Well it's been a while! Having had a little break from the sewing machine I kick started my sewing with this awesome (if I do say so myself!) nautical dress.
This is what gave me a stripe headache for all those that heard that little tale!
Basically I picked up some navy and white striped cotton jersey for a reduced price and thought I would spoil myself with a dress to wear in the sunshine. I only have a small selection of patterns to use and didn't think the fabric would work well with any of them. A lot of the problems involved it being too complicated to match up the stripes as I'm a novice when it comes to stripy fabric! So after hmmm-ing about it for a while I decided to use two patterns and frankenstein them into one... So I used a wrap style top and the skirt piece from the halterneck dress pattern. So far so easy.
I then had a stripe worry, being a rather well rounded girl, I didn't want all the stripes going horizontally for fear of looking massive(r). Diagonal stripes would have worked well for the whole thing but I didn't have enough fabric to do so. I don't half make things awkward for myself!
So I decided I would use stripes going in all different directions as you can see from the pictures. Cue headache and spazzy eyes! I have no idea what the deal was with that, the finished dress does not induce weirdness!
Anyway, I cut out all the pieces and sewed 'em up, then needed to sort out some sleeves. I used the sleeves pattern piece from the wrap top but shortened them, sewed them on and then cut them diagonally for a bit more room. It looked pretty silly. So I ruched them, added a button and voila better sleeves!
I also added four buttons to the front for decoration. The buttons are really cool, they have little anchors on the front adding to the nauticalness.
I also had to add a 'modesty panel' to the bust, I would happily have had my boobs out that much but old ladies are prone to tutting at me so I thought I would spare them the need on this occasion, and it is a daytime dress too so a little modesty is ok!
Next project I'm going to be working on is a dress for my mummy, a version of the infamous halterneck dress I have made many times previously, won't take me too long, two hours maximum so I'll post it up tomorrow probably - and maybe I can persuade mum to take a picture of it to put up here too!
6 comments:
i love it it is so nautical :) xxx
Wow its stunning! I struggle when sewing stripy fabric makes me go cross eyed and stitching goes all wonky! So you did a great job!!
Thanks Marc!
Wendy - I have never in my life had my eyes freak out as much as they did cutting that fabric! I had to squint at it to reduce the effect...glad it's not just me that gets effected! And thankyou for the compliments on it too :)
How cute! And so nautical. I love it.
HA, I had to laugh at your comment on my vintage pattern haul. I'm terrible about tracing too. I sort of go by the tissue...if it's a beautiful 30s/40s pattern and might disintegrate in the process, I force my self to trace. If it's a 50s-70s printed pattern and looks like it's in decent shape, I just use em! I have some that have been altered way back in the day, and I think it's sort of charming to see what alterations another sewist made. Now, if that prevented me from ever using it, sure. I might be ticked! ha.
I wish I was a total tracer, but I'm just not. I'd never sew if I had to trace everything!
Thankyou for the compliments Angie A!
I'm glad you don't trace everything - makes me feel a little less lazy! Although as I said, I don't really own any patterns that are old enough to be so delicate, perhaps one day I will treat myself to a vintage pattern splurge on ebay! :)
And on a silly note, seeing your comment made me excitedly show my other half and exclaim "wow the lady from the cool blog I read has actually commented on my blog!" thank you for taking the time to have a look, really made my day!
This is super nice Lucy! Your new clothes look awesome. You will never have to shop again haha!
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