Refashioned Denim Wrap Dresses

I have been working on a few ideas to sell at the local markets and I came up with these little girls wrap dresses.  The denim is from jeans all previously loved by me so far -- yes I am a jeans hoarder! and I made my own bias tape from thrifted bed sheets.  I currently have toddler sizes 2 , 3 and 4.  And I'm working on the baby sizes too.

These dresses are great for summer worn on their own, and in winter with a long sleeved shirt and tights.  Each one is unique.

If you are interested in these, please comment and I'll make an effort to get them up on my Etsy store.

Drape Drape No. 6 : Backless dress

This is a super-cute one-pattern-piece dress.   One seam, a bit of bias strip around the top, and a lot of gathering, and I now have an awesome summer beach dress. Or I will when summer rolls around, for now it'll be layered up.

Once upon a time (pre-kids) I probably would have tried to get away with the no-bra look, but these days that simply is not going to happen.  But I can see me donning this with a cute swimming bikini underneath and lazing on the beach.  Yes please!

I used merino jersey this time purchased at the recent Fabric Store sale.  You can see in the photo above it ended up being the perfect amount of fabric for this pattern.  It also definitely has the right drape for these patterns, and was lovely to sew with.  Can't wait to wear it more often.

 I don't know that these photos do it much justice, but anyway.  Here are the close ups of the back binding.

And back gathering.

I also used my twin needle for the first time on the hem.   I don't know why I haven't bought one of these sooner, except that I thought it was a complete different attachment for the machine not just a simple needle to insert.  Next time I just need to make sure I have matching thread.

Wardrobe Refashion: Hoodie to beanie

This was a quick refashion using the hoodie of a knit cardigan.  I chopped the hoodie off the cardigan, and stitched a running stitch parallel to the chopped edge - approx 5cm in.  Then all you have to do is pull the thread to gather and wrap the end of the thread around the base of the flower.  And you are done!  

I have since gone and tacked down the outer edges of the flower in a few places, just so it keeps the desired shape.

Another Wrap Cardigan

With such a frightfully cold winter in Sydney I needed to add to my winter wardrobe, so I made another wrap cardigan just like the Aubergine Chameleon (sadly this cardigan has died, the knit fabric did not stand up to the rough treatment that me and my kids give my clothes!).

This time I used a silk jersey and i love it so much more.  It just has a better drape and more comfortable fit.

This time around I cut the material into a back section and front section, adding the sleeves in at the side seam.  I like it much better this way as you don't get the visible seam line at the back (or front) depending how you put the cardi together.

I shortened the wrap part of this one slightly, as I found previously I was having to twist the cardi to make a better fit.  It is now approx 120cm instead of 150cm.

I also made the back length about 60cm, smply because that fitted the width of the fabric that I had.  But the extra length on the back means it is sitting much nicer.

I still love the versatility in the ways you can wear this cardi.

And that wraps up the photo shoot as you can see my little man wants to get some walking practice in!

Wardrobe Refashion: Ladies jumper to girls dress

I have been doing a few refashions lately, but this is the only one I have managed to grab photos of so far.

Before: This pink jumper has seen me through quite a few winters, but was coming up on the short side.

So I cut off the sleeves and used them to make some ruffles on the bottom of the dress.  Rather than just cut straight across the shoulders to allow for the smaller neckline, I angled down from the original shoulders so that I could get the ruffled sleeve effect. The fabric flower was made out of some of the scraps. 

After: Now Little Miss has a cute dress for her birthday party season :-)

Slinky Pinky - No. 13 Loose Drape Top

I have finally succumbed to buying a Japanese Sewing Book.  I spent ages in Tessuti at Chatswood poring over their selection of books, and finally came back to the Drape Drape book.

And I have ear-marked my next purchase as the Clever and Unique Clothes book

So while the excitement of the new purchase was still fresh I got stuck into my first pattern which is No. 13 top.  (photo as borrowed from Tessuti website - the link should take you there)

The fabric I used was an op-shop find for $4 and wasn't quite long enough to fit the pattern so I had to separate one of the pattern pieces and cut the back panel on it's own. And then the other back panel ended up on the cross-grain, so the back is a bit wierd.

