Jeans re-fashion and a Stripey dress

Good Morning! Posts are getting few and far between, some days I feel like I've lost my sewing mojo and others I realise that I am just to tired to get in to it. But, over the weekend I think I've managed to get it back and I managed to finish off 4 cushion covers, re-fashion a pair of jeans, hem a dress that's been in the making for some time and fully complete my first Maternity dress - yes the reason I've been so exhausted!

I started this dress prior to finding out about my pregnancy and before my waist had started to expand. I should have seen it coming, I'd made a couple peplum tops, one out of my favourite vogue pattern and the finished product felt just a little too snug. I thought it was due to the stiff fabric. Then I started to make this dress using the bodice from Vogue 8815, which from the previous result I decided to make the seam allowances a little smaller and reduced to 10mm. It still didn't feel right and I looked rather dumpy in it. In hindsight I would have thrown it in the UFO box to complete at a later date! I still need to complete the lining, but I'm not really all that interested in it now I can't wear it!!

Look at that, I even under-stitched the arm holes, you have no idea how proud I was of those! I will put the dress away and return to it next year, with the intention of wearing it next summer.

I also had a go at re-fashioning an old pair of Etam jeans. I'd previously seen a post from Andrea where she'd re-fashioned jeans from being boot cut to skinny. I've been itching to try this on these jeans for some time now and seeing as I also wanted to turn them in to maternity jeans I thought I might as well give it a go.

I was really pleased with the boot cut to skinny adaptation, however, I do not like the little triangles of jersey I inserted at the side seams to adapt them for use in maternity. I think I went a little too far down the leg, so unless I wear long tops they are a little too obvious. I'm also not quite big enough for them so a belt would be required. I think I'll have to go back to my sewing desk with these and have a re-think!

I've also completed a maternity dress, but I want to model that one so watch this space...

The First Lady Peplum

So I mentioned yesterday that I had another Peplum on the way, not wanting to disappoint, I made sure that I wore it today so I could get a few snaps before I left for work.

After the Great British Sewing Bee finished last week, I thought it was about time that I made myself an African Wax print Peplum, I was so inspired by Chinelo Bally's Peplums that I just had to have one! I was absolutely gutted that she didn't win, but Heather really pulled it out of the bag with her final dress.

So, first things first I had to go and find some African Wax print material. This was a little tricky. I wanted some similar to the one she used above. But everything that I could find had massive prints, that I could only really use in a dress or long skirt. I ended up with this bright bright pink fabric from eBay.

It's a little out of my comfort zone to use such a bright colour. I wasn't even sure I could wear it let alone pull it off. But I thought go on, let's just give it a bash and see what I end up with!

I used my favourite Peplum pattern, Vogue 8815. It's so easy to construct, so I made it in almost no time at all. The bodice consists of 2 darts in the front and 4 on the back, I don't think you can get any more simple than that for a bodice.

The fabric is quite stiff and has almost no give in it at all. So, as a result it feels quite snug, but it's not uncomfortable until I try and raise my hands above my head! I'm thinking I may take the seams out a little, just to give a little more ease. My previous version of this top was made from some quilting cotton and that's no where near as stiff as this.

It was quite difficult trying to pattern match with this fabric as the pattern doesn't quite have the same spacing all the way round. I only realised this after cutting the fabric, so in places it doesn't quite match where I feel it should.

The resulted garment is growing on me and I think the more I wear it, the more I'll like it. I just need to be more comfortable with bright colours. After all, before I started to make my own clothes, most of my wardrobe was shades of grey and black so I think I'm being rather brave don't you?!

My first Re-fashion!

I'm really excited to tell you that I have completed my first re-fashion! This is something that I have never delved in to, I'm really not sure why as it's a brilliant way of recycling, so this is the first of many.

This all started when I put my name down for the 'Name Tag Swap' that Rachel from House of Pinheiro is organising on her blog. Basically you have to create a name tag for your new buddy and they have to make one for you. Name tags must be received by 9th May and Rachel has very kindly pinned some for inspiration here.

My buddy is the amazing Andrea from Little did you know. I've had an extremely thorough stalk read through her blog to get some ideas for the name tag. Andrea's main interest is in re-fashioning clothes, something that I had never really considered trying. So I thought what better way to get to know someone than to walk a mile in their shoes?!!

