Vintage Style Wrap Top!

So this make was inspired by this picture that I found on pinterest,  Its quite similar to the walkaway dress from last years sewing bee.  

The concept is that its really simple sewing and then your left with a finished garment and there's no need for those pesky zips or buttons. Sounds like my kind of project to be honest!

I saw a few different measurements on-line, but I personally made mine 34inch by 23inch. I think its real trial and error on what looks good on you. Originally mine was a good 8 inches longer and 6 inches wider but it was just too big.

Its actually pretty sweet, even if it is hard to photograph a white top against a white wall whilst I'm wearing it on my pasty white skin. Fabric wise I used a length of lightweight cotton from my grandmas stash, Its got little white flowers on it as well but you can see them on the images. I think the key to this project is finding the right material it needs a certain amount of drape for the sleeves but can't be too stretchy or your loose the wrap effect. I think this fabric is pretty perfect apart from the fact its a wee bit see through, luckily for me I own about 1million vest tops so I just chucked one underneath. 

I love the bow, that might be my favourite bit to be honest. Although it can be a bit fiddly to make sure everything's sitting nicely when its tied. I also love that's its got a modern vintage vibe to it. It doesn't scream vintage in your face, its more like "I might be vintage? or I might just be really chic and modern" 

To stitch it up I kept with the theme and sewed it on my Singer 99k, which I'm pleased to say ran as nicely as ever. Its a great machine even if it is a bit loud! The only issue I have with it is that their is no thread cutter on it anywhere! 

The sides are hemmed and the the bottoms are trapped in between the ties. The neckline is bias bound. Which wasn't as fiddly as I thought even if the bias binding was a bit stiff , hopefully it will soften up in the wash.

All in all I'm calling this a grand success and it was nice to make something simple and relax a bit. In fact from cutting out the putting on this can't have took much more than an hour? And bearing in mind it was sewn on a machine that only has one speed I don;t think that's too bad.

I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, but it might be nice for taking to the beach as a light cover up or I might even use it for yoga because it has lots of room for movement!

In other news!

I'm full of cold, and I'm pretty sure all of the pollen IN THE WORLD! has descended on my house to torture me!

and I'm watching the great british sewing bee pretty much all the time, I've even been watching the reruns! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

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