Make do and Mend...in a fashion!

New Year and a very late first post! I know that for many it has not been a good start, but I hope that any of you devastated by the  Christmas  floods, are getting back to some kind of normality and that you will soon be able to return to your homes and businesses. Our hearts go out to you and wish you a much better 2016.

For everyone else I hope 2016 is going to be fabulous and productive.

So this year I am making no resolutions as such, I'm not much good at keeping them anyway! But what I would really like to achieve is to make more things than I buy. I have so much fabric it's time I started making use of it.

I have to be honest however and say I didn't start the year off too well as I appear to have  acquired one or two things in the sales, but I intend to improve, honest!

So just before Christmas I had a wardrobe cull, sorting out the things I love, that fit, those that never will (why do we buy them!!) and those that really do only need a bit of patience to put them in the first pile.

One of those which might have been thrown out was a dress I really loved but was never ever going to fit me properly.
I am not very tall,  5'3" and shrinking, but I seem to be quite long in the body, so dresses that have an actual waist seam are often too short in the bodice.
 This was one of those so was never going to be perfect. However I did love the style and was loathe to just toss it away.So I decided to take it apart, draw a pattern from the pieces with the added adjustments needed for what I hoped would be the perfect fit, and to remake it in some ponte jersey from my stash.
The original dress was navy and off white stripes and was rather a nice jersey too, so, once I had drafted a new pattern I used some of the original fabric to line the cuffs and make a patch pocket for a Tilly Coco top which I was making.

I am quite pleased with the top, after adjusting the bottom a little as it was too flared for me and making the collar a little deeper. The fun huge button on the pocket is in fact a brooch. I did it this way so that I could remove it for washing and also just to ring the changes.

The new dress made out of a plain brown ponte jersey, did not disappoint. The waist now sits where it should and  I've made it a touch longer. I just love the neckline detail, which looks like a collar but as it's incorporated into the princess seams lays flat whatever  you wear over it.
I think it has a bit of a vintage vibe and with some of my 1940s accessories, It could definitely be a winner at my next vintage outing.

Since then I have been making a few things for Mad about Bags blog swap organised by Tracy.
I drew Debbie and it has been a real joy making something different. We have so much in common it is unreal! I am off to the Post Office with her parcel today. I will reveal what I sent once she has opened it.

Well as I seem to be in a real sewing mood at the moment, my next project is a shift dress which they made on the sewing bee. A free pattern which I've printed off and which I am making from an old duvet cover I found in a charity shop! The print is so pretty and Spring like and it has a border design on the front as well as an all over design on the back so there's plenty of fabric to play with. I'm hoping I can position the border round the hem, so plenty of fussy cutting required. Wish me luck. If it works out it will have cost me £2.50. A bargain.

TTFN

Jenny xx