Pink polyester goes fairytale

Oh what a sad dress I pulled out of my refashion pile. I had been avoiding this one and considered giving it back to Barbara (dress shop owner) telling her it was a lost cause.

From a distance it doesn't look too bad. There's lots of fabric to work with, and pink is my favorite color (I know I'm a 7 year old girl stuck in a 33 year old body.) But trust me.

There were discolorations (these looked like burn marks from an iron?)

And ink. It's hard to tell in the photo but the person who made the dress originally had used a pen to mark the darts and all the seams and the ink bled through everywhere. But I had a plan.

Enter weird experimental dress bodice that emerged from my scrap box.

The skirt portion of the dress was in better condition than the torso but it still showed some stains so I added a layer of this pretty bridal lace. I didn't bother to hem it because it doesn't seem to unravel or fray (I thought about adding bias binding of cream silk - should I have done it?)

I reused the dress zipper - I would have preferred an invisible zipper (mostly because I just learned how to put them in and am exceedingly proud of myself) but this one works fine.

One of my favorite cotton stripes as a lining (I swear I bought a full bolt of this on sale and it's almost gone.)

So in the end I'm pleased with the result and the fact that I put my experiment to use.

I know it's not a style that would appeal to everyone but my inner 7 year old girl (and my real 4 year old girls) love it!

XO

Jackie

Dress CPR and jeans fail

Oh I've been in a funk. I've been suffering from "too many things on my list to do so I won't do any of them" syndrome. So I'm afraid I don't have anything earth-shattering to share.

(On a brighter note both my washing machine and refrigerator are again fully functional!)

I'm not quite sure what to say about this dress in it's original form. It's one of the refashions I'm working on for a dress shop in town. It is/was teeny tiny with the smallest neck opening I've ever seen.

It was definitely homemade and in rough condition.

It was nice to work with such bright colorful fabric during this crazy stretch of rainy weather!

So I took the easy way out and made a skirt from it. I added a pink waistband (reused the dress zipper) and evened off the hem. I really wanted to change the neckline and keep it as a dress but it was just so small that there was no room for error. It's a cute skirt though! I'm planning to make a small handbag out of the leftover fabric.

So, jeans. I was so excited about Peter's jeans sew-along. I reeeaaally wanted to make a pair of perfect-fitting white jeans for summer.

My chosen pattern, McCall's 5894. Good reviews on PR, looked promising, started with a muslin just in case. I compared the measurements to a pair of jeans I like and found the rise to be much higher in the pattern.

So I started cutting up the pattern to lower it.

And this is as far as i got before the entire thing went into the trash in a fit of frustration. None of the pieces matched up and I cut away most of the important pattern markings, duh. Oh well, live and learn, right?

So I plan to try again with Vogue 2907. It's got a much lower rise so no adjustment there, and I like the shape of the leg better.

So let's hope the return of the sun around these parts brings about a burst of creative energy!

XO

Jackie

Scrappy little house

My scrap box was starting to look a little threatening again so I made a (barely perceptible) dent in it by making another house. I love how unstructured these are (the process, I mean.)

Garment-making is still so new to me and I get easily discouraged when something doesn't turn out quite right. So to have the freedom to just be creative and enjoy the process of "making" is nice.

I've been hanging onto that turquoise button for about 8 years now. It was waiting for a home!

That number print is one of my favorites. I have about a yard of it stashed away for something special (don't know what yet.)

We were rewarded at the end of a dreary, rainy day yesterday with a little magic. My son has figured out how to raise one eyebrow - and make me crack up without fail:)

Happy Mothers' Day!