I don't currently have any clothes that I could re-fashion. Mainly because I often donate them to charity. Now, in my little town, there are only 3 charity shops to choose from. I spent a Saturday afternoon looking in them and not one thing jumped out at me as something that I'd like to re-fashion. How the heck does Andrea find all of these gems?? 

I gave up. I went to Tesco's for some tights and I came out with this as well:

Slightly hideous, it was a size 18 shapeless 3/4 sleeve t-shirt. I think I saw the sale rack and out of desperation grabbed it because it was only a fiver. Looking at this picture it really is even more hideous than I remember! 

As soon as I got it home I knew exactly what it would become. I bet you can't guess!! :-P

I did cheat a little. OK a lot. First of all I un-picked the side seams and removed the sleeves. I then took out my traced pattern pieces from my favourite Peplum (yep I'm soooo predictable) pattern, Vogue 8815, and placed them over the t-shirt like so: 

 

I wanted to keep the neckline as I liked the pink piping and it sat fine on my neck. So I folded the t-shirt and placed the paper pattern to match with the fold and shoulder seams.

Yep, I thought I was pretty darn clever for doing that!

Unfortunately, the peplum pattern pieces were a little too big and I didn't quite have enough fabric left to make them. So, what I did was make them a little bit shorter. The T-shirt also came with a folded piece of fabric as the hem, I detached it carefully and used it to add length to the peplum.

Folded fabric hem

All in all I think it took me about 4 hours to make. Most of the time was spent un-picking the seams of the original t-shirt. I could have cut them off, but then I wouldn't have quite had enough fabric, which you can see on the picture at the top of the page showing where the front bodice pattern piece ends.

Unfortunately I did not pattern match the fabric. There wasn't enough, if there had been enough though I would not have been able to keep the neckline, because like a lot of RTW clothes the manufacturer hadn't matched the pattern between the front and back either!

What a silly pose to show off my lack of pattern matching!!

I love my new top, it fits so much nicer than any RTW top I could buy and for a fiver it was an absolute bargain. I also have a new appreciation of re-fashioning. It's a very painstaking process and I have absolutely no idea how Andrea has the patience to do it so often. But regardless, it's very rewarding and I will definitely be trying it again soon, once I have actually made Andrea's Name tag that is!

OUI! It's another Peplum!

I've done it again, I think I'm a little bit obsessed with Peplums at the moment! But I have to say, although I love all my Peplums equally, this one is definitely my favourite.

I used Vogue pattern V8815 and I actually started it well over a week ago. I remember it quite clearly because Barry had gone for a day session in Newcastle for a leaving do. (The guy wasn't even leaving he's just moving to another team a few pods up, but that clearly gives an excellent excuse for a piss up!) 

So, as I was home alone, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to move the dining table in front of the TV so that I could set up all of my sewing whilst watching BSG: Blood and chrome that I'd recorded off the telly a couple of weeks before!

What a mess!! But whilst the cat's away...

The pattern is wonderfully thought up and so easy. It went together like a dream, however, surprisingly enough it came with no facing pieces. But that's no big deal, it gave me the perfect opportunity to draft my own! After tracing out the main pattern pieces, making adjustments for my size, I then took another piece of tissue, placed it over my pattern pieces and created what I now think is the best facing ever! It's sort of a semi-lining that goes all the way round the neck line and around the arm holes. It works an absolute treat, that design with what I now know is called 'under stitching', prevents that horrible flappy facing problem.

No flappy facing for me.

You could use bias binding around the neckline, but I like the clean lines that I've produced without it.

The fabric that I used is a quilting cotton in Glimma by Lotta Jansdotta, which I got on sale at Guthrie and Ghani. For the bow at the back I used some ribbon from Boyes. You can't beat good old Boyes for little bits like that, especially when you make a last minute decision.

This fabric probably wasn't the best choice for this top. There was very little hope of me pattern matching with all the wave lines. I'd match it in one place but the then rest is out, so I just had to roll with it. This is exactly the fabric that I had in mind for this pattern, so the lines had to lie where they have.

I wore this top on Friday for Barry's birthday dinner, however we got very (very very very) tipsy and no photo's were taken of the top. So, as I'd washed and ironed it again over the weekend I thought I'd wear it to work today, which gave us an excellent opportunity to get pictures.

Overall I totally love this top, it's the right shape with the right pattern and it fits beautifully. (Or at least I think it does!!) I'm definitely going to make more.