Stitch by Stitch

This is what I did with the other leg piece. I meant to turn it into a pair of pants but it wasnt enough so I turned it into another bareback dress. This one wasn’t shirred as the width wasnt wide enough.

Don’t mind the hair, Arianna had just woken up from her nap before I rushed her into the dress and made her assume position. lol The things I put my girls through. DH said it’s scary how she knows what to do when she spots my camera and I tell her to go stand there and say cheese. LOL

What I did – a mini tute :

1. This time I didn’t chop both sides up, instead just straightenned the inner leg seam and sewed it up. Again, as with KR’s dress, I measured from the bottom hem up to the length I wanted it to be, and OL the edges.

2. Since I couldn’t shirr the bodice, I decided to use the same method you’d use for elastic bands but instead of elastic, I replaced it with straps made from the same fabric. It’s the same method I used for the straps for KR’s dress. So, you’d just have to tightenned it around the chest and bring the straps up behind the neck and tie it up.

And you’re done! TFL….

I recently had this thing to upcycle what I already have since as much as I would like to buy more fabric, space is an issue and well, so is my wallet. Hence, I raided my wardrobe and got out a couple of tshirts and blouses which I knew I wouldn’t be wearing anytime soon or worst still, ever!

Upcycled from my tshirt – I turned it into an A-line dress.

Loosely based on this tute, I just winged this dress. I also used the bodice pattern of Otto’s China Grass Dress to get the shape since I didn’t have any other pattern to base it on.

I made the most of the shirt hence it is a little big but although for now it is a dress, in due time it will make a nice tshirt. So she will definitely get a lot of wear out of it.

Made out of one of my clubbing spaghetti straps, this item will always bring back memories for me of my long gone clubbing days! *lol* Although this is the simplest upcycle I’ve done, to reach the end result too a LONG time and loads of thinking and unpicking!

Because I wanted minimal modifications and what I really had in mind for the end result was merely a gathered/shirred back, it wasn’t as simple as I thought! I started off by just doing 3 rows of shirring in the middle to gather it, but it was too loose at the back so I unpicked and made the shirring longer and that too didn’t work. So I decided to do shirring for the whole width of the back and it worked.

Then I had issues with the front! It too was loose so I added 2 rows of shirring instead of 3. I’m glad it turned out ok too!

As with the tshirt, this will get even more wear out of it being stretchable and versatile as well. It can be worn, in my opinion, as a dress as well as a tunic with a 3/4 pants. I tried that yesterday and I like it!! Super summery outfit. Heh.

TFL…..

Since I’ve been sewing a number of dresses for Arianna as well as skirts, I don’t have enough knickers to match coz during winter, she was mostly in pants coz I really couldn’t be bothered with leggings and the lot. So now that its summer, it’s dresses most of the time.

Anyway, I decided to sew up a bunch of knickers from scraps of knit I had lying around. This is a good reason to clear room for MORE fabric. LOL

Knickers #34, 04-04

I was thinking of making some for me too since I have the pattern here. I don’t think DH would mind me in ducks and cherries!

TFL…..

It’s summer now and believe or not, I can’t find my short jeans!!!! So I’ve been suffering in silence and wearing my long jeans everywhere we go. So much so that DH asked me to get a pair of short jeans coz he thought I was silly to suffer in silence like that. But I had other plans.

Well, actually, I did go and check out the sales at Kmart and Target but even with the sales, I still thought it was not worth it. So on to Plan B – upcycle DH’s old jeans!! Nothing beats an already seasoned pair of jeans coz it’s oh-so-soft and comfy to wear. I used the upper part to make my jeans by just chopping off the leg to the length that I wanted and hemmed it up. Since all that was left was the chopped off bit of the legs, I decided to whip a pair up for Arianna.

Very simple coz I didn’t bother with zippers and such. Just used elastic in place of the very complicated jeans zipper. In fact, this is a leggings pattern from Otto…I think it’s #16, 04/04 from memory. And I merely used up the 2 bits of legs to the maximum to reach that length. Also added a bit of trimmings to make a little more fancy. Heh.

I like it. TFL….

