Singing those shudda, wudda, cuddas

One question I get a lot when I alter my clothes is "what if you want it back how it was?" 

It's a perfectly reasonable question, if your thinking of altering something you spent actual money on rather than pulled from a charity shop then your bound to be aprehensive. 

So to start I always divide mine into two piles the ones that I'm hoping to salvage, this includes shrunken tee shirts, mr Knitwit jumpers, and old jeans. These are what I consider throw away projects, things that if they don't work it doesn't really matter because chances are they'd end up in the bin anyway. 

Then there's the alterations, things that just don't work right now! The things that I like but I just don't seem to wear for some reason. I like to make these item reversible so they can be used as they were originally intended! 

EXAMPLE! 

This skirt used to reach mid calf, it wasn't maxi and it wasn't midi. It was however filled with sentimental value (my dad brought it for my mum) 

Now I knew I didn't want to bin it, I love the lace and the waistband, but I also knew I didn't want to cut it incase a 30/40 year old Frankie still wants to wear this skirt but would appreciate more coverage! 

That's why this skirt has a 30cm hem. No seriously on the off chance longer poofy skirts are back in fashion all I have to do is unpick my hand sewing and I'm sorted! 

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't all have to be so drastic, on refashioning program's and blogs we see them hacking away at garments. Well the thing is you don't have to, embrace deep hems! Keep the sleeves you didn't want one the off chance that maybe one day you will! Make the collar detachable and you'll find you can really turn your wardrobe into a workhorse! 

And then as you gain confidence in what works you can start to take bigger risks! 

Much love 

Frankie 

Xx

Costumes

Please allow me to introduce you to the queen of homemade costumes 

My momma! 

She's done them all, Viking, roman man, Mary poppins and many more besides! Growing up I don't think I ever had a shop brought costume, but here are some pictures of a few of her creations! 

Belly dancer : from what I remember this costume was originally made for my sister, and then passed down to me. I wore it for a fancy dress birthday party, and needless to say I felt awesome! 

Indian sari : this was made for a multi cultural day at school, the veil is some old netting and my momma stitched on all the trims using her machine. You might notice she used the bottoms from the belly dance costume aswell! Thrifty madam! 

Pirate costume: I hated this, mother I'm going to have it out with you now! MOTHER I WAS THE ONLY BROWNIE IN THE PRODCITION OF PETER PAN WITH FACIAL HAIR!!!! Pretty sure this is going to have me seeing a shrink in a few years! The sash round my waist and the bandana were/are both my dads from his (young) motorcycling days. Since then I have stolen both! Sorry daddy if you thought you'd lost them! 

And last but not least

1950s ladies at the goodwood revival: now she didn't make these but she did research everything we are wearing and find the extras we needed! She also lent me her fur coat (bagsy when she dies) and spend 2 hours pin curling my hair the night before! 

As a side note if you LOVE vintage I would definitely recommend going to the goodwood revival! It's an incredible experience! Everyone dresses up, and there's market stalls so it's like stepping back in time and the cars are all vintage so it should be pretty easy to slip your fellas wallet out of his back pocket whilst he reminisces about his childhood!

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

P.s don't be surprised if this segment returns these aren't even some of my favourites! 

This Is The Place Projects Come To Die....

Me and Little Knitwit popped over to my mommas yesterday, she's very kindly been storing my fabric collection but I'd decided that if I actually want to make a go of this whole, handmade seller thing, than I need a little more fabric to work with.

We had a really nice time we got to reminisce about my Grandmas fabrics, and decide what my Momma would continue to store and what would be coming home with me. And little Knitwit was perfectly content to sit on the floor and play cars whilst Granny and Mummy went through the boxes.

And boy did we find some things! The nicest thing by far was finding the three metres of brown suit material that my Grandmother had brought to make my Grandad a suit with. She didn't get around to it, so I think I'll be using that to make myself a nice dress as a tribute to them both.

We found my Mums bridesmaid dress from my Aunties wedding. (pictures will follow in a later post) Which I had cut the sleeves off to turn into a strappy maxi dress. Incidentally all the bridesmaid dresses were made by my Aunty and Nan! And it is really nicely made!

But we also found some other things, some things I'm very ashamed of. We found a project graveyard. Bags, dresses, random pieces of fabric that belong to something somewhere! All that had been sat waiting to be finished for a REALLY long time.

- Please feel free to read this next section with the "24" beep in your head

The following projects were made between 2008 and 2014 .... bip bip bip bip

 

Warning - the following projects were made without a pattern, just a scissor happy teenager.

 

 

Playsuit/Beach cover up

 

Fabric - Recycled maxi dress

 

I told my mum this is a beach cover up but I'm fairly sure that the exhibitionist teenager in me was just planning to wear it out in public and not on the beach!

 

Will I finish it? - Yeah probably I like a lot of the features and style, it's not too badly made, I think I can neaten things up a bit, and I'll probably have to make it a bit more modest!

 

 

 

 

 

Pleated and Tucked Open Backed Shirt.

 

Fabric - Vintage gifted to me by my Nan.

 

Okay I'll be honest when I saw this I felt a swell of pride that my younger self had managed this. You can't tell on the pictures because of the print, but its made up using a series of tucks and darts and pleats, it,s actually really interesting. The exposed back might have been a bit of bad decision but I really like what I was going for. However it is really badly made, awful! There's pleats in the seams and hems and the button holes are unthinkable! So I'm thinking it will get finished but it's going to take a hell of a lot of work, and possibly a dress makers mannequin!

 

 

 

 

Lace Maxi Dress

 

Fabric - Oh lord forgive me, Net Curtains (clean ones) and cotton backing.

 

I don't really know what to say about this to be honest. It looks better in person? But then again the do say the camera never lies? I like the silhouette and the some of the features like that long metal zip. I don't know I'll have to mull it over a bit more. It really didn't photograph well, I'm not sure the camera knew where to focus.

 

And that your lot! It really was quite a strange experience! It's hard to believe that what feels like a million years ago, these were to projects I was focusing on, but not finishing!

 

So its be honest time! How many projects do you have in your graveyard?

 

Much Love

 

Frankie

 

xxx