Fall For Cotton : My Finished Project!

I know this is a really odd time for me to write a blog post, but I needed to get this project up to be eligible for the Fall For Cotton Sew-along.

Those of you that follow my Facebook page will have seen several sneak peaks over the last few days as I worked on, and finished the dress.  The last time I posted I had pinned the decorative pieces on the bodice and had started hand sewing them on.  At about that point I also decided that I would really rather pleat the skirt than gather it.

This is really for one reason only.  Basically I always get super stressed sewing a gathered skirt into anything because bits always get caught up in stitching and it takes me several goes to get it right.  And with the extra layers of fabric in the bodice and all the piping on the decorative pieces and at the waist line, I figured I had enough to worry about!  I thought that a pleated skirt would be easier to attach (and it was) and look better (which I think it does).

After I cut off the extra length from the skirt panels, I used one of them to make a pleat 'pattern' to use as a guide when I pleated the skirt panels.  After I worked out my pattern I attached the test peice to the bodice.

I was really happy with the way it looked, so went ahead and put the skirt pieces together and pleated them.  Oh, and I forgot to take any photos, but the skirt has POCKETS!!!!

But enough (boring) construction details - I know you want to see the end result!!!

Today I wore my gorgeous dress out to breakfast, and stopped at Bimbadgen Estate on the way home to take some photos.  I live just down the road from this lovely place and I can't believe this is the first time I have used it as a photo shoot location!

Just as a reminder, here is the vintage dress that inspired this project:

And here is my version, made out of vintage cotton dating from the 1950s:

What can I say - I love this dress!  Everything about it seems perfect for me!  And while it was a total labour of love, I think I could be persuaded to labour over another one!

Beccie
xxx

Fall for Cotton : The Odds Are Stacked Against Me...

Those of you who follow my Facebook page will know that I haven't been very well.  Last week I was hit by the flu, which then morphed into bronchitis.  It hit me so hard that I did absolutely no sewing last weekend.  In fact, I was in bed for four days straight.

I know that the Fall for Cotton deadline is fast approaching, and with that in mind, yesterday afternoon I was feeling well enough to go to work on my dress.  I wasn't moving at any where near my usual pace, but it was nice to actually be doing something.

Stella has been a fantastic nurse while I've been sick.  She has never been too far away.  And while I was sewing she took a nap in the fabric I've reserved for the skirt.

Miss Stella needs a hair cut... I'll add that to the list of things I need to do...

After I finished cutting out the pieces I attached the piping to the decorative pieces.  First I pinned it:

Then I sewed a line of stitching basically over the line of the stitching on the piping:

Then I clipped the curves so it would lay flat:

I repeated these steps for all the pieces and then layed them out so I could feel clever:

I was still feeling ok so I sewed the bodice of the dress together and pinned the decorative piped pieces to the bodice.  Then I stood back and felt really clever!

So its not perfect (for instance the top piping line on the back isn't on straight) but its a start.  And it didn't take too long and I didn't have to put in much effort.  I've made a start hand sewing on the decorative bits, but I haven't gotten really far with that.  My aim is to rest a lot and to have the hand sewing done by the weekend so I can hopefully finish the dress on Saturday.  If I don't manage to finish it this weekend, I won't make it into the Fall For Cotton Sew-along.  So everyone cross your fingers for me, ok?

Due to the fact that I have barely sewn a stitch recently, this is my only blog post this week.  I'll be back next week with (fingers crossed) this finished dress!

Beccie
xxx

Fall for Cotton : Making Cotton Piping

Last night I had a bit of spare time so I thought I would put it to good use by making the piping I need to make my Fall for Cotton dress this coming weekend.  To be honest, I thought making this stuff would be a total pain.  I'd never even made my own bias tape before, so having to make that and then turn it into piping... it was sounding difficult.

How wrong I was!

I started out by measuring how wide I'd need my bias strips.  I wanted the cord to be encased and leave a 5/8" seam allowance like my pattern has.

