Dress From Another Dress

Things that have made me cry so far today :

An advert for a donkey charity and the donkey couldn't carry any more bricks and collapsed. [also he had sore feet]

Rikki showed me a picture of a puppy [it was very fluffy]

I banged my head on the wall for the second time.

Oh yeah the pms train has fully pulled into the station [ Part of me's wondering if this is TMI but the other half of me doesn't care and just wants to know if there's any chocolate in the house.]

Anyways I made this a couple of weeks ago when the weather was stupidly hot and I still had the ability to do things without crying/murdering people. 

The original summer dress was given to me by Rikki's Nan and I LOVED it! Which is surprising because 1. It's not got a gathered skirt and 2. Its a pale yellow, and I don't typically wear pale colours or yellow! Anyway it was one of those things I tried on and Rikki was like "that looks really nice." And so every summer I wore it to death! It was the perfect mixture of comfy and smart looking at the same time and then it started to give up the ghost. First the hem went, so I cut it off and re hemmed it and then it started to get lots of lil holes in it, the way only really loved items of clothing do.  

Naturally I wasn't about to give up my favourite summer dress so I decided to make a pattern from it. [I haven't taken step by step photos because there are already millions of tutorials on how to make patterns from old clothes on the internet already!] 

First I cut up all the seams, I didn't bother unpicking because I knew I needed to add my own seam allowances anyway.

I made sure to mark key features like the bias bound neckline and arm holes and the ties as well as which was the fabric grain was going.

Next I put my pattern pieces onto a flat piece of paper and drew around them [I folded the front section in half and chose just one of the back and side panels to trace round so everything wold make up. I made sure to add markings for grain line, cutting on the fold, positioning the ties etc. Then I added a 1.5cm seam allowance [I have a sewing gauge that makes this so quick!] and a 6cm hem [I opted for quite a deep hem because I knew I had already removed length the first time I repaired the dress.]

Then I cut those pieces out and pulled this piece of fabric out of my stash so I could make a wearable toile. 

I think it turned out pretty good. The material is some sort of cotton viscose and was given to me by the lady at the car boot. I'm not 100% sold on the print but it makes an okay wearable toile.

The dress is made up of the front panel, 2x side panels and 2x back panels, with waist ties to give it shape. I think the lines of the dress are really flattering but next time I need to make sure I make my ties skinnier and a bit longer as I'd like to be able to wrap then around the front first and then tie them at the back.

The other problem is I stupidly decided not to cut my straps and neck binding on the bias. This means they sit away from the body a bit. It's not a huge issue for this dress but for it to be perfect I need to make sure I cut them out properly next time. I should have done it this time but I thought there was enough give in the fabric to adapt the the curves. I'm also wondering if the binding should be a bit skinnier.

Length wise its right on the the edge of being acceptable so I think I may also add a bit to the length! maybe like 2inches or so? What do you think? I don't want a strong gust of wind showing people the good china now do I?

Here you can see the ties at the back. They just bring it in a bit so you look like you have a waist but by some form of witchcraft they also leave room for burgers and cake and stuff.

As you can see without the ties its a bit sack like! Maybe I should make a version with no ties and then I can just straight up belt it? Eurgh but then I'd have to find a belt in the morning when I get dressed?

All in all I think its a great first effort and I already have some fabric in mind for a second version! I just need to remember to cut the straps on the bias and lengthen the hem and ties!

In other news! 

Its nearly half term YAY! I'm really looking forward to lil man having some time off'! Especially all on the lie ins we are going to be able to have! 

I'm going to the golf driving range later , well at least I think I will. Part of me is like ooh belly cramps stay home and watch Buffy the vampire slayer and the other half of me thinks it will be good for releasing some anger so I don't kill Rikki for sneezing later. Also if I do go I might be able to con Rikki into getting me a mcflurry on the way home, and a mcmuffin......Maybe a Mcbrownie?

Much Love

Frankie 

xxxx