Summer Tube Dress

Really excited to make the first item in my homemade summer challenge! I've decided to start off nice and simple with a strapless tube dress made out of some fabric which I found in The Works book shop in their craft section. When I originally got this fabric I was going to make some bags and cushions from it, thinking it wouldn't be that big but when I opened it, I realised it had some serious potential. I'll be using 2 packs of this and priced at only £2 each it's a great start to the challenge! 

For this dress you will need:

Fabric ( my squares are 100cm X 74cm each)

Elastic for top band ( mine is 1inch wide)

Cotton

Pins

Sewing machine

1. As I will be gathering this at the top band I haven't needed to cut my fabric, instead I have put them right sides together and pinned down each side. Then I have used a standard 5/8" seam allowance and straight stitched down both sides creating a large tube.

2. Next turn and press your bottom hem. I've stuck to the 5/8" seam. As my fabric is 100% polyester I don't need to serve the edges, but if your fabric clearly frays it would be a good idea to either serge or zig zag stitch them before turning and pressing.

3. Once the bottom hem is stitched, repeat the process with the top. Once this is done you will need to create the tube for your elastic. I did this by turning my top hem over enough to fit the elastic with a little room to spare. When sewing the tube remember to leave a gap to insert the elastic.

4. When cutting the elastic for your top band you need to make sure it is slightly stretched so that the dress will be held up. Measure under the arms and over the boobies and cut.

5. Carefully thread your elastic into the tube without twisting it. I managed to get mine twisted and had to unpick the stitching! Stitch the elastic ends together and pike into the tube. Now you can see up the gap and even out the gathers.

Now you have a dress! You can either add an elastic waistband or like me wear with a waist cinched belt to pull it in. 

Fear of the Unknown

In my last post I wrote about a challenge I set myself to not purchase any new clothes until October. In conjunction with this I have also realised to be successful in making and altering my own clothes, I need to be more educated in the features of my trusty Singer. When I started seriously sewing I was using a beautiful 1955 Singer 201k, which is the ultimate work horse. That baby would sew through leather as if it were the thinnest cotton but the trouble was it only did a straight stitch. I am lucky enough to own an abundance of different attachments for it including a zig zag and button holer. But I found these increasingly frustrating to use with little or no instructions. I decided when I enrolled in a dress making course last year that I would invest in a modern machine to enable me to learn the skills first and then I could transfer these to the 201k at a later date. Anyone who sews will know that modern machines are equipped with up to hundreds of different stitches and all kinds of trickery but on average only a fraction of these features will ever get used. So regarding my challenge, I have been playing about with some of my lesser used machine functions and am actually quite proud of the results! I'd never attempted a button hole until this evening and I'd never tried to sew an actual button on using a machine before! I thank the good people at Singer for the latter as I HATE sewing buttons on at the best of times so this has really changed things up for me! My next experiment will be with the decorative/embroidery stiches which will look great when hemming clothes or adding appliqué to cushions. I've got plenty of scrap material to try this on and hopefully it will yield some productive results. All in all I would encourage anyone with a sewing machine to get out of their comfort zone and try some of these unused functions because you never know, they could become the most useful resources you have.

Homemade Summer Challenge

Yesterday I did my yearly trip to Primani to get some new strappy vests for summer. I replace all the faded, shrunken and generally scrappy tops in time for the nice weather and also if you go early enough in the season they have a better range of colours! Yesterday was my last shopping trip for clothes for the foreseeable future because I have decided to set myself a mammoth challenge! You see I'm a bit of a shopping addict so for me the following will be a BIG deal. I have decided that from today I will not be buying any new clothes for the next 5 months! That brings me to my birthday month of October and as I can't promise I won't enjoy a few new items around that time, it's the perfect time to end my challenge. Until then I will only wear what I own or make or alter from charity shop finds. I'm hoping this will not only help my sewing skills improve but also save some well needed pennies. It will also prove to me that I don't wear 40% of my wardrobe which will be donated at the end of the challenge. I am allowing myself to buy essentials such as underwear and hosery but this my friends will be it! Let the challenge commence

Website Update!!!!

I've just spent all afternoon sinking my teeth into editing and updating the Mama Likes To Sew website. When I originally set up the site I had no idea what I was doing and it was a rather daunting task to say the least! I spent ages trying to find a host and comparing prices and I was worried the more I searched the less likely I was to actually get the domain I wanted. It's an absolute mine field trying to get a website up and running! Today I have tweaked everything, added new pictures, new content and tested every link is present and correct. There is still much work to do photo wise as I'm constantly adding to my portfolio but all in all I'm quite proud of myself! 

Hello old friend

It's been FOREVER since I last posted. Life just kind of took over and now I'm back and ready to roll! Or sew, however you want to look at it! I've been studying Pinterest a lot lately for new inspiration from like minded people and getting ideas for future projects. I got my Singer out for the first time in yonks the other day and realised how much I actually enjoy making something from scratch. The feeling of looking at a finished item is one of such pride, especially when it was just a pile of fabric, wadding and a few reels of cotton only hours before. This got me thinking about the potential of some of my fabric stash. Crafting as a whole is seeing the potential in something that maybe others can't see, whether it's a pile of fabric, paper, beads or even furniture, the thought process is always focused on the final result. I really thrive around like minded people and revel in their creativity. A friend of mine is so talented in not only dress making but also mixed media art and has an amazing studio in her house dedicated to crafting. It was like walking into an Alladin's cave of creativity. She is able to take even the most mundane object and turn it into something beautiful and that my friends is a talent. I'm so glad that programs like the Great British Sewing Bee, Money For Nothing and George Clark's Amazing Spaces are given air time because these shows enable ordinary and unrecognised people a chance to show what they are truly made of. My local fabric store in town is always packed when I go in there and it just goes to show, the old skills are well and truly still going strong. 

Old things, new things

It's an acquired taste, the whole vintage thing. I guess you either love it or hate it but for me when I meet someone like minded it's excellent. Especially when they are already friends because it means I get to gush over my latest purchase or likes and know they are genuinely interested! I've recently added a new string to my bow by helping a friend reupholster a vintage swivel chair. It was more complicated than we both thought but the results were amazing. It just goes to show if you can look past how something looks and see your vision, the possibilities are endless.

Exciting times!

So it's all going on here, not only has the website launched this evening, but we've also listed a whopping 34 items to the eBay page which means there are vintage haberdashery bargains to be had! Please check out our site at www.mamalikestosew.co.uk which has links to our eBay and also previews of our items for sale. What happened this space Vintage Mama is taking over!!