Home-made clothes

[Ant999]

Something that could give you some bang for your buck is to make you and infinite dress. 1 dress, but so many ways it can be worn, and very easy to make. Can be done with just 1 seam and maybe some hemming.

Thanks, I'll put that on the list of possible future projects.

[Tewhano]

I bought myself a sewing machine and some patterns thinking that I am going to make all kinds of fancy clothing for my girls. I was going to take the fashion world by storm. Took one look at the patterns...yeah...fashion world will have to wait. Guess I will start simple and work my way up from there. I found a tutorial on how to "refashion" a dress shirt into a dress. My girls wear my white shirts the majority of the time so this was a perfect place to start. Well here is what I have so far. I'm still undecided what to do with the cuffs, straight or flared? I cut down the arms and sides to fit a bit better and let the 'dress' portion flare out from the waist. Tons of "oh shit that isn't right" but I am happy to get this far.

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[Ant999]

I bought myself a sewing machine and some patterns thinking that I am going to make all kinds of fancy clothing for my girls. I was going to take the fashion world by storm. Took one look at the patterns...yeah...fashion world will have to wait. Guess I will start simple and work my way up from there. I found a tutorial on how to "refashion" a dress shirt into a dress. My girls wear my white shirts the majority of the time so this was a perfect place to start. Well here is what I have so far. I'm still undecided what to do with the cuffs, straight or flared? I cut down the arms and sides to fit a bit better and let the 'dress' portion flare out from the waist. Tons of "oh shit that isn't right" but I am happy to get this far.
K70P7372_fb.jpg

Way to go, she already has something unique, even if not as glamorous as the fashion houses. As always, that frustrating difference between what the mind can visualize and what the hands can make, but a year from now, you may look back and smile at what you have achieved.

[Tewhano]

but a year from now, you may look back and smile at what you have achieved.

If I can't figure out how to use this overcast foot this dress won't last a year. It 'binds' the edge of the fabric so it doesn't unravel. It is already starting to fray from the handling while sewing it. I have several tutorial videos on how to read the patterns so hopefully I won't have to enroll in a collage course to be able to understand it.

[Ant999]

but a year from now, you may look back and smile at what you have achieved.

If I can't figure out how to use this overcast foot this dress won't last a year. It 'binds' the edge of the fabric so it doesn't unravel. It is already starting to fray from the handling while sewing it. I have several tutorial videos on how to read the patterns so hopefully I won't have to enroll in a collage course to be able to understand it.

My machine is basic, no overcast foot, so I can't even give you advice on that one. As for the "oh shit this isn't right", welcome to the club!
I started with the long-expected princess dress for Geniece, as a skirt and separate top design. I wanted the skirt to end at her ankles at the back, but a bit higher at the front, with a sexy (but not slutty) slit going some way up the front. I measured and made a template out of paper, it seemed ok so I started making the skirt. Hung it around her and it was significantly too short. Ok fine, just add a 15 cm wide "belt" at the top, same length as the existing top edge. Nooo, this is completely not what was desired, the thing has a very slutty massive opening at the front. Why? Because the original belt line was 60 cm long, enough for her 50 cm waist plus a small overlap. But when the new belt line sits around her waist, the 60 cm original upper edge has to go around her 75 cm hips, resulting in the big gap at the front. Adding 15 cm at the top is no use, it is the bottom that is too short. No way to rescue this one, just start over. Fortunately the fabric was less than $1 per meter, and there was only 2.4 meters left of that color, so I took all of it. We live and learn....

How it fitted before the belt was added, closes at the front, but too high above the ankles

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After addition..nooo, even worse. Start over.

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[Tewhano]

My project to refashion a dress shirt into a dress is finished. What a chore it was. Although I am thinking of adding a blue sash for the waist with the intent to double as a belt for the waist stand I have. The sleeves started off as the white ones from the original shirt. I sewed one on shorter than the other. So I cut one down only to discover that I cut the wrong one. Once I cut the correct one I decided it was now too short so I added the blue sleeves made from a bed sheet I bought for another project. There are 7 points the thread passes through on my machine. I missed one. Ended up with a huge ball of thread before I noticed it. After fixing that I continued on for a while with no problems until the bobbin was getting close to the end. When filling the bobbin I forgot to hold the loose end and that got caught up in the windings. Results: another waste of thread. Live and learn eh? Well we'll see if I did learn anything. Next project is reading a pattern to make a dress.

K70P7378_fb.jpg (141.92 KiB) Viewed 34 times

[Ant999]

My project to refashion a dress shirt into a dress is finished. What a chore it was. Although I am thinking of adding a blue sash for the waist with the intent to double as a belt for the waist stand I have. The sleeves started off as the white ones from the original shirt. I sewed one on shorter than the other. So I cut one down only to discover that I cut the wrong one. Once I cut the correct one I decided it was now too short so I added the blue sleeves made from a bed sheet I bought for another project. There are 7 points the thread passes through on my machine. I missed one. Ended up with a huge ball of thread before I noticed it. After fixing that I continued on for a while with no problems until the bobbin was getting close to the end. When filling the bobbin I forgot to hold the loose end and that got caught up in the windings. Results: another waste of thread. Live and learn eh? Well we'll see if I did learn anything. Next project is reading a pattern to make a dress.K70P7378_fb.jpg

Yes, don't be discouraged, we live and learn, and maybe we learn some colorful language every time we discover a mistake, but now she has a unique dress that shows that she has rather nice curvaceous hips under it. Keep at it!