Dress of Two Halves

Spurred on by my recent re-hash of the Vogue 1312 dress into a skirt, I went searching through the wardrobe for ‘others’.

I don’t know about you, but I have some sort of strange and possibly unhealthy, emotional attachment to things I’ve made – even those that aren’t perfect. When clearing out old clothes I find it much easier to give away RTW, even expensive ones, rather than part with a wadder. So my sewing room is fast becoming a graveyard of unworn dresses and shirts.

You may remember this.. Vintage Vogue 8851Made in Paul Smith cotton shirting. It was OK, nothing special and I’ve worn it once. Probably for the photo. The fabric is deliciously smooth and soft but the dress did nothing for me. So out came the scissors…….

As you can see there is a waist seam at the back but none at the front and the front band extends well below waist length. The back is fitted but the front is loose.

Cutting a dress into a skirt is not always as simple as hacking off the top and making a waistband.

Instead of just cutting into the dress, I unpicked most of the seams apart from the bodice/sleeve construction and the skirt. A nice job to do in the shade of our big tree in the garden. I ended up with a top half and a bottom.

The skirt fronted needed darts for fit and the dress length zip was cut in half and extra stitches added as a stopper at the top – saved me having to re-insert the zip, though the in-seam side pocket had to go. There were enough left-overs from the original make in the stash box to fashion a waistband. I re-used the front band and added this to the front of the skirt as a detail.

The back still has the pleat so ease of walking and sitting is not restricted. The fabric wrinkles like mad – gives the skirt a loved and lived look.

Then I was left with the bodice. So much work went into this that I couldn’t just discard it, so I took a closer inspection as to how I could utilise it. The original dress had a huge 3″ hem, which was cut off when hemming the ‘new’ skirt which meant I had a bit more fabric to play with.

In the end I re-fashioned a jacket.

Sleeves and neckline remained intact but the front seam was opened and finished; the extra hem fabric was added as a band around the bottom of the jacket; added two patch pockets and sewed on two decorative buttons left over from the original dress cuffs.

I won’t wear the two together – too matchy – but the jacket is a great little throw over especially to cover shoulders and arms in extreme sunshine.

From one dress – two new garments. And no fabric purchased!

One’s Better – One’s Worse

Gosh, you wake up one morning and all of a sudden nearly four weeks have gone by!

Thank you all so much for the honest comments about the dress. There are so many that I haven’t replied individually but I read every one at least twice and took on board your advice and criticisms. Most of you were absolutely right about the bodice and that was the one thing that threw the whole balance of the dress off, apart from Sally, who is a little weird (I know her in real life) who loved the dress just as it was – there’s always one huh?

I went with the majority:  the scissors were brought out and the bodice has gone. I removed the zip altogether and just folded down 2″ to make a casing for 1″ wide elastic.

So now I have a pull-on full and swingy skirt.

Much better.

On the other hand, DH (who knows everything) washed my fancy pants (left) with the the red cotton top. Well, guess what happened there! My vibrant and colourful pants came out with an all over pink hue. So clever…….

I bought a thing to remove dye that was created for occasions such as this and soaked the pants overnight.

All the colours except the pink dye faded! Reds went to faded orange, oranges went to pale yellow, greys went to khaki, blacks went to grey and the white stayed pink!

Much worse.

I was moved and inspired by Shams and her posting about weight loss and health. Then Sarah wrote a little about it too and I followed it up. I’ve put on weight since the middle of May most of my clothes were no longer tight they just didn’t fit anymore. I realised that when you make clothes for yourself they are made to fit perfectly and any deviation in weight has a most dramatic effect on this tailored fit.  I purchased the e-book Eat to Live and started on Dr. Fuhrman’s  plant based diet a week before we went to Salisbury on choir tour. I started at a whopping 75kg (at least 10kg over my recommended ideal weight) – Within one week I’d lost 2.5 kg (5 1/2 lb) – the red line on the graph below.

[2.2lbs = 1kg]  Then we went away……

I’d no intention of sticking to the diet when we were in England – eating out every night, hotel breakfasts and so on, but I was a wee bit good and returned home with just a little weight back on. But I expected this and didn’t beat myself up about it. So this week I started again (purple line). Starting point on Tuesday was 74kg and by Friday I was down to 72kg and today it’s 71.5kg!