The hardest part for this top was tracing out the pattern.  Now I have traced plenty of patterns from BWOF Mags, but I now think that they are easy because of the colour coding.  The Drape Drape book patterns are all in black and it was quite confusing.  I ended up drawing over the ones i needed with my daughter's crayon and then went over again with carbon paper and brown paper underneath.  All in all, a bit more time consuming than I'm used to.

After that the pattern comes together quite simply, but I wasn't paying attention when I pinned together so I tucked the front drape piece over rather than under and now more of the wrong side of the fabric shows.  It doesn't detract from the top so still very happy with the end result.

I've called this one Slinky Pinky over at Burdastyle, but the colour is more of a pearl than a pink, but hey, the alliteration works for me!

Me-Made-May: The End

Well this is a belated post, considering that May ended 10 days ago.  But I've been delayed by laptop problems, so now for the catch-up.

I have to admit that I became a little lazy with the photos towards the end, so I think I have the right days below.

This is a Me-Made family shot...Little Miss in her new pinafore, Little Mister in his new jumper and me layering up a stripey grey tank dress and green wool top.

Day 28:

Me-Made Green Wool Dress (worn as top)

Me-Made Grey and White Stripey Dress

 And I know that Little Miss is hiding in the above photo, but she then proceeded to show me some of the poses I should be using for my photos...

 Day 30: 

Me-Made Grey tank top

Me-Made Grey and white stripey dress

Me-Made Aubergine Chameleon cardi.

And I wanted to finish the month with something new, so I whipped up this purple number from pattern BWOF 06-2009-129 .

Day 31:

Me-Made Purple Wiggle Dress

I did make a few changesto the original pattern:
-It had gathers in the front waist which ended up looking like a maternity dress so I made some pleats and reduced the curve so that it sat flatter. Even with the pleats I do think this will make a great maternity dress if I ever decide to do pregnancy again.
-The crossovers at the front were pulling the dress at the side seams too much and ended up with loose bunching on the front, so I added a band on the inside back to balance out the pulling.
- I added in-seam pockets (my first attempt!) using the BurdaStyle how-to.
-I took a helluva lot of material off the hem.

I do love the end result though, its working great as a breastfeeding top, and is casual enough to wear through the day with tights.  But I'll be dressing it up with boots to wear out to dinner tomorrow night. Yay :-)  Oh and this dress is called the Purple Wiggle Dress, since Little Miss went around telling everyone that I am Geoff the Purple Wiggle. (And if you don't have a toddler - or haven't had one in the last 20 years - these are the Wiggles I am talking about)

 In the midst of all this I am working away to get some stock together to sell on Etsy and at my local handmade craft market.  I thought I would have it all done by now, but I should know better with 2 kids that things will always take longer than expected.  Hopefully I'll get it all finished this weekend and will be able to show you then....How exciting !!!

Me-Made-May : Day 25 & 26

Ugggh rain, rain, go away!  I need to see some sunshine!

Day 25:

Me-Made Cheshire Cat Stripe Top

Me-Made Black Pocket Dress

RTW tights and belt.

And Day 26 was one of those one where the Me-Made top got messed up by the kiddies before the photo could be taken...nothing exciting anyway, just the Peach Scribble top and refashioned jeans.

Here is what I finished yesterday for the kids:

A fleecy pinafore (op-shop material),  I didn't use a pattern, just guessed at sizing.  I added pockets with bows from the scraps.  Little Miss is loving pockets at the moment

A warm jumper for the little man.  It is actually 2 layers sewn together, fleece on the inside and knit on the outside.  Again, no pattern, I just drew around the outsideof a long-sleeved Tee to get the right sizing.  I added the applique plane cut from some denim scraps, to add some fun to it.  I am trying to apply the same principle of adding details to the kids clothes as well as my own.

I think it has to be my turn next, I have spent the last few nights tracing patterns out, so if I can get the material cut tonight, I should be able to pump out a few finished outfits really quickly when I next get to the sewing machine.  I find the tracing and cutting takes up the most time, but it does make it satisfying when the finished item comes together relatively quickly at the sewing end of things.

Off to pick another Me-Made outfit for today :-)