Star Wars T-shirt

 

This t-shirt was literally YEARS in the making!

Following the success of our first trip to Disneyland in 2017, we planned a follow up for 2020. Oops.

I didn't need new clothes, but my husband did, and I also knew that we would be able to visit Star Wars Land, which opened since our last visit. He is a big Star Wars fan, so I got him a Star Wars t-shirt, which happened to come with some pyjama pants.

I figured that the pants would have enough fabric for a t-shirt for me, if I pieced a seam through the centre. I used the Kirsten T-shirt pattern from Maria Denmark. I got this through a newsletter signup many years ago, and I've made it twice before. Here, and here. I chose this one because I could fit it on the tapered trouser legs, and it has integrated sleeves, so less fabric needed.

Here it is, laid out on the pants legs. The print runs both ways up, so I didn't have to worry too much about pattern matching. 

After I got everything made up, I had a few errors to sort out. I don't know what on earth I did with the neckline. (This was three years, and an international move ago.) Did I turn it around and add this panel to the original front neckline? Probably. All I know is that now, that pieced section is at the back. 

I had a dreadful time with the neckline trim. This is the point where I put it away, and thought I would never resurrect it. The movers shipped it for me, and we re-booked our trip for November 2022, so I thought I might have another go. Even better, my overlocker and sewing machine worked in our new country, with a power converter!

I thought about doing three different colour trims, for the neckline and two sleeves. There are flashes of red, blue and yellow in the black and white. I thought it might add a nice pop of colour. But in the end, I went for the easiest option and trimmed the neck in the same fabric. I had to unpick this once because it was gaping too much. 

For the sleeves and hem, I just overlocked the edge and zig zag stitched them down. I shortened the hem a lot, which helps it skim my tummy better. Things always ride up on my hips and create fabric folds in my middle section. Above the hip, but below the waist, is the right length top for me. 

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I like how it is not obvious Star Wars at first glance, but not hiding either, and I always love taking something unwanted and turning it into something wearable!

Bloody Angel

This is the inspiration drawing for the Halloween costume of a Bloody Angel. So good! I was hoping to do it justice and not let the artist down.

I decided to go with the dress pattern from Simplicity K1699. The double seam in the sleeve would make it easy to increase them to the bell shape. Based on her measurements, I cut a size 12, which is the same size as I used for my Scuba Dress. It came up pretty small though, I wouldn't make this size again. 

Fabric was just an old sheet, and the blood is fake blood from a Halloween store. All in all, materials for this dress were very cheap! I got fancy and added a panel of Broderie Anglaise fabric to the front bodice. I wanted to make it more angelic and less sheet-like. I got this fabric as a scrap from my mother-in-law.

I decided on a bias binding facing for the neckline. This pattern has a real problem with how high the neckline is. I lowered it after a fitting and it is still very high. 

Fastening is by buttons. Nine buttonholes!! I added a facing for support and modesty. I also reinforced the base of the opening with a little triangle of fabric. I was getting fancy! But I didn't do any seam finishes, and I had to press the life out of the hem to get that curved edge to sit flat.

To finish off the costume, kiddo added wings, a halo and a bloody knife.

Happy Halloween!

🎃 👻 ✞ ☠️ 🧹 🕸 🕷 ⚰️ 👽 🤡 

Disney Doll Playsuit

 

Oops, I did it again! A second doll playsuit rolled off the assembly line, less than a week after the first.

Partly because I was clearing out the outgrown summer clothes, and partly because it was an easy make. So I went for it again. This H&M t-shirt was purchased for our Disney trip three years ago. Youngest doesn't fit it any more, but it is cute and I was keen to keep it for her in some way, shape or form.

I am always fascinated by how the scale of the pattern changes so dramatically on doll clothes vs children's clothes. On a child, the t-shirt is very spotted. Here it was, being worn at Disneyland.

