Formal dress: Cinderella style with a slight geek twist

Hey everyone!
So I have a formal event coming up soon. One that requires a formal dress, floor-length, all that yada-yada.

Since I didn't have any suitable dresses, I decided to embark on a mission to make one. From all-secondhand materials.

Now, I could have just made a simple dress, a modification from my previous dresses, but I decided I wanted to make a corset-top dress. Cinderella style. Because why not? I mean, how hard can it be?

I thought of Cinderella because I had like 8 yards of light blue shimmery fabric I'd bought secondhand, so I thought I could use that. I also had about a yard of another blue fabric I had left over from my Margaery Tyrell cosplay last year. So I decided to combine all this blueness and make a formal dress, almost like a ball-gown. With corset bones and all.

I found inspiration in Angela Clayton's blog. She is an amazing seamstress and designer who makes historically inspired dresses and costumes.

I started by tearing apart a corset which I already owned (it was broken so I couldn't use it anymore as it was). I salvaged the metal boning and the back piece with the eyelets where the lacing goes. I also used the corset to make a tentative pattern.

Here are the pattern pieces:

I used the pattern to make a mock-up from an old bed sheet.

I basted a zipper onto the mock-up and tried it on. I had to make some adjustments, after which I ripped the mock-up to pieces and used them to make a new pattern. With this new pattern, I cut out two layers of durable canvas-like fabric and decided where the boning channels should go by placing the boning pieces onto the fabric. I then sewed the boning channels through both layers and inserted the boning so it was sandwiched in between.

I cut and sewed together the fabric that would be on the right side. I pinned it onto the corset base to be sewn on by hand.

So then I had this:

I attached the back pieces with the eyelets and pinned the lining, also to be sewn on by hand.

For someone who hates sewing things by hand, this was a courageous mission to embark on... Luckily I had something to keep me sane whilst sewing. Meaning, Stargate SG-1. Oh, I watched a lot of SG-1 during this process.

After the lining was sewn on, the bodice part was completed and ready to be laced.

Sure, I'd tried the bodice on throughout the process, but this was the first time I got to put the completed bodice on, lacing and all.

Here's how it looked:

(My pants are extremely stylish and go so well with the corset bodice, don't they? :D)

Here's the back laced:

Then I decided the bodice needed some sprucing up. Some decorations, something.

Beads?

Beads.

Beads it is, then.

I rummaged through the DIY bins at the nearest secondhand store and found two unopened packages of beads (see-through gray and deep violet) for 1 euro. I also found a necklace made of multiple rows of black and clear beads for 2 euros. So I cut the necklace to pieces and I had more than enough beads.

But what to make with the beads? I have a slight aversion to the typical floral beading patterns, so I decided to come up with my own...

Inspired by May-Britt Moser's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance "Neuron Dress" by Matthew Hubble, I decided to make neuron bead pattern. After all, it does match my tattoo.

So, I used pins to mark an approximate pattern of neurons onto the front of the bodice and started beading.

(Note to self: those beads are crafty mofos with a tendency to make a run for it. I dropped like 50 of them on the floor throughout the process, and even though I managed to find most of them I'm fairly sure I'll find beads in this apartment at least for the next few months. I found a few in our bed already, and that's not even in the same room than where the beading happened...)

Anyway. The beading was a slow, tedious process, but thankfully Stargate SG-1 was there to save the day. Or more like days. I estimate that I used something like 15 hours for the beading. I mean, I watched 19 episodes of Stargate while I was doing it, so I'm basing my estimate on that :D

Here's the beading done:

Here's how it looks worn (I paired it with a random skirt just to see how the bodice will look with a full skirt):

Then it was on to the skirt!

Like I said, I'd found about 8 yards of this blue fabric:

I cut out three full-widths of the fabric, each piece 140 cm long (about 55 inches). I cut the pieces 140 cm because I needed enough length to fold the top over several inches for cartridge pleats, as well as the bottom for hemming.

I sewed the three panels together so I had a massive piece that was 450x140 cm (something like 180x55 inches).

I serged the top and bottom edges to prevent fraying. Then I put a 5 cm (2-inch) strip of iron-on interfacing approximately 5 cm from the top edge across the whole 450 cm width. I folded the top over the interfacing and then proceeded to do cartridge pleats all across the top edge (except for the mid-front, where I put one bigger box pleat).

