50's style dress from a PDF pattern Katjusha #1 from Burda Style

Another few firsts; a free pdf printable pattern and using elastic. It was pretty amusing looking at the the different widths and lengths of elastic and having no idea at all what I needed. It's only funny because I've been sewing for years but I had no idea what I was looking at. I end up taking a guess and it seems to have worked.

The pattern all printed out and taped together ready to be cut out. 

I had red and white poka dotes in mind and found the perfect fabric :)

The bodice was supposed to have two darts however I accidentally forgot to transfer them across from the pattern. The bodice seemed to fit like it was. I did make a mock bodice from some scrap material to make sure the pattern fitted me before I cut my good fabric. I couldn't work out how the skirt piece was supposed to fit on the material. The pattern seems to suggest two folds before cutting. The fabric wasn't wide enough to fold so I folded it once then cut out another piece slightly narrower. the skirt still looks like it sits right and is full enough.

I decided to try to make a hair wrap. I followed an online tutorial. The length wasn't long enough. I made the one that matches the dress 4inches longer. 

Two weeks before the party Mum agrees that she wants one as well. So I took her shopping and she picked my second choice for the fabric. Mum is slightly smaller than I am so I took a bit out of the back piece and put in the two darts.

My dress all complete.

The back has 5 channels sewn in with elastic fed through them. The dress is really comfortable to wear. I meant to wear a pettie coat underneath but in the rush to get the dresses finished (I did the final touches to both dresses on the day and started and completed both the hair wraps). The skirt is lined so it still looked full enough.

Self Drafted Doctor Who dress

I had been looking at Doctor Who dresses for a while online. I found a really nice dress with a sweet heart bodice and a circle skirt. I looked at a few free online tutorials and patterns for sweet heart bodices but they all seemed really complicated and a lot of effort. So I thought I would try the duct tape method. I bought a roll of duct tape and a cheap t shirt from kmart. I got Tom to wrap me in duct tape. 

The original plan was to get Tom to cut the bodice on the seams. I couldn't breath well with the duct tape around me so I got him to just cut it off. I taped the bodice together around my dress model and marked the seams. 

I traced around the duct tape pieces on some calico and added seam allowance. I made sure it was sitting right then cut  it out in the final fabric.

Here's the bodice assembled. It's lined with navy drill.

This was the original plan for the dress to have a different coloured skirt. I wasn't happy with the look and thought I could squeeze a skirt out of the extra fabric I had bought just in case.

I managed to get the dress out of only 2 yards of fabric from spoon flower. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Here's the dress on the night. It was for our engagement party my mother was wearing my other dress that night.

Christmas Stockings

I wanted to get Tom a Christmas stocking. We had just bought a house so we had agreed on just getting each other some small gifts to put in a stocking. I've had my stocking for as long as I can remember. We looked in a lot of shops but I couldn't find anything half decent that wouldn't fall apart the first use or leave glitter everywhere. Then I remembered I could sew so I went through my boxes of fabric and found some left over polar fleece, some red drill and some white embroidery cotton. I copied the shape of my current stocking and made us a set of matching one.

Snow White Dress with modified Vouge Bodice

I was invited to a fancy dress party and I had a lot of time on my hands that week. I went out and bought some cheap yellow popin and a zip. The rest of the dress was made from left over scraps. I used the fabric pattern pieces for the vouge bodice. I wanted the bodice in just one colour without the contrasting straps/ pieces at the top. I pinned the bodice pieces together and cut them out as one piece. I decided to put the zip at the back rather than the side. This was a bit of a mistake because all i did was cut the back piece down the centre. The dress gaps a bit when zipped up. I also cut the bodice a little be deeper at the front.

I made little cap sleeves and appliqued scrap pieces of red fabric in diamond shapes. I know that the sleeves should be slashed with an under layer pulled through. I could have done another cheat and slashed the sleeves then sewed red pieces in the holes. From a distance I think they look ok. It's a bit dodgy but it was for a costume.

 I also made a quick cape from left over fabric. I didn't end up going to the party but it kept me amused that week and mum wore it to a different party.
 

Doctor Who Tardis Dress Vouge V2902

My first attempt at using a commercial paper pattern and my first time using a zip. I owe a lot of the credit for the fit to a friend of mine whom helped me alter the bodice pattern.

This is the pattern I used:

I didn't take any progress photos and I didn't take a completed photo of the dress on its own before I added the doctor who embellishments.

 Here's the dress 90% complete. I only had the hem left to go here.

 Here's the completed dress.

I made the embellishments detachable. I used some pieces of fabric and painted the windows and the police box sign onto them then hand stitched them with fairly big loose stitches so they are easily detachable. The original idea was I would wear the dress to supernova and then remove the panels to just wear the dress as a nice plain 50s dress. 

The panels are still attached to the dress, I've worn it to a doctor screening and my mother has worn it to a doctor who themed party. The only issue I have with this dress is the front darts sit a bit odd if I'm not standing up straight which just isn't a flattering look.  

I hand stitched the zip in because I was really unsure about putting it in.

Making a plain cardigan intersting

I could not justify spending as much as alternative clothing stores charge for their cardigans. I really like the bright and embellished rock a billy cardigans you can buy but they are not cheap.

So I set out to buy a plain black cardigan. Kmart were selling them cheap. It's a nice light cardigan that's comfortable when it is cool but not cold.

Next I ordered some cool little candy skull buttons from ebay. It was only a few dollars for a packet of 50. I removed the black buttons and replaced them with the red skulls. While at spotlight I found some gold and black skull and cross bone embroidered iron on patches. I sewed the patches onto the cuffs of the sleeves.

For under $10 in extras I turned a boring black cardigan into an interesting rock a billy cardigan that did not cost me a fortune. I cannot remember what I paid for the cardigan but being kmart I would guess it was around $10. My cardigan is also unique which is a bonus.

My Last SCA project

At the time I didn't know it would be my last project. I slowly moved away from the SCA. Priorities have changed and I'm not sure if I will return. Fighting is no longer physically an option for me.

I made some household patches for the house of hurts. They are simple but they are bight. They are made from two layers of yellow felt and one layer of blue felt.

I cut two circles out of the yellow felt and one smaller circle out of the blue felt.
The blue smaller circle is sewn onto one of the yellow circles.
The two yellow circles are then joined. The yellow was a lighter felt that needed two layers to look solid the blue was much darker/denser and only needed one layer. Sewing the blue circle on first hides the blue stitches on the back of the patch.