On the doll, I tried to pattern match to get all the faces the right way up, and to have some of them visible, and in sensible places. I mostly succeeded. I also unpicked the Disney label, and included it in the back!

The bias straps were cut from whatever scraps were left afterwards, they are pieced under the arm, and one of them is cut on the bias, the other on the stretch grain. I considered doing a contrast bias, but I didn't have a good matching stretch, so I kept them in the t-shirt fabric. They probably look more pyjama-like because of this, but I'm not sweating it.

The construction is the same as the previous one, with shorter shorts because I didn't make cuffs.

Ruffle Cold Shoulder Top

When one is a tween, it becomes more important to have a wardrobe of “fashion” choices in one’s clothing. When one is the youngest, and therefore has more clothing than anyone, of a shorter lifespan than everyone, one’s mother is not taking her to the mall for new clothes.

Instead, the poor child gets offered an upcycled ruffle top from an old sheet. Thankfully, she loves it!

The fabric is an oldie but a goodie. Honestly, this sheet has been upcycled more times than the Von Trapp family’s curtains. I used it for my first Sorbetto - which then became the lining for a Sorbetto Dress - and this particular piece was previously a ghost costume, which will not be reprised. It is a cotton sateen in a high thread count with a lovely light blue-ish colour. I call it Eau De Nil.

For the pattern, I Googled a ruffle top tutorial and came up with this one from We All Sew. Sometimes, my linked tutorials and calculations get lost over time, as websites are upgraded or overhauled, so I'm going to re-write the good ones again on this blog. They are linked too, so I've given credit.

The ruffle is 2 x the circumference of the shoulders and the bodice is supposed to be the bust circumference. I don't really get how this would fit over the shoulders, even on a very busty woman, but especially for a child. After I had cut the bodice, I had to piece another panel through the middle back to make it fit over her head. I also didn't get the armholes large enough, especially to allow her to wear the ruffle on her shoulders, so I had to unpick the bias binding from these and re-do them much, much larger. That was a pain.

My order of construction was:
Cut out two pieces of fabric, one for the ruffle and one for the bodice.
Piece another section into the back of the bodice
Slit two armholes and cut away a small width of fabric. Mine ended up being 20cm long, from the top.
Finish armholes with bias binding.
Finish hem of bodice and ruffle.
Attach ruffle to bodice, using overlocker to finish edges.
Fold over to make elastic casing.
Thread elastic and sew up final hole.

Costs:
 Fabric: £0
 Thread: £0
 Pattern: £0
 Elastic: £0
Total: £0

Throw Cushion Covers

We are selling our flat and I needed some cushions for the sofa. This was the only feedback the estate agent gave: "It's too neutral, can you go to Habitat and buy some throw pillows?"

It turns out that throw pillows at Habitat are really expensive. And I didn't particularly like what they had at the time. But I had charity shops on my side, in the countryside they tend to stock throw cushions. I chose two based on their size and the colour of their zips. I should have been a bit more choosy about the cushion pad too, one of them is not great. I got two cushions for £3. (I got three more for £8, but I didn't upcycle them.)

Before

I knew I had some solid pink quilting cotton that I'd bought but never got around to using, and decided that this would match pink flowers, giving the room a bit of a lift. Being a plain, and a quilting cotton, I also knew that I would need to add piping to get it looking smart.

I used 4mm piping cord and 1 inch bias binding. I should have made 1.5 inch binding as this would have given me a bigger seam allowance. Some of the corners are not wash proof. I made the whole thing with my zip foot: measured existing cushion covers; unpicked zip; added binding to front, attached zip to front, attached zip to back, attached back to front. I didn't finish the seam allowances. If I wash them, I'll have to do this beforehand.

I know why I would never go on Sewing Bee, the first cushion took me about 3 hours. The second one was quicker, and I was truly grateful that I didn't have a third one in the pipeline.

But they look nice on the sofa, and I am sure they will be the difference between selling the flat or not! Afterwards, they are going to look very nice on the garden chairs.