Cartridge pleats are sewn by hand, so more hand-sewing for me! You can find instructions online on how to do cartridge pleats in case you're interested. Cartridge pleats are excellent when you need to fold massive amounts of fabric to match for example a waistline, as cartridge pleating doesn't add much bulk to the waist.

After completing the pleats I made some bias tape and hand-sewed it on the pleats so they'd stay in place.

At this point I realized something that made me feel very weird...

...I no longer hated hand-sewing with a passion. In fact, I'd kind of grown to like it. (WHAT?!)

I suppose watching all those Stargate episodes might have something to do with it - I've now associated hand-sewing with Jack O'Neill's jokes, and hence hand-sewing is no longer that awful.

I like how hand-sewing sort of gives me total control and I can place stitches in places where no sewing machine could. Also it's grown to be kind of soothing to sit and hand-stitch something. I don't know what happened, but I feel like I won't be avoiding hand-sewing as much in the future.

***

For the closure in the back of the skirt, I sewed a strip of hooks-and-eyes. The strip was also found at the DIY bins of the nearby secondhand store, and it cost me like 25 cents. In the picture are the leftovers, I used a strip of 10 hooks and 10 eyes for the closure in the back of the skirt.

Here's the top of the skirt finished. The visible stitches on the bias tape look awful, I know, but they will be covered by the bottom edge of the bodice so I didn't bother to make them pretty.

Now all there was left to do was to hem the skirt. I decided at the last moment that I would keep the dress as a two-piece and not sew the bodice to the skirt (I might still change my mind, but at the moment I'm liking them separate, as I feel it gives me more opportunities to use the pieces).

I also need to make a petticoat to make the skirt a bit fuller-looking, but other than that this dress project is pretty much done.

Here's a few pictures of what it looks worn (the skirt isn't yet hemmed at this point and it lacks fullness because there isn't a petticoat underneath, but other than that it's finished).

***

I am quite pleased with how this turned out, being my first time making anything with corset boning and all. And time-consuming as it was, this project was amazingly cheap, material-wise.

Material costs:
-Skirt fabric 8 euros (secondhand), of which I used maybe half, so ~4 euros.
-Bodice outside fabric 4 euros (secondhand), I used about 1/4, so ~1 euro.
-Corset base fabric 5 euros (secondhand), I used maybe like 1/5 of the original piece, so ~1 euro.
-Beads 3 euros (secondhand), of which I used less than half, so ~1.5 euros
-Corset boning and lacing from a corset I already owned (and which I had bought secondhand for 10 euros), so maybe ~5 euros.
-Hooks-and-eyes ~25 cents.
-Lots of thread, but no more than a few euros' worth, let's say 2 euros.

Total cost of the materials: less than 15 euros.

Of course, counting the hours I spent on this and calculating an hourly salary if I were to make this to sell it... well, the price would be something like 600 euros. So yeah, the material costs are the tiniest fraction of the price when you purchase something that's handmade. Ever since I started sewing for myself, I've had a growing respect for the people who sell their beautiful handmade creations; and I totally understand where the (often sky-high) price is coming from.
...Well, I understand it, but I personally can't afford it. :D

Sometimes I think I started sewing because I lack the funds to buy stuff tailored / handmade. Sure, it takes time to make your own clothes but at least you get exactly what you want (and buying almost everything secondhand like I do really helps to cut down the costs as well.)

***

So, how do you like this dress? :)

love,
Satu / Sew Scoundrel

Comic strip dress from a curtain

...People have all kinds of methods of procrastination when they want to avoid schoolwork. Looks like mine is sewing. :D

I helped my friend Stormiina to move apartments over the weekend, and as we were unpacking her stuff she tossed all kinds of stuff at me that she didn't need anymore (like a couple of dresses and a Darth Vader shirt). She also gifted me a comic strip curtain she said she didn't think she'd use anymore.

(The comic strips contain quite a lot of spelling errors, but meh, whatever.)

I immediately saw the dress potential this curtain had.

I ripped open the folded edges and ends of the curtain and after that I had a 140x240 cm (~55x95-inch) piece of fabric - perfect.

I dug around my pile of fabrics and found a piece of thrifted white fabric for lining (1€) and a secondhand zipper (0.50€).

I cut the pieces for the top...

...and sewed them together beautifully with the help of this tutorial.

Seriously, I'd never before managed to figure out how to do the lining without having any unsightly seams on the inside, but that tutorial I linked above was very helpful and the results are really professional-looking.