I have been in the mood for some free patterns lately and this is my latest. The free pattern is from Sewing Mamas.

Both made from knit [CM, recognise the knitted mushroom fabric?? ]

The pattern is easy to sew but I think there is a slight mistake which I think is not intentional. I believe that the measurements may have been switched ie. the bodice calls for it to be 6″ wide and the strap 3″ [unfolded] so I followed as per instructions but when I sewed it on, I realised that it looks a little out of proportion so I switched the measurements and it looks fine now. Hence, the bodice is 3″ and the strap width is 6″.

I can actually see myself making more of these as I actually completed them both within a day, technically anyway. lol

I cut out the fabric the night before and stitched the straps up and finished both dresses the next day. The girls wore the dresses to a Christmas Eve party as I coulnd’t wait till New Year!! *lol* One of the perks of being able to whip something up there and then.

Did I ever tell you about the time I whipped up a pair of 3/4 leggings for Arianna just before mass as her other white pair was in the wash?? LOL And it only took about 1/2 from start to completed leggings. Gee, we’re a spoilt bunch of mamas aren’t we? Whipping up clothes just like that…..

TFL….

After that really major, by my standard, dress that I did for KR, I really took time out just to recuperate and take things easy. But I think I’m over the burnout and I’m back!!! Well, my sewjo is anyway. LOL Recently, since I’ve been sewing dresses for the girls what with Christmas around the corner and all, I’m so into dresses and skirts now so I decided to sew up a Hertta Skirt [#19, Otto 1/09] for Arianna. I had this pattern traced out and ready to sew but never got to it.

I call this one Sweet Hearts. The pattern was relatively simple but I had a LOT of trouble with the waistband. Found it really fiddly so next time I will just make life easy for me and just do the normal way of putting in the elastic. After all, the blouse will cover the top part anyway so why bother with all the complex sewing? But that’s just me though.

Arianna loving the skirt lots coz it also has a pocket and she can put her ‘girap’ in. lol Don’t mind the wild hair…someone just woke up from her nap!

TFL…

I finally completed Arianna’s Christmas dress! I used the same China Grass Dress pattern with a little bit of twist…literally. lol

Here, I used the same 1 piece bodice instead of splitting into 2 and I also added a bow in the middle to make it more festive. I thought it was a simple but nice touch.

The bow was made with instructions from the same issue and if you notice, the pattern after this, happens to have a bow as well. It’s pretty much the same pattern but it just has additional sleeves and a bow on the side, which I didn’t quite like. I like it more in the middle.

They say the more often you sew the same thing, the better you get. I beg to differ! Seems like the more often I sew something, the worst it get! :/ Some of the things that I didn’t like what I did with this dress [which you don't see coz it's all inside but it still bugs me nonetheless] is that I still have not perfected my zipper sewing. I thought with this and keeping in mind what to do and not do, I would be get better but nup, the zipper is BAD. :/ The other thing that bugged me is that the bodice panel and skirt didn’t quite match up properly, hence I had to sew more of the bodice in making it look ‘cramped’, AND somehow, I screwed up the gathers and well, all in all, I just don’t think it is as good as my first attempt.

So much for being more careful, thinking twice about doing things right. Next time I sew something for the first time, I’m just going to wing it! Personally, I think all this is because I thought I was familiar with the pattern having done it once hence, I just took many things for granted, thinking I knew what to do.

Lesson of the day : No matter how many times you’ve done that pattern, always refer back. Understand, Yvy? Don’t be a smart arse! Now, I’m off to cut KR’s dress. It’s my first attempt at trying to recreate this dress I have here, which is store bought. Wish me luck!

TFL…. (Sorry, no model shots…little miss wasn’t in the mood so will have to wait till Chrissy!)

See what I mean when I say that KR seems left out? lol Actually I had finished this before I completed KR’s purple outfit but never got to posting it. This fabric is from my Mum’s stash so I consider it as vintage batik from the 80’s which she bought from Terengganu, Malaysia. It is cotton and I love the color! Especially how nice it looks matched with white. One thing though, the color runs really bad so I’m glad I soaked/hand-washed it instead if chucking it into the wash. I think there is also enough to make a little something for KR as well.