Costs:
  Cushions: Charity shop furniture warehouse, £3
  Fabric: Knitting & Stitching Show 2015, £7.90
  Piping Cord: not sure
Total: £10.90 for two

Girl's Summer PJs Refashion

With sincere apologies to my mother's lovely, gorgeous and talented friend, who made this nightie for her: I have refashioned it into girls' summer pyjamas.

The original nightie was super-fun to wear for the "before" photos: floor length and billowing fabric, but not so fun to sleep in. There was just too much fabric, and the underarms were a little too tight so the lace scratched my arms.

When I opened it up, I could see that it was just two straight rectangles, sewn selvedge to selvedge. It was very nicely done, and yielded about 2.5m of fabric, plus a lot of lovely lace and ribbon. I used almost all the fabric for these pyjamas, with none to spare. Partly because I had to work around a few stains as this nightie is quite a few years old.

For my pattern, I used Simplicity 1504 in the Child/Teen size M. There are a few printing mistakes on the pattern pieces, some of the child ones say teen/adult and are in fact child/teen. The sizing on this pattern is also a little funny in that the adult XS fits in between the sizing for the child M and L and then the child L fits between adult XS and S. They shouldn't bother with the whole child / adult sizing and just carry on up the chart, but I suppose customers are used to picking a certain size.

I shortened the sleeve to 28cm, to include a cuff detail. The legs, I shortened to the lengthen/shorten lines and then removed another 1 1/2 inches. I should have flared out for the cuff piece, the legs taper to the cuff and I lost some width when I turned them up.

I spent a long time adding piping to the front facings, the collar and the pocket pieces, plus the hem and sleeve cuffs. All told, it needed 3.4m of piping cord. I used one of M's old work shirts for the piping fabric. It was nice and stiff, which I needed since I was pulling apart a 3mm piping cord to make 1mm and the bumps show through if the fabric is not made of stern stuff. Plus, free fabric! All I had to put in to this whole project was the interfacing, piping cord and waistband elastic.

I made two breast pockets - the fabric is very sheer - and did a top hem, rather than piping around the bottom. I stitched a line of stitches around the fold lines of the pockets, and a row of gathering stitches around the corners to draw them up more neatly. Still didn't get rounded corners 'though.

I tried to start tracking my hours of work on a project. Not that I am trying to put a value on my labour - this is a hobby - but I thought it would be interesting to see how much time I do invest in these things. But I sew in bits and pieces of stolen time and if I record when I start, I usually forget to note when I finish.

After piping, a huge chunk of time was spent doing flat felled seams on every single seam. I stitched the seam allowance to the underside for the top, because this looks neater, and to the outside for the shorts, because I think this is more comfortable to wear. I used Carolyn's tutorial for sewing a flat felled seam on a curve. These meant that I had to set the sleeves in flat, and then sew up the side seams and underarm seams.

I added a back facing too, as I did for my adult version. I had forgotten that I'd done that. I think the collar is too heavy to just sit there on the back piece all by itself, and it neatens up the whole back neckline easily.

I made the cuffs by turning up the sleeves and leg cuffs. By sewing the piping to the bottom edge of the wrong side, I could fold it up, right sides together and flip it to the inside of the cuff piece. So the cuff is an additional single thickness, plus seam allowance. I made the separate casing for the waistband, thinking it was slightly smaller than the top of the shorts, meaning a few less gathers on the elastic itself. But it turned out to be the same size, so a higher rise would have been easier. I used 71cm of 20mm elastic. Since I can't at all tell the front from the back, I'll add a ribbon tie at the front.

The pockets would have looked better at hip height, but I wanted a bit of additional modesty at the front. You can see a pattern of her swimsuit through the sheerness of this fabric. Which my iron told me was polycotton.