Then I cut out a long rectangle for a waistband, set that aside and cut the rest of the curtain up into skirt pieces and assembled them into the skirt part of the dress. I had enough for about half-circle skirt (because I wanted the pattern to be right way up around the skirt, so I lost some fabric to that).

Then I sewed the waistband into a tube, attached it to the skirt, then attached the top piece as well. After that it was only a matter of adding a zipper, hemming the skirt and top-stitching around the armholes and the neckline. And done!

***

So, the cost? I got the curtain for free and the rest of the equipment I used for this project cost me 1.50€ (plus thread, electricity for the sewing machine etc...)

So maybe around 2 euros.

And it only took me one evening to finish this! :)

I personally love the dress! It's awesome but it's not "too fancy" to wear as an everyday dress. Some materials just end up looking way too fancy-schmancy when you make a circle skirt (or a half-circle skirt) dress out of them, but this looks like it can be easily dressed up or down depending on the accessories paired with it. All in all, a very successful DIY project.

Stormiina, thanks so much for the curtain! You're the best! ♥

What do you think of this dress? :)

love,
Satu / Sew Scoundrel

Oh Deer (pun intended) - it's a dress!

Heya,
Recently I became part of a Facebook group called "Make Thrift Buy Community Challenges", which is a group created by the wonderful Annika Victoria. She hosts a YouTube series called Make Thrift Buy, in which she recreates suggested clothes and accessories by being awesome and thrifty. The Facebook group is a group in which the members vote on what piece of clothing we should try and make for ourselves. Then we get creative, make the chosen piece whichever way feels best for us and share the results with the group. It's a lovely community and I'm happy to be a part of it.

That said, this month's challenge was a deer hoodie, which looks like this:

From here.

I am not really a hoodie person, as you might be able to tell by my blog, so I decided to do something else deer-related instead.

Here's my draft:

I found like 6 meters of brown corduroy at a secondhand store for 6 euros and a piece of cream colored fabric for 1 euro.

So, seeing as I already had a zipper (0.50€ from a secondhand store), I was all set.

I cut the top pieces (princess seamed)...

...and pieces for the skirt part:

I sewed the top pieces and made a facing for the neck and arms.

I then assembled the skirt and inserted a waistband:

Since the hem was angular when assembled, I simply measured 57 cm from the waistband down all over the skirt to get an even hem and serged around the entire thing.

So then when all sewn together, the dress looked like this:

***

So then I moved onto the antlers and other decorative pieces.

I measured the length and curve the antlers would have to be to fit the neckline and drafted this:

It's drawn on self-adhesive plastic, because then it was easy to stick it to a folded up piece of fabric and cut out four identical pieces:

I first tried to sew one pair together right sides together and turn the piece inside out, but the fabric was too thick and the antler details too small for that to happen. It was a disaster, so I tossed that. I traced and cut two more, added some iron-on interfacing to prevent fraying and then sewed the pieces together right sides out. I trimmed the seam allowances and then I had these:

I figured out the placement of the antlers, attached them with some pins and then hand-sewed them onto the dress. I used kind of a blanket stitch to further prevent the edges from fraying.

So I sewed.

And sewed.

And sewed.

Seriously, it took me 7 (seven!) Stargate SG-1 episodes before the antlers were attached. I chose SG-1 to pass time because I've seen it all before so I was able to look mostly at what I was doing with my needle and didn't need to pay much attention to the screen. So it was all, stitch-stitch-stitch-laugh-at-O'Neill's-jokes-stitch-stitch-Teal'c-is-awesome-stitch-stitch-stitch-- ad infinitum.

(Have I mentioned how much I hate sewing things by hand? Well, I'm mentioning it again. And this little ordeal didn't really change that for the better...)

But then again, the end result just might have been worth it.

Then I cut out some circular shapes (and one heart like in the original hoodie) and kind of splashed them onto the back of the dress.

I sewed the pieces on with my sewing machine (because I was so done with hand-sewing) and used some fray check for prevent the edges from fraying. Then I just needed to hem the dress by turning the serged edge over once and top-stitching over it. And it was finally done!

***

So here is the finished dress:

(I was supposed to make pockets but I got lazy, but since the pocket type I was thinking of making is a single welt pocket, that can be easily added later on if I want to.)

And here's me rocking my dear deer dress!

***

So, what do you think? :)

love,
scoundrel / Satu