1920s dress

I have a friend's hen do in a couple of weeks and the theme is 1920s flapper. Well as any curvy girl knows the traditional flapper girl isn't the most boob friendly design.

So I did what any maker does, any just made my own. I looked around at images of 20s dresses that didn't include fringing and came up with my own design.

I nipped into town yesterday and picked up some fabric, not sure what it is, there was just one roll in this color, but as far as I can tell it's a cotton/viscose blend, but in a gorgeous pink/coral shade. I also picked up some wide flat lace trim, and a few meters of embroidered and sequinned trim for decoration.

 

It was a simple draft, pretty much a tube dress with slight bust darts, I know darts aren't particularly authentic, but when you have bigger boobs.... then it was just a simple angular cut for the neck line and arm holes.

The arm holes and hem are overlocked, the arms then top stitched down. The neck line is faced. The trim and lace were just  sewn on top, the bottom trim encapsulating the bottom hem, and just peeking off to bottom edge to give the dress a softer bottom line. 

Costume modification

Back in October I made Disney's designer Aurora for an awesome full group of princesses. In two weeks time I'm running race for life with a friend and we decided to do it add Disney princesses (again! 2011 we dressed as Cinderella - ball gown and Ariel - pink dress), this year as Aurora - pink dress and Ariel - mermaid.

I decided the easiest thing to do would just be to modify the designer version, while it's not 100% accurate and also not perfect (well the update did only take about an hour and a half...) I'm still pretty pleased.

I will do a proper post about the original dress soon I promise!

New patterns for work

Recently I've been looking to make some clothes for work. Being 5'10 makes it difficult to find nice work clothes that for properly. For example a dress I wore the other day is meant to have a natural waist line, I wore it pretty much as an empire.

So I order two new patterns, the first is a collection of vintagey styles, fairly reminiscent of the 40s can't decide which one to make first! I'll decide probably after I've been fabric shopping. (Though I do need some pattern paper to extend these properly.

The second is a nice twist on the simple bodycon, with diagonal tucks on the front and back.

This one I'll be making from my lovely raspberry knit jersey that I have a massive stash of

Long time no see!

OK wow, I haven't updated this blog in so very long!

If I'm honest I just didn't really have the drive to do it, and didn't feel like there was much to say. but looking back over the things that I've created since my last entry, then, well I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong! Additionally I've been busy getting married and having an awesome honeymoon in New Zealand with the Mr, so have been pre-occupied!!

SO what have I made since 15th Nov 2010?

• A tonne of costumes (as some of you may recall I'm what's known as a cosplayer - I make replica costumes from existing sources, e.g. Anime, sci-fi, comics etc).
•  Princess Aurora - Disney's Sleeping Beauty
• Cinderella (ripped dress) - Disney's Cinderella
• The Beautiful Enchantress - Disney's Beauty and the Beast
• Effie Trinket - The Hunger Games film
• Seven of Nine - Star Trek Voyager 
• The Evil Queen (Regina) - ABC's Once Upon A Time
• Twisted Fate - League of Legends (a very quick costume for my brother) 
• Dresses
• My 3 bridesmaid dresses
• A kimono sleeved slinky dress
• A 50s style halter neck, with a full circle skirt
• A simple black dress with 3/4 sleeves and an A-line skirt (for work)
• Skirts
• A cherry print half circle skirt with side seam pockets
• A fully lined pencil skirt (for work)

And to be honest probably loads of other things that I just can't remember right now! I will try and start back-filling the blog with photo's and some how-to's on some of the things that I have made. At the very least some 'lessons learnt' from a couple of projects!

Looking to the future projects, I have recently bought three patterns from Gertie's collection . For those that don't know Gertie, she is a (mainly vintage) sewing blogger I have been following for years, and last year released a book and 4 additional patterns. I highly recommend following her! www.blogforbettersewing.com

First up, I'll be making this lovely little number from some fab muted raspberry jersey-type fabric I pick up a while ago.

Butterick 5882

Then this gorgeous number for some good friend's wedding in September. I have yet to buy fabric - I just can't decide!

 Butterick 5814

Then I'll move onto something completely new for me - A coat! Again I don't know what fabric yet, I'll see what the shops start to stock in wool blends, but I'm currently thinking a light pattern, possibly in the blue or green shades.

Butterick 5824

So yeah that's the jist of the last two and a half years. Next post will be on my most recent dress, the slinky kimono!






time for some knitting

OK, So I haven't posted for a very very long time (new job, engagement, wedding planning etc), in this time I've also totally got into knitting (and sewing still!)

I was asked by a freind of mine for some peas in a pod, so for the first time I took the brave steps in creating my own pattern!

The peas are knitted on 3.75mm dps worked in the round, but the pod is knitted flat and stitched together. All done on bog standard double knit wool.

Ribbon roses

I've made a few of these recently, they work great as hair accessories, broaches etc and are super easy and cheap to make!

