The Sew Weekly

The "Christmastime is Here" Skirt | Sarah Gabbart

The Facts

Fabric: Tablecloth and napkin set purchased from a local thrift store 
Pattern: None
Year: c. 2011
Notions: A brooch purchased in a vintage store a few years back
Time to complete: 3 hours
First worn: November 2011
Wear again? Yes - when it's "Beginning to look at lot like Christmas"

Total Cost: ~$18

When I saw Mena's amazing Christmas dress from last year, I knew I had to make something like that for myself this year! I hit the thrift stores hard for something - ANYTHING - that fit the bill and came up empty after visiting 4 stores. Defeated, I decided to go to one more. Jackpot!

This adorable set of holiday linens was stuffed into a shelf and seemed to be left just for me to find. Once I did, the old ladies hoarding Christmas items started circling - "Oh dear - are you going to buy that?" "That would sure look nice on my table!" I knew I had to check out with my goods fast or get my treasure poached! $18 later I was one heck of a fabric find richer. Sarah: 1; Poachers: 0. *swish*

The tablecloth was PERFECT for what I wanted to do - I simply cut up one side, removed the middle circle (leaving the ring of poinsettias and holly) and serged the edges to an underskirt of white (the skirt has cutouts, so this was for modesty). I took the napkins, cut them in half, and sewed them end-to-end to create the waistband/tie, leaving one end with an embroidered holly detail!

I wanted to make a wrap around skirt, but wasn't sure how to handle the wrapping around part. Should it go in the front? The back? I took a cue from the Colette playbook and made this sucker close in the back with a chic wrap across the front. Because my planning ahead skills aren't the greatest at the moment, I made the side with the holly leaf on it too short. Somehow, it all worked out and I even got to use this sweet bow brooch to close it. Huzzah!

This skirt is the most awesome thing I have ever made - I LOVE Christmas and crazy Christmas attire, so this is going to be my standard party uniform every holiday season! Happy Holidays friends!

A Little Stunt Sewing

 

I just have to say that the above is Worst. Frame. Ever.

And here are your choices:

The first fabric to get 20 votes, wins. And comment...now.

A 'Nerdy Nod' Outfit | Veronica Darling

Fabric: Single bedsheet, $1 (and left over curtains for the lining) and left over stretch knit, ~$.20c 
Pattern: Style 2257 for the skirt, gift from my Mum's friend and an existing tshirt for the top
Year: 1992 (!)
Notions: Thrifted zipper, $.50c and elastic for the neckline
Time to complete: 4.5 hours
First worn: November 2011
Wear again? Yep!

Total Cost: ~$1.70

Yay for another stashbusting week here at Sew Weekly! And you can totally imagine my joy when I realised it was a refashioning type theme as well! This year I've created most of my garments from the ol' stash (and my cupboard shelves are thankful!) and always have several bedsheets and curtains lying around! AND it was a Sew Weekly Circle Member that totally inspired my fabric choice! 

Looks like a simple gathered skirt, could be thrifted fabric? Certainly not a tablecloth (I've actually run out of them! OMG) and not a curtain ... it's a single bedsheet! (Excuse my sleepy 'Before Coffee' face...!)

A rather kitsch one that I didn't really know what to do with when I bought it (Hee hee, don't we all thrift like that!?) but I saw Cation Designs recently post a BATMAN dress to the Sewing Circle that is just too gorgeous! More photos in her blog post!

AND, as this bedsheet is a total tribute to Video Games, I thought my outfit could be a 'Nerdy Nod' to all us geeky nerdy types! Personally, I can get lost in video games, so I tend to only play the 'timed' games on Facebook or Google+ these days. Back in the (university) day, I lost lots of study hours to The Sims and Zelda. Oh *sigh*. 

 My first thought was to just make a simple gathered rectangle skirt, but went through my pattern stash just in case, and found this wedding jacket & skirt Style pattern that my mum's friend gave me. The skirt also came with a cropped version, and I really liked the fullness !

I pulled all the pattern pieces out, and a slight *hiccup* ... there was no skirt piece. All the other jacket pieces and the waistband were all uncut, but the previous owner must have saved little old skirt piece for more projects! BUT, luckily still in the original tissue was the outline of the skirt, just cut out! The most important shape was the waistline and the angles of the skirt sides, so I traced the top part of that and improvised the length... which as a petite young woman, I tend to improvise the length of most skirts and dresses! There are 5 skirt sections to get that fullness, and as it was just a single bedsheet, I didn't really pay that much attention to how the patterns of little pixelated characters, text and gridlines all matched up.

 However, for the waistband I saved the text 'video games' to be right side out, and as it's kinda pixelated and different coloured, I think it's just the geeks who'll spot it! Not too obvious!

There's a little zipper at the back, and a couple of buttons to fasten! EASY wedding/bridesmaid skirt pattern that SO doesn't look like a wedding/bridesmaid skirt!

