Malika Favre inspired Grecian Dress

After the success of my Grecian Dress I made from the DIY couture book I knew I wanted to make another in different fabric. I found this fabric in a shop in Hillsborough called Fine Fabrics and fell in love with it. It reminded me of some of the design work my favourite illustrator Malika Favre has done in the past.

Malika Favre's Hide and Seek Exhbition

Malika Favre for Carluccio's
I was a bit worried about how thin and stretchy the fabric was, but it was only £3.99 a meter so couldn't really say no! Thankfully the fabric was woven not jersey so I didn't have the same problems I'd had when I made my first grecian dress, but I did find cutting the fabric accurately was difficult with it pulling all over the place!
I tried putting in a thicker piece of elastic as a waistband but it was disastrous! Sewing it along the top was fine but keeping both the elastic and dress equally taught while sewing around the bottom was impossible! I'm sure there is a really easy trick to it, but I have no idea and didn't want to risk trying again as I was already in danger of destroying my fabric!
Luckily I'd got a little strip of thin elastic sitting in my sewing box so I took my first attempt off and put that on the same way I had on my cartoon dress. I think I put it on a bit wonky :(

After putting on my elastic and trying on I found that this fabric was a bit flappier than the jersey I made my first dress from so I needed to make the bodice a little tighter. I sewed in a new set of seams up to the elastic to make it fit better and it seemed to work. Yay!

Beyond that the hemming and neckline was pretty simple. I cut the neck a little bigger as I pulled a thread on the fabric while cutting (such delicate stuff!) and tried to cover it up! You can still see it a bit but I don't think it's blindingly obvious.

x

Currently listening to: 'If I Don't' Secret Sisters

DIY Couture Skater Skirt

After a resounding success of my Grecian Dress I gave another pattern in the book a go. I took another trip to the market and picked up some yellow gingham. There really seems to be a lack of yellow gingham items in the shops! So I thought making my own would be the perfect solution.

I eagerly followed all the instructions in the book and cut out two half circles to make the skirt. It wasn't until I got them sewn up that I realised the skirt was MUCH too big to fit around my waist! All the pies in the world weren't going to make this guy fit snugly! So I re-read the instructions and tried to make it smaller, this time really buggering it up and making something big enough to fit Barbie. I ended up buying more fabric and re-reading again. I found the skirt was frustratingly STILL much too big. It said in the book if it was too big then you could cut some off, but I found it really difficult to know what angle to cut my chunk off. The result of this, it warned me, was that it could slightly change the way the skirt hangs. You can kind of tell a little bit when I am wearing it, but if I don't tell anyone I don't think they will know!

After putting it together I was quite disappointed to find that the fabric was ridiculously see-through! I was so disappointed! I knew I was faced with the options of either putting in a lining (erk!), or making an underskirt. I ended up knocking together a really tiny skirt with a simple elastic waistband with what little gingham I had left to wear underneath. I really wish I'd picked a heavier fabric to make the whole thing out of. I find it's a bit too flappy and despite having a cased-bottom around the hem, the skirt is much too light and doesn't hang very well at all. So far I've only worn it out once, and that was just to watch telly at John's. I'm a bit timid to make another one out of something heavier as I really couldn't work out why the sizing wasn't working in the first place.

For the sake of these photos and bragging on Facebook, the skirt doesn't look to bad, but it's not something I want to wear on a windy day. Lesson learned.

Tx

Currently listening to: 'We Wait Too Long' Nicole Atkins

Grecian Dress (It's My Best Dream)

Project number one was the easiest looking pattern I could find out of my D.I.Y Couture book by Rosie Martin that John got me for my birthday.

The book is awesome because it talks even the blindest beginner right through each step. Superbly illustrated, I knew when I unwrapped this gem that I would have no excuses not to make things anymore. Each project in the book features variations on the pattern so you can make the garment really individual.

I picked up my fabric from the local market, asking the lady rather excitedly for some advice. I was looking for something a bit tropical looking, but fell in love with a rather vividly patterned cartoon fabric. I was told it would be easy to sew as it wasn't too thick and had a good stretch so it should be easy to make it fit.
Having never really done anything like this before, I didn't realise that stretch fabrics are a nightmare to sew!! I felt like I was stumped before I'd even really got going!
After swapping my machine needle for a smaller one and with a bit of perseverance I stitched in a few wobbly seams and assembled the garment!
I was particularly impressed at how easy it was to sew in the elastic waistband, the trick being to match it up with all the mid-points on the dress and keep it taught. In hindsight I would probably have used a thicker band of elastic, but there is chance for that next time!

The fabric is hilarious because it doesn't actually make sense, (my favourite quote being 'It's my best dream!') but I love it all the same. It never fails to pick up a few comments from customers when I wear it to work.
The stretch of it came in handy when I added a bias bound neckline. The prospect terrified me, but it actually turned out really well!

I think I made it a bit too short, which is a bummer because I actually cut quite a bit off thinking it was too long! I can easily get away with it if I'm wearing leggins but wouldn't like to try it without!

Tx