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!
I love your dress, I remembered my late grandmother that uses a manual sewer. She turns the wheel with her one hand while her foot stamped to make the sewing machine moves or function.
This one is very good! It suits for many occasions, just not the work on the fields, would be a shame ruin it while working
Gorgeous. I sent you a follow, please follow back. I can't sew well but I love to knit and crochet