I Made It Monday: My Christmas Dress.

For my Christmas dress I decided to brave knit fabric.  A fabric that has  previously struck terror into my heart due to many failed attempts sewing with it.

 

I had always used my trusty old 1960's Lemair machine, however it skipped stitches and looked a mess.  I was using the correct needle, but the results were terrible.  When my Mum gave me her 1976 Bernina 807 I decided to give knits another try.  And it worked!  No skipped stitches or breaking stitches, happy days!  I even used a double needle for the hem with no dramas!

I had this lovely red organic cotton jersey in my stash which was just asking to be a Christmas dress!  I found this free pattern online by So Sew Easy, which promised to be simple, and it was! 

I didn't make a muslin, so the fit is not perfect.  I would have liked the shoulders to be slightly wider, but other than that I am happy with it.  I didn't have to add length to the bodice, which is unusual for me.  If you're not tall or don't have a long body you may need to shorten it.  I did add length to the skirt (standard!).

To dress it up a little I added some vintage sequin trim from Nona's stash.  It's actually a dark brown, but looks black from a distance. 

Friends on Instagram had been telling me how easy sewing with knits was, and they were right.  I just needed a machine that could handle them! 

Photos c/o my wonderful Husband

I Made It Monday: Chambray Love

I love the versatility of separates, however I also love a dress (it's no brainer dressing!).  So to get the best of both worlds I made a top and skirt using the same soft black chambray. 

I made the top using Simplicity pattern 1364, a reproduction vintage pattern.  I made just a couple of slight modifications: added length (standard for me!), lowered the front neckline by 1cm and added some bias tape to the sleeves.  The bias tape is a pretty liberty print lovingly made by a dear friend 40+ years ago.  I had to use it!

The skirt is a self drafted half circle skirt.  Apparently I did not learn from my mistakes made with this circle skirt as I had to take this one in twice.  I'm starting to think I should just stick to my pleated midi skirts, circle skirts and I don't get along!  If only they weren't so pretty!

 

Photos c/o my wonderful Husband
Who can't help but take photos whilst I'm walking & talking.

I Made It Monday: DIY Circle Skirt

Welcome back to "I Made It Monday"!

Last week I made a couple of circle skirts for my little girls.  They loved them because nothing is more twirly than a circle skirt!  Which got me thinking: I don't have a circle skirt.  As you all know, I have a lot of pleated midi skirts and am now the proud owner of 2 maxi skirts, but no circle skirts.

That very same day that I had the "no circle skirt" revelation I was hunting for vintage dress patterns at my local Salvation Army and saw a pretty blue and green chambray meets gingham round table cloth.  A round table cloth could be turned into a circle skirt, right?!  The worst part, hemming, was already done!  For $3.00 I was going to give it a try! 

Now the internet does not need another circle skirt tutorial so I'm not going to give one.  Plus, I made so many mistakes with what should have been a very simple and straight forward project that I don't feel like I'm in a position to write a tutorial.

First I was going to put in an exposed elastic waistband, and cut the centre circle accordingly (to fit over my hips).  Then I decided that a waistband with a zipper would look more polished.  I had cut such a huge circle (clearly my mathematics was off) that I was able to cut a waistband out of the off cut.  I sewed that to my skirt and sewed in a zip... however I had failed to try the skirt on (BIG mistake) and when I put it on it fell right off.  Sigh... it was a bit big! 

At this point I was ready to re-donate it to the Salvation Army, but I refuse to be beaten.  So I unpicked the zip, which just made me begrudge the skirt more, and sewed up the hole and threaded elastic through the waistband.

If you've stuck with me through this ranting comedy of errors I commend you!  Basically what was going to be an elastic waisted skirt took some time consuming and frustrating detours just to end up being an elastic waisted skirt.  If it wasn't so pretty I wouldn't have stuck with it!

Top: Refashioned by Me (coming to blog next week) / Skirt: Me / Sandals: Big W

And you can't help but twirl like a little girl in a circle skirt!

Photos c/o my wonderful Husband