Oooh, what a good idea

Now, when it comes to inspiration in the blog world, I am not hugely adventurous. I tend to think the same things are nice all the time, and not really consider how I could adapt other people's ideas into stuff for myself if they aren't my usual thing.

Case in point, I am always seeing people's ideas for refashioning the endless T-shirts they own which they feel are a bit blah, embellishing, chopping about, and turning into dresses. My reaction to these has always been- "spare T-shirts-what spare T-shirts?" I can never find T-shirts I like, which are long enough for not continually riding up to my waist showing off the muffin top and tummy, or so long they are dresses. More importantly, when I do, they always end up shrinking over time to be too short. So I never have spare T-shirts.

But then I saw a post on the Refashion Co-op by Amy (her first post-so welcome!) where she mentioned that when her daughter grew so her tops were too short she sewed them onto skirts and made dresses..... a light bulb clicked! Now I am sure I have seen many people sew skirts onto t-shirts before but it was always phrased in the "spare T-shirts" category, which I never felt applied to me- but "too short T-shirts" -YES! I hate fitting  my upper half, and doing fiddly sleeves and necks and stuff, and I have several tops which have all this pre done! (obviously I wont bother with the classic 'too short and now oddly wide' ones).

So that is now my plan, especially for a top I wore the other day which drove me mad riding up. So.. ideas..

Amy sewed on a quick gathered skirt for hers, which is not going to work for me that simple. But it's very cute, with its colour matching from the yellow on the skirt and top.

There is the classic, 'just sew on a skirt and make it look like seperates where the top doesn't ride up' approach so it looks more like this.

Anthropologie has this multi knit version-perhaps I could attach tops to other knit items...



















I shall have to see what I can quickly whip up! (I will add it to my list....)

The Joan Process Dress, and how to draft darts on a dressform

One of the main reasons I was inspired to start sewing was my inability to get the clothes I wanted that fit me. the sort of dresses I had in mind were very fitted and brightly coloured and vintage in character. Lets face it, like pretty much every one else on the planet, I wanted to be Joan Holloway. She just wears such a stunning selection of fabulous form fitting clothes in gorgeous jewel tones.

Of course, being me, despite sewing, I have still not made anything remotely like this. Until now! When out with Hannah I picked up some lovely bright blue jersey (called Process Blue in the Pantone system apparently)  to have a stab at a Joan dress. 

The pattern I am using is one that I found in a bulk ebay order a while ago-in my size! Woman W400, a slim fitted dress for knits. I was particularly drawn to it as the lady has it in such a bright green. 

After my slightly disastrous prewashing, I cut out the pieces. I have bought a lot so that I can recut the front bodice if it all goes wrong. I cut out the skirt, back and sleeves as the pattern, but added 3 inches of length to the back bodice, as getting the waist in the right place is always worth checking.

Now I hate FBAs. They always seems to end up more trouble than they are worth, you faff and faff and it fits just as badly when you are done (this may just be me!). Luckily it can be all much more straightforward if you cut out the middle process and just fit on your body or a dress form. To do this, I extended parts of the pattern for the front before I cut it out. I added a little bit on at the waist (as I don't wear a corset) and then 1.5 inches at sides level with the bust (the amount the width was too small plus a bit) and added an additional3 inches to the length (in addition to the 3 inches for the overall length change as I did on the back). (If you zoom in on the image here you will be able to see what I did (the orange notes were reminders for me of how much I added)

I then sewed the shoulder seams to the back and put it on my dress form. Shapely no?

To be clear at this point, I have put the bodice on the correct way round, as I am making a pattern piece off this. If I am just going to sew it up, if I am doing a refashion for example, or its all going to be very fiddly, I put it on inside out, and then once you have pinned everything you can just sew it up.

I pinned the side seams at the bottom and top, leaving the bit that might be a side dart loose. I then assessed the back and arm hole bits to see if the rest fits. The back on mine is a little bunchy, and the arm hole is folding oddly, so will need to be included in the dart to take the excess out.

I then just pinched out the extra material to make the side dart. I am just trying to remove the excess from the extra length of the material at the side where it doesn't have to go over any boob. I am being careful here because it is a stretch material. As you can see I have pulled out some of the excess in the arm pit area and hence adjusted the bit at the top of the side seam I pinned at the start. (if you make big adjustments to this area remember so you can make corresponding changes to the sleeve). Pin along the seam, but use a pin to note where you want the point of the dart to end.

