Wednesday 13 June 2012

THE CHECKED DRESS



Let's take a closer look at the maternity-wear-and-after-dress I made a couple of weeks back.

The fabric is a slightly stretchy and soft cotton; it's very comfy so I've been wearing this a lot!
Let's see if I will feel it at all with a belt then afterwards...



(Well hello there, plus twenty kilos!)

Many comment on the fact that I do't use patterns. I wrote it out as someone always asks for the pattern when it's some piece of clothing I've done myself. And like I said, I have never used patterns, I don't "know" how, I just try to figure things out myself. After that one obligatory year of having both in the third or fourth grade, I chose carpentry which I had all trough high school. Except for one week when we were about 12 years old and switched to sewing class. Then I made a pair of shit ugly pants using a pattern. But that's how I learned what the pieces of a pair of trousers should look like, sort of.

And here's a universal truth for you, that applies to very many things in different fields: you can learn quite a lot about something by looking at it. It applies to make up, hairdo's, clothing. All the clothes I've ever made have been by looking at how other pieces are built, by drawing the pieces in a scrapbook and try to figure out how and what to cut. It works!

So for this dress I looked at a shirt of mine and a dress of mine. Turns out I had to cut hte piece a little bit differently than I first had thought, to get the collar right. But as I studied the seams of the shirt and dress I knew how to make this one!


It has buttons all the way down, but actually it only buttons up half way down.


The buttons are just for decorative use, I fasten it with press-on buttons. It's becuase I haven't figured out how to use the button hole thing on my sewing machine :)


And of course, the perfect day dress had pockets - so does this one! The button here too is just decorative, although I have plans to make it actually function; to be able to close the pockets. Eventually.



Finishing off with some posing + one of the cats.

9 comments:

Mariela Santillan said...

You look great and the dress is super cute.
I have tried to make my own patterns from scratch and I always mess it up. I'm used to using commercial patterns. I can alter the commercial patterns to what I want it to so it gives me a bit of flexibility.

Vintage Hippo said...

I find that I buy patterns and then refuse to use them once I see what they all look like. Pinning and cutting and matching, much too much work when I can just eyeball it and fit it perfectly to my body. Great job with that dress!

Miss Tallulah Porkchop said...

Hello 20+ kilos. You look totally gorgeous. I love the dress - fantastic pockets. You have made pregnancy look like a bereze.

Idun said...

Lovely dress! Fun to know that you are using the same method as I do, when sewing. I like patterns, but I never us them, I only look at them and then do something similar.

Lisa said...

This dress is adorable! I sew without a pattern too. I used to make costumes for my theatre company, but haven't made anything for quite some time. These days I use my sewing skills for altering and repairing my vintage clothes.

Boo Boo Kitty said...

I used to have a mega fear of button holes too......but they are easy!

Get some scrap of fabric, the manual and sit down and DO IT! it really isnt that hard trust me.

Is it a manual or an automatic button hole? both are easy, manual just means you have to flick the switch for different stiches.

Good luck!

Christina said...

The dress turned out lovely and looks fab worn, too. I especially love those pockets! The little folded ears are such a cute idea.
I second the Boo Boo Kitty that button holes are really not that scary or difficult. Just zig-zagging in a square. Give it a try or it will never happen ;)

chloé said...

look so... classy!

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