December 15, 2011 by ginghamgirl
Pattern: Bodice from Colette Pattern’s Macaron, altered to be strapless, self drafted half circle skirt
Fabric: Red and white cotton gingham, from stash, white poly-blend lining, from stash, white polyester boning
I don’t think I’m the only one who finds the term ‘gingham’ synonymous with Dorothy and her adventures in the Land of Oz (for anyone deprived of a childhood I am referring to the Wizard of Oz). Personally I actually prefer the darker ‘Return to Oz’ with the crazy Wheelers, which gave me nightmares for years and caused an unfortunate aversion to rollerblades. Uh anyway, gingham fabric connotations aside, I made this dress several months ago, but due to living at the bottom of the world, summer has only just reached us.
I altered the bodice from the Colette Macaron pattern to be strapless, probably not my best move as, without the front and back yokes the dress was still a little low on the sides. I used boning for the first time, not nearly as scary as I had presumed plus I got bragging rights among my non-sewing friends who don’t know how easy it actually is. I drafted a skirt similar to this one but made it longer and err actually my waist size rather than my imaginary size. The bodice is lined in white poly-blend fabric and trimmed with gingham ruffled elastic trim, which I enclosed some self-made bias-tape. I plaited some scrap fabric to make the straps. Which would look great is I wanted it to look super scrappy. I did not.
But look, loveheart shaped pockets with bows. Much nicer/ridiculously girly. And now I’m off to finish the rather ambitious list of Christmas presents I’ve decided that I *have* to make this year. Plus a dress for Christmas, cos clearly I don’t have enough ; ).
Have a lovely day, happy sewing, Bry xo
Category Dresses, Sewing | Tags: Colette Patterns,dress,gingham,Sewing,stash busting | 1 Comment
August 7, 2011 by ginghamgirl
Every winter I face the same conundrum. Why don’t I own a gingham cropped shirt? And every winter I have to settle for cardigans and long sleeve shirts. This winter I say NO MORE. No more being warm, no more being sheltered from the rain. I say bring on the goosebumps.
And so, when I saw that this week’s theme for the Sew Weekly was ‘Go West’ I knew what I was going to make. I used a Vogue Basic Design’s Pattern as a starting point, but altered the bottom of the shirt to make ties instead. I also changed the sleeve a little as my shoulders need no shoulder pads. I pleated the excess material and bound it with bias tape, then added some little bows. I tossed up using red buttons but they looked a little dress-up-ey (for once not in a good way) so I stuck with white ones instead.
The instructions with this pattern were not the best, so I winged it (wung?) most of the time. There was no facing for the neck collar piece so there is a raw edge under the collar which is irking me, so I might have to bind it with some of the leftover bias tape. However this may have been because I gave up reading the instructions and went with *instinct* (ahem blindly sewed) but I will choose to blame Vogue anyway.
The fabric, buttons, pattern and interfacing were all from my stash so this shirt was like a gift from the obsessively shopping and fabric hoarding gods. I do thank them and promise to do my very best and buying every piece of decent fabric I come across in my weekly op shop pilgrimages.
I’m hoping I’ve managed to channel a vintage ‘glamour’ Western look instead of, as my boyfriend kindly put it “You look like a farmer checking on her chickens”. I distinctly remember chickens in The Wizard of Oz and that’s kind of Western……right?
It is 15°C today (or 59 in Farenheit for those of you playing along in America) and I am just a wee bit cold. Sadly I think my boot scootin’ days may be limited to the latter parts of the year.
Thanks for reading. Bry xo
Category Crafts, Sewing | Tags: gingham,sew weekly,shirt,stash busting | No Comments
