March Projects

ctmidd
Mar 30, 2018
5 min read

I had planned to be focus on the linen dress this month, but other things have crept in. I have got the bodice pattern sorted, that took a bit of fiddling, I had an issue with how the sleeves were hanging but after a few tries I think I have sorted that, plus the actual fabric is stiffer than what I used for the toile so it should be fine. I put that project to one side for a little while as I switched to working on something for mothers day, mum didn't want me to spend any money so I had a look through my stash of bits and bobs for inspiration and found one of those closures for the glasses case, the kind that you squeeze the edges together to open it. I went through my leathers and found some nice colours and designed some flowers and a monogram. It took some long evenings to stitch the leather applique flowers in place and I made my fingers quite sore. The lining is indigo batik cotton quilted with regular wadding, I had to unpick some of the side stitching to get the closure in place, but once everything was together I was really pleased with how it came out. Mum was pleased with it too.

Also this month a friend tipped me off to a fabric sale, a clothes factory was going out of business and were selling off their stock of fabrics, trims and other bits and bobs. Mum came with me and we rummaged through the boxes and piles of fabrics. I had expected it to be just jersey type fabrics but there was quite a selection of different things. As I hadn't been planning to buy any fabric I allowed myself just £30 to spend, after the lady went through the 5 I had chosen and told me the prices I settled for 3. A teal coloured knitted viscose or rayon fabric with solid and sheer stripes 1.5m x 2m £10, a purple dress fabric it's at least partly synthetic, but I think it has some silk in it, it's actually shot pink/black 1.45m x 4.5m £12 and black spotted net 1.2m x 8m £10. I had a good idea what I would make with each fabric as soon as I picked them up, the knit will probably be a floppy oversized top, the purple will be a lovely dress, probably quite fitted as it has some stretch, and the net is for making an underskirt for a 50s dress I have, I got that dress in a charity shop so I really didn't want to spend crazy money on an underskirt or the fabric to make one, that net was a real find. I am short of cash at the moment but if I'd bought those fabrics from a shop they would have cost me over £100. Actually I had found 3m of grey superfine wool suiting fabric in a charity shop the previous week, it was such good quality I couldn't leave it, so I really have no need to buy any more cloth for some time.

I enter online competitions all the time, I rarely win anything but this month I won tickets to the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC. Mum was really excited about that, with tickets and parking it can be a really expensive trip, so free entry is great.

The Sewing for Pleasure show was much better than the last time we went, I saw so much fabric that I liked, I have enough fabric so I didn't buy any but I rarely see so much that tempts me, my taste must be in fashion this year. Mum saw an embroidery that really inspired her, she got some threads and stuff to try something similar, she bought all sorts of bits and bobs. I got 1 reel of the thread I use for stitching leather, I ran out of black the previous day, I didn't see any dyes or fittings, I saw a couple of patterns that I liked but not in my size.

I finally got the dress cut out and put together, it went together really quickly. I had to fiddle with the waist as I think I'd added too much seam allowance and it was hanging too low so I took out about 2 inches. It does need lining but I don't want to do that till after it's dyed as I want it to dye as evenly as possible. A small facing will be enough to stop the neck stretching out. Mum had some of the lavender dye I was planning to use for the first layer in her stash, and I bought a black and a grey to mix for the top layer.

The dress dyed really well, I used Dylon lavender cold dye in a massive old preserving pan, it's a lovely lilac colour, there are a couple of yellow spots and a purple splodge, not sure why that happened.

I sat with a couple of shibori books and the internet and designed the stitching pattern, mainly gathered effects but I also added something I haven't tried before. The new technique was fabric rolled around a rope, gathered and the rope tied, I didn't have any rope so I used chain left over from bag straps, I did test if it was possible and when I unrolled it the crease pattern was really nice so I decided to try it. I marked out the pattern with fading pen and sat and stitched the circles and around the voids. I used a red polyester thread so I can see the stitches after dyeing and i'm less likely to cut the fabric by mistake. I stitched the lines around the bodice leaving space under the arms, I folded and stitched the hem and folded and stitched around the pockets. I didn't want large expanses of undecorated fabric so I added tiny little gathers dotted around. I rolled the sleeves around the chain, stitched it lightly so it didn't unroll, gathered it and tied the chain with cord. Then I started gathering the threads. I started with the bodice pulled the threads tightly, stitched it to secure it and cut off the excess. I worked my way down the dress leaving the hem till last as it is gathered completely. I dyed the dress in a mixture of black and grey Dylon dyes. I rinsed the dress several times, cut some of the main threads, took out the chain and put in the machine for a quick wash. When the dress was dry I sat and unpicked all the red threads, this took ages. I am pleased with the final colour, it's a slate grey, some of the designs are a bit faint, which is a shame, this was either because I didn't pull tight enough but it's more likely to be that my stitches were too small, but i like the design, can't wait to wear it.

I have also been stitching some fabric for the centre panel of a quilt I'm making that is all shibori style, I shall dye them when I decide what colour to use. I have also nearly finished the bag weights. I picked up another couple of bits of fabric from charity shops, one is jersey and i'm planning to use for a hoodie next month.

I thinks it's been a really productive month, I'm very pleased with the things I have made and the bargains I have found.