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A Dressmaking Sewing Blog

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Hello! If you’d like to email me for a chat about sewing:

janelle@sewhopeful.com.au

Or you can come over and say hi on my Instagram page @sewhopeful

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I remade a skirt that was too small. Just removed

I remade a skirt that was too small. Just removed the waistband and pockets, trimmed 2" off and then reattached the waistband which I extended to fit the new waist size by borrowing from the facing and just using another scrap on the inside to fill in the gap. Swipe to see.

This made the skirt 2" shorter but as it was a floor skimming maxi length before the slight shortening just makes it a less drag in the dirt length. It's a beautiful cotton voile from @spotlightstores and a half circle skirt which has a beautiful swish and drape on the body.

The back is gathered so even though I added a side seam zipper it's super comfortable to wear and adjustable if I lose any weight (or gain 😂). I like the gathers at the back it looks really nice to have the added fullness there but still sits flat on the front.

I really love doing a #remakerefitrepurpose. It's so satisfying to return a loved garment back to wearable state.

I was inspired to tackle this as I really wanted to try the side seam pocket technique that @birdy_sew_obsessed shared in her stories this week to see if it works with a zipper as well and I'm so happy to report it's the perfect method. Thank you Bird 🐦 ❤️ 👌.

#itswhatyoumakeit #sewsustainable #halfcircleskirt #maxiskirt #sidezipper #ithaspockets

A @sewaholic #belcarrablouse in a beautiful voile

A @sewaholic #belcarrablouse in a beautiful voile by @amybutlerdesign called Alchemy Sketchbook Roses. I've had this in stash for so long, ordered from overseas back in the days long gone when postage was so reasonable.

It is the most beautiful quality voile I've ever handled. It is butter soft and does not crease.

I cut out this blouse months ago and finally made it up. The Belcarra blouse is very quick to make up and it looks so lovely and professional when done, especially when made with french seams.

I also love this pattern as it looks equally good with jeans as it does tucked into a skirt and it has a beautiful fit on a pear shaped body. It's my go to pattern for a woven t-shirt.

I have the rest of this fabric cut out for a Sewaholic Cambie dress which I cut out a year or more ago. As I often do, I now wish I had used a different pattern - I'd love a shirt dress in this fabric - but I'm going to go ahead and make it up anyway and hopefully I won't have wasted the rest of this precious fabric.

#amybutleralchemysketchbookroses #sewaholicpatterns #sewaholicbelcarra #sewover40 #sewalmost50 #tntpattern

A quick and easy #remakerefitrepurpose - an old sk

A quick and easy #remakerefitrepurpose - an old skirt I never wore remade into a #belcarrablouse. Fabric constraints meant I left off the cuffs and just used bias trim pieced together from scraps. I also made the neckline a slightly different shape to fit fabric and then gathered it in a bit with elastic to give a mock peasant shirt look. Great for what I am sure will be a blistering summer.

The fabric is a beautiful cotton voile, perfect for a top. Glad I remade it. I really love this fabric, I only ever had a metre of it otherwise what an amazing summer dress it would have made with a full gathered skirt.

#mendandmakedo #sewover40 #sewaholicpatterns #sewaholicbelcarra #sewalmost50 #borderprint

#vogue9371 View C in @spotlightstores cotton popli

#vogue9371 View C in @spotlightstores cotton poplin. I made a size 14 - this pattern is very loose fitting so although the pattern fit in the shoulders I found the underarm seam very low on me and it also didn't look great on my shape. However it looks wonderful on my mum and fits perfectly! So mum gets this one, and I'll try again in a couple of sizes smaller and a more drapey fabric. I'll also raise the underarm seam by an inch just in case I need it.

#v9371 #itswhatyoumakeit

#simplicity8014 #s8014 view A with shortened sleev

#simplicity8014 #s8014 view A with shortened sleeves. This was squeezed onto some @spotlightstores broadcloth, repurposed from a gathered costume maxi skirt I made and didn't intend wearing again. It was too much fabric to go to waste so I unpicked and ironed out. I had way less fabric than recommended but some creative pattern tetris made it work. It's a classic look in navy and I hope to get good wear out of it this spring. Broadcloth isn't a fabric I would usually use to make a dress from but I'm continuing my theme of #remakerefitrepurpose and thought the worst thing was even if it was unwearable it was a good opportunity to practice some techniques I hadn't tried before. It actually turned out much nicer than expected so I will see how it wears once the warmer weather hits.

I can't believe I've never made a proper shirt collar before, it was really fun. I also finally got to do the burrito method for sewing the yoke and I definitely want to do both again.

Pockets I french seamed, my favourite method for pockets.

#sewover40 #sewalmost50 #itswhatyoumakeit #slowsewing #navyshirtdress #cottonbroadcloth

Another "how I fixed a dress". I made this #emery

Another "how I fixed a dress".

I made this #emerydress a while back, modified with a lowered neckline and half circle skirt. I was never happy with the neckline, it actually was cut wonky and then it stretched out so much that I used elastic in the neckline to stop the gaping but it really made the dress look a bit cheap and casual which is not what I wanted.

So I unpicked and recut the front neckline to be symmetrical and then used the scraps leftover to cut a new interfaced neckline band and used a series of small darts to bring the bodice into the right size. It now sits so much better and I love the new design feature of the neck band and the darts.

I also replaced the straight Emery sleeves with flutter sleeves, hard to see in the photo but it really makes the dress look so much nicer on.

Swipe to see close ups of the new neckline and the before photos to compare the differences.

#remakerefitrepurpose #kaffefassettfabric

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A Note from 2019

Although I’m not actively blogging any more, I still often refer to my notes on this website, it’s a great reference for me on my fitting issues, pattern reviews and a record of my sewing journey. In 2019 I made many older posts private, so you may get 404 page not found errors if you come here from an old link. I’ve also cleaned up bad formatting, corrected spelling and grammar and in some cases edited the text on older posts. I have made my old Flickr account private, so some posts that used Flickr may have missing images.

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