Dress Parade {Blue Shift Dresses 2.0}
27 January 2012 | by Jen in Sewing
Remember when I said that I was fine with the sleeves ties of this dress being kind of (too) longish? Well I guess that was a lie because I kept thinking about those dang sleeve ties after I posted about them. That is actually a really great thing about taking photos of your work: you see things (aka problems) you would normally miss otherwise. And overall I thought the dresses were a bit too plain although simplicity is what I was going for.
So back to the drawing–sewing–board! I re-cut and sewed the sleeve ties and added a slouchy little pocket. Much better I think. Now it looks finished.
The denim dress needed a little extra love too and got a sassy heart-shaped pocket added to it.
Sorry, this detail pic out of focus; my camera did not want to cooperate with me. Just wanted to show the stitching a bit close up. The opening is in fact reinforced (like I did with the pocket on this skirt) but that’s done in navy thread so it would blend in with the fabric. These photos were snapped after I washed the dress and you can see the edges now have that nice, faded rumply-ness you see on jeans.
Did you have any grand plans for the weekend? I’ll be playing housekeeping catch up for part of it since I was out of commission last weekend. But I hope to get to some alterations: I’ve got some lovely (and very girlie) vintage dresses that need to be hemmed and repaired. And a sweater to continue working on before spring really takes hold!
What are your thoughts, dears? | ♥ 9 Comments
Those are so cute and look super comfy
Love the fabric in the top dress!
I have that fabric in 2 different colorways so you can say that I love it too!
Wow. That top-stitching is killing me! I am (and always have been!) so jealous of your precision…and I’m laughing out loud thinking at what my attempts at sewing that evenly, that close to the edge would look like!! You are amazing!
Sheesh, thanks! But I’ve always admired your speediness and your garments never looked worse for it!
That denim dress is really cute, and I love the heart pocket. I did finally make a dark denim skirt with tulip pockets. Now I just need to upload a snapshot of it to flickr. It took me several tires to figure out how to best attach the pocket. With your heart pocket here, did you just iron the edges over and clip all the curves? I still have a lot of trouble with such details. Great work though.
The shaped patch pockets I’ve made (the tulip and now this heart) are lined. I used a thinner fabric for the lining although with the heart I just used the denim since it was thin enough.
So it’s like you’re going to make a little pillow: sew self and lining pieces, right sides tog, leaving an opening along a straight edge to turn the pocket. Clip and notch seam allowance. Turn pocket and with your fingers neaten up the edges and press. Don’t bother sewing up the opening if it’s on an edge to be sewn onto the garment (which is ideal). Sew pocket onto garment 1/8″ or so along its edge, re-enforcing the pocket’s open edges (to prevent the stress of using the pocket from ripping the garment fabric).
Perhaps I should do a post about this?!
Anyway, I’d love to see your skirt!
I remember when I made that dress and the sleeve ties were way too long. I had to chop them down too.
Blue is so easy to wear isn’t it?
Have a happy valentine’s tomorrow.
I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day as well!
Visiting from mycharminginterlude.blogspot.com!
This denim dress is amazing! I would wear it in a heartbeat. Thanks for sharing!!