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Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:12 am
by crfriend
I, too, am impressed with the speed of progress on the matter and the products thereof.

Skirts are amongst the easiest of projects to sew, and are frequently used as "starters". Dresses, on the other hand, are the devil's own work if you want them to fit right and to look good. It's 3-D at its worst when you need to convert it to 2-D fabric.

One joy of home-sewing, though, is that once mastered the skill lasts a lifetime and can produce some truly stunning works. I'm still in awe of some of the things I saw my late ex- execute on her sewing-machine, and a couple of the pieces were for me. (The most exquisite stuff was what she did for a few formal events that we attended which were truly spectacular!)

I really ought to buy a simple sewing-machine and learn how to properly use it.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 11:20 am
by Sinned
Your projects give me hope. A new series of "The Great British Sewing Bee" has started and is educational through listening to the remarks of the judges and the tips they pass on about the characteristics of different materials and the different stitches and techniques. I'm an avid watcher and the courage to start sewing is slowly seeping in and my first project will be a simple elasticated waist skater skirt.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 5:19 pm
by beachlion
Dennis, get yourself a simple sewing machine, even second hand will do for a begin and some fabric and other materials and start. After I first bought a UTkilt, I made the next one myself because $65 was quite a lot for the amount of fabric. I found a "recipe" on the Internet.

https://web.stanford.edu/~ahebert/X_Kilt_adobe.pdf
PA080056qqq.jpg
The PDF required serious reading but in the end I had a home made kilt. And the rest is history. There are more sewers on this forum so if you need advise, just ask.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 6:55 pm
by Sinned
bl, MOH has more than one and I'm going to try and wheedle one away from her and learn how to use it. But we're just a little too busy at the moment.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:55 pm
by beachlion
I found out that some patterns come with detailed instructions to assemble the piece of clothing. So I bought a pattern for a male summer shirt. By adding 22 cm (8.5") to the length I could make a dress of it. I could download the pattern as a PDF-file and after printing, I taped the pieces together.
With the detailed instructions I had the impression I was sewing more according to the book and not according to my own engineer's style. In the end it looked more like a dress you could buy in department stores.
Because of some new technics, I made of course some mistakes like putting the sleeves inside out to the body. The fabric had an almost identical good and bad side. But in the end I had my super long male shirt aka summer dress.
P1010076q.jpg
This is according to the pattern. I will add shoulder straps and belt loops. With a belt-like thing it looks more like a seperate shirt and skirt. I'm still not confident enough to wear a dress out in the open. I have to give it time.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:49 am
by Sinned
Excellent, the colour and styling is nice. I do agree that it would look better with a belt to break up the straight up and down effect.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 3:47 pm
by beachlion
Sinned wrote:Excellent, the colour and styling is nice. I do agree that it would look better with a belt to break up the straight up and down effect.
Thanks. I will try to make a few darts in the waist. With a belt you get a somewhat crumpled effect at waist level.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:52 pm
by beachlion
Back to the drawing board (or sewing machine) and modify. I took some fabric from the waistline at the side seams and put in 6 darts. It looks already better.
P1010083q.jpg
A few more additions and the dress is ready for the road.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:05 pm
by crfriend
That's quite a bit better BL! The added definition definitely adds to the look of the garment. Add a same-fabric belt/sash and the epaulettes and you'll have a treasure.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 10:00 am
by Sinned
I agree with Carl and that is a really good shirt dress. As to the gathering effect of the belt on a straight line, the effect is not all bad and can look quite appealing. Just sayin'.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:00 am
by beachlion
I added some details. I made a 2" wide belt with 5 belt loops. I could not find a 2" belt buckle or even D-rings. So I made two D-rings from a 1/8" round bar of brass. They are quite coarse but functional.
P1010098q.jpg
With just a little tension on the belt the dress feels quite snug in a nice way.
P1010099q.jpg
Now I need nice weather and the balls to wear it. ;)

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:28 am
by Sinned
Very nice and it looks eminently wearable. I empathise with your feelings. A skirt, no problem, but getting my head around wearing a dress out is just one step too far for me at the moment.

Re: A dress from the sweatshop

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:27 am
by Rokje
Very nice dress you got there BL. Just wear it outside, I would.

Ok, that's not fair because you do know i'm a woman :lol: