Moving Towards Adjustments

I've been concentrating on making new stuff from scratch, occasionally using old clothes for the fabric to make new stuff but I've avoided customising or altering my existing clothes.  I find it hard to imagine what a boring jumper could turn into or how to alter the fit of something that looks terrible.  But looking at the 'Embellish Your Knits' section on Grosgrain and the Refashion section on Made By Lex* has given me a few ideas.

I had intended to turn a flowery and ill-fitting summer dress into a playsuit (I know, just has so much potential for disaster but I was enthused) but it turned out I had already got rid of the dress I was thinking off.  I found another one that I had bought years ago when my mother insisted I buy a size too big because she always refused to believe I was a size 10.  It was too tight to turn into a playsuit though so I decided to try to save the dressiness of it (even though it's not really the type of stuff I wear now unfortunately) by taking it in. 

The dress was quite big in the bust (when I am small :( and the dress is shirred but had absolutely no need to be whilst I was wearing it!) and in the back where it lacked darts.  So I focus the seam take in at the bust and added two darts in the back.  I tried to make it symmetrical but I just eye balled it as it didn't need to be perfect.  A very simple adjustment that I think made quite a difference.

I think these Before and After shots show the effect really well- I could tell people I've lost a stone in a day- unfortunately all from my chest!

*http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2010/11/embellish-knit-month-day-20.html
*http://www.madebylex.com/2009/07/t-shirt-refashion-into-ruffle-madness.html

TV Style Icons deux

Period drama's can provide some nice stylin'- especially in this hectic modern world with mass unemployment and malaise, and nothing to entertain us but 100's of TV channels and a wardrobe revolving around thongs and Ugg boots.  Not surprising that looking back at a past sophistication ( doesn't matter that much when it seems- currently the 50's and 70's and in the high street stores, while the country feels like the 80's with the mass demonstrations against the government matched only by the mass support for a royal wedding) is in right now and we all developed a love of the early 20th century with Downton Abbey. 

The programme itself was slow and dull with rather dull or paternalistic characters (the attitude of the main character being that you should be nice to your servants because 'we all have our parts to play'- meaning those at the bottom should be pleased that their strong shoulders are holding up those at the top of the pyramid, and we should all stop whining).  But the costumes were rather lovely- simple silhouettes  with nice detail elements, and an empire waist is everyone's friend.  Observe:

Dressed Up Glam

Coordinating Summer Looks

 

Depressing fact: the servants of DA dress better than I do now!

Unfortunately, there aren't many pictures of the servants (despite nonsense reports that they provide the drama in the drama they are largely ignored).  Equally, the two younger sisters are also overlooked in the promo pics, and I quite liked some of the mean red haired sisters looks, but couldn't bring myself to watch the programme again for stills of her.

Maggie Smith

 As usual I'm totally behind the trends and it was this time last year (i.e when DA was actually on TV!) that clothes were in the stores that would allow you to emulate the fashion, now not so much.  Fashion is so fickle.

TV Style Icons

I was watching an old fave TV show on DVD (I have all 6 series) the past few days and was struck, as I always am, by the outfits they were wearing.  In fact I spent one evening trying (not for the first time) to track down a cowboy print T-shirt or an animal print shirt without success.  It made me muse over other shows with great style- I could only think of a few but I thought I'd share them.  I think part of  good TV show or film is the costume as it's part of the characters and their personalities, but so often it's not considered or it's very fickle.  I would loved to have included some Buffy but they changed their looks at the end of each series like clockwork discarding their mini skirts and over sized sunglasses, and coming back to school in the next series with fringes and twin sets. 

So the show that started it all:
Third Rock From The Sun!

Dick, Sally, Harry, and Tommy are aliens that land and pretend to be humans to study human life.  Their outfits reflect that their not from 'around here', that they're a lower middle class family living in an attic in Rutherford Ohio  (with not enough bedrooms and no sofa!), and their individual personalities.  In America 'vintage' hasn't really taken off in the over priced boutique way it has done here and you get super cheap thrift stores where you can snag a real bargain- I suspect a extremely lucky/stressed costume lady went scouring local thrift stores for quirky/scruffy outfits.