Costs: 
 Fabric: upcycled, £0 
 Pattern: used previously, £0
 Notions: 
   Lightweight Interfacing, 50cm: £2.26
   Piping Cord, 112cm: 49p
   20mm white elastic, 71cm: 49p
   Buttons, from school uniform: £0
Total: £3.24

Refashioning a vintage fur, Pt 2: Collar

So far, my Vintage Fur Refashion has consisted of unpicking parts of the original fur coat and wearing them as separates. Not very imaginative, but a surprising amount of work nevertheless.

My Fur Stole is something to be worn when it is very cold. This collar is a bit more versatile, and is worn for fashion rather than warmth.

Under collar (before)

The underside of the coat collar was really quite spectacular. The pelts are narrow with quite short hair. I think there might be as many as 24 different pelts joined together. The colour variation is marvellous and the effect is of luxe stripes of black and brown silkiness.

The inside has been lined with horsehair canvas and bound with bias tape around the edges. The cut edges of the skins were visible at the edge of the collar, so I needed something to line the edges. I considered adding a full lining, but decided that my cutting skills were probably not up to the job of getting the lining to not bag out somewhere, and again, this fur is on it's last legs so I didn't want to sink a lot of materials into this project.

A length of black ribbon, fished from the present wrapping bag, did the trick instead. I attached it by hand to the right side of the fur edges, catching both the skin and the bias binding in the edges.

The skin held up pretty well. This part of the coat is not terribly decayed. Some of the edges are a bit wavy where the skin had disappeared and I had to move the stitches inward to find it again. I left two long edges of ribbon to make ties. Sewing the ribbon down to the canvas on the inside is not the prettiest. The edges are curved and the ribbon is not Petersham, so my ribbon is full of pleats and tucks. Plus, you can see the canvas. Maybe after I refashion the rest of the coat, I'll take some of the old lining (which is silk) and line the inside of this collar.

I have worn it over the collar of my leather jacket - again, a fabric that won't hold onto the shedding hairs. I appreciate the bit of extra grip that the canvas gives the underside. I tied the ribbon under the jacket collar. It takes a bit of holding together to put it on, but I managed it. The pile runs the "wrong" way on this collar, in that you stroke it from the edge up to the neckline. But I am going to be the only person stroking my clothing thank-you-very-much.

It also makes a very pretty child's stole/cape, and Cruella de Ville is going to wear it to school as part of her World Book Day costume.

Vintage Fur Refashion

Part 1: original coat and turning the collar into a stole

Part 2: under collar into a new collar

Refashioning a Vintage Fur Coat Part 1: Stole

I have a secret which shames me a bit: I adore fur coats! They are so glossy, and silky, and warm! Does it make it ok if they are vintage? I hope so, because I have one. I got it in Italy - where the women are known for their beautiful furs. From a junk shop. Vintage shop is not the right word for this place, it is more of a salvage yard with used furniture piled up outside a shed-like building. They have an amazing selection of vintage home appliances such as pre-electric irons and rotary telephones. If you wanted to dress a film set, this would be the place to shop.

Before, front

Before, back

But back to the coat. I paid far too much for it, 120 euros, and it is actually worthless. More on that later. 

It's not something I would wear at the moment: it is too big for me, the full length is very dated, the double breasted style adds even more volume and the collar is the biggest problem of all. It is far too large, and the pile has been cut which takes off the shine, colour and silkiness of the longer pile pieces. Honestly, wearing the coat makes me look like I am wearing a bear costume. 

Watch out for that bear!

I was really torn about what to do with it. It was stuffed in the top of my cupboard for quite a few years because I had no idea, and I was really scared of getting it wrong.