Do the same on the other side, it doesn't have to be exactly the same, but it should look the same on the body. If you are doing a muslin you can just do half and then repeat on the pattern. If you are not, you need to match the bust points and the direction of the dart so it doesn't look wonky. 

The area below the bust is still all baggy as you no longer need at the width of  material at this point. 

Pin the middle of the bodice so that it doesn't slip around. 

Then just pinch out the dart as you need. 

Once you have done both sides, you need to mark on where the waistband should be. Some people  mark the waist on the dress form but I find it more useful to have the markings on the outside of the clothes I am making.  I have a big piece of elastic that I just use like a belt so I can see how it will sit on the body. 

Once you have all this, mark on your lines with chalk, or baste along the seams if easier. 

Then take it off and unpin it, and lay your fabric over the paper pattern piece. Poke through with a pin along all the seams and then when you remove the fabric, you will have pin marks in the paper you can join together to mark your darts on the pattern. 

Now I just have to sew up the darts and then move on to the rest of the dress!

hmmm.. macaron

A while ago, I picked up a copy of Macaron by Colette Patterns on a whim (oh me and my pattern addiction).

It then sat unused on my desk for several months. It is a lovely pattern, but it is a very cute pattern, and I don't really do cute, partially as when you put cute on my fairly tall curvy figure it can just look a bit "we gave all the bridesmaids the same dress and we picked it to suit the 10 year old". There a lot of gorgeous Macarons out there, but none of them really grabbed me.. until this week's Sew Weekly challenge-Pin ups, when Macaron veteran Adey moved away from her previous jolly colourful ones, and made a grown up sexy version. Excellent. 

Now I can't really pull off animal prints, but the less cute version has inspired me to consider some different colour options. The Macaron is a dress that screams out for colour blocking, but how to to that without it looking too girly or (as mentioned by snugbug) too much like those strapless dresses with white tshirts sewn in that we all wore in the 90s..

A bit of rooting around on the old image search and pinterest threw some interesting options.

Luxe it up a bit with some glamorous yet still officy gold satin and navy

dorothy perkins us

Some lovely bright blue, keeping the black for the yoke

asos

Cut a new panel out form the front and mix up the colours even more

shabby apple

Team a nice conservative grey with something wilder 

asos

I was torn, between smart useful stuff I might actually wear, and zany bright colours... and then I spotted this..

eva longoria in victoria beckham

oohh.. 

it is decided. at some point, I am going to make a Macaron with a bright red body and a dark red yoke. I may have to get on with some other projects first though!

I WANT!

Sometimes when cruising through the blog world, you see an item that makes you think "I could make something similar to that maybe with a different fabric, maybe different sleeves", and then sometimes you see something and think "I WANT THAT! I WANT EXACTLY THAT!".

Tilly's new maple leaf skirt is the second option, I WANT IT! I will have to go out and find all the bits very very soon.

Pattern swap plans

I a mentioned in my previous post, I am taking part in an international pattern swap with the Sew Weekly's community site. I sent off some bits to a lovely blogger, and another lovely blogger sent me some things!

My sendee, Tracy, sent me a fun jacket and skirt pattern Maudella 5603 that reminded her of Bonnie and Clyde (and I can see why!), a copy of Threads magazine (which I have never read before-its fun!), and a beautiful Liberty needle book. Thanks Tracy!

So now I have to work out what to do with the pattern. The temptation with vintage patterns is to remake the cover image, as they always look really cool and fun, plus they are always drawn to flatter the drawn people. In this sense they are the complete opposite of modern patterns, where they seem to try and make things look as hideous and sack like as possible on the illustrations. Despite how much the idea of a blue striped Bonnie and Clyde jacket appeals, in reality it would probably not be fantastically useful. sigh. I should totally go shoot up some places and be a robber, then I would be able to make much more interesting choices! So, probably a better idea to go with something more like view 2, the shorter green one.

