a skirt panel!

Sadly, I'm not entirely convinced this is successful. I think the linen is too thin in comparison to the denim. I will wear it happily, though perhaps only in summer. I also want to replace the zip with an exposed one. I have even bought it, just need to sew it on. Motivation - come find me!!

Hopefully, I will be back on my machine very soon; until then, I will continue to enjoy reading other people's sewing adventures.

Refashioned jeans to Simplicity 1787

Hi fellow stitchers! I have wanted a colour blocked denim tunic for ages, and now I have one. And I love it!

I started out with a pinterest board, pinning lots of gorgeous denim tunics; you can view my board here if you are so inclined.

Then, I started to see other bloggers creating beautiful denim shifts (I love Su's newlook tunic from "Butterflies and Lemondrops", and "Justsewtheraputic's" denim Laurel). Suitably inspired, I began.

 

My first decision was to recycle some old jeans for colour blocking; I then decided upon a pattern. I went for a dress pattern I had made before and love wearing: Simplicity 1787.

 

 

The shape of the pattern pieces immediately lends itself to colour blocking. The dark blue is from my old (non-fitting since having baby No. 3) jeans, and the light blue was gifted to me by a friend. The level of stretch was very similar, so they worked well together.

 



 



The pockets are the best feature of this pattern. Useful, but stylish too. I lined them with scraps of floral fabric so they are pretty on the inside too.

I love the Sixties vibe this dress gives off, it almost feels like it should be on Star Trek! But it is still modern enough to get compliments. I need to get brave enough to say "I made it" in reply, I usually just say thank you! 

 

For the back, I was determined to have an exposed zip, as I felt that aesthetic would suit the denim. I lost count of how many overly complicated youtube tutorials I watched on how to do it!  In the end, it was relatively easy to attach the zip. Though having said that, I did break THREE needles putting this in! My machine just did not like going through the double thickness denim, facings and zip tape! But it was worth it.

 

 

 



I did originally play around with the idea of sleeves, which do look nice. But in the end sleeveless won out.

 

 

 

It is just what I wanted and planned; this is why I love sewing - it is truly a very addictive hobby.



More Pinnys!

Inspired by Kids Clothes Week back in October, and my little strawberry pinafore dress for my baby girl, I have two more pinnys I have been working on to show you. I cut them both out in a flush of enthusiasm weeks back, but then somehow forgot about them!  I was really cross with myself when I lifted some new fabric and found two half made dresses underneath!

This green floral dress used to be a pair of my Nan's old and faded curtains!  But the finished dress is so pretty I doubt you'd think "curtain" looking at her in it. The pictures were taken on a gloriously sunny Autumn afternoon.  I love days like this.

After taking these photos, I was concerned about those drag lines on the front of the bodice.  So I have very simply let out the elastic at the back of the dress by just over an inch and problem solved, drag lines gone, phew! Funny how you don't always "see" things until you photograph them.

On this version I have added a band of green ribbon at the hem, topped by a line of purple ric-rac. This embellishment though simple makes me positively giddy, it looks so fabulous. I also decorated the top of the pockets with ric-rac too.  Too cute.

This is her other pinny, and it started life as an adult's soft chambray skirt. I had to include the skirt's central seam in the dress in order to fit all the pattern pieces on while still following the grainline.

She loves this version as it is so soft.  It's not showing well in this photo, but I did all my topstitching in orange thread. I thought it went nicely with the blue.

The hem and the pockets tops I embellished with the cutest scallop stitch. It's a small detail but it makes the dress really special.

Baby girl particularly loves the pockets, and they are roomy enough for lots of toys! She's such a good model too - very keen to swirl and pose.

With these two dresses plus the earlier strawberry one, it makes it six buttonholes under my belt with this pattern. I've stopped being so scared of them at last. Might be time for me to tackle a blouse soon: I just need to decide on the pattern.

I've loved sewing all three of these.  They have really been fun to do.  Its especially satisfying when they are loved by the recipient too!

Thank you.

Thank you all so much for your advice about sewing with slippery fabrics: so motivating and inspiring. I'm pleased to say it has helped me to salvage the harem pants!

It was a lot easier once I got back to them. They are not the greatest sewing-wise (a little wonky), but they're oh so comfy.  Elasticated waists, how I love thee!

The main things I took from the advice were: lots of pins, baste well and go slowly! I'm also busy looking into starch spray, and sewing with paper, for when I work with my lovely new slippery and silky rayon fabric. But for now, here's the details of my practice refashion...

This was a very simple re-size.  I brought the sides and inside led seams in by an inch.  I managed to do the sides by using french seams.  The inside leg I just sewed straight, then used a zig zag to secure the edges.

I've tapered them in dramatically compared with the 80's original. I am looking forward to wearing them as they are so light and airy. Perfect for this heatwave we are experiencing.

I think they are pretty shapely, considering, but my husband thinks I look silly in them!  Arrggh! I'm going to wear them anyway, of course.

Thank you again for all your advice, The online sewing community is fantastic, and so supportive.  I love this bloggin' lark.