The diet is hard going, I’m not going to say it’s easy. I live with a carnivore and an omnivore and the Eat to Live diet is predominantly vegan. I did ask if anyone in the house wanted to join me but there were no takers, so I’ve been making a meal for them and a meal for me. The shopping trolley has a split personality – vegetables and fruit, beans and pulses at one side; meat, potatoes, bread and biscuits on the other.

I believe it’s also easier to follow the diet in summer, especially in a heat wave. I really can’t imagine eating salad with raw vegetables and a dash of balsamic in the middle of January when it’s dark at 4.30pm and 3 degrees celcius outside – just a hearty beef stew with lots of potatoes is the right thing for then. I also try to buy locally produced and in-season fruits etc. It’s not always possible but I don’t know where I’d get raspberries in February in Belfast.

I’m a girl who puts a shot of double cream in her three cups of coffee every morning: who always grates a bit more Cheddar cheese than is necessary so I can nibble it prior to dinner; who eats her sirloins blue and who cooks with salt and then salts her food: oh, I can also drink olive oil from the bottle. The frying pan is the most used pot in the kitchen arsenal in our house. To completely remove salt, sugar, meat, diary and oils from my diet was a BIG challenge. I have no underlying health issues (thankfully) so this was purely for weight loss but I can easily see how anyone’s general health would be improved on this plant based diet – there’s just no bad things in it! Every night I think – tomorrow I’ll go back to normal this is such hard work – and then I weight myself every morning and another 0.5kg has gone and I decide – just one more day. When I get to the 70kg mark I’ll have to make a new graph.

Much, much better.

I trust you and yours are all in good health, enjoying (but taking care in) the sunshine (northern hemisphere) and wrapping yourselves in wool and cashmere (southern hemisphere).

Dress Quest Part 1

Every year I search for the perfect summer dress. I’ve been doing this for almost 6 years now and seem nowhere close to finding it. I see lots of beautiful dresses that you’ve all made – selected the right pattern with the right fabric and – viola – a dress that can be worn daily, perfect seasonal wear that looks fab. So this year is no exception and the quest for the perfect dress has started…again….I titled this post Part 1 because I truly believe there will be many more documenting my pursuit of The Dress.

A couple of posts recently inspired the latest attempt at The Dress. Kathryn used a fabulous wax print for a circle skirt – the fabric is so happy and cheerful that you couldn’t help but smile when wearing this. So the fabric idea came from her. Thanks Kathryn. I searched the internet and came up with Middlesex Textiles – a wonderful shop that specialises in African prints.  A staggering array of colours and patterns and based in the UK so I’ve no pesky import tax to pay.

So I selected one that was on offer and what a bargain! The fabric is sold as a cut length of 6yds (5.5m) and is about 42″ wide. Within a couple of days the parcel arrived, beautifully wrapped and presented with labels declaring its pedigree of genuine wax printing.

The fabric itself is a myriad of strong bright colours – red, navy, turquoise and yellow on a white background. The dyes are so intense that it looks the same back and front.

Crunch time – the patten!

My good internet sewing friend Lucia sent me a Vogue pattern a little while ago as I had admired it – thanks Lucia – and as I had 6 yds of fabric and this pattern called for at least 4 – we were all set.

Vogue 1312 Mizono design – that I’ve seen made up and looking wonderful on various blogs and PR.

A swirly full skirt with a little vest-like sleeveless top – yes sleeveless, it is summer after all! An invisible side zip and all the pattern pieces various degrees of squares – apart from the neckline and armscythes. Simple sewing – great for time constraint sewing time these days.

Two important things to note:

1. I used a very large directional print – all other versions I’ve seen are plain or in a small print.

2. The pattern says to use only 60″ wide fabric, mine was 42″ and I got the dress cut out just fine, but lengthening would have been impossible. There wasn’t too much left of my 6 yds afterwards either.

So the two were paired together to produce this….

We met some very good friends who we haven’t seen in nearly 10 years at the weekend and I put on my new dress to go out to dinner with them all. While I love my DH dearly his candour can be cutting sometimes… first the silence but hard stares and then the barrage…..

“that’s awful”, “too old”, and even my dear friend Y got in on the attack – “too much fabric!”, ‘the top is too old for you”

So the dress was taken off and fancy pants were put on instead.

What’s your opinion? Remember, we like honesty in comments.

                   Did I waste a zip?

Anyway but Loose..

I have not been posting (or sewing) regularly as this is a very busy time for me – end of term and sending students off to university (makes the hard work worthwhile) and the relentless marking of examination papers with all the bad hand writing and the rubbish that some people put on a page thinking it’s worth a mark!