So, the variations I must make.
Obviously whatever I do it is going to need an FBA. Luckily it's princess seamed so that should be reasonably straight-forward.
As the jacket is double breasted, it could look a little bulky on me, but the double breasted bit is only on the lower half, so as long as I adjust the FBA/neckline so that it crosses in the correct place, the buttons should be below the bust, and hence fine (plus they might do up-a bit of a novelty on jackets for me!)
I am going to make version 2, which is shorter and has a belt. I'm not sure about the belt yet, I will consider when I get that far.
I have never made a proper jacket/coat before.. scary! so it involves a lot of things I theoretically know how to do but have never really tried properly, like full lining, bound buttonholes and welt pockets (the pockets are only on version 1, but I fancy popping some in anyway for practice).
I am unsure whether to make it a coat or a jacket.. not sure which would be more useful. The coat probably, but I haven't worked much with thick fabrics, and there is rather a lot of new in this project already..Plus there is the danger that it is going to be a disaster, so pricey wool might be an error..hmm, I may have a think on that one for a bit. I may compromise with a slightly coaty jacket!

My return to sewing after a (not so) short break!

Well I have been seriously missing from the blog world for some time. I have been busily working away revising for some exams, which I had earlier this week. So now I am free! FREE! Free to do all the stuff I have been avoiding doing for the last month or so, including, of course, Sewing!

And just in time frankly, as I have a number of time pressured projects coming up, and a ridiculous number of seriously overdue items, mainly owed to other people -Ooops!

So here is a quick recap of the things I am meant to be doing (not in any particular order) ..

SSS11 photos - I actually took half of these, but didn’t get round to finishing it, or putting them up. Not that I imagine anyone really cares, but it would be useful to remind myself of all the options-it seems a really long time ago!

Un-blogged projects – I have a few of these that should be put up at some point! I have done (very) slightly more sewing than it appears!

Un-finished projects – ah the UFOs, many of the usual subjects, but some are getting really ridiculous and are so close! The main victim is the Glee dress, it is getting for a year that this has been 90% done and my flatmate waiting for it and I am putting my foot down (possibly!) Also I half made a colourful dress that has been on Agnetha for weeks now and I should move it on a bit (though I may have to reconsider how to wear it now it’s no longer summer!).

Halloween! – I have a number of costumes to make various bits of for myself and the flatmates, some of which will be more time and drama intensive than others!). I am going to start earlier (than 5 hours before I needed 2 dresses) than last year so it will be less stressful!

Present for Lindsey  - I promised my flatmate I would make her something as a birthday present, and I haven’t had time yet.  She says she has something in mind so we will have to work out exactly what she wants and get it made.

Pattern swap – I signed up to be part of an international pattern swap on the Sew Weekly communitysite. We all sent each other patterns and other bits and pieces, and then we are going to make something from the patterns. More on that in a bit.

Other projects - (because that doesn’t sound like enough does it!) I really need some more wintery clothes in my hand made wardrobe, as the temperature has plummeted. I am considering a dark purple Ginger skirt, using some fabric my mum gave me last year, and a long purple cardigan (sewing not knitting) that I bought some double knit for last year but was too scared of knits to use. I am sad to say that the pattern swap has reignited my pattern buying addiction, and I picked up a few extras from Ebay, that could make some nice things. I am particularly keen on a soft knit version of this: 

One day, I will sew something.

As I have finally finished my uni work for about 5 minutes, I may eventually get round to sewing something. Or photographing stuff I have sewn, or something.

But in the meantime, this post about the bizarre world of Maidenform advertising completely cracked me up this morning, thanks to Jen for posting it on Facebook and altering me to it!

Learning to sew clothes through the blog world -a (long) list of starting points

This post is a bit of a shout out to my friend Dani, who told me that she had a sewing machine and knew how to use it, but didn’t know how to sew clothes on it. She writes a lovely blog called Gourmet Gaming, where she makes real life super tasty looking meals based on food featured in computer games. As today is her birthday, I thought I would get round to finishing a post I have been working on about how to start sewing. This is particularly sensible as I have been wrestling for days with the shifting skies skirt which continues to mess with my head despite being very simple. 

It still looks a lot like this.

I am not an expert or even intermediate, I suck at most parts of sewing, but when I started it was because I got hooked on sewing blogs and they taught me how to do so many things and inspired me to make stuff. Sewing clothes is a bit overwhelming at first and there is lot of new things to learn. Therefore I have had a glance around the web and found some good places to start.

