I only got back a couple of days ago so have been a bit too tired to do any hefty (even moderately so) sewing projects. I've done a mini-tutorial for a scrunchie a la Heathers because its easy. First, however, I will post some photos I took over the past week. I was staying with my boyfriend (Andy) at his parents' dairy farm in Wiltshire. The calves were let out into the sunshine that week so I'm so frustrated I didn't get any photos of them! They were all tufty and sweet hoho.

We went for a long walk at this... place. I don't know what it was called or where it was, just that it was very pretty / there were stinging nettles bloody everywhere

Am I the only one who finds this weirdly Blair Witch Project-esque?

We decided to get a ROAST because it was Sunday and as luck would have it, we ended up having the greatest carvery ever. The table wasn't actually reserved for us or anyone else (I think) so idk why it says that but THE POTATOES WERE INCREDIBLE.

Then Andy made me a fancy coffee when we got back. Fancy in so far as the equipment was fancy and it had foam but wasn't out of a machine. I was impressed.

Weird aeropress gif

I don't even remember what day this was from BUT just FYI, this is a man made hill. Nobody knows for sure what it is for / why it was made but it is enormous. I don't know why I am telling you this, readers of my blog, but I am.

More walks around various places.

AND WE MADE A ROAST OF OUR OWN. It was amazing. I tried to do closeups of the chicken (the best bit) but it looked a bit gruesome so you shall have to imagine its crispy/tenderness for yourselves.
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Anyway, hopefully this tutorial doesn't come across as a bit of an odd thing to post following a photo of a roast chicken. Unfortunately I couldn't find any plain red fabric suitable, but I made do! I guess we can only call this Heathers inspired (or just a scrunchie with a bow on it? ha) because it's not plain red and is somewhat less floppy but anyway, on we go.

What you will need...

Sewing machine / needle and thread

A small-ish amount of red fabric. Maybe use an old shirt or something?

Elastic

What you must do...

Cut your elastic according to how thick your hair is / how big you want your scrunchie to be. I believe mine was 9 inches.

For the fabric covering, you will need to cut a rectangle shape. The length should be more than double that of the elastic (so approx 22" for me) and the width double how much you want it to eventually turn out like (the width of mine was about 2.5" in the end so I would need to cut a bit more than 5").

You don't really need to measure it, just cut a long rectangle more than double the elastic in length and however thick you want the scrunchie to be x2 in width.

Fold the rectangle in half and sew along one side

Sew one end of your elastic to one end (along the stitched side)

From that point, sew down to the other corner. 

Turn it inside out and it should now look more or less like the bottom picture hoho

For some reason I didn't photograph this bit properly but now you have to get the elastic from inside (it should be inside now that you have turned it inside out) and pull it out of the opening to meet the other side. Sew it in place like you did on the other side! In hind sight (sorry I didn't plan this very well) you could've sewn it to the other side before turning it inside out... BUT ANYWAY

It should vaguely look like this - stitched down at the open end.

It gets a bit hard to photograph from this point. Turn the ends of the open side inwards about 1cm.

Fit the open side (with edges turned in) over the sewn up other side of the tube. You may or may not want to pin it. Pinning can sometimes make fiddly things even more fiddly, but it's up to you.#

Sew down the folded over part through all layers of fabric. You could handsew it so you keep the 'tube' and so you don't have a visible row of stitching, but I can't be arsed.

Cut four of this shape! It's hard to tell you how long they should be really, but mine was about 16" long. The width depends on how fat you want your bow to be. Mine was about 4" wide. The angle of the 'tail' also depends on your personal taste, obviously! Each piece will be half the length of the entire 'ribbon', so keep that in mind. Put two of the pieces together (right sides facing inward, wrong sides facing outward) and stitch along the orange dotted line. Now do this for the other two pieces.

Excuse the weird picture. I haven't ironed anything haha. Open up the joined pieces so they are lying flat with the stitching facing upwards. Place the two pieces together with wrong sides inward and right sides outward, lining up the flat edge on both pieces. Don't worry if they've ended up slightly uneven, just give it a trim. Sew along the flat edge (the dotted line in the picture).

You should now have something which vaguely looks like this?

Fold it in half (right side inward, wrong side outward) and stitch along the dotted line but leave a space (about 2cm?) in your stitching at some point. It doesn't really matter where, but I left the space in the centre. Through this hole, turn the whole thing inside out. Depending on where the whole is and how big it is, you can choose either to leave it or handsew it up (see the slipstitch on this page)

Arrange your ribbon into a vague bow shape that you like. Pin where you want everything to go.

Sew it all down :D

Get a little bit of fabric (about 4" x 2"), fold it in half and stitch along the longer side. Turn it inside out.

Make a little pleat, fold it in half, stitch, trim the end. You should now have a little loop.

Sew your loop to the scrunchie along the seam. Sew through the elastic as wellll. Get both sides of the loop and stitch it to the fabric of the scrunchie so it sits relatively flat. The line of stitching in the above picture should now be hidden.