Dick- the egotistical patriarch is the only member of the family with a steady job (physics professor at the local mediocre university) and usually wears a miss-matching suit and clashing tie.  He is dressing smartly for work but in a way that suggests he knows what to do but not exactly how to do- really a common theme in his personality and life.  I couldn't really find very exciting photos for Dick, so pulled a few stills.

Sally- the beautiful, tall, blonde weapons expert is exploring life as a woman, as her character switches dramatically from tough and scary to demure and flirtatious so does her wardrobe.  The key is that she's so tall meaning when she's wearing her casual clothes it looks as though she's borrowed a pair of men's trousers but they're still too short, when she's dressed up her dresses look sooooo short!  In later series she begins wearing little flowery cardigans with her trousers and boots which offers a nice transition between her two looks.

Harry- the quirkiest of the bunch, with no real purpose in the mission or on earth (apart from transmitting message back to the home planet) he hangs around at home occasionally finding things to get involved in.  His clothes are similar to Tommy's (see below) but he layers waistcoats and sweaters over shirts with clashing colours and patterns.

Tommy- the teenage information officer who is actually the oldest member of the team.  Occasionally, his age becomes an issue but usually he dresses and acts like a teenager- quite casual but often with retro style shirts.  His appearance goes through the most changes as he grows from 14-20 ish and he cuts his long hair in series 3 which has a big effect but his outfits stay pretty much the same.

Phew this was a longer post than anticipated, think I'll leave the other shows for tomorrow. :)

Perfect for those sunny days at the Country Club

I bought some Boucle from the Oxfam shop online (which I like because you don't have to pay delivery) which is white flecked with mint green dots.  I wasn't sure what to make with it but when it arrived it seemed perfect for a little jacket, that a posh lady might wear- al la this number from Topshop:

So I used my new bodice sloper, but added 4cm to the back piece and 2cm to each of the front pieces for some ease- although this turned out to be still too small and I had to add in a strip of fabric at each side.  I also had to add a strip across the bottom because the bodice finishes quite high up.  I had a limited amount of fabric because I also had to cut out sleeves and they take up a crazy amount of fabric, so I had to carefully place my pattern pieces and then cut out extra strips instead of cutting out one big piece.

I also did a lining, and attatched it around the neck, then hemmed the outer and lining together at the other meeting points.  I found the fabric a little dull and found some vintage trim I had bought a while ago which worked really well, unfortunately I only had enough for around the neck but I hope to buy and add more (can guarentee the fabric shop won't be open this bank holiday weekend).  And I had a little bit left over to eadge a little pocket- but that was too hard to make so I made a cute alternative. :)

Giraffe Back Pack

I wanted a backpack to use as a daybag since it has always been uncomfortable to carry a bag around on one shoulder.  But the backpacks I saw were dull or sporty, and since Google has changed its search function so you can no longer easily search just UK sites typing 'backpacks' into the search bar brings up a bunch of American rubbish.  And while the pink leopard print bag I saw on Amazon.com may have been awesome the lack of it on Amazon.co.uk caused much dissapointment.  Then I remembered folksy- the UK version of etsy were people sell homemade stuff, and some of it rather nice as well.  So I searched and found this:
http://www.folksy.com/items/1452553-Faux-cow-fur-skin-and-bright-pink-rucksack?shop=yes

Of course I LOVED it, and its not that expensive so I was tempted to buy one but then I thought I'd have a go making one myself.  I draw out the pieces I'd need and it didn't seem that complicated or required too much fabric.  I had quite a bit of girafe print left over from making a skirt, and I ended up using some old jeans for the denim lining.  (You have to be careful you're lining isn't too thin as it needs to be strong enough to hold stuff without ripping but my fabrics were quite thick and at some points you have to sew several layers so make sure your sewing maching can handle it).