One of the best sources of really detailed thorough tutorials for different parts of the sewing process (online that is) are sewalongs, where a clever person makes a specific garment that you can follow along with, with each step and possible alterations explained. Whilst these are obviously based on a specific pattern, the techniques can be applied to anything.  A lot of the posts I am about to reference fall into this category.

Obviously the web is a big place, and there are many talented people with amazing blogs and sites , these are just a  few. Actually quite a lot now I’ve found them all.. but hopefully this will be a suggestion of some starting points and a signpost to some amazingly talented sewers and bloggers who have certainly taught and inspired me a lot.

Tilly and the Buttons

Overall learning to sew posts-where do I start?

http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2011/01/learning-to-sew.html

What do I need? Whilst many sewers hardly have any tools, and others have lots, it’s always useful to know what the various things do..

http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2011/01/learning-to-sew-part-2.html

http://caseymaura.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/guide-to-sewing-tools.html  

Making stuff from patterns

Reading and understanding dressmaking pattern envelopes 

http://so-sew-easy.com/understanding-a-sewing-pattern-envelope/

Picking the correct size http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2011/01/cutting-out-right-size-pattern.html

http://sewaholic.net/pendrell-sew-along-measuring-and-choosing-your-size/

It’s often worth making a muslin or toile (a rough run through of the pattern) to see if it fits. http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2010/buttons/sewing/toile/

Basic techniques

A Fashionable Stitch 

Seams

Seam Finishes – Generally I just do a zig zag stitch over the edges of my fabric so it doesn't fray but there are other fancier options! There are a lot of posts out there for these, a good overview here http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2008/05/seam-finishes-simplified/

but Sunni's is probably the most comprehensive:

http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/categories/sewing/seam-finishes/

http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/categories/sewing/self-finished-seams-pt-i/

http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/buttons/sewing/self-finished-seams-pt-ii/

Princess seams http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/09/sewing-princess-seams.html

Pressing seams http://portialawrie.blogspot.com/2011/04/sewing-basics-9-pressing-stitching-line.html

Sewaholic

Hemming-Frankly. I still completely suck at this! Hems can be as simple or complex as you like.

Basic overcast turned hem. http://portialawrie.blogspot.com/2011/01/sewing-basics-5-quick-overcast-hem.html

Covered hem http://sewaholic.net/crescent-sew-along-23-a-skirt-hem-with-seam-binding/

Hems have to  be marked all round so that they are level (despite the body’s lumps and bumps, and whether the fabric has stretched etc) ideally by an experienced seamstress (like your mum) but usually by a semi-willing helper with no idea what they are doing, plus its actually slightly tricky getting them straight. There are clever ways of making it easier though http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/buttons/sewalongs/hemming/

Hems round collars and armholes can be covered with bias binding-a flexible strip of fabric. http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/apply-bias-binding, http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/facing-or-detail-bias-binding which you can make yourself very easily http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/continuous-bias-tape-tutorial

Sewing a bust dart

http://portialawrie.blogspot.com/2011/06/sewing-basic-12-sewing-dart.html

Zip. Zips are either visible or invisible  (invisible zips are sort of inside out with the visible bit of the teeth on the inside of the garment-often used on skirts) http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3728/sewing-in-a-zipper

Lapped visible http://www.sewing.org/files/guidelines/12_250_lapped_zippers.pdf

Invisible http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/tutorial-installing-an-invisible-zipper

Hand picked visible (hand sewn-sounds like more work and looking tatty, actually less fiddly and often looks better) http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/5135/a-hand-picked-zipper-is-worth-the-effort

Fitting probably shouldn’t be a beginner technique, but getting the bust size wrong without knowing what is going on will put you right off sewing so it’s best to have a basic idea. Most patterns, like ready to wear clothes from shops, assume you are a B-C cup. Obviously an awful lot of us aren’t, so we need to adjust the patterns to allow either more or less space, this can a bit fiddly but is usually quite straight forward.

