Will 3 meters of wool be enough to make a slightly longer version of this coat with a hood? I haven't worked out a pattern yet but I want to take advantage of this sale that's ending soon.

I made this dress last night when I was meant to be studying...



I took this mens' undershirt, sewed up the side to fit and cut it at the waist, cut a strip off this tiny leotard, cut out a bit of fabric a little longer than my hip measurement, put it all together and voila!

Looks the same all around.

I was looking for something that stands out and I came home with this pineapple print.

To make the skirt, I cut out 2 rectangles as long as my hip measurement and wider than necessary so I could hem it to whatever length at the end.



I sewed one side together and pressed open the seam. Then I cut out a strip of fabric long enough to go around below my waist and overlap a little (+ seam allowances) and ironed on a strip of fusible interfacing the same size. I folded it not quite in half so the back stuck out a bit and ironed it up.



As it turns out, pulling on the bobbin threads to gather it was NOT flipping possible. I swear I tried a million times, but no matter how careful I was, the thread would break. Maybe the fabric was too stiff. Anyway, I ended up just pinning the gathers in place between the halves of the waistband and sewed over it.



After sewing on the button and buttonhole, I sewed up the other side of the skirt.

I hadn't planned on making it into a bubble skirt, but as my sister was helping me hem it, she suggested it. I pinned and sewed the casing (leaving enough space to slide in the elastic band).



I then wriggled the elastic through. After a frustrating hour of this, I got it all the way around, sewed the ends together and sewed the casing shut.

Edit: According to KimberlyErin, putting a safety pin on the end of the elastic to pull through saves you 55 minutes and a world of chagrin. Thanks!



I just wear it with the elastic turned up under the skirt.

Here's a close up of the button closing



Let me know what you think and show me if you try it out!

Also! I have a 23x45 inch piece of the fabric left. What should I do with it?

So I wanted to copy this dress:
 

 
I had never tried to copy anything before, so I read up on pattern drafting here : http://vintagesewing.info/1940s/42-mpd/mpd-01.html It's... so awesome. I can't tell you. If you're a beginner, go there. First chapter's all you need.
 
I don't have a dress form, so I fitted my slopers on myself which was a MOTHER of a hassle but worked out in the end. This is crazy crazy useful no matter what kind of dress or shirt or whatever you want to make. You'll want to test them with something cheap first. Here are said slopers:
 

 
I used tissue paper to alter it according to the design. Newspaper would work too. I extended the top a little below the waist. I also just cut it in pieces rather than having 2 darts. Make sure you don't forget to plan for the lap where the buttons will be. I don't think the buttons on that dress are functional but I wanted mine to be. Here is the resulting pattern:
 

 
Be aware of the grain of your fabric before and while cutting and for the love of god, don't forget your seam allowances!
 
I sort of half-assedly drafted the sleeve because I figured it didn't take much fabric so it wouldn't be a big deal to start over if I had to, but chapter 4 from the '42 book explains how to do it if you wanted to be more precise.

For the skirt part, I followed the method for a semicircular skirt in chapter 8.
 

 
To finish the neckline, I cut out these pieces
 

 
to sew right sides together and fold under.
 
I pinned the corresponding pieces together like so:
 

 
When I'd sewn over it, I cut notches into the seam allowance so it would lay flat.
 

 
I pressed the seam open, then pressed the pieces wrong sides together.
 

 
I did the same thing for the sleeves.
 

 
The wrong side of this fabric is kind of silky so I didn't bother lining the dress, but other types of material might require you to.
 
I marked the spots for buttons with tacks
 

 
then I folded and ironed the seam allowance under the lap
 

 
then top-stitched along both edges.
 
To put the top together, I lined up the nothes, pinned it, sewed, pressed open the seam, pressed it to the side then zigzagged the seam allowance, sewed the darts on the back, lined up the shoulder edges on the front and back pieces, pinned, sewed, then pinned and sewed on the sleeves.
 

 
Then I sewed the skirt pieces to the front and back. With that done, I sewed up the side of the dress, hemmed it and I was done! Rather than sewing in a ribbon or whatever is supposed to be at the waist, I'll just wear it with that belt. Piping or something would probably work, though.
 

 
No sweat  

It's a little hard to get in and out of it. I might put in a zipper on the side.

Tell me what you think and show me if you make one too!

I made these Christmas cards for my great aunts. The directions say wedding noshi, but whatever, I wish them good fortune anyway.



Here are the directions:


I just glued them onto folded pieces of paper. Easy!

This is my Grandma's Christmas gift. I got the idea from MollyMillions (thanks! ). I bought a kit from Michael's that came with the wooden base, mechanism and numbers. I printed out some Betty Boop pictures and Mod Podged them on, stuck the adhesive numbers on then glued Betty Boop in the middle. I'm pretty happy with it.

I'm putting it in this gift bag I made from newspaper using this method : http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=327336.0

I had pretty much never drafted an actual pattern before and it turned out to be halfway decent.

Start by taking these measurements: waist, hip (this includes your butt), waist to hip and hip to wherever you want your skirt to fall. Also, maybe measure from hip to hip in the front and back separately. Now take a piece of paper and draw 2 rectangles. One is for the front of the skirt; the other is for the back.

