Roswell week day 1

I thought I wasn't going to be able to carry out day 1, as I went for some drinks out in the sun, but I decided instead to just have a stab slightly half cut, though sadly not on a glamourous cocktail made by a sexy man, just some beer I got from Tesco. Never the less, I think I may be a convert, as I knocked out two things in about 10 minutes, no drama, no procrastination. Excellent.

Item completed - Shifting skies petticoat

State before Roswell Week - finished but too long

Reason for abandonment - I had two options, either hem all the bottom (never going to happen -it took me about 6 hours to rough hem them to start with) or take it up at the waistband, which I thought would be difficult. 

Time spent as an UFO - over a year

Time used to finish - about 5 minutes.

"chump" factor felt for not having done it sooner - MASSIVE. 5 minutes.. sigh, I have been tripping over this on the floor by my desk for over a year and it took me 5 minutes..

I started this last march, and quickly realised that lining fabric is a pain in the arse to do anything with. It snags, it moves about, it frays horribly.. I do however love the way it feels and ever since I was little, due to an excessive amount of Victorian literature in my youth, I have always wanted a petticoat that rustles.. The skirt is a circle skirt top layer, which is then sewn onto a double ruffle and a deeper single ruffle (on the inside). I can't remember how many meters length there are in the ruffles, I think possibly 10m per ruffle..

The difficulty came attaching them, to avoid the fraying nightmare, I decided to french seam the joins, but this ended up in a wibbly wobbly shambles. However, due to the dark nature and the massive size, this isn't actually that obvious as the wibbles seem to even themselves out!. (more anti lining fabric whining to be found in my Roswell week 1 post).

I put the waistband on and then tried it on with all the things I wanted to wear it with, and it was an inch and a half too long. Rats. 

So today I turned the waistband down on itself, and sewed it down. Job done! Here I am wearing it with my checky dress (which I did not make, but is very swirly). I rather love it, it isn't scratchy like net petticoats, and it squishes so it's less stiff. And it may be a bit of a hot mess, but it's a luxurious silky hot mess! I feel very decadent and flirty wearing it. 

Item completed - Old lady polka top

State before Roswell Week - dart seams unpicked, not resewn

Reason for abandonment - I just got distracted. 

Time spent as an UFO - 6 months

Time used to finish - about 15 minutes

"chump" factor felt for not having done it sooner - pretty big again, really took no time or effort to finish. 

This is a classic "shops make nice clothes for old women that don't fit well" item. I spotted this blouse in a charity shop and loved the vintage collar style and red polka dots. It is however clearly aimed at an older audience, and is cut accordingly. It actually fitted me perfectly well based on its loose fit. It did not however look good. I look like I am wearing a top I borrowed from my gran. 

So I unpicked the darts (shown pinned back up in the shots above so you can get the effect), and then forgot about it. Today I simply put on my dressform inside out, pinned out the side seams and waist darts and then sewed them up. Took no time at all.

Now it fits, and is not an old lady top any more! It looks nice untucked and tucked in. Yay! It's slightly clingy around the rib cage, I think I need to pin it so it doesn't gape (which is odd, as it's not actually very tight..), but otherwise it's looking pretty good.