Repair and Update

 The Découpage Dress once again needed repair--I saw that the underarm seam on one side was open, and I initially thought the fabric had ripped.  But!  It turned out that the stitching had just come undone, so I was able to easily re-sew that....and then deal with an area next to the seam that was worn through.

Since I still have the  fabric I cut off of the bottom of the original configuration, I cut a square of that, folded over the edges, and zigzagged it in place.

 

It's not elegant, but it's in the underarm, so it's fine.

Then I sewed over the stitching under the other arm, just in case. 

For the updated dress, I realized that I could use the same approach of adding another layer of ruffle under the existing ruffle to lengthen the Sew It dress, which I do like, but I never wore because it was very short.

I cut pieces 5" wide, to add 3" beyond the dress's existing 2" ruffle.  I cut both of them selvedge to selvedge, which made it a little wider than the seam I'd be sewing it to (oh, and, I had top stitched the ruffle seam, so I did buckle down and pick out allllll that top stitching.)   I just pinned it thoroughly and let it bunch up naturally gather between the pins.

Then I added a row of wide black cluny lace, to make the black of the ruffle extension possibly make more sense.

This print is still so delightfully weird and mildly creepy. 

Renovating an Old Work

I didn't photograph it when I made it, but photo evidence points to this bedspread having been made around 2014.  This photo was taken in 2019, when I was preparing to make a replacement because one of the fabrics--visible just behind Chip--was falling apart.

 

I then put the blanket and matching pillowcases in the linen closet, to be ignored.

I had the thought the other day that I could cut up the intact parts of the blanket to use to make another pullover dress...but...that didn't quite feel right.

So!

I ended up picking apart the damaged squares (a second one had started falling apart while in storage), removing the borders, and re-assembling everything into a new configuration.

It might go back into the linen closet, but at least it'll go in in better shape than it came out.

Découpage Dress Update

A little over six years ago, I made this dress.

 

It was one of the dresses I made when I was first starting to figure out sewing after weight gain, and I liked it enough that I kept it once I got things worked out.  The gray floral fabric, however, was starting to show loads of wear at the neckline and sleeve/skirt hems.  (I had thrifted a large quantity of it, and it was, perhaps, not the highest quality.)  I still like the appliqués, so I decided to figure out what I could do to replace all of the threadbare edges. 

That these may not have been the best options is irrelevant.  What's done is done.

Star Tank

Trying Simplicity 8143 again, and not begrudging the fact that part of the usable fabric was narrower (and shorter) than even the smallest size of the pattern wanted, and that I would have to cut the ribbing bands significantly shorter than I had in the previous version.  These limitations made me remove more than I probably would have on my own, and the resulting item fits much better than the first try.

 

 The bit that need improvisation was completely unrelated.

Replacing the Upcycling

About five years ago, I made bodices to use with thrifted skirts--one with a fake Burda 6401 bodice, and one with Simplicity 9153's extended shoulder bodice.

I wore them a lot.

So much, in fact, that the delicate thrifted skirts started wearing out.  I tentatively mended some of the problem areas, but, honestly, it was getting to the point where the mends were stronger than the fabric, so I knew it was time to replace the entire skirt on both of them.

My last visit to the craft thrift store was made with hope of finding some fabric I could use to that end, and I was thrilled to find nearly 9 yards of a lightweight black woven cotton (if there's anything synthetic mixed in, a burn test said there's not much of it.)

I did take some time to make a complete dress before getting to the skirt replacements...mainly because the black of this new (to me) fabric is not the same black as the old bodices, and I wanted at least at least one loose summery black dress that was all the same black.

But then!  On to the new skirts!

Slight Tights Alteration

Some of the sewn tights I made--this pair and one of these pairs--I wore so much that the heels wore out.  Instead of darning them when the holes first appeared, I let them go until the holes were undeniable, and decided to cut them off just above the highest hole and finish the edges, turning them into leggings.  I also decided to cut off the toe areas and do the same to the tights made from what turned out to be very baggy rib knits.

It took a while between deciding to do this and finally doing this, but the project suddenly became very attractive as a way to procrastinate figuring out what to do with the last fabric from that big  Fabric Mart order.  I'm wearing the gray now-leggings today, and they're perfectly functional leggings.  Yay.

Moth Holes & Free Lace

A craft thrift store visit in 2022 saw me get, among other fabrics (most of which have been used!), a length of black and white glen plaid.  In the linked post, I noted that it had a spot of damage.  Further inspection found a lot of damage.  The moth babies feasted on this.

I did use a bit of it in the B&W wool patchwork vest--the cloth has two faces, so I used the darker side in the vest (it's the fabric mentioned as being from the larger yardage.)  Between the moth holes and the...general oddness of the fabric--the yarns aren't as fine as I envision when I think of glen plaid, giving it a sort of 1970s vibe--I had started feeling rather apathetic about this fabric.

