Work in progress
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Just a little bit crazy
I started this top last Monday, it was so easy to make, the front top section is gathered horizontally and the bottom section is gathered vertically. At this point in time I decided to make it sleeveless, I might unpick the bias tape on the armhole and put the sleeves in at a later date.
Floral dress with full skirt, take two
After the failed attempt at the full skirt on the first dress, I’m going to have another stab at getting it right.
Project Runway that escaped me
I finally finished my dress. This has been what seemed like an endless journey of ups and downs and much blood, sweat and tears. Sewing the bodice and the yoke was an experience in itself, all was going well and the end was in sight when to my horror the material didn’t suit the full skirt and subsequently made my lower half seem rather large. So back to the drawing board I went, zip was out, the bottom half was unpicked and turned into something more flattering then it had to be put back together again, matching seams, pleats and darts so it all looks just right. The zip finally went back in, the yoke was sewn again, hem was done and this is the finished article.
Wild and wonderful
Anyone who continues to follow my blog will come to realise my taste in clothes is usually “the louder the better” this material screams just that.
Almost there
After many hours changing and fixing this dress I honestly feel like I have unpicked more than I have sewn. After not sewing for a number of years I have been quickly reminded not to follow patterns too strictly and go with what I think will work better. Sometimes the instructions can make the whole process a little too complicated.
Anyway here we are, at least it is in one piece and the top half is attached to the bottom, I need to put the zip back in; I can’t remember how many times that zip has been in and out. I also unpicked the yoke facing to ensure a neater finish on the inside, so this will need stitching again, then the final finishing touches and away we go…….hopefully 🙂
The way forward
After making my floral dress last week, I realised after much soul searching that I resembled one of those dolls with the wide woollen skirt that hides a toilet roll; a look that really isn’t for me. So a weekend of unpicking ensued with a plan to redesign the skirt this week . Keeping fingers crossed that this works and its not the material that doesn’t suit me rather than the dress 🙂
Plain and simple
I made this dress today, it is an old favourite of mine, I have made it a few times in the past. I prefer not to use facings on the armholes and neck edge as I find them too bulky, so I used bias tape instead. It only has a couple of darts in the front and a centre back zip.
Something different
Although I favour dressmaking this book has some fabulous ideas.
Where we are today
After starting to sew my new black and white dress this morning and mistakenly thinking it would be a doddle, I spent many hours sewing and unpicking and sewing some more. The bodice is finally complete with sleeves, the next task will be fixing the yoke to the body of the dress, a simple task you may think, but no, these things are not meant to be simple, following much scrutiny it looks like that will be another challenge…..
willowwears.com 