This was my intial drawing of the pieces I would need, the measurements had to be revised once I started.   In the end I needed:
In the outer fabric:
2x Main bag 29x39cm
2x front pocket 10x6.5cm
1x flap 16cmx15x29xm (This was 16cm at the bottom, 29 along the top and a 15cm diagonal joining them- but I would make this a 20cm diagonal in the future)
2x straps 55x5cm (I would make these 70-75cm long in the future)

In lining fabric:
2x main bag 29x45cm (extra length for the drawstring casing)
2x front pocket 10x6.5cm
1x front pocket 10x 13cm
1x flap (see above)
1x inside pocket 10x15cm
2x straps (see above)

Then I cut out the fabric.  Before I sewed the major pieces together I attached the inside pocket to the lining, and and the front pocket to the front.  The front pocket is jazzed up a bit because you use a rectangle of lining fabric to make the pocket but you take two rectangles of the outer and lining fabrics each half the size of the pocket sew them together and then sew them onto the pocket.  I copied this off the pciture on the website but I think it gives the pocket extra strength and adds an interesting feature as the lining pokes through when you put stuff in the pocket.

Then I sewed the straps outer and lining together leaving the short ends open.  Then I sewed the flap lining and outer together but left the long end closed.  Then the tricky bit which went wrong- I sewed the main bag together in the outer and lining fabric, and inserted the bottom of the straps into the bottom outer bag seam.  I then folded the bottom corners of the bag inward and sewed over them to give the bag 3 dimensions.

Then I put the outer bag (right way round) inside the lining bag (inside out).  I sewed the two together around the top edge (I would have folded the lining over at the top to make the casing first but forgot to cut the lining bigger and had to add some extra afterwards, doh), with the flap and top of the straps inserted inbetween.  Sigh, yes it took many attempts to get everything sewn in the right place, but eventually I managed it. :)

Flower Box Dress

Jumping with Sartorial Joy

This is the Flower Box Dress as it's flowery and has box pleats, sort of.  I saw a project on Burdastyle called The Imperfect Alice Dress, by member wonderlandalys and thought it looked great, and with the weather getting warmer it would be nice to have a new sun dress. 
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/the-imperfect-alice-dress
She had used Butterick B5317, so I purchased the pattern online for about £8 then set to work making a bunch of other stuff...ah to bethe kind of person who can stick to one project at a time... But then womderlandalys posted a new variation; The Love Letter Dress and I decided to get on with my own version.
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/the-love-letter-dress

Well the pattern is easy enough, but I find patterns very tricky.  I was musing over it as I was sewing everything together wrongly- when you have made up your own pattern there is no right and wrong as you're just making it up, and at the end of the process you can decide whether you like it or not.  Although this method does often lead to a lot of 'nots' it can be less demoralising than using a proper pattern, which often works out better but may have a list of 25 steps to follow.  That's 25 (at least) things to do right, and ways to go wrong.  And I did go wrong many times- not helped by the fact that my fabric is the same front and back so I kept mixing my pattern pieces up, and sewing back to front and left to right.

But my biggest mistake came right at the start, although I didn't realise until right at the end (of part one as it turned out) I picked the wrong size pattern to cut out, doh! I looked at the size guide and it told me my waist was a 10, and my hips were an 18- which didn't seem quite right to me!  But then I realised that Butterick is American and there sizes are numbered bigger to UK sizes to their 14 would be our 10, and since Im usually a 10 I'll cut that out.  Well the pattern people must have thought ahead, or have a UK section, or not be American at all because quite clearly the finished dress was 2 sizes too big.  So I had to unpick it all, cut the pieces down to the right size, then resew. 

With all the extra sewing the pulling apart the fabric took a bit of a battering and I started to go a bit insane.  I started to hate the sight of the flowers, and pink, and my sewing maching...and was worried after all the extra work I would have something I didn't actually like.  But, thankfully, a good nights sleep- and a trip to the shop to get a zip- cured all ills and I really like it.  It's not perfect; it's coming apart a little here and there but just superficially and considering the tortured way the pieces got cut out and resewed I'm actually really pleased.   I have bought some blue upolstery fabric and blue jersey to make the dress again, I think it will look totally different.  

Giraffe Pencil Skirt

Another pencil skirt, but decided to spice it up with some animal print.  I made a cute bag from cow print fabric my sister had bought and dsicarded several years ago, and then I stole.  And got all animal print frenzied and bought some giraffe.  I used the same pattern from before (check my other posts) and used polyester giraffe print fabric and cream cheapo lining fabric.  I spent a little bit more than I normally do on the fabric (£7.45 per meter plus postage) but its still a skirt for less than a tenner.  It was easy and quick to make, and is slightly too tight like all good pencil skirts (but who needs to sit down?).

