Miss Polly blog tour, dress from upcycled jeans

Two weeks ago, during the release, I showed you two Miss Polly's. Today, on the blog tour, I am showing a third, a dress I made with Sewpony's pattern. With the first two dresses, I really followed the instructions. For this third, my hacker brain was allowed to play. When I saw the first version of the Polly, I assumed that the flaps were functional but they aren't in the official pattern. The version I am showing you today does have functional flaps though.

When I was sitting in front of my fabric closet, it was not coming to me. None of my woven fabrics where speaking to me. My woven selection is much smaller than my knit collection, but I still must have had over 20 coupons that did not seem suitable for my eight year old's Polly. I went through my upcycle pile and a pair of jeans caught my eye. I have read on several occasions that blue denim is trending again, so I settled on an upcycle project. Upycled jeans are very retro and perfect for a retro pattern like this.

The legs of the trousers were (of course) not wide enough for the entire front, so I decided to use the original seam as a decoration in the middle. I told you in this post, that I love upcycles that use elements from the original garment. When I tried to cut the front piece from one of the jeans' legs  I realized that the dress needed the entire leg's length, and the crotch curve was ruining my straight middle seam. After some debating with myself, I just unpicked the seam and sewed it back (a bit to the side) such that a flat surface was created, but the seam is curving slightly to the side.

I took the belt holder from the jeans and used it as decoration on the front to draw attention away from the curve. I also added one of the back pockets to the back of the dress. The back has the same asymmetrical curve, so some attention drawer was also advisable there. My daughter told me, to my surprise, she liked the white background side of the Wolf cape best. I had a small piece left, and this dress was as a perfect opportunity to use a bit more from it. The flowers give a very retro feel in combination with jeans.

When I finished the shoot and edited the pictures, I realized, I had made a mistake in the placement of the snaps. The flaps were curved incorrectly, now not the entire front neckline was showing. I adjusted and took two new pics. The shoot was not as successful as the day before, so I kept some pictures with the incorrect neckline as well. My husband does not see the difference, but I do, do you, do you see which two have the correct neckline?

The original design has one decorative button on the flap. I knew that one button would not be enough to keep the flaps in place in the right angle. I therefore added another "invisible" one, it is not through the entire flap, only through the lining. On this picture you can see the inside before I re-adjusted the snaps. I glued a fabric covered button on the outer snap, I am curious to see if it will remain in position after washing, but I assume it will.

I promised you long sleeves, and I was really planning to make them, but I feared they would not work with functional snaps. I do believe it is possible though, so let me think about that one a bit more.  Want to see more Polly's now? Today is just the first day of the tour and check out the line up!  Due to the blog tour there will be a 15% discount on the pattern from Monday 4th april - Friday 15 April with code: MISSPOLLY15 in the Sewpony shop. The code works for the other patterns too.

April 4:  Inspinration // Stahlarbeit // Lily en Woody

April 6:  Petrol + mint // Maai design // Just add fabric

April 8:  A Jennuine Life // Liivi und Liivi // Aamore

April 11: StraightGrain // Made by Sara

April 13: Emma en Mona // Skirt as top

April 15: While she was sleeping // Erin Always // Anne-Luse

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).