DIY long vintage dress to dip hem tunic

Heya!
Thought I would share my latest dress transformation using a vintage St Michaels dress I found in a charity shop for £4. 

(Vans Authentics - Office, scrunchie- handmade)

I fell in love with the print and couldn't wait to make it shorter and more wearable. I thought I would do something different this time instead of just shortening it and cinching it in at the waist with a belt as I normally do with dresses like this. In my head I pictured a loose floaty smock/tunic style dress with a slightly longer hem at the back, that I could wear with lace cycling shorts and chunky heels. 

I started by getting rid of the elasticated waist which was stopping the dress from hanging loosely. This was hard at first as the elastic was sewn into the waist seam, so I had to make a new seam.

 I folded the dress over at the waist and sewed the whole way round just below the elastic. After this I could cut away the elastic and I was left with the flat, ungathered seam that I had created. I always overlock my seams and I sewed round this seam again just to strengthen it. 

This left me with waaayyyy more fabric than I had anticipated, and although I wanted it loose and floaty, it flared out like a tent, so I took it in at the sides. I did this by trying it on and feeling how much I wanted to lose each side. I then laid it out flat and pinned where i wanted to sew- I took out 2 inches from each side starting at the arm pit. This gave a much better fit whilst staying quite loose. 

Next I did the dip hem. I found the centre of the front of the dress and folded it down this central line and laid out. I then marked from the highest point at the front (try on and mark this first) and the lowest point at the back. Then i drew a sweeping line in between them to join them up. 

I then pinned the fabric up to this line and tried on. Once I was happy with the shape I overlocked and hemmed this edge. Overlocking makes the hem so much easier to turn on floaty thin fabrics like this.  I had a nightmare with this part because I stupidly started sewing next to a vase of flowers, managed to get the fabric caught round it and spilt the water all over the dress, my machine, the floor and myself. Far from ideal and I won't be making that mistake again!

Lastly I decided to do cut out sleeves. I laid the dress out flat and then measured 1.5 inches from the end of the sleeve and then cut a straight line right up to the shoulder seam. I then repeated on the other side and hemmed both. I just thought that added a bit more interest to the dress. 

And here is how I would wear it:

dress - vintage St Michaels 

leather bag - vintage

shoes - ebay 

lace cycling shorts - ebay

watch - Marc by Marc Jacobs

name necklace - ebay

lips- MUA lip liner in Red Drama and Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang 

What do you guys think? It was nice to do something different with a vintage dress and I particularly like the fact I can wear my new lace cycling shorts! Also I'm in love with this new vintage bag. Its the softest leather and cost just over a fiver from a charity shop. 

I am feeling very inspired lately after I went to the De Montfort uni open day in Leicester on Saturday. We visited the degree show and it was incredible. The standard of work was so high and it made me so excited for the future rather than scared and full of self doubt which is the effect some open days have had on me before. I'm trying to decide between a course like textiles for fashion, fashion fabrics and accessories or contour fashion (swimwear, underwear, corsetry). The contour fashion exhibition impressed me the most but I'm unsure whether that would be a good degree choice for me. I'm rubbish at small intricate things that need lots of little components and take lots of time. Oh well I still have a year at college to decide what I want to do. I'm absolutely distraught I will be a mature student by the time I get back to uni though. Oh life. 

Thanks for reading and remember you can become a follower of my blog on bloglovin (link below) or through google. It would mean the world to me!

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P.s. This is my last post with ombre hair. I just can't make myself like it. Its a nightmare to make my hair look nice when its bleached. I'm going to go a light natural brown so there's still a bit of a lightening effect towards the ends. My hair is trashed I need a good 3 inches off the ends wahhh girl problems. 

DIY vintage long skirt to pinafore dress

Hey!
Here is a little dress I made using an old vintage skirt I got for a £1 in a charity shop. I was just going to turn it up and make it into a skater skirt but I thought I had loads of fabric left that I could make a pinafore dress from! 

Here is the before:

It had a nice fit actually, with pockets and an elasticated waist.

And here is the after pics:

 Pinafore dress DIY, watch Michael Kors (fake from ebay), Vans Authentics from Office, Grey T from H&M

How I did it:

1. Turn up the skirt. Try on, pin it to desired length, overlock the raw edges (or just use pinking shears to finish), hem on the machine. 
2. With remaining fabric cut out a square to use as the top part. I don't have exact measurements for this, I just used trial and error depending on how wide/high I wanted it to come on my front.
3. Sew your square right side to right side with more of the skirt fabric (only if you have enough), or another cotton. Leave a gap to turn right way out, and iron.
4. Add button holes using a function on a machine, or by hand if you're clever. Add them to the two top corners where your straps will be fastened.
5. Pin the square onto the waistband and topstitch across neatly to join the two. Make sure you try it on so you're happy with where it sits on the body and that its even.
6. With remaining skirt fabric make straps. Mine were 4cm wide and I cut out a piece of fabric 9cm wide and as long as I could. 
7. Sew strip into a tube and turn inside out. Press with a hot iron making sure the seam is straight down the back of the strap. 
8. Measure how big each strap needs to be and cut your long strap to size. I crossed mine over but you don't have to!
9. Hem the straps' raw edges. Pin on straps at the back, try on to make sure you're happy, then sew the straps down.
10. Add buttons to the other ends of the straps.
11. Cut off any dangly threads and you're done.

This was surprisingly easy to do and I'm really happy with how its turned out. But I think its definitely not warm enough to wear yet, and I'm definitely too pale!

If you have basic sewing knowledge you could make this from any old skirt. Just as long as its long enough to make the pinafore part and straps. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. In the future I will try and do a step by step of how I alter my clothes as that will probably be easier to understand!

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Handmade vintage collage card

Hi guys,
just a quick post to show you what I made this evening. 
I was meant to buy my Auntie a card today but I forgot, so thought I would take to my sewing machine and see what I could put together. 
I found an old vintage floral card, then some co-ordinating handmade paper, card, brown paper, lace, old newspaper etc.I have a box full of scraps like this that I hope will one day come in handy. I ripped, cut and arranged and then pinned together.

I used matching threads to sew the whole thing together around the edge of the picture. Then used my favourite technique of all time; free embroidery. I had forgotten how much I love this! I picked out some of the floral shapes using my needle to draw.

I finished by cutting out some slices using a craft knife and sticking the arrangement onto some peach card and voila. 

Not my finest work but I always think a handmade card is better than a bought one, or not having a card altogether.

I have set myself a sketchbook project with the theme of 'cage' but I'm severely lacking some inspiration for what to do with bird cage imagery. I'm really not a fan of the 'twee' floral, buttons, bird cage imagery. I am looking forward to getting onto the more gritty stuff like rib cages, vertebrae, body cages, and body harnesses.

Thanks for reading :)
Love Marnie xx