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‘Sewing’ Category

  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

  3. Musing on the Muslin

    June 29, 2011 by ginghamgirl

    Muslin. A bizarre word which I am certain I pronounce differently every time I say it. It’s an unusual concept, sewing an extra garment, a ‘test run’ before using your ‘expensive material’. Well, as I tend to buy most of my material from op shops, or find it on the streets (erm not actually a joke, I found a hoard of AMAZING fabric some bozo was throwing out in ‘hard rubbish’ on one of my jaunts around the neighbourhood once. I took everything that I could carry. I am a hobo. A practical hobo, but still a hobo.) . Uh anyway, due to my cheapness- I mean my resourcefulness- my ‘actual’ material often costs less than using muslin from the local fabric store. So instead of doing a test run in yucky cotton that I would never wear, I instead choose material that is slightly less lovely than my other stuff. That way when I inevitably cut out the bodice too big or make my bust darts too high (surely I am not the only person delusional about both the size of my chest and where it sits?) it is no big deal, I can still wear it (with MANY modifications and unpicking) but I know what to do with my ‘real material’.

    This is the Sencha blouse from Colette Patterns, an amazing online pattern store based in the States that surely every sewer has heard of by now. This blouse was very easy to sew and features my first attempt at sewing buttonholes. I have so far avoided them as I am always eager to avoid accidently ruining a garment. I did not ruin it (completely) but learnt a helpful (and obvious hint). Always. Use. Interfacing. When. Buttonholing. I accidently errr made a GIANT run in the threads when cutting my buttonholes open. It won’t stop me from wearing the blouse, but it’s still tres annoying. For my ‘real’ Sencha I will need to make it longer to fit my giant torso, add another button on the back and to keep the dart as it is, DO NOT EXTEND THE DART HIGHER YOU SILLY GIRL.

    Next up on my sewing list is a black silk Sencha with a keyhole opening, then maybe one with a peter pan collar, then a lace one and uhh yes, I like this shirt pattern. It looks very neat when tucked into a skirt, an odd experience for me, the Queen of tights with runs and mysterious coffee stains that magically appear on every single item of my clothing. Happy sewing and thankyou for reading :) .

    Bry xo

    Category Sewing | Tags: , | 2 Comments

  4. The Big Bad Wolf is coming to get you

    June 17, 2011 by ginghamgirl

     

    I made this dress and red cloak to dress as – wait for it- Little Red Riding Hood (tres original, no?). I was making it for a ‘nursery rhymes and fairytales’ themed 21st and I can now say it was a mistake. If you find yourself invited to a themed party along those lines, don’t dress as Little Red Riding Hood. You’ll thank me when you avoid the scene that greeted me when I walked into the bar the party was being held at.

    Katy Perry or something similarly inane playing in the background. People moving about, hugging, kissing etc. The crowd parts, I look up to see…

    A table full of girls wearing Little Red Riding Hood costumes. A. Full. Table.

    Now, I am not saying that one should always dress differently, but really, who wants to arrive at a party wearing the exact same thing as a dozen other girls (none of which you know)? It is far better to dress as the mother at the start of the fable (obscurity points are always a bonus) then to be referred to as ‘one of the Little Red Riding Hoods’.

    Ahem. Anyway.I made this dress using a basic bodice pattern that I drafted using the Dirndl Bodice pattern from Wendy Mullin, the prolific sewer/designer/writer/all round  good time gal’s book Built By You: Dresses. I ended up extending the shoulder length (because I am a giant), and making it lower in the front, and a deep ‘V’ in the back. The bodice is lined, in lieu of facings, which I really detest, in blue gingham (not a design feature, I just didn’t buy enough fabric but shooosh don’t tell). The skirt is a dirndl- just a rectangle that I pleated (5 in the middle, 2 on either side at the back). I then added a scalloped hem to the front that extends to two points in the back.

    The jacket/cloak was another project that I used Kwik Sew Pattern 1978 for (this time that was slightly less strange). I used this very cheap red poly-cotton that i got for 2 dollars (!) in an op shop. I was going to use some heavier wool but I decided to make this costume at the last minute and this was cheap. TWO DOLLERS I TELL YA. I edited the pattern in the following ways: I extended the front and back lengths again, slashed the bodice in half and made a GIANT hood, which is lined in black and white stripped knit. When in doubt, make something large to cover your face is my motto.

