When Refashions Go Wrong

Way back in the spring, PatternReview was running its Sewing Bee challenge. I made it to Round 2 on the strength of my first project, a Knit Dress With A Twist. 

The challenge for Round 2 was Collars. I have lots of collars that are interesting, and lots of things I've always wanted to try. I decided to try to make a Book Dress with a Chelsea Collar that would be multi-layered to look like book pages. Well, great idea but not so great in the execution. 

I used Simplicity 7238, a Christie Brinkley pattern from 1991. I had some good base fabric for the dress -- an old sheet, which had tones and shapes that reminded me of old book bindings. So far so good. Then I tried to create layers of sheers as "pages". So many problems! 

First off, the Chelsea collar wasn't the right choice for this concept - there was too much collar, and the sheers that I had in my stash just weren't stiff enough. I sprayed them all with spray starch and pressed but still not enough body to have the effect I wanted. Also, I caught Covid right at the beginning of collar week so was way too exhausted to do anything that might have added to the effect, like adding a text underlay, stitching with wire edges etc. I gave up and just got done what I had started so I had an entry. 

But I didn't like very much, I felt that it really didn't work for me. I put it aside thinking that maybe I could take off the sheer layers and make the dress actually wearable. I finally got to the refashion this month, and removed the sheer bits, sewing the plain collar back on. I like it much better, and think it could be wearable. But not, alas, by me. 

I don't like the shape of this dress, or the collar, or the fabric colours (why did I think I would like these colours on me?). It doesn't have any drape, and the whole outfit is just a big fail, refashion or not! 

However, the fabric is very interesting in its own right, so I'll be unpicking the zip to go back in the stash, and cutting up the dress to put into my art quilt scrap box. I can see it making a great background for something :) The joys of having non-garment sewing possibilities! 

This project was another reminder that the things I make for challenges or contests that don't already fit in with my wardrobe plans and/or colour-pattern preferences are rarely successful. I will be able to reuse this fabric, but will never get all the time back that I sunk into the project. Have you had projects like this too? I have to remind myself to be more conscious about what I'm choosing to make, in many different ways. 

1989: Christie Brinkley's Surf Club!

This week I started a new dress from a 1989 pattern (Simplicity 9111, a Christie Brinkley 'Surf Club' pattern) and some thrifted fabric from my stash. This large print blue & white fabric in my stash was 36" wide and I had just over 3 yards, just enough to squeeze the main pieces on. I'd thought about using a rayon, but found it just didn't have enough body.

Because of the narrow width of this blue and white print, I had to cut the facings from a solid blue linen, and the pocket bags from a beige cotton voile so that they wouldn't show through the white elements of the main fabric. But that way I could use it!

It's a neat little pattern. While it is just a straight elastic waist dress, it has a shoulder detail of an overlapping button band - very 80s indeed. The dropped shoulder and cuffed sleeve are also nice, though I had to shorten the sleeve piece by 2" to fit it onto my fabric. Good thing I have such short arms anyhow!

Even though this dress is pretty simple, I had quite a few difficulties with it. I put that down to my level of distraction in this strange situation we all find ourselves in. It's hard to concentrate, even on things I love.

I put the two buttonholes at the waist of the front bodice for the drawstring to pop out of later on, then panicked and thought that I'd put them on the back bodice by mistake so unpicked one then realized it was right the first time so put it back on. Good thing I stopped what I was doing for a minute!

And I spent two hours sorting through all my buttons to try to find 6 matching buttons that would be perfect for this dress. I found white ones that I loved but only had four. So for now I am using a mix of these, plus two plain blue ones but will switch them out once things get back to normal and I can find a matching set!

In more making-do news, I used some narrow navy bias tape as my drawstring - I had no cording in the stash, and was thinking about making self-fabric tubes but didn't really want to piece together my wee scraps that I had left. This slightly shiny bias tape was just perfect (vintage so a different weight/texture than modern poly-cotton bias tape packages).

Otherwise I think this is a very cute dress and I love the fabric a lot. It is light and drapy but with some body. It is also a bit see through so I'll have to wear a slip but I'm okay with that. Yay to some more stash reduction!