Get your bow, push it through the loop, arrange and adjust so it looks nice, use a needle and thread to stitch it to the loop. Now you've finished, hooray.

Mini-tutorial: shift dress

I'd planned to make a proper tutorial of this but I forgot about taking photos half way through. I've tried to make little diagrams, hopefully they make sense. Honestly, this is one of the easiest things to make ever so you'll probably get the gist.

I really like this. I wore it yesterday (the photo), I wore it today... I won't wear it tomorrow but I'd like to! Haha.

And of course because I'm bored and vain I rustled up another way to wear it without black. BUT ANYWAY, ON TO THE TUTORIAL :| :|

You will need...

About 1.5m of fabric. I used some vintage printed silk (sorry to sound pretentious) I've had for ages so it's not too translucent / doesn't have too much drape but is still really lightweight and airy. You could use virtually anything, actually.
You will also need some matching thread, scissors and a sewing machine. Provided you make this the right size, you shouldn't need any zippers or buttons or whatever.

What you must do!

Lay your fabric flat, folded in half. Either straight on the fabric or on a very large piece of paper (tracing paper, butcher paper, whatever), draw this shape (the black line):

Now I'm not going to tell you what size this is because it's supposed to be... you-sized! Because this doesn't have a zip, unless you're using stretchy fabric, this can't be skin tight. You can use an existing dress or top to work out generally how large to make it. Is this horribly vague? I shall update tomorrow with the measurement of my dress, actually.

Because you're cutting through two layers of fabric (you have folded your fabric in half) you might want to pin them together. On one piece, cut along the broken line around the neck. This is, surprise surprise, the front!

On the front piece, sew your darts! NOW. The dart on the left is approximately where you would usually put your darts (the point is generally the outermost point of your chest) but on the right is where I put mine. I have only put darts in this dress because otherwise you would have a gaping effect, but I don't really want it to be fitted. Does that make sense? Just do whichever you prefer. You could use a really wide stitch to begin with (or hand stitch) so you can take out the stitching and redo it according to what you like.

To give you a really basic idea of how to sew darts, take the edge along the dotted line, and bring it to meet the edge of the solid line, creating a fold. The folded should be on the wrong side of the fabric (what will be the inside of the dress). Sew it in place, coming to the point. Here's a photo of a dart to show you generally what it should look like:

link

Do it on the other side (make sure they are even), iron, and move on to the next step!

With the right sides together (the sides that will face outwards when the dress is finished) and the wrong sides facing outwards, sew along the shoulders and the sides (not the arm holes!). As you can probably tell, you are almost finished at this point.

Now you have to finish off the armholes, neck and bottom of the skirt. I usually do a really simple hem where I fold over a few mm to the inside, fold over again, and stitch over the top. You could also use bias binding if you find it easier / if you like the look.

Now you should be done. Sorry if I have explained this terribly. I will be working on improving my tutorials in future! I will also definitely take more photos next time. I have a tutorial in the works with a photo for every step, although the whole thing is more complicated.

Here is a little preview!

I haven't finished it partly because I had to go to sleep and partly because I haven't decided what I'm going to do on the bottom half yet haha. It should be nice though, whatever it is.

Hellooo

Hi! I'm ridiculously busy at the moment. Probably not a great time to start a blog, but there you go!
Last week I went to Durham. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me (I went on the train and brought as little with me as I could) so here's a photo of it I found on Flickr.

Beautiful, right? I can't wait to study there, even though its a relatively small place. Fingers crossed I don't have a seizure during my exams or something.

I've got a revision timetable up on my wall now. It's less than three months until my first exam, christ. I've also got my Extended Project presentation on Thursday which I should definitely be preparing for instead of blogging right now. I MUST STAY POSITIVE THOUGH. I MUST.

I'll just post my outfit for today and leaf then!

Cardigan: Uniqlo; bodysuit: vintage; trousers: Zara; shoes: Primark; Necklace: Asos

Not the most amazing thing you've ever seen, I'm sure, but I am wearing my new favourite thing - a blue stripey bodysuit! It did have a little glittery bow on it but I took it off. I'll probably replace it with a plain white one!

Oh! Oh! Also! I will try my hardest to upload a new tutorial this week if I have time on Friday. I'm thinking of making either a pair of high waisted pleated shorts or a coat. I'd prefer the coat but my one problem is that I have no lining that would match the fabric I want to make it out of! We shall see what happens but either way, I'm excited to post a new one.

blaack n goooold

Hi everyone! My boyfriend went home for his uni break yesterday D: so to cheer myself up I (among other things) decided to dress up in my favourite colour combination - black and gold. Anyone who looks at my outfit photos should be able to tell that I wear a lot of black. I like black x silver, black x white, black x black but moooost of all I like black and gold. It looks good with my hair, it looks good on its own, IT'S JUST A REALLY GOOD COMBO. BUT ANYWAY, here's my outfit:

 

Here's another black x gold outfit I've taken a photo of.

 

I'm pretty sure I first started to search for black and gold when I watched the 300 Spartans. For some reason it was really sartorially inspiring, haha.

