I often buy clothes just because I like the print and/or fabric more thank actual shape. One of my goals has been to convert a garment into something else like what they do on the Vintage Clothes Show. If you haven't seen it it's worth a watch. the presenter Dawn O'Porter shows you how to shop vintage and fill your wardrobe with beautiful, timeless pieces that look great. One section of the show has sewing tips and they alter vintage clothes into something new. It is originally from the UK and is on Foxtel over here, click here for a link the website.
So here is my garment alteration, a few years ago I brought some extreme wide leg trousers and I have never worn them but I love the scratchy heart print fabric.
This is my before pic
The trousers were so wide at the bottom that I was hoping I could make an A-Line dress out of them. After getting a few patterns out and seeing what would fit I was in luck I did have enough fabric for an A-Line skirt. I used New Look 6799 as it has a panel in the middle and a neckline than can be made from contrasting fabric.
This is how it turned out - more of a transformation than alteration.
I love the fact that now I have a garment that I will wear and is more me. This is the second time I have used this pattern, I made two variations to the instructions firstly I didn't line the bodice so I needed to use bias tape for the armholes and I didn't add a button to the neckline at the back. The positives from this pattern is that it fits well with no alterations, the instructions were mostly simple and easy to follow. The negative is that both times I found the neckline really tricky and I end up unpicking and re-sewing parts because the stitches have missed the back of the facing, not really a negative for the pattern just that I need a bit more practise!
Let me know what you think and I would love to hear others stories of garment alteration/transformation.
I know were are going into Winter here in WA and I probably won't get chance to wear this much until it starts to warm up but I really like the pattern and this print suits it so well.
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I used New Look 6184 option A, it has a pleated neck line and a circle skirt made from 7 pieces - I only had a few scraps of fabric left from 2.5m. I chose the longer version as the short straight skirt option as pictured on the pattern envelope looked just a bit too short. After sewing it together the skirt was far to long (about mid calf) and did not look very flattering, I ended up cutting off about 3" before hemming. Next time I will just go straight for the shorter version. The only other amendment I made was adding in pockets.
This was the first garment I made after getting my serger, I would chose a dress with most amount of seams to use my serger for the first time and I ended up serging the hem twice after shortening it. There were so many that I used up all of the cotton on one of the rolls that came with the machine and then had to read the manual and mess around with trying to re-thread it the hard way! I can't complain as it taught me more about my new machine and now I have a better understanding of how it works.
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The back looks a bit wrinkled but I think this is a combination of the way I'm standing and it could do with pressing, the photos were taken after wearing the day before to a BBQ. I didn't pattern match the back, from this picture it looks almost as if I did not sure quite how I managed that.
I think my next project will be more winter friendly, so it won't end up hanging in my wardrobe for a few months waiting to be worn.
For my next project I wanted to try a fitted dress for work, I used New Look 6067, what I like most about this pattern is the diagonal darts on the front. Below is a pic of the pattern envelope, you cannot see the darts that clearly on my photos.
Below is my version, I chose look A but used the longer skirt length
Here is a close up of the diagonal darts, you can just about make them out, I want to try this in a plainer print maybe polka dot or block colour next time so the darts are more noticeable.
There is a vent in the back, as the skirt is not too fitted I don't think this is really needed, next time I will probably just leave it out.
The construction was a bit different with this pattern to the ones I have made already. In the other patterns the bodice front and back are sewn together then the skirt front and back are sewn together then the top to the bottom. For this pattern the front bodice is sewn to the from skirt and the bodice back to the skirt back then the front is sewn to the back. This did make it more difficult to check the fit was going to be ok until the whole garment was sewn together. Next time I might try the other method and see how that goes.
I am really pleased with how this turned out, it was my first time sewing sleeves and they were easier than I thought. I ended up making a few pleats in the top so they would fit in the arm holes, not sure if I went wrong somewhere as this wasn't in the instructions and the picture shows flat sleeves. I prefer the sleeves like this as the pleats create a bit of a puff in the sleeve which is cuter than flat sleeves.
I brought this fabric when I was making the bunting and other decorations for my wedding almost 2 years ago now! I loved the fabric so much I brought about 4m in total with plans to make a dress or skirt out of it before I had even started to use patterns and make my own clothes. I could go as far to say that this fabric inspired me to start making my own clothes.
I used New Look 6143 look A, I omitted the belt and added in pockets. For the neck and arm binding and the pockets I used a baby pink cotton.
I love the pleats in this dress as it gives it a more full look than gathering. The only problem I had was that after the previous dress I made using size 10 fitted really well I assumed this would be the same and did not take into consideration the different amount of ease in this compared to New Look 6799. This resulted in the bodice being a bit baggy and I didn't realise until after sewing on the binding! To over come this I made a small pleat in the neckline on the front. Next time I use this pattern I will grade down to an 8 on the top and check the fitting as I go along lesson learnt!
Here is a pic of the back - I'm getting better at zips, soon I will be able to justify buying the zipper foot so I can sew in invisible zippers!
Looking forward to using this material for another project.
This is my first dress I have made, it is New Look 6799 option B. The green flower fabric I used is from Spotlight and was on sale for only $2 per meter. I am really pleased with how it turned out. The only amendments I made to the pattern was adding in pockets (I love dresses with pockets) I didn't need to make any other amendments the it fits really well.
Looking forward to starting my next project!
Let me know what you think.