What you need:

• Scissors
• Needle and matching thread
• Ribbon approx 75cm (though you can use more/less for different size roses), you can use any width of ribbon, the thicker it is the bigger the flower. 
• broach pin / hair slide etc
• 15 minutes

1. Start by tying the thread to the end of the ribbon

 

2. Fold the verticle edge down to meet the horizonal edge, twist together and put a few stitches in place to keep it tight. This will form the center of your rose

 

Vintage tweaking

I went to this vintage fair back in October and picked up two fab dresses for an absolute bargain price of £15! (total, not each!) It's a rare day that I find a vintage dress to fit me, let alone two! (I'm a not-to-tiny 5'10")

One was a cute green 40s button down dress, unfortunately missing what I'm guessing would have been a covered belt, but 5mins £3 and a trip to primark fixed that! Oh and a string of pearls I had lying about!

The second dress was a funky printed 80s dress (though I am reluctant to call 80s clothing vintage. It's commonly accepted anything older than 20 years is a vintage piece, but I'm still not quite 100% on board with it). Anyway I loved the print, but not the style.

Shoulder pads and an unfortunate mid calf length left this dress feeling a little fancy dress party, than fabulous dresses party. But I knew it had the potential.  me, some scissors and my sewing machine and it was transformed to this!

For good measure here is an aweful shot of me in it on Saturday! Excuse the bad hair (didn't dry in time so had to put it in an up-do, also my fringe is in desperate need of a trim - to be fixed his week)

What you can see is that my fab shoe boots had cute gold studs all down the side, they just look a bit awkward from this angle. Never mind, I was still very pleased with the outcome, also DRESS POCKETS!!! I'm totally a fan of dresses with pockets, don't know why just love 'em!

Anyway that's all for today dear readers, a busy weekend of party on Saturday and costume ball on Sunday have left me rather on the sleepy side. But never fear I'll be back next week with a couple of cute broach/hair slide tutorials to jazz up your festive wear!

HowTo: French Seam

This week I've been working a lot with delicate, fray-prone fabrics including chiffon, These sort of fabrics require a lot more effort when it comes to sewing as sheer fabrics show every detail of your hems and seams, which is why I tend to use a technique called French Seaming when working with them. (It's also great on garment where the inside seams may show and there is no lining to hide them).

What is a French Seam you ask? Well is's basically where you enclose the seam in the fabric, but without using bias tape and taping the seams. It sounds complicated but it's really not, though it does take a little extra time, becuase you are in effect, sewing your seams twice.

How do I make on? One thing you need to remember before you start sewing it to allow a little extra seam allowance when cutting your fabric, if in doubt double what you would normally cut for seams.

fab new fabric

So I was in the wonderful Fabric Land Brighton at the weekend, picking up supplies for a Christmas themed fancy dress outfit (I'm going as a Christmas tree - queue bright green crushed velvet and sparkly pompoms!) when I came across the most gorgeous laquered cotton at just under £4 per meter.

Why I sew

So you read about what drive me nuts about sewing, well I though it was time to share with my lovely readers why I sew!

1. Fit - Have you ever gone to a shop and tried on something fabulous only to find it doesn't quite fit right? This happens to me all the time, mostly due to my height, but I know people of all shapes and sizes that suffer too. And you know what? It's a really easy fix! If you love the garment and it's a reasonable price, then why not buy it an make some alterations at home? Many people hem trousers to the right length, so why no take the bust/waist in a little, or change the dull buttons for the cute set you have at home? Minor alterations are quick and easy to do, and can really take an OK item to an awesome one! Yuo never know readers, I may even do a post on alterations one day!
2. Uniqueness - bored of looking like you just stepped out of the TopShop window? Well sewing is the answer! (well not the answer, but certainly one of them!) why no re-create a style you love with a more interesting pattern, or different hem line? little tweaks to current styles can really give your outfit that omgwheredidyougetthat factor!
3. The Smug factor - Ever worn something you've made out and about, only to have someone ask where you bought it? That "I made it myself" statement is enough to make even your average man go wow! how did you do that! And readers, nothing beats that smug factor!
4. Cost - OK so not all garments you make will be cheaper than the store bought options, especially when you take places like Primark into account. But there are many occasions where it will be much, much cheaper. For example wedding, black tie events, special occasions generally, where most people will be spending £60+ on a dress that you can make for less than £40 (of course that depends on fabrics, more luxurious fabrics will cost more to use, but would cost more in the shops, so it does balance out) Also you never end up at a party in the same dress as someone else.
5. Because idle hands... Speak to any one of my friends and you will quickly discover I'm a busy lady. I don't like sitting around with nothing to do, even when I'm having a lazy Sunday watching old dvds, chances are I'll have some sewing in my hand. I personally find it theraputic to pick up a needle or switch on my sewing machine. But generally it's a great way to pass a rainy day!

Oh and possibly the most important reason, I LOVE IT!! I've been sewing properly since I got my first sewing machine mid way through uni, (so about 7 years ago) but was always a creative kid, and the more time that passes the more techniques I pick up and the more I want to sew, honestly readers, it's addictive!