Tea Dress Refashion: Adjusting Fit, Length and Style

June 8, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Dress Refashion: Adjusting Fit, Length and Style

Last summer I bought this dress.

The print was pretty, the fabric draped nicely and I liked the print. Although I don’t do yellow (I’m not Josie Jump!), the flowers made me think of harvest time.

It was about the time that I’d lost a lot of weight, so I had no idea what size to get! I couldn’t be bothered to try it on so I guessed the correct size

When I got home, I found that I’d guessed wrong! As it didn’t fit at all I decided to take it back.

I don’t go into King’s Lynn that often, so a couple of weeks later, I still had the dress at home when I saw somebody else wearing the same dress.

Seeing it on a person rather than a hanger made me realise that swapping it for one in a smaller size probably wasn’t going to help! The poor girl who was wearing it had strategically placed some safety pins so that she wouldn’t flash everybody, but the fit was bad and it didn’t look good. I actually wonder whether she wore it again after that.

It was a shame, because it should have been a pretty dress.

Anyway, as there was not much point in taking it back, I thought perhaps I could refashion the dress into something I would actually wear. I didn’t get round to it last summer, but now I have and here it is!

This is the process I went through to refashion a dress that didn’t fit and was generally awful into something I now like and will wear!

Identifying What To Keep and What To Change

With a dress refashion, it’s a good idea to decide what you want to keep and what you want to change before you start cutting! Having a plan always helps.

With this dress, I liked the fabric and the wrap around style.

What I mostly didn’t like was that it didn’t fit! It was too short and I didn’t like the ruffle. I was also worried about accidentally flashing people, but I didn’t want to wear it with leggings.

So the things I needed to change were:
The fit
The length
The ruffle
The potential to flash unwitting members of the public

Adjusting the Fit

The skirt was fine but the top half was awful.

So the first thing I did was remove the top from the skirt.

Shapelessness can often be fixed by adding some darts. The bodice had darts at the side, so I adjusted these and added some to the bottom of the bodice.

I also took the bodice in at the sides.

Then I checked the bit where it crosses over. I was planning on wearing something underneath it, but i still didn’t want it gaping. I pinned the crossover sections and trimmed a bit off the bottom.

While doing this, I put the bodice on inside out and pinned it while I was wearing it. It was tricky but not impossible!

Changing the Skirt

There were several issues with the skirt. The first was the ruffle. This was sorted out after half an hour with the unpicker! The other things that needed addressing were the length and the skirt’s flashing potential.

Adjusting the Length

Making things shorter is easier! But lengthening things isn’t impossible, it just involves extra fabric and some creative thinking.

As I loved the harvest yellow flowers, I bought a metre of yellow gingham and I used this to add some length to the skirt.

I didn’t measure anything, I just used the width of the fabric! I used the whole width on the back of the skirt and half on each of the front sections.

To get the length right, I worked out how much longer I wanted the skirt to be, and used the skirt as a guide so that there would be enough for where the hem line curves upwards.

I pleated the gingham and pinned it to underneath of the skirt. Then I sewed it to the skirt.

I wanted to add a piece of gingham to the top of the skirt too, but I needed to take care of the potential flashingness first.

Changing the Skirt So That the Dress Was Decent

To do this, I wrapped the skirt around myself and pinned it. Not too tightly as the bodice is still quite loose fitting and I like being able to breathe and eat!

Then I took the skirt off and laid it out flat. I repinned it, lined up the bottom edge of the gingham, and sewed along the front section of the skirt that would previously have flapped open. I also sewed along the overlapping bit of the skirt at the top to hold it.

Reattaching the Skirt to the Bodice

Firstly I added another piece of gingham to the top of the skirt. I overlapped the ends at the side seam.

Then I sewed the top of the gingham to the bodice.

To make things a bit easier, I sewed the overlapping sections of the bodice together first.

Because the skirt was wider than the bodice, I needed to add a couple of little tucks to the gingham at the sides.

