#miymarch16

A very creased pair of old jeans!

I got these jeans for my 21st.  I’m a bit of a hoarder, and while they had a tear in them where the fabric was so thin and worn out, I hadn’t had the heart to chuck them away.

When I met up with my mum and sister in March, they suggested cutting them up into something new.  Due to the location of the worn out section, a skirt was not suitable!  However, we came up with making a tool belt.

One of the best parts of making something from something you’re prepared to throw away is that it doesn’t cost you anything and you have a lot of freedom to just go for it!  I simply placed a ruler over the jeans roughly where I thought the length would be good and took a rotary cutter to it!

As you can see, I curved the back to make it more apron like, but also so I could keep the back pockets.  Jeans lend themselves to being a belt because of all the pockets!!  I added some patches to the back pockets and then added a pom pom trim and ribbon border.

I wanted to add more decoration, and following my recent addiction to free machine embroidery (which I will go into more detail at some point in the future), I drew out some sewing related appliqué onto bondaweb!

Et voila!  Here is the end result!  I added some random buttons to the front pockets and stitched additional detail on the appliqué.  Now I put my scissors on a bungee rope so they’re always with me but I do think I need to add a scissor holster to it to improve it.

Make it Yourself March is an Instagram event.  It involves posting an image based on the daily photo prompt – a list can be found on Wendy Ward’s blog from this year.

New to Instagram, I found this event coincided beautifully with a couple of my goals – to become more familiar with using social media and to push myself to create more.  It was a great way to be inspired by fellow dressmakers.

Instagram is an easy form of social media if you have a smart phone and I’ve carried on using it since.

During March, I made 4 dressmaking items, completed upcycling projects, planned future projects, made gifts and machine embroidered.

Within week one, I realised that I hadn’t made a dress in over a year.  To remedy this, my partner chose a pattern from my hoard – Simplicity 3833 – and suggested a fabric he found in my stash.  This is indeed a stashbusting project as it’s a remnant I picked up a year or so ago and I only just about had enough material to make it!

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The pattern and material chosen

Taking over the lounge!

Pinning the templates

I really liked using this pattern.  The instructions were clear to follow in general.  I got a little bit confused on the zip directions, but then I tend to get confused when it comes to the zip stage whatever the project or pattern!

I chose the sleeve option.  I like sleeveless dresses and I think the sleeveless option would turn out great but I chose sleeves to practise them!  Considering this is my second attempt at sleeves, I’m quite chuffed!  I did forget to trace and tailor tack a couple of reference points on the sleeves template which didn’t help but I just gave it a go!

A new technique I learned with this pattern was understitching, which I had not heard of before but is great as it stops the interfacing rolling out on display on the neckline.  The pattern gave clear directions on this, but I checked online to ensure I understood it correctly.

This is the first time I’ve been able to use my tailor’s dummy for one of its main purposes – to assist with hemming!  It was invaluable.  I pinned where I wanted the length of the dress to finish and then used the pinned line as a guide to press and hem the length.

Hemming on the lovely tailor’s dummy!

The finished result!

Button belt detail on the back

I would use this pattern again – perhaps using the sleeveless design or going for the longer sleeved version to vary it.