Tuesday 19 January 2016

Fresh New Start and Dresses for 2016.



Last year while I was just sitting at my sewing table, my dress form spontaneously fell over - no-one knocked her , there was no wind , she just fell over.  It might have had something to do with the mending and altering I have been piling on top so I took this as The Sign and vowed I would do something about this. I made a list of what needed doing and  for the last couple of months I have been gradually working my way through the pile and crossing off that list - so satisfying !

Fixing up a wonky hem on my dress ( has been waiting for  three years !) with the help of my best friend .
Moving buttons on two of my jackets.
Shortening a silk crepe dress for my middle daughter ( absolutely gorgeous fabric )
Shortening one of my old dresses for my older daughter.
Making a cushion cover for my eldest daughter .
Sewing up some underp@nts  that I had cut out months ago .
Fixing a torn chiffon top for my eldest daughter .
Changing the buttons on some pants for my middle daughter .
Shortening the sleeves on an liberty shirt from the op shop .
Making dishcloths out of old hand towels .
Mending a silk dress for my eldest daughter .
Adding ribbing cuffs to a top I made in 2015 .
Making another pair of underp@nts from a knit dress that would otherwise have been thrown out .
Finally cleaned out my little sewing basket and threw out some rubbishy bits and bobs.

I can now move forward in 2016 without my dress form and my sewing basket making me feel guilty.
Well I do have one cardigan left to alter but I need assistance from a sewing buddy for that as well.
The only thing is that my mending did conceal my very sad looking Daffy duct tape dress form . ( Perhaps I can get a new fancy one in the future ? )

So with all that terribly boring mostly for other people stuff out of the way I have sewn a couple of new very easy dresses.


I used a pattern from Knipmode supplement from March 2014 - Dress 103 .
A really easy pullover scoop neck dress with dropped shoulder sleeves with sleeve bands.
The first dress is made from a present of  Indonesian Batik bought in Singapore by a friend ( who helped me with the hemming ) . It is 100% cotton  . I made the pattern up exactly as shown. I did not hem the dress to make full use of the border print. I also used the darker borders for the sleeve bands and tried to centre the pattern at the front and back .  I wore it during out recent heat waves and the dress was so comfy and cool.

I sewed the dress on the far left . 


The second dress is made from that  single knit where the edges curl up all the time. It was given to me from my Mum . The knit does not have much stretch or good recovery so I may have stretched out the neck a bit. Instead of using a facing I added navy ribbing to the neckline . I added an elastic waist with attached navy grosgrain ribbon by cutting the dress pattern at the waist level , sewing the skirt and bodice together to make a casing and sewing two button holes in the front for the ribbon to tie .
I made size 38 and it is quite roomy . I think the pattern would be good shortened to just a top as well.
These dresses will be getting a good workout soon as  I head up to Townsville with my daughter who is moving there to study - bittersweet times .

Costings. Pattern $15 averaged out including postage costs. Fabric - Batik a gift - Stripe knit free Notions- thread- stash - interfacing -stash - grosgrain ribbon -stash - 2cm wide elastic - 50c ( op shop ) - steam-a-seam - $3.00 ( for the whole new role from the op shop ) Total - $18.50 for the two dresses.

7 comments:

  1. Such a great way to start the year, with all those annoying jobs out of the way. Your new dresses are both lovely. Great use of the border print too.

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  2. Well, I just blogged about my dress made from a sarong from Singapore also - snap! I think getting your sewing "jobs" out of the way. I love that style dress and isn't it amazing how different it looks with the two fabrics.

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  3. I did a few mending jobs too. I still have a few remakes jobs in the wardrobe, but am thinking if I leave them long enough I may just throw them out! Those cool dresses will be perfect for Townsville.

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  4. It must feel good to have all those small jobs out of the way so that you can concentrate on new things. Your new dresses should you keep you cool in the humidity of Townsville.

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  5. Thankyou all ! I hate mending etc so it is great to finally clear them out. I am intending to wear my new dresses to Queensland. I don't know how you Queenslanders survive the humidity but my DD will have to get used to it !

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  6. Such a relief to get all those little jobs out of the way - they otherwise just keep niggling away. Both dresses are lovely - and these throw on dresses are just so cool and comfortable, as you say, to wear. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's move - hopefully good for her, but you will miss her. I have lived miles away from my mother now for years, and still miss her. She is 90 now...

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  7. Both these dresses are so nice - cool, calm and collected. Good luck with that list. I can't bear to make one as it would induce guilt in me.

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