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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

sewhopeful

Sewing this week was some practical stuff, includi

Sewing this week was some practical stuff, including a new window seat for a rather indulged cat. He's been sleeping on an old mattress which I have wanted to remove from the lounge room for months, but was met with howls of protest by the children as it is Simba's favourite nap spot, perfectly positioned under the window sill for a perfect view outside and afternoon sun.

I used a square foam cushion from the Ikea bargain section which I cut in half and used fabric glue to join back into a long rectangle, then recovered and mounted it on top of a small Kmart cube bookcase, although I think a shelf may be better later on, this was OK especially as I was making do with what I had on hand.

It looks way better than an old single bed mattress on its side that is for sure and cost under $10 to make, although was surprisingly time consuming. Upholstery is a very specific skill and I haven't done anything like this for a while so it was an interesting challenge.

#catbed #sewingforcats #gingercat #spoiltcat

This started life as a skirt for my older daughter

This started life as a skirt for my older daughter who chose the fabric and wanted a very "lightweight straight skirt" and then decided she "didn't like straight skirts" (actually anything I make/home sewn anymore 🙄 - it's OK my youngest more than makes up for it 😂) and so I never finished it.

I used #butterick5466 #b5466 which is a very popular pattern but it really doesn't work for me. The darts are very short especially in the front which on my shape results in a weird pouch of fabric and not a great fit over the stomach area. I also find the shape very straight over the hips which doesn't give a good fit if you've got more curves in that area.

The pattern I ended up using to recut the skirt panels is my old #tntpattern @burda_style #burdastylejennyskirt which I think is now OOP. I modified it years ago to add a back vent.

The fabric is very lightweight, soft and floppy rayon challis from @spotlightstores. It is not at all suitable for a pencil skirt, it is intended for loose and flowing clothing. However, it was already a half made skirt and I wanted to remake it into something wearable for myself.

I unpicked it and I added the body and weight I wanted by fusing a medium weight knit interfacing to the entire skirt. This changes the hand and feel of the fabric to a lightweight scuba and much better for this style of skirt.

I used a deep interfaced hem facing to add structure and support to the hem. I also used a interfaced facing instead of a waistband and it's fully lined in bemberg rayon.

So another unworn/rejected project gathering dust is now a skirt I absolutely love.

I'm really clearing out my sewing room from all my UFOs and getting a clear head to tackle some big tailoring projects soon. It's been fun and feels very productive to be able to churn out so many finished items - lots of late nights spent sewing right now 🌌.

#animalprintisaneutral #sewalmost50 #sewover40 #slowsewing #hemfacing #remakerefitrepurpose #sewingismyhappyplace

Continuing my week of Remake, Refit or Repurpose I

Continuing my week of Remake, Refit or Repurpose I've finally fixed this blue cotton linen. Swipe to see the unfinished dress it used to be and details. While lovely, and I loved the motifs, the bodice was a poor fit with the bust point about an inch too high for this almost 50 body.

A huge reason I sew is to have a perfectly fitting garment so I absolutely would not wear it as it was. Also was the small issue of it being *at least* one size too small. Another is my style has changed so much in the past year - I really don't like sleeveless for me anymore. I just feel so much more comfortable with my arms covered as a personal preference.

I've been pondering the best way to fix it and finally decided to make it a skirt. I think it will look cute in summer with a white linen shirt and white sneakers and also will dress up well with heels.

To make it larger on this style skirt it's super easy, just trim a small amount off the waistline, which widens the circumference. It also makes it shorter by whatever amount you trim off the waist, which needs to be taken into account and fortunately didn't matter with this skirt.

I used a facing in a closely matching broadcloth and used some of the original dress bodice lining fabric to bias trim the facing for a cute inside detail. I contemplated using the motifs on the skirt but ultimately decided plain would be more versatile. I put them aside and I'll use those motifs when I find the right fabric for a new dress.

Now I have a perfectly fitting skirt that I can wear, instead off an unfinished project gathering dust in the Sewing room.

#remakerefitrepurpose #sewover40 #sewalmost50 #quartercircleskirt #slowsewing

Some vintage wool plaid suiting made up into a blo

Some vintage wool plaid suiting made up into a blouse. It's the top part of #vogue9265 with a self drafted peplum with some black inserts from vintage black wool (repurposed from a moth eaten dress) and a zipper at the back.

I also made up a few #gertiesewsvintagecasual #easyknitpencilskirt. I love that pattern, it really is that easy, sews up in less than an hour and has a great shape. This one is in a black @spotlightstores poly suede diagonal stripe knit.

#v9265 is a really good pattern, I love the sleeves. For this one I just raised the neckline a bit and used cuffs instead of elastic.

#slowsewing #sewover40 #sewalmost50 #remakerefitrepurpose

Final use of the last of this fabric is this blous

Final use of the last of this fabric is this blouse made from the top of maxi dress I made last year but hardly wore. The skirt is what became the long sleeved blouse two posts back and the bodice became this blouse. I removed the waist darts, added length with some scraps and had enough to do a little gathered feature in the back. I even managed some ties sewn into the side seam to add some shape to the now pretty boxy look. I'm really happy how this turned out. Although the dress was lovely (you can see it in my stories) I only wore it once and this is so much more everyday wearable.

#refashioneddress #sewsustainable #peplumblouse #remakerefitrepurpose

Half circle skirt in green linen. This was a bit o

Half circle skirt in green linen. This was a bit of a cool experiment in making my own bonded fabric and to see how interfacing the entire skirt would impact its drape and hang.

I've been working my way through some unfinished or unworn projects to either finish or remake into something wearable.

This was a linen skirt/dress/something that was a bit of a disappointment. Originally I thought a maxi skirt (looked frumpy) then a dress (too much green I felt like a frog), then I made a 1/4 circle skirt that was now 3 sizes too small and due to a cutting error, about 2" too short.

I'd put it aside in frustration until yesterday when I decided to have a play with adding a good quality fusible knit interfacing to completely change the hand of the fabric and make something I could currently wear.

I added some triangular pieces to the sides to be able to recut the skirt sections I had left into a simple half circle skirt with a yoke waistband.

I wasn't able to get my side inserts to match exactly but I decided no one would be looking that closely.

I really thought this would be a disaster but it actually worked really well. The linen hardly wrinkles now with the interfacing and it now hangs and feels more like a scuba or ponte than linen. 🤔 I really should have changed my overlocker thread to black but I really didn't think this would work out so I didn't bother.

#slowsewing #sewover40 #halfcircleskirt #remakerefitrepurpose

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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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