My piping cord is a little over 1/8" so I decided to allow 3/8" to go around the piping and then 5/8" on each side of that for the seam allowance.  Watch out - I'm doing maths!  5 + 3 + 5 = 13/8", which is 1 5/8"!!

Next step was to draw lines all over my fabric.  I lay my fabric over my sewing table and drew lines at a 45 degree angle from the selvedge edges, with gaps in between of 1 5/8"

Now this is where one of those cutting wheels and mats would be beneficial... but I don't have one, so cut out about 12 strips with my scissors.  To be honest I didn't think about how many I would need - it turns out I only needed four strips to make more than 4 metres of piping... I will clearly need to do something with blue piping all over it in the future!

Next I sewed the strips together.  First I put the strips at right angles to each other:

And then I stitched diagonally across the end from the corner of the top strip to the corner of the bottom strip.  I trimmed the seam allowance to about 1/8" or there abouts:

Next step was to iron the seam open:

I did this three times until I had enough strips sewn together to cover my cord.  A tip when sewing the pieces together is to keep making sure which side is the right side.  You don't want seam allowances on both sides of your bias strip!!!  Of course, if you have a fabric that has an obvious right and wrong side this won't be a problem...

So at this point I had a very long bias strip.  I took my cotton cord and folded the bias strip around it so the edges of the bias strip met and the cord was right up against the fold.  I pinned it all together.

(Somehow I didn't get a photo of that step... sorry!)

Then I sewed it up.  I put the zipper foot on my machine and tested where the needle would pass through the fabric when the machine was running.  It was right where I needed it to be!  Hooray!!  If it hadn't been, I had the option of moving the needle to the left.

I ran the whole 4 metres through the machine and TA-DAAAH - I had piping cord with 5/8" seam!!!!

Now I did all of that it a little under an hour.  That includes stuffing about and taking photos etc.  If I had applied myself and only cut out the number of bias strips I needed, I could have done it in half an hour I think!  And its so simple - don't you agree?

I hope you find this usefull!

Beccie
xxx

Fall for Cotton: I finally made a start!

I can't believe the month is half over and I started planning this back in August!  Where has the time gone???

Anyway, just to refresh, this is what I'm making:

I'm recreating the vintage dress I saw at the Rose Seidler House fair with this amazing border print cotton that I purchased at the same fair

For the bodice I decided to use a blouse pattern that I've made a few times before (that I've done a FBA on) that fits really well - this one:

I'm just going to change the shoulders so it mimicks the inspiration dress

So I got out some fabric scraps and roughly made up the blouse.  Then I attacked it with a texta to get the right shapes for the waistline decoration:

I know the photo isn't the best, but you get the idea

And I had to make up what happens on the back, because to be honest, I don't remember what the back of the inspiration dress looks like...

I went for the bands continuing around the back

Then I cut up the stripes so I could make pattern pattern pieces from them - pretty straighforward huh!

Have any keen eyed people spotted the rather large error I made? 

I didn't either, until about 2am Sunday morning when I woke up thinking two things - a) gee my throat is sore; and b) bugger!  I got that wrong yesterday!

Yes, I sewed up the left side and left the right side open.  Derr.  I should have sewed up the right side and left the left side open cause vintage dresses zip up on the left!!!!!

Its ok though, I can just fix the pattern pieces, I don't have to do the same thing over again thank goodness!  And I would have already taken care of it if I hadn't come down with the flu (after not being sick once all winter!)

Last weekend I also went and purchased the bits I will need to make the piping to decorate these pieces.  It was slightly more complicated than I thought.  A tutorial I read here used premade bias tape as a short cut.  "Brilliant" I thought, cause you guys know how much I love a good short cut!  BUT all the bias tape that Spotlight stocks is poly-cotton. Sigh!  Can't use that in the Fall for Cotton Sewalong now can I!!!