The fur is beautifully glossy and silky and it is heavy and warm. I believe the animal is not a bear but fox, possibly male. The pelts in the back and sleeves seem very large and the joins and the stripes look fabulous. They are arranged in large strips with a black stripe running through the centre. The furrier kept a lot of volume in the hem and placed the darker colours here. I don't know how they joined the pelts to get this effect, but it is a lovely touch. The underside of the collar is also quite spectacular. I'm not sure if it is shorn, or a different animal altogether, but these are relatively coarse hairs, moving in stripe patterns. They seem to have joined lots of small pelts together. Possibly the legs? (I am simultaneously enchanted and revolted by this coat.) The short pile on the underside means the collar sits flat when worn. I wouldn't have even thought that it was even necessary to have the under-collar made of fur at all. This must have been a pretty luxurious coat in its day.

Under Collar

In its day. Unfortunately, that day has now passed. The skin has dried out, and the fur sounds rustly and feels papery when you move it about. I now know that if it sounds like that, you shouldn't buy it. I'm not exactly sure if it was that way when I bought it, or if it has deteriorated since I owned it - probably both - but it is in a bad state of decay now. Just from trying it on at home and wearing it about the house for fun (ok, warmth) caused a tear to open up in the underside of the sleeve. These are ugly tears in the middle of the skin. This is because the skin has rotted away under the fur. It also means that the fur is starting to shed. Most people don't bother to send their vintage furs away for storage in the winter, it's too expensive and too much of a hassle. So that means that most vintage furs are in a sorry state indeed. It is probably not worth buying furs older than 10 years. Even top quality furs are going to deteriorate with time. As a positive: I see this as part of the sustainable nature of real fur - it will rot and decompose, and not become more plastic in landfill, as faux fur will. We can look after it and enjoy it, but it is not going to be here forever.

Hole in the hide

The terrible state of the skin made me feel less scared about cutting into it. I knew that I was not set to ruin something, because it was ruined anyway. (Although it did leave me with a niggling question in the back of my mind: how does one dispose of a decomposing fur coat? Throw it in the household rubbish? Compost? Shall I walk past a street bin and dramatically throw it off my shoulders and stuff it in the bin? I would do that last one outside the Opera House!)

Before

But back to the refashion. There are so many different things I could get out of this coat, if only the skins are in good enough condition. Best case: a throw from the skirt, two cushion covers from the sleeves, a cape from the shoulders, a stole from the collar and a hat trim from the under collar. I started by unpicking the top of the collar from the rest of the coat.

After

I was terribly worried about being icked out by the sight of the skins under the lining. I didn't want to see all the little animals that went into this. I like fur and I like meat, but I don't like the animal products that I consume to look like the animals that went into them. 

Lucky me: the coat is more well-made than I even dreamed, the underside is lined with horsehair canvas and another layer of lining. This is all edged with bias binding to hold the shape of the collar. So unpicking the collar (which took three evenings) left me with a lined, bound piece in the shape of a stole. Win! It was a messy job though. The fur is a bit smelly in that old clothes / charity shop way, the pile shed at the edges and there is fine sawdust inside. Something to do with the cleaning process. 

I found this article on how to refashion a fur incredibly helpful.

Lining

There were two slashes, creating lapel edges, I sewed these up by hand and they add nice volume to the stole. I didn't use a special needle, or thread, just one of those hotel sewing kit needles! I tried to keep the stitches going through the bias binding and the hide for maximum strength. The stitches went in easily. Perhaps a better quality hide might cause more problems. 

I have been wearing the stole without adding a new lining. The underside looks pretty ropey, but in all honesty, I am not willing to put in the effort to line it when it is probably going to perish quite soon anyway. I have found a way to wear it as a collar/scarf with my winter jacket and I just stuff the long ends inside my lapel. It is lovely and warm and feels soft too.

Vintage Fur Refashion

Part 1: original coat and turning the collar into a stole

Part 2: under collar into a new collar

Walk Like an Egyptian... Mummy!

What better thing to make just after Halloween, than a costume?

We did actually know that Egyptian Day at school was coming up in November, but we went ahead and became a spider for Halloween anyway, knowing that we were going to make a mummy appear in November.