ANYONE KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Anyway, here are some black x gold Etsy finds.

NodtoModvintage

TimelessVixenVintage

HeatherVintage

MagwoodBoutique

aiseirigh

Vintage50sEyewear

And I'm just going to dump this outfit picture here too:

I'm trying to cut down to only wearing makeup twice a week. Yep. Anyway, I'm going to the March for the Alternative tomorrow, probably in the Labour Women group so... maybe I'll see you there if you come :| if anyone reading this is from the UK, haha! Clearly I am terrible at ending these kind of posts. Bye.

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Oh, and thankyou rippedknees for linking to me! I haven't got a link list up yet so will just link to her blog here hoho

Tutorial: reconstructing a dress

Hi everyone! This is my first tutorial, sorry it's a little dodgy! I hope to do some tutorials for things made from scratch but seeing as I was making this the other day, I thought I'd photograph it and post it on the internet as my first blog post.

DISCLAIMER: This is a tutorial for people who want a new dress in a couple of hours. Please note that I can only really get away with this because I am using a cheap dress (£4 from a charity shop) made from not-so-special fabric. If you are using more expensive fabric or a more expensive dress, not only would I advise you to take extra steps e.g. overlocking, ironing, interfacing if needed etc, I'd also advise you to use a sewing pattern if you are new to sewing!

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You will need...

Scissors, a seam ripper (optional), pins

I would advise you not to use scissors like these, actually. They are an absolute bitch to use. If you can, get some fabric scissors! Mine are in a box somewhere :|



A sewing machine!

Well, I suppose you don't need one, but I'd advise you to use one. Possibly one a little more trustworthy than mine. Oh, and please do not follow my example and use your sewing machine on the floor hoho.



A nice big space where you can work. Can you tell we are in the process of moving in?


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What you must do!

What I've done first is taken off the skirt and sleeves of the dress. If your dress is not too much bigger than you want it, I would use a seam ripper as to not lose too much fabric. If your dress is very big like mine, just cut them off!

Put the bodice on like a shirt so you can see how much you want to take off the shoulder. I've ended up taking off 2 inches! It depends on what you like and how the fabric actually sits on you when you're wearing it so you may find you don't need to take anything off at all.

Turn the bodice inside out! Mark with pins where you want to sew the bodice on the sides. You can do this while you are wearing it or using your waist measurement. Now sew with a straight stitch from the bottom of the bodice to the armhole. Don't worry about the edges matching up, you can fix it with your scissors. Now is the time to cut from the shoulders down to the bottom of the armhole according to how you want the dress to fit. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you but... cut in a gently curving line! Now, fold the edge of the fabric over and stitch it down, creating a narrow hem. If it is fabric that frays easily, now is the time to overlock! If you find it the circular line too difficult to hem or you simply can’t be arsed, you could always use bias binding. You can find this in fabric stores and (possibly) the supermarket. [Also, totally forgot to add this in but if you want some shape in the bodice for your chest, now is the time to add darts if you so desire]

Now you must gather your skirt! You could leave it the way it was before and just cut off the extra length, but as I prefer my skirts with a bit of poof, I’m going to take the whole thing and gather it until it’s as long as the bodice opened out flat (check if you need to allow a little extra length for a seam – mine is a button-down so I don’t need to).

Some people use gathering foots on their sewing machine but as I don’t have one, I do it by hand using the good ol’ drawstring method. Set your machine to the longest possible straight stitch and stitch from one end to the other along the side that will eventually join the bodice. Leave a few inches of thread at either end. At one end, tie a knot with the thread. At the other, take one of the two threads and pull it. Gently push down the fabric from the thread and it should bunch up. Continue doing this until the whole length is gathered on one side. Make sure the gathering is even. If this is confusing, here is a better explanation!

Undo the buttons on the bodice and the skirt so both are totally flat. Turn both so that the ‘right’ side of the fabric (the side that you want facing out when the dress is finished e.g. the darker side of denim fabric) is facing outwards, then place the bodice on top of the skirt with the ‘wrong’ side up so the ‘right’ sides are together. Line the bottom edge of the bodice up with the gathered edge of the skirt. Pin them together and then sew in a straight stitch along the edge through both the skirt and the bodice (remember to set your stitch to the normal length again). When you turn them the right side out again, it should look like the picture above.

If you like long dresses, you’re pretty much finished at this point. Put it on, check it all fits, trim all your loose threads and maybe give it an iron. Howeverrr, like me, you may prefer shorter dresses. If this is the case, try on your dress and mark with a pencil / chalk where you want the skirt to finish. Take off the dress, and cut the skirt from the line. Try to be neat at this point because hemming wonky skirts is annoying as hale and you could end up redoing it. It would be useful to use a tape measure to make sure the skirt is the same length all over. Now, how you hem your skirt is really up to you. You may want a wider hem, you may just want to roll it over and sew a tiny one. Just go with whatever feels right hoho.

So there we have it. A lovely new dress (or, in my case... tunic-thing). If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

If anyone has any tips for me regarding tutorials / the blog in general, I'd very much appreciate it <3