Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Jinx Dress

I don't name my creations as a rule, but some acquire a moniker as I go along. This is most definitely the Jinx Dress. It felt like the entire process was jinxed from the get go! Looks pretty innocuous doesn't it?

I am very pleased with the fern, but I would prefer it a little lower I think.


Yet another item created from other people's discards. In this case, cast off jeans from David and my BIL. Worn through in the butt so they weren't worth mending, the legs were good enough to piece into this dress. After I got over this hurdle.


Once I persuaded Nicholas that it would be much more comfy to snuggle on the sofa I was able to cut the pieces from the jeans. And then they fought being made in every way!

My worst problem was when I sewed the dress shoulder seams and facing shoulder seams, joined the pieces at armholes and necklines with the intention of turning them right side out through the shoulders before sewing side seams and finishing armholes. The point at which I realised I had not turned the dress right side out was after sewing and overlocking both side seams and doing two rows of topstitching on one of them. Yep, said some bad words.

I had multiple thread hassles - not enough topstitching thread (I had some more in a different brand which was close enough that I figured to h*** with it, it's not for sale and open to public scrutiny!), running out of bobbin thread 10cm from the end of the last row of hem stitching, and most intriguingly, going to the ironing board to give the completed hem a final press and finding a section of hem with no bobbin thread. I assume it broke and somehow caught up a new loop, but I've never had that happen before! I had limited topstitching thread for the hem so I couldn't just redo the whole thing (which I would prefer) and it has so many starts and stops in it! The teeth were gritted so hard by this point I expect the surfaces are flat.

Anyway, it was always intended to be a trial, to be worn by Isabella. Good sturdy Kindy dress which cost nothing but my time. Here's her verdict.


And here's my last teeth-gritting realisation.

It's more obvious in real life that the denims for back and front are too different. The back is heavier, which I don't mind, but it's blue blue while the front is made from two pairs which were more black blue. Damn! I like the original side seams on the back pieces but after the dress was made and on her the glaring difference in tone between front and back jumped out at me. Next time I should have some of each fabric in the front and the back if the contrast is too great.

Repeat to self: it cost nothing but my time, it's for kindy, it'll be covered in paint in five minutes, she loves it......

5 comments:

  1. honestly, the contrasty denim thing that you don't particularly like is really kind of endearing. Remember, it was recycled denim and that is quite in vogue as of late. Actually denim never goes out of style. Think of it as a design feature and go with it. I think it is darned cute. Sorry you had so much trouble.

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  2. What a great idea to recycle the jeans into a hard-wearing knidy dress! It looks great and if your daughter loves it, be content! :)

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  3. I think it's a fabulous kindy dress. Seriously, she can look cute and you won't have any trouble being calm if she falls in a vat of food colouring. (I don't know why, but my daughter's preschool often has coloured water for the kids to play with - stains everything.)

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  4. just tring to find Eddie's jeans skirt from Ab Fab, the one that looks like it exploded. Seriously it will make you feel so much better. Yours is awesome, a design feature infact ... isn't that what you always say!!!

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  5. This is the cutest dress. And that you were able to use worn out jeans for the fabric is an extra bonus. The different colored denim adds to the uniqueness and charm. I couldn't figure out what was bothering you from the picture. I thought it was "as designed".

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