 I was planning to wear it with a black top or vest but I tried it on with my new pink shirt (which also rocks, I watched too many stylediet videos on youtube and was informed that pink is good for my complexion, and she was wearing a pink shirt so I bought one) and enjoyed it quite a lot. :)

Cow Cross Bag

I have some cute little clutch bags and little bags that require 'holding', in the sense of constant, conscious effort to carry them around.  Although I don't go out on the town super often I have been thinking it would be nice to have a bag of a similar size to a clutch but with a long strap to wear across my body so I dont have to carry a bag, and a drink, and wave my hands in the air like I just dont care all at the same time. :)

I had made some little practise bags with cos fabric on the outside (from when my sister, as a teenager, had wanted a cow print mini skirt but never made) and an old Debenhams work shirt for the lining, but without zip or strap.  So I made up a new one.

Et Voila:

They're super easy to make- as a purse or simple bag.  Decide how big you want your bag- for example 10cm x 10cm- and cut out two pieces in your outer fabric this size and two the same in your lining.  Then place a lining piece face up, the zip on top (lined up with the top edge of your lining), then a piece of outer fabric face down on top of that.  So you have a zip sandwich, but you shouldn't be able to see the zip :) It can be confusing to work out what should go where and which way up so pin the zip in place then flip the outer fabric over and see how it looks.  Then sew in place, then do the same for the other side of the zip. 

Then open the zip (this is important for later on).  Then move both pieces of outer fabric to one side, and the lining to the other and sew around the edges of each (the fabric will be right sides together for this).  But leave a 2" gap at the bottom of one of the side seams in the lining.   If you want any kind of strap now's the time to put it in.   For the shoulder strap on my bag above I left two gaps in the tops of the side seams in the outer fabric then I fed the strap through these holes (remember your bag is inside out as you sew it so you need to push you strap through to the other side which will become the outside) so only the very ends were visible and then sewed them into the seams. 

Now use the hole you left in the lining to turn the bag inside out, and then put the lining inside the bag.  And it should all look pretty and finished off.   You can either hand sew the hole in the lining or just leave it if its not too noticable.  But for a purse you may find money disappearing into the lining occasionally!

Stripey Crops

Well still working on my remnant bin score of many weeks ago (had a rather busy week last week that thwarted any sewing attempts) but did managed to finish off a few of the niggly little projects that were waiting around and causing me annoyance, although Im sure Ill find new things to fix/further mess up on them eg my pink flowery dress which looks so nice in pictures and is actually a little unwearable in real life owing to all these pesky ribs I have has now been hemmed along the bottom but my brown bias binding has just arrived meaning Ill be adding that sometimes soon.

Anyway, my latest creation is a pair of green stripey cropped trousers that Im in love with.  I used the trouser block I had made myself but made short trouser.  The block worked well up to a point, but the basic trousers produced needed a lot of altering.  I'm very pleased with my crotch*, but the legs needed to be taken in several inches- I think full length trousers would have handled the wide leg look better but not for crops.  The fabric also has some stretch to it, which I didn't realise until I had made the trousers (that's just how good I am!) so I was able to pull them on and off with need for a zip. 

So I added a waistband- with the fabric going in a different direction the waistband had no stretch to it (doh) so had to be yanked on and off.  I'm not sure if the top was too big for me before this or a result of this but I quickly realised there was serious gaping at the back.  Also the back of the trousers sits much lower than the front- so I clearly need to change my pattern to have a higher back in the paper version which will produce a level back and front when wearing the fabric version. 

I unpicked the crotch and added a short zip which is enough to allow me to get them on, and the waist band still looks nice, I added a press stud to fasten it but have yet to cover that up with a button (they are defo not finished, just like everything else).  But once on they remain to big and I think Ill have to take them in at the sideseams which means unpicking the waistband and side seams.  So for now they are held up by safety pins!

My next creations- should these ever get finished- will be a grotesque wedding dress styled for an alternative wedding party for the weekend of the royal wedding and inspired by My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding which Ive not watched but seen pictures.  And a nice spring/summer box pleat dress using a Butterick pattern after I saw someone else finished product on Burdastyle recently and felt inclined to copy them.  I also want to make box pleat shorts, and more cropped trousers...

*uh oh there's one for the blooper reel!