Ginger Jeans

Hello all, I've found myself wearing jeans more and more lately and so I wanted to expand my very limited collection. I used the Closet Case Files Ginger jeans pattern as a base. I always have my eyes peeled for good denim but I find it in the weight, colour and stretch I want quite hard to find. Luckily Minerva Crafts was there to save the day. I normally prefer lighter denim and I did consider bleaching this one when it arrived, but the darker denim is growing on me. You can read all about the making process here.https://www.minervacrafts.com/blogger-network/post/ginger-jeans-2

Thanks for reading and to Minerva crafts for all of the supplies for this project,

Lauren xx

Floral Tank Refashion

Hello all! Today's make is a refashion of a top I made all the way back in 2013. It was supposed to be a 5 minute jobby but turned into a one day saga. The neckline on the old top was too high which meant that it didn't get much wear and I decided that it was time to give it a makeover for my upcoming solo trip to Amsterdam next week (argghh!)  

I originally put the top on my dress form, pinned where I wanted the new neckline and straps to be, but that ended up just being a bit of a disaster. So then I went to my trusty pattern stash and dug up Simplicity 5461 (the dress pattern not the bear pattern) and used the tank pieces as a guide for a new neckline and armholes. After I cut the new neckline and armholes I realised that the neckline was far too low, revealing pretty much everything that shouldn't be revealed. I had 2 options: throwing it into the corner of the room and never speaking to it again, or just sticking back on the bit of the neckline that I had just cut off.

I went with option 2 because without it my Amsterdam capsule wardrobe would be nothing. So, off to the ironing board I went, butted the bit of the neckline that I had just cut off to the top with some interfacing underneath and ironed it into place. Then I was just left with some raw edges to hide. After a rummage around my ribbon drawers I found this vintage lace trim which I think was handworked by one of my Mums friends Mothers. It was a perfect accent to a pretty simple top.

I could have left the trim on just the front of the top, but the shoulders were a bit wide so I used the trim across the shoulders to keep them in place, crossing them at the centre back. The back neckline I kept the same as the original low neckline so you can imagine where that would sit on my front. The side seams were already French seamed and the hem turned up twice which saved me some time. The only finishing I had to do was silk bias binding around the neckline and armholes. It ended up pretty short due to all of the chopping, but it's a perfect length with these jeans. I'm sad that summer is over so I can't wear it as much as it deserves.

Thanks very much for reading and to Ed for the photos!

Lauren xx

Summer ball dress 2017

 Hello all! I've finally managed to get some pictures of my Summer Ball dress so let me tell you its story. I'll paint a picture for you: It's the end of the university year. Money has trickled out of the bank account until mere drops remain. There is no budget for fabric. There is no budget for alcohol. In these sad times one must make do and mend. I had two options. Option 1 was to make some kind of dress with the floral scuba I made my bikini from. Option 2 was to whack a bodice onto my gathered silver circle skirt, made a few months ago. I decided that now was the time to go big and have some fun.

I was told in no uncertain terms that top-to-toe silver would be too much, and turn me into the tin man from Wizard of Oz. In fact, this turned out to be quite a popular opinion. But, I had a vision and I was determined to see it through.

 In terms of construction for the midriff panel I used the pattern piece from Wearing History's Dahlia top pattern and I started off with 2 long triangles for the bust covering pieces. I first slipstitched the bottom of the midriff panel to the bottom of the existing skirt waistband. Then I put on the skirt, pinned the tops of the 2 triangles together to form a halterneck and tucked the ends of the 2 triangles into the skirt. My dear friend Bethan then plonked in the safety pins to determine the neckline, sidelines and attaching the bust bits to the midriff panel. Next I detached the bust bits, made the adjustments, lined them with some black chiffon I had lying around and sewed them onto the midriff panel.

Since the skirt was already finished, the bodice part really didn't take very long, although I would have really struggled with the fit without Bethan's help (Thank you Bethan!) It's certainly not a quiet piece of clothing, but then I'm not a very quiet person so perhaps we match each other quite well. The full skirt in particular was very good for the pimms induced dancing.

Thanks for reading and to Ed for taking pictures!

Lauren xx