Tunic Dress from Scratch

I picked up this piece of fabric from the Scrap Store. Though from the size of it they should rename it the 'Pretty decent size piece of fabric Store' because it is certainly not a scrap.

It's quite thin and flowy, but not quite silk. I thought it would make a nice tunic style dress.

I started by folding the fabric in half, sewing the two sides and cutting a neck hole.

I then hemmed the bottom, and the arm and neck holes.

To create an elasticated waist, giving the dress more shape, I sewed some bias tape to the inside of the dress and thread the elastic through it. I did a similar thing with this dress.

I had to sew the sides above the elastic in a bit as they were a bit too droopy, but then it was done!

This dress is perfect with leggings and a black strappy top on underneath - because it is slightly see-through!

90s Patterns & Old Skirts

This is what happens when you take a hand-me-down skirt and a pattern from the 90s.

This project began with this copy of Essentials magazine from 1993.

My Mum has a box of dress patterns and I came across this magazine when looking for a pattern for a shirt.

Instead I found patterns for a summer wardrobe!

I decided I wanted to make this 'sun top' but make it part of a dress.

I used a skirt my sister had given me but I'd never worn and made the sun top to attach to it.

I made a few adjustments to the pattern like I made it back opening instead of front opening so it would line up with the zip in the back of the skirt.

I bought some buttons to match the fabric and my Mum stitched the buttons holes for me. She was a big help with this project as I haven't worked with a paper pattern before and the instructions in the magazine were a bit confusing.

I hemmed the skirt and made straps from the material I cut off.

I'm still not sure about the pleats in the skirt - which is why I never wore it in the first place - but other than that I really like this summer dress.

Except I'm going to have to pair it with tights and a cardigan if I want to wear it any time soon.

Up-cycled Dress

This dress was another up-cycled project.

I love it!

 The dress started life like this.

It was actually my Mum's dress that she bought from a fashion show my school had.

My lower school. That's how old this dress is.

This photo also shows how long I've been meaning to do this project as it was taken in September 2011 right before I got my Mum to shorten it.

Then it stayed in my wardrobe for two years. Every so often I would think about it but never come to any conclusions on what to do with it.

Until last week.

 

I started by cutting the straps off the dress so it would sit lower.

I also added elastic round the middle so it would be more fitted.

I did this by sewing bias tape to the inside of the dress and threading the elastic through.

I found a t-shirt I never wear and altered the neckline to be more flattering, and then sewed the dress to it, re-shaping the dress where the straps had been.

Then I gathered the fabric at the front and sewed part of one of the dress straps over it.

I love how this dress turned out. I think it's so cute.

T-shirt dress

It started with a large mens tank top.

Which is just (just!) long enough to be a dress on me. When worn with leggings.

So how to make it look wearable?

First up I gotta belt it! If only more problems could be solved by throwing on a belt.

Then decorate. I attempted the multiple necklace print that's been going on, and referred to this tutorial from Jen at My Own Road.

For the big beads I used the bottom of a pen to get perfect circles and then filled them in with a paint brush.

For the long chain I cut a thin drinking straw on an angle so it was an oval and used it to print the pattern. The heart locket was just done freehand with a paintbrush.

After ironing over the fabric paint for 5 minutes it's ready to wear.

(Who can spot the photo me and Anthony Head from Buffy)

I think I did the beads a bit too wide across the shoulders so it looks a bit odd, but I've got the techniques down for doing more.

In other news friends I shall have to take a blog break for at least a week because my poor laptop is broken again.

I'm back to uni this weekend and I'm having to go back without it, so I'll be relying on uni computers and the kindness of my housemates.

I don't know how I will cope!