Mummy Costume

The brief was to come in Egyptian costume for a workshop and a feast, but we decided to ignore that and just be a mummy, because it was more fun.

To make the costume, we had to rip up some fabric into strips. I started with a shirt sleeve of M's that he used to strain some red wine, after the cork crumbled. The wine stain had gone a lovely dirty grey colour. The rest of the scraps are from a worn out sheet, and I got to use the worn out parts. The mummy had great fun helping me tear the strips. The long threads and torn edges were so effective in the final costume. 

Then we stained the scraps with tea. For reference, I used 3 tea bags in a mixing bowl of hot water - Earl Grey, if you must know - and then dunked the scraps in the tea with tongs. We had the bowl standing in the bathtub so we could pull them out soaking. The dunking was very quick, just in and out of the tea. I rinsed it a bit, but didn't want to rinse all the tea out of the fabric, so I mostly hung it to dry, all wrinked and messy. The rags looked so cool, hanging on the rack. Made me wonder where the mummy was - every time!

Then I started the labourious process of hand sewing the strips to the wrong side of a pair of white leggings and a t-shirt. I had at least two needles on the go, one on one side seam, and one on the other. I would pass the fabric over to the other side, secure with a few stitches in the top and then run the needle up the seam to wait for the next pass. I had to leave enough ease so the clothing would stretch properly to get it on and off. It was surprisingly difficult to do this. I had to sew the leggings while the child was wearing them to get it right. 

The good part was that I didn't have to sew neatly, nor hide the knots in my thread. The messier the better! While I was working, I left the scraps and the project stuffed in a bag, looking like a bunch of dirty rags and I am quite sure it helped with the final effect! I borrowed a friend's idea and joined bits of fabric by tying knots with exposed ends, in different places  over the costume (that's the friend's costume in the picture above). It looks really good, as do some random bits of rags hanging down here and there. She didn't like how much ease there was in the costume and the bits hanging in swathes, so I joined the rags together through the centre front, which covered more of the t-shirt. I sewed a long rag to the edge of the sleeve so we could wind this around her arms, another rag made a 'necklace' which covered the skin on her neck and instead of a head covering, I twisted a rag around her ponytail and tied it under her chin, which did a for a head bandage.

She wanted Egyptian eye makeup and we added purple under-eye smudges then a liberal dusting of talcum powder. 

Egyptian Costume

While I was working on the mummy, the teacher emailed me to thank me for responding to their request for parent helpers, and to ask if parents could come in costume too! Eeek! But life is more fun if you dress up so I decided to embrace the challenge and go for it. 

First, the mummy had to make a decision on whether I would be a mummy or a person. Thankfully she chose a person, because I thought it might be easier than a second mummy. But it would have been funny for Mummy to be a mummy!

I returned to the last scraps of the sheet to make a straight, white maxi dress. Just two rectangles, sewn at the side seams, with a centre back seam. The top edges are diagonal up to the centre because of the stitching line of the fitted sheet. I created straps for the shoulders. I made a pleat in the front and under each arm and a side slit at each side. The front hem curve is another sheet-made necessity, not a styling choice! For the hem, I zig zagged and turned once. The arm holes and neckline are finished by turning twice.

Then I wanted gold brocade for a belt, necklace and headband. I couldn't find brocade in my 5 minutes of looking in the upholstery section of John Lewis, so bought 1m of the gold-est fabric I could see. It is floral, which is not at all Egyptian, but the flowers were set wide apart with a nice vine pattern and the reverse side was very gold indeed. Plus it was only £14/m. 

For the belt, I used my waistband pattern from New Look 6057, my favourite curved waistband. I added length to exaggerate the sash style, and increased the front sections to overlap for velcro. I used flat felled seams for the side seams and then added strips of black ribbon for decoration. I eyeballed the pattern I wanted for the hanging down part (I'm sure that is the technical name for it) and sewed the ribbon to the front. After I had created a lining for the belt and the front, I attached the belt to the front piece at the top of the belt.

