Something slightly different...

I always wear a dress in December (we call it Dressember, you can find out more on facebook.)

So this is a dress inspired piece of applique, and the black fabric is made from one of my old dresses. I think this could be a lovely way of remembering favourite frocks. I'd like to say it was a self portrait but most of the time I'm not that glamorous!

It started with a vest...

In this case a slightly grey boy's vest which had done that annoying twisty thing on the seams ... but I decided to make it into a dress.

It was too wide for Poppy so I chopped the sides off and some of the length.

My idea was to sew some tiers of pretty fabric onto it. If you are a child of the 70's you will probably remember an item of clothing which had a nylon vest top and a tartan kilty skirt attached to the bottom. This is the same idea - a skirt attached to a vest, supposed to be worn with a t-shirt over the top.

So it doesn't matter what the vest is like - that bit gets covered up.
I think it has worked quite well as an experiment - I have to admit is rather snug for Poppy and only just fits. I should have allowed more width to get it on and off more easily.

Tablecloth Dress

I bought a square tablecloth in the charity shop. It was 50p.

"Now, what am I actually going to do with that?" I thought to myself.

"I know, I think I'll make it into a dress. Won't worry about a pattern, just cut some bits out, stitch them together, and hey presto..."

Now, I know, it's not the greatest dress in the world, but it's the first dress I ever made!

And it did use to be a tablecloth!!

Knitted Pinafore Dress - Mama made Monday

 

 This is a stash-busting attempt!

I have a rather large amount of a bobbly yarn called Sirdar Fresco; I was lured in by the pretty pastel colours and soft fluffy bobbliness but it turned out to be a pig to knit with!

But not to be beaten I decided to try knitting it with a strand of plain blue yarn - just a cheapy acrylic dk.

I'm quite pleased with the look of the two together.

And this is the finished pinafore, looks rather triangular in this photo!! The two yarns make the finished knitted garment quite thick - I might try making a sweater using more of the blasted stuff.

Here is my little model; I was worried it wouldn't fit but it is actually rather roomy and will fit for ages!!

T-shirt dress

It would appear my sewing machine fears were ungrounded as I've managed to make this!

It's an old t-shirt with a length of material (sent by my mum in a bag of leftovers) sewn around to make the skirt.

I got the idea here but I have to admit I didn't follow her instructions exactly.

I think the applique heart was the most difficult part - up until then I had only sewn in a straight line!