Another summer outfit + modified leggings #38, 04/04 : This top is somewhat the same as the green one with slight modifications to the sleeves which I added some frills, inspired by a pinny from one of the previous Otto’s. As for the gathers, I only added to the middle bit of the bottom panel. The leggings I’ve chopped to almost 3/4 length but I think any longer and it wouldn’t be as nice.

I really like how it turned out especially the color combination. Also, these leggings can also be matched with the green summer top too! I’m glad to be SWAP [Sewing With A Plan]!

TFL….

There is a story behind this dress. I wanted to sew a dress for Arianna since I personally noticed that I hardly ever sew her any dresses. And the closes I ever got to anything girly was a couple of girly tops and even that, it was always paired with pants. What can I say? I have always preferred pants and perhaps I am making it the same for her. So before she outgrows the age where she will wear what I want her to wear, I decided to start on more dresses and this is one of my efforts.

When I saw this design, I knew I wanted to sew it but somehow, kept putting it off and when I finally got the pattern all traced out, it took forever to find some matching fabrics that was already in my stash. I didn’t want to buy something new just for this dress plus I wasn’t too confident I could pull it off. And when I FINALLY got the fabrics all matched up and cut out, it took more effort to actually sew them up. The pattern is simple to put together but it took more than a week to finish!!

A couple of mistakes I made and changes that I will have to take note if I want to sew this again, and I think I will with a little modifications are :
#1. To not have the upper front bodice as a contrast, I think it looks better as plain.
#2. Definitely think through what sort of fabric I’m using before cutting up. See, this pattern calls for batiste which is really thin/light cotton which I didn’t have and also wants the bodice to fused with interfacing AND lining so it’s quite thick. Since I used cotton for the mid bodice and top skirt panel, and poplin for the borders, you can imagine how stiff it is but I’m hoping that after the wash, it will be a little bit more accomodating. But on the flip side, it does look good as is. lol So if I ever use cotton, I’ll definitely skip the interfacing all together.

Also, I really need to brush up on my zipper sewing. I truly suck at it! Anyhoo…on with the outcome.

See what I mean about the contrast of the top bodice piece? I think it would look better plain. What do you think? This also happens to be my backup Chrissy dress. lol I have 2 fabrics that compliment each other, kind of for both the girls so we’ll see how it goes.

The hat is not my choice to compliment the outfit but the little miss insisted. So who am I to argue with the model?

PS. That’s HER spot when we take shots if you happen to wonder why it’s always that brown door at the back. LOL

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I was being far too ambitious thinking that I could pull off 2 Christmas dresses for the girls. In my continuous effort on getting the right pattern, I keep failing and it is getting on my nerves that I can’t get the pattern that I’m after. I think most of you will think that it’s just silly of me coz really, the pattern I want is a simple sundress really. But not like the O+S one that I did. I think it’s more of a vintage sort of feel to it like the ones Enid Gilchrist does. And speaking of which, I’ve had my Enid books out time and time again but I always end up putting it back. I find that it’s terribly daunting for me to actually draw up a pattern from scratch even though the instructions are there. I’m such a chicken, aren’t I? :/

Anyway, this is what my second attempt turned out to be. First being that top that looked like a pajama top. *sigh*

This is something I came up with with Mum’s pattern which she drew up herself. It’s just the bodice and then I added the gathered skirt panel. I meant for it to be a short dress but didnt think that it would be this long which is why I teamed it up with Ruffles pants #3, 3-08. Used cotton voile [i think], The fabric is thin and lightweight and great for Aussie hot summers.

The ruffle pants is slightly modified around the legs. Instead of gatherings, I did some shirring on instead. Trth be known, I simply wanted to try my hand at shirring and this is only one row though. I bet I’m suppose to do more! *lol* But it works for now…

Not one of my best shots but these are the times when I need to make the most of! lol As you can see, once modeled you can’t really see the ruffle pants anymore but as a dress it’s a nice length.

I definitely can see me sewing more of this pattern. I think next time, I’ll shorten the dress so it’s more like a tunic/long blouse and team it with 3/4 leggings or beach shorts. What do you think?

TFL!