Finishing It Off

My regular readers will know that I don’t like to pretend that things are perfect! I’m a normalish human so sometimes things don’t go to plan and occasionally there are disasters!

Although this wasn’t a disaster, I did have to reattach the skirt a couple of times, and the front of the bodice took a couple of goes as well.

The tuck on the waistband area was a bit messy, as was the bit where the skirt overlapped.

Bows and ruffly flowers hide a multitude of sins! I whipped up a couple of bows and sewed them on to hide to messy.

The last thing I did was add a little bit of gingham to the sleeves to pull it together.

The Results

It’s not perfect, but I’m pleased with it.

The gingham works as well as I thought it would.

The length is much better and the general public are safe from getting an eyeful of pasty flabby legs!

The bodice fits much better. It’s still a bit baggy under the arms, but it’s wearable.

I considered sewing the overlapping bit of the bodice, but if I had I would have needed to add a zip to be able to get in and out of it.

Overall I’m happy!

PS If you like upcycling and refashioning kind of things, there are lots on my friend Vicky’s blog here.

There’s another dress refashion post on Tea and a Sewing Machine from when I turned a top into a dress.

And if you like the idea of making dresses from your own designs, you might like my ebook Designing and Making a Dress From Scratch.

The Sewing Journal! Bunting or Cherry Blossom?

May 16, 2019 · Leave a Comment

The Sewing Journal! Bunting or Cherry Blossom?

Who doesn’t love a pretty notebook?

I’m lucky enough to have family members who fuel my mild addiction by giving me notebooks for birthdays and Christmas!

The only problem is that I usually have several notebooks on the go at once and they’re filled with all kinds of stuff!

Measurements (mine and the boys), ideas for stuff I want to make, shopping lists, menus, noughts and crosses games, sketches of things I saw when I was out and I want to have a go at making, stuff I want to make people for Christmas and things I want to check on the internet later.

Throw in a dozen post its, some old envelopes and the back of my hand, and you have my sewing notes organisation system!

There’s no order at all, and I can never remember which notebook I wrote the thing down in that I can’t find!

Is this you too? If so, wouldn’t it be great if you had somewhere where to keep everything and find it easily? A pretty sewing notebook with place for everything, no grocery lists or noughts and crosses.

Now there is! It’s the sewing journal!

There are 2 versions, the bunting version…

and the cherry blossom version.

The Sewing Journal has 26 pages for you to print out and use to organise all of your sewing related ideas and information.

The printable pages allow you to keep track of sewing projects, both current and completed, lists of habby, fabric and patterns and reviews of patterns and tutorials you’ve used. There are also pages to record ideas for seasonal sewing and for planning future projects.

The Sewing Journal Includes:

Pages to divide your notebook up into sections, including sewing projects, finished projects, sewing supplies and seasonal sewing.
Pages to record your measurements and those of other people who you sew for.
Pattern review and tutorial review pages so that you can keep a record of patterns and tutorials you’ve used and any changes you made to them.
Project planning with space to write down everything you need, the steps involved, inspiration and a sketch of how you want the finished item to look.

Projects at a glance, perfect if you like to have more than one project on the go!

Finished projects with space for a picture of the finished item, as well boxes to write down fabric and habby you’ve used plus the pattern and tutorial and anything else you need to add.
An equipment list so you can record models and serial numbers for your equipment.
A patterns page to keep track of which patterns you have, with number, size and manufacturer.
A fabric collection page for recording what fabric you have, where you got it and how much of it you have. There’s also a spot for a swatch.
A haberdashery page for recording what habby you have.
A wishlist page. This is very useful for when people want to know what you’d like for Christmas or your birthday and you can’t think of anything!
There are also pages for writing down ideas for seasonal sewing,pages for general notes and squared paper pages.

An A4 version and an A5 version are both included, so you can choose which size you prefer. As they are digital files, you can print them out as many times as you like!

The bunting version of the Sewing Journal is here, and the cherry blossom version is here.

Some Suggestions For Using the Sewing Journal Pages

Print them out and get them bound at a stationers.