I promised a make-it-yourself-without-a -pattern infinity dress – so here it is…….This is not a new idea but I only found it a few months ago, so it’s new to me.

Made in stretchy, non-fraying jersey, or similar fabric, this dress can theoretically take you all through the day and into evening; changing its style by just rearranging the endlessly long ties. Adjust the straps to suit your mood, the weather and the occasion – hence the name – an infinite way to wear this dress.

I’m not so good with measuring and calculating so I have many internet sewists and inspirational people to give thanks to – use this post as a springboard to some others who are much more accomplished than me.

First up:Selky Moonbeam with downloadable instructions

Diaryofamadcrafter does something different with her skirt

Sewlike my mom with amazing step by step photos and Benny from tallthanthou, both of these sites have clear directions for cutting and sewing the skirt bit.

There is an infinite amount of sites (LOL) for infinity dresses and my gratitude goes out to every one of them. Most of the dresses consist of a skirt with ties – mine has bodice for extra coverage and not all of us are comfortable with being bra-less. So this version is a bit more wearable for those who carry a bit more at the front.

Donna Karan came up with idea years ago and you can still buy the original if you have £678.97 | $995.00 to spend, otherwise follow these instructions.

Ingredients:

A lot of fabric – aim for 4-5 metres and as wide as you can get. Choose a stretchy, drapey, silky type of jersey or other knit-type fabric. You want one that doesn’t fray or curl too much at the edges because you are NOT going to hem anything! Also a fabric that is the same on both sides is best. I had 4m of a printed cottony-type of jersey that was purchased on the internet and didn’t quite live up to its photos in real life, so I used it as a test run – a muslin of sorts.

A measuring tape (and honesty)

Knicker elastic long enough to go round your upper bust.

Thread etc, but no zips, buttons, snaps or other closure devices. This is a good project to make if your notions cupboard is bare.

Method: Cutting Out

The dress has three parts: skirt, bodice and ties.

SKIRT: I used Paco Peralta’s pattern for his half circle skirt for mine because I wanted longer than knee-length, not a full circle and I know this skirt looks great. Otherwise, follow some of the instructions on the links above for measuring and cutting out a full circle skirt from your fabric.

BODICE: Measure around your bust. Allow a little for negative ease (stretch). Measure from above bust to waist and add 2″ (6cm).

TIES: Cut 2 – At least 1.5 times your height and the width is up to you. No less than 7″ (18cm)  but 10-12″ (25-30cm) allows you to make sleeves. I’d reckon no wider than 12″ otherwise they are unmanageable. They are incredibly long – here’s mine going down the stairs – so it makes for clumsy sewing later when you attach them to the skirt.

 

Method:Assembly

1. Make your skirt in whatever style you are following. For mine I sewed up the two side seams. Try it on! This has to be able to pull up over hips or down over shoulders.

2. Sew the single seam on the bodice rectangle.

3. Overlap the ties at one end of their length by about half their width and stitch in place.

4. Decide where the front will be on the skirt. Flip your ties wrong side out and sew the overlapped tie ends to the front of the skirt.

5. Turn down a hem on one edge of the bodice and stitch in the measured elastic with a zig-zag stitch. This will be the top and the elastic just offers that little bit more security and neatness. The bodice covers the bits under your arms at the sides when wearing, and covers the bra strap across your back.

6. With the bodice seam to the back, turn inside out and attach to the skirt + ties at the waist. I sewed this twice just to make sure it wouldn’t come apart with all the pulling on and off.

You’re done!

No hemming, just put on and have lots of fun with those ties!

The bodice is useful, not only as extra protection, but it can be pulled down over your hips, the ties arranged over the bust and back and now you have a maxi skirt! So the length can be altered too. Brilliant.

Most of the dresses I’ve seen are in solid colours and they look great. I don’t mind mine in the print but the fabric is thin and see-through, I think another in a rich blue or teal would be worth it.

For more ideas on how to wear, check these out:

Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z1VqoQqXHw

The 7-Way Dress

Oh PLEASE! if you make one, please please make sure your skirt hemline is straight – it’s not hard.

This picture is just a rectangle slung around the waist.

Unless, of course, you are deliberately going for the asymmetrical hem or a tablecloth skirt. But this hemline will do nothing for less-than slender legs at the back.

Regardless -enjoy!