Wednesday 28 October 2015

Ugly Vintage Dress Refashion



Yep, I'm calling it - this dress is UGLY.   
But for some reason I could not leave the opshop without it.



On arrival home I also realised it was see through - don't worry I have shorts on under it in this photo.
 And to top it off it had a funky vintage aroma that would not come out in the wash.  But after a quick google search on 'how to get rid of old people smell from clothes', and a 24 hour soak in water and white vinegar followed by another whirl through the washing machine it smelt as good as a newie.



After the vinegar soak it was time to make some alterations.
I look terrible in collars, so the collar was the first to go - which along with the sleeves were unpicked.



After unpicking, the two layers of fabric around the neck line were coming apart as you can see in the photo above.



So I pinned it like this before sewing it back together.



Then I turned it inside out and popped it on my dress form so I could alter the side seams for a better fit.



After sewing the new seams I cut this much off each side before finishing off the arm holes.



Then for a bit of detail at the top I folded these bits out to create a 'lapel', which I fastened in place with some yellow vintage buttons.



I don't know how these vintage dresses always seem to come with their matching belts after all these years in which they could have been lost.



I love the femine style of these old dresses, and the midi length is so much more practical than minis and maxis.



Like the photo process isn't trying enough without flying photo bombers.


I really do like this one, it is a shame that the polyester fabric will limit its number of wears to spring and mild summer days.

Dress: Trifted $5, Red shoes in after photos: Thrifted $4.




Thursday 22 October 2015

Dressing down

Change of seasons always seems to increase my sewing quantity, so hopefully I'll be back on board again with regular posts after a bit of a lull in blogging activity.


This dress is quite something, I don't really have words to describe it...  it was just a little too 'dressy' for me, so my goal was to make it a little more casual .



I started by cutting off the cowl neck.



I then folded and pinned the cut edge inwards, and sewed it in place using a large zigzag stitch.   Some stretchy fabrics get a 'wavy' look when sewn, and I have found that sometimes sewing using a large zigzag stops this.



Then I chopped about 26cm off the hem to shorten the dress a 'midi' length.



After which I folded the cut edge over twice and pinned it in place.



And finished the new hem line off by again sewing with a really large zigzag stitch.



I think I managed to make it a little more casual... what do you think?



... those legs and feet have been without sun for quite some time. 



I also popped a thin black 'sash' around the waist to break the dress up a bit.



Dress: Thrifted $5, all other items I previously owned.

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Whimsical Girls Dress

Where have I been?
I've still been taking on lots of projects, I just don't seem to have had the time or the energy to blog about them.  I also broke my last sewing machine needle a couple of weeks back, and didn't manage to get to the shops to buy new ones until yesterday.  But with my new needles, and warmer weather on the way, I thought today would be a good day to tackle a few of the 'summer projects' piling up in my sewing/homeschool room, and actually blog about them.


I picked this strapless womans dress up a couple of weeks ago, thinking it had the potential to be a nice girls dress or skirt.
I decided on a dress.


First port of call was to chop off that shirred elastic.



Then I folded the dress and half and chopped off a bit of fabric to create arm and neck holes.



See, kinda looks like a dress already.



I then hemmed the neck line and sewed the dress together at the two shoulder points.



But it was looking a little too sack like, so I made the 'bodice' part of the dress more fitting by chopping off these bits.



After sewing up those new side seems the arm holes became tiny.  So I made them bigger again by chopping off a bit more fabric before hemming them to finish the dress off.




Maybe this whimsical dress would have been better for my 8 year old.  But Miss 10 needs summer clothes more, and for now is happy enough to humour me and wear it because it is comfy and cool.



Chookies....



Ok I know this photo isn't amazing, unlike mulberry season, which is possibly my favourite season of the year (those are mulberries she is holding in case you were wondering why I was rambling on about mulberries),  but (back to the photo) it does display the finished dress quite well.



Childhood ramblings...
what a wonderful time of year where it isn't to cold and the mosquitos are not yet out in force.



Dress: Thrifted $4

Sorry my fonts are all over the place in this post, Blogger seemed to have a mind of its own today and I don't have the patience to work out why.