Trick or Treat!

Doll Ghost Costume

OK, I admit, this almost doesn't count as making, but make it I did, so here it goes.

I had this piece of white polycotton which I tried out as a lining in my Black & White Skirt. It is not slippery enough to stop it riding up when I wear tights, so I took it out and threw it over the doll's head.

Not really! I took a while, deciding how the doll should wear it. The best solution was to fold the fabric along the short edge and sew two side seams half way up, leaving the half nearest the fold open for armholes. My lining piece had darts in it, and I left the hem in place too. I pinked the new hem and any other raw edges. The selvedge is the raw edge at the back.

Since dolls don't actually have to see, I could totally cheat and draw the face on with tailor's chalk!

Jack O Lanterns 2015

Doll Bat Cape and Hood

I had enough fabric left from the child size Bat Cape and Hat to make a matching set for her American Girl Doll. 

This was actually a pretty fun project. Which, for me, means easy and fast. Even drafting a pattern, I got it done in just an hour or two, and I used up almost every last scrap of leftover fabric.

The dolls extensive wardrobe includes a hoodie so I used that to draw a paper pattern of a hood. I made it longer and added seam allowances. I didn't bother to make the darts that the child pattern has, nor did I try to shape the face into a widow's peak. I completely guessed at the ears size and placement and was very lucky. Ribbon from the gift wrap bag meant I didn't have to make bias binding for the ties. Not fun when you are working with polycotton.

I also drafted the pattern for the cape by using the shoulder curve of the same hoodie and extending it down to the hem. I noticed how well fitted the child's cape is to their shoulders, and how much it improves the look and the fit of the cape, so I followed the same style lines. Sewed the seams together, selvedges for the front, pinked the hems, ribbon ties. Bam! Done!

Cost:
Leftover fabric: £0.00
Self drafted pattern: £0.00
Salvaged ribbon: £0.00
Stash thread: £0.00
Free.

Halloween Bat Cape

After making two black capes for last year's Halloween, you would think that we had enough of these things. Not so. This years' request is a Dementor or witch (she keeps changing her mind) and a bat.

I can repurpose the Witches Cloak for the Dementor/witch, but the Vampire Cloak, with it's lining and white bow tie is too specifically Dracula to make it work as a bat. How ironic. But I have been able to lend it out to a friend instead.

I went back to my go-to Halloween costume pattern, Simplicity 1584, to make the bat hat, View D. I also got just a little bit of extra polycotton to make a new, plain, cape.

I made the size 8 hat, because my kids seem to have extra large heads. The fit is quite difficult to get right and, I confess, I did not spend a lot of time even trying. It is very small around the face. The distance from the point of the forehead to the chin is tiny and even her petite face can't make it. I folded the chin part in and stitched a diagonal line through it to make it fit under her chin. The hem around the front of the hood could have done with better execution. I did a French Seam through the centre line of the hood and I didn't continue the first seam far enough down. There is a part where you can see some of the raw edges. It could probably do with some interfacing or stabilising at the edge, since it is just turned under and hemmed. What would really make it great would be a full facing. But I'm not about to do that.

The ears are really great, they are the perfect size, shape and position and are instantly recognisable as bat ears (Batman, even). The instructions have you sew them on to the hood downwards, fold up and sew over the bottom seam to get them to point up. Even with heavyweight interfacing, I had to sew about 3 lines of stitching at ever increasing heights to make them stand upright.

I decided to sew the hood to the cape because the weight of the cape helps the hood sit better. Then we went to the Making of Harry Potter, and a second witches cape was required, so I had to unpick and add ribbon ties to both the cape and the hood.

I wanted to add sticks to the front edge of the cape so she can flare out her bat wings, but the hem of the cape is long and it would be too awkward to actually climb the front steps of houses-that-have-candy. Instead I added loops for her wrists. She made them herself from Loom Band bracelets. They didn't work when I tried to machine sew them to the front hem. The needle pierced the rubber bands and made them break so I had to sew them on by hand. 

The hem is shaped at the back, to make it more bat-like and the cut out pieces at each side make it more uneven. I didn't realise the first two times I made this, that the front is actually cut on the crosswise grain. I can only imagine it is to get it on to the fabric. I've certainly never had enough width to get the whole thing out of one piece, and I am too frugal to bother getting a beautiful circle cape.

I confess that I am a little disappointed with my finishing along the front edge. It is not my best work and is completely on show. After last year's festival of lining and bias facing, I was a bit jaded, but the turned under and hemmed effect is not quite good enough, especially on a light polycotton. It is worth taking some time over the finish on the front edge.

The fabric amount was quite generous (2m vs 2 yards) so I had enough left to eke out another Doll's Cape and bat hat too!

