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July, 2011

  1. The Sailing Blues

    July 31, 2011 by ginghamgirl

    Disclaimer: During this post I plan to use as many sailor puns as I can possibly plunder from the sea.

    Ah this dress. This. Dress. We had some issues. Well I had some issues. Like apparently I’ve forgotten how to cut out a pattern. And that ribbon does not behave like bias tape. And that using 2 meters of cotton drill will look ENORMOUS when pleated. Which will cause a need to re-cut the fabric to make a half -circle skirt. Which you then may cut too small. My captain would have forced me to walk the plank.

    I made this dress as part of The Sew Weekly’s weekly challenge. Every week the site’s creator, Mena Trott sets a theme for sewing. This week’s was nautical. I’ve always wanted to make a Sailor’s dress and this forced me to stop musing on it and hit the decks so to speak. I made my own pattern using my usual measurements, which may have been where my problems began- I did not account for er so much dining at the captain’s table… So this may be a dress I don’t wear until the Australian weather hits and the temperature gets so hot that merely tying a bowline knot breaks a sweat (yes I googled sailing knots) and makes one slick enough to slide into too-tight dresses.

    This dress is a fitted bodice with a button down back, half-circle skirt, a double- ribbon trimmed skirt and collar with front and back facings. I also made a quick bow belt (partly to try and counteract the rather obvious fact that the dress is too small).


    Oh so nauti-cool.

    Thanks for reading, Bry xo

    Category Dresses, Sewing | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. Flower Power

    July 4, 2011 by ginghamgirl

    After ruining the buttons on my Sencha blouse I had to try again, but ya know, not ruin them this time. Armed with the knowledge that USING INTERFACING MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER I set out to make another dress. Because I believe you can never have enough dresses (and have the overflowing wardrobe to prove it).

    I again used the Dirndl Bodice Pattern from Built By You: Dresses by Wendy Mullin. This pattern has become my bodice sloper, which I have adjusted it to be lower in the front and deeper in the back. For this project I added a Peter Pan collar which dips into angled V’s in the back, which was piped in crotched lace I found (found!) in a scrap pile at a crafternoon I went to last year. I used 8 tiny black buttons on the back to make it SUPER quick and easy to get in and out of. Not. But they are pretty, and really, that’s all that counts.

    I used curtain material that belonged to my Nan for this which was made out of an er interesting polyester/synthetic/ cotton (?) blend print which has silk lines running through it. The material has a nice weight to it without being too bulky for the gathers.

    Pondering the weight of the World

    It is far too cold to wear this lil flower power baby out and about at the moment, but I foresee many wears ahead with its family friendly length. Thankyou to my boyfriend for taking these photos, particularly for trying to make me laugh in order to make me look less like a robot.

    Thankyou for reading ☺.

    Bry xo

    Category Dresses, Sewing | Tags: ,, | 1 Comment