6/27/2011

6/17/2011

Purple and dots dress refashion

From this:



My friend E's late grandmother's dress.

To this!!!!:



Loooveeee!!!!




E kindly gifted me with some of her grandmother's dresses. A couple of them I liked a lot (this one and a green one), while I took a few others to learn something about the construction. In fact, they were all handmade. I didn't find out who the seamstress was, though.

To refashion this dress I unpicked the side seams and sleeves, eyeballed the position of a dress pattern upon the dress pieces stretched on the floor and cut. There are times when one wants to have the dress - now! You know what I mean, right? :-) Then I sewed the side seams together and then(!) Z fitted it on me!!! He kindly agreed to help me. :-) Haha! So cute! It was his first time and he was very, very, very careful and excited. And he also did a great job, didn't he? I don't mind the wobbliness of the front. It was a plus size dress after all.

So, due to this method of refashion, the dress has two pairs of totally unrelated bust darts and back darts. The fabric is some sort of syntethic knit so there was no need for a zipper. And I used golden bias tape to finish the armscyes. From stash.

Finished in a minute! Or, as we say it here (literally translated)- finished while you say cookie! :-)

I'm sure this little number will be worn a lot. As soon as I shave my legs and get a bit of suntan. :-PP :-DD

Have you sewn something you loooove lately?

Have a good night!

6/15/2011

Still working on it

So, what do you think?

The sleeves were too flapflap wingy. This is better!

And as the dress was too plain I just had to embellish it. I used some of the crocheted circles from recycled embroidery yarn I have a full box of. In complementary colors. I made so many of those circles there will be many more garments embellished with them! :-)



The dress is not finished yet but I love it already! Even though it was not planned to be worn out. You know I love bright colors, but this dress looks so...I don't know...fairytail-ish historical, doesn't it?



And here I spot yet another issue to be addressed!
It looks like the slight swayback adjustment isn't enough. Now I'm wondering... What if I unpick the zip and take the surplus fabric in? One more horizontal seam would not ruin the dress, right? It would look like a back midriff, right? Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

A Burda dress...muslin

Leafing through some of my sewing magazines I got totally inspired by a balloon dress. Then immediately dug up three patterns. One of them is this one from Burda. Another one, that totally thrills me, is from La mia Boutique. The third, also a Burda, is very cute but will wait a minute before I finish these two. :-) More details coming...

So..
The alterations made: lengthened top and slight swayback adjustment.
Fabric: two pieces of fabric from stash, gold and brown with some shine. Almost no remnants left. :-)



I cut a size 40 (hips 42) and it was too big, and somehow too high at the neck. Never encountered this problem before. And haate the sleeves!



After the first few alterations on the dress I still wasn't happy how it looked so I changed few more things: changed the sleeves for cape sleeves and inserted elastic in the hem where the pattern called for a string.



And the neckline will be round...

I'll show you the almost done dress in a minute! :-)

6/13/2011

Sunday race and Monday outfit

Yesterday we headed into town to see the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Well, half of it really. It was too hot so we went on to get ice cream. :-)
It was fun!
Here you can see few of the participants "speeding" down the hill in their handmade vehicles.








I loved the Barakuda team. Awesome construction and very fast! Unfortunately not pictured here. They won the race! :-)

And now for something completely different...my outfit of the day:



Top: thrifted
Skirt: me-made

Good night!

Dress Burda 6/2003-108 muslin

Rescue from the UFO pile! Poor one, sitting there for a whole year...

The pattern: Burda 6/2003-108
I only lengthened the pattern pieces.



The front shows some pulling on the sides, see? The side view shows pulling in the middle. That means that the back is too short, right?



Obvious sway back alteration needed in the back! Undergarment to conceal underwear needed also! :-)



The dress doesn't look good enough to be worn around town, but is passable as a very light comfy summer house dress. Sigh...I like the fabric so much! Sigh...

But the dress pattern is great, don't you think? Only two pieces, flattering for my body shape and I can think of a million refashions already! :-)

And now, let's alter that pattern.

Have s nice and creative Monday!



6/11/2011

Outfit of the day

Yesterday:


Top: me-made
Jacket: thrifted
Jeans: Levis
Shoes: me-refashioned
Bag: birthday gift

So, you see I advanced technologically. Got to love the tripod and remote! :-D
Still have to learn how to use them properly. And practice with the camera.
(Hire a makeup artist and light technicians...)

I had some fun taking different pics:






Of course... The jump!



Heeeee :-))))

6/09/2011

Crossover top refashion

Grandma gave me this one. It was enormous and had to be taken in a lot on both sides.



I did a stupid thing, though. Forgot to leave extra space for the hips, ehh... So it pulls up.


Fortunately it is a summer top! :-DDD

T-shirt refashion

Two finished objects from the UFO-refashion pile!

1. Simple basic white T-shirt

The pattern used is ..... I lengthened it 2.5 cm and did a slight sway back alteration but it looks like in need of some more, right? And also the shoulders need to be moved forward a bit.



Two different fabrics (shirts) were used for this one. Pique for the body, and plain knit for the sleeves and inserts. I used the front of the refashioned T to make the back because there was a big oval label I couldn't get rid of. So I used it to my advantage to design something nice.



Revers applique and tiny pearls on the right shoulder!

2. Pika-chu!

This one was refashioned from one ooold shirt of my brother's. So fun! I love the little lightning monster!



The pattern used is ..... in which I altered the sleeves to make them slightly puffed.



The back looks better than in the previous example. Let's see what happens when I wash them.

So, which patterns did I say I used???? Eh?? Can't even find them right now....Hmmmm...

6/08/2011

Pants Burda 7/2010-127

Yes, these! I wanted to make them since the moment I saw them. The most obvious reason being a "tall" pattern. I was anxious to see how they would fit.


I cut a size 84, at the waist 80, and used this lovely colorful bouret (discounted :-)) silk I bought around Christmas, having in mind a spring pair of pants.

The fit is great! Isn't it?
There are just a couple of things, though... The side seams are sticking out due to the interfacing used to secure them and need to be stitched down. It was too heavy, I suppose.

Aaand, they shrinked some more in the wash!!! Argh! Do natural fabrics do that all the time? Because if they do it's better never to wash them again. There is some length left in the cuff, but what about the width?

Anyhow, I love wearing them! :-)))) And will make them again. For sure.

Ciao!

6/06/2011

Hello!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing great!

Thanks to all that occasionally stopped by while I was absent!

And now, I shall resume where I left off last time.

So...

There hasn't been much sewing going on around here in the last months, but last week I sewed as if I was obsessed! I took up some UFOs and sewed from stash.


This dress was my second attempt to subtraction cutting. I made it in January. I used fabric from stash that I wouldn't have used otherwise. It ended up being my carnival dress. I was a flower garden, with accent on lilies of the valley. :-D
I made the loosely appliqued leaves from remnants of the same green fabric and flowers from egg cartons painted white, and attached them with embroidery floss to the dress and hat.

I imagined the striped fabric to be an aerial view of the flower fields in Netherlands...:-)

I don't love those colors, but will try this technique again with fabric I actually like, because I really like the result!

Have a nice and creative time!

B