Ciao Tutti!
I've been at my sewing table again this week, as a way of grounding and calming myself, amidst much excitement pending our acquiring of the house and land next door to our #sovereignhomestead ! For the most part, the past 10 days have involved bramble clearing, as we tentatively (okay: enthusiastically!) begin blurring the boundaries between our land and the neighbour's - it has taken much restrain to not just dive in fully and start plastering the insides!
So a stint at my old Brother 'handsewing' machine has been quite necessary. I say handsewing, because we had a few rainy days this week, which means no powerbank charging and so no electricity. I sewed the straps of this new dress by turning the wheel manually: quite sweaty work! They needed to be triple-sewn, too; see the bottom of the post for a closer photo.
The zip is pinned into place on the mannequin like this to give me an idea of how to structure the back and sides of the dress. I like the cross-over straps, but want to 'in-fill' the bodice to make it more substantial, as it were.
The upper part with the beautiful cross-stitch embroidery on is from an old table-runner - or perhaps a towel rail decorative banner? It is all one strip of fabric, which I'm attempting to drape into a hanging-over-the-bust kind of effect. The two stretches of embroidery are on opposite sides of the fabric, you see, so this is a way of shaping them to fit in a flattering manner on the female body. 🤗
And this lower part in green is an old pair of puffy trousers, which previously had elastic cuffs and waist: I unstitched a lot of seams, as well as some waist ties that I may use further along the project (possibly a biasbinding lower border). I also shaped the trouser legs - the four sections that I separated from the original trouser - into a nicer form, and will decide soon whether or not to keep the whole skirt length...
I hope you like it and find this process innteresting! It's always a pleasure to share with you all my super-original creations, as they come into being!
Wishing you all the very best in your creative endeavours this week!