For the tshirt, a little over a metre of red stretch knit from the stash did the trick. I folded a well loved V-Neck tshirt in half (vertically) and cut around it for the back and front. I binded the neck with this tricky elastic, it's red and sits quite flat and thin, and by overlocking one edge to the neckline, I then folded it to the inside and topstitched it! The top took less than 30 minutes!

You may not see in these photos (as I selected the more relaxed ones) but I was SO nervous! We'd snuck into an abandoned car yard or market place (we're not sure which), riddled with graffiti and obviously a local hangout. There was broken glass and stacks of loose beams and puddles of water everywhere (scary!) but Husbie was over the MOON with the location. 

I was a total Nervous Nelly, and too nerdy to be in such a cool rebellious place! Luckily, I also selected the photos *without* the swearwords! Too rude! 

xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make This Look: Snow Wonder Dress

Original Inspiration

• Snow Wonder Dress from modcloth.com

Resources

• Fabric: Michael Miller Ta Dot Stone from fabric.com ($8.98/yd)
• Fabric:  Bold & Beautiful Big Dot Gray/Multi from fabric.com ($8.48/yd)
• Pattern: New Look 6824

Purple Fabric

Looking for fabric for next week's challenge (hint, it's purple!)? Here's some new and vintage fabric to inspire you.

       

Some vintage pieces available at Etsy:

      

Make This Look: Walk Away with Bronze Dress

Original Inspiration

• Walk Away with Bronze Dress from modcloth.com

Resources

• Fabric: Rayon Blend Shimmer Suiting Tan/Gold from fabric.com ($6.98/yd)
• Pattern: Simplicity 2444

 

BurdaStyle Book Winners

Remember the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook giveaway from a few weeks ago? We got 181 comments from folks eager to win a copy.  Well, instead of one book to giveaway, we now have three! 

So better late than never, here are the winners of The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook giveaway:

• Steph from Tart Deco
• Stephanie Z.
• Krista from Thar She Sews!

If you're one of these ladies, please contact The Sew Weekly so we can get these books in the mail.

Congratulations, guys! And thanks to BurdaStyle for the books for the giveaway.

The "Darling Stash" Peter Pan Collar Blouse | Adey Lim

The Facts

Fabric: A cotton floral sheet, gift from the lovely Veronica Darling (Thank you!)
Pattern: Simplicity 3074
Year: c.1960s
Notions: 4 green vintage buttons and yellow pom pom trim from stash
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn: November 2011
Wear again? Yes, it's the sweetest blouse in my wardrobe.

 My last visit to the Salvation Army's thrift shop was futile and I do not know any shop which sells old sheets, tablecloth or  curtains in Singapore so in terms of materials, I had nothing to work with for this stash busting challenge using repurposed fabrics. Well, not until I recieved a huge package from the post office on 17 November. The lovely Veronica Darling has sent me a substantial stash of sheets and some lovely patterns! She's a lifesaver!

The sheets are all so awesome and I had a tough time selecting which project to sew! One of my favourites from the stash was this light weight cotton with orange, yellow, green and brown florals and some subtle grey plaid like lines on it. It was the smallest of the sheets so I decided to sew a blouse from it. The mix of yellow, orange and brown made the fabric look so 60s that I just had to choose a pattern from that era.

I mixed and matched from the three blouse versions offered by Simplicity 3074, a 60s Peter Pan collar blouse pattern from my stash. Sleeves from version 3, bodice from version 1 and the collar was a size between version 2 and 3 as I thought version 1's looked too huge while version's 3 was too tiny for me.

Even before I cut, I remembered Veronica showing me how she could skip the hem by placing the base of the pattern on the hemmed section of the sheet and that was exactly what I did. It is brillant and I love that no hemming was required for this blouse:)

At the end of cutting out the pieces, I had zero fabric left and had to use an orange remnant to cut the bottom facings of the collar. I adorned the collar with a yellow tiny pom pom trim from my little girl's stash, sewing it on the same way to sew piping, in between the top layer and facings of the collar. Please excuse my fingers in the photo as I was trying my best to press the trim down so you have a better  view of it though some remained stubborn. I am quite pleased that most of the subtle grey lines matched up pretty well.

There are quite a few details on this pattern which I adore. The overlapping sleeve cuffs which added interest to the otherwise very normal sides, the inside tucks on the front and back waist of the blouse which enhanced the blouse's shaping and fit while creating a bloused effect.

I paired the blouse with my high-waisted bella jeans in the main project photos but with these flattering tucks, I would be happy wearing the blouse both tucked in or out. 

This is my first Peter Pan collar garment and I really love how demure the neckline looks, so I will definitely be revisiting this pattern some day. Please also excuse the lack of smiles in these project photos as I have just extracted a wisdom tooth last week and still find it uncomfortable to be expressive.  Hopefully, it gets better by next week:) 

Ask: 11/28/11

Have you sewn with upcycled/reclaimed fabric from the home? Anything special tips? Any secrets?

Theme: Home Sweet Home

This week we're raiding the house and going all Scarlett O'Hara with our creations. Tablecloths, curtains, sheets -- if it's fabric and it's has a previous domestic life, we're using it.