The fabric didn't sew very nicely, especially with the ribbon addition. I interfaced the front of the collar. The whole thing would have been better with interfacing, but I wasn't about to sink that amount of notions into a dressing up project.

I had enough for some half-cuffs, but you can only see the elastic in this photo. They are stiffened with toilet roll cardboard.

I even have gold snake sandals, and the Mummies had fun putting on their makeup in the school bathrooms!

The Refashioners: Suit to Dress

The Refashioners is an annual challenge to take an old garment (or garments) and refashion something new. This is the first year I have taken part. While I love the Refashioners Challenge, and am full of admiration for the people who participate, I didn't think I would actually ever do it. But M told me he was going to go through his old suits and have a clearout. This was too good an opportunity to pass up, his suits are top quality, and I need a new grey work dress. 

The suit is Armani, the fabric is pure wool and is actually a navy, not charcoal. It has a fine grey pinstripe through it, which makes the final look appear charcoal. Isn't suit fabric fascinating?

I spent a great deal of time unpicking. Days and days, the thread all over the carpet was such a mess! I didn't want to cut the seams and then find out that I didn't have enough fabric to make up my dress.

I didn't keep any of the suit details such as pockets, lapels, or waistband in the finished garment. These were all cut around and not used. But I did keep the sleeve cuffs, and used them in my dress sleeves. I also kept and used the lining for the dress lining. And I saved the horsehair canvas from the front of the jacket as well as the shoulder pads and sleeve caps.

 

I went through my pattern stash, looking for a dress pattern with as many small pieces as possible. This one, Dress 109 from BurdaStyle 11/2013, has 16 separate pieces. I had to do some extra piecing and ended up with 24 pieces in total. I had to draw myself a diagram so I could keep track of where I was when I was cutting out all the pieces.

M's suits all wear out in the same place: the seat. The jackets are in pristine condition, but the trousers are completely worn through. Trousers have more large fabric pieces in them than jackets, so I planned on using the trousers, despite the wear. I got all the main pieces from the trousers, except the top of the back bodice. These were cut from the centre back of the top of the jacket. I kept the sleeves for the sleeves, and the flounce was pieced from the seat of the trousers and the rest of the centre back jacket.

The pattern is actually a hidden gem. The line drawing was very unappealing, just a grid of seam lines, and the photography, while beautifully done, isn't really showing the dress very well, particularly in a black fabric. But while I was tracing this pattern, I realised how interesting and well put together it really is. Funny how sometimes you have to really get to know something before you like it better. All the shaping is achieved from the seam lines. No darts, tucks or pleats. When made up in a dark fabric, the seam lines don't really show anyway. (I had to photograph the finished dress in full sun.) The shoulder seams are slanted to the back, there is a lovely neckline curve, and it has two piece sleeves. The hemline is pegged and the flounce makes it a proper wiggle dress.

I didn't make any fitting adjustments to the paper pattern. I traced a size 36, grading out to a 38 at the waist. I added 1.5mm seam allowances, which I am not finding as much of a pain as I used to.

You can see how shaped all the pieces are. And how small. This is the back of the dress. I cut little numbers and pinned them to the left bottom on the right side of each piece. Everything looked the same! But the tiny pieces meant I could use the suit trousers, and cutting out was so easy because every piece fitted on my cutting mat without me having to move the mat around - something I am quite sure makes my sewing inaccurate.

I love working with wool. It cuts beautifully, presses well and sews so nicely. I even washed all these pieces before I cut them out. The wool and the linings seemed to make it through the wash fine (I didn't wash the interfaced parts of the jacket), and I believe I might have a machine washable dress here. 

I pieced together the dress in quarters (right front, left front, right back, left back), then joined the shoulder seams. I then basted the centre front, side seams and centre back (as far as the zip) to check the fit and make any fitting adjustments to the seams before I finished the seams and sewed it together properly.