Buy a spiral binder punch (not cheap but less than you might think) and bind it yourself.

Get a pretty ring binder and keep them in there.

Sew them together to make them into a notebook.

Year of Bunting Challenge 4: Bunting With Flowers

May 4, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Year of Bunting Challenge 4: Bunting With Flowers

I have a hard time deciding which is my favourite season, do you?

I like the autumn. Crispy leaves, golden light and woodsmoke.

Winter’s nice when you get a clear crisp day. When it’s horrible out, you can light the fire, make a cup of tea and snuggle up with your favourite humans and non humans.

When it’s summer you don’t have to bundle up in coats and you can go out and do stuff (not that you can’t in winter, but it’s more fun when you’re not cold!).

Spring’s lovely though. After the dead of winter, buds and green shoots are a reminder that hope springs eternal. By this time of year when there’s blossom on the trees, the days are longer and the weather is warmer, it’s enough to make your heart glad.

So May’s Year of Bunting challenge is to make flower themed bunting. You have until midnight BST on the 31st May. When you’ve made your bunting, either post a picture on Instagram using the hashtag #yearofbunting, or on the Tea and Sewing Machine Facebook page.

If you don’t do social media, you can email a picture instead at teaandasewingmachine@gmail.com.

There will a prize!

By the way, if you’re doing the previous challenge, that’s still going on. The last day is Sunday 12th May, so the two challenges are overlapping this month.

How you make your bunting is up to you. Here are some suggestions.

Flower Themed Bunting

Appliqued flowers. I made this a while ago with appliqued trees.

12 tips for making bunting 12 things to sew in the autumn bunting is best year of bunting challenge 4 bunting with flowers

Retro flowers are fairly easy as are made using simple shapes. I did this with this laptop sleeve and also with this dress I made. Machine embroidery could be added to the applique if you wanted to jazz it up a bit.

Flower quilt blocks. I was going to say that quilt blocks are usually square and you’d have to turn them into triangles, but you could keep them square if you wanted to! I’m not the bunting police :). If I was, I might fine people for not having any bunting, but not because the flags weren’t triangles!

Crocheted bunting with flowers at the centre. You could adapt a pattern for granny squares. There are plenty of flower themed ones on the internet, and I have several on my crochet Pinterest board. As with the quilt blocks, you could turn them into triangles or you could keep them as squares, it’s up to you!

Tulle or net flowers attached to the flags. You could make flowers like this, from net, tulle or even cotton or polycotton, then attach them to the bunting.

Flower embroidery. By machine or by hand!

Flowery fabric. I made this last year and hung it off the front of my house.

easiest bunting tutorial ever year of bunting challenge 4 bunting with flowers

Another option would be to choose something with a bold print and cut the triangles so that the flowers were at the centre of the flags.

You could even choose a bold floral print and embellish the flowers in some way, perhaps with embroidery or with shiny things. Nobody will be judged for using a glue gun!

You have until midnight BST on the 31st May to make your flower themed bunting. When you’ve made your bunting, either post a picture on Instagram using the hashtag #yearofbunting, or on the Tea and Sewing Machine Facebook page.

If you don’t do social media, you can email a picture instead at teaandasewingmachine@gmail.com.

There will a prize!

By the way, if you’re doing the previous challenge, that’s still going on. The last day is Sunday 12th May, so the two challenges are overlapping this month.

Please join in, it will be fun!

Year of Bunting Challenges

April 11, 2019 · 2 Comments

Year of Bunting Challenges

So far we’ve had 2 Year of Bunting Challenges.

The first was to decorate some furniture with bunting, and the second was to make some embroidered bunting.

You can see what the winners made for the first challenge here. I haven’t written up the second one yet, but there was a lovely cross stitch design on a bookmark, an embroidered needle case and an embroidery hoop thing with tassels and bunting.

It’s lovely that people are joining in, but I know that having a timescale on something, although it is necessary for a challenge, isn’t always an aid to creativity! Some of us need plenty of thinking time as well as plenty of making time.

