Kazakh Dress

Finally finished the sewing project that I mentioned back here over two weeks ago! Isn't it annoying how life just gets in the way some times? My grand plans for spending my summer doing nothing but sewing, socialising and sunbathing scuppered by mudane things like finding a flat, rain and insuring my car. I was kinda afraid to use this fabric that I bought when I was in kazakhstan. What if I ruined it? It was irreplaceable. After it had been sitting in my stash for nearly a year I decided that it was finally time to bite the bullet. I settled on making a shift dress to start with, one, because I have used this pattern several times before, see here and here, and two, because I thought such a bold print needed to be balanced by a simple dress.

* I totally loath those kinks that I get in the back of my hair, even my straighteners rarely deal with them. Luckily I don't see the back of my head too often*

The pattern is Burda Young 8123. The construction went well, the best with this pattern so far, although I still have trouble with the facings (I think they are a bit too big), finishing the shoulders and the fitting at the back. It fits fine across the front but pulls at the back although not as badly as it looks in the photo. It is certainly wearable. Obviously my pattern matching is nothing to write home about as you can see from the side seams and the zipper but I did make the effort to make sure that the print was at least level across all the pieces which was a new thing for me.

Ribbons

My lastest sewing project. Made from Burda Young pattern 8123. I cut the pattern a couple of sizes too big to give the dress a looser more shift like shape. I also cut the neckline rounder and a little deeper. I sewed on the ribbons after I had sewn in the darts, finished the back, sewed the two sides together, wacked some bias binding around the neck and arm holes, a voila! I'm very pleased with the result. The embellishments make it much more unique than anything else I have made and it has a cool kinda 1980's meets 1960's feel to it.

MySpace Archive - Photos and Sewing

I know I'm about 5 years behind everyone else on this but I finally bothered to find out how to add pictures to this blog, so here is some pictures of my sewing that I tried to add ages ago.

These are the first two dresses I made both from old curtains using a hand drawn pattern from the book 'Yeah! I made it myself'. I have since realised how unflattering they were and they are in the bin/spare fabric bag (I can't remember which). Nevertheless they weren't a bad start, I even wore the lilac one out of the house! I've cut my head of in these pictures so as not to distract from the brilliance of the clothes (and because I was looking bloody awful).

Next I made these two skirts using a pattern from Burda. The pink one has an elastic waistband, which isn't too flattering but it looks fine under a top. I have since cut the black netting to make it much shorter and I wore the skirt out one night. The netting is really itchy though. I really loved the fabric of the greenish skirt (it was also an old pair of curtains) but once made it didn't seem to suit me or go with anything else I had, so it too never made it into my wardrobe, which I kinda regret now.

Two more dresses I made without patterns, they are simply two trapezoids sewn together, with elastic sewn in round the top and a ribbon round the waist, volia! Have worn both out and about.

Another dress I tried to make without a pattern, really not a good idea unless there is elastic and ribbons/hefty waist belts involved to give some shape. Debated wearing this one day, then chickened out, which was probably for the best.

A top I made from nothing more than an old scarf from a charity shop and a few bits of ribbon. Doesn't look all that impressive in the photos, but it must be halfway decent as I wore it out too.

Dress made from a Burda pattern and that same curtain material (we had a lot of spare curtains okay). It used to have pockets but looked like a cleaning lady's uniform so I removed them. Haven't actually worn this due to lack of the sunny spring days I feel it deserves.

Skirt made from that same Burda pattern. Wore it out to a school disco.

My best piece yet, made from the Burda pattern again. I wore this out on my 21st birthday where I insisted on telling most people I met that I'd made it and got rather drunk, hence why I'm not adding a photo of me wearing it that night.

Some other random bits and bobs I've made.