THE GLEE DRESS!! (or a series of unfortunate events)

Are you sitting comfortably? then I will begin... a tale of dressmaking foolishness so severe that it will make your thread form unfathomable knots and your pins bend clean in half.
Against my better judgement I have become embroiled with Glee, the kids at work love it and the lovely bright cheerful (gleeful) world the characters inhabit helps me remember that life is not all doom and gloom. Also it taught me that dolphins are just gay sharks :-)So when watching episode 14 (Hell-O) I saw this shot:and something happened inside me... I think it's what you earthlings call.. love...
This wonderful epiphany came over me... I can make this... this is why sewing is awesome!
(also on a side note I'm conflicted over Amber's dress... I kinda want to give her a bigger bow, or alter the dress slightly to make it a little more flattering... is that a bad thing? I don't know)
So during y10 parent's evening (oh so many stressed out students) I doodled this:and I sould have stuck to this, simple nice A line dress.. but no.. I had to be a smartarse... so I than drew this:with no thought to the fact that I'd never drafted a pattern before or no serious attention paid to the fact that the fashion figures I was doodling on are not shaped anything like me... fools rush in where angels fear to tread!.. also I'd clearly not actually thought about the construction of the garment AT ALL since I've not included any seamlines except that for the ruffled bottom with which I was infatuated.was this dress a failure? HELL-Yea.. Did I end up having to bodge it back together to make it like the first sketch? of course I did... facepalm:
so without further adieu, pictures of my glee dress... the outside looks fine (thank God or I think I'd be hanging myself with my mic cord) but the lining shows the scars of (1) being used as a muslin for a home drafted pencl skirt dress (2) having to be let out and chopped in different areas to make it fit the now Aline dress and (3) having sleeve facings applied after the lining had been sewn in ... pretty bad show old chap.

G <3

The list that surprised me....

So, at work today I had a couple of minutes spare (NEVER EVER HAPPENS!!) while some y9s were watching "Blood Sweat and Luxuries" in the guise of a lesson about fairtrade. . . . I digress...

with nothing to amuse myself but some post it notes and a pencil I decided to make a list of all the projects I've started or considered recently.. it was slightly longer than I expected... here it is.

1. Glee dress (black A-line dress with a big bow) - in progress to do: zip, hem, bow

2. DIO refashioned T-shirt - from an xxl dio T shirt I picked up when I saw him a couple of years ago, I don't wear it becasue it's so big and his recent death ( :.( ) makes me need to do something fabulous with it (not started)




















3. Vegeta T shirt refashion - a mens dragonballZ t-shirt that I got from a charityshop with cool japanese writing on it :-)















4. Rifat's skirt - my coleague spilt bleach on her skirt and has asked me to try to salvage it

5. Red and white gingham 50's style shirt dress (I've got the fabric, but I havn't found the pattern or started yet)

6. Sailor dress - more japanese inspiration - I've got some fabric but I don't think I'll use it, patterns are hard to come by.



















7. bow dress from pattern magic - not started yet

8. I also need to rehem a skirt I wear to work that was badly stitched when I bought it

9. I need to convert a mens T-shirt my mam gave me into a dress. It's got an awesome print of an anime girly on it. I aim to pair it with some white/red fabric with a print of cheeries to make a summer dress.

10. Tama the Turtle plushie (If you're ever seen love hina you'll understand)

11. Liddo-kun plushie (see 10.)









12. I want to applique some nice fabric flowers to patch up some black shoes because the stitching has come undone and they're falling apart.

13. Anime style pleat skirt (not started)

14. Kilt style pleat skirt (not started)

15. a skirt/dungarees lovechild (not started)

16. Kawaii Kimono Dress (I've done a sketch and there are a bizillion kinono patterns on the interwebz but otherwise not started)

17. Obi belt (to go with 16.)

18.Trousers. Just to experiment because I've never made them before and if I am going to offer my services to members of the public I'd better be confident with all garments :-)

19. hakama - like japanese wrap around trousers (not started)

20. TARDIS blanket for babies that keep being born around me (not started)

21. VeryPurplePerson's reversible bag - I've got some faux leather PVC and some strawberry print oilcloth - pattern pieces cut out of fabric but project stalled when I bought the He-man Duvet cover of legend


21 things?! what type of monster have I created?!!??

Cate has the POWER!

You may need this

Ok here's the deal, I'm a geek, I'm a girl and like sewing.

put it together and what do you got? (bibbety bobbety booo)




As you know on Saturday I found this AWESOME Duvet cover in a charity shop in Aylesbury town centre, the tag said apologetially "£1.50, NO PILLOW SLIP" ... and I cried a little inside for how beautiful it was.

first the colours are slightly washed out which gives it a pastel-y colour and it's just COVERED in cartoon characters, I mean, wow. geek ... love ...

I was highly aware that I was making a dress out of a duvet cover, I didn't want it to look like a dress made out of a duvet cover. But I needed a pattern and I needed it now so that meant burdastyle. I've been using Burdastyle since February and it's a great place to learn to sew, if you, like me, would prefer to learn from the internet than an actual person. I ended up using this pattern "Cate" (hence the name *facepalm*)

First things first, I had to pay for it... BOO! but I swallowed the pill and suffered for my art... still cheaper and quicker than buying a pattern on e-bay and waiting for it to be delivered.
Secondly, the instructions weren't great, this is the first pattern I've bought and on the free patterns I accepted the bizarre gaps in instuctions, unreadable characters and undecipherable sizing... I just thought that was the price you pay for free patterns... 'parrently not... it's on the paid ones too.

But on the plus side it's labelled as an advanced skill level... awesome, 3 months and I'm sewing things that are considered 'advanced' :-) well that makes me feel better...

I can't wait to wear this dress out :-)

xLx

Master of the Charity Shop

I found this gem in a charity shop in Aylesbury town centre, (£1.50!!) I'm going to make something truely geeky with it, but what? it needs ot be 80's and summery!.. lets go!