So here is a list of the rest of the Year of Bunting challenges. If you would like to download a PDF version, you can do so here.

There’ll be one a month until November. I haven’t decided whether to do one in December, but I might leave it as everybody’s so busy before Christmas. It will also give us a bit of extra time if we need it for any of the other challenges.

I’ll still introduce each challenge. They will start at the beginning of the month and run until the end of that month.

Having the list in advance means that you can decide which ones you’d like to do! If you want to start them early, that’s fine!

The winners will be notified by email and I’ll let everybody else know too. To make things a bit easier at my end of things, I’m going to assume that you’re happy for me to use your photograph and your first name if you win. If you don’t want me to do this, please let me know! You can email me at teaandasewingmachine@gmail.com.

I’m hoping lots of you will join in! If you have any questions, please ask me :).

Bunting Tote Bag Tutorial

March 29, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Bunting Tote Bag Tutorial

This is a post I actually wrote 3 years ago when a new law was introduced in the UK that required shops to charge for plastic bags.

I’m recycling it because it fits in nicely with the Year of Bunting!

For making the bunting tote bag, I’d recommend using a strong fabric, like a heavy weight cotton. The canvas I used was left over from some curtains I’d made, and the appliqued bunting from scraps of cotton from dresses and other things.

If you don’t have any canvas, you might have an old tablecloth or some curtains you could use.

If you’d rather use a lighter cotton or polycotton fabric, you could line it to make it stronger, or just decide to use it to carry bread and flowers instead of potatoes and gallons of milk!

The bunting tote bag has boxed corners, which means that depending on what you put it, it should stand up.

How to Make a Bunting Tote Bag

1. Cut a rectangle of fabric. Good dimensions would be the same width as a Lidl bag (or other bag for life) and twice as long, plus seam allowance. Mine measured at 48 cm x 120 cm.

If you are using fabric with a directional print, cut 2 rectangles and sew them together.

2. If you do not have an overwhelming urge to cover everything in bunting, you can skip this bit and go straight to Step 3.

To make the bunting, cut a rectangle 9 cm x 10 cm. Fold in half lengthways. Cut diagonally from the folded corner to the corner opposite. Use this triangle to cut 5 triangles. Position them onto the fabric, allowing for seams. Pin in place, then applique them to the fabric. Sew a piece on of ribbon so that it covers the tops of the triangles.

3. With the right sides together, pin the side seams then sew them up. Trim the seams. Finish the seams with zigzags, or an overcasting stitch if you don’t have an overlocker. This could be the difference between getting all of your shopping home and the bag breaking and veg and milk and stuff ending up all over the road!

4. To make the boxed corners, press firmly on the fold at the bottom. Squash one of the corners flat so that the seam is aligned with the fold at the bottom. Measure up 6 cm from the corner. Pin. Sew across the corner. Cut the corner off. For more detailed instructions for making boxed corners, visit this tutorial here.

5. Hem the top of the bag.

6. To make the handles, cut 2 pieces of fabric 40 cm long and 10 cm wide. Fold in half lengthways. Then fold the outer edges into the middle. Fold in half and pin. Sew. I like to sew along both edges so that it looks symmetrical. Repeat for the other handle.

7. Sew the handles to the bag. You will need to sew them on in a few places to ensure that they stay on when the bag is full of shopping.

Now all you have to do is remember to take it with you when you go shopping!

Tips

Heavy weight fabric will be strongest, but other fabrics can be made stronger by adding a lining.

Ripstop will make good bags that are both strong and waterproof.

You could make bunting tote bags in different sizes.

Decorate them as you like to jazz them up.

If you will be carrying your shopping a long way, add some wadding to the handles and quilt them to make them more comfortable.

They make great last minute Christmas gifts and are a good way of using up fabric that you don’t know what to do with!

Tea Dress Refashion: Adjusting Fit, Length and Style

Dress Refashion: Adjusting Fit, Length and Style