Knickers!!

So you're sitting at your sewing machine wondering what to do next...

You have some lycra, lace and a piece of ribbon and half an hour to spare...

What do you do?

Make some knickers of course!

Find a pair that you particularly like the cut of...

Draw round them...

Sew up the sides...

Add the lace...

And the ribbon...

and ta-dah...

your very own knickers - quick as you like!

 

 

Sure, you can complicate them by making them in two pieces and adding a lining ('gusset' is not a pretty word, is it?), but why not make a simple pair with just one piece of lycra?  If you've got the lycra, why not use it is what I say!

 

Another great thing about lycra is that it doesn't fray so you don't have to finish off the edges.  You can if you like, of course, but you get to choose :)

 



Add a couple of side bows and you're all set!!

Next...

Seaside shopper

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a few pieces of oilcloth for a new project or three.  I do like working with oilcloth - it's so darned durable once you know how to treat it!

This is the first project that I made - a large seaside shopper:

It's large enough to carry all manner of things home from a shopping expedition - or even a day at the beach!

I decided to bind the inside seams to keep them nice and neat and tidy.

 

And because it's not always easy to find my phone or purse or other important but small items, I added an inside pocket too.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

Righto - on to the next project!

Sew Selena: One Year On

It's surprising what can happen in a year.

One year ago today I set up a sewing blog to keep track of all the projects and refashions I had done.

Well, if I was going to give them to other people then I wanted to ensure that I had a record of what I'd made.  I haven't blogged everything mind you, some things were thrown away before I could 'capture' them on my blog.  No worries.  I still have the experience of making them.

Nearly one hundred posts later I'm still at it.  It looks as though it wasn't a flash in the pan after all!

I can distinctly remember how I used to despise sewing when I was at school.  Even my old school friends have reminded me of that one!  You won't catch me sewing, it's far too girly.  But I slowly remembered that underlying sense of satisfaction that being creative gave me. 

Mostly I think about the complete joy that creating something with my own hands gives me.  And finding different ways to use fabric.  I have far more fun making things with preloved fabric!

Within four months I had set up my own small business - Sew Selena.  I never dreamt it would be possible to do that.  Never.  But it felt right.

Thanks for being with me on this journey!

Razzmatazz bag

Two days ago I went into a charity shop and nearly jumped up and down at one particular skirt that I discovered there -

Can you see why?

It's utterly vibrant with all the gorgeousness of, well, something really gorgeous!!   And I fell in love with it.

While I was there I spotted another skirt that I thought might come in handy - it's a lime green linen skirt. 

It just so happened to go really well with the pink skirt!  What are the chances, eh?!

So what have I been doing since Saturday?

Creating another bag of course!!

Did I follow a pattern?  Nope!  With so little fabric available it was nigh on impossible to follow a pattern so I decided to wing it.  The amount of fabric in half of the pink skirt would have to dictate the dimensions and style of the bag.  I have journal plans for the other half...

So I got my graph paper out.

And drew and measured and measured and drew.

After much designing and sewing, this is what I conjured up:

As you can see the lime and cerise were made to go together.

The bag itself is softly padded.

With comfy padded, two-tone straps.  I had much fun figuring out how to make double-sided handles - and now I know!!



I love playing with colours so I used the pink as the interior top band and used the lining from the lime skirt to line the bag.



I also added an internal pocket and magnetic snaps to finish it off.



Have I kept my design details?  You betcha!  I might make a pattern for this - what do you reckon?

Ok, back to my orders!

Celtic dress bag

So I find some fabric.  But it's not just any old fabric.  It's a dress with the most wonderful celtic pattern on it. 

I had no clue what to do with it at the time but I knew that it would come in handy at some point - how could I leave something as pretty as this in the charity shop?

The bottom of the dress was almost Aline which meant that there was more useable fabric available.

But what to do with it...

When my friend asked for a bag for her big birthday I just *knew* that she would love something made from the dress.  The celtic pattern is so her.

So I cut off the bottom of the dress below the band and turned it upside down making a perfect bag shape!

Then I interfaced the ties and used them as straps.  Thankfully they were quite long anyway.

As I was playing with the sleeves that I had cut off the dress I had an idea.  What if I squished them, added homemade bias binding and turned it into a pocket?

Well, that seemed to work!!

 The base was made from more dress and the bag was padded throughout to give it extra body.

With the addition of a label it was all ready to go... but would my friend like it??

Well, I gave it to her today and she seemed really quite happy with it.

That makes two of us!

Refashioned William Morris skirt made from curtains

Have you ever found an item of clothing which you adore, is flattering on you and you just want to wear different versions of again and again?

Yep?  Me too!

I have a great denim A-line skirt that I love wearing and I was on the look-out for some fabric to recreate another one.

So when I found some fabulous William Morris curtains in a charity shop I knew I'd found it!

And here is the resulting skirt...

As I only had my original skirt to follow I had loads of fun figuring out how to piece everything together. 

For me, that's one of the best parts of sewing - learning how to make something that fits 'just so' and to my own specifications.  I also love being able to create something unique.

The skirt itself was made up of four equal panels.

And had a deep waistband.

It was finished off with a zip and hook and eye fastening. 

It fits perfectly and I  often wear it with a blue top and boots.   And it always makes me happy!

A tailcoat tale

I was asked if I would like to make a tailcoat for a dance show.

So, never having made a jacket in my entire life - of course I said yes!

As it turned out, it was a challenge and a half.  I think there were about 16 pieces to the pattern, which made for some interesting times LOL! 

But I made it.

When the tailcoat was tried on it fit beautifully but the front of the coat met in the middle rather than there being an overlap for buttonholes.  So I added a velcro overlap

Here is the front of the tailcoat with the velcro in place.

I added the buttons for decoration.

The tailcoat was made in two distinct sections - the top half and the bottom peplum and tail.

When I initially made it I was sure I'd followed the pattern but it didn't look quite right.  After much humming and harring I realised that I had managed to sew the flap of the tail on the wrong way round!  I'm convinced that not many people would have noticed - but I would have known LOL!

So I unpicked it all and put it on the right way round. 

There's no point in having a tail if you can't flap it, is there?!

I can't say that making the tailcoat was the easiest thing in the world, but I was happy with the end result.

More importantly, so was the dancer who got to wear it :)