Small Bust adjustment http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/adjusting-parfait-for-a-small-bust-a-tutorial-from-gertie

Full Bust Adjustment (these are all over the web and generally the same sort of method

http://curvysewingcollective.com/the-beginners-guide-full-bust-adjustment/ (also a lot of related posts on this blog -which is awesome)
http://sewaholic.net/pendrell-sew-along-6-princess-seam-fba-full-bust-adjustment/

Sewaholic for A Fashionable Stitch

Fabric

Selecting Fabric http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/buttons/sewalongs/tasia-the-sewaholics-lesson-on-fabric-selection/

Understanding fabric http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/fabric-haberdashery/fabric-series-fabric-terms  http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/fabric-haberdashery/grainline-understanding-terms

You must wash your fabric before you use it to make something (unless its dry clean only), otherwise it can shrink and it wont fit anymore once you’ve washed it. http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/buttons/sewalongs/pre-laundering-fabric/

http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/the-prewash

Cutting fabric

http://www.afashionablestitch.com/2011/buttons/sewalongs/cutting-tips-for-beginners/

http://sewaholic.net/pendrell-sew-along-7-cutting-your-fabric/

Working with knits (stretchy jersey not knitting!)

http://www.quixoticpixels.com/blog/2011/05/sewing-with-knits/

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4584/a-primer-on-sewing-knits

TOPping up my wardrobe - the plan

OK, so for anyone who managed to stagger through my boring and self involved post yesterday (and those who didn't (can't blame you) I now bring you my plan for my new tops. 

Having realised that all my tops are the same, I perused a popular on-line inspiration retailer (rather excitingly Anthropologie has actually opened an Edinburgh store! I was invited to have my dog's portrait painted as part of the opening festivities (shame I don't have a dog, or an urge for a portrait of someone else's)). But anyway, I had a look through and found some tops that whilst they are not necessarily following the rules, they do inspire tops that could. 

Top left to bottom right, (sorry I couldn't be bothered to put all the links in for these but they are all super easy to find if you go to the main site and click tops or blouses as appropriate)

Colourful, bright print with kimono-esque sleeves; cute casual shirt with covered buttons and sleeve tabs; fun bird print-I have tended to avoid prints that need to "placed"; tie/dip dye (OK I prob wont do this but its pretty) and an interesting rolled neckline/straps; another nice rolled neckline, with a cowly feel, also stripy-I dont own a stripy top; pretty print with a nice wrap, fluttery sleeves and elasticated waist; cut out detail (no idea how I would do this but some lace or something would be nice); elastic smocking; cowl neck, swooshy folds; fitted vest that doesn't have to be stretchy with a nice button/neckline detail.

I also had a look at some jumpers and cardigans (the ones against the white background are from modcloth)

stripy fun again-all my jumpers are plain, and I like how the stripes are vertical at the front and horiz on the sleeves; structured detailing; spots and kimono sleeves; cowls and fun edging; lace appliqué embellishments; crazy jolly embellishments.

Now for the plan:

• Fitted vest, hopefully from a white with tiny navy spotted pillow case I have, inspired by this weeks Sew Weekly challenge-pillowcases! I shall have to see if there is enough material.
• Pendrell homage (one day I will finish this, I just got so demoralised after all the pattern fitting!) -bright blue button back scoop neck blouse with collar detail.
• Purple jersey smocked top refashion (I have an oversized top my flatmate gave me that I've been wondering what to do with)
• Colette Patterns Sorbetto blouse (lovely free pattern-though I am going to tweak the darts and bit and FBA based on some comments I've seen), possibly in a pale pink cotton with big white spots that I have a remnant of in the stash
• Jersey cowl neck-I have a massive blue jersey dress thing I could cut up
• Jersey kimono sleeve top, there's a tutorial on Burdastyle I'm considering. 
• Casual shirt like the navy one above, but possibly in a more interesting colour. 
• I am also going to look for some patterned jumpers and knitwear to have a play with, depending on what I fond in the charity shops, sadly my knitting just isn't up to making anything from scratch!

Thoughts..on my boring upper half

I was toying with the idea of doing Me Made June, wearing something everyday that I have made myself (including refashions). I haven't decide yet whether or not I will. What was apparent when I made a list of everything I have made, is that I haven't made a single top. Nothing. It is all either dresses or skirts (not counting the half made Pendrell homage of course but I don't see that materialising soon).

Interesting. I should probably consider doing something about this. As it is a little lame.

