I love dresses. You wouldn’t know that by what I wear everyday. But, secretly, I hoard dresses. Primarily fancy dresses. Gowns and the like. From thrift stores. And whenever I go over to my sister Jenny’s house, we have to play dress-up with her latest batch of vintage/ thrift-store dress finds. I guess it runs in the family.

I was, therefore, thrilled to find this sewing blog, called A Dress A Day. Lovely!

The author of the blog is a fan of vintage clothing (hooray!) and sewing (double hooray!), and she provides all kinds of fun links for anyone who enjoys either one of those things. I think I might just spend some time linking around this weekend.

Hope yours is a good one.

Until next time,
Christine

Inspired by Christine, had a shot at altering my own CHA t-shirt, and here are the results. Wasn't quite sure where to start, so had a look at tops I already had for inspiration, and here's my 'creative process' (!?)

1. Cut out scoop neck right round neckline and ran stitch along raw edge. Cut off bottom couple of inches to shorten overall length.

2. Cut off sleeves just below shoulder seam, unpicked sleeve seams, sewed pleat into cuff-ends and attached this end back onto shoulders.

3. Tried t-shirt on and realised that combo of wide scoop and heavy sleeves created off-the-shoulder Flashdance effect (now I'm all for retro looks, but firmly believe that if you did it the first time round, you probably shouldn't go back there).

4. Felt dejected, ate some chocolate and asked the cats for advice - they looked concerned but were ultimately not much help.

5. Neatened strip of fabric I'd cut from hem and used this to make a halter neck to keep sleeves up.

6. Cut out slogan that had come away when I'd cut the scoop and stitched onto bottom of shirt with a funky zig-zag stitch.

7. Put t-shirt on and spend a frustrating 5 minutes trying to photograph self.

8. Tidied sewing area, picked up husband from a work's night out. Husband suggested I make t-shirts for the cats. Cats looked horrified. I think he'd had one or two beers . . .

So that's my first brush with altered clothing, and I'm sure won't be my last. Looking forward to seeing more altered creativity from other members!

Jen xxx

 

            

One of my new favorite magazines, Blueprint (a Martha Stewart magazine), is ceasing publication with its March 2008 issue. It has all sorts of fun home decor ideas, life ideas, craft ideas--all that you'd expect from Martha Stewart. Anyway, I picked up the January/February issue at the bookstore last weekend, just to soak in the last bits of goodness before it goes away, and I found a terrific article on re-inventing your clothing.

In it, they show different ways to alter clothing to give it a new look. Everything from pants (making them into capris) and winter coats (shortening the sleeves and removing the collar) to shoes (embellishing and even changing out the heel!).

Check it out while you can. And if you end up loving the magazine as much as I do, we can be sad together.

Until next time,

Christine

Hi there

I'm off to see the Editor of Sewing World magazine, Wendy Gardiner, tomorrow. It'll be great to have the chance to sit down with one of the UK's top experts and find out all about what's hot and what's not from her perspective. I'm keen to find out what the latest techniques are in home and fashion sewing, and ways we can start integrating all these great sewing trends onto our projects and books. Get a link to the mag at www.mycraftivity/jennyfoxpro.

I'll report back with any sewing gems I glean!

Blog again soon
Jen

Hey there - I'm Jen, the UK arm of out sewing 'n' fashion team. I wanted to let you and the team know that my first sewing machine has arrived (a very lovely Brother BC2100), and I was zooming away on it at the weekend - it's my first proper, serious attempt at machine sewing (I've always sewn by hand) so it's a steep learning curve. However I was totally amazed by how easy it was set up and thread - even with just the instruction DVD, I was stitching away within 10 minutes (see my personal site for a piccie!).

However my challenge now is to actually make something that I'm not ashamed to post here! I love Cath Kidston and Amy Butler style fabrics, so I know what kind of look I want.

Any suggestions for a good first project on my machine (I thought I'd try one of the projects from Sew Many Bags, Sew Little Time or Sew Pretty Homestyle, but maybe one of you guys has a better idea).