    The worst thing about the party was I wasn’t even cool enough to be in Little Red Riding Hood gang.

    Have a good day, thankyou for reading. Bry xo

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

  5. Backless Betty

    June 15, 2011 by ginghamgirl

    I made this dress for last year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival Opening Party. This was one of the first dresses that I have made, and is really simple. That in part is due to my choosing to use Kwik Sew’s Pattern1978- a men’s ‘jogging top’ pattern which I decided to turn into a dress. I’m not sure what exactly my reasoning for choosing this- bragging rights perhaps? Although I’m not sure who I thought would be impressed by my using a men’s top pattern.

     

    Hanging onto dress for dear life

     

    Obviously the jealousy was being reserved for my posing ability. Look at that awkwardness. Breathtaking.

     

    Natural Leg Flick

     

    I edited the pattern by making it longer, shortening the sleeves to elbow length, taking out the ribbing and hood, adding a tie and by making it backless. Er actually that was supposed to be lowcut on the front….but after trying on I realized the ‘oh look here is my bra, I was wondering which one I had worn today, good thing I can see you ENTIRELY’ look was not for me.

     

     

     

    Ok to be honest I actually did wear it that way the first time I made it- albeit with a lace top- on of my first *dates* with my now boyfriend. It was very awkward to say the least. Neither of us knew where to look and I ended up sweating in my denim jacket in attempt to keep my modesty.

     

    Pensive Ground Pose

     

    However that *little* issue has been resolved through choosing to wear the dress backless. Class on the front, party round the back. Thanks to the aforementioned boyfriend, firstly for not judging or laughing at the dress in its original state and secondly for taking these photos (I know you tried to stop the awkwardness, but really, it’s beyond our control).

     

    Have a lovely day, Bry xo

     

     

    Category Crafts, Dresses, Sewing | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  6. Cupcakes, Masks, Dancing, Oh My

    June 9, 2011 by ginghamgirl

    My friend had a Saints ‘n’ Sinners masquerade birthday party last night (very Gossip Girl- velvet drapes, lots of cushions, dimmed lighting, places to canoodle, someone actually dressed as Chuck Bass with the creepy patchwork scarf…).  To celebrate the occasion I made myself a Kitty Cat Mask –part of my ongoing denial about not having a cat is dressing and acting like a Cat Lady. My friend was woefully out of a mask, and refused to wear a Venetian one from the local 2 dollar shop as they “aren’t manly enough”, So I made him a ‘Zorro’ one (Note boys: Real Men Accessorize).

     

     

    Making these masks taught me one thing. I love ‘Stiffy’. A craft product for the whole family *wink wink*. You can use this sucker on the lightest of fabrics and it will stiffen right up, allowing masks of your wildest fantasy to become a possibility. What, you don’t dream of lace masks? Fool.

     

     

    The process is quite simple.

    1. Cut out a vaguely mask shape from your fabric (Hint it should be able to fit over some of your face).
    2. Slap some Stiffy on it (outside unless you wish for your house to smell like a Preschool) and leave it to dry, hanging over a plastic wrap-covered mask shape that of course you have *lying* around.
    3. Trim, cut eyes if you can’t see (if the material is not lace, tulle or chiffon you probably wont be able to see and in order to limit the amount of chairs/people/glassware you knock over, you might want to cut peppin’ holes)
    4. Attach ribbon/elastic to attach to face. Or a stick so you can hold it next to your face without smearing your gorgeous makeup darrrrling
    5. Decorate (optional). I attached ribbon for whiskers, felt for a nose/middle ear bits and drew eye shapes with my gold eyeliner (resourceful, no?)
    6. Use mask (preferably at a party and not in a criminal way)

     

     

    For my friends birthday I made her a Hedgehog plushie, which she has named Hershey (Erm she likes chocolate. I don’t see the connection either), and a bow headband.

     

     

    Her party was lovely, I ate far too many cupcakes and my feet got sore from dancing all night. That really is the sign of a good party to me, music, and enough food to make your guests feel sick from overeating!

     

    Have a lovely day, thankyou for reading :)

    Bry x

    Category Crafts, Sewing, Tutorials | Tags: ,,, | 2 Comments

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