I think the reason is that I tend to wear simple fairly tight stretchy vest and tees, which I cant make and don't see an awful lot of point trying seeing as they are about £4 each. Now that I have thought that however that seems rather dull. I am very concious of not looking fat or pregnant or shapeless, and any top that has ease or isn't stretchy tends to do that to me. Also almost all my tops (tees or jumpers) are plain colours. Even though I love patterns..Perhaps I have got into a bit of a rut... Do I mind? I'm not sure.

I considered finding some kind of style icon to emulate and become slightly more interesting. I had a little trawl of some fashion/outfit blogs and I am less sure than ever. I was talking the other day to flatmate Lindsey about the tendency of outfit bloggers to focus on a style which seems to involve wearing as many clothes as possible. This is rather nice and they look amazing, but it is not at all me. I tend towards the basic and slightly sloppy looking in clothing.  I do however like Kendi's style (along with a great many other people!), she wears a normal amount of fairly normal clothing items, but looks stunning as they are all really jolly bright colours and patterns, and really suit her. Also she looks different everyday but manages to have a consistent style. I look pretty much exactly the same everyday. I am going to have to try slightly harder I think. Just a little bit. I don't think 30 for 30 is going to work for me though. I pretty much do that already. Everything already goes with everything, as it is all very similar.. I think I need to work on the opposite somehow.

Refashioning - where do you start?

Law commented on my Portobello dress post that she never knows how to imagine what she could make out of existing things, and this echoes a number of comments from some of my friends, who were regarding refashioning as magic or creative genius (which it clearly isn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it!)

Now I am no expert at refashioning. I haven’t done that much and I don’t tend to do anything very extreme. Neither am I particularly skilled (or at all frankly!) or knowledgeable about any aspect of sewing. So, health warning over, I can actually get round to my discussion point. How do you know how to refashion/restyle things? 

Now I’m sure everyone does this differently, and that’s part of the fun, but I guess this is my attempt to vaguely explain how I tend to do it. When buying something to refashion, you have to be drawn to some aspect of the item. In my case it’s usually the fabric colour or pattern. As my mum said the other day, she keeps walking round shops this season and seeing lovely fabrics and colours, and then picking them up and realising they have made something revolting out of it. That is pretty much the essence of my approach to refashioning - if I feel that the fabric deserved better, I will try and make that happen.  Alternatively there are things that are representative of clothes I’ve been meaning to get/make and which can be changed to fit that brief (for example I wanted a silky shirt, so I went out and bought one I could adapt)

The best way to start thinking about refashioning is to repeatedly try to imagine what you could do with random items, until you get into the right mindset (I think I learnt to do this making Halloween costumes out of random things!). Walk around a charity shop, pick up an item in a largish size from the rack because you like something about it, its colour, fabric, pattern, texture, buttons, whatever. Now try and imagine what you could do with it. Have a go with a few items, and see what sort of things you come up with. You don’t have to buy anything, I frequently look in 10 shops and don’t get anything, or I can walk into one and buy half the shop. It just depends.

Things to think about 

Do you like the sort of garment it is? Would it be better as a different category-eg if is a dress you can make it a skirt, or a top, or shorts, or a shawl, trousers can be made into shorts or a skirt, shirts can be made into skirts or have bits added on the bottom to make them dresses. Skirts can be hitched up to make dresses..

The lovely and talented Verity turns a dressing gown into a dress

Would it be nice if it fit you? Can you make it fit you-what parts of the proportions are wrong- does it need darts, a lower waist, a less poufy skirt? Is it too long (cut off the bottom) or short (add on a contrast panel, drop the waist..), or needs several inches off the side seams? Is it too tight across the shoulders but would be fine if you gave it a V neck?

I tweak my dress to fit and be more flattering

Would it be nice if it had different details or style? different sleeves, a different neckline, waist detail, straps, 3 foot cut off the bottom so it looks more fashionable?(always a staple of refashioning!) Could you dye it? or add different fabrics/notions in to create interest or new bits of garment?

Portia transforms this shapeless two piece into a lovely dress 

Does it have any existing work already done? Gathering, smocking, buttonholes, piping, hemming? Can you imagine the item as something else which has these details?

The refashioning queen transforms this hideous creation into a fabulous little dress at New dress a day

Is there enough fabric to ignore what it currently is entirely and use it as straightforward fabric?