For the front, put your waist divided by 4 + 1/4 an inch (dart) + 1/2 inch ease at the top, your hip divided by 4 OR hip to hip in front/2 + 1/2 inch ease a little ways down, and your waist divided by 4 + ½ inch at the bottom. Draw a curve on the left. On the right, mark down your waist to hip measurement from the hip up and your desired skirt length + 2 times whatever width you'd like for your hem for the entire length. I had about an inch, so I added 2 inches.


For the back, put a quarter of the waist measurement + 1 inch (dart) + 1.5 inch (pleat) + 1/2 inch ease at the top, 1/4 of your hip measurement or your hip to hip measurement for the back/2 + 1.5 inch (pleat) + 1/2 inch ease a little ways down and half your waist + 1.5 inch (pleat) + 1/2 inch ease at the bottom. Curve it on the left and on the right, mark down your waist to hip measurement and the same length as the front top to bottom. By the way, the dart on the back should extend almost to the hipline.


In the diagrams I put the hip and waist measurements divided by 2. Don't do that.

Also, the given widths of the darts were right for me, but say you have huge hips and a tiny waist or no hips at all, the darts need to be wider or narrower accordingly.

Now get out your tissue paper, wax paper, newspaper or whatever and cut out the rectangles with the appropriate dimensions. Label the foldline. Transfer all the measurements and markings from your draft to the pattern. A little above where your knees will be, mark a line on the back piece. It should look pretty much like the draft but more human shaped.

Fold your fabric longways and pin the pattern, foldlines together, and cut out leaving an inch around the edges. I suggest tracing around the pattern with chalk or a white pencil crayon (as long as you know it’ll come off) so you’ll know where to sew. You’ll end up with this:


Now transfer all the markings (hipline, hemline, darts, etc) from the pattern onto the cloth like so:

Front ^ (I initially put 4 darts but decided against it. Yours should only have 1 dart on each side)

Back^

Now take your back piece and baste along the line for the seam and pleat. Stop at the line you marked above your knees.


Sew and remove the basting.

Now press the seam open to form an inverted box pleat. Make sure that on the right side it looks like a seam going all the way to the end.




Sew the pleat flaps at the marked line.



For the darts, fold along the dotted line and pin along the solid line.



Make sure it’s not a weird shape on the right side and sew.



Also, make sure the back piece darts fit the shape of your butt before moving on.


For the lining, I used a piece of fabric that was my hip measurement + 3 inches long and my desired length of skirt + 1 inch wide.

It’s a little crazy because I didn’t have a single piece of lining big enough so I sewed a bunch together.

Hem one of the long edges.

Now you’ll be putting it together. Take your back and front pieces and place them right sides together, making sure the top, bottom and hiplines line up. It’s more important for the hiplines to line up then the edges. Pin long the lines you traced around the pattern.



When you’re sewing it, try make as few tucks as possible.

As you can see, I didn’t quite pull it off. Anyway, do your best and press the seams open. You’ll end up with something more or less skirt-shaped.


Awesome! Go show your Mom, then let’s keep going.

Sew the top (unhemmed edge) of the lining to the top of your skirt. You’re going to have to gather the lining to make it fit. Pin the ends first, then pin it halfway and just keep pinning till you can sew it. Then sew the seam allowances together.

I am not sure about the proper way to insert an invisible zipper, but you could probably find a tutorial pretty easily. I recommend finding out how to do it properly. Before starting, rip open the seam to make an opening a little shorter than the zipper. Make sure you can fit into it before inserting the zipper.

What I did was just sew the outside of the zipper on the right side of the fabric inside the seamline marked from having ironed it. Pin it first and make sure it sits right and everything, because it totally sucks to pulls out all the stitches and restart. Try the skirt on again and make sure it all fits. Alter it if it doesn’t.

To make the waistband, I modified the method outlined in Reed Books Canada The Complete Book of Sewing for making a basic waistband. Decide how wide you want your waistband, double that and add an inch. This is how wide a piece of fabric you will be cutting out. It be as long as your waist measurement + about 3 inches. Also cut out a piece of fusible interfacing, same length, but only double the desired width of waistband; don’t add an inch. I mean, you CAN, but it’s not necessary. Iron the interfacing onto the waistband so that you have the same seam allowance along both edges. Then press the seam allowances to the inside of the waistband, then fold it not quite in half longways and press it so one long edge is visible, coming out a just a little past the other long edge… if that makes any sense. Take a look:



Now what you’re basically going to do is pin it onto the skirt, starting at one edge folded in to line up with the zipper opening, then pin it all the way around. You may as well decide on the shape of your overlap at this point and pin that too so you can sew it all in one go. Do so.

Decide where on your overlap you want the buttonhole, read your sewing machine manual on how to do it and do as it says. I extended my overlap so that the button would be a little to the side. NOW, find a button, mark where it has to be on the underlap and sew it there. Your machine might be able to do this for you as well.

Fold the edge of you skirt, fold it again (you’ve marked lines here, by the way), press it and sew it. Now you’re done. Put it on; take some pictures.






Red belt WITH dry cleaner's tag. Haught.

(By the way, if you try this out, I'd love to see the finished product!)