So instead I purchased some quilting fabric in a lovely shade of dark royal blue, and some cotton piping cord.  I will be making my own bias tape and then wrapping it around the cord to make my own piping.  I'll use some more of my home made bias tape to make a tube to form the bow.

I'm aiming to do that this week so that when the weekend comes I'm ready to tackle the dress.  I'd LOVE to get it done this coming weekend.

So in closing, has anyone else had a 'derr' moment like I did?  Tell me your horror stories and make me feel better!

Beccie
xxx

Fall for Cotton: Thank you!!

Honestly, what would I do without you guys!  All your comments and suggestions really helped me think through the process of what I should sew for this sew-along.

And whilst there was plenty of good advice about killing two birds with one stone etc, I'm going to go with the project that got the most votes:

Yes, I will now be using the blue vintage roses border print fabric that I found at Rose Seidler House Fifties Fair to make my version of a gorgeous dress that was for sale at the same fair but was sadly too small.

But we all know how fast I seem to get through these projects, so when I finish what will now be called the Rose Seidler dress, I will start on the project that came in second - this one:

And if I manage to fly through that one as well (you just never know with me), I will make this one:

Actually, I will probably make this one next even if I miss the deadline to enter it into the sew-along...  So never fear, even if you voted for the Cherries and Red Gingham, you'll still see it made.

Once again, thank you so much for your help and your thoughtful comments!  I really appreciate your input!!

Beccie
xxx

Fall For Cotton : HELP!

So as announced earlier in the week, I've joined the Fall for Cotton Sew-along.  And I'd made a decision about what I was going to sew... but now I'm not so sure...

My original idea was this:

I was planning on making view 2 (right hand lady) and use red gingham on the contrasting shoulders and sleeves.  And I love this idea, and I will make it at some point... but you know how your mind wanders with inspiration some times....

Well this pattern arrived and my brain began to wander:

Mainly because I have a country themed shoot coming up in early November, and I can just see view 1 with the flouncy collar made up in blue gingham...  And besides, I do need to make a muslin of this pattern before I use it for its intended purpose, which is my Melbourne Cup dress using vintage silk with horses printed on it...

Its not cotton, so can't participate in the sew-along...

But then, my mind drifted again to the fabrics I purchased at Rose Seidler House Fifties Fair on the weekend, in particular the 4.5 metres of the blue roses border print cotton.

I do have inspiration for this dress, but its not a pattern.  Remember that glorious dress that I saw that was too small for me?  Here is a reminder:

I'm thinking I could copy it.  Wouldn't be too difficult... until I got to the piping bit.  Haven't played with piping yet...

So this is where the help bit comes in.  I can't made a decision.  I'm hoping you guys can.  To sum up, here are you choices:

A) Cherries and red gingham
B) Flouncy blue gingham
C) Vintage blue roses.

Aaaaaaand GO!

Beccie
xxx

PS.  It'd be really good if you guys could come to some sort of agreement and all comment the same, thanks!

Fall For Cotton Sew-Along

Yes, I have decided to join Tasha of By Gum, By Golly and Rochelle of Lucky Lucille in their Fall for Cotton Sew-along!

This sew along is for people who like vintage styles (check!) and think cotton fabric is amazing (check!).

Here are the rules:

1. Join the Flickr group Fall For Cotton and say hi
2. Pick a pattern tha helps you recreate a garment from your favourite vintage decade: 1920s to 1970s
3. Pick any fabric thats 100% cotton
4. Get organised to start sewing on the 1st of September
5. Have your finished garment photographed and uploaded to Flickr by the 30th of September

Not only is there a Flickr group, there is a hashtag for Instagram and Twitter - #fallforcotton

Tasha and Rochelle have already done some fabulous posts on buying vintage cotton fabric here and here, and modern cotton fabric here.

I'm working on some ideas for what I'll sew for this sew-along - the possibilities really are endless!!!  Why don't you join in???

Beccie
xxx