Jennifer cut this amazing mini jacket out of a thrifted sheet (see her blog for the tutorial-I am totally going to make one myself )

Main questions before you buy

Is there enough material? It’s much harder to make things bigger than smaller.

Are there any stains/holes/tears than need to be avoided?

Is it actually good value?-frequently things aren’t cheap just because they are second hand; you usually aren’t getting a lot of material for your money.

Are you cutting up something nice to make something meh? I tend to avoid things that are really nice as they are, as someone else will appreciate them. If I want a piece of silk and voile, it may be cheaper to buy an evening dress in the charity shop but I’d rather someone got to wear and love the evening dress.

It really helps to look at what other people have done.

Have a look at  the refashion co-op, which used to be housed at wardrobe refashioned, or the fantastic 

new dress a day (she refashioned really odd things into nice clothes every day for a year on only $365). There are hundreds of other keen refashioners out there, with lots of different approaches.

More pretty clothes! Pepperberry

I was just sent an email for the new Pepperberry clothing range. This is the new shop that is a spin off from Bravissimo, which sells bras and stuff for ladies with more on top. They have always done a clothing range too which has more room in the bust area than normal RTW, and now this has been extended into the new shop. The basic logic is that you buy your proper RTW size based on everything apart from the boobs (so like making something by your upper bust measurement rather than full bust so it fits your frame) and then you select either curvy, really curvy or super curvy based on how much difference your boobs make. There is one in Edinburgh, though I haven't yet had chance to go, but I am excited by the on-line store! Sadly as lot of the clothes in Bravissimo still don't fit me as my hips and waist are just not proportional, but anything with a flared skirt is good!

Whether or not I will buy anything remains to be seen but I may make some stuff that is similar!

Ok, I want this skirt, or at least something very similar, I think I might incorporate some stripes onto my shifting skies skirt (should I ever finish it!)

They describe this as a prom dress, which to me, possibly due to being used to looking at vintage patterns, seems to not be what I would call it, even if it does have an underskirt. It is however very pretty and simple and definitely something I could make from the loads of florals that seems to have ended up in my stash!

Two quite similar dresses here. I love dresses that look like separates, and the contrast on the blue dress is amazing. The brown one is a similar look to what I am aiming for with my Oolong (again, should I get round to making it-I am doing terribly on my spring palette!).

And no dress collection would be complete without a fabulous shift dress in a bright colour! (not in my book anyway). Sadly this, despite the hardest to make, will definitely not fit me from the shop. Stupid hip/waist ratio!

(I should note that I am not in any way affiliated with Pepperberry or Bravissimo, I am just excited to shop there!)

Dresses that make you dream of sipping beer looking at the sunset

As the days have got longer and sunshine is starting to be visible when I walk home from work, I have started to crave the summer. In particular, sitting on the meadows (a big grassy park in the centre of Edinburgh), drinking beer and generally relaxing into the evening. Accordingly, every time I see a pretty dress, particularly if it is flowery (I love prints!) I immediately want to buy/make it, force the temperature to rise about 10 degrees, get my sunglasses and run off to enjoy the sunset.

Sadly it is still too cold, but I am enjoying browsing for pretty things none the less! I just spent a while oohing over the new anthropologie collection.

such a pretty colour, I can't pull off long myself, but it looks so cool and elegant

love the dip dye bottom to the skirt

lovely sleeve details and collar

so bright and summery-I think I had a similar dress when I was little in the 80s!

Of course thanks to what I like being for once the height of fashion! (wonders will never cease) there are plenty of other pretty things from around the web..

beautiful bright print stretch dress (Cathy Pill at laredoute)

lovely soft colours, I like how the skirt looks like its made out of lots of different length layers. (Paradise Pond dress at modcloth)

Not flowery, but still simple and fun! (Belle et the Fete dress at modcloth)

I love this, its so jolly. I have a skirt refashion I might make into something similar. (Bursting into Bloom dress at modcloth)

I like the chevron skirt pattern, and the bodice detail, nice way to look strapless and summery without continually hitching yourself up! (Craft Sale Saturday dress at modcloth)

And just in case you dont fancy a dress, some lovely silky trousers. (topshop)