Sunday, April 5, 2015

A salvaged dress

Finch fabrics just released their first fabric line. All the fabrics are a good quality border printed jersey. I was intrigued and ordered three different ones (at stoffenelf). I received the fabrics yesterday afternoon and immediately turned one into a dress. I bought this fabric with the intention of making our smallest girl a shirt, so I ordered one panel of 33 centimeter wide (160 centimeter long). When the fabric arrived plans changed, and I turned it into a dress for my middle daughter. The title of this post refers to the fact that when I finished the dress yesterday evening, the fit was off. I had put in pockets and because of the shape of the dress they gaped open and the dress was a bit too short. After a good night of sleep, I sat back behind my serger and now things are much better.


I only had a 33 centimeter wide panel so I had very few scraps. Only a few strips with a  2 centimeter (maximum) width. I cut the lining and pockets from a different uni colored jersey. I used the free Penny play suit pattern again. I love the shape of the bodice. I simply lengthened the pattern with an extremely small amount of flare (the maximum my 33 centimeter wide panel allowed) and put a ruffle at the bottom. The direction of the fabric in the ruffle is different from the bodice. I cut the flower part vertically in two to make two strips of 16 centimeter wide. The fact that the direction of the fabric is different doesn't matter, because stretch and recovery are great.



I somehow wanted the girls on my daughters chest and not at the bottom of the dress. Now, looking at the finished dress, I do not think it is much better than the way the fabrics was originally designed. I might even have liked it better with the girls at the bottom. The girls are printed in such a way that one of my sides had three whole girls and one had two whole girls and two half ones. The two half girls nicely disappeared in the seam so the back just has two girls.


Like I mentioned at the beginning, the first version of this dress had pockets. When my girl put the dress on it looked strange. Even if I pushed the pockets totally to the front they still created a thicker part around her hips and the pockets gaped open. The dress just looked too small. This morning, I used the seam ripper, took the pockets off and now the fit at her waist is perfect. Yesterday evening I feared the dress was becoming a bit too long so I put a relatively wide seam in the bottom. This morning I also removed my twin needle stitches and added a wavy rolled hem to salvage all length. The jersey easily overstretched on my sewing machine, so I thoroughly steamed the seam yesterday. The fabric will need a wash for the stitches and hem line to disappear totally.



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).

16 comments:

  1. Wat een lief stofje en jurkje (en ook een lief meisje)!

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  2. Kei mooi, origineel en zo vrolijk!

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  3. Wat een leuk stofje! En vooral die derde foto, wat een schatje!
    Ik weet niet of ik je probleem met tweelingstiksel goed begreep, maar als het is dat de stof teveel rekt bij het stikken? Als je dat niet meer wilt is de oplossing een zogenaamde boventransportvoet, echt ideaal!

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    1. Ik bedoelde dat ik de zoom er lekker stevig ingestoomd had (mijn pfaff heeft standaard boventransport) dus daardoor is hij nog zichtbaar na het uithalen ;)

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  4. Ik vibd de meisjes juiist heel leuk op het bovenstuk van de jurk. Het lijkt mij dat je de beste keus hebt genaakt.

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  5. Toch zo mooi, die Finch stofjes! Tof jurkje!

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  6. Mooi! En die site kende ik niet, wat een mooie stoffen!

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    1. Hij is nieuw en verzend vanuit Nederland, de meeste leuke wehshops zitten in Belgie dus ik ben ook heel blij met het verschijnen van deze.

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  7. Super leuke jurk! Vooral het gebruik van de verschillende delen van het paneel is perfect!

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  8. Zag de stof ook al passeren, en vond het onmiddellijk leuk! persoonlijk vind ik de meisjes onderaan beter, het lijken nu echt 3 verschillende stukken, ipv 1 paneel... maar origineel is het wel!

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  9. Wat een grappig kleedje. Heel mooi!

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  10. Mooie jurk in ultraleuk stofje!

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  11. Mooie jurk! En zo'n schattig dochtertje:-)!

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  12. Je hebt een superleuk jurkje uit deze schattige stof gemaakt!!

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