However!  Ever since I made that long A-line skirt from the patchwork of heavier fabric, I had wanted to try making a whole cloth skirt, in a heavier fabric, using the same pattern (McCall's 7981, modified to omit the front band and insert a back zipper.)  Since I still think fondly of an A-line B&W glen plaid skirt I made in 2013, I decided to see if I could get the pattern pieces for this skirt to fit on the yardage I had, and if I could avoid the worst of the damage while doing so.  Yes on the first, no on the second.

However!  Another long-gone skirt of which I think fondly was a thrifted skirt that developed holes, and I covered them up with appliqués cut from various fabric prints.  (And I guess I didn't think that merited being posted here, because I can't find a post about it.)  Appliqués, I thought, would be a fun way to cover the moth damage, especially since it was mostly limited to one area of the fabric...which turned into two disconnected areas of the skirt, because I had to cut the pattern pieces in opposite orientation.

I spent a day sorting through potential fabrics--all cotton calicos--and trims, cutting out motifs and developing an aesthetic direction to tie the chaos together.  Then I remembered the bag of cut pieces of yardage lace that I had gotten from the free table at the craft thrift store, and started mixing those in.

But then...

I realized that the lace motifs alone would work very well.  I put all of the chaos choices into a box, to consider using on a future project.  The lace pieces got more carefully trimmed, and fused to Wonder Under, and then fused onto the partly-assembled skirt.  After that, zigzagging around the edges, and then finishing the rest of the skirt.

Behold:

 I  think it worked out pretty well.

Repair Pair

 When the friend very generously brought the inherited sewing stuff a few years ago (thanks again!), it included a lot of clothing that had probably been purchased to be used for craft purposes.  A lot of it was still fine--I kept a few pieces, let my friends pick out things they liked, and donated the rest.  A lot if it, though, had also been cut into.  Again, I kept a few pieces to use as doll cloth and let the friends take any they wanted, then put the scraps aside for years before deciding what to do with them.

A lot ended up in the scrap-filled floor pillow, but I realized a few pieces actually could be repaired.

At Bat

The dress I sewed a few months ago with elements from a different floral print appliquéd on has been worn a decent amount of times, and laundered enough to reveal some flaws in the print that I thought I could ignore..until I couldn't

So of course that called for more appliqué!  I really wanted a bee, or a moth, and would have settled for a butterfly, but I didn't have prints with any of those (at least not in a suitable size), so I went with this little bat

so now this dress is that much Halloweenier.

(on some distant future day, I will feel confident in my embroidery abilities...)

Just two small holes

They were small, but still big enough to keep me from wearing this skirt for a very long time.  Yesterday, I decided I'd do something about those two tiny holes.

 I might've gone a little overboard.

 I was surprised to find that I didn't have as many spoooooky black and white (or...close to black and white) Halloween prints as I thought I would.  (The range of blacks and whites just means this will match a range of black t-shirts, right?)

 They're not all specifically Halloween prints

 and some were cut out to highlight the print details, while others were just cut as freehand shapes.

Everything was zigzagged around with a short narrow stitch.  No reinforcing interfacing or stabilizer--that would've required planning.  Pfft.  I'm not even sure if I'm done adding appliqués to this...

A quick fix

I am not good at applying iron-on decals.  I know this.  The last one I tried to apply re-affirmed this, and the shirt was stuffed into the edge of the cloth stash until I could figure out what to do about the remains of the badly-applied decal.  Today, I made myself figure out what to do about it, and ended up covering it up, like so:

Why, yes, I do remember the late 1980s.

I dunno if the kiddo will ever want to wear this, but at least it's in a state where it can be worn again, and a Thing was cleared out of the cloth stash area, which is  good.

And then I started working on a shirt for me, mixing these prints

Print Mixing: If you sew 'em together, they go together.  I should be able to finish it tonight or tomorrow.  (That doesn't mean I will finish it tonight or tomorrow, of course.)

*rip*

I was helping the kiddo fasten his seat belt when I heard a quiet rip from an arm hole of the strawberry appliqué dress I made a few months ago.

Oops.

Well.  I considered my options for repair, quickly discarding the idea of reshaping both arm holes (which sounded like work), settling on the idea of applying a decorative tab to that area--since it was on the opposite side of the dress from the appliqués, it could conceivably pass as an intentional design element.  Sure.

Patching and reinforcing the ripped area and creating and applying the tab were straightforward, but it turns out that I did not have any giant spectacular red buttons in my stash (nevermind being in just the right shade of orangey red to match the strawberries), so I went with an unimpressive red button.

If I find a spectacular red button, it'll be easy enough to replace.  Plus, cardigan season is approaching, so this 'design feature' may not be visible for a few months.  I...um...I just hope it doesn't feel weird...  I plan to wear this dress tomorrow, so I'll find out then.