Saturday, 13 February 2016

Denim skirt

I've been eyeing up many denim skirts around at the moment, and 
decided to make one myself. A great way to wear a denim skirt can also be with a jumper tucked in to keep you toasty in winter.


This fabric was leftover from the bean bag I made a few posts back. Its quite a heavy black denim.


This pattern is one I took off a skirt I love... I used this skirt pattern for the bottom of my dungaree dress as well. When you know something works....why do anything different.


As well as the skirt the only other pieces I created were a strip for the waistband..which was strong enough not to be backed on anything. Then a strip for the button stand. Super easy.


I began by over locking all the edges around the skirt.


I then stitched the side seams together. 




I then stitched the first strip onto the front on the skirt, I made this quite wide, but that is something that can be altered. 


I then just turned up the hem the width of the over locking.


I then stitched the waistband on.


I top-stitched around the waistband and button stand to give it a more jean effect.


This is how I mark out button holes. I tend to put sewing machine needle in the top left hand corner and pull out the pins and slide them along so I know where the button hole starts and stops but I don't stitch over the pins. This is a good way of doing it without chalking the lines (which I tend to find I can't see very well)


Finished button holes.


I Found these lovely silver buttons which I think work great with this skirt.


All finished. I Absolutely love how this skirt works in winter too. I'm sure I will be able to wear it in summer too.


Thursday, 11 February 2016

Top altering

This was just a quick little alteration for my sister before she went on her holidays.




This was quite a baggy top, As it has no fastening or opening anywhere I couldn't just take it in as then she wouldn't be able to pull it on over her head.

So I came up with the idea of creating some little bias ties that she could then tie to pull it in.



 I wanted it to blend in with the fabric of the top so I used some fabric I already had. 



I ironed it in half the turned each edges into the middle so I could run up a top stitch and keep it all inside.



I then unpicked the sides of the top and put the binding inside.



 I then stitched it in & stitched over it to keep it secure.



The finished result.. so simple and easy.



Cushion making


I'm not going to go into too much details about how I made this cushion 
as I'm sure most people have their own patterns and ways of doing things. This is just a little blog post so show you what I created and hopefully inspire you to make something yourself.


This was a very simple idea for a cushion for my granny. She loves lavender so using 
the free machine foot to create the simple picture seemed like a great personal idea. 


I hadn't used the free machine foot in a while .. I forget how much fun it can be.


Just a simple toggle fastening on the back is all I do. I sometimes I think zips can look a bit boring and this makes a statement of the fastening.


All ready to post... A great and easy present for someone you love... and you can make it as personalized as you want.

Monday, 16 November 2015

How to Alter your Jeans

Another Little job that has been waiting around for me to complete for a few weeks now was altering this pair of Topshop jeans.

These were a great pair of high waisted jeans, that over a few years lost quite a lot of stretch in the waistband. This led them to be super baggy and not very flattering to wear. I finally got round to doing it.

Here's how.


These are what the jeans loo like now. I wasn't going to take a picture of what they looked like before, not the most flattering. I began by separating the waistband from the legs about 3" long at each side seam. While wearing the jeans I pinned them to get an idea of how much I needed to take out.


I then transferred this through to the inside and pinned the line that I would sew.


As you can see here, after I stitched the side seams the waistband is much bigger than the legs. If you were altering something with a simple waistband that is easy to put on and off you could take the whole thing off, make it smaller and put it back on again. But with the button and button hole, I decided to alter the waistband instead (The lazy option!) 


I turned the waistband inside out and took the same amount out of it as did the side seams.


Before I stitched the waistband back on, I cut down and over-locked the extra seam allowance that I now had. 


I stitched the waistband back on.


Super easy and saves me having to buy a new pair of jean. Now I can finally wear these great jeans again.


Monday, 5 October 2015

Floral dungaree dress


This dress I have adapted from using the top of this pattern and a pattern I took of a skirt
I already own. 

The fabric I picked I already had in my fabric stash, It felt really autumnal and a very popular 
style and shape at the moment.



The Waistband and straps from the pattern. The front piece with a pocket I drew up 
on pattern paper. 


Cutting out the skirt panels.


I stitched the pocket on with two lines of stitching makes it look much more professional.


I bagged out the straps right around the top to create a neat and tidy edge which is on show at the front.


All Ready to start putting together. 


I bagged out the front and then inserted it in between the waistband as I bagged that out as well.


I then attached the skirt into the waistband. I put it on the mannequin to get an idea of what it will 
look like when it is finished. 



I then had to seam the back and insert which I have done a separate blog post about it. I attached the straps at the back and put button holes at the front.

I used these silver buttons as I felt that they look almost like dungaree clips.



Super Pleased with the outcome of this. It fits really well and I really enjoyed making it too. 




Invisible zip cheat



My most recent project is a little dungaree dress that I am making from mixing a pattern I took from a skirt and the top of a dungaree pattern. 

This is a little cheat which is super easy to do and great if you don't have a invisible zip to hand. 




I start by just putting in the zip as normal with the right sides together.











After this I pinned the fabric on the top with the edges pushed together 
(Image Below)


While it is still pinned I herringbone the zip to the fabric to keep it in place.



So simple and easy to do!!
My blog for the full dress will be coming soon xx