Alterations:

• side seams (hips and waist), release each seam by 5mm from below bust through to hem;
• shoulder seams: increase seam allowance by 1cm at neckline, taper to normal at armscye;
• horizontal bust seam: increase seam allowance by 5mm through all seams, front and back;
• sway back adjustment: back waist seam, increase seam allowance by 1cm, taper to 0 by centre of section (half way between centre back and side seam);
• sleeves: release lower part by another 5mm on both seams;
• flounce: shorten (by 2 inches, I think)

I overlocked all the raw edges. Everywhere. They are very prone to fraying, so it was necessary. (This project used a lot of thread!)

I kept the cuffs and the button detail on the sleeves, but I shortened the sleeve length and made them 3/4 length. I had to unpick the jacket sleeves, down to the vent. The curve of the sleeve wasn't quite right for this length. This is an example of unpicking something, altering it, and then sewing it up to (hopefully) look exactly the same. The bottom of the sleeves came out too narrow, so I had to let the seam allowances out a bit more. I kept the horsehair canvas band around the cuff, and tacked the outer fabric to the inside, ready to hand sew the lining in to the cuff. The original suit buttons were not fastened with buttonholes. Not couture, but very helpful to me here. I need to leave them unfastened for the extra ease I need in the elbow.

I did a lapped zip because that is what I had to hand. I stabilised the back seam allowances of the whole dress. I wanted to use the waist stay ribbon from the Armani trousers, but decided it was too thick so I used adhesive stabilising tape instead. I can use the Armani ribbon as a zip guard, an exposed zip is very uncomfortable. I'll do that and add a new photo.

I am not usually a fan of a flounce, and considered leaving it off. But the dress is indecently short without it, and I hadn't added extra fabric to the bottom pieces. It also makes quite a severe dress more playful. Of course, I didn't have any fabric pieces wide enough to cut it in one, it uses a lot of fabric, and is cut on the fold. I pieced it from eight pieces in the end. All are cut on grain and sewed together, including overlocked seams. I used the very worn sections through the seat of the pants, because I wanted a lightweight fabric here. I cut quite a bit of length off the pattern, and was definitely not going to add the suggested 3cm hem allowance to a curved hem such as this. I overlocked and turned up once. Bad me, I machine hemmed it, but I was quite pleased with myself for switching to a zig zag stitch for the hem - it made less of a hard line through the fabric.

I used the suit lining for some of the dress lining. Curiously, the suit had a different lining for the jacket and the trousers. The jacket has a nice navy lining, while the front upper part of the trousers has a much thinner black lining. I had used up all the navy on the child's waistcoat, so I only had the sleeves left - for the sleeves - and used the black for the upper bodice lining. At the moment, the rest of the dress is unlined, as the pattern instructs, but I think I will go back and add a new lining as far as the flounce. I am just mulling over using a different pattern so that I don't have a pieced lining. Maybe I can draft one from the finished dress...

I found the v-neck very difficult to get right. I trimmed and turned and pressed, and pressed, and hammered, and eventually it sits flat-ish. I should have read the pattern instructions. By this point, I was just sewing things together. It has a slight gape at one side too. I only stay stitched very late in the make. 

But that is about the only niggle. I am so delighted with my dress, I want to make exactly the same refashion again! I have my eye on one of M's other suits, a gorgeous combed wool with a waffle check pattern. Too bad he just bought it this year!

Costs:

 Fabric: refashioned suit, £0.00

 Lining fabric: refashioned suit, £0.00

 Pattern: BurdaStyle, used previously, £0.00

 Notions: 

  Thread: local fabric store, £4.00

  Overlocker thread: used previously, £0.00

  Zip: thrifted gift, £0.00

  Seam tape: 2m, £1.50

  Buttons: refashioned suit, £0.00

Total: £5.50