I've been a busy bee lately, in terms of sewing that is, as I seem to have finally got my sewing mojo back, which I'm very thankful for. There was a basket of projects waiting to be tackled. All things I've promised myself I would do when I got the time, and I have no excuse on that count these days.
The first project I tackled was a quilted gilet. I was influenced to make it after buying this gilet from Primark a while back. It looked like a very simple construction.
I have made it in a similar style, but have quilted it differently and it is made with this cotton poplin print fabric.
You can see from the above photo that I quilted it in vertical lines, which were quite close together. The spots on the fabric helped me to keep them as straight as I could, but there was the odd wobble here and there.
It took a week to finish it, as I stitched the binding on by hand, which was quite time consuming. I used a vintage dress that I cut up to make the binding and tie at the front. I had already removed the buttons from the dress and was going to use it to make a pattern for a quilted vest, but didn't in the end. It wasn't really donateable in it's current state and would have probably ended up in the rag bag, so I decided to cut it up and use the fabric which was a kind of crepey polyester. It worked well enough and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.
Here's a picture of the finished gilet:
I didn't put pockets on the front, but I did stitch a pocket on the inside, big enough to hold my phone when I'm out and about, so I don't have to keep getting it in and out of my handbag. It worked perfectly for this purpose. I found the gilet really comfortable and easy to wear and hopefully I'll get good wear out of it. I may make another in a different fabric, as I don't always want to wear a coat, especially in the early autumn/late spring, when a bodywarmer type jacket comes in very useful.
The next project that I attempted was to make another dungaree dress. I made this black cotton one back in May, but needed to create a new pattern from it, as I'd lent mine to someone at the sewing class. I eventually got around to making a new paper pattern. I used squared pattern paper that I had in my stash for just this purpose. It was really easy to make and only took half an hour. I then cut the pieces out of two fabrics that I want to make this dress from.
I started to make the first one with this khaki camo cotton fabric that I bought from a local fabric warehouse for £4 per metre. I'd bought myself a twin needle for this project and set about making it. I was making really good progress until the needle just fell apart. The little plastic bridge that holds the two needles together split in two and is irrepairable, so I had to order another one on eBay to continue with the project.
I only had the front pockets left to sew on with the twin needle, the rest I could get away with using a single needle, so I continued to do what I could until I got to the point of not being able to get any further and then waited for the new needle to arrive. I bought a different brand, hoping it might be stronger and will last for completing both of the dresses and longer if possible, we'll just have to see how that goes. The space between the needles was a bit narrower on the new needle, but I'm hoping it won't be too noticeable. It's the best I could do anyway.
A few days later, the new needle arrived and I continued with the project, sewing on the front pockets. I did make a bit of a mess of this on my first attempt and a lot of unpicking was required. I decided that sewing around corners with the double needle wasn't for me, so on the front pockets I just sewed each seam individually which was much easier.
I managed to get the camo dress to a point where I couldn't do much more on it without needing to overlock the internal seams. To do this I needed to re-thread my new overlocker, which OH bought me for my birthday and I just kept putting it off thinking it was going to be very difficult.
As a diversion, I began work on the second dress, which I made with this red floral needlecord fabric.
I had about 3 metres of it and it had been in my stash for years. I couldn't think of anything else that I might make with it, so this project seemed like a good option. I again worked on this dress until I only had to overlock the internal seams and then hem it, so that both items were at the same stage. This meant that I couldn't put off tackling the overlocker any longer and finally got it out of the box and attempted to rethread it with black thread.
The overlocker had come ready threaded, but with white thread and not much of it. Luckily, I had already bought black overlocker reels, as it's the colour I tend to use most when I'm making clothing.
Anyway, I was eventually able to do the overlocking that I needed to do, then I could hem both dresses and finally finish them. Here's a couple of pictures of the finished dresses:
The Camo print
and the Floral Needlecord
I decided to photograph them on the mannekin, as it gives a much more realistic idea of how they look on. I'm now looking forward to getting the chance to wear them out and about this Autumn/Winter.
I've got a few more dressmaking projects in mind following on from these ones, one of which I've already started and a couple more alteration projects too. I'll keep you posted with progress.
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