Costs:
Fabric: 2 meters black polycotton, £5.63
Pattern: Simplicity 1584. Used many times previously. £0.00
Thread: Stash. £0.00
Interfacing: Heavyweight. Scraps. £0.00
Ribbon: Salvaged from gifts. £0.00
Total: £5.63

Tulle Dress-to-Skirt Refashion

A quick dress-to-skirt refashion of this tulle creation. I probably shouldn't even post this, but I am.

The dress was the perfect thing to refashion. It had been cute on a 4 year old but the bodice was showing the wear with stains to boot. The tulle skirt, on the other hand, was still in very good condition.

Because the dress had an empire line waist, I figured I could get it to fit an 8 year old waist as a skirt. Whole thing lower = same circumference. I didn’t even have to change the opening. It was a button back so I left the single button in the new waistband. 

I cut off the top of the bodice, about 2 inches above the waistband. The dress is a thin, silky polyester with a cotton voile lining, and I needed to give them some structure. I added a strip of heavyweight interfacing in the waistband opening, then folded the raw edges in on each other and topstitched down.

That's it. Done!

Navy Linen Shirt Dress

I am trying so hard to make more wearable garments for myself. Bright, patterned cotton is super fun to sew with, and pretty fun to wear, but it is not really what you would buy in a shop. Solid navy linen, however, is a classic. A linen dress: sleeveless, cool, classic, easy. Just in time for Winter.

Yes, my last planned make for the Summer dragged on. It was difficult to find the motivation to finish when I knew I wouldn't be wearing it any time soon. Not to mention needing to sew it in bright light and photograph it in full sunlight, scarce to be found at this time of year. But it will be lovely to pull it out on the first nice day next Spring and have it ready to wear.

This is actually a knock off of a dress I saw in a shop window, from a bus. I went back to the website and found it in cream. A very simple, sleeveless shirtwaist with a tie belt and no shaping.

Uniqlo S/S2015

I immediately thought of my last make, Simplicity 2447. I lengthed the hem by as much allowance as I had fabric and ended up chopping off about 15cms. Views A and D are so long, that I only needed to add about 10cms to the length to get a dress. I flared out to a slight A-line shape. I couldn't manage the shaped hem, so I hemmed it straight instead. The Uniqlo dress doesn't have shaping and this pattern has princess seams, so it is different in this respect. I also left off the pocket. I didn't trust myself to work with the linen well enough to do a first class job on it. Patch pockets are one of those finishes that can give away a home made garment. When in doubt, leave it out.

Which brings me on to the fabric, the linen. I went looking for this when on holiday in Vancouver. I had to pay a visit to Fabricana and I spent a wonderful two hours browsing the entire store. I could have spent longer, and I definitely could have spent more money, but I was very happy with what I got. Considering it has taken me two years to work through my previous Vancouver stash builders, I consider the 4 fabrics I left with to be plenty. They had about three different navy linens, so I chose based purely on price. It is quite heavy and has a lot of drape. The warp and weft appear to be black and a bright blue to make up a navy with lovely texture. 2 meters was the perfect amount for this dress.  

I must confess that I didn't find this fabric terribly easy to work with. It moved around a lot. I had to re-cut the yoke because it was so badly off grain that it was completely unusable. It frayed a lot too. I zig zagged the princess seams and french seamed the side and shoulder seams. I got the flat fell seam wrong for the back yoke seam, so I just folded the ends under and stitched them down. I stabilised the shoulder seams with a section of grosgrain ribbon. I changed the pleat in the centre back to a gather. More dress, less shirt.  I pieced the belt and added two belt carriers.

The buttons came from an old shirt, I love the look of the brown with the navy. I seriously considered large, white buttons, but decided that it was far less classic. Fun, but not classic, not in keeping with my primary goal of RTW-type garments. The dress does have a moderately serious boo-boo. The collar stand is seriously off grain. I didn't notice until I had finished it and couldn't get the collar to sit evenly. It is even, but the collar stand pulls it to one side so the one is higher than the other. It is still wearable, but not perfect.

I have never owned a shirt dress before. Whenever I have tried one on in a store, I believe they don't suit me. But I was still keen to make one. I was so pleased with my yellow top, that I didn't mind having another try, in a dress version, and I wear navy more than any other colour. I think the sleeveless version is more suited to me than the traditional shirt dress style with short sleeves.

It is not perfect, but I am pretty pleased with it. It does exactly what I wanted it to do: knock off a RTW linen shirt dress.

Costs:

Linen: £13.00

Pattern: used previously, £0.00

Interfacing: medium £3.60

Ribbon: used previously, £0.00

Thread: stash, £0.00

Buttons: stash, £0.00

Total: £16.60

Compared to: £39.00 for the RTW version.