Making Fabric Fit The Pattern

Not a bad day here again, a bit dull this morning but still warm enough for a dress.  This dress for me made May 2020 day 19 is once again made with Minerva fabric and I also made a bag with some of the scraps but that has now sold. I used New Look pattern 6125 but I found it was too loose for me so I added darts and a bit more shaping, I also lined it.  Once again it was comfy to wear all day not impractical and while fitted there is still plenty of movement, if I make this pattern again I may use slightly stretchy fabric and just make it a bit smaller then that would save the need for all my modifications.

Being a bit impatient with sewing as I am I got out my odd pieces today and made a start on the McCalls shorts.  There was I found just enough fabric for the front and back pieces but not enough for the pockets or belt.  So I have used paisley for the back of the pockets, a different fabric for the bit that shows but pieced on  a matching bit to the tops.  I will show more when they are finished, I have to say the instructions were not very clear (I don't like instructions!) I really do think if you didn't sew already that is the kind of thing that would put you off.   I usually just cut out and off I go but I thought I would have a look at them, now I know why I don't usually bother.

See it only just fits on, if I want belt loops there are at least little bits for that.  This is John Kaldor fabric that I made a dress in a while ago, here I have used the reverse as the right side as I didn't want shiny shorts. It remains to be seen what the oddments pockets will look like.

There is not much more to do on them but now my husband said he is not sure he will like the wide style.  We will have to see what they look like on.  I had to break off from my  busy sewing as I had to go into work for a meeting, real life getting in the way!

I think I am becoming something of a recluse, at first I thought great get out and go to work and see everyone.  Then I was relieved to get home, that is a strange way to feel but then these are strange times.  The thing is we tend to get used to how things are no matter what, that is part of our make up for dealing with situations I guess, it would be a shame if we all got too comfortable staying away from each other wouldn't it.

A little sample of fabric arrived that I ordered, I paid for it but it is so small it made me laugh they didn't even get all of the pattern on. I will not be paying for samples again I'll just use my judgment looking at the pictures.

A few memories of past photographs popped up earlier, I have had a laugh looking at us all looking younger.  Then I saw a little dress I made for my friend's daughter about fourteen years ago, it was from a pair of wide leg jeans and I had forgotten all about it.  Now I can't find it and I wanted to share it, I will have another look and hopefully you will see it tomorrow.

Right I am off for a cup of tea, stay safe.

Making Plans

I have been hunting through my offcuts of fabric today trying to find a bit big enough to squeeze these shorts out of...

A friend passed this pattern on to me and I would like to try it out now that the weather is so nice, unless I do one leg each colour I am not sure I will manage it out of the pieces I have left. There is a stripy sheet but they may be too see through, oh what to do?   I have put the pattern and the pile of fabric to one side for now and will have another think about it tomorrow.  The rest of the day has been spent in the garden, walking the dogs and hoovering and sorting etc.

I have ordered  a used Burda magazine from ebay, mainly because I watched a browse through of it and liked some of the styles and also because it was only a couple of pounds.  I will see how I like it when it arrives, all of the printed Burda patterns I have are a good accurate size so I would like to see how the magazine works out.  A lot of people swear by it but I have often picked it up in shops and not been that taken with the styles, I watched a youtube video of someone flicking through this one and then found it for sale.

While I was shopping in the supermarket I bought myself another roll of baking paper purely for pattern tracing so I am all set for when the magazine arrives.  I have tried on a number of occasions to contact Knipmode magazine with a view to subscribing but they never return my emails.  I know there are people in the UK that receive it and they say contact via email. I have give up on that now I suppose they are saving me some money by not responding!

My me made may day 18 outfit is a dress by kwik sew that I made with Minerva fabric, a wrap dress.  I think this is only the second time I have worn it so that just shows the pointlessness of saving for best.

Now I managed to carry a large bag of compost from the car without getting dirty and planted up and re-potted some things so it is possible to live life without jeans I am finding;)  though some of those shorts would be great!

Keep smiling everyone and take care.

Hoody Refashion Reveal

Hello I have had a lovely day messing about with my refashion project, it has been so relaxing I think mainly because there is no new fabric involved, or timescale and it has just been evolving as it went along I suppose.  Beware  many photo's coming up, so here is the finished jacket/cardi or whatever you want to call it and it now fits perfect.

What are those flowery bits of Amy Butler fabric doing at the front I hear you say, well let me explain as this jacket has been something of a Frankenstein project when I cut up the original hoody there was not enough fabric to cut many of the burda pieces in full.  As a result I have pieced bits together here and there.  I didn't want a join showing there at the front so I thought I would embellish it a bit.

Here is where I had to patch on an extra bit of fabric before cutting out the yoke as I didn't have a big enough piece of blue jersey for both sides after cutting the under arms.

Here you can see the blue under sleeve, and did I have to patch a bit under the left arm to make the piece big enough, yes I did, ha ha! Told you it was Frankenstein's jacket, it's ok it is hardly noticeable.

The centre front panels are in two pieces but where I remade the pockets and added the blue I found that when I re-attached them I could line them up so it sort of hides the join.  If you look the pocket ends at the navy blue the line continuing across the front to the zip is the join.

There wasn't enough rib for the new jacket style even though the original was really big. So I made these folded strips of jersey from the offcuts and added them at each side.

I kept the back of the jacket all one piece but it had to be recut further down to allow for set in sleeves as the originals were raglan.  This means there are also little triangular details on the shoulder at the back too.

The under side of the collar is blue fabric scraps, I had to cut down the zip after I unpicked it and then line up all my bits on the front.

I handstitched the zip in first and don't worry about the messy seam I will cover that in a minute.

Here I covered the inside of the zip with jersey scrap fabric to make it neat, I am tempted to go over all the inside seams like this or is that going too far?

Just now though I should have taken a before shot of how big it was on me doh!

I hope this has been useful for showing you that you can take old clothes or charity finds and play around with them.  If you don't spend much you have the chance to learn a lot from doing things like this, all the while keeping in mind that it is ok if it goes wrong.  I am aware people go on expensive dress making course and are ushered down the road of buying the expensive pattern you will be making with the expensive fabric!   Wow what pressure that must be, I think you can't beat practising on old clothes, sheets, offcuts or whatever else you can lay your hands on.  As you can see I still like messing about like this after all these years, if you don't spend much you can view it as play and learning without the pressure.

Now under my re-fashion I have on todays me made May day 17, a self drafted skirt (sale fabric) a self drafted t shirt from a pinterest idea I saw (remnant fabric).

That is all for today I hope it wasn't too much with all the images, have a lovely week.