after - work in progress
before
My #needleworkmonday efforts were somewhat scuppered this week by the weather: we've been inundated with it, following the breaking of the drought! Now high winds, rain and extreme temperature drops appear to be the norm - and our very basic living conditions here make it rather difficult to get on with sewing....
However, I've got at least one nice transformation project underway: a beautiful pale pink silk kind-of-tunic, which I got on a rare visit back to my old 50c stall treasure trove in Telese Terme, Campania (Italy). Silks are a 'consistently rare' kind of a find on that stall, and this piece jumped put at me purely for the - raw silk - fabric, rather than any practical aspect like size and/ or shape!
after
I saw that it might make itself more my size, style and fit, I cut the sleeves off, and used them to widen it a bit; the tunic couldn't get over the shoulders of my mannequin, to start with (which is roughly my size).
Jumping right in, over a cup of milky barley 'coffee' with @vincentnijman and our First Ever Guest on our land (who came to lend us a ladder: woohoo!), I cut off the sleeves, leaving a short seam-allowance to tuck under.
Then I looked at how to open up or change the side seams. They actually appeared to have a good inch of spare material - what a boon 🥳🤗⭐ This meant that I have slightly more material than anticipated, to work with.
I cut off the cuffs of the sleeves, and fixed them to the bottom of the tunic front. Then folded some of the remaining sleeve material a couple of times, before pinning it to the back of the tunic.
This gives the whole piece a bit more substance and length. The afore-mentioned extra inch at the sides, I also opened up. My final step - when daylight and dryness returns - will be to somehow use the last of the sleeve scraps to widen the new 'blousey-dress' further.
If I can't do this, maybe I'll have to use a contrasting material (or similar texture of silk, at least) to widen the garment further - or maybe a button and opening, somewhere on it?
What do you think might be a best solution?
So, a short post until we have the powerbank charged again, so I can use my old-school sewing machine for all these pieces that are pinned and waiting ⛺ And in the meantime, it's hot water bottles and duvets and futon mattresses in the tent! ⛺
Sending love and happy sewing to all!
Greetings @clareartista ,
Such a lovely colour and idea....I know you will be able to work it out.
I do really appreciate the idea of a button or two.
Wishing you two well,
Bleujay
I really like how you turned the weather challenge into something creative! The idea of transforming the pale pink silk tunic sounds lovely. It’s always fun to see how small changes can completely refresh an outfit. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
It suddenly got cold here too! Yesterday felt like December! Gotta turn heat on soonish if it keeps going...
The 50c shop is a treasure!
I would say button+opening!
Not everyone can do this kind of work. It takes a lot of time and effort. We see that you also work hard all week to create a beautiful product. Today's one looks even better.